He had listened sympathetically, although, with the boys’ best interests in mind, he had said he was reluctant to grant Caroline’s request for her brothers to be released early from their studies. She had stood her ground, insisting that it was their mother’s wish to have her sons with her at such a difficult time. It was a short battle of wills and Caroline thought she had been winning the conversation when the headmaster was called away on urgent business. She stood by the smoke-blackened fireplace, anxiously awaiting his return while Sadie paced the floor.
‘What’s keeping him?’ Sadie glared angrily at the clock on the mantelshelf. ‘I’ll be very cross if we’ve spent three hours on the train only to be fobbed off by some jumped-up pedagogue.’
Despite her anxiety, Caroline could not repress a chuckle. ‘That’s a big word, Aunt Sadie.’
Sadie tossed her head. ‘Just because I didn’t have much education it doesn’t mean that I’m ignorant, Miss Caroline.’
‘Don’t get on your high horse. I remember when you used to pull faces at my governess behind her back, and you used to sneak food into the nursery when Max and I were sent to bed without any supper for being naughty.’
Sadie pursed her lips, but her eyes were smiling. ‘Don’t remind me. I shouldn’t have gone behind your parents’ backs, but I thought they were a bit too strict with you at times.’
‘And we loved you for standing up for us.’ Caroline was suddenly alert. ‘Someone’s coming.’ She clasped her hands tightly, hardly daring to breathe as the door opened.
‘Good afternoon, ladies.’ A tall man entered the room, his black gown billowing round him, and he had to bend his head in order to prevent his mortarboard from catching on the lintel. He closed the door, turning to them with a rueful smile. ‘That is the disadvantage of being too tall.’
‘Maybe it’s the fault of the doorway being too low,’ Sadie said, smiling.
Caroline glanced at her in surprise. Was it possible that her spinster aunt, who always obeyed the rules of etiquette, was flirting with this gangly, copper-haired teacher?
‘I should introduce myself.’ He looked from one to the other, his smile broadening. ‘My name is Laurence Bromley, and I have the pleasure of teaching both Max and James. The headmaster asked me to fetch the boys, but I wanted to speak to you first.’
‘I am Miss Sadie Dixon, and this is Miss Caroline Manning, the boys’ sister.’ Sadie’s cheeks were suspiciously pink as she made the necessary introductions, and Mr Bromley was smiling foolishly.
‘Is anything wrong?’ Caroline demanded. ‘Why do you need to speak to me? I simply want to take my brothers home before the end of term. Our mother needs to have them with her at this sad time.’
‘Yes, so I was told, but the Head is unlikely to give his consent, and he’s very strict about this sort of thing. They’re in the anteroom waiting to say goodbye.’
‘That isn’t good enough,’ Caroline said firmly. ‘It would be better if I had the Head’s permission, but I should warn you that I intend to take them home, regardless.’
‘In your position, I would do the same thing. I’ll show them in.’ He ushered the boys into the room and left, closing the door softly behind him.
‘I’m the man of the house now,’ Max said in a choked voice. ‘I want to go home and take care of you and Mama.’
Jimmy nodded, forcing a smile. ‘And I’ll do my best to cheer Mama up.’
Caroline dropped a kiss on his curly head. ‘I know you will, Jimmy. It will be lovely having both of you at home for a while longer.’
‘Mr Bromley is leaving today,’ Max said eagerly. ‘He’s a good chap, Carrie. All the boys like him, but he’s had some rows with the Head.’
Sadie eyed him curiously. ‘Mr Bromley doesn’t give the impression of being a difficult man.’
‘Well, it’s none of our business.’ Caroline patted James on the back. ‘If you’re feeling better we’ll get going. I told the cabby to wait for us.’
‘What about our trunks and tuck boxes?’ Max said frowning. ‘If I know the fellows in my dorm they’ll take what’s left, although there’s not much.’
‘I’m sure we’ve got enough food at home to satisfy your appetite.’ Sadie ruffled his hair, but he moved away, gazing anxiously at his reflection in the glass-fronted bookcase and smoothing his dark-blond curls.
‘I’m too old for that sort of treatment, Aunt Sadie. I’m grown up now.’
‘I used to say much the same when I was your age,’ Sadie said with a rueful smile. ‘That was a long time ago.’
‘You’re not so very old,’ James said quickly.
‘I’m the most senior member of the family present, so I think we should do as your sister says, and make a move.’
James opened his mouth as if to comment, but at that moment the door opened to admit Laurence Bromley. He was not smiling.
‘I’m sorry, Miss Manning, but the Head is adamant that the boys should remain in school until the end of term.’
‘Really? That is unfortunate.’ Caroline grabbed James by the hand. ‘We’re leaving now whether the headmaster likes it or not. He can’t prevent me from taking my brothers home and, to be honest, I doubt very much whether they will return. Perhaps you would be kind enough to ensure that their belongings are sent on by carrier.’ She pushed past him, with James clinging to her hand. ‘Come along, Sadie.’
‘Miss Manning, please wait a moment …’
Caroline ignored his protest and quickened her pace. A vision of her mother’s tear-stained face was enough to spur her on. She was taking her brothers home.
Emotional scenes greeted the boys on their return home to find the household in deep mourning. Curtains remained drawn, mirrors were covered and Esther had ordered all clocks to be stopped at the moment of her husband’s passing. Caroline grieved for her father, but she was more concerned for the living, and after a week of existing in a state of permanent gloom she managed to persuade her mother to allow daylight into the house. She was not bothered by the lack of mirrors, but stopping the clocks was another matter, and eventually Esther agreed that they should be restarted, except for the one in her bedchamber, where the gilt hands would point for ever to the moment when her heart was broken.
Caroline did her best to look after James, and although Max stoutly refused to admit that he was in need of emotional support, she knew that he, too, was suffering the loss of a much-loved parent. Their mother seemed to have drifted into a half-world where she was present in body, but her thoughts were far away.
And then there were the bills. Tradesmen began to knock on the door demanding payment. Ingram sent them on their way, but that did not stop the stream of documents that arrived daily, demanding large sums of money, which shocked Caroline to the core. In her seventeen years of life she had never needed to worry about whether she could afford a new gown or a pair of shoes, let alone how they were going to pay for the food they ate, the coal that heated the house and the candles that lit their rooms. Suddenly these problems became very real.
‘What are we going to do, Aunt Sadie?’ Caroline rushed into the dining room one morning, waving a sheaf of demands for payment under Sadie’s nose. ‘Mama seems to think that our housekeeper deals with the tradesmen’s accounts, but when I spoke to Mrs Hayes she told me that