“We will tell him,” he said. “And you will not be so far away. Helmsley is hardly the other end of the country, after all. It is barely ten miles from here, an easy ride.”
“Oh, yes! We could come and call upon you!” Emily said happily. “It will not be the same as seeing you almost every day, but it is not so bad. And perhaps… I should not say this, but perhaps you will be valued there as you are not here.”
“I have no complaint to make of my aunt and uncle,” Katherine said sharply. “I should not wish you to think there is any point of contention between us.”
“Then why send you away?” Emily said, and the question was unanswerable.
***
ThejourneytoHelmsleywas accomplished without difficulty. Aunt Cathcart chattered away, telling Katherine about the duties expected of a companion, most of which she forgot as soon as she heard it. Her spirits were very low, as she racked her brain to recall the misstep which was so dire that she needed to be sent away. It must have been dancing the reel, she decided, for she could think of nothing else. It was fortunate that her aunt needed no response, beyond an occasional‘Yes, aunt’or‘No, aunt’.
On the backward facing seat, Daisy practically bounced with excitement. It was the first time she had ever been to Helmsley, the first time she had ever left behind her family altogether, and the first time she would be acting as a lady’s maid without the support of the knowledgeable Miss Rathbone.
Helmsley was as busy as any other town, the streets choked with carriages and wagons and riders and carts, not to mention a man herding a small flock of sheep, and walkers weaving in and out of the traffic as they went about their business. Katherine had not taken much notice of the town before, on the few occasions when she had been there to visit the shops or the seamstress. Now she looked about her with new interest, for this was to be her home for the foreseeable future.
It was a pretty little place, the houses almost all built in the same pale stone, which gave a pleasing uniformity. Most were one or two storeys, but there were some larger houses, too, and the carriage drew up outside one such house, the windows indicating three principal storeys. To Katherine’s pleasure, it sat directly opposite the church, and just round the corner from the market square. What could be more convenient!
Almost before the carriage came to a complete halt, the front door opened, and a well-rounded woman of Aunt Cathcart’s age rushed down the steps, her face wreathed in smiles.
“Annie! My dear friend!” She threw her arms around Aunt Cathcart the instant she set foot on the pavement, and it was some moments before she could disentangle herself.
“Well! Audrey! It is not as if we have not met for years, after all,” Aunt Cathcart said, rather flustered, as she straightened her bonnet. “And this is—”
“Miss Parish, or may I call you Katherine? Oh, so pretty! You didn’t mentionthat, Annie. Come in, come in! Your coachman must bring in the luggage for I have no manservant just now, only a boy to help in the kitchen. Ah, there you are, Ned, Ellen. Show them where to put the luggage, will you? Come on in, Annie. I’ve ordered tea to be brought up the moment you arrive. How were the roads? Tolerable, I trust? You made good time. I hardly thought to look for you for another half hour, at least, and here you are already, sooner than I dared to hope. Come upstairs, Katherine. This way, ladies.”
Katherine wondered if she ever stopped to draw breath. At least there would be no difficulty if she herself could find nothing to say, for clearly Mrs Ryker could talk enough for both of them. Her accent was not strong, but she was not quite from the top level of society, just like Katherine.
The drawing room was a prettily appointed apartment overlooking the street and the church opposite, where two maids brought tea and an array of pastries and cakes. Katherine and her aunt sipped and nibbled, while Mrs Ryker tucked in with gusto, while still managing to talk nonstop.
“You’re musical, I hear, Katherine,” she said at one point, waving a half-eaten strawberry tartlet to emphasise the point. “I have an instrument here, you see. I’ve noticed you eyeing it longingly, and indeed, I hope you’ll play whenever you wish. My two girls played when they were at home, but they’ve been married these two years past and it’s scarcely been touched since. But I’ve had it tuned, and it awaits you whenever you wish to play.
“Thank you, ma’am, I shall—”
“I adore music, myself. I played a little when I was young, although nothing like this. These modern instruments are quite different. I learnt on a spinet, a charming little instrument, but nothing would do for my girls but a proper pianoforte, and I have to say it makes a most effective sound, although—” She paused to pop the remains of the tartlet into her mouth, swallowing it almost instantly. “—personally, I prefer the more delicate sound of the spinet. But there, one must change with the times, I suppose. Another of these little pastries, Annie? Katherine? No? Well, I might have one more myself, then. So do you leave any heartbroken young men behind you, Katherine? I am sure you do… oh, look how she blushes! There’s someone, I swear it.”
“Katherine blushes a great deal, Audrey, without the need to invoke young men.”
“Oh, shy, is she? Well, my dear, you’ll find my friends very easy to get along with. We won’t be rubbing shoulders with any earls or duke’s daughters here, just pleasant, friendly people. Goodness me, those little pastries are all gone. What a pity. Do you want to get off, Annie? I’m sure you want to get back home before it gets too late, and it’s all uphill from here.”
The carriage was sent for from the inn where the horses had been baited, and Katherine bade her aunt farewell. If she shed a few tears as her aunt embraced her, it was as much from fear of the future as sorrow to be parting. She was fond of her aunt, in a dutiful sort of way, but she could not quite understand why she had been invited into the family and welcomed almost as another daughter, and now was to be exiled to live amongst strangers. After six months, when she had just begun to feel settled, she had been uprooted again. And here, there was no possibility of meeting Kent.
How would she bear it?
12: Conversation
ThenotefromCousinEmily was brief.
‘Kent, Katherine Parish has been sent to Helmsley to live as companion to Mrs Ryker, a friend of Mrs Cathcart. Emily.’
Kent was on the doorstep at Westwick Heights within the hour, only to find that Emily had gone out with Aunt Jane and her sisters. He found Lucas at the stable, however.
“What is all this about Miss Parish going away, cousin?” he said without preamble.
“Oh… Kent. Yes, I thought you might be upset about that.”
Upset? He did not want Lucas drawing conclusions from his manner, so he said more temperately, “I am surprised, that is all. She was going to explain about the new sort of valves, and now I find her gone, and with no warning.”
Lucas eyed him oddly. “Valves, eh? Yes, it was a bit sudden. Even Katherine herself had no notion it was in the wind, just told one day and off the next.”
