With all my motherly love,
Mother
He scratched his head. They had an estate! How did this come about? Harry knew he needed to wait until he arrived at Winsdale to have his questions answered. He hoped that Father would think him mature enough to confide in him.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
On the fourth day of travel, the conveyance arrived at Winsdale. The coachman guided his team of four as they turned onto a gravel drive. This far north, there was already a dusting of snow on the ground, and the weak sun was powerless to melt it.
When he alighted, Harry could not but feel the bite of the cold. His parents were waiting for him just inside of the door, where his mother pulled him into a hug.
“Mother, I am pleased to see you too, but I am no longer a young lad,” Harry protested half-heartedly. He loved his mothervery much, but that was at war with his attempt to be a man and no longer a boy.
“Fiddlesticks! You are my son, and even when you are much older than this, I will still hug you this way in greeting, so you had better become sanguine with that,” Leticia Hurst responded playfully. She knew that Harold had to be educated, but she greatly missed not having her boy at home any longer.
“Enough, Lettie. Allow me to shake our son’s hand,” Hurst boomed.
Leticia reluctantly relinquished her son and stood back as the two men in her life shook hands. “Now, Harold, these are Mr and Mrs Adams, the butler and housekeeper. You will become familiar with them soon enough.” She turned to her housekeeper. “Mrs Adams, is Master Hurst’s suite prepared?”
“Aye, Mistress, it is,” Mrs Adams responded.
“In that case, I will show you up to your chambers, and, Ignatius, would an hour be enough before our son meets with us in the family sitting room?” Leticia asked.
“More than enough time. Go wash and change, Son. Your mother will point the sitting room out to you on the family floor,” Hurst agreed.
Even though he was sure he had only seen a fraction of the house, Harry was certain that the manor house was many times larger than their former London house. The stairs they took were wide and were a beige marble.
They did not stop on the first floor. “This is where some of the drawing rooms and parlours are, as well as my and your father’s studies. At the end of this hallway,” Leticia pointed down a passageway to her left, “you will find the library.”
Up one more flight they went to the second floor, where the stairs terminated. “Mother, are there not floors above us?” Harry enquired.
“Indeed, two more and then the attics. There is a separate staircase for guests which reaches those floors. Harold, as you can tell, this house is at least ten times larger than our old house. Additionally, the house in London we were given is about three times bigger than our former home,” Leticia related.
“Mother, I am astounded! An estate, a house in a much more fashionable area than where we lived. How did this come about?”
“Dear, you will learn it all soon. Here is your suite, and that door,” Leticia pointed diagonally across the hall, three doors down, “is the sitting room where your father and I will meet with you in a little under an hour.”
The Hurst heir’s breath was taken away when his mother opened the door. The bedchamber was the largest he had ever beheld, and the bed was enormous. But that was not all; he was shown his dressing room, a bathing room, and a sitting room next to his chamber. On the other side of the sitting room was a second set of chambers to the one he would inhabit, only they were unoccupied.
One more surprise awaited young Harry when there was a knock on his door. His mother opened it, and she had a wide smile. A man stood without and entered when his mother nodded.
“This is Mr Lendell Holcomb, your valet,” Leticia stated.
More than anything else which had shocked him since his journey from Eton had begun, this one was the biggest. Boys likeHilldale had valets, even sons of wealthy landed gentlemen, but not him!
After Mother left the chamber, Holcomb, as he had asked to be called, assisted with his wash and then dressing afterward. To Harry, this was all very foreign; he had been dressing himself since not long after being breeched. All he could hope was that his parents, especially Father, would explain this all to him.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Just shy of an hour later, Harry knocked on the door of the family sitting room. His father opened the portal and welcomed him inside. He noticed that his valet took up station in the hallway opposite.
“Sit, Son. I know you more than likely have many questions. Allow me to tell you the following first, and afterward, if you have questions, you may ask them. Before I proceed, I need a very solemn vow from you. Nothing you hear here today may be repeated to anyone without my word in writing or in person. Can you give me that promise?” Hurst quizzed.
“You have my word of honour; I will not speak of what you tell me here today,” Harry swore.
Hurst nodded. He stood and paced as he collected his thoughts and then turned to face his son. “My work at Somerset House is not as a civil servant or for the navy. I, and the men who work for me, work directly for the Crown. We are a group who uncover threats against the royals and our kingdom…” Hurst explained how the unit of essentially spies and protectors of the realm had been created by King George II in 1737, a decade after he was crowned king. He mentioned some plots which had been foiled, including one in 1787, when a group of followers of William Godwin[1] who perverted his message attempted tosucceed where Guy Fawkes[2] failed. They failed too. Hurst explained that the fact that no one in society, outside of a select few, knew of the attempt spoke to the success of the mission. “I am sure you are wondering how our circumstances changed so completely, are you not?”
Harry nodded emphatically, trying to reconcile his mild-mannered father with the man who was a spy, and more than that. A man who fought clandestinely for King and country.
