Marrying Miss Martha (23 page)

Her thoughts faltered to a halt and lying alone in the darkness, she blushed hotly.
Attract!
She wasn’t trying to attract Ben Seaton. Certainly not. That would be ridiculous at her age.

Wouldn’t it?

* * * *

Ben went home once the workers started making their way towards the mills, mingling with his people as he strode along the street and accepting their cheerful greetings. One or two stared at his odd assortment of clothing, for he’d not had time to go home and tidy himself up before the mill opened.

When he saw Daniel Porter ahead of him, he quickened his pace and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Can you come to my office?”

“Aye.” Once inside, Ben shouted at the office lad to fetch him a cup of tea and be smart about it, then gestured to a seat. “Have you heard about what happened to Penelope Merridene?”

Daniel sat bolt upright. “Happened to her?”

“A burglar broke into their house last night and knocked her unconscious.”

“She’s all right?”

“Yes.”

“What was he after?”

“Your drawings, it seems.”

Daniel gaped at him. “My drawings? Why would anyone want to steal those?”

“I can think of only one reason and one person.”

It took only a second, then, “Brindley.”

“I’d guess so. Did you ever make any modifications to his machinery?”

Daniel let out a scornful snort. “It was all I could do to keep them old things running. It was cobble things together, not improve them.”

Ben frowned and tapped the desk with his forefinger. “It’s not like Brindley to show his hand.”

“Those who’ve worked there for a while tell me he’s getting chancier to deal with and you never did know where his temper would lead him, so I don’t envy them. If it wasn’t for Gerry Cox, I reckon there’d have been some damned stupid things done at that mill.”

“I thought Cox was as bad as his master.”

Daniel frowned, thought for a moment, then shook his head. “No. I can only speak as I find, but although he’s a hard man and does as his master wants, it sometimes seemed to me that Cox didn’t like what he was doing and tried to soften his orders, especially where the children were concerned. He’d deny that, of course.” Another pause, then Daniel added, “They’re also saying Brindley’s been looking old and tired lately, though that doesn’t stop him trying to take every farthing he can away from his operatives. They fine you for breathing too loudly in that place. It’s a shame to treat decent folk like that.”

“I agree.”

“Are you going to do anything about Brindley and this break-in, Mr Seaton?”

“Not yet.” He saw anger still glowing in Porter’s eyes and added quickly, “Nor are you. We need to obtain proof that he’s behind all these troubles or we’ll get nowhere. I want your word that you’ll say nothing, do nothing.”

“As long as he doesn’t hurt her again.”

Definitely fond of her, Ben thought as he watched Daniel leave. But Martha had asked him not to interfere.

The thought of Martha leaning against him for comfort last night popped unbidden into his mind and he smiled involuntarily. She was a cosy armful—whether she meant to be or not!

* * * *

Two days later Georgie tripped along towards school, all agog to see poor Miss Penelope, who was to resume giving lessons today. The whole town was still buzzing with wild conjectures about the burglary.

She didn’t expect to see Peter Brindley so early in the morning, but there he was, clearly waiting for her, something which gave her a great deal of pleasure. She might not be seventeen yet and might be treated as a child by her brother, but this man recognised that she was a woman grown in every way that mattered.

“Miss Seaton.” He tipped his hat.

“Mr Brindley,” she replied demurely, but couldn’t hold back a smile.

“I woke feeling restless,” he said, “so I thought I’d start my day with a sight of you to cheer me up.”

“Dear me, sir, I can’t think how I cheer you up.”

“In many ways. I like to chat to you. You and I have so many things in common.” He smiled at her, surprised to find that he’d spoken the absolute truth. She
was
the only person in Tapton whom he wished to see, and when he didn’t see her for a few precious minutes of conversation, he felt as if something was wrong with the day.

“Georgie Seaton, what do you think you’re doing?” a voice roared from the end of the narrow street.

She spun round to see her brother striding towards them. “Oh, drat!”

Peter stood his ground but when Seaton came up to them, he swallowed and wished he were anywhere else. Apart from being a very large man, this was a furiously angry one.

“Get off to school at once,” Ben snapped to his sister.

She scowled at him and turned to Peter. “Goodbye, sir. I apologise for my brother’s rudeness.”

“I’ll speak to you tonight,” Ben snapped, then as Peter turned away, he moved swiftly to stand in front of the fellow. “A word, if you please, Brindley.”

“Certainly.”

“I’ll thank you not to accost my sister in future.”

“Accost!” Peter stared at him. “I wasn’t
accosting
her, merely exchanging a few words of greeting as I would with any acquaintance.”

“Acquaintance, is it?” Ben’s voice was a low rumble, like a volcano about to erupt. “How did
you
become acquainted with
my
sister?”

“At the school, of course, when I was calling on the Misses Merridene to thank them for helping me. In fact, you saw me there yourself. It isn’t my habit to walk past a lady of my acquaintance without a word or two of greeting.”

“Then make it your habit where my sister is concerned!”

“I cannot possibly promise to be so impolite.” Peter walked away slowly, half expecting the other man to come after him, but there was no sound of footsteps, so he could only assume that Seaton was standing watching him. He didn’t turn round at the corner to find out if this was so, but continued on towards the square at his usual walking pace.

But several times that day he remembered the sight of Seaton in a rage and shuddered. What would happen if his father carried out the plan he had broached only the day before? It’d be Peter that Seaton came searching for, not his father.

And anyway, he didn’t want to be involved in kidnapping Georgie and ruining her reputation, he definitely didn’t—only his father had made it plain that he’d throw him out unless he played his part.

How was he to find a way out of this dilemma?

* * * *

Once Brindley was out of sight, Ben made his way to the school and hammered on the front door, still in a towering rage.

Sally opened it, starting to smile when she saw who it was until she realised how angry he was.

“I wish to see Miss Merridene,” he snapped. “At once, if you please.”

“She’s teaching, sir.”

“Then bring her out of the schoolroom. It’s urgent.” He walked into the front parlour without an invitation, too upset to sit down.

When he heard her come in, he swung round.

Sally had warned her that he was annoyed about something, but Martha hadn’t realised how angry. “How may I help you, Mr Seaton?” she asked in her coolest tone.

“I just came across my sister having a tryst with Peter Brindley on the way to school.”

“A tryst?”

“What else would you call it? They’d met behind the church and were having a cosy gossip together. So I’d be grateful if you’d take particular care not to let her out of your sight while she’s here.”

His tone was so sharp she began to feel a little angry herself. “We try to take care of all our pupils, Mr Seaton, but it’s not possible to keep watch on one who hasn’t yet arrived at school.”

“Well, from now on you’re not to let Georgie go home alone. I’ll send someone to escort her back and she’s to wait here until that person arrives. And she’s not to go out alone during the day, either, as you’ve allowed her to do before.”

Martha raised her eyebrows. “The only time she went out alone was to fetch a dress when
you
had asked us to do something about her clothing. As your house is only two streets away, I could see no harm in that.”

“Let me make it very plain that she’s not to so much as poke her nose out of the door without someone watching. I’m
not
having her associating with young Brindley. I give you good day, Miss Merridene.”

She watched him swing round and fairly stamp out of the house. She could understand his anger with his sister, though meeting Peter Brindley in the street could hardly be counted as a tryst, but she was upset at the tone he had taken with her. She hadn’t deserved that.

When informed that she was not to leave school that afternoon until someone came to escort her home, Georgie flew into a tantrum and spoke her mind on brothers who interfered with their sisters’ lives and treated them like criminals if they so much as stopped to chat to an acquaintance.

Martha pulled her up short at the way she was speaking and Georgie burst into tears, so overwrought she couldn’t stop crying for quite some time.

Penelope peeped into the parlour, but Martha gestured to her to leave, looking meaningfully at their pupil to indicate the delicacy of the situation.

When the tears had more or less stopped, Martha went to sit beside Georgie on the sofa. “Here.” She offered a handkerchief to replace the sodden mass the girl was wielding.

“Thank you.”

“This isn’t the end of the world, you know. When you’re a little older, you’ll be able to make all sorts of new friends and—”

“In Tapton? Who, pray? There
is
no one of my own age in this horrible town, no one Ben would approve of for a friend, that is. The county gentry consider folk like us beneath their touch. The doctor’s children are grown up. The parson isn’t married. And my mother doesn’t want me to live with her. I’m doomed to be a friendless spinster for the rest of my days, with my brother acting as gaoler.”

In spite of the gothic language and tone, Martha felt sorry for the girl, but couldn’t think of anything she could do to help. “What actually happened this morning?”

“On my way to school I met Peter Brindley and we stood talking for a few minutes. That’s all.”

“Have you met him before?”

The words were hesitant. “Once or twice.”

“By arrangement?”

“No, never!”

There was no mistaking the sincerity in her voice.

“It’s not so bad, then.”

“You’d think I’d committed murder to hear Ben talk. My brother has no polite conversation, none whatsoever. He doesn’t read poetry or novels, or care about the theatre. He doesn’t even
talk
to me in the evenings, let alone take me out anywhere. Mama used to let me go with her to the theatre until she met Ambrose, you know, and I loved it. Or we’d go shopping, or to visit her friends, some of whom had daughters of my age.”

Martha knew it was wrong, but she couldn’t help herself. She gave Georgie a big hug, and although the girl was stiff and unyielding at first, she suddenly hugged her teacher back and then wept again on her shoulder. But for all her sympathy, Martha could think of no way to lighten the girl’s loneliness when she wasn’t at school.

That evening, she said thoughtfully to her sister, “I’m going to speak to Ben Seaton about Georgie.”

“What has she done now?”

“Done? She’s done nothing. Why does everyone always think the worst of her?” She saw Penelope’s look of shock at her sharp tone and took a deep breath before saying, “Sorry. Didn’t mean to snap your head off. I’m just worried about her, that’s all. She’s a very lonely girl with no friends of her own age in the town and
we
are hardly able to be her friends, are we? I think Ben needs to find a way to give her a more interesting life. And if I ever meet that mother of hers, I’ll be very tempted to tell her what I think of a woman who abandons a girl of that age.”

“She’s hardly abandoned her. Ben Seaton
is
her guardian and brother, after all.”

“It’s as good as abandoning her. What does an unmarried man know about a girl of that age and her needs? And look at what happened today. When she stops to speak to a young man in a public place—and she assures me she didn’t arrange to meet him—Ben thunders and roars at her as if she’s committed a crime. It’s not good enough.”

Penelope was surprised at this outburst, but held her tongue.

* * * *

That evening Daniel once again came round after work and Martha tried to talk her sister out of over-exerting herself. It was a waste of words. Penelope had recovered quickly from the blow to the head and had fretted at being kept in bed even for a few hours. She always had hated playing the invalid and was far stronger than she looked.

Daniel came into the parlour to greet Martha, then followed Penelope to the schoolroom. She spread out the crumpled sheets of drawings and they discussed various details, then she showed him some techniques for getting a good perspective and accuracy in detail, inviting him to try for himself.

“I still can’t understand why a burglar would want to take these,” she said a little later, as they both worked on their drawings.

He hesitated.

She looked at him sideways. “You know something, don’t you?”

“I can guess. I don’t know whether Mr Seaton would want you to be involved, though.” Her smile was his undoing. “It’s probably Brindley, seeing if he can gain some advantage from what I’m doing for Mr Seaton.”

She sat there, brow wrinkled in thought, then nodded slowly. “I can believe that. He’s a horrible man.”

“Worse than you know. It’s like working for the devil being in his mill.”

“Tell me.”

He shook his head. “You don’t need to know the details.”

“Because I’m a lady? I sometimes wish I weren’t.” Her tone became mocking. “I’m supposed to behave this way and not that, wear this sort of dress, not that, walk sedately, never be alone with a man . . . The list is endless, Daniel.”

“Eh, lass, I didn’t know it fretted you. Is that why—?” He broke off and bent over his work again.

“Is that why I’m interested in you? Out of rebellion? No, Daniel. I like you because of who you are and who you could be, given even half a chance. And I hope you like me for the same reasons, not because I’m a
lady.”