The Westmere Legacy. Mary Nichols

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      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

       About the Author

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter Ten

      Chapter Eleven

      Historical Note

       Copyright

       Chapter One

      March 1816

      ‘Sylvester!’ William Huntley, second Earl of Westmere, could be heard bellowing as far away as the kitchens, where Bella was speaking to Cook about the day’s menus. ‘Sylvester! Damn your eyes, man! I want you here.’

      ‘Oh, dear, his gout must be plaguing him again,’ Bella said. ‘Where can Sylvester be?’

      There was the sound of hurrying footsteps on the landing above them and then silence. A few minutes later a tall gangly individual in a suit of black clothes and thinning hair of indeterminate colour appeared in the doorway with a large jug which he handed to Daisy, the kitchen maid, to fill with hot water. ‘He is determined on dressing and coming downstairs,’ he said.

      ‘But he hasn’t had his breakfast.’

      ‘He says he will have it in the breakfast parlour in half an hour.’

      ‘Oh, lor,’ Daisy said, filling the jug with hot water from a huge kettle on the stove and giving it back to him. ‘There’s no fire in there.’

      ‘Then you’d better put one there quick sharp.’

      ‘And who’s going to help me cook breakfast if the girl disappears, making fires?’ Cook demanded. ‘Can’t you persuade him to have his breakfast in his room like he always does? I can’t think why he should suddenly decide to come downstairs for it—it’s years since he did that.’

      ‘He says he’s made a decision and he’s going to set it in train today.’

      ‘Oh, and what might that be?’

      The valet shrugged his bony shoulders. ‘How should I know?’

      ‘You’re privy to most things where he’s concerned. I’ll wager he’s told you.’

      ‘He has not and if he had, I wouldn’t tell you, madam. I’m off before he starts yelling again.’

      ‘Gout he might have, but it hasn’t affected his voice,’ Cook said, as they heard his lordship shouting again.

      ‘No, but it does give him a great deal of pain,’ Bella put in mildly, as the valet scuttled from the room with the hot water. ‘He will feel better directly when Sylvester has given him his wash and shave and bound up his poor foot. Daisy, go and light that fire. I will help Cook with breakfast.’

      The thirteen-year-old Daisy picked up a basket of wood, an old newspaper and a tinder box and left the kitchen. Bella found an apron in a drawer and rolled up the sleeves of her dress to help prepare the household’s breakfasts. It was not an arduous task because although the Earl was hardly impecunious, he was very careful, some said mean, and kept no more staff than was necessary for his own comfort and the smooth running of the house and estate.

      Indoors, there was only Sylvester Carpenter his valet, Sam Jolliffe the butler, Martha Tooke, housekeeper-cum-cook, Daisy the kitchen maid, a laundrywoman and two women who did not live in but came in from the village every day to make sure the east wing of the great mansion, which was СКАЧАТЬ