Page 59 of By the Sword
‘Thank you for your time, Colonel, but Master Howell and I have a busy afternoon planned. There is much work to be done so I will take my leave of you.’
‘Think on my offer, Mistress Ashley,’ he said. ‘I am sure you will find you have set yourself a major undertaking. The Seven Ways estate is in a parlous condition.’
She nodded. ‘Thank you, Colonel. I will see what needs to be done.’
Kate held out her hand, and Price bowed over it. ‘Madam. It only remains for me to bid you welcome and ask if I can be of any service.’
As Kate pulled on her gloves, she said, ‘Well there is one small matter, which you as a Justice of the Peace may be able to assist me with. My tenants are being harassed by men who claim, wrongly I am certain, to be acting on your orders.’
Price blustered, his face going a pleasing shade of puce. ‘That is outrageous, madam. I shall make immediate investigations and such ruffians will be sternly dealt with.’
Liar, Kate thought, but she smiled sweetly. ‘Thank you, for your time. I hope we may meet again soon.’
‘My wife is presently visiting family but when she returns you must dine with us, Mistress Ashley.’
‘I would be delighted, Colonel.’ She swept past him, with Jacob trailing in her wake.
Their horses, held by a groom, waited on the gravelled forecourt of the handsome late Elizabethan house. This should be Nell’s house, Kate thought again, looking up at the mullioned windows and curling chimneys. Nell would be happy here.
She hoped Jacob didn’t notice her hand shake as she took the reins of her horse from him.
‘Did you mean what you said about Sir Jonathan?’ Jacob asked boldly as they rode away.
‘Which part?’
‘You said he should be damned.’
‘No, Howell, of course I did not mean what I said. I have met Sir Jonathan and I have high regard for him.’
Jacob gave her a quick sideways glance but said nothing. She wondered if any servants’ gossip about her relationship with Jonathan had permeated the walls of Seven Ways.
Kate smiled to herself and thought how Jonathan would have enjoyed being a witness to that interview. She had learned a great deal from him in their short acquaintance.
‘I think that went well, don’t you? I have certainly left him with something to ponder and I doubt our tenants will be harassed again.’
Jacob Howell. ‘Aye, Mistress. You’ve certainly given him pause. I liked the part about your family’s friendship with Sir Thomas Fairfax. Is that true?’
Kate cast him a sharp glance. ‘Perfectly true, Howell. Lady Anne sends me her best Crab Apple Jelly every Christmas.’
***
In some ways, the next interview would prove to be more difficult, and Kate’s heart sank as they turned into the yard of the Barlow’s farm. She caught Jacob’s sharp eyes on her, waiting for her reaction. It had all the look of neglect she had expected. The roof sagged and a few skinny chickens pecked around the churned dirt of the yard.
A thin, harried woman waited by the door, her hands twisting in a not-too-clean apron.
As Jacob helped Kate dismount, the woman smoothed the crumpled folds of the apron and curtsied.
‘You’re welcome, my lady,’ she said. ‘I’m Susan Barlow. Would you care for some refreshment?’
Susan held open the door of her house with such a look of hope and anxiety on her face that Kate thought better of correcting the woman on the use of the correct mode of address.
Instead, she smiled and thanked her and followed her into the dark house.
It took a few minutes for Kate’s eyes to accustom themselves to the gloom of the kitchen. Like the farm, it bore the discernible signs of neglect, with dust and cobwebs where there should be none and mud on the stone pavers that covered the floor. She fought against the overwhelming stench of stale bodies, boiled cabbage and mould.
A man sat by the fire, staring at nothing in particular. He looked up and when he saw Kate he began to twitch and jerk, uttering unintelligible sounds.
Susan Barlow went to his side, calming him as she would a small child. ‘Don’t fret, Jem. ‘Tis just my lady come to pay a call.’ She looked up at Kate. ‘Don’t you mind my Jem, my lady. He don’t mean no harm.’ She paused, looking sadly at the man, who had resumed staring into the coals of the fire. ‘He’s not been quite right since the war.’
