Charlotte: The Practical Education of a Distressed Gentlewoman (21 page)

“
What is it Miss De
Vere?”

“
You said I was your prospective
daughter-in-law? You don't object to me?”

“
Anyone who could cause such a
rise of passion out of Freddy has to have caught his affections
very deeply, and if you were just after his fortune, you'd have
coordinated with that brother of yours. I'd have known.”

“
What?”

“
That your brother showed up as a
surprise to you proves you weren't planning anything. We'll need to
deal with him, but you'd best leave that to Jack and me.” He
laughed, “We have a bit of experience with deadbeats, don't
we?”

Gentleman Jack added, “That's true,
Georgie here and me were partners in the betting line. Damn-me if
Georgie here wasn't one of the best at figuring out the juice. He
then had this daft idea of applying his odds calculations to the
market, grain, and coal. All sorts of things. Tried to talk him out
of it, but good thing he didn't listen.”

“
I'd still be a bookie, wouldn't
I? Not saying I don't miss it, but running the firm was much more
interesting.”

“
I'd say it was a bit more
lucrative too.”

The morning brought Charlotte a
furtive visit from one of the house maids, Betsy. “Ma'am,” she
began, “It tain't right. I think you've been a'witched. Someone's
put the evil words on you.”

“
Don't be silly Betsy, and you
should call me Charlotte.”

“
No Ma'am, I daren't. I brought
this bottle, put some of your hair and nail parings in it. An' if
it's to really work, a little from your chamber pot. Then we'll
seal it and hang it in the chimney.”

“
This is superstition Betsy, what
would Dr. Answorth say?”

A familiar voice came from behind
them in the doorway to the pub, “He'd say to humor her.”

“
Dr. Answorth! What are you doing
here?”

“
I've come to ask you to stay with
Mrs. Answorth and me again. It's not right that you should be a
maid here.”

“
Sir,” Betsy curtsied, “That's
what I've been telling her. She won't listen.”

“
Both of you, please. I've been
cosseted and watched over for all my life. I need to see if I can
make my own way. If even only for a short time.”

“
But a common public house is no
place for gentlewoman.”

“
Both Major Travers and Mr. Talbot
have promised to check up on me, and Mr. Hobbes keeps a close eye
on what I'm about. I'll be safe.”

Knowing Charlotte well, especially
knowing how determined and stubborn she could sometimes be, Dr.
Answorth realized that further argument would serve little purpose,
“If that's what you think, Miss De Vere, I won't argue with you
further, at least for the moment. However, if you find you need it,
our door is always open to you.”

“
Thank you Dr. Answorth. Were
circumstances otherwise I'd joyfully take up your offer. Believe
me, I have my reasons for wanting to stay this close to the
hall.”

After Dr. Answorth departed,
Charlotte and Betsy filled the bottle with the appropriate
ingredients, sealed it and hung it inside the main chimney in the
tap room. “Don't be surprised Ma'am,” Betsy added before she left
for the hall, “if someone comes looking for it. It throws the curse
back and causes terrible pain, so the witches try to find it, even
at the risk of discovery.”

“
With my luck it will be
John.”

“
John?”

“
My good for naught wastrel of a
brother. Someone I never want to see again.”

Sunday service marked the change in
Charlotte's status. She walked with Mr. Hobbes and his family to
the church in Holt. Dr. Answorth's curate, Mr. Cartwright, had
proved himself as a preacher while the Answorths were in Bath, and
was conducting the service at Holt. It was a big relief to Dr.
Answorth to only have to preach for the services in
Staverton.

The Talbot's were seated at the
front of the church as behooved their status as one of the chief
families of the parish. When Mr. Hobbes and family entered, Freddy
shot a hard stare back at Charlotte, then turned away quickly. The
back of his neck reddened with emotion. Charlotte left the company
of the Hobbes family and sat with the other servants in the back of
the church. Elizabeth noticed this. She rose calmly and
deliberately walked to the back of the church where she sat beside
Charlotte. Her actions caused a hushed whisper of surprise to rise
from the congregation. Mr. Talbot caught Major Travers' attention
and remarked, “Good girl that. See why I must make sure you're
honest. Can't bear to part with her otherwise.” Freddy pretended
not to hear.

The butler from the hall addressed
Elizabeth and tried to alert her to the social solecism she was
committing. “Miss Talbot, please. You should sit with your family
at the front. Sitting here encourages over familiarity and is bad
for discipline among the servants.”

Elizabeth looked him firmly in the
eye and replied, “I'm sitting with my friend. You may find it
leveling, but it wasn't that long ago that we Talbot's sat in the
back of the church, if we were even admitted to it at
all.”

“
Yes Ma'am”

“
Thank you. Now Charlotte, you
must tell me how you are faring. Unlike Sa-, Major Travers, I can't
visit you evenings at the Royal Oak.”

Freddy caught up with his sister
after the service. “What the hell was that about?”

His mother said, “Freddy, your
language.”

“
Lizzy, what where you doing with
that woman?”

Elizabeth teased him, “Which
woman?”

“
You know which one, that trollop
you sat next to.”

“
I sat next to several trollops,
which one?”

“
The one you know I
mean.”

“
Oh, Miss De Vere?”

“
Yes that one. Stop teasing
me.”

“
We were attending service. That's
all. What else do you do in church on Sunday mornings?”

“
Alright then, Miss Logical, what
were you talking about?”

“
Nothing much.”

“
Me?”

“
No, I can't talk about you with
her. Actually I was asking how well she liked being a bar maid. If
I can't marry Major Travers, I may need to look into a new
career.”

Their father silenced them both.
“Freddy, Lizzy, that's enough bickering. You're acting like little
children. Stop it. If Lizzy wants to chat and pass the time with
her friend, that's her look out.”

A week after
John De Vere's calamitous visit, with the situation between Freddy
and Charlotte unchanged, Elizabeth and her Major Sam decided to
find Freddy and give him a piece of their minds. They understood
why he was angry, but a week of his ill humor was just too much. It
took a while, but they found him closeted having a heated
discussion with his father in an outbuilding. “Freddy, about Miss
De Vere.”

“
Yes, what about that
hussy?”

“
That was ungentlemanly on your
part. Sending her off like that.” His father added, “That's what
I've been telling him. Daft boy won't listen to reason.”

“
I'm no gentleman. She and her
brother made that very clear.”

“
Of course you are,” Sam
interjected, “Freddy, you're one of the best gentlemen I know.
Birth isn't everything, you know.”

“
It doesn't matter, I'm not being
betrayed again. Damn woman. She deserves it.”

Elizabeth fumed, her temper was
never as even as Freddy's and she was reaching the end of its
tether when it came to her brother. “Freddy, listen to me. I have
no idea what game that slimy brother of hers was playing, but there
is no way I can believe that Charlotte could have been
involved.”

“
Is that true?”

“
Of course. Look you idiotic
moon-calf, didn't you once tell her that I'd saved your bacon more
than one time?”

“
Yes, and it's true too. More than
once.”

“
Well listen to my advice one more
time, damn it, you crazy bugger.”

Surprised by Elizabeth's unusually
coarse language, Freddy paused, “Lizzy, do you really believe she
wasn't involved?”

“
Absolutely, I even gave her some
funds, so she shouldn't be in a ditch somewhere.”

“
Then I've made a ghastly mistake,
haven't I?”

His father chimed in, “That's what
I've been trying to tell you off and on for the last week. Of all
the stiff-necked dolts I've encountered, you are near the top. It's
time to stop making a cake of yourself.”

“
Sam, can you come ride with me,
to go and find her?”

“
Can but won't. I have some
serious negotiations to undertake with your father here. Isn't that
Willis chap back from Bath? He can ride with you and help search
for her. That's what you pay him for, isn't it?”

Freddy ran off shouting for his
horse and one for Mr. Willis to be prepared as soon as was
possible.

Elizabeth looked at Sam and smiled,
“Shouldn't we have told him that Charlotte was at the Royal
Oak.”

Her father answered, “Nay lass. He
needs to suffer a bit first. Let him search the county. It'll make
a good story, and if he's too tired they won't fratch when he finds
her.”

Charlotte was cleaning mugs and
replacing them at the bar the late afternoon when a pair of
horsemen rode up outside of the Royal Oak. Her heart leaped into
her throat as a voice she both knew very well and, right now both
hoped for and dreaded more than any other, shouted to his
companion, “Willis, we've looked everywhere. She's not with any of
the farmers nor with the vicar and hasn't taken the stage.” No one
would tell him anything while he was searching, other than “She's
not here.” Freddy continued, “The horses need a breather, and I
need a drink.”

A voice she didn't recognize
replied, “You're right, Mr. Talbot, sorry Freddy. Let me get the
horses to the stable and I'll join you.”

The door to the inn opened and he
was there, Freddy. He looked tired, frazzled, as if he hadn't slept
much in the last week. He was covered in dust from his frantic
ride. Charlotte didn't notice that, she saw him standing there
speechless in his surprise, but looking as handsome as he ever did.
They stared at each other across the taproom.

Finally, she found her voice,
“What'll it be, Sir?”

“
Charlotte?”

She replied with as much dignity as
she could, “Miss De Vere to you.”

He strode over and grabbed her
hand. She looked away as he said. “Charlotte, I'm so sorry for what
I said last week. Sending you off like that. Can you forgive
me?”

She wanted to pull her hand away,
give him a slap and say no, but he wasn't letting it go. Then she
looked in his eyes and saw the look of dumb anguish that was there.
He wasn't just saying pretty words to get on her good side.
“Freddy, I”

She didn't get much further as he
pulled her forward and started to kiss her.

“
Hoy, enough of that.” It was Mr.
Hobbes, he had heard the conversation and come to see what was
happening. “This is a respectable inn.”

They quickly parted. Charlotte
blushed while Freddy asked her, “So you'll still marry
me?”

“
Of course, Freddy, but my awful
brother.”

“
Yes he is, but we can't choose
our relations.”

“
You're going to have to sort out
this mess first, aren't you?”

“
Unfortunately, yes.”

“
But you won't send me to debtor's
prison, will you?”

“
No, of course not. Charlotte,
what upset me wasn't the money. It was thinking I was
betrayed.”

An acid rejoinder formed in
Charlotte's mind, but she rejected it. Freddy looked so vulnerable,
and it would be so easy to hurt him by saying the wrong thing.
“Freddy,” and here in spite of Mr. Hobbes' repeated injunction to
the contrary, she kissed him. “Freddy I will never betray you. We
might disagree, but I won't do that, ever.”

“
I promise you, Charlotte, I
promise you I'll always love you, always trust you.”

“
Anyway, I'm sort of thankful to
my lousy brother, I didn't know you could get angry. I guess I
really did pierce that calm, solid front you have.”

“
Why would you ever doubt it? As
if I've ever asked anyone else to marry me.”

Mr. Hobbes coughed, and Charlotte
asked, “Oh I forgot, Mr. Talbot what will it be?”

“
A pint, please and one for my
friend when he comes in.”

She started to draw them, fumbled a
bit, but managed it in the end.

“
Charlotte, why don't you stay
with the Answorths?”

“
Freddy, for once I need to make
my own way. I've worked harder this week than ever before, even
though I'd bet Mr. Hobbes has been easy on me.”