Mrs England by Stacey Halls

Author:Stacey Halls [Halls, Stacey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781838772895
Google: Zl_1DwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Bonnier Zaffre Ltd.
Published: 2021-06-06T23:00:00+00:00

At last the revellers disbanded and the great clear-up began. The guests seeped from the grounds back to their trams and trains, pulling tired children along and thinking of their beds and what remained in the pantry.

The doctor returned in the early evening, attempting to enter the room and finding it locked. He asked to be let in, but I told him the boy had recovered and was sleeping, and to try again in half an hour. He accepted this and shuffled off.

When he was breathing deeply, Mrs England said, without taking her eyes from him: ‘I want to stay here with him.’

‘Should I go outside, ma’am?’

‘No, I mean, I wish to stay here at Crow Nest. With Saul.’

‘Of course. You mean for me to go back to Hardcastle House with the others?’

She nodded, biting her lip and looking at her son, whose eyelids flickered as he dreamt. In a low voice she said: ‘I’ve already lost Decca. I can’t go through it again.’

‘But, ma’am, Mr England said it was your idea to send her to school.’

She looked directly at me. ‘And you believe that?’

‘I’ll find the others,’ I said, standing and tightening my apron behind me.

‘Charles will listen to you, if you tell him. Make it seem like his idea.’

‘Ma’am?’

She said nothing more and went on gazing at her son.

Lamps and torches lit the tents and made them eerie. I found Millie making shadow puppets with her cousins, and Charley asleep in an aunt’s lap. Several people enquired after Saul as I moved through the chairs towards Mr England, finding him seated with half a dozen men. Bottles of wine and brandy lay open before them, staining the tablecloth dark red.

‘Sir,’ I mumbled, standing beside him.

‘Ah, Nurse May,’ he exclaimed. ‘Gentlemen, this is Ruby May, our children’s nurse.’

The men regarded me, and some nodded. I felt their eyes slide downwards and pretended not to notice.

‘We got her from the Norland Institute in London. A ladies’ college for nurses – have you ever heard of such a thing? Nurse May keeps us all shipshape, don’t you?’

‘Sir, may I speak with you a moment?’

‘How is my son?’

‘Master Saul has improved slightly,’ I replied, conscious of the group’s attention. ‘But Mrs England is worried that a journey home tonight could be dangerous.’

‘What did Powell say?’

‘That it would be a risk,’ I lied.

Mr England considered, and the surrounding moustaches twitched. Make it seem like his idea.

‘Why not have him stay here a week or two? What do you fellows think?’

‘Seems reasonable,’ said one.

‘What about Mrs England?’ I asked.

‘Well, I suppose she should stay, too, for a while.’

‘If you wish, sir. I will arrange to send their things.’

He tapped his cigar into the dregs of a wine glass. ‘Then I shall be quite the bachelor without my lady wife,’ he mused. ‘You will come back to Hardcastle, of course, with the other two.’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘The steam did the trick, then?’

I blinked and met his gaze, which was smooth and neutral.

‘It appears so, sir.’

‘Gather the children, Nurse May, and I’ll send for the carriage.

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