Page 38 of Resilience

With an expression that looked as if she were sucking lemons, Mrs Chalton curtsied and left them.

Three hours later, Elizabeth accompanied Kitty and Matthew to the master’s chamber to meet Mr Denny. Matthew had already been in earlier, Elizabeth had heard shouts all the way from the east wing. It did not sound like Mr Denny was happy that his son was returned to him.

The frail old man sat up in his stained nightshirt against his pillows as Kitty and Elizabeth were introduced to him by his son.

“So.” he said. “This is the child you brought home to help you fix Hawthorne Vale.”

Kitty curtsied perfectly. “I am happy to attend you, sir.”

“Happy?” The old man cackled. “Anxious is how you ought to feel. You have married into ruin and decay.”

Elizabeth noticed Matthew stiffen, ready to step in if his father became too sardonic. His father waved a withered, trembling hand. “You will find nothing as it ought to be here, girl…no order…no money…no respect…certainly not mine.”

“I have respect for my husband as he does for me. It will be enough.” Kitty’s chin jerked higher. Elizabeth saw herself in her younger sister for just a moment, and felt pride as her sister’s courage rose with the old man’s attempt to intimidate her. “I did not come to command order, money, or respect. I came to care for my husband, and for you.”

“You will not be the first to try and fail, as I have failed, as he has failed me.” The old man waved a hand, dismissing them.

“I will not fail,” Kitty promised. “He is not so very difficult to care for. I find it quite easy to respect and esteem my husband. The deficiency must be all on your part, sir. But take heart, for you have another chance, and you should not let it pass by, for time is scarce.”

“Balderdash,” the old man spat. “You still have not said why you are here, boy.”

“You know why he is here.” Mr Walters took up a chair by the bed. “I told you I wrote to him. You know that your time is short, Joseph.”

“I know? Ha! What do you know!” Mr Denny grumbled.

“I know that I have been your friend all your life and your physician for the last forty years. If that is not a tumour in your stomach, my friend, well, I hate to break this to you, but you will probably give birth to the messiah soon.” Mr Walters said in the dry way Elizabeth had seen her father interact with his friends.

She had not noticed the bulge before Mr Walters said it, it could have been the bedclothes or even a pillow for the old man’s comfort, but she realised that if that bulge was his stomach, that the man must have a terrible cancer indeed.

The four of them took their leave of Mr Denny and left to dine downstairs. Elizabeth noted Kitty’s and Denny’s tightly clasped hands as she descended the stairs behind them, and wondered what her sister was getting herself into.

The following day, the war started between Mr Denny senior, his servants, and Kitty and Matthew. Elizabeth woke early and walked for nearly an hour before she turned back, starving. She returned to her room and dressed, then met the others downstairs for breakfast. Except no breakfast was laid, and the breakfast room was freezing.

“Mrs Chalton?” Matthew called as the housekeeper passed by the door of the breakfast room. “Why is there no breakfast and no fires this morning?”

“I was told the new mistress was in charge, but she ordered no breakfast,” Mrs Chalton sneered.

Kitty gasped.

“Now you have done it.” Mr Walters shook his head as a vein began to throb at Matthew’s temple.

“Do you mean to tell me that my wife and I arrived just yesterday to learn that my father is dying, quite soon, I might add, of a deforming and painful cancer, and you chose not to lay fires or plan a breakfast today because Mrs Denny has not yet found the time to take over management of this house in less than eighteen hours?”

Mrs Chalton blanched. That was indeed, exactly what she had intended, though the insult had obviously not landed at all how she thought it might. She had meant to make the new mistress look childish and inexperienced. Instead she had made herself look resentful and petty.

“Mrs Chalton, you are dismissed without a reference.” Matthew pinched the bridge of his nose in anxiety as if he were suffering a headache, and Elizabeth would not have been surprised if he was.

“But sir!” The woman straightened up in alarm.

“Oh, Matthew, do not dismiss her!” Kitty begged.

“My father is upstairs dying, and our housekeeper is already making our lives difficult and miserable in an effort to make you look incompetent, Mrs Denny,” her husband returned in frustration.

“Oh dear, I can see that you are right, but it will be so difficult to manage without any housekeeper at all! I am sure that she did just as you said, and it was an appalling thing to do, but she has not learnt yet that we mean no harm! Mrs Chalton is only showing her loyalty for your father.” Kitty turned to the housekeeper. “I should like the chance to earn your loyalty, if you would consider it, Mrs Chalton. Of course, with my father-in-law so ill, it might be some days before I can learn everything about Hawthorne Vale, but I hope you will manage things that I do not have time to oversee until you and I go over everything and come to an accord.”

“Mrs Chalton, it goes against my better judgement after your display of disrespect, but if it pleases my wife to give you a second chance, I hope you will strive to deserve it.” Matthew gestured to the cold and barren breakfast room. “Please send someone to light the fires, and send us tea and something to sustain us in the parlour until breakfast is served. It need not be lavish, only hot and nourishing.”

Chapter Seventeen