It was not in Osborne’s nature to give up without a fight. ‘Miss Harriet has had a fright, your lordship,’ he said stoutly. ‘And it’s not right for you to go doubting her word.’
‘Miss Harry couldn’t lie to save her life!’ cut in Martha bravely, determined to say her piece.
Sandford held up both hands to silence them.
‘I am aware of that,’ he said calmly. ‘The matter is being dealt with, I assure you.’ He turned to Osborne. ‘Tiptree will fill you in on the details if you care to consult him. Miss Cordell is perfectly safe here, you have my personal guarantee. Now, if you will excuse me.’ Without another word he turned on his heel and left the room.
Martha looked anxiously at her husband.
‘I hope he hasn’t taken offence, Jerry,’ she said. ‘Maybe we shouldn’t have tried to interfere?’
Harriet’s brain was in a turmoil of conflicting emotions. She was convinced that Sandford had heard her shameful outburst. He had dismissed Ozzy’s suggestion just to punish her, she decided indignantly and yet—it appeared that he had believed her after all and had actually been trying to clear up the mystery all this time while she—she had been treating him with such disdain! What must he think of her? All of a sudden she felt deeply ashamed and looked up to find both Osborne and Martha regarding her with frowning disapproval.
Osborne cleared his throat. ‘Seems as if you’ve done his lordship a disservice, Miss Harry. I’d say he was doing his best for you and, from what I know about him, I’d have been surprised at anything else!’
‘And, if you ask me,’ Martha scolded, ‘it’s time you grew out of that impetuous behaviour of yours, miss. I sometimes wonder if we didn’t all spoil and pet you too much when
you were a little lass. However, you must try to remember that you’re a young English lady now and act accordingly!’
‘Oh, Martha, please don’t be cross with me,’ gulped Harriet. ‘Everything is so mixed up. I hate living this beastly lie. Lady Caroline has been so kind to me and the earl and I deal extremely well together. It’s just Sandford—he seems to be set on finding fault with everything I do and I did admire him so when I was a girl!’
She choked back a sob and Martha, relenting, folded her arms around her one-time charge and held her to her ample bosom.
‘There, there, my precious,’ she crooned. ‘It won’t be for long now. Your grandpapa will come and carry you back to his Scottish castle and, no doubt, you will meet some handsome young laird who will sweep you off your feet and you’ll all live happy ever after!’
Harriet sniffed and shook her head with vehemence.
‘No, I am determined I shall never marry,’ she said sorrowfully. ‘I shall devote my life to my grandfather’s comfort. I intend to be his constant companion and the indispensable helpmeet in the evening of his life.’
‘Oh, deary me, Miss Harry!’ laughed Martha. ‘Then I trust he has a strong constitution.’ And gathering up her belongings at a signal from her husband, she said bracingly, ‘Now we must be off, so give me a kiss and promise to be a good girl!’
Waving her handkerchief frantically until their hired postchaise was out of sight, Harriet wondered glumly whether she would ever see these two staunch allies again.
Chapter Five
Sandford, meanwhile, had returned to the Dower House in the pursuance of his earlier inquiries. He found that his cousin had, in fact, made some useful progress during his absence.
Ridgeway had eventually tracked down the boy, Billy Tatler who, along with several of his disreputable friends, was discovered attempting to ride some ewes bareback. The terrified sheep had been herded into a corner of a field and Billy was issuing orders to his cronies as to the best way to mount these animals. Needless to say, their efforts were meeting with little success and, at the sight of their master’s angry countenance, the urchins scattered and endeavoured to make themselves scarce.
Ridgeway, leaping nimbly from his horse, had managed to grab Billy by the seat of his breeches as the boy tried to scramble through the hedge and, hauling him upright, he had frogmarched him to a nearby barn to question him.
This cross-examination, accompanied by dire threats of the awful punishments and penalties that would be incurred if any lies or omissions were discovered, took both time and patience but, eventually, Ridgeway had managed to extract what he took to be the bones of a very odd tale.
It transpired that Billy and his friend Nick often spent their days larking around the Beldale lake, hopeful of catching a trout or two and, on the day in question, had been splashing about in the water by the boathouse when ‘this cove’ had appeared and collared them both before they could escape. He had, firstly, threatened to haul them up to the ‘big house’ then, at their pleas for mercy, he had persuaded them to play a ‘little trick’ on the young lady who was presently making her way around the lake path. Billy was to pretend he had fallen into the water and, when the young lady leaned forward to help him out, Nick was instructed to give her a sharp push from behind. This was, apparently, to teach the young lady a lesson for some ‘bad thing’ she had done to ‘Lady ‘Genie'. Both boys knew that the water was quite shallow on this side of the lake and Billy, when tickling trout, had often knelt upon a large flat stone just below the surface a few yards away from where they had been standing. The ‘cove’ had then directed Nick to conceal himself in the bushes and Billy had slithered to his place on the stone. They were told they would be being watched by the ‘geezer’ from behind the boathouse and that he, of course, would go to the young lady’s assistance if she got into any real difficulties and, if they carried out the ‘job’ to his satisfaction, he had promised them a shilling each!
‘In the event, Nick got cold feet and scarpered, leaving Billy to do the deed on his own and when he climbed out of the lake and saw Miss Cordell standing up in the water, he didn’t think much harm had been done and, when he saw you riding along the path, he made off before the ‘'cove” could grab him again!’
‘But did he say who this ‘'geezer” was?’ Sandford demanded of his cousin, at the end of the recital. ‘You asked him, surely?’
‘Naturally.’ Ridgeway was indignant. ‘He said he’d never seen him before but thought he must have come from the House. ‘'Tall, thin and dark” was all he could say.’
‘Young or old?’ asked Sandford impatiently.
‘Well, he said ‘'old” but to a child of his age, that could be anyone from twenty upwards,’ Ridgeway pointed out. ‘Sorry, old chap, back to square one, almost.’
‘Not quite,’ said Sandford, frowning. ‘We know how it happened, but as to why? Miss Cordell has not yet met your mother, so where does she fit into the conundrum?’
‘Oh, I figured that one out,’ said Ridgeway. ‘If the little varmints have any loyalty at all it’s to ‘'Lady ‘Genie''. Billy actually thought he was doing it on Ma’s behalf and this chap, whoever he is, must have known that!’ He looked squarely at Sandford. ‘You want me to lay them off—send them back to London?’
Sandford flushed. ‘I hope you know me better than that, Charles,’ he said shortly, getting ready to mount his horse. ‘Sounds as if you’ve put the fear of Lucifer into the brats already. The real villain has still to be discovered!’
He wheeled his horse out of the Dower House stableyard and, raising his crop in salute, he galloped back down the lane to Beldale.
Upon his entry into the hall he encountered Harriet sitting on a chair, reading. To his surprise she jumped up and came forward to meet him.