THE DISSENTING PREACHER did not return to the Trethevy rectory and Alice and Jory spent a pleasant time together, taking full advantage of the opportunity to discover more about each other.
Jory learned that Alice and David came from an ecclesiastical family, their late father having been Dean of an East Anglian cathedral before his untimely demise while Alice was still young. His death seriously affected their mother’s health for the rest of her life and she eventually died too, having been nursed by Alice for many years.
Since their mother’s death Alice had kept house for her brother in various parts of the country, while he waited for an appointment to a parish. It eventually came through the nepotic influence of their uncle, also a Dean.
Unlike Alice, both of Jory’s parents were still alive and his family owned a large house and estate on Cornwall’s South coast, close to the ancient town of Lostwithiel.
Much to Alice’s surprise, she learned that Jory’s father was Lord Kendall, a family ancestor having been raised to the peerage as a Baron during the English Civil War.
‘Does that mean you are in fact Lieutenant the Honourable Jory Kendall?’ she queried.
‘A quite meaningless accolade,’ Jory admitted. ‘It’s not as though I will ever inherit the title. I am the third of five brothers and the wife of the first of them is expecting what the family hopes will be a future heir to the title and estate.’
‘Does it trouble you to know you are unlikely to inherit the title?’ Alice was puzzled by Jory’s apparent indifference to the situation.
‘Not at all. It means I have none of the responsibilities that come with the inheritance and I was able to leave home and pursue a naval career without the distractions that come with being heir to a large estate. At least, I could before hurting my leg.’ Patting his thigh to emphasise his remark, he added, ‘Actually, it seems to have confounded the prognosis of the surgeons by mending itself.’
Alice had observed that Jory had a slight limp, but had never thought it might be anything serious. Now she asked, almost casually, ‘What did you do to it?’
Giving her a wry smile, he said, ‘I did nothing, it was a Malayan pirate’s large-bore musket ball that did the damage. It made such a mess that the ship’s surgeon wanted to amputate the leg, but at the time I believed it looked far worse than it really was and refused to allow him to operate. He wasn’t terribly concerned by my refusal, saying I was probably going to die anyway! Fortunately, I was right and he was wrong, but it put me ashore and set back any chance of promotion for a while. However, I anticipate returning to sea-going duties again before too long.’
Shuddering at the thought of an operation that would have removed Jory’s leg, Alice said, ‘I am glad your leg was not lost, of course, but surely the work you are doing is important enough to keep you in Cornwall?’
‘We are at war with China and need to put more ships to sea. With my seniority I might possibly be given a command, even though it would certainly be of something small, like a brig, or perhaps a schooner.’
The thought of returning to sea was quite obviously pleasing to Jory Kendall, but Alice hoped his departure would not happen too soon.
When David returned home that evening he was told of the incident involving Eval Moyle’s cattle and the threatening attitude the Primitive Methodist minister had adopted towards Alice and Jory Kendall.
The Trethevy rector was furious and his first thought was to seek out Moyle and take him to task for his actions but he was dissuaded from such a course by Alice and Jory. Both were aware that David was not a violent man – and Moyle most definitely was!
David accepted, albeit reluctantly, that discretion was preferable to foolish valour on this occasion but he said, ‘Whatever course of action is taken, Moyle cannot be allowed to flaunt the laws of the Established Church in such a manner. He must be warned of his conduct by a letter from the archdeacon, or perhaps from the bishop.’
‘Think very carefully before you do anything, David,’ Alice said. ‘If you bring the Bishop into the matter he might decide to take Moyle to court. That would really stir him up, and possibly alienate some of your parishioners. Think about the possible consequences before you take any action against him.’
Grudgingly, David saw the wisdom of Alice’s advice. He was still a newcomer to the parish and although Moyle preached in a dissenting Church he was a local man – and in Cornwall that counted for a great deal.
When Jory concurred with what Alice had said, David agreed he would do nothing without first discussing it with Alice, and perhaps consulting Jory too.
Aware her argument had won the day, Alice made an effort to move her brother’s thoughts away from the difficult dissenting minister. ‘You have said nothing about your visit to the churchwardens at Tintagel, how was your day?’
Her ploy worked immediately. His face lighting up, David said, ‘It was most successful. The churchwardens were delighted to hear I will be taking on Reverend Carter’s duties. It seems they have a waiting list for christenings and weddings – especially weddings. There are at least two prospective brides who are likely to give birth out of wedlock if not married very soon. There are also a number of mothers asking for churching, to give thanks for the safe delivery of a child. So it looks as though I will be kept busy and able to add a little to our income.’
The problem of Eval Moyle forgotten for the moment, David beamed at his two listeners. ‘One of the churchwardens is Henry Yates, master of the poorhouse and the meeting gave me an opportunity to thank him for his help and generosity in helping to bury the unfortunate victims of the shipwreck. He was delighted to have his contribution acknowledged and I feel he is basically a good man. He has promised to bring many of the poorhouse inmates along to my first service in Tintagel church. I doubt if they will boost the collection at all but they will certainly add to the congregation numbers and that should impress the bishop’s office – and Reverend Carter. Yates was helpful in other ways too. I happened to mention that I am going to find it difficult to keep the churchyard and rectory garden tidy here at Trethevy and he says he has a very suitable candidate to take on the task. It would seem this young man lived with his grandmother and took excellent care of her and when she died applied to join the army. He was accepted, but before he actually signed the papers he was injured in an accident whilst working temporarily in a local quarry. He badly broke a leg and as a result ended up in the poorhouse. Yates assured me the leg has healed now, but has left him with a bad limp. He can work as well as any other man and is pleasant, honest and strong, but these are not the easiest of times and there would seem to be no employment for anyone with even the hint of a disability – especially a poorhouse lad. I have said I am willing to give him a trial.’
The poorhouse master’s reported praise for the out-of-work young resident of his establishment failed to impress Alice. ‘Having someone from the poorhouse working here at Trethevy might be satisfactory in summer, but in winter, or when there are storms about such as the one we have experienced recently, even a fully able man could not be expected to walk to and from Tintagel on a dark morning or night. For someone with a disability it would be positively dangerous!’
Jory had been listening to the conversation and now he spoke for the first time. ‘I know the lad in question and have gone into his background very thoroughly. His name is Tristram Rowe and if you were to take him on I think you would find him as dependable as anyone you are likely to wish to employ at the rectory. A couple of months ago he applied to me for work and he was willing to do anything I was able to offer him. Unfortunately, I could not take him on as a coast guard but I felt sorry for him because of my own experience of a serious leg injury and found a few odd jobs for him around the coastguard station. He did them well, completing all that I gave him to do much more quickly than I expected. He is a very likeable young man and had I been able to take him on permanently, I would certainly have done so. I told him I would be happy to recommend him to any potential employer. So there you are, I have now done exactly that!’
‘Thank you,’ said David, then, turning to Alice once more and appearing slightly embarrassed, he said, ‘Er … Yates and I discussed the problem of the distance between the poorhouse and Trethevy and I told him we could probably put young Rowe up here, at the rectory.’
Forestalling Alice’s predictable objection to this latest proposal, he added hastily, ‘Not in the rectory itself, of course, but there are the rooms over the stable, Percy only occupies one of them. Rowe could have one of the others. I have no doubt he would make far more of tidying it up than Percy has.’
‘Give him a room of his own and he would be in absolute heaven,’ Jory said, enthusiastically. ‘He feels the ignominy of living in a poorhouse very strongly.’
Shifting her gaze from one man to the other, Alice shrugged her shoulders in a gesture of resignation before addressing her brother. ‘I can see that whatever I feel about the matter will make no difference and it is you who will be paying for him. When is he coming?’
After throwing a brief but grateful glance in Jory’s direction, David replied, ‘I told Yates I would speak to you this evening and if you were in agreement with the arrangement I would ride to the poorhouse tomorrow and meet with Rowe.’
‘You will like him,’ Jory commented, positively, ‘you too, Alice.’
‘Whether I like him or not is quite immaterial,’ Alice replied, ‘he will be working outside and not here, in the house. In fact, it will make life easier for me. Now we are to have two outside workers, he and Percy can come to a mutual arrangement for feeding themselves.’
Alice was aware she was behaving in a peevish and probably unreasonable manner. It did not help when realisation came that she was more upset because Jory had sided with David against her than by the fact her brother wanted to take on another employee, when it was not at all certain they could really afford the additional expense.