The Officer and the Lady. Dorothy Elbury

on her face. ‘I suppose I may call him Matthew?’ she asked.

      ‘I should imagine so,’ laughed Imogen. ‘He is your brother, after all—although you had, perhaps, better check with him first. It is possible that he may prefer some other form of address.’

      Jessica considered this. ‘Well, he is not Sir Matthew,’ she reasoned. ‘Papa was awarded his knighthood for his commercial success in India and it was not hereditary, was it?’

      ‘Very true,’ nodded Imogen, as she turned to leave. ‘Your brother is plain Mr Beresford.’

      ‘Hardly plain!’ chuckled her cousin saucily, then gave a little gasp. ‘Oh, but I almost forgot! I am come to fetch you to him—he is waiting for you in the library with the other gentleman.’

      ‘Waiting for me?’ Imogen was puzzled. ‘Why should he be waiting for me?’

      Jessica wriggled uncomfortably. ‘Well, I sort of told him that you ran the household!’ she said, with an apologetic blush.

      ‘Oh, Jess, you really are the limit!’ began Imogen crossly, then paused as she realised the intrinsic truth of her young cousin’s remark. It was true; for the past twelve months or so, at any rate, the entire day-to-day running of the household had devolved upon her and it was she, along with the Beresfords’ stalwart governess, Miss Jane Widdecombe, who had striven to keep all their heads above water. Using her own quite generous allowance, which had been left to her by her parents, she had succeeded in eking out a fairly basic living for the family when the estate funds had eventually dried up. By careful budgeting she had even managed to pay some of the servants parts of their wages, although the majority of the staff, having seen how matters were turning out, had gradually drifted away to seek other employment. Matthew Beresford had arrived not a moment too soon, as far as she was concerned, and as soon as she had acquainted him with the bones of the various problems that were besetting her, she and Widdy would be on their way to the Lake District to join Miss Widdecombe’s friend Margery Knox in running the little school that she had recently set up.

      She smoothed the folds of her blue-sprigged muslin gown into place, tucked back a wayward tendril that was threatening to escape its confinement and, tentatively tapping on the library door, entered the room.

      Beresford, who was sitting in the window embrasure on the far side of the room dismally contemplating the park’s neglected state, failed to register her knock and it was Seymour who was first made aware of her presence.

      Leaping to his feet, he walked forward to meet her. ‘How do you do?’ he said eagerly, his hand outstretched in welcome. ‘David Seymour, at your service, ma’am—friend of Matt’s.’ He gave her a wide smile, his candid hazel-coloured eyes lighting up at this fresh onslaught on his rather susceptible senses.

      The slight tension Imogen had been feeling evaporated as she returned his smile. She perceived that he was not as tall as Beresford, his tan was slightly deeper and he was of a stockier build, with short, dark brown hair. He, too, was dressed immaculately although, as Beresford approached, she found herself observing that Seymour’s kidskin breeches and superfine jacket did not seem to sit nearly so well on him as did his colleague’s. She turned to greet the newcomer.

      ‘You asked to see me, I believe?’

      Momentarily taken aback at Imogen’s altered appearance, Beresford looked perplexed. Good heavens! Surely this attractive young woman could not be Cousin Imo? Now that he was able to study her more closely he saw that she was really quite lovely, her oval face blessed not only with a smooth, creamy complexion, but also a neat, straight little nose and wide, well-shaped lips. Barely a head shorter than his own more than six foot height, she had a very fine figure, ‘nicely rounded in all the right places’, as Seymour would say. He cleared his throat.

      ‘Ah! Cousin Imo!’ he exclaimed, taking her hand in his.

      Their eyes met and, once again, he noticed those tiny flashes of silver.

      ‘I believe I have already informed you that my name is Imogen Priestley,’ she said, in a level voice. ‘And you are mistaken about our kinship, Mr Beresford. Lady Beresford is my aunt—my father was her brother. Her ladyship was good enough to take me in when both of my parents perished in a carriage accident.’

      ‘I beg your pardon,’ he replied, bending over her hand. ‘It seems that I still have a great deal to learn. Please forgive my ignorance.’

      She looked at him suspiciously. She could have sworn that his lips were twitching. Surely the man was not laughing at her? She swiftly withdrew her hand and moved towards the sofa. Taking her seat gracefully, she adjusted her skirts with studied nonchalance before saying, ‘Jessica said that you wished to speak to me. If there is anything I can help you with, I am at your service. As I mentioned earlier, I, too, have one or two matters that I should like to bring to your attention.’

      She looked pointedly at Seymour, then turned once more to Beresford. ‘Perhaps your colleague would care to be shown his room?’ she suggested. ‘Shall I ring for Allardyce? I am sure that your luggage will have been taken upstairs by now.’

      ‘No need, ma’am,’ cut in Seymour, as he made for the door. ‘I’m perfectly happy to seek out the old fellow myself—give me a chance to get my bearings.’

      ‘There does seem to be the most incredible shortage of staff,’ remarked Beresford, taking his seat again as soon as his friend had departed. ‘I should have thought a place this size would have warranted a good deal more help.’

      Imogen pursed her lips. ‘Most of our workforce left within three months of Sir Matthew’s death,’ she replied. ‘There were insufficient funds to pay them all on the first quarter day and those of them who had families to support were bound to seek other employment. We have managed to persuade the remainder to stay on by giving them parts of their wages whenever we could afford to do so—and by promising to make the rest up to them as soon as the will is ratified. The few who have stayed are the older members of staff who have been here for a good many years, of course,’ she added, her bright eyes clouding over. ‘Most of whom were due to be pensioned off and have nowhere else to go until they receive their promised annuities.’

      Beresford was silent for a moment, then, ‘I shall speak to Wentworth as soon as possible,’ he said, his voice quite firm, although his heart was beginning to sink once more at the thought of all the problems that were mounting up. ‘No doubt he will have a list of all outstanding items. You must not concern yourself. I shall deal with the matter immediately.’

      ‘There is a slight difficulty,’ stammered Imogen, her cheeks colouring. ‘That is—I am not perfectly certain—it is merely a suspicion on my part…’ Her voice trailed away.

      At her continued hesitation, Beresford frowned. ‘If you have something to tell me, Miss Priestley,’ he said briskly, ‘and, especially if it has anything to do with my putting the estate to rights, I suggest that you stop all this shilly-shallying and come straight out with whatever it is!’

      Imogen was mortified. She had been perfectly prepared to confront Beresford with all her growing worries and suppositions, but somehow, now that she was actually sitting here in front of him and the man’s infuriatingly discerning eyes were fixed upon her, waiting impatiently for her to explain herself, she began to wonder if her suspicions about Wentworth were flawed. Could she have overreacted? Her cheeks took on a deeper hue and she struggled to control her breathing.

      ‘It is simply that I cannot understand what has happened to all the revenue,’ she began, then, to her horror, the words seemed to trip over themselves in their efforts to be heard. ‘There should have been more than enough to get us through the year—and there are the rents—I have barely managed to get a peep at the books, but what I did see simply made no sense to me—and I could swear that some of the stock has disappeared…’

      ‘Now, now, my dear Miss Priestley—’ Beresford raised his hand and, in a calm, soothing voice, interrupted her incoherent monologue ‘—estate management is a very complicated business and hardly one for a young lady to be bothering