A Mother's Shame (44 page)

‘You two go and get a hot drink,’ she said eventually. ‘I can look after him until the doctor arrives and you both look fit to drop. Get out of those wet clothes too, Josh, and make sure that Henry has some dry clothes as well or you’ll both catch your deaths.’

Josh and Henry left the room and now that she was alone with her husband, Helena began to talk to him even though she had no idea if he could hear her or not.

‘You
must
get well,’ she said. ‘I know our life together hasn’t been ideal for some time, but I have never stopped loving you. I want you to know that.’

Feeling a slight movement in his fingers she looked towards his face and was shocked to see he was staring at her. The deep wound on his forehead had opened up again and was leaking blood down his cheek, and she pressed a cloth to it as she told him, ‘Don’t try to talk, my darling. The doctor is on his way and he will help you. He has to.’

The grip on her fingers increased and his mouth worked soundlessly. Realising that he was trying to tell her something, she leaned closer.

‘I . . . I’m sorry.’

‘Shush,’ she urged but he went on.

‘I locked Maria and the baby away. I – I’m so sorry. I . . . love you.’

The breath caught in her throat but she forced herself to ask, ‘Where, Charles?
Where
are Maria and the baby?’

His eyes were beginning to glaze over now and she began to panic, but before she could say anything else he muttered,
‘L-Lennie,’
and then drew a shuddering breath and became still. Sobbing, she laid her head on his chest. She needed no doctor to tell her that he was dead.

‘Your father told me that
he
had had Maria and the baby locked away,’ she told Josh. Her son was holding her hand and trying to comfort her while dealing with his own profound sense of shock at the death of his father. ‘But when I asked him where they were, he only said one word, or should I say name? He said “Lennie”. Isn’t that the young man who came here to tell us that the child was Maria’s?’

‘Yes, it is.’ Josh made a huge attempt to control his feelings at this news. ‘Can you manage here on your own for a while, Mother? I hate to leave you at such a time but there is nothing we can do for Father now, so it’s imperative that Henry and I find Lennie and track down Maria and Faith.’

‘Of course I can,’ Helena answered brokenly. It felt as if her whole world was falling apart, but Josh was quite right. If this Lennie knew where her granddaughter was, then they must waste no time in finding him. However, before Josh had a chance to take leave of her, the butler hurried towards them with a worried look on his face. The staff were creeping about the house like mice in respect for the master, and normally Jennings would have turned any visitors away at such a time, but he had a feeling that the mistress might well want to see this one.

‘There is someone here asking to see you, ma’am,’ he told her quietly. ‘I have shown him into the day room. It’s a Mr Glover.’

Josh’s eyes almost popped from his head. ‘Thank you, Jennings,’ he said. ‘Tell him we shall be along to see him shortly.’

*

A log cracking on the fire made Maria’s eyes spring open, and glancing towards the window she was shocked to see that it was pitch black outside. Goodness, I must have been asleep for hours, she thought as she yawned and stretched. The babies were still quiet, although some of them were stirring now, so she hastily threw another log on the fire then set about lighting the candles that were placed around the room. The whole place instantly looked cosier as the flickering lights chased the shadows away. She put some milk to heat on the flames before going from one cot to another, smiling comfortingly at the tiny occupants. Faith gave her a gummy grin as Maria leaned over her, and she tickled her under the chin as she promised, ‘You’ll be having some nice warm milk soon, darling.’ The child cooed in response, and happy that she was content for now, Maria hurried on to Johnny’s cot. The instant she gazed in at him she had a terrible sense of foreboding. He was lying very still with his long eyelashes curled on his pale little cheeks. Too still, she found herself thinking as she reached down to touch his tiny hand. Her own recoiled as she realised that he was icy cold. But he shouldn’t be, surely? She had insisted that she had enough fuel for the fire to keep the room warm. Taking a deep breath, she began to lift him from his cot and as his little head lolled to one side, a strangled sob caught in her throat.

‘Oh Johnny, no, you can’t be dead,’ she muttered broken-heartedly. ‘I thought you were over the worst.’ It was then that the smell of burning pervaded the room as the milk bubbled over onto the logs, and with Johnny still clutched to her she crossed to the fire and kicked the pan onto the floor with her foot as tears bubbled out of her eyes. As if picking up on her distress, the rest of the babies began to whimper. They had soon discovered that she went to them if they did, but for now Maria was so distressed that she was deaf to them.

Mrs Bradshaw found her still standing there in the middle of the room ten minutes later, and at a glance she guessed what had happened. Even she felt the sting of tears as she saw how upset Maria was.

‘Give him to me, lass,’ she whispered. ‘There’s nothing more you can do for this one now, but the rest of the babies need you. Go on, go and see to them. I’ll make sure that little Johnny is properly buried.’

For a moment, Maria resisted as Mrs Bradshaw tried to take the child from her arms, but then she relented and handed him over. As the woman had said, Johnny was beyond help now. The thought of his tiny body being buried in the earth would haunt her for the rest of her days, and she would always wonder if there was anything more she might have done to save him.

As if she could read her thoughts Mrs Bradshaw told her, ‘Don’t go whipping yourself over this. You couldn’t have done any more than you did. Between you and me, I didn’t think he’d make it. I’ve seen this happen too many times before.’ She turned to leave then, the chatelaine containing the many keys clanking about her waist. Maria heard the key turn in the lock and suddenly her hands clenched into fists as she shouted, ‘I can’t bear it! It’s not fair! He was just a baby!’

The infants’ whimpers progressed to wails, so after pulling herself together with a great effort she swiped the tears away with the back of her hand and quickly tipped some more milk into the pan then placed it back on the fire. Deep inside she was thinking,
I have to get out of here!
Now more than ever, she knew that if she didn’t, she would end up as insane as some of the residents.

*

‘Right, Mother, now just leave the talking up to me,’ Josh warned Helena as they stood outside the door of the day room. She nodded mutely and after a glance at Henry, Josh pushed the door open and strode into the room with the other two following close on his heels.

A fire was burning brightly in the grate and by the light of the oil lamps they saw that Lennie was standing in front of the fire warming his backside as if he owned the place.

He flashed a smarmy smile at them as Josh said curtly, ‘I believe you wanted to see us?’

Lennie had been hoping to see Helena alone, but deciding to brazen it out he said, ‘Actually, I reckon it’s you as might want to see
me.
I’ve got some news yer might be interested in, see, regardin’ the missin’ babby an’ the maid.’

‘Oh yes, and what would that be then?’ Josh was outwardly calm but inside he was battling to stop himself from crossing to this lowlife and throttling him.

‘Ah, now that’s the problem, see. Information the likes o’ what I ’ave don’t come cheap.’ Lennie smirked and Helena laid a restraining hand on her son’s arm as she saw him bristle. ‘The thing is, I ’appen to know where they are, an’ that’s got to be worth sommat, ain’t it?’

‘And where are they?’

‘First things first. What’s this information worth to yer?’

‘Name your price,’ Josh said through gritted teeth and Lennie cocked his head to one side as if he was considering it.

‘Well, I reckon it’s gotta be in the ’undreds, don’t you?’

‘Yes I do,’ Helena said quickly, terrified that Josh might erupt at any minute. ‘How about two hundred pounds?’

‘Is that all a granddaughter is worth to yer?’ Lennie jeered. ‘Double it an’ we might ’ave a deal.’

‘May I just remind you that on your last visit you told us that the baby
wasn’t
my granddaughter,’ Helena reminded him.

Lennie shrugged. ‘We can all make mistakes, can’t we?’

‘Very well, you can have the money. But I’m afraid we don’t keep that sort of cash in the house,’ she told him now. ‘I shall probably have up to two hundred in the safe but you will have to come back for the rest of the money tomorrow.’

When he frowned doubtfully she told him icily, ‘I assure you, Mr Glover. My word is my bond. Now tell me where my granddaughter and Maria are.’

‘Not till I’ve seen the first lot o’ cash,’ he answered sulkily as he twisted his cap in his hands.

Helena turned abruptly and swept from the room in a swish of silken skirts, returning some minutes later with a bundle of notes in her hand.

‘Now tell me where they are,’ she demanded as she held the notes out to him and he licked his lips as he eyed the money greedily.

‘You’ll find ’em both in Hatter’s Hall where they were placed on your ’usband’s instructions.’ He reached out to snatch the money, but as he did so his jacket gaped partially open and Josh saw a flash of gold chain hanging against his grimy waistcoat.

‘What’s this then?’ he cried as he sprang forward, and before Lennie could stop him, he had pulled the gold watch that the chain was attached to from Lennie’s pocket. At the same time a small roll of string rolled out onto the carpet and Lennie paled to the colour of putty.

‘Why . . . this is my father’s watch,’ Josh gasped, and then as his eyes settled on the string he asked Henry, ‘And isn’t that the same sort of string that was tied across the path to trip my father’s horse?’

Henry pulled the string from the pocket of the clean trousers he had borrowed and they saw that the string was identical – and in that moment, everything became clear.

‘Why, it was
you
who caused my father’s accident,’ Josh cried with rage. ‘That must have been when you stole his watch before leaving the poor man for dead.’

‘I did no such thing,’ Lennie blustered as he inched towards the door.

‘So how do you explain this then?’ Josh shook the ball of string in his face. ‘And how do explain the fact that you have my father’s watch in your possession?’

Realising that the game was up, Lennie turned to run but Henry put his foot out and Lennie sprawled across the floor as panic enveloped him.

‘You murdering swine!’ Josh roared.

Henry hauled Lennie none too gently to his feet and shook him like a dog shakes a rat until his teeth rattled.

‘I didn’t kill no one,’ Lennie whined. ‘I just wanted to slow ’im down, like!’

‘Well, you did a bit more than that. My father passed away shortly after being carried home,’ Josh ground out. Hearing the commotion, some of the male staff had entered the room now, and Josh told them: ‘Get this murderer locked up in the cellar then tell one of the stable-lads to go for the Constable. This is the man who killed your master.’

‘But I never meant to!’ Lennie protested, as he looked longingly at the bundle of notes that were now scattered about the floor.

‘Perhaps you’ll remember that when you’re dangling at the end of a rope,’ Josh spat as the men hauled him away.

He then crossed to his mother, who was sobbing uncontrollably, and wrapping his arms about her they stood drawing comfort from each other as Henry stole from the room, leaving them to grieve in private.

‘I really don’t know what you are talking about. I assure you that Maria Mundy and the baby are not here, madam,’ Miss Belle informed Helena and Josh imperiously.

It was now fast approaching midnight and it had taken the carriage hours to reach Hatter’s Hall, with the men regularly having to climb down and shovel a way through the snow for the horses. Now that she was here, Helena had no intention of leaving without her granddaughter and Maria, for despite what Miss Belle had said, she truly believed that they were there. However, should the Housekeeper continue to deny it, Helena knew that it might take hours to locate them. Hatter’s Hall was an enormous place.

Her patience had already been stretched to the limit.

‘I happen to
know
that they are here, Miss Belle, so why don’t you just take me to them and save us all a lot of time and unpleasantness?’ she told the woman. ‘I am aware that you are probably afraid of repercussions from my husband, but you should know that he told me himself he had had them sent here earlier this evening just before he died, so from now on it will be me you are dealing with – and I should warn you, should you cross me I shall make things very uncomfortable for you.’

‘Mr Montgomery is
dead!’
Miss Belle’s hand flew to her mouth in shock.

‘I am afraid he is,’ Helena answered heavily, taking a deep breath to control her emotions. ‘And his murderer is now under lock and key at the police station, so as you can imagine I am in no mood for games.’

At that moment Mrs Bradshaw bore down on them like a large black crow, and ignoring the Housekeeper, she told Helena, ‘I know where they are, ma’am. Would you like to follow me and I’ll take you to them right away.’

‘Mrs Bradshaw, think what you are doing!’ Miss Belle appealed.

‘I know exactly what I am doing. And by the way, I shall be leaving this place just as soon as I can get my bags packed,’ the Matron answered, looking the other woman straight in the eye as she stood, hands on her hips. ‘I am sick and tired of seeing the unnecessary suffering that goes on in this place so I have decided to retire and go and live with my sister. But before I go, I want to see that young Maria Mundy is out of here too. She doesn’t deserve what’s happened to her.’ Then, turning towards Helena and Josh, she repeated courteously, ‘Would you care to follow me?’