The Vicar's Daughter Read online

  They arrived in time for tea and, admitted by a beaming young girl, were led across the hall where she threw open a door and said cheerfully, ‘Here they are, ma’am. I’ll fetch the tea.’

  Aunt Flo rose to meet them. A tall, bony lady with short curly hair going white, she had a sharp nose and a sharp tongue too, both of which concealed a warm heart. She embraced them briskly, told them to make themselves comfortable, and when the girl brought in the teatray offered refreshment. At the same time she gave and received family news.

  It was when this topic had been exhausted that she asked, ‘And you, Margo? You have decided not to marry that young farmer? I must say I never thought much of the idea. You are entirely unsuited to the life of a farmer’s wife; I cannot imagine how you came to consider it in the first place.’

  ‘No one had ever asked me to marry them, Aunt Flo. Well, George didn’t exactly ask; we just kind of drifted, if you see what I mean. We’ve known each other for years...’

  ‘That’s no reason to marry. One marries for love—or should do. You’re not so old that you need despair, although I must say it is a pity that you haven’t the Pearson good looks.’

  A remark which Margo took in good part, seeing that it was true. They had supper after her father had driven away, and Aunt Florence outlined the various treats she had in store for her niece.

  ‘You have brought a pretty dress with you? Good. We are invited to Lord Trueman’s place for drinks after church. You will meet most of my friends and acquaintances there—a good start.’

  Aunt Florence lived in some style, even if in somewhat reduced circumstances. Her little house was well furnished and Margo’s bedroom was pretty as well as comfortable. Life for Aunt Flo was placid and pleasant. The cheerful girl—Phoebe—came each day and cleaned, and did most of the cooking before she left in the evening, and an old man from the village saw to the heavy work in the garden—although Aunt Flo did the planting and planning. Even at the tail-end of the year, it was a charming little spot, surrounded by shrubs and small trees, tidied up ready for the winter.

  Margo felt quite at home within twenty-four hours—joining her aunt in her daily walk and playing cards in the evening, or watching whichever programme her aunt thought suitable, with Moses, the ginger Persian cat, on her knee. On the next Sunday she accompanied her aunt to church and afterwards walked up the drive to the rather ugly early Victorian house built by Lord Trueman’s ancestor on the site of the charming Elizabethan mansion he had disliked.

  ‘Hideous,’ observed Aunt Florence, and added, ‘It’s simply frightful inside.’

  There were a lot of people gathered in an immense room with panelled walls and a great deal of heavy furniture. Margo was taken to one group after another by Lady Trueman, a middle-aged lady with a sweet face, and introduced to a great many people whose names she instantly forgot.

  ‘Now do come and meet my daughter,’ said Lady Trueman. ‘She’s staying with us for a week or two. I’ve a small granddaughter too—Peggy. She’s a handful—three years old.’ She had fetched up in front of a young woman not much older than Margo herself.

  ‘Helen, this is Margo Pearson—come to stay with Mrs Pearson. I’ve been telling her about Peggy...’

  She trotted away and left them to talk. Helen was nice, Margo decided. They talked about clothes and toddlers and babies, and presently slipped upstairs to the nursery to see Peggy, an imp of mischief if ever there was one, who took no notice of her nurse—a young girl, kind enough, no doubt, but lacking authority.

  ‘Such a naughty puss,’ said her mother lovingly. ‘We never know what she will do next.’

  Back in Aunt Flo’s house over lunch, that lady expressed the opinion that the child was being spoilt. ‘A dear child, but that nurse of hers is no good—far too easygoing.’

  * * *

  THE DAYS WENT by with a pleasant monotony: shopping in the village, visiting her aunt’s friends for coffee or tea. And if Margo sometimes wished for a little excitement she squashed the thought at once. Her aunt was kindness itself, and she was sure that the holiday was doing her a lot of good. Taking her mind off things. Well, George for instance. The unbidden thought that she wished that it would take her mind off Professor van Kessel too was another thought to be squashed.

  She thought about him far too often, although she tried not to. It wasn’t so difficult when she was with her aunt, whose conversation was of a sort to require close attention and sensible answers at intervals, but when she was on her own, doing an errand for her or in the garden, grubbing up the few weeds which had hoped to escape that lady’s eye, there was ample time for reflection.

  So silly, Margo told herself one day, on her way back from taking a pot of Mrs Pearson’s jam to an acquaintance who had expressed a wish to try it. It had been quite a long walk and the afternoon was already sliding briskly into dusk. What was more, it was going to rain at any moment. Margo, taking a short cut across Lord Trueman’s park, abandoned her pleasant daydreaming and put her best foot forward.

  The park was vast, and this far from the house, which was just visible in the distance, its planned trees and shrubs had given way to rough ground, a ploughed field or two and sparse woodland through which ran a small stream, swollen now by October rains. The right of way ran beside it for some way and then turned away to join a wider path, leading back to one of the lodges some half a mile away.

  Margo walked fast, head down against the rain, which was coming down in earnest now, thankful that she would soon join the path. It was pure chance that she gave a quick glance around her as she stopped to turn up the collar of her jacket. It was a movement in the stream some yards away which had caught her eye—a small, scarlet-clad figure, half in, half out of the water, a small arm trailing gently to and fro, washed by the stream as it raced along.

  Margo ran through the rough grass and waded across the water, slipping and sliding, losing a shoe and not noticing, bent on getting to the child as quickly as possible.

  It was Peggy, her head, thank heaven, on the bank, but most of her small person in the water. She was unconscious and Margo soon saw why: there was a big bruise on her forehead. She had fallen awkwardly and Margo had a few anxious moments hauling her out of the stream and up the bank. This done, there was the necessity to cross the stream again, for behind her was nothing but wooded country going nowhere.

  It’s amazing what you can do when you have to, reflected Margo, slipping and sliding across to the other bank with Peggy hoisted awkwardly over a shoulder. Once there, there was the urgent need to get to the house, for as far as she could see there was no other help nearby.

  Hoisting the little girl more securely, Margo started off across the field to where, in the distance, she could see the lights of the house.

  It was raining in earnest now, hard cold rain which soaked them even more than they already were. Margo squelched along in her one shoe and thought that she would never reach the outer edge of the landscaped park around the house. She paused for a moment to hitch Peggy onto her other shoulder and trudged on. Surely by now they would have missed the child and there would be a search party? It would be a waste of precious breath to shout, she decided, worried now that perhaps she should have tried to revive the child before setting out for the house. Supposing the moppet died? She had felt a faint pulse when she had reached Peggy, but she hadn’t tried to do anything else.

  She was near the house now, close to its grand entrance. She climbed the broad steps and gave the iron bell-pull by the door a terrific tug. Just to make sure, she tugged again. And again...

  The door opened slowly under the indignant hand of Bush, the butler, who was affronted by the misuse of the bell-pull and the excessive noise. He had his mouth open to voice his displeasure, but Margo gave him no chance to utter a word.

  ‘Get a doctor quickly, and get Lady Trueman or her daughter—anyone. Only hurry
!’

  She pushed past him and made for the stairs, dripping across the hall, short of breath, waterlogged and terrified. There was no time to give way to terror. She drew a breath.

  ‘Will someone come quickly? I’ve got Peggy...’

  She saw the butler hurry to the phone as a door opened and Lady Trueman, followed by her daughter, came into the hall.

  ‘What is all this noise...?’ She goggled at Margo. ‘Peggy—she’s ill? What has happened? It’s Margo Pearson...’

  Margo didn’t waste time explaining. ‘Get her clothes off. She’s been in the stream; she’s unconscious. She must be rubbed dry and put to bed. I told the butler to get a doctor. Only will someone please hurry...?’

  ‘My baby!’ wailed Helen. ‘Where’s the nurse...?’

  We shall be here all day, thought Margo, asking silly questions. She started up the stairs, intent on getting to the nursery, calling over her shoulder, ‘Is the doctor coming? It’s urgent. And for heaven’s sake will someone give me a hand?’

  This time her appeal was heard. The housekeeper, made aware of the commotion, had come into the hall and now hurried up the staircase to Margo.

  ‘The nursery’s on the next floor. Can you manage? I’ll go ahead and turn down the bedclothes and get the place warmed.’

  By the time Margo had reached the nursery she was standing ready with towels, the fire poked up and the lights on.

  ‘Let me have her on my lap. Get your wet things off, miss. You’ll catch your death. In the stream? You found her and carried her here? Bless you for that, miss. Where’s that nurse of hers, I’d like to know—?’

  She broke off to speak to Lady Trueman, who had just tottered in.

  ‘Now, my lady, keep calm. Peggy will be all right, thanks to this brave young lady. Get your maid to give you a glass of brandy and give one to Miss Helen—and send Bessy up here, please.’

  Helen had joined her mother. ‘Peggy—out in all that rain—where’s the nurse?’

  The housekeeper said briskly, ‘That’s the doorbell, Miss Helen. Go and fetch the doctor up, will you? No time to waste.’

  Margo, dragging off her wet shoe, her jacket a sodden heap on the floor, reflected that this housekeeper and her aunt Flo would make a splendid pair in any emergency.

  Bessy came, and then was sent away to fetch a glass of brandy for Margo.

  ‘I never drink it,’ said Margo.

  ‘Just this once you will, miss.’ The housekeeper was firm. ‘It’s either that or pneumonia.’

  So Margo tossed back the brandy, caught her breath at its fiery strength and felt a pleasant warmth from it. Perhaps she could take off the rest of her clothes... No, not yet. The doctor, ushered in by a weeping Helen, was bending over Peggy, who was now wrapped in a warm blanket on the housekeeper’s lap.

  She was still unconscious, and there was a large bump under the bruise.

  ‘Will someone tell me what has happened?’ The doctor was youngish and cheerful. ‘It would help if just one of you could tell me.’

  ‘Ask the young lady here,’ said the housekeeper, and waved towards the shivering Margo. ‘She found her and carried her here. A proper heroine.’

  Margo, a trifle muzzy with the brandy, nonetheless managed a sensible account of what had happened, and then lapsed into silence.

  ‘You undoubtedly saved Peggy’s life,’ said the doctor. ‘She’s concussed, but she’s warm and her pulse is good. She must be X-rayed, of course, but not for the moment. Just bed and warmth and someone to be with her in case she comes round. How come she was so far from home?’

  ‘I don’t know where her nurse has got to. She should have been in the nursery, or playing in the garden with her. I—we—Mother and I were in the drawing room...’ said Helen feebly.

  ‘I want a second opinion,’ said Lady Trueman. ‘Will you get the very best consultant to come as soon as possible?’

  The doctor got up. ‘Yes, certainly, Lady Trueman. If I might use your phone, I know just the man.’ He paused at the doorway. ‘I think it might be a good idea if someone were to see to this young lady. A warm bath and a hot drink, and get those wet clothes off—a warm blanket or something.’ He looked grim. ‘But for her, you might have lost Peggy.’

  He went over to Margo and picked up her wrist. ‘Dr Wilcox,’ he told her. ‘I’m in the village—haven’t I seen you in church?’

  ‘Yes, Mrs Pearson’s my aunt.’

  He gave her back her hand. ‘Well, your pulse is all right. Get as warm as you can, quickly.’

  ‘Will Peggy be all right?’

  ‘I think so—we’ll know for sure when she’s been seen by a specialist.’

  He went away and Lady Trueman said, ‘My dear, you must forgive us—it was such a shock. Bessy shall help you—a hot bath and then a quiet rest by the fire while your clothes dry. I’ll phone your aunt.’ She added worriedly, ‘I do hope this specialist will come soon...’

  Bessy came then, and led Margo away to help her out of her wet clothes and to run a hot bath, fragrant with bath essence. Margo sank into it thankfully.

  She would have fallen asleep if Bessy hadn’t come to rouse her.

  ‘Your clothes are being dried, miss. If you’ll get out I’ll give you a good rub down and there’s a warm blanket to wrap you in.’

  ‘The specialist isn’t here yet?’

  ‘Like as not he’ll come from London—take him best part of an hour or more, even if he started off the moment he got Dr Wilcox’s message. He’s here still, waiting for him.’

  Swathed in a soft blanket, Margo was led back to the nursery and seated by the fire, and presently Bessy brought her a glass of milk.

  ‘There’s a drop of brandy in it, miss, to ward off the chill. Why don’t you close your eyes for a few minutes? Lady Trueman’s phoned your aunt and you’ll be taken home as soon as your clothes are dry. There’s only one shoe...’

  ‘I lost the other in the stream. It doesn’t matter.’ Margo took the glass. ‘Thank you for the milk, Bessy, and all your help.’

  There must have been more than a drop of brandy, for Margo, nicely warm again, dozed off. She didn’t hear the arrival of the specialist, who examined Peggy at some length, conferred with Dr Wilcox and then prepared to take his leave. He was standing having a last word with him when Dr Wilcox said, ‘The young lady who found the child and carried her in is still here. She had a soaking and a tiring walk carrying Peggy. I took a quick look at her but...’

  ‘You would like me to cast an eye over her?’

  ‘I believe Lady Trueman would like that—just in case there is further damage.’

  ‘Just so.’

  The two men trod into the nursery and Margo opened a sleepy eye.

  Professor van Kessel eyed her with a faint smile. ‘It seems that we are destined only to meet in emergencies, Margo.’

  Chapter THREE

  MARGO BLINKED, HER DELIGHT at the sight of him doused by the knowledge that she looked even worse than usual, cocooned in a blanket with her hair still damp. And probably, she thought miserably, the brandy had given her a red nose.

  Indeed it had—contrasting strongly with her still pale face. The professor, looking at her, found himself wondering why he was pleased to see her again. He had thought about her from time to time, this plain, rather bossy girl. A typical vicar’s daughter, but one, he had to admit to himself, who would keep her head in an emergency and use the common sense she had so obviously been endowed with. Not, he had thought, the kind of girl he would want to spend an evening with. Now he wasn’t so sure. There was more to Margo than met the eye...

  ‘Is Peggy going to be all right?’ She had wriggled upright in her chair, nothing visible but her face and a great deal of untidy hair.

  ‘I think so; she is regaining consciousness. We’
ll have her X-rayed in the morning. What about you, Margo?’

  ‘Me? I’m fine; I just got a bit wet.’

  He turned easily to Dr Wilcox. ‘Margo and I have met before on occasion. I certainly didn’t expect to see her here.’

  ‘She’s not staying with Lady Trueman; she’s visiting her aunt, Mrs Pearson, who lives in the village.’ Dr Wilcox smiled at Margo. ‘I’ll pop in tomorrow and see that you are none the worse for your soaking—’

  He broke off as Bessy came in. ‘Didn’t know anyone was here,’ she excused herself. ‘I’ve brought Miss Pearson’s clothes. Lady Trueman says as soon as she’s ready she’ll be driven back to her aunt’s place.’

  ‘Ah, well, as to that,’ observed the professor mildly, ‘by the time Dr Wilcox and I have had a little chat with Peggy’s mother, Miss Pearson will be ready to leave. I can give her a lift on my way.’

  Dr Wilcox gave him a quick glance. He had known the professor for some years—had met him at seminars, read his learned articles in the medical journals, and got to know him even better at a convention in Leiden. He admired him and knew that he was highly regarded in his profession—knew him to be a reserved man, whose private life was, as far as he was concerned, private. The last man, he would have thought, to show more than a courteous interest in the small pale girl wrapped in that blanket. They already knew each other, though. He must tell his wife when he got home.

  Now he said cheerfully, ‘Oh, splendid. Miss Pearson will be glad to get back to her aunt.’

  He’s just being polite, Margo told herself as she got back into her dry but hopelessly crushed clothes. It was no good putting on just one shoe. She was wondering what to do about that when Lady Trueman came in.

  ‘My dear Margo, how shockingly we have treated you. Do forgive us—it has been such a shock. You are sure you are able to go back to your aunt? Bessy tells me that the professor has offered to take you home. So good of him. What a reassuring man he is—Peggy is conscious again and is to be X-rayed in the morning, and he will visit again when he has seen the result. When I think of that child lying there! We can never thank you enough...’ Lady Trueman paused for breath.