The Illegitimate Montague. Sarah Mallory

passed, Joe Coyle’s voice came floating out to them, saying with painful clarity, ‘So Cap’n Stratton’s back, His Grace’s by-blow …’

      Hannah stopped, her face pale, but before Adam could speak he heard the butler say sharply, ‘You’d best keep such thoughts to yourself, lad, if you don’t want to be turned off.’

      ‘But ‘tis common knowledge, Mr Lumsden—’

      ‘Common nonsense, that’s what it is,’ retorted the butler. ‘You’ll get short shrift if you repeat such gossip in this house, Coyle.’

      Adam put his hand beneath Hannah’s arm and gently moved her away.

      ‘Adam—’

      ‘You need say nothing, Mother. There has always been gossip, even when I was a boy.’

      ‘Ah, my son, I thought to shield you from that!’

      He shrugged.

      ‘It was never important.’

      ‘Is that really true? Perhaps it was wrong of me, not to tell you the truth.’

      The faded blue eyes were fixed upon him. Adam knew that one word from him and she would break her vow of silence. He paused to consider the matter. He had always looked up to the duke, who had been carelessly kind to him and had paid for him to go to sea. Adam had never felt any bitterness about his upbringing—after all, it was not unusual for peers to have children on the wrong side of the blanket. What was unusual was the care the duke had taken of Adam’s mother, persuading his father the late duke to employ her at Castonbury and allowing her to rise to a position of respect, responsibility and independence. If silence was the price she had had to pay for that, then he was not going to make her break her vows.

      ‘Growing up without a father has only increased my determination to make something of myself,’ he told her, smiling a little. ‘I have no interest in the past, only in what I am now … which is exceedingly hungry. Let us fetch the cream and return for our luncheon with all speed.’

      Adam saw the relief in his mother’s face and knew he had made the right decision.

      ‘So, Captain—’

      ‘I am merely Mr Stratton now, sir,’ Adam corrected the butler with a smile, and the old man nodded, his look saying that Adam would always be a captain in his eyes. ‘What are you about now?’

      ‘I am a manufacturer.’

      Adam glanced around the servants gathered together for luncheon and smiled to himself.

      They were all looking at him politely, but he read a touch of disdain in their glances. They were wedded to the past, where a title and land was paramount. A man’s status was determined by his birth—and given what Adam had overheard earlier they considered his origins to be highly suspect! Little did they realise that only a few miles away men like himself were making fortunes that would allow them to buy up estates like Castonbury on a whim.

      ‘And you’ve come back to visit your mother,’ Lumsden continued, bending a fatherly eye upon Adam. ‘Very commendable.’

      ‘Not just to visit,’ said Adam. ‘I want to take her to live with me in Rossendale.’

      This brought a murmur of surprise around the table and Hannah was quick to respond.

      ‘I shall not go immediately, of course. I would like to remain until after Lord Giles’s wedding.’

      ‘And so I should think.’ Lumsden nodded. ‘We couldn’t do without you, not at this late stage.’

      Adam smiled at his mother.

      ‘I am afraid you will have to do so eventually.’

      She put her hand over his.

      ‘Even though I will not go back with you immediately, I hope you do not mean to leave me just yet.’

      ‘No, no, have I not said I shall stay a little while?’

      ‘How long?’ she pressed him. ‘More than a couple of weeks, I hope.’

      Adam hesitated. To remain in Castonbury, where he was clearly thought of as the illegitimate Montague, would not be easy, but he did not wish to leave his mother again so soon. Before he could reply William Everett, the estate manager, cleared his throat.

      ‘And where might you be thinking of staying?’

      ‘I am sure the Rothermere Arms will have a room… .’

      ‘There is the old keeper’s lodge, by the south gate.’

      Joe Coyle snorted at Mr Everett’s suggestion.

      ‘No one’s lived there for many a day.’

      ‘True, but the building’s sound,’ said William. ‘I’ve been in the village this morning, and I think it might be a good thing to have someone living near the south gate again.’

      One of the housemaids gasped, her bright eyes lighting up at the hint of gossip.

      ‘Oh, why’s that, Mr Everett? Has there been some trouble?’

      ‘It may be nothing, Daisy,’ he said cautiously, ‘but I heard that Mrs Hall was accosted on her way to Castonbury yesterday. Damaged some of the stock she was bringing back with her.’

      ‘Dear me, never say she was travelling alone?’ said Hannah. ‘Why did she not use a carrier?’

      ‘No one’ll work for her,’ replied Joe Coyle, pouring himself another glass of small beer. ‘The last carrier she used was set upon. Had his nose broken. She can’t keep any staff either.’ He wiped his lips and leaned forward, warming to his theme. ‘Bad things happen to ‘em. They get warned off.’

      ‘Oooh, who by?’ breathed Daisy, hands clasped to her breast.

      Coyle shook his head.

      ‘Nobody really knows, but I think it’s the clothier over at Hatherton. Stands to reason, she’s competition.’

      ‘But surely she should go to the magistrate,’ said Adam, keeping his tone impartial.

      ‘No proof,’ replied Coyle shortly. ‘No one will say anything, but I had it from Mrs Crutchley, the butcher’s wife, that the new man’s been trying to drum up business in Castonbury. She says his prices are very good.’

      ‘Well, I don’t care how good he is,’ retorted Hannah stoutly. ‘We have always used Ripley and Hall to supply our needs and we will continue to do so.’

      Adam was heartened his mother’s response, but the conversation worried him. He had been inclined to dismiss Amber’s assertions about her competitor, but if Parwich really did mean her harm, Adam did not think the boy or the old man he had seen at the warehouse would be much help to her. If he stayed at the lodge he could be near his mother and perhaps keep an eye on Amber as well.

      William Everett pushed back his chair and rose from the table, saying as he did so, ‘Well, the offer is there if you want it. ‘Twould do the place good to have a few fires lit and I’d be glad to have it known that there is someone living there, especially while we have the lady on her own at the Dower House—’

      Coyle snorted contemptuously.

      ‘The lady!’

      William Everett frowned.

      ‘You’ll watch your tone, young man. If the lady’s case is proved, she’ll be your new mistress!’

      ‘Lord Jamie’s widow,’ explained Hannah, observing Adam’s raised brows. ‘She and her child have been installed at the Dower House, which is within sight of the old lodge. I confess I am a little worried for her, living there with only a few servants.’

      Adam rubbed his chin. He could afford to pay for the best rooms at the inn, but the lodge was conveniently close to the great house.

      ‘Very