The Housemaid’s Scandalous Secret

Learning of her nephew’s arrival Lady Mannering entered. Her small, rotund figure was encased in deep rose silk and a widow’s cap was atop her sprightly brown hair liberally streaked with grey. As she went to greet her nephew, her eyes were bright with intelligence, set in a soft, lined face.

After greeting his aunt affectionately, Ross sat across from her and looked at her homely face and the light blue eyes that had scolded and teased him and Araminta and loved them so well. His look became sombre.

‘Cousin Giles wrote and told me about young Edward.’

Grace’s eyes filled with sadness. ‘Yes, it was quite dreadful when we heard he’d been killed. There was great relief when Giles came back. As you will remember Edward was so attached to his older brother, but now Giles has resigned his commission. What happened to Edward has affected him rather badly, I’m afraid. And if that weren’t bad enough Jamie is still missing.’

Ross stared at her in stunned disbelief. His cousin Jamie Montague, heir to the magnificent Castonbury Park in Derbyshire, had been listed as missing in Spain a year before Waterloo. ‘Good heavens! I was hoping he’d been found by now. Is there still no word?’

‘I’m afraid not.’

‘No body has been found?’

She shook her head. ‘It’s thought that he was washed away when crossing a swollen river before the push for Toulouse.’

‘Then Giles stands next in line. Knowing of his love for the military life, he will be a reluctant heir.’

‘He was in London recently. It would have been good for you to have seen him before he left for Castonbury. Still, I suppose you’ve been fighting your own battles in India.’

‘I’ll catch up with him there. Castonbury is still my home and I am eager to see my uncle. Giles must be feeling pretty wretched right now. With Edward dead and Jamie missing—and of course Harry busy with his work here in London, he’s going to need someone close.’

‘Family support is always a good thing at a time like this, Ross. All things considered, the Montagues aren’t as invincible as they thought.’

Having been raised with the Montague children, Ross had come to look on the six siblings as his brothers and sisters, and his concern over the disappearance of one and the death of another affected him deeply. Added to this was the financial crisis that had hit the family following the Napoleonic wars. Although the Montagues courted danger, they were his family, to be defended to the death.

‘On top of Jamie’s disappearance, Edward’s death will have affected my uncle very badly.’

‘I’m afraid it has. Everyone is quite worried about him. The letters that Phaedra writes to Araminta tell of his declining health and that his mind is not what it was, that at times he seems to be a little … unhinged I believe was the term she used. Which reminds me. A letter has been delivered from Castonbury Park. It’s from Giles. Would you like to read it now?’

‘I’ll do that when I go and change.’ Ross frowned with concern. ‘I shall not delay in leaving for Castonbury. But first I shall have to visit my tailor—which I shall do first thing tomorrow. After that I shall be free to go.’

‘The Season is almost over. Araminta can go with you.’

‘Are you to accompany us too, Aunt?’

‘You know how I prefer to be in town. However, I will give you the loan of my travelling chaise to take you to Castonbury. It could do with an outing and it will give the grooms something to do. Do you require a valet, Ross?’

‘I’ve brought my own man with me, Blackstock, a young subaltern in my regiment. I left him at the dock sorting out the baggage. He should be here shortly.’

In the privacy of his room, Ross opened the letter from his cousin Giles, and found he was greatly disturbed by its contents. It contained a hurried account of a mysterious woman claiming her son was Jamie’s heir, and that the family was in dire financial straits. Indeed, the news was so dire it seemed as if the house of Montague was about to come crashing down. Giles asked Ross to go and see this woman, who was in lodgings in Cheapside, for himself, and afterwards to seek out his brother Harry while he was in London and explain the situation. Ross must also emphasise to Harry the importance of finding out what had happened to Jamie, and that it was imperative that Harry left for Spain as soon as he was able.

Folding the letter, Ross sat down to draft a note to his cousin Harry.

Before sitting down to dinner, Ross sought his aunt’s company in order to see what other troubles might have befallen the Montagues in his absence. He was shocked to discover that his sister had broken her betrothal to Lord Antony Bennington, son and heir of the Earl of Cawood in Cambridgeshire. Ross was disappointed. From what he remembered of young Bennington the man was an agreeable sort. Was there any good news to be had? he wondered to himself.

‘Araminta must have had good reason to cry off her betrothal to young Bennington,’ Ross said with a troubled frown. Having played nursemaid, surrogate father and guardian to Araminta all her life, she was in part the reason why he had returned to England, to provide the final direction she needed to cross the threshold into matrimony. It would seem he was going to have his work cut out to have her settled before he could return to India. ‘How has it affected her?’

‘Araminta is a girl of too much resolution and energy of character to allow herself to dwell on useless and unseemly sorrow for the past,’ Aunt Grace said. ‘Naturally she was regretful for a while, but she has wisely turned her attention towards the future, which is vastly more important to her than pining for what is lost.’

‘Do you know what happened to make her break off the betrothal? Did she not speak of it to you?’

‘No, she did not. The only reason she would give was that they did not suit—but I heard from a reliable source that Araminta caught him in a dalliance with a young woman by the name of Elizabeth Walton.’

Ross looked at Araminta with concern when she walked in and sat beside her aunt on the sofa. Looking at her now he noted her eyes held a certain sadness, and Ross was not at all convinced that she had put her broken betrothal behind her.

‘You haven’t forgotten that we’re going shopping tomorrow, have you, Araminta?’ Grace said as they settled down to dinner. ‘I thought we might start by visiting the Exchange. Of course, all the best shops are on Bond or Bruton Street. If we have the time we can go there after.’

‘You may have to go alone. I swear I have the onset of a headache. I think I shall lie in, if you don’t mind.’

‘But I do mind. Fresh air will be more beneficial to you than lying in bed all day. I’ll send Sarah in to pamper you if you like.’

‘How very generous of you, Aunt Grace. You know I’m in need of a maid of my own, for while Sarah is diligent, she has so much to do. She is always in a hurry and knows nothing of dressing me properly. Little wonder I appear at dinner looking half dressed and my hair all mussed up,’ Araminta complained.

Ross pricked up his ears and looked at his sister, an image of the delectable Miss Napier drifting into his mind. ‘You require a maid?’

‘I most certainly do,’ Araminta replied adamantly. ‘I’ve mentioned it to Aunt Grace before but she never seems to get round to it.’

‘That’s true,’ Grace said. ‘There always seems to be so much to think about. But I agree, Araminta, you really do need a maid of your own.’

‘Then might I suggest someone?’ Ross said, feeling a strange lift to his heart. ‘I met a young woman yesterday. She’s been in India and is employed as maid to a lady and her daughter who reside in Chelsea. Her position is to be terminated in three weeks and she is looking for another post.’

‘Why?’ Araminta asked suspiciously. ‘What has she done?’

‘Nothing. Her employers are moving to Brighton and she will no longer be required.’

Ross’s suggestion cheered Araminta somewhat. She studied the almost fond smile upon her brother’s face as he spoke of the girl and noted the gleam in his eyes. He seldom smiled, she knew, unless the smile was seductive or cynical, and when he was in the presence of his uncle, the Duke of Rothermere, he rarely laughed. It was almost as though he believed sentimentality silly and anything that was silly was abhorrent and made a man vulnerable. She was intrigued. Was it possible that he’d developed a special fondness for this maid?

‘What is this extraordinary female’s name and what does she look like?’ Araminta asked, anxious to discover more about the girl who’d had such an unusual effect on her brother.

‘Her name is Lisette Napier. She is quite tall, slender and dark haired. Her speech is as cultured as yours and mine. Her manners are impeccable and she is presentable.’

‘And how old is she?’

‘I believe she is twenty.’

‘I see. Isn’t that a little young to be a lady’s maid?’

‘And will she make a suitable maid?’ Aunt Grace asked.

‘I really have no idea about such things, but I’m sure Mrs Arbuthnot would not employ her if she wasn’t any good at her job.’

‘Well, heaven forbid if she’s prettier than Araminta. It would never do for a maid to be more becoming than her mistress.’

‘Oh, that doesn’t matter,’ Araminta remarked happily, having already decided to take Miss Napier on—for her brother’s sake as well as her own need and curiosity. ‘I should very much like for you to hire her, Ross.’

‘I expect you could do worse than give her a chance—perhaps for a trial period of a month. See how she gets on.’

‘Yes—yes, I will. Decent servants are neither easy to find, cheap to train, nor simple to keep. I would like to meet her first.’