And so at seven o’clock prompt, the carriage arrived and when Emmy, Abi and Hetty went to get inside they found their cousin Jasper waiting for them.
‘You needn’t smirk,’ Abi growled as she saw him grin. ‘But for the grace of God it could have been you finding yourself in our predicament!’
He looked at her fine gown, which was totally inappropriate for where they were going, and laughed. ‘I don’t think so, cousin dear. My father would never be so reckless with his money.’
His cruel words spurred Emmy to respond, ‘And how wouldyouknow what led Papa to lose everything? Something must have gone wrong with the business.’
He shrugged, but seeing that Emmy was angry, he wisely remained silent.
Once they had reached the drive that led to the farm, the carriage veered off and travelled some way across rough ground before the driver slowed the horses to a halt.
‘I’m afraid I can’t take the carriage no further, Mr Chetwynd, sir,’ he told Jasper, respectfully touching his cap. ‘I wouldn’t want it to overturn.’
‘It looks like we’ll be walking from here then,’ Jasper told the young ladies, and jumping down from the carriage he helped Abi and Emmy to alight, although Emmy noticed he didn’t offer to assist Hetty. Like his mother, Jasper believed that servants were far beneath him.
‘Oh really,’ Abi groaned as she shook out the skirts of her pale-blue muslin gown. ‘I hope it isn’t too far. I only got this gown a few weeks ago.’
‘It’s only about half a mile,’ Jasper responded. ‘In fact, you can just see the roof over there, look.’
They set off and as the cottage came into sight, Abi gasped with horror. ‘But that can’t be where we are expected to live, surely?’
The cottage was surrounded by a small copse. It was clear that someone had been doing repairs to the roof by the amount of broken tiles that had been thrown against the rickety picket fence that surrounded it, and someone had scythed down the majority of the overgrown weeds in the garden. They now stood in a large pile to one side of the door, ready to be burnt. The windows were so grimy that it was impossible to see through them and the paint was peeling from the front door.
‘You should think yourself lucky. This is one of the biggest cottages on the estate,’ Jasper told her, clearly enjoying himself. ‘The gamekeeper used to live here but he bought a small house in Bedworth a few years ago and travels into work now. The cottage has stood empty ever since he left so I can’t say what it will be like inside.’
If the outside was anything to go by, Emmy had a pretty good idea and her heart sank. But she remained silent as they walked up the path to the front door.
‘Here we are then, welcome to your new home.’ Jasper grinned as he threw the door open with a flourish and they stepped in. It was very dark and gloomy inside and festoons of cobwebs hung like dirty lace from the rafters and the quarry tiles on the floor were so dirty it was impossible to see what colour they were.
Abi began to whimper with distress. ‘B-but we can’tpossiblylive here. It’s nothing more than a hovel,’ she said between sobs.
It was Hetty who tried to lighten the mood. ‘It ain’t that bad, Miss Abigail. Come on, let’s ’ave a good look around.’
The room they were in was clearly a sitting room-cum-kitchen and a large blackleaded range stood against one wall beside an inglenook fireplace. On another wall was a large pot sink attached to a long wooden draining board with a pump above it.
‘Look,’ Hetty whooped. ‘We’ve even got a pump, so there must be a well outside.’ She tried it out and after a time was rewarded when a gush of brackish water streamed out of it. ‘That’s only cos it ain’t been used for a while,’ she assured her young mistresses. ‘Once it’s been cleaned out the water will be lovely, you’ll see.’ She crossed the room and threw open another door and exclaimed with delight. ‘An’ look ’ere. There’s a nice little parlour. Now let’s go an’ ’ave a look upstairs, eh?’
After climbing the rather rickety staircase that led directly up from one corner of the kitchen, they found themselves on a small landing with a door on either side of it. ‘There yer go,’ Hetty said with a smile. ‘There’s a room fer the mistress and you two can share the other one.’
‘Share!’ Abi looked horrified. ‘But I’ve always had my own room ever since I left the nursery!’
‘Hm, but beggars can’t be choosers,’ Jasper pointed out, obviously enjoying her discomfort immensely. ‘And I think it was jolly good of my father to offer you a roof over your heads in the circumstances.’
‘Oh, shut up!’ Abi glared at him before pointing to what amounted to no more than a ladder further along the landing that led up into the roof space. ‘And what’s up there?’
‘I’ll go up an’ take a look, miss,’ Hetty volunteered, gathering her dull skirt into a bundle and showing her ankles in a most unladylike way. ‘Though I doubt I’ll be able to see much wi’out a light if it’s up in the eaves.’ She disappeared from sight and when she reappeared a few minutes later, looking grubby, she grinned. ‘It’s another room, an’ that’ll do nicely fer somewhere fer me to sleep. It’s got a slopin’ roof but I should be able to get a bed up there at least.’
Abi shuddered in disgust. ‘Ugh. I bet the whole place is crawling with spiders and it’s filthy,’ she complained.
‘There’s nowt that a bit o’ soap an’ water an’ a lot of elbow grease won’t fix,’ Hetty assured her. ‘I reckon it’ll be smashin’ once it’s ’ad a good clean an’ got some decent bits o’ furniture in. I’ll come an’ make a start on it first thing in the mornin’. Yer won’t know the place by the time I’ve done.’
Unable to bear the indignity of the situation she found herself in, Abigail suddenly flounced about and headed for the door, declaring, ‘I can’t stand this a moment longer; I’m leaving!’
Jasper was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face and he grinned as she pushed past him and stormed down the stairs. ‘Don’t you want a lift back home? Oh, sorry, I forgot this soonwillbe your home.’
She gave him a final glare and was lost to sight. Hetty chewed on her lip worriedly. Emerald seemed to be a lot more accepting of what was happening, probably because she was far more worried about her father than herself, Hetty thought, but she dreaded to think how the mistress and the other young miss were going to cope. Still, what was done was done and now they were all just going to have to try to make the best of it.
Chapter Six
