Silas—I mean—does he know about such things?’
The housekeeper gave her a pitying look. ‘There’s not a family hereabouts that doesn’t, miss.’
‘But I don’t understand. Why should Nick come hereT?’
‘That I couldn’t say, mistress. He stayed in the village for a week or more, went out with Silas and the boys—do you remember my sons, ma’am, Sam and Nathanial? You wouldn’t recognise ’em, they’re strapping men now. Both married; my Nathanial has twins and Sam has a babe on the way.’
Eve smiled reminiscently. ‘We used to play together on the Marsh, did we not? I know you did not always approve of my running wild with the boys, but Mama did not mind, and we were very young. It all changed when I was sent away to school.’
‘You had to learn to be a lady, Miss Eve.’
‘I suppose I did.’ Eve sighed. ‘But we digress. You were telling me about Captain Wylder’s visit.’
‘Ah, yes. As I was saying, Silas keeps a galley on the Marsh, you see, and Captain Nick went out with them—’
‘Wait, wait, wait!’ Eve interrupted her again. ‘Are you saying Captain Wylder helped them to smuggle goods into the country?’
‘Silas prefers to call it free trading,’ said Mrs Brattee, affronted. ‘They brings in a few barrels of brandy, sometimes a bit of Brussels lace—it’s not as though anyone hereabouts could afford to buy it, if they had to pay the duty, so it ain’t doing any harm.’
Evelina realised it would be useless to argue and turned her mind to her main anxiety. ‘But why Nick? What interest did he have in such things?’
‘There’s many a seafaring man turns to free trading to repair his fortunes, mistress.’
Eve shook her head. ‘Nick Wylder was not in need of money. I know that because Grandpapa discussed the marriage settlements with me. Not only did my husband have property, there is also a great deal of prize money invested in the Funds. So why should he come to Monkhurst?’
‘The captain was very interested in the house, but Silas was adamant. Apart from the odd visit from your grandpapa, Monkhurst has been shut up since your parents died.’ Aggie gave a noisy sigh. ‘Very attached to your mama, was Silas. Apple of his eye, she was, so he wasn’t about to let anyone into her house. Even when your cousin, Mr Bernard Shawcross, came down here a couple o’ years ago. Silas turned him away, sayin’ he’d had his orders from your grandpapa to shut the house up and shut it would remain.’ She snorted. ‘And your cousin didn’t take it anything like as well as Cap’n Wyldfire. Raged at Silas, he did; said he was family and entitled to be let in, but Silas said if that was the case he should go and get permission from your grandfather.’
‘Yes, but what of Captain Wylder?’ Eve prompted her gently.
‘The cap’n went off. Back to London, we thought. Then, next thing we knows, he comes back to tell us he’s wed—and to our own Miss Shawcross!’
‘But why did he not tell me he had been to Monkhurst, or that he was coming back here?’
The housekeeper’s blank look was genuine, and Eve forbore to press her further. However, the question continued to plague Eve. She played with the gold band on her finger, turning it round and round as an answer lodged itself in her brain. Nick had not trusted her.
Only because he did not know me, she told herself fiercely. He would have learned to trust me, in time. If only…A little scream of frustration forced its way up through her. She banged her fist into her palm. ‘Ooooh, I hate that man!’ she hissed. ‘How could he do this to me? I hate him, I hate him!’
Tears welled up again but she fought them down. She would be strong. And she would get to the bottom of this mystery.
However, an interview with Silas proved even less rewarding, for the old man merely shook his head, saying he had no idea why Captain Nick had come looking for him.
‘But you took him out in your boat with you when he was here in the spring.’ She added quickly, ‘Come now, Silas, I know all about your…activities.’
‘The captain ain’t concerned with the piddlin’ little bits we bring in,’ he said. ‘He’s after bigger fish, that much I do know. But he was impressed with the galley that we uses to go in and out to the sea. Deal-made, she is, and fast in the water. Me brother Ephraim ’as another just such a one over at Dimchurch and I told the cap’n how in the old days we used her to row across to Boulogne. Can’t beat Kentish oarsman, mistress, although these days when there’s a drop we just meets the lugger off shore and brings in what we need through Jury’s Cut.’
‘I am sure you do, but it is still illegal, Silas, and I cannot have it.’ She regarded him steadily. ‘You must promise me to give up the trade, Silas. I will find work for you, and for Nat and Samuel, but you must not take part in any further smuggling.’
It was not to be expected that Silas would capitulate immediately, but Eve was adamant and eventually she wrested from him a grudging promise that he would cease his illegal activities. Satisfied on this point, Eve could once more give her attention to finding out why Nick had come to Monkhurst.
‘What did Captain Wylder want here, Silas? How long did he stay in the house?’
‘No more’n a couple o’ nights. We took a dinghy out on the Monkhurst Drain, Miss Eve, that leads down to Jury’s Cut and the sea, and I showed ’im the boathouse, but that ain’t been used for years.’ Silas twisted his cap in his hands and looked at Eve anxiously. ‘I didn’t think there was any harm in it, mistress, knowing the cap’n, and him now being family…’
‘And you trusted him, Silas?’ she said, a little wistfully.
‘With my life, mistress. The cap’n knew I’d follow him anywhere,’ he ended proudly. ‘When we was fighting the rebels in the American War he was never happier than when he was kicking up a dust. Unpredictable, see, like his nickname, Wyldfire. He was here one minute, then the next, he’s up and gone to Hastings.’ Silas frowned, shaking his head. ‘Not but what that was a mistake, God rest his soul.’
There was nothing more to be learned from the old man. Evelina dismissed him, but the problem nagged at her throughout the morning while she worked her way through the house, trying to decide what was required to make it a comfortable home. The early morning sun had given way to heavy storm-clouds and a blustery wind whistled through the passages, signalling a change from the dry, sunny weather of the past few weeks.
It was noon before Eve heard the sounds of the gig returning. A glance out of the window showed her that it was raining heavily and she felt a certain grim satisfaction when she saw that Granby had omitted to take a greatcoat with him, and was soaked through. She hurried to the kitchens and found the valet drying himself off before the kitchen fire. Paying no heed to Mrs Brattee, who was busy unpacking the baskets Granby had brought in for her, Eve went straight into the attack.
‘Why did you not tell me my husband stayed here?’
Granby swung round and she saw the flash of surprise before he schooled his countenance to its usual inscrutable mask. ‘I thought it might distress you, ma’am.’
‘I
