Page 41 of The Lovers
“No, we are friends. I simply wanted to say goodbye and wish him a safe journey,” Elise lied. She had no desire to tell this man the truth.
“Oh, well, that’s all right, then. There was a wealthy tobacco plantation owner staying here with his daughter, awaiting passage to Virginia. Master Ambrose and his daughter wintered in England, visiting family in Kent. She is a comely thing but getting on in years, if ye take my meaning. Master Ambrose professed her to be twenty-two, but I think she were closer to twenty-five. That’s quite an age for a woman,” he added with an air of disapproval. “Another year or two and she’d be too old to bear children. The lass needed a husband, and the father needed an educated man tohelp him run his estate. Gavin fit the bill, so to speak. Once the old man dies, the girl’s husband will inherit the lot.”
“Did Gavin marry her?” Elise asked, shocked. This couldn’t be right. What the landlord was suggesting was preposterous. Gavin made her a promise, had asked her to walk out on her marriage and sail to the Virginia with him. He wouldn’t just leave her, having met a more attractive prospect. Not Gavin. He was an honorable man, a decent man.
“Master Ambrose was in a hurry to get back home and had no wish to wait three weeks for the banns to be called, so Gavin and Mistress Ambrose became betrothed with the intention of getting wed in Virginia. The proud papa even paid for Gavin’s passage to the New World. And best of luck to them, I say. Seemed everyone got what they wanted.”
“Did they?” Elise asked. Her voice shook with distress, but the landlord hardly noticed.
“Oh, aye. Gavin, he is a clever lad. Thought he’d marry the de Lesseps girl and be set for life, but wise Ol’ Hugh sold the lass from under Gavin’s nose. Married to some high-and-mighty lord, she is, and the other two are too young for marriage, so of no use to Gavin. No more than children, they are. I’ve no doubt Ol’ Hugh will find them good matches in time. Why waste daughters on paupers when ye can marry them off to lords?”
The landlord guffawed with laughter at his own wit, doubly entertained by Elise’s obvious shock. She felt as if she were going to be ill. “Thank you, s-sir,” she stammered and fled the tavern. She needed fresh air. Elise ran for a few minutes until she was clear away from the Tabard and then stopped, gasping. She’d understood the words, but her mind still refused to accept their meaning. Gavin had become engaged to another and sailed off to Virginia without so much as a word of farewell. He told her he loved her, promised her a life and a future, and had cast her asidethe moment something more lucrative came along. She had no right to judge him, she knew that, but he had no way of knowing that she was with child. She’d agreed to his proposal and had been eagerly awaiting their departure. Bitter tears spilled down Elise’s cheeks as she imagined what finding out about Gavin’s betrayal would have been like had she actually left home and come to him, expecting to start their life together. She’d agonized for weeks about her decision when there was no decision to be made—it had been made for her.
Elise felt hollow inside as she wiped the tears from her eyes and began to walk in the direction of her childhood home. The promise of seeing her sisters was the only thing that kept her from screaming like a wounded animal. Elise walked slowly, giving herself time to calm down. She couldn’t show up at her father’s house with puffy eyes and a red nose. She was Lady Asher, and she had to act the part, whether she liked it or not.
Elise slowly approached the house. Her heart leaped at the thought of seeing Amy and Anne, thoughts of Gavin pushed to the back of her mind for the moment to be retrieved and reexamined later. She missed the girls so much. They must have grown in the past few months, and they would have much to tell her. Elise was sure they’d be full of questions about her new life. The girls likely assumed, as anyone would, that she was a frequent visitor to the court of Charles II, being the wife of one of his favorites, but Elise’s life was even more isolated now than it had been before she married. Elise approached the gate and gazed at the house. It looked just as it had before, solid and forbidding, but something seemed different. She couldn’t quite figure out what.
Elise took a deep breath and knocked on the door, forcing herself to smile when it opened. An unfamiliar servant stared at her, waiting for her to speak. “I’m here to see Master de Lesseps. I’m Lady Asher.”
The woman stepped aside and invited her in. “Ye’d best wait here, me lady,” she said and disappeared down a passage, leaving Elise alone in the foyer. Elise stood still and listened. It was near noon. Her father always took his midday meal exactly at noon, and the girls were allowed to dine with him when there was no company expected. Elise would hear their voices and would smell roasting meat and baking bread. Her father liked meat at midday but often preferred to eat a lighter meal in the evening due to digestive problems. Sometimes he had nothing more than a bowl of broth and a slice of bread before going to bed.
Elise was surprised to see an older gentleman appear at the end of the passage. He was tall and stooped, with a dark, curly wig that fell way past his shoulders, and yellow hose that drew attention to his long shanks and surprisingly large feet. He stopped in front of her and gave a stiff bow. “Lady Asher. A surprise indeed.”
“Pardon me, but who are you, sir?” Elise asked. “Is my father all right?”
The man looked at Elise with an expression of utter astonishment. His feathery eyebrows seemed to disappear beneath the curls of his wig, making Elise suddenly weak in the knees. “Jonathan Collins, at your service,” he announced, bowing stiffly over Elise’s hand. “My dear lady, I can’t imagine that your father hasn’t told you. You must have forgotten. He sailed for the West Indies at the beginning of the month.”
When Elise remained silent the man continued, “Surely you recall.”
“I’m afraid I don’t. When is he expected back? Did my sisters go with him?”
“He is not coming back, my lady,” Master Collins replied. “He sold the house to me just after the New Year.”
Elise felt as if she were going to faint. How could this be? How could her father just leave, and why? If he sold the house just after the New Year, he must have been planning his departure at the time of Elise’s betrothal. He hadn’t said a word. Could it be that his financial situation had been even more dire than he allowed her to believe?
“Would you like to sit down?” Master Collins asked. “Please, allow me to offer you some refreshment.”
Elise nodded her thanks, and the man invited her into the parlor. “Do any of the old servants still work here?” she asked as she took a seat by the hearth, glad to feel the warmth of the fire on her ice-cold hands.
“Yes, I retained most of the old staff, with the exception of the lady’s maid. I have no wife or daughters.”
So, Rose is gone, Elise thought, hoping that Rose was given a glowing reference and some monetary compensation after years of service.
“Is Grace still here?”
Master Collins shook his head and spread his hands in ignorance, indicating that he couldn’t be bothered with knowing the whereabouts of former servants.
“May I speak to Jasper then, Master Collins?”
“The groom? That’s most irregular, madam.”
“Please. I would be much obliged,” Elise pleaded, bestowing her most radiant smile on the old man. Jasper would hardly have been in her father’s confidence, but if anyone knew anything it would be him. Jasper was tall, fair, handsome, and the darling of all the servant girls. They told him everything that went on in the house, and he gleaned a thing or two on his own from frequenting the taverns. Jasper liked information and often madeuse of it in ways Elise didn’t approve. She would never have known this for herself, but Gavin often told her not to say anything in front of Jasper since, if he had proof of their affection for each other, he might blackmail them to keep their secret.
Jasper entered the room a few minutes later, hat in hand, eyes glued to Elise. He looked subservient enough, but Elise could see a glint of amusement in his eyes as he looked at her. Master Collins excused himself, giving them a moment to talk in private.
“Hello, Jasper,” Elise said with a smile. She didn’t like the man, but she needed his help.
“Good day, Lady Asher. How may I be of service to ye?”
