Page 83 of The Mistress of Ashmore Castle

‘Aye, well,’ Cowling said, ‘that’s the way of business. I told you as much over the jam affair – you have to lay it out to get it back. Luckily, the jam’s doing very well – that smashing new contract with the Indian Army’ll bring in a pretty penny!’

‘Yes, we’re very pleased about that. And several hospitals are interested. I just wish everybody didn’t always want strawberry jam. If only we could grow ’em all year round we’d make a fortune. You can’t think of a cunning way to make strawberries grow twelve months of the year, I suppose?’

‘I’m no magician,’ said Cowling. ‘But somebody will, some day.’

‘That’s what I call optimism,’ Richard said, with a laugh.

‘Oh, you’ll never go wrong with jam,’ Cowling said. ‘That’s why I was happy to come in with you. As to your dairy scheme – I think it shows promise, any road.’

‘Promise? It promises to eat up the jam profits.’

‘But that’s how it goes. You take the profits from one enterprise and put it into the next, and so on. Just like I did, putting my profits from boots into art-silk stockings. Always looking for the next thing. Can’t stand still in commerce, my lad. Ever onward and upward.’

‘Sounds exhausting!’

‘But you’re happy with this bull of yours?’

‘Oh, he’s perfectly splendid. You’ll see in a moment: we’re just coming up to Hundon’s. So far he’s had rather a motley collection of wives to service, but I’ve six new heifers coming next week, pedigreed Shorthorns, so he’ll feel like a sultan with a harem of lovelies.’

‘You’ve bought six more cows? What did your brother say?’

‘Giles doesn’t know yet. They were expensive, but they’ll be the core of our new herd,’ Richard said, unabashed. ‘Got to build on firm foundations. Besides, I couldn’t resist – you’ll understand when you see them. Those big brown eyes . . .’

‘Aye, I’m a fool for brown eyes, too!’ Cowling was chuckling. ‘Anyway, you have to invest before you can take a profit.’

‘I hope you can convince Giles of that when he gets back. Oh, there’s Woodrow, waiting for us. He’s an excellent man, Cowling, full of ideas. You’ll like him.’

Rose paid another visit to Moss, and found him in much better spirits. He was quite agitated, in fact, but in a good way. ‘Miss Eddowes of Weldon House has been to see me, Rose – you know Miss Eddowes, of course?’

‘Of course,’ said Rose, but did not elaborate on how she knew her. The episode that had brought them together, concerning the late earl, was too painful ever to be completely healed.

‘A true lady,’ Moss enthused. ‘Of a very respectable family. She lives quietly, but I hear she’s very well-to-do, everything done as it should be.’

‘I wouldn’t know about that, Mr Moss. I’ve only been inside her house once.’

‘And a kind and charitable person, I believe,’ Moss went on.

‘Oh, she’s that, all right.’

‘Involved in many good works.’

You don’t want to enquire about them too deeply, Rose thought. You might not approve. ‘So, did she have anything in particular to say to you, Mr Moss?’ she enquired. Miss Eddowes had promised to look out for a position for him – though Rose had thought it unlikely anything would turn up that wouldn’t be a big step down for someone who had been butler to an earl in a big house.

Moss’s cheeks quivered. ‘She had indeed, Rose. I can hardly find words to tell you. You know how worried I’ve been—’

‘She’s found you a place?’ Rose said, to hurry him along.

‘She’s offered me a place.’

‘Good gracious!’ Rose said blankly. She hadn’t expected that.

‘Of course, it’s a very small household. Just a cook-housekeeper, and one girl who lives out. But Miss Eddowes said she feels very much the lack of a male presence in the house. And she says she would like to entertain more. Sometimes she needs to persuade people to donate to some cause, and she wants to give dinner parties or evening parties for the purpose. So it wouldn’t be a negligible position.’

‘I can see that,’ Rose said kindly.

‘I should be butler and footman combined. Ordering the wine. Answering the door. Receiving guests.’ He went on, more hesitantly, ‘Laying the table. I suppose I would have to clear as well as serve.’ His voice faltered. ‘Cleaning the silver? The shoes? Filling the lamps? I hope not . . .’ He came to a halt, and looked at Rose with all the excitement drained away. ‘I’d have to do everything, wouldn’t I, with no footmen or boys under me?’

Rose, never self-pitying, had no patience with it in anyone else. ‘What’s the alternative, Mr Moss? You’ve been knocked down, now someone’s giving you a hand up. You can’t go back to a job that will strain your heart, and you’re lucky that Miss Eddowes has asked you.’