Alicia (3 page)

Alicia bent a quizzing look on him. “You, too, Stephen? I have managed an estate for something like sixteen years, and I have had a rather successful time of it, you know. It was difficult, not to say impossible, at the start to convince those I dealt with that I took the position seriously. I am no less serious about this endeavor, and I have seen several businesses in the last two months. This shop is ideal for me. Yes, I should like to handle the transaction, but Mr. Dean will feel more comfortable if you do so. However, if you object...”
Her eyes held his steadily, bringing a flush to his cheeks.

“I shall be happy to assist you,”
he admitted grudgingly. “Lord, Alicia, when you stare me down that way I wonder that I should ever question your judgment. But one is not used to having a woman make such a large decision, and on such a brief inspection.”

“Few women are called on to do so. I could dither and worry and consider all the drawbacks, of course. But then I should probably lose the shop. Shall we go out the front way to see the facade of this gem?”
she asked her companions laughingly.

They were all delighted with the twin-gabled appearance of the cottage from the lane. The half-timbered structure had latticed windows on the ground floor and in each of the bedrooms above which gave it an appealing symmetry and simplicity. Felicia pointed out the autumnal cyclamen and blue cornflowers interspersed with golden arnica that grew around the cottage and added their colors to the scene. There were trees along the lane and it was but a few steps to the main street with its green across from Mr. Dean’s shop.

“Stephen, if Mr. Dean is willing, I should be interested in purchasing the furniture with the house,”
Alicia commented as her daughter skipped ahead of them down the lane.

“You might be able to afford something better, my dear,”
he suggested.

“No doubt, but I shall not have the time, I fear.”

“As you wish.”

Mr. Dean was delighted to rid himself of the whole. He was planning to let a furnished cottage in Cornwall and had no intention of carting his furniture to such a remote locale. He and Stephen quickly came to an agreement on a price for the whole which Alicia feared was below its worth. She held her tongue, however, as her brother imperceptibly shook his head at her when she would have protested.

Over a late luncheon at the Feather and Flask he explained, “Mr. Dean had set the price a trifle high so that we might bargain. I assure you that he is perfectly satisfied with the conclusion. He is aware that he is leaving the business in a state of chaos which will absorb a great deal of time for you. And he is in a hurry to be rid of the business, which will always cost a seller, as I am sure you know. We have not taken advantage of his illness, I assure you. He will be out of the cottage within the month, but his suggestion that you might stay here, at the Feather and Flask, for a few weeks ahead of time to acquaint yourself with the workings before he leaves is a wise one. I feel sure Mr. Allerton was sincere in his assertion that he would be pleased to work for you, and give you the benefit of what experience he has. You know, Alicia, I am tempted to believe that this whole endeavor of yours is like to prosper,”
he remarked with a cheerful grin.

“There is one thing,”
Felicia began hesitantly.

“Yes, love?”
her mother prompted her.

“I shall miss riding dreadfully,”
she admitted.

“Yes, and I. I dare say we can work it out, though. Wait until we are settled here and I have the time to look about us for a solution, can you?”

“Of course, Mama.”
Felicia sipped at her cider thoughtfully. “I shall enjoy it here, I think. I saw several young ladies strolling along the street as we came out.”

Alicia sighed and her forehead creased in an anxious frown. “You must realize, my dear, that in taking the shop I have lowered our social standing. It may not be possible for you to associate with all of the young women you would choose.”
Alicia’s troubled eyes sought her brother’s. “That is, of course, the worst of it. I could work my fingers to the bone on the estate and yet maintain our standing because it was not obvious. I shall hate to see Felicia snubbed because of this.”

She returned her gaze to her daughter and reached out a hand to clasp the girl’s firmly. “It is not easy to accept one’s reduced circumstances, ever. You shall have to be brave, my love. I could not think of a better solution to our problems than a shop, but things will not be as they were before.”

“Oh, Mama, do not think me such a gudgeon! What do I care for those who will snub us?”
Felicia cried. She could not bear to see her mother troubled on her account after watching her work for years only to be tossed about in such a manner. “I shall have more than enough to do with you in the shop. There will not be so much time for visits and teas and rides.”

For the first time since Stephen had arrived he saw Alicia’s eyes overbright with the suspicion of tears. His sister could obviously bear any burden for herself, but she could not so easily see her daughter suffer for their situation. He wanted nothing more than to pack the two of them off with him to his home and protect them from their fate, but he was realistic enough to accept that it could not be so. “I think perhaps Felicia should not spend much time in the shop,”
he suggested in a gruff voice.

“No, of course not. I have no intention of allowing such a thing,”
Alicia retorted, as she had managed to gain control over her emotions again.

“Not help in the shop!”
Felicia wailed. “If I am to have no friends, and no rides, what else am I to do?”
she asked mulishly, knowing that she had phrased the question so as to hurt her mother but upset enough not to care.

Surprisingly, Alicia was not in the least put out by this behavior. “My dear girl, you may not have noticed that the cottage we are to occupy is in need of a great deal of work. Your uncle feels, as I do, that if you stay out of the shop some of the taint of it will not rub off on you. But I assure you that I have plenty for you to do. And,”
she added helpfully, “we will have merchandise enough no doubt to squander a little on your clothes. You would not believe, Stephen, how clever she is with a needle. She has made most of her own clothes for the last two years with only some ideas from the fashion magazines. Should our endeavor fail, I have every intention of sending her out for a seamstress!”

Felicia giggled and her uncle looked puzzled at this jesting acceptance of their penury. Could his dear Jane be so calm in the face of such a fate? Could he? “We should be returning to Lady Gorham’s. It will be dark before we arrive, even now,”
he said.

Stephen picked up his cane and gloves and assisted his sister and niece with their belongings. As they left their private parlor Alicia caught a glimpse of the spacious kitchen hung about with copper and tin utensils which shone; hams, tongues, and flitches of bacon suspended from the ceiling. She caught a glimpse of Lady Gorham’s coachman seated at a scoured deal table on a high-backed oaken settle with a foaming tankard of ale in his hand. How comfortable it looks, she thought. “Stephen, before we leave I should like to arrange to stay here in two weeks’
time. Felicia, you may choose to come then, or when we may occupy the cottage.”

Felicia had long since repented her outburst and declared, “I should like to come when you do, Mama, if you please.”

The landlord showed them the modest accommodation they sought, an oak-paneled room with a deep bow window facing onto the High Street. The women were delighted with the room and settled that they would take it for a week or two when they returned. “For I have a suspicion,”
Alicia confided to her brother, “that Mr. Dean will be more than ready to leave when the transaction is completed, and I do not believe that will take the whole of a month.”

Stephen shook his head helplessly. “You are rushing things, my dear. Heaven knows these solicitors always manage to slosh about for unmerciful lengths of time.”

* * * *

But in the end Alicia was proved right. Stephen left the morning after their visit to Tetterton, and Alicia drove in to Scarborough to set her solicitor in motion. Mr. Crew had a fondness for his young (to a sixty-two year old man thirty-four was young) client, and, once he saw that her mind was made up, worked with all possible speed to complete the arrangements. Lady Gorham regretted their early departure but promised to visit them once they were settled. “And do not press me to stay at your cottage,”
she said forcefully. “You have described it to admiration and I shall be delighted to see it, but if you have an inch to spare for a guest I shall be most surprised. No, I shall stay at the inn you mentioned—the Flashing Feather, was it?”

“No,”
Alicia laughed, “the Feather and Flask, but we can make room for you in the cottage.”

“Nonsense. Not another word on the matter. Indeed, I believe I have an acquaintance in the neighborhood of Tetterton. Though I dare say she would not be all that excited to see me. Quite an eccentric she is,”
proclaimed Lady Gorham, who often appeared to have pretensions in that direction herself.

Alicia accepted this decision easily enough, but remarked, “I want nothing more than to have you visit, Lady Gorham, but there is no blinking the fact that I am becoming a shopkeeper. It will change our station, and I cannot expect you to show me such kind observance as has been your habit.”

“Disabuse your mind of the fear that I shall cut you, my dear. I am proud of the way you have taken hold after such a shock and have nothing but admiration for you. I shall bring Cassandra with me. Felicia may lack for company for a while,”
she said thoughtfully.

“Yes, I fear that is so. You have been much too good to us, Lady Gorham, and I only hope that one day we shall be able to return your kindness.”

Alicia and her daughter were sent off in a flood of tears and hugs in a post-chaise Alicia insisted on hiring, much against Lady Gorham’s wishes. Their trunks were strapped to the carriage; a carter had been hired to bring forward the remainder of their possessions in two weeks’
time. Felicia gave a last forlorn wave at the diminishing figures and sat silent beside her mother for a while.

At sixteen Felicia had had a most unusual upbringing, since she had seen her father rarely more often than once a year when he came to Katterly Grange to assure himself that everything possible was being done to produce the maximum rents from his tenants and the minimum expenditure in the household. He had paid no attention to Felicia at all on these visits, and had verbally abused her mother during the entire length of his stays.

There had been neighbors who had refused to include Felicia in their amusements because of the strange situation at the Grange. But there were also those kindhearted people who accepted the laughing, spirited girl on her own merit. And these last few years the resistance of even the most hardnosed had been broken down as their youthful offspring (frequently male) had insisted that Felicia be a part of their activities. She was fiercely loyal to her mother; over the years she had heard comments enough which had sparked a strong protectiveness in her toward Alicia. But she was only sixteen and occasionally a stubborn streak of selfishness asserted itself, as was only natural. She was ashamed when she hurt her mother, because she was more aware than most young women of her age just how much her mother had done for her, and how much Alicia had had to bear through no fault of her own.

Now Felicia tried to imagine the life she would lead in Tetterton and it frightened her. She would know absolutely no one there, and she would not be accepted by those young women of family that she was used to associating with. Felicia unconsciously lifted her chin, but her stiff upper lip quivered slightly.

Alicia leaned over and hugged her daughter tightly to her. She was not unaware of the girl’s feelings on this occasion and they laid an almost unbearable burden on her. The need to reassure her daughter helped to distract her from her own misgivings.

“You know, my dear, when first I came to the Grange I knew not a soul in the area. It was not so very long, though, before I called it home. And now we have such friends as Lady Gorham and Cassandra to come and visit us in our new home. You will be surprised at how quickly you adjust. I think what I shall like best is that there are just the two of us to make a go of it. There will be no interference and no pressure but for ourselves.”
Alicia pinched her daughter’s cheek affectionately. “You were never one to be without friends, even when some in the neighborhood were set against us.”

“But, Mama, how shall I know how to go on? What I mean is, I am so used to being on easy terms with people of quality that I fear I shall appear encroaching to those in Tetterton.”

“I am persuaded that we shall just have to take our cue from those we meet, love. How one can change the habits of a lifetime I do not know. I own it has been troubling me. We shall both of us have to cultivate a bit more reserve, I cannot doubt. How does any poor relation become a companion? How does one act the role of a governess? It cannot be easy for anyone of reduced circumstances to reshape her life, but it is obviously done all the time. You must prepare yourself for snubs and slights until you hit on the behavior expected of you. Frankly, Felicia, I would hate to see you any different than you are now.”

“What will happen if some accept me and others do not? You know that Jack Miller convinced his mother to have me to Luella’s ball. What if something of that nature should happen again?”

Alicia regarded the lovely face turned up to her. It would happen again, she had not the least doubt. “We shall deal with events as they arise, my dear. I can make no pronouncements without knowing the circumstances. Just do not be disappointed if it seems wisest to refuse some treat you would dearly love to take part in.”

Good God, what was she saying? You could not tell a girl of this age not to be disappointed. There was bound to be disappointment, and heartache, and sorrow beyond measure for such a child. She would make it as easy as she could for Felicia, she promised herself, but her heart sank at the prospect.