The Beggar Maid (37 page)

‘I wasn't going to cross-examine you.' Charity tasted the soup and smiled. ‘This is very good.'

‘There's no need to be polite. I know it isn't up to Mrs Diment's standards or those of Mrs Trevett, but at least it's edible.' He gave her a searching look. ‘You'd better start at the beginning and tell me what's been going on at home, and what's all this about treasure?'

‘You're right,' she said, taking a fishbone from her mouth. ‘This would be lovely without the bones.'

‘Don't change the subject, Charity. I want to know everything. You can't turn up out of the blue and tell me I can go home without an explanation.'

‘Don't you want to come home?'

‘Of course I do. I've been supporting myself by labouring in a granite quarry and I haven't made too bad a job of it, but I don't want to spend the rest of my life holed up in this cottage, away from those I love.'

Her heart seemed to do a somersault inside her breast and she was finding it difficult to breathe. ‘People you love?'

‘I've thought about nothing else since I left you. I told myself that I could forget you and that you were better off without me. What woman in her right mind would want to be tied to a compulsive gambler? But forgetting you was probably the hardest part of being exiled even to such a splendid place as this.'

‘Y-you love me?'

‘From the first moment I saw you, but you were an innocent young girl and too good for me.'

‘I can't believe you would even think that, Harry. You know my history.'

‘I know what happened to you, but that's not what you are, Charity. Despite the way you'd been forced to exist you were and are an innocent. I chose my way of life.'

‘But I love you too, and I can see that you've changed. All you need is a new start.'

‘Put me within a hundred yards of a gaming club and I know I'd be back at the tables in a flash. You say that the Bligh Park fortune has been found, but I doubt if it would take me long to go through it.' He laid his hand on hers. ‘I couldn't risk your happiness by going back to my old life. Can you understand that, darling?'

THE TERM OF
endearment was something that she had longed to hear coming from Harry's lips, but now it sounded like the death knell to all her hopes and dreams. She wrapped her fingers around his hand and clasped it to her heart. ‘I won't let you give up so easily, Harry Bligh.'

He smiled wearily. ‘You're forgetting that I use my mother's maiden name.'

‘I'm not forgetting a thing. You are Sir Harry Bligh now, and you have a responsibility for all those left who depend on you. Are you really willing to allow Wilmot to take over the estate? If you don't return he'll ruin Bligh Park and sell the house in Nevill's Court to the highest bidder. If you don't care about your brother and his dreams of becoming an archaeologist, think of Mrs Diment and Mrs Trevett, Jackson and Parkin and Tapper, and the home you grew up in.'

He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. The caress was as gentle as the touch of a butterfly's wings, but then he seemed to regret his romantic action and stood up, helping her to her feet. ‘You must get some sleep. There's a reasonably comfortable bed upstairs.' He made for the door.

‘Where are you going?'

‘I'll sleep in the barn. This is a tiny island and your reputation would be in shreds if word got round that we'd spent the night in the together.'

‘But that's ridiculous.'

‘Maybe, but that's how it is. Don't worry about me, my love. I'll have a glass of Mr Ogier's excellent cider and that will send me straight into the arms of Morpheus.'

‘But you haven't given me your answer. We'll have to sail on the morning tide or Ned will go without us.'

‘I need to think this through, Charity. It's your future I have to consider as well as those of Dan and the servants.'

‘I can look after myself,' she said stoutly.

He smiled. ‘I don't doubt it, but you've saddled yourself with a pregnant woman and a child.'

‘That's my problem, not yours,' she said angrily. ‘I want you to come home for your sake as much as mine, and you don't have to feel responsible for me.'

‘It's a responsibility I would be privileged and honoured to accept, but I'm afraid I'd let you down. I have to battle with my own particular demons.' He walked out into the night, leaving a gust of salt-laden air in his wake.

Charity sat for a long time, staring at the slow-burning peat. The astonishing and wonderful revelation that Harry loved her was tempered by fear that he would refuse to return home. Eventually, overcome by exhaustion, she made her way up the steep staircase to the bedroom and huddled beneath the coverlet, still fully dressed. She fell asleep drugged by the scent of him that lingered on the pillow and in the sheets.

She was awakened by the sound of someone calling her name, and when she realised that she was no longer dreaming and that it was Harry's voice, she tumbled out of bed, snatched up her boots and raced downstairs. ‘You've decided to come with me?'

‘You were right, Charity,' he said slowly. ‘I've been awake all night struggling with the dilemma, but I came to realise that I was being a coward.'

‘No!' she cried angrily. ‘Never say that.'

‘It's true, sweetheart. I was running away from myself.' He held up his hand as she took a step towards him. ‘But what I said about us still stands. I'm a gambler and probably always will be. Everything depends on whether I'm strong enough to avoid temptation.'

‘I'll help you. I'll do everything I can to stop you sliding back into your old ways.'

‘One step at a time, I think.' He smiled, and the tender look in his eyes made her want to throw her arms around him, but she resisted the temptation and sat down to put on her boots.

They walked, hand in hand, down to the jetty but Ned's boat had gone, as had all the other fishing boats that had been moored alongside. Harry went to enquire at the harbourmaster's cottage and returned minutes later, frowning angrily. ‘Apparently there were reports of a big shoal off Alderney. All the fishermen left on the tide and they aren't expected back until tonight or tomorrow. In fact, knowing Loveless, I wouldn't be surprised if he took his catch to St Malo and sold it there.'

‘So we're stranded here until he remembers us.'

He met her worried gaze with the beginnings of a smile. ‘That's not such a bad thing, is it, Charity? It means we have some time to ourselves. I'll show you my island, for that's how I've grown to think of Herm.'

Her first thoughts were for Violet and Dorrie, but then she realised that they had only to ask Mrs Trevett or Mrs Diment for help and it would be given wholeheartedly. She smiled up at him. ‘I don't suppose Dan will return home for a few days, and now that Vi and Dorrie are in the cottage . . .'

He laid his finger on her lips, shaking his head. ‘Stop worrying about everyone else. Whatever happens in the future, this time has been given to us so let's not waste it.' He slipped his arm around her shoulders. ‘I suggest we go to the pub. I happen to know that Rozelle Ogier serves a wonderful breakfast. I've eaten there almost every day since I've been here.'

They enjoyed a tasty breakfast of buttered eggs and toasted fruit bread, which Mrs Ogier explained was called gâche, made from a traditional Guernsey recipe. ‘I was a Guernsey girl,' she said proudly. ‘My family had a farm in Vale and I met my husband in the market where I was selling the first strawberries of the season.' She placed a dish of creamy yellow butter on the table in front of them. ‘You should eat plenty of our good food while you're here,' she added, aiming the remark at Charity. ‘Men like their women to have a bit of flesh on them.' She chuckled and moved off to a table where a group of quarrymen were just finishing their meal.

‘You're perfect as you are,' Harry said, grinning. ‘Rozelle is the motherly sort who is only happy when she's looking after people. That's the secret of her success, as most of the men who work in the quarries have come from far away.'

Charity sipped her tea. ‘She's a very good cook, but I can't manage another mouthful.'

‘Then we'll slip away while she's busy with my workmates. I've told the foreman that I won't be in today.' He stood up and held out his hand. ‘It's a beautiful May morning; just right for seeing the island.'

Charity discovered that the island of Herm was only a mile and a half long, and it seemed like a tropical paradise to a girl brought up in the teeming filth of the East End streets. The white sandy beaches and sheltered coves were beyond her imaginings. ‘It's like Treasure Island,' she said, leaning against Harry's shoulder as they sat side by side on the sands of Belvoir Bay. ‘I expect to see the
Hispaniola
moored out there and Long John Silver limping across the beach.'

Harry kissed her tenderly on the lips. ‘You and your books, Charity. Reading was never one of my pastimes. I liked to be active when I was a boy.'

She smiled. ‘You don't know what you're missing. When I was in the shop I used to read by candlelight. It was the only way I could stand being alone at night, except for the cockroaches and the rats, but I don't count them.'

‘I want to make it up to you, Charity. I've never forgotten the first time I saw you. It was a bitterly cold day and Wilmot insisted on stopping in at a bookshop in Liquorpond Street, and he introduced us. I suppose I should be eternally grateful to him for that.'

‘It was my birthday and you and he took me out to dinner and the theatre. You stood up for me when Wilmot said hateful things, and you made the cabby stop so that we could get out and leave Wilmot to travel on alone. You took your coat off and wrapped it around me because I was shivering.'

‘I felt the need to take care of you then, as I do now.' He stroked her cheek. ‘Don't frown, darling. I know you're a capable and independent young woman, but that doesn't stop me wanting to give you everything that was denied to you when you were growing up. I know it's selfish but I want you to be with me for the rest of my life.'

A fluffy white cloud passed across the sun, sending shadows across the silvery sands, and a breeze rustled the leaves of the trees on the cliff top. Charity felt a shiver run through her even though it was a warm day. She twisted round so that she was facing him. ‘But it's not as easy as that, is it, Harry?'

It was his turn to frown. ‘I don't understand. I thought that's what you wanted. I was the one who had doubts.'

‘You've inherited the land and the title and now you're a rich man. You have a position to keep up and that doesn't include a girl from the slums of the East End.'

He stopped her protests with a kiss that blotted out reason and made time stand still. ‘I'll hear no more of that talk,' he said gruffly when they drew apart. ‘You were born to a better life despite the misfortunes that were forced upon you. I love you and you love me. Nothing else matters.' He held her in his arms and Charity allowed herself to relax and enjoy the moment. There was silence except for the gentle sound of the waves lapping on the shore and the beating of their hearts.

She lost all track of time as they sat together on the warm sand. There was no need for words. They were the only two people in the world and this was their island, safe from intruders and far away from the problems that awaited them at home.

The rest of the day passed like a wonderful dream. Charity put all thoughts of home firmly out of her mind. Even if they only had this precious time together she would be grateful for the rest of her life. They returned to the old barn to eat their midday meal but there was no sign of the fishing boats and no one seemed to expect them before nightfall at the earliest.

Charity slept alone again that night, but she went to bed feeling happier than she had ever felt in her whole life. Harry had quashed her misgivings, setting them aside as if they were of no importance. He had promised to put his old ways behind him, and she was certain that he would keep his word. When they returned to Bligh Park it would only be a matter of having the banns read and then they would be married. She fell asleep hoping that Ned would haul in a huge catch of fish and that he would not return for another day at least. She realised that this interlude on the idyllic island was precious and once gone would never return. It was like a jewel that she would wear close to her heart for the rest of her life. ‘Just one more perfect day,' she whispered as she drifted off to sleep.

Ned's boat returned to harbour in the early morning of the third day. He was unapologetic. ‘I couldn't let up on a chance like that,' he said, grinning. ‘Sold the lot in St Malo and made enough money to see me through next winter, if I'm careful.'

Charity had expected Harry to be angry, but he merely laughed and slapped Ned on the back. ‘When do we sail for home?'

‘Six o'clock this evening, unless the weather breaks. It's set fair at the moment, but I got a feeling there's a storm brewing to the west.'

‘Perhaps we ought to postpone sailing until we know it's safe,' Charity murmured. She was not afraid, but the seasickness she had suffered on the crossing was still fresh in her mind.

‘You'll be safe with me. I'm the best there is when it comes to boat handling.' Ned swaggered off towards the pub.

‘He's right,' Harry said with a rueful smile. ‘And my meagre wages have almost run out. Let's hope that Dan has had some luck with the bullion dealers.'

Charity linked her hand through the crook of his arm as they walked away from the harbour, heading towards his cottage. ‘You know it came as a total shock to him when he found out that Sir Hedley was his father too.'

‘It's not something I would boast about,' Harry said grimly. ‘I still love my mother, but I think she played a dirty trick on my father, and perhaps I should have given him more of a chance to prove himself to me. I allowed her to turn me against him and that was wrong.'