Hold On to Hope by Jean Fullerton

Author:Jean Fullerton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atlantic Books

Chapter Seventeen

Jonathan took Mrs Benson’s steps two at a time and tucked himself under the carved wooden porch to shelter from the rain. He knocked smartly on the door. Willamore opened it and ushered him inside.

‘How is Mrs Benson?’ Jonathan asked, handing over his soggy coat and hat.

‘A little better but Madam doesn’t complain.’

Like many in the congregation, Mrs Benson had taken a chill just after Christmas, but while others had shaken off the chest ague without too much trouble, Mrs Benson hadn’t yet rallied. It was only to be expected at her age, but Jonathan was nonetheless concerned.

The butler led him towards the morning-room door. ‘She’ll be cheered to see you, Captain Quinn.’

Jonathan walked in to where Mrs Benson reclined, swathed in shawls, on the chaise longue. She’d always seemed frail but now the skin of her face seemed transparent, revealing the blue veins around her temples.

‘Captain Quinn. You’ll forgive me for not rising to greet you properly,’ she said, extending a small hand.

‘Of course,’ Jonathan said, taking it gently. ‘How are you?’

‘Well enough for an old woman.’ She covered her mouth with a lace handkerchief and coughed. ‘I’ve got Harker trying to prescribe me all sorts of concoctions but I told him no.’

‘Surely there must be something—’

She raised her hand. ‘I’m too old to argue with, remember?’

Jonathan smiled and pulled a chair alongside her to sit down.

Mrs Benson tilted her head and studied him closely. ‘Now, it’s the duty of those visiting the sick to divert them from their troubles so let us talk of something other than my old bones.’

The housekeeper brought tea and cake and Jonathan told Mrs Benson how his plans for the school were progressing.

‘Excellent! What with the new curriculum and books . . .’ she said with a twinkle in her eye. ‘And what area are you going to tackle next?’

‘Truancy,’ Jonathan replied. ‘It’s lessening but there are still some children who never do a full week. I understand their circumstances – if the head of the household has no work or is on short time the children have to earn something – but I’m afraid that often means turning to petty crime. Of course Mrs Ellis’s children are always in school. I saw her just yesterday,’ he said, trying to sound casual. ‘She asked me to pass on her best wishes.’

‘That’s kind of her.’ She shifted position and winced.

‘Am I tiring you?’

She shook her head. ‘I’m quite all right. It’s just a little stiffness from sitting. I’ll be fine.’ She smiled at him. ‘But what about you? It worries me to think of you in that large schoolhouse with no one looking after you or keeping you company.’

‘You sound like Mrs Delaney!’

Mrs Benson looked at him with impatience. ‘Well, she has a point!’

‘But—’

‘But nothing,’ she said, waving her hand dismissively. ‘You’ve been with us for over six months now. I thought you and Miss Puttock were growing closer. She’s a tendency to the dramatic, I grant you, but a household to run and a brood of children should keep her feet on the ground.

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