Page 7 of Miss Debenham's Secret
The man nodded, sizing him up, and he was no fool.“You have made the acquaintance of my daughter, sir, and she seems determined you should make mine.I believe you are awaiting orders to return to your ship?”
“Aye, I am.It shouldn’t be long now and I will be off into the fray with Boney again.”
They spoke stiffly about the war while Clarissa bustled about with tea and food, nervous as a kitten in the company of two growling dogs.When the subject of the war flagged she found something else for them to talk about; at least for her father to lecture them about—the state of education in little country schools like the one Clarissa taught at and how poorly they compared to the grammar schools, which he admitted could not be afforded by everyone.He had taught at a grammar school in a city as a young man, he said, and everything was superior, far superior, to the little school in Lyme where he’d gained the position of headmaster.He’d tried to introduce Latin and Greek to the children in Lyme but they preferred simple arithmetic and spelling.How could one teach children who did not wish to learn?Alistair pretended to be interested, but when Clarissa had to leave the room for a moment her father dropped all pretence of politeness.
“My daughter has no money,” he said bluntly, eyeing Alistair coldly.“I’m afraid a headmaster makes little, and I only have enough to see out my retirement.When I die there may be twenty pounds, no more.Clarissa will have to work for her upkeep.”
He was furious.“I’m afraid I don’t follow you, sir,” he said coldly, although he did, all too well.
“I assume you are after her money,” he said, waving a dismissive hand.“Clarissa is an innocent so she wouldn’t realise.Poor little thing hasn’t much to recommend her but I had hoped she and Marly might marry.I rather like Marly.”
“You are misinformed,” he said, when he had unclenched his teeth.“I have money of my own and hope to make more before this war is over.The only interest I have in your daughter is her delightful company while I await my orders.”
The man stared at him blankly as if he couldn’t believe it but said nothing else.They both sat quietly until Clarissa returned.
She was paler than ever and Alistair wondered if she had overheard the conversation.As soon as was polite he rose and said he must go back and Clarissa went with him to the door.
“I will call upon you tomorrow with the carriage,” he said.
Her eyes widened.“But we were going to meet at the Cobb, in case ...”
“In case your father forbade it?”he said.“I don’t care if he does.I want him to know we are going out driving together.I want him to realise what a treasure he has in his daughter.And you, my bonnie lassie, must learn to stand up to him.”
She blinked, and then she smiled.“If you think ...”
“I do, indeed I do.”
Chapter six
CHAPTERSIX
Clarissa rose early so that she could do all the chores she normally did on Saturday before she left.She was nervous about Alistair coming to the door but she had already told her father, making it sound as if there were others accompanying them and it was not them alone.The way she had told it there was quite a little party going to see the cliffs that ran from Lyme along the Dorset coast and into Devon.
When had she grown so devious?
Well too bad.She didn’t want him trying to stop her going out with Alistair and after what she had overheard yesterday she wondered whether she would care or pay heed if he did.His cruel words had had the effect of destroying her respect for him and it saddened her to think she no longer had any admiration or regard for her own father.It was only duty that tied her to that embittered old man.
She wondered what her mother had been like.According to her father she had been a woman of perfection in all things but she could not believe that.Not anymore.Her mother probably had bad days; she probably wished for something else, she may even have been a little naughty.In fact, if she was Clarissa thought she would have liked her much better.What was her father like when she was alive, she wondered.Was he really as happy as he now imagined he had been or was he always resentful of whatever life threw at him?Did he treat his wife with affection or ...the thought came to her suddenly ...did he in fact treat his wife much as he treated his daughter?
Was it possible he resented her because she was just like her mother?She was certainly nothing like her father!Well, she would never know, but it was nice to imagine that her mother may not have been the saint her father portrayed her as.Just possibly she was a young woman not unlike Clarissa herself, who somehow found herself married to a domineering man who ruled her life as he now ruled her daughter’s.
The carriage drew up and Alistair helped her up onto the seat beside him, stowing away the picnic basket she had packed.He had a little treat in store for her when they reached their destination but he wouldn’t tell her yet, in case the weather turned rough and he could not go through with it.
Clarissa was wearing a dress with yellow daisies printed on the white fabric and short puffed sleeves; there was a green ribbon tied beneath her breasts and a matching ribbon decorating the hem of her dress.Her bonnet was straw and plain and beneath it her blue eyes sparkled up at him.
He wanted to lean down and kiss her but he knew it would be wrong.Clarissa was an innocent and he was just passing through; she deserved better than a man who might be killed in his next encounter at sea.And besides he had already decided a wife and family were not for him.But the longing was strong and he had to work hard to put it out of his mind.
The coastline here was famous.The cliffs were full of fossils, creatures that lived long ago and several times they stopped and climbed down to the beach to examine the oddities to be found there.Alistair had a book he had purchased in a shop in Lyme and read from it.
“The Blue Lias rock along the coast holds many well preserved specimens.Most of the fossils are the remains of sea creatures that lived during the Jurassic period.”
“My goodness.”Clarissa picked up something from below the cliff, where a rock fall had lately brought down quite a bit of material.It was the small fossil of a shelled creature, curved, like some sort of instrument you might have once been able to put to your lips and blow.Alistair’s book informed them it was an ammonite.
“The children often bring fossils to school,” she said.“I’ll show them this one on Monday.”
She slipped it into the pocket of her skirt but she knew she wasn’t keeping it to show to the children.It was a memento of this day with Alistair.
Back in the carriage they continued on along the cliff road until they came to a little seaside hamlet, with a very few houses and an inn, and there Alistair stopped.
