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By the time we reached the rectory, it was dark and very cold. Once I’d managed to locate the back door, I brought Rose into the warm kitchen to get her some food. To my surprise, Jasper was there and having what looked like a heated discussion with Maggie. When we walked in, they stopped speaking and stared at us.
Maggie recovered first and came forward, wiping her hands on her apron, her face red and flustered.
‘Mercy, we was getting worried about you! You’ve been away some while! And who’s this you’ve got with you?’
I looked at Jasper warily. His handsome face didn’t look worried; it looked livid. He glanced at Rose and gave her the once-over. Dressed as a man and covered in grime, she still radiated an ethereal beauty.
‘This is Rose. I found her starving in the woods,’ I said pointedly; and Maggie, as I knew she would, hustled us to the table and started loading a couple of plates with hot beef stew.
My stomach was gripped with a gnawing hunger, and I was so concerned with eating my stew that I forgot Jasper was still there until he slammed his fist down on the table so hard our plates jumped a foot in the air.
He glared at me fiercely, and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand to attention. He leaned forward menacingly across the table and growled, ‘I know you have it, pox! Don’t play the innocent maid with me!’ Then he swept from the room rather dramatically.
Rose looked at me, her eyes wide with shock. ‘Who the blooming heck was that?’
If I hadn’t been so petrified, I would’ve laughed at the expression on her face. I tried to shrug nonchalantly, but I was shaking in my boots.
‘Oh, don’t mind Mr Donne,’ said Maggie airily, stirring something briskly on the stove. ‘His bark’s worse than ‘is bite. He’s got some fool notion that you’ve stolen some letter of ’is, Mercy. Wanted me to search your room until whatever he’s lost was found. Being quite demanding he was just now, but I stood my ground. “Miss Mercy’s a good girl,” I told him. “She would no’ take what’s no’ hers.”’
I gulped down a chunk of bread and tried to look innocent. Rose glanced at me, and I blushed. She grinned approvingly. ‘Not such a good girl after all,’ her expression seemed to say.
Meanwhile, Maggie had moved on to a more interesting topic. ‘So, Miss Rose, where are you from?’
She looked curiously at Rose’s outfit and her obvious hunger; she was shovelling food into her mouth like there was no tomorrow. Perhaps in her mind, this would be the last meal she would have for a while. My heart contracted in pity. What had happened to make this girl choose the life of a common thief?
Rose eventually stopped chewing, and the story came out. She had been working at Lord Bradnor’s manor up until last week as a scullery maid. Her job was to help the cook by preparing vegetables and washing dishes, as well as other duties such as lighting the fires in the dining room, drawing room, and main bedrooms. Apparently, Lord Bradnor had come across her clearing out the ashes in his bedroom fireplace and had tried to accost her.
‘He had his hand up my skirt when his wife walked in. It didn’t look too good from where she was standing. I was instantly dismissed without the wages I was owed for the last month. I had nowhere to go. My family lives up north, and I had no money to get there. After a night of almost freezing to death in the woods with only a small blanket, I decided if I didn’t do something drastic, I would die. So I stole these clothes and a knife, and I’ve been holding people at knifepoint until they give me money or food. Oh, I don’t hurt them,’ she said hurriedly, seeing Maggie’s alarmed face. ‘I just scare them a little. Mercy here is the first one who’s offered me a proper meal, though.’
I was riveted by Rose’s story. I couldn’t imagine being so alone and desperate that you were forced into being a criminal.
‘But, child, why didn’t you turn to the parish? Father Fannon would’ve helped you without question,’ said Maggie. Rose scowled and looked as if she wanted to spit.
‘The church and I don’t exactly get along,’ she said, looking shifty. I sensed there was more to the story, but Maggie didn’t press her.
‘Well, you’re here now,’ she said briskly. ‘And upon my honour as a Christian, I’ll not turn out someone in need of food or shelter. I’ll talk to Father Fannon and see if we can find you a few jobs around here in exchange for a decent meal and a bed. You can share with Mercy for now.’
Later, when we were safely ensconced upstairs in my room and getting ready for bed, Rose asked me about Jasper, as I knew she would. I could tell she was burning with curiosity.
‘So he’s some kind of upper-crust, but he’s living here and coming and going as he pleases? Sounds a little odd to me. Why don’t he have any family?’
‘He does,’ I said, brushing my hair a little too vigorously. ‘An uncle. But he seems to prefer living here with Sebastian. He’s studying at Oxford, and he’s travelled a lot.’
‘Oh, has he?’ said Rose, throwing back the covers and hopping into bed. She had given her face and feet a thorough scrubbing at my washbasin, but the rest of her was still a bit grimy. I hoped she kept well over on her side of the bed.
‘You seem to know him quite well,’ she continued, ‘despite the fact he looked ready to murder you in the kitchen. You have got it, haven’t you? Whatever it is that he’s missing?’
I slid into bed and lay still. If truth be told, the burden of the letter was becoming more than I could bear. But I didn’t know how much Rose could be trusted with my secret: that I loved Jasper so passionately that my heart was breaking in two. She would probably laugh herself silly if I told her. In the end, I compromised.
‘Yes, I have got it, but I didn’t know it meant that much to him.’ A small white lie. ‘I was being nosey. But things got out of hand, and now I don’t know how to rectify them.’ Another white lie. I could easily put the letter back.
‘So what does it say?’ she asked.
‘What does what say?’
She snorted. ‘The letter, silly. What does it say in the letter?’
‘Oh, nothing too exciting. Just inheritance guff. He must need it to claim his fortune or something.’ I yawned. ‘Anyway, I’ll give it back to him, and he’ll leave me alone. Let’s stop talking and go to sleep. I’m tired.’
