Scandal at the Dower House Read Online Free Page B

Brooke, may I have a few words?’
    Sir Humphrey, looking disgruntled, acknowledged the greeting and turned to Catarina.
    ‘I had better take myself off, my dear, if you have business with his lordship. You won’t want me to interfere. Perhaps I will ride over again tomorrow, if there is further news. Goodbye.’
    Before she could prevent him, he seized her hand and raised it to his lips. Over his shoulder Catarina could see Lord Brooke’s sardonic gaze, and resisted the temptation to snatch her hand away.
    Eventually he was gone and Catarina turned to Lord Brooke.
    ‘Come inside, my lord, and take a glass of wine. What brings you back now? The Dower House is almost ready for me; I will be moving in next week.’
    ‘It was about some other houses I came. One of my reasons. I have discovered your late husband was contemplating removing the villagers from their present cottages to a point a mile away. He intended, I understand, to provide himself with a better view by so doing. I came to stop it.’
    ‘Stop it? But why?’
    ‘I didn’t know your husband, but from all I have heard he was a good landlord, so I find it desp— disappointing, to hear he is dispossessing the villagers of their homes.’
    ‘Have you seen those homes?’ Catarina asked.
    ‘No, except for seeing their roofs from the house.’
    ‘Those pretty thatched roofs are full of vermin, and the nearest water, apart from the river, is half a mile away. They are floored with earth, low lying, near the marsh, and very damp in winter. Occasionally they are flooded. A dozen houses share one privy.’
    ‘Those things can be improved and I mean to see to it. I do not wish to criticize Walter, but I would have thought, as hewas reputed a good landlord, that he would have done something about it.’
    By now Catarina was fuming. ‘He did do something about it! Those hovels are a disgrace. You will find the villagers are only too anxious to move to the new cottages Walter has caused to be built near the church. Good, stone cottages, with roofs of slate, each with its own privy, and a well within a few yards.’
    ‘Such improvements could be achieved where they are at the moment. Don’t the people work on the farms, or in the house? Will they appreciate a long walk, at least a mile, to and from work?’
    ‘They will be closer to their friends and families who already live in the cottages Walter has been building for the past eight years. They will be close to the church, and there are shops in the village. They are closer to the commons and their animals. And to their taps.’
    ‘Taps?’
    ‘The strips in the common fields. Ask them, my lord, and listen to what they want before you prevent them from acquiring better houses at the same rents as before!’
     
    The estate room, when Nicholas went into it, was untidy, with papers scattered all over the desk and others lying on the floor. There seemed no kind of order. He sat behind the desk and was reading some of the papers when the agent, a young man of his own age, rushed into the room.
    ‘My lord! You should have told me you meant to visit; I would have had it all tidy for you.’
    ‘Should have told you?’ Nicholas drawled, his tone icy.
    The other man’s eyes widened and he swallowed hard.
    ‘I-I only meant, well, that I’d have been prepared for you!’
    ‘It should be tidy at all times. You might then even find it possible to hide your depredations of the estate.’
    ‘I-I don’t know what you mean, my lord!’
    ‘No? Then perhaps I had best explain. Your late master wasbuilding new houses in the village. You had the task of paying the builders, but I find from comparing the amounts you put in the accounts books and the receipts from the builders that you seem to have been stealing small but steady sums from the late earl and, I presume, from me. I have not been able to compare the books since the funeral, but I intend to.’
    ‘I must have made an error in calculation, my lord,’ the