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“I have news from Mr Reeves. It is of a very peculiar nature and I do not know what to make of it,” he said.
“Oh?”
“He said that I was to give this to you,” he said, handing her a wax sealed envelope with the Duke’s signatory on it.
She looked at Francis perplexed. “I do not understand, but he said that you helped him and this was in regards to that.”
Hilda was definitely confused. She opened the seal and unfolded the letter. Several bank notes each for 100 pounds each sat on the paper.
“Oh dear. It is money, but why?” she said, looking at it.
She began to read.
Dear Hilda Carson,
It grieves me that you did not remember me, for I remembered you. Indeed I have never forgot you. When I returned to the farm cottage where you helped me once when I was younger, I was told you were now living in Hampstead Heath with the Layles family.
“Oh! My! The boy from the barn,” she said out loud.
“I do not follow,” Francis said.
But Hilda did not answer, she continued to read.
I went there straight away, only to discover that you were visiting a business acquaintance of mine, Mr Francis Williams. I was obliged to have some fun with this, as you already know that I am prone to do. But I was not expecting that you would be such a radiant beauty and I could not resist as far as that is concerned. I dare say that I had to leave in order to stop myself from being tempted further, for I am not a man to marry and settle down. But I do hope that you and I will continue a friendship from here on out. The money I have enclosed is what I owe you for helping me so many years ago. I will never forget those summer days as the happiest of my youth, when I was able to be simply a boy, and not a duke. I am forever grateful.
Until we meet again.
Duke of York, Lance Reeves.
Tears filled her eyes as suddenly it all made sense. The way that Mr Reeves had treated her in such a playful manner. He was an old friend, and she wished he had said something when he was in her presence. He stole a kiss and nothing more, but he was being honourable by not taking more.
“Oh, I am sorry Francis, I must excuse myself,” she said, standing up and fleeing the room with Francis calling after her.
She went to her room and read the letter over and over again. It brought back such bittersweet memories of her childhood and happy times of being a farm girl. The simplicity of that time, she wished she could revisit that moment again. For she had never told anyone about hiding the Duke in her barn, it had always remained their secret. She took out her diary and wrote.
Diary, the most exceptional thing has happened and it has made me very homesick. Not homesick for Hampstead Heath, but homesick for the farm cottage I grew up in and the life I lived then. Though I know that life is gone and I can never return, except to visit my aunt and uncle in the village, but I could never return to the cottage and live there. I know that it is not safe because of my brother, and too there must be a new family living there. I know that I could not return to being the farm girl that I was, not after what I have been through.
But something happened when I was very young and living there. I came across a boy who was injured and I hid him in the barn from my father in order to allow him to heal. The boy insisted on staying in the barn, and had a very carefree manner about him. Then I soon found out that a young Duke had gone missing, and it turned out to be the same boy in my care. I had long forgotten about this and I had not written about it at the time because it was before I learned to read and write.
Well diary, I must tell you that the boy has returned to my life, and it is the very same man that I have written about these last few days, the Duke of York, Lance Reeves. Can you believe that? I scarcely can believe it myself. The entire time he had been playing with me just as he had toys and played with me when we were young and he did not tell me that he was a duke then. This time he did not tell me that he was the boy from my childhood. What a fine joke to play and how silly I felt. But turns out he is still a very agreeable and kind man. For he could have taken advantage of me, and he did not. He could have led me on a string and played with my emotions, but instead he was very honest me and let me know that he's still values his freedom, just as he did when we were children.
Oh how silly, and I am laughing as I write this. I am very grateful for this encounter with the Duke, though it has reminded me of better days as a child, how I miss them and how I miss my father. I hope to see the Duke again and for us to have a friendship from now on going forward. I cannot believe that he sought me out after all these years, and I am glad that he did. Such fun, and such great respite from my heart and mind, thinking about the captain at all times. For this was a lesson in remembering that life is silly, and can be quite the free adventure if I allow it to, just as the Duke has allowed his life to be.
* * *
Captain Ross Brookend paced the library of his grand estate. He had been distraught since his return to Cornwall. All was not well in his mind. For he had not been able to relieve thoughts of Hilda from his mind. How was it that the child he rescued so many years ago from her vile brother, had come to have such a hold over his heart?
He knew what he had to do. The Captain shouted, “Yarmin! Get my carriage ready. I am to London in the morning. I will return for dinner. I have business to attend to in town,” he said as he grabbed his cloak and headed out the door. He mounted his horse and raced across the cliffs of Cornwall into the village to see his banker. Why had he not thought of this plan before? It was the way to relieve his friend, and to relieve himself of the pain he felt in denying himself Hilda Carson Layles.
“I am here to see Mr Patrin,” he said at the bank’s entrance.
“Right this way sir.”
The clerk led him to the back office.
“Captain! A pleasure as always,” he said.
“The pleasure is mine, sir. But I cannot stay long. I am to London tomorrow and I need to set some affairs in order before I leave.”
“Yes of course, please sit.”
Ross sat in front of the desk.
“What can I do for you, sir?”
“I wish to withdraw one thousand pounds from my accounts.”
Mr Patrin raised his brows. “Of course sir, as you wish.”
“Thank you.”
“I hope you are not in trouble sir.”
“No, not at all. It is a loan for a friend is all.”
“Very well. You are a good friend and those that know you are very fortunate.”
Patrin pulled out his accounts ledger and got to work. Ross signed the paperwork and left with one thousand pounds in his bag and set for home.
The next morning he began the long carriage journey to London. He could not wait to arrive, for he had news and he wanted to make sure that he did not miss Mary Anne if she were to leave town.
As Ross set in the carriage, and settled in for a long journey to London, he stared out the window. Tall grassy fields lined on both sides of the road, and the sky had taken on a dark grey colour which was quite usual in that part of the country because the clouds came in off the ocean. He thought it a beautiful sight, and much preferred the country of Cornwall to being in town in London, where the air was heavy with black smoke. The industrial factories had taken over, and had made the air dirty, as well as taking advantage of the poor to work in those factories. It was not a sight that he enjoyed and he preferred the honest wages of the copper mines that the villagers worked in and he owned. It was hard labour, underneath the ground, but there was something to working with earth; better than working with machinery.
The carriage carried on, and as he looked out the window he felt much relief for he had set things straight with Mary Anne, and he had which that he had done so long before. He should have given her the loan as a first thought instead of entering in a false engagement, but because he himself had the pressure from his own family to find a wife as soon as possible, he thought that it was a good agreement.
But in truth it had held him back after he began to get reacquainted with Hilda. He had not expected her to turn into such a beauty from the child that he had rescued. In the carriage he closed his eyes and thought about her red hair, and green eyes. Her pale skin and her petite body, that looked incredible in the red dress she wore during dinner when he had attended the dinner of his friend Adam.
Looking out the carriage window again, he saw several people on Horseback as they entered the nearby village. They would remain on the outskirts of village, making the very long journey to London stopping overnight. He wish that it was not such a long journey, but at least he would get there as soon as possible. The horses needed to rest, as well as his drivers, and it was the only way to do it, for going on horseback was nearly impossible; it was just too long of a journey.
As soon as he thought about making journey on horseback he thought about the first time he rescued Hilda, taking her on horseback to the northern area of Scotland in order to set her up as a maid at his cousin's home. He had never asked Hilda exactly what happened, and he assumed that this day had been fairly uneventful.
His cousin did not mention anything the next time he wrote to him, for he had a very short and curt reply to his letter. But that day riding on horseback with Hilda, with her brother possibly at their heels, was something that had filled him with adrenaline. He would do anything to rescue her during that time, and he was glad that he did. For her brother was a vile creature and if he had not done so she would have been sold into the sex trade, never to be heard from again and possibly murdered. He knew that he had done the right thing then, but never did he think that his charge would grow up to become the beautiful and witty woman that he now knew, and loved.
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