To her astonishment, Daisy, her hair tumbled all down her back and wearing only a nightgown, scuttled out. Even more astonishingly, James burst into laughter. Then he noticed Katherine, frozen with shock at her bedroom door.
“Better go back to bed, cousin,” he said. “You should not see this.”
Uncle Cathcart turned and started at the sight of Katherine. “No, indeed! Into your room at once, lock your door and stay there. Nothing to alarm you, niece.”
Obediently, Katherine did as she was bidden, but for some time afterwards there was a murmur of voices, and footsteps coming and going on the stairs. Eventually, all was quiet again. Then, a timid knock on her door, and Aunt Cathcart’s voice.
“Are you awake, dear? May I come in for a moment?”
Katherine let her in, rather amused by the embarrassment written on her aunt’s face. “It is quite all right, ma’am. You do not need to explain to me. Daisy will have to leave, I know that.”
Her aunt gave a half smile. “You know what was going on, then? I am so shocked! And ashamed to think that my own sons—!”
“My father said it was natural for young men to… experiment. That was how he put it. One of our neighbours had a son who… experimented with the housemaid.”
Aunt Cathcart patted her hand. “You were always a sensible child. I should have known you would not fall into hysterics.”
“What is the point of that?” Katherine said. “I am excessively disappointed in Daisy, though. She appeared to be such a respectable girl. I found her weeping at the altar over a lie she once told, and now I find she does something far worse. I would never have introduced her into a Christian household if I had known she was so shockingly lax in her ways.”
“She has an odd sense of morality. I have given her a severe talking to, as you may imagine, but she considers this… tonight’s behaviour as something perfectly natural and acceptable. Well, it might be where she comes from, but not in my house. She will leave first thing in the morning.”
Breakfast the next morning was the most peculiar Katherine had ever experienced. Alex and Neil were an odd mixture of chastened and triumphant, James was amused, their father was forbiddingly stern and their mother brightly pretending nothing was amiss. Aveline, Susan and Lucinda, having heard the disruption but not understanding the cause, asked sly questions which were ruthlessly suppressed by Aunt Cathcart.
Katherine said nothing. She could find nothing amusing in the situation, and it was an inconvenience to lose Daisy and have to engage another maid. Perhaps she could write to Mrs Vance, and ask her to find someone from Branton? Since the Cathcart sisters were engaged in torturing the pianoforte under Miss Harkness’s watchful eye, Katherine retreated to the quiet of her room.
Having written her letter to Mrs Vance, she thought of her jewellery box. She was to be married soon, so she would need to let her trustees know of it, so that her trust fund could be made over to Kent. Lifting out the inner compartments, she retrieved the bundle of documents and briskly untied the string. Then she spread the papers out on the little table by the window, most of them in her father’s distinctive hand that gave her a pang of grief.
But one was in a different hand, the name at the bottom‘Arbuthnot Humber, Humber Bank, Branton’.At the top, it read,‘Summary of trust fund at commencement’.The date was two years earlier, when Papa had first taken out the loan for the new mill, and had created the trust fund to protect her dowry. And there, in a neat list, were all the monies in the fund. Five thousand pounds as marriage settlement for Miss Elizabeth Hawley. The accumulated interest therefrom. A bequest from Miss Agatha Hawley, plus accumulated interest. A further bequest from Mr Thomas Hawley, being a half share in Whitmoor Mill, and a quarter share in a coal mine in Nottinghamshire, these to be made over to Katherine on her coming of age. And at the bottom, the total value, underlined twice, of seventeen thousand four hundred and sixty pounds.
And Papa had said it was only a modest amount! Great heavens! There was also the ten thousand pounds from Mr Vance, she remembered.Twenty-seven thousand pounds!She and Kent were rich, or at least rich enough to live comfortably while he established himself. She knew to the penny how much it cost to run that house in Branton, and although they would need furniture, they need not furnish the entire house straight away, just the principal rooms. Then they could open up additional rooms as they could afford it.
Whitmoor Mill… that was a small place, still water-powered, but ripe for expansion and a beam engine. Yes, that could be made a great deal more profitable. And coal was always a sound investment. With steam-driven mills opening up all over the north, there would be increasing demand for coal. And perhaps some of the profits could be invested in further coal mines.
Oh, this would be so much fun! This was what she understood, what she had been raised to do. She could abandon the ladylike embroidery and watercolours and get back to the real world of industry. She could not wait to discuss it with Kent that evening.
Humming with excitement, she began to make a list of what needed to be done.
27: A Grand Ball
Kentwascaughtupin the last-minute preparations for the ball being held to celebrate the marriage of his cousin Bertram to Bea Franklyn. Bertram had sensibly retired to his library until forced to become the centre of attention, but Bea and her stepmother, Lady Esther Franklyn, spent the day at Corland Castle, Lady Esther to issue a stream of wildly ambitious instructions to the servants, and Bea mostly to get in the way, or so it seemed to Kent.
“This is so much fun!” she cried, having just decreed to the long-suffering footmen that the flower arrangements in the great hall be moved for the third time.
“But a great deal of work for you,” Kent said. “You will be glad when all the excitement is over and you and Bertram are safely married so that you can have a rest. Are you planning a wedding tour?”
“Oh, no, we have the Dower House to finish first. Perhaps in the spring. Do you think the purple and orange flowers look better by themselves or all mixed up?”
“I think they look perfect as they are. No one will notice them, anyway. They will all be looking at you.”
Bea was not a person who blushed, but even she looked slightly conscious at this flattery. “Oh no, they will look at Bertram just as much, for he is always so elegant in his evening attire, do you not think? He has that quiet style that is never showy but always refined. Not like me! I wish I could be refined, but I never shall. I only hope I shall not shame him this evening by tripping over my own feet.”
“You will be everything that is admirable,” Kent said, “but do get some rest before this evening.”
“Oh, but I want everything to be perfect!” she cried. “I so want Bertram to have a wonderful time, for it is almost his last day of freedom. He will be tied to me for the rest of his life, poor man, so he might as well enjoy himself while he still can. Oh! The salmon patties! I promised I would try them out to make sure they are good enough to serve. I shall see you tonight, Kent.”
So saying, she dashed away to the kitchen, and Kent was left to surreptitiously shuffle the flowers into a more felicitous arrangement.
Late in the afternoon, he snatched an hour away from the castle to call on Katy, for heaven forbid that a whole day should pass without a meeting. He found Cathcart House almost empty. Katy was alone in the music room, her finger running lightly over the keys as she played a gentle air.
