Page 55 of By the Sword
On receiving Nell’s reply, and realising the importance of what it contained, Kate immediately rode over to consult with William and Suzanne.
In the warm, familiar parlour of Barton Hall, Kate read Nell’s letter aloud.
Dearest Kate, My heart bleeds for your sister over the loss of her son, so I do understand your delay. Oh but, Kate, what am I to do? We had barely buried Sir Francis before Colonel Price and his bullies from the County Committee were at our door. We explained that the property was now Thomas’s but they would not believe me. Price wants the Thornton land so badly, that he will not leave us in peace, and every day one or more of his menare seen on our land. I have no one else to turn to. Please come soon. Yr loving Nell.
Kate laid the letter down and met her sister’s hot, angry eyes.
‘You’re surely not going.’ Suzanne exclaimed.
‘I’ve no choice, Suzanne,’ she said. ‘Firstly, I have a duty to see that Tom’s inheritance is secure from the grasp of men like Price, and secondly, Nell is my friend and she needs me.’
‘I am your sister,’ Suzanne’s said in a harsh, flat voice that cut to the bone. ‘I need you.’
Kate steeled her resolve. ‘You have William. You have your children. Nell has no one. She is utterly alone, trying to run a house and an estate that is not her responsibility. Whatever my feelings on the subject, I’m sorry, Suzanne. I must go.’
‘I wish I’d never advised you to go to Seven Ways in the first place,’ Suzanne said bitterly. ‘The devil take the Thorntons. All of them.’
‘Suzanne.’ Kate took a step toward her sister, who shrugged off her hand and walked over to the window where she stood with her back to the room, her arms wrapped defensively around her body.
Kate turned back to William. ‘You understand don’t you, William?’ she asked in an uncertain voice. The vehemence of her sister’s response had shaken her.
‘Aye, lass. You and Thomas have to be seen to take possession of Seven Ways. I’ve no love for these damned Committees. Too quick to feather their own nests, most of them, and this Price sounds no better than any. I think mayhap I should come with you and deal with the man myself.’
Kate hesitated. It would be so easy to allow William to take control and deal with the likes of Colonel Price in his forthright Yorkshire manner. Perhaps William had been right when he said Seven Ways was a man’s job. However it was not his fight, andSir Francis and Jonathan both had confidence in her ability. She did not want to betray that confidence to them or to herself. She glanced at her sister’s stiff back and slowly she shook her head.
‘No, William. You’re needed here. I must go alone,’ she said.
William frowned. ‘Is there no one you can call on for help? Surely you cannot be the last living relative of the Thorntons.’
Kate frowned. ‘There is an uncle in London.’ She grappled for the name, wondering now if Jonathan had ever told her. ‘A lawyer.’
‘Nathaniel Freeman?’ William sat up in his chair.
Kate shook her head. ‘I can’t remember.’
William slapped his knee. ‘It can be no other. That’s how David Ashley met Elizabeth Thornton. Nathaniel Freeman. He had just wed a Thornton. When David sat in the Parliament, he would stay with Freeman and his wife. Ah, lass, you don’t know it, but you’ve a powerful ally there. Freeman has done well for himself under this rule.’
‘You mean he took Parliament’s side?’
William nodded. ‘Lost a boy in one of the early battles if I remember rightly.’
Kate shook her head. ‘I don’t recall David ever mentioned him.’
William shrugged. ‘They’d not have met since the last Parliament was dismissed in ’41. It’s none of my business, but you ask this lass, Nell, to write to her uncle and ask him to come to Seven Ways to meet with you and between the two of you, you’ll set this man Price on his ear.’
Kate stood up. ‘I’ll do that.’ As she passed her sister, she laid a hand on Suzanne’s stiff unresponsive shoulder. ‘I won’t be gone long, Suzanne. I plan to see the estate settled. The bailiff at Seven Ways is a good man. I trust him. I will shut up the house and bring Nell and the bairn back here.’
‘A papist in Barton?’ Suzanne said, without moving.
Kate took a steadying breath, regretting that particular confidence she had shared with her sister. ‘Jonathan’s sister. Tom’s cousin…a woman who needs help, Suzanne.’ She turned back to William. ‘I’ll take Ellen and Dickon with me again if they’ll come, and if I need anything I’ll send for it. We will leave by week’s end.’
Suzanne gave a strangled cry and ran from the room. William watched the door as it slammed shut behind his wife.
‘You’ll have your work cut out for you but you’ve a good head on your shoulders.’ He paused. ‘And don’t you fret for Suzanne. She’ll come round, you’ll see.’
That night Kate sat in her parlour and penned a letter to Nell, assuring her that she and Thomas could be expected within the next few weeks, depending on how long it took to arrange her affairs in Yorkshire and the state of the roads. Kate also asked Nell to send for her uncle as William suggested. She sanded the letter and sealed it neatly.
She stood and walked over to the window. The window faced north…north to Scotland. A cold shiver ran down her spine and she wrapped her arms around herself and closed her eyes, willing her mind to reach out to Jonathan, wondering if he had returned. She had been lonely after Richard’s death but the loneliness of this uncertainty was worse, far worse.
