Briony was silently obliged to acknowledge, a moment before her attention was claimed by the late Lady Ashworth’s cook-housekeeper, and almost lifelong companion, who had slipped silently into the room.
‘Seen the last of them to their carriages, Janet?’ A spontaneous smile clearly betrayed the fond regard in which she held the middle-aged servant. ‘What would I have done without you this day?’
The smile in response held no less warmth. ‘Oh, you’d have coped, miss. Hidden depths, that’s what you’ve got, Miss Briony. Mistress always said so. Said you’d always come through in times of trouble.’
‘And I sincerely hope she will be proved to be right.’ Experiencing anything but conviction over her hidden reserves of fortitude, Briony rose from the sofa and went across to the window once again. This time, as she stared out, it wasn’t the grey and overcast sky she saw, only the prospect of a somewhat gloomy future. The truth, however, had to be faced. Better to do so now, she told herself, than retain false hopes.
‘Of course, I shan’t know until I’ve had the meeting with Lady Ashworth’s man of business, but it’s almost certain I shan’t be able to continue living here. Apart from anything else, I simply couldn’t afford to do so.’
Turning away from the window, Briony considered the house she had called home for half her life. Although perhaps not a very large or particularly opulent dwelling for the widow of a wealthy baron, at least not by some standards, the building was well proportioned, boasting half-a-dozen roomy bedchambers and a very elegant west-facing main reception room. The drawing room was undoubtedly her favourite salon, she decided, glancing absently about her, possibly because she had spent so much time here in the company of her godmother.
‘Mistress wouldn’t have left you without the means to support yourself, miss, that I do know,’ Janet assured, after catching the wistful expression on the delicate face that was quite without flaw, except perhaps for a slightly over-generous mouth. ‘She came to love you, looked upon you as the daughter she’d never been blessed to have.’
‘That’s as may be, Janet. But she also looked upon that wretch Luke Kingsley as the son she’d never been blessed to have. And he is blood kin, let me remind you.’
Briony gave herself a mental shake in an attempt not to allow personal prejudice cloud her judgement, but she was only partially successful in her endeavours, as her next words proved.
‘You know better than anyone how she raised him from when he was little more than a babe in arms. Showered everything upon him. Even persuaded her brother to arrange a commission for him so that he might enter the army when he’d finished at Oxford. And how does he repay all those years of devotion …? He cannot even bestir himself to attend his aunt’s funeral!’
‘Well, I expect Master Luke had his reasons for not being here today,’ Janet countered, proving at a stroke that she held her late mistress’s favourite relative in somewhat higher regard. ‘Since he became his uncle’s heir, and left the army, he’s been kept busy, I expect. What with dancing attendance upon Lord Kingsley in Kent, and travelling so often to the capital, I don’t suppose he’s time for much else.’
‘Much else other than his string of light-skirts!’ Briony countered. ‘If the gossips are to be believed, the infamous Lady Tockington’s his latest strumpet. I wonder how long she will reign supreme? Not long if past conquests are anything to go by. He’s not what you’d call constant in his attentions, now is he? His list of entanglements is legend!’
‘Well, upon my word! What would the mistress say if she heard you talking like that?’
Briony couldn’t resist smiling at this pitiful attempt at a reprimand. ‘She’d try to appear affronted, much as you’re doing now. But she’d have made a somewhat more convincing show of doing so.’ All at once she was serious. ‘But even you must own to the fact that Godmama began to despair at some of the rumours circulating about her precious nephew.’
‘That’s as may be,’ the housekeeper conceded, ‘but that don’t alter the fact the mistress thought highly of Master Luke, no matter what the gossipmongers said about him. And mistress was a fine judge of character. After all, she knew you’d turn out well, right enough. So very proud of you she was, too.’
The sudden shadow of grief passing over Briony’s features was unmistakable and resulted in the housekeeper rushing across to her side to offer comfort, just as she had done time and again during the past ten days or so.
Slipping an arm around Briony’s slender shoulders, she held the younger woman close. ‘There, there, Miss Briony … chin up! The servants are all looking to you to see them right, remember? The Lord alone knows what will become of us all! As you say, Master Luke might well inherit the house. But who’s to say he wouldn’t sell it? When all’s said and done, he’s been content to remain most all year round in the capital since he left the army. And don’t forget he’s got his own fine place in Derbyshire. Mayhap he’s no taste for country life n’more.’
‘No, perhaps not,’ Briony agreed. ‘All the same, I’m sure he’d do everything within his power to ensure you, at least, could remain in the house. Even I recall how very fond of you he used to be.’
‘That’s as may be, miss,’ Janet responded, after releasing her hold to go about the room in order to plump up cushions. ‘But I shan’t stay here, not without you.
‘Now, miss, it’s not a ha’p’orth of good you trying to change my mind,’ she went on, when Briony was about to protest. ‘I decided what I was going to do the day we found the poor mistress cold in her bed. Lady Ashworth would have expected me to continue caring for you. I’m sure the mistress has left you something in her will. Just as I’m certain she wouldn’t have forgotten me. Said she’d look after me in my old age. And mistress always kept her word. I’m not saying it’ll be much, but enough, I shouldn’t wonder, for us to set up house together.’
All at once she appeared almost cheerful. ‘Why, we could go and live on the coast together and mayhap open a small boarding house for genteel ladies! Sea bathing has become quite popular in recent years, so I’m told.’
Briony smiled fondly. ‘It would seem you have our futures all mapped out for us. And who knows, opening a genteel little boarding house might be just the thing for us! But until I’ve had that all-important interview with Mr Pettigrew, I’ll not know for sure just how we’re situated.’
Briony had duly received a letter from the notary to say that he would attend her at the house at her convenience. She had sent a reply directly back to suggest the meeting take place at his office, as it would enable her to carry out other errands in the local town.
As she stepped down from her late godmother’s somewhat antiquated carriage a few days later and entered the premises of the well-patronised haberdashery in the main street, she was very thankful she had made the effort to travel to the thriving little community. Apart from the servants, she had had no contact with anyone since the day of the funeral. Being a healthy young woman, she had always enjoyed outdoor pursuits, and was already heartily sick of her own company and of remaining within the confines of the garden back at the house.
‘Why, Miss Briony! What a pleasure it is to see you out and about again!’ the young proprietress proclaimed the instant Briony stepped inside the shop. Her smile of welcome faded almost at once as the sight of strict mourning attire recalled to mind recent sad events. ‘I was so sorry not to attend the funeral, but my assistant was taken poorly that day, miss, and I couldn’t find anyone else to mind the shop for me for an hour or so at such short notice. I can’t afford to close it
