As we stood together outside the palace, my husband kissed me and held me close.
“I am so proud of you. You make me so happy,” he said.
“Ditto,” I said, and he stared at me.
“What?”
“Ditto – it means, the same to you,” I said, and laughed.
We returned to provincial Abingdon in the late afternoon and eventually Katie spoke to us. I went and took off my gorgeous dress, and she followed me with a scowl. Eventually she thawed, and instructed me to pass on every little detail, including what everyone was wearing.
As I hung my dress up, I noticed a small pile of discarded clothing in the bottom of the wardrobe. The clothes I had ‘borrowed’ from young Oliver.
I picked them up and placed them on the bed. I then dressed in a more practical dress, still stunning in rose and white, but less fussy than my palace dress.
With a bonnet and a cloak, I went down and asked George, the groom, to prepare the small carriage.
Roger heard me, and came out of his study.
“My dear, are you off somewhere?”
“I have to return some clothes I borrowed. I won’t be long.”
“Would you like me to come with you?”
“No, it is only a few miles south, and George will drive.”
He kissed me and returned to his study.
“Can I come, Mama?” asked Katie.
“If you wish,” I said, and she went and put on her bonnet.
George brought the carriage round to the front of the house, so Katie and I stepped up into it.
I smiled as we retraced my first journey from all those months ago, finally arriving at the grubby cottage down the dirt track.
“Stay here, my love,” I said to Katie, and I dismounted and knocked on the door.
A short, squat man of around thirty-five opened the door, but he looked older, such was his hard life. He was dressed as a farm worker and had his sleeves rolled up. He stared at me, then at the carriage with George standing holding the heads of the horses. Katie looked down at him, frowning.
“Hello, my name is Lady Jane de Lambert. Is your son Oliver here?”
“Yer Ladyship,” he said, and I swear he touched his forelock. I almost burst out laughing.
“Wot’s ‘e been an’ done?” he asked.
“Nothing, he once did me a great favour, and I am here to repay him.”
“Huh?”
“May I come in?” I asked.
He looked at the unkempt interior of the cottage and reddened.
“I understand, it is hard working all day, and then having to keep the house as well,” I said, and he grinned sheepishly, shouting for his son.
“Wot?” said Oliver, peering out at me.
“Lawks!” he said, as he recognised me.
His father clipped him round the ear.
“This ‘ere is a ladyship, so none o’ yer lip,” he told the boy.
I handed Oliver the clothes that I had wrapped in a brown paper parcel.
“Thank you, Olly. You saved my life that day,” I said, and then handed him a gold sovereign. “This is for you. You should keep it until you can spend it wisely. Thank you again.”
He took the gold coin, and his eyes could get no larger. He turned it over in his hands, disbelieving that he could ever possess anything as precious.
His father was frowning.
“Your son helped me when I was in difficulties. I had been robbed and my clothes ruined, so he loaned me some clothing that had belonged to his mother. I promised to return them and pay for the trouble he went to on my behalf. Here are ten sovereigns for you. Please take the trouble of getting him some schooling. It would be such a shame for him to have an opportunity wasted. Perhaps you could even pay for someone to come and clean the cottage?” I said, handing him a small velvet bag that jingled with the heavy coins inside.
I smiled, turned, and remounted the carriage. They waved as we drove down the lane, their white faces staring as I disappeared round the bend.
“Mama, what were you doing?” Katie asked.
“Before I came to be your governess, I was robbed near here, and all my luggage stolen. My clothes were ruined, but I managed to escape and get to those cottages. The little boy found me some clothes, and helped me, so I was repaying him.”
“But all those sovereigns?”
“Yes, it is a lot of money. To them it is a fortune. It is possible that it will change their lives for the better, but probably it will make little difference.”
“Why?”
“Some people do not know how to deal with money, and will spend it stupidly. They will drink or gamble, or give it away to their friends. It takes a wise man to deal with money.”
“What will he do?”
“I don’t know, I pray he is sensible,” I said.
Two weeks later, Roger was in London, where he was informing the army that he was retiring from the lists, and should collect a small, but very handy pension. I was feeding Edward in the nursery when Groves knocked on the door, and announced that there was a man to see me at the kitchen door. Groves would never enter whilst I had my breasts exposed, and I sensed he disapproved of my breast-feeding my son.
“I’ll be down directly. What does he want?”
“He wouldn’t say, my Lady, he muttered something about sovereigns.”
I smiled.
“Give him some tea and a piece of cake. I will be a few minutes.”
It was Oliver’s father, and Oliver was outside sitting on the wall. They had both washed and were wearing their Sunday best suits.
I had him brought to my sitting room, and Oliver too. Both stared at the furnishings and their new surroundings.
“Yer ladyship,” said the man, bobbing his head.
“I need to know your name?” I asked.
“John, mum.”
“Well, John. What can I do for you?”
He took out the bag of coins that I had given him, placing it on the table as if it was about to explode.
“I don’t know if I can be of accepting them like. It be too much for a man like me.”
“You work on Mr Harker’s farm?”
“Yes, yer ladyship.”
“What do you do?”
“General farm labourer, mum.”
I picked up the bag, and could tell by the weight than none had gone from it.
This made me think. I realised that our groom was finding it tough with all the extra work, as Roger had doubled the size of his stable recently. So should Roger go off to war again, then George would go with him.
“John, what do you know about horses?”
“I works with ‘orses every day, mum, and so does Olly.”
“Is your cottage tithe?”
“Yes mum, it goes with the job.”
“Then I propose to offer young Oliver a job as an assistant groom with our stables. However, I insist that he attends school three mornings a week. He may stay in the room above the stable, and we will pay him the going wage. Is this what you wanted?”
“No mum, that is, I never wanted nothing, but I’m pleased for Olly like.”
“John, you are in a job that gives you a nice cottage. But unless you keep it well, it will fall down around your ears. Oliver needs schooling and a start in life. I am prepared to give him both, on the condition that you get yourself sorted out. The cottage needs a damn good clean and some repairs done to it. The farmer cares not that you live in a pigsty, but only you turn up for work and do what he bids. I will pay for some repairs and I will look after Oliver. It is not charity, I owe it to him, will you accept that?”
John looked at me and smiled.
“Thank you, yer ladyship. I’d be happy to accept that.”
“Good, now Oliver, you will report to George the groom on Monday morning at seven o’clock.”
Oliver had listened to our conversation with a deep suspicious frown on his face, but his brow cleared and he grinned at me.