‘There you are!’ Mr Stevens sounded angry. ‘We were getting worried. Mr Ward expressly said you weren’t to stay out after dark.’ He paused and looked meaningfully at Ella. ‘He telephoned the house earlier to make sure you were back and Mrs Sugden felt she had no option but to say that you were, and that John was ravenous and having his supper but would make a call straight after to tell him all about it. We must make haste.’
Mr Stevens shepherded Ella and John across the expanse of grass towards the house. ‘And I can’t say that I was very impressed by the nature of the visitors I have seen whilst I was looking for you,’ he remarked disapprovingly.
Ella was feeling quite sick with worry. Had she overstepped the mark? Would she lose her place at Grange House once again?
John, meanwhile, broke away to skip alongside Stevens and tell him all about their escapades. His words tumbled out as he described his prowess on the coconut shy, displaying his prize, which elicited an admiring, ‘Well I never,’ from Stevens. John was in full flow, describing all the animals in the menagerie, as they mounted the stairs to the house.
Mrs Sugden met them in the hallway with a look that froze Ella to the core. She chivvied John straight up the stairs to the library to make a call to his father. Feeling miserable and deflated, with all the wonderful things that she had seen quite erased from her mind with anxiety, Ella went to hang up her outdoor coat and wash her hands before making her way to the kitchen.
Mrs Dawson raised her eyebrows as she entered. ‘Was it wise to stay so late? You don’t want to give Mr Ward any cause to let you go, you know.’
Ella groaned and buried her head in her hands. ‘I realise now how stupid I was but John was having such a good time…’
‘I don’t doubt it, but you were the adult in charge,’ Mrs Dawson said, setting a plate of food down in front of Ella. ‘Now, I’ve kept this warm for you. Let’s be hearing what you’ve been up to.’
Ella, listening out for Mrs Sugden’s return, struggled to do justice to both her tales of the afternoon and her supper. She picked at her food until she was spared further misery by the arrival of Mrs S, with John in tow.
‘He’s going to eat his supper down here tonight. No point in setting a table for him upstairs, all alone. And having heard what he had to say to his father on the telephone, I have no doubt he’ll be wanting to tell everyone here, too.’
Mrs Dawson quickly set out some food for John and made a pot of tea for the others. Ella noticed that even Mr Stevens had drifted in to listen. The coconut took pride of place in the centre of the table while John, in between ravenous mouthfuls of food, described their afternoon. Ella was only called upon to corroborate the finer details, so she could sit back and let her mind wander a little. With the story at an end and the coconut much admired, Ella announced that John needed to go up to bed. Once his face was washed and he was tucked in, with the coconut on his night stand, she set about quietly picking up his discarded clothes and tidying up until his excited chatter died away and he tipped over into slumber. Then, with trepidation, she headed back downstairs.
Mrs S called her into her office before she even reached the kitchen. ‘Ella, I had to tell Mr Ward a lie on your behalf this evening. I never want to be put in that position again. Mr Stevens has told me the sort of people that were at the fair this evening and I can only wonder whether you have taken leave of your senses.’
Mrs S paused and looked at Ella, whose heart sank. Was she about to be dismissed?
‘If it wasn’t for the fact that John has quite clearly had a wonderful time, I would be asking you to pack your bags this evening.’ Mrs S paused. ‘Mr Ward asked to speak to me after John had described his outing. He wanted me to pass on his warmest thanks to you for giving John such a special day out.’ Mrs S allowed herself a small smile. ‘But Ella, take care. You simply cannot afford to make another such mistake. You were very lucky this time.’
Hugely relieved and apologetic, Ella slipped from the room and made but a brief appearance in the kitchen, pleading a headache. She made her way up to her bed in John’s room, where she lay awake for several hours.
The encounter with Albert had upset her more than she cared to acknowledge. This, coupled with the trouble she had been in this evening at Grange House, made her disposed to making sweeping resolutions. She knew she had had a narrow escape after returning late from the fair, and that she had Mrs Sugden to thank for saving her skin. She had managed to upset Mr Stevens and earn his disapproval, when he had been so kind and helpful to her in the past. Ella reminded herself of the vow she had made when she came back to York: all thoughts of Albert, or indeed of any kind of romance, must now be put firmly out of her mind. From now on, she resolved, her future would be dedicated to working hard and taking care of others.