Page 86 of A Lady in Name

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Mrs Oade looked frailer than ever, her complexion pasty, her skin paper-thin. She was lying in a wooden cot in the corner of a large bedroom, which gave her an even more wasted appearance.

She had not stirred as Lucy approached the bed, and her eyes remained closed. Lucy spied a straight-backed chair near the window and went to fetch it, setting it down by the bedside. She sat down, and reached to capture one of the blue-veined hands and hold it between both her own.

A slight movement of the head showed Mrs Oade had noted the change. Her eyelids flickered but did not lift. Lucy called her softly. “Mrs Oade.”

She had to repeat the name two more times before the woman’s lids lifted, exposing pallid blue eyes. They blinked and turned in the direction of the voice.

“It is Lucy, Mrs Oade. Do you remember me?”

There was no immediate recognition in the old woman’s eyes. Lucy felt compassion stir, and the compulsion throbbed intensely within her.

“Mrs Oade — Grandmother — I am Alice’s daughter. You remember Alice?”

At that, something changed in the aged eyes, and a rheum glistened at their edges. The cracked voice came out. Weaker, but just as Lucy remembered it.

“Alice. My Alice.”

“Yes,” Lucy said eagerly, gripped by the urge that drove her. “I am Alice’s daughter. My name is Lucy.”

The old woman’s gaze focused on Lucy’s face. Her hand wavered and Lucy squeezed it again.

“Alice’s girl? Alice’s babe?”

Lucy’s vision blurred. She clutched the woman’s hand tightly between both her own, and her voice went husky.

“Yes, Grandmother. Alice’s babe. I am Alice’s girl.” A sigh left the woman’s lips, and moisture squeezed out at the corners of her eyes. Lucy leaned closer. “I have come to tell you something, which I hope will comfort you.”

Mrs Oade’s gaze grew blank. Had she understood?

Lucy tried again. “I have news, Mrs Oade. News of Alice.”

The skin about the old woman’s eyes moved and a faint frown appeared. She focused on Lucy’s face. The compulsion was suddenly very strong. Lucy obeyed it without will.

“Alice was married, Mrs Oade. I found the church. It is all in the register. Alice married the man who made her with child. Do you understand me? She was wedded to him.”

At first the creature looked bemused. But something had gone through. “Wed?”

“Yes, they were wed. I am not a love child, and Alice was not disgraced.”

At last it seemed the news had sunk in. The hand she held returned a measure of Lucy’s pressure, if weakly. Then a series of gasping little cries came chasing one another from her lips.

Alarmed, Lucy thought for a moment her breathing was in difficulties. Or she was becoming hysterical. But the woman’s mouth was smiling, and at length Lucy took in that she was laughing.

With surprising strength, Mrs Oade spoke out into the air. “Good on you, Alice! Good on you, girl!”

Suddenly, Lucy felt lighter. The pressure in her chest eased. An immense feeling of peace descended upon her and all desire to weep was washed away.

Her grandmother’s fit of cackling subsided after a while, and she sank back into a semi-stupor, her eyes slowly closing. But the smile was yet upon her mouth. A wisp of an idea sailed through Lucy’s mind: that Mrs Oade would not wake again.

She rose from the chair and quietly left the old dame in peace.

Stefan had not many minutes to wait before the farmer appeared. He exhibited extreme belligerence at seeing Stefan again, asking him in a tone of truculence whether he did not remember the blunderbuss.

“I remember it very well, I thank you,” Stefan told him, equally hostile. “But I think you may change your tune when you hear what I have to say.”

He then took great pleasure in informing the fellow of his sister’s marriage to the man who had allegedly ruined her. Oade stood dumbstruck, his mouth opening and closing several times before he managed to get the words out.