Chapter 2

"My goodness it's warm today, Jack! I think rather than go any further today, I shall stay here and rest! Would you mind awfully if I laid down and closed my eyes!"

It was a rhetorical question, of course: he was there to do his employer's bidding, and to safeguard her wellbeing in whatever way he could. Mariella lay on the grass, on her back. In the hot sun she was soon sleeping. She had pulled her husband's cap over her face to protect it from the harsh sun. Her waistcoat had fallen open and Jack looked upon the soft swell of her breasts beneath her clothes and their rise and fall as she breathed. He was twenty-six and he'd known a few women, intimately; but he didn't think he'd ever met anyone as lovely as she!

After some time she stirred. Jack had turned side-on to her, so as not to stare at her supine body lying near enough to touch.

"Do you know what the time is, Jack?" she asked him, still not fully awake. He pulled his grandfather's watch from his waistcoat pocket. "It's five minutes after two, My Lady!" She smiled.

" ... Jack, you must promise me never, ever to tell my husband about what I'm going to do now ... I'm going in the lake!" He didn't try to talk her out of it, although he fully understood the implications of what she had just said.

"Very well, My Lady! May I enquire whether you are a strong swimmer! I am not, so I believe that you should not go too far from the bank!"

"All right, I'll do as you say! Now I suppose that I must ask you to turn away while I disrobe!" She took off her clothes, one by one, folding each garment carefully as she did so. Ten buttons and her breasts hung free. Her husband had been the only man to see them and touch them: but now he may never see them again, and she had longed for that touch for so long! And then she was naked. She stood for a moment on the side of the lake, feeling the heat and barely a whisper of breeze upon her skin.

Mariella, Countess of Eastchester, walked around the side of the lake a short way until she found a place that she could enter. Used to bathing indoors, the water felt too cold for comfort, but she quickly adapted as she got further out. All Jack could hear with his back to the water were the little splashes that she made. He needed to know how she was safe:

"How is it, My Lady?" he called softly. "Cold, but exhilarating!" she called back. She swam for several more minutes.

"My Lady!" he called out again. There was no answer. "My Lady!" he called again, this time with more urgency in his voice. Still no answer, then: "Jack ... help me!" he heard her call.

Getting quickly to his feet he turned to see: she was clearly in distress! He had never undressed so quickly! He ran into the water, oblivious to the coldness. He knew that he wasn't a strong swimmer, but he made his way to where she was frantically trying to keep her head above the water.

"Stop struggling, My Lady!" he said: but she was frightened and panicking. He managed to get an arm around her waist and she looked into his blue eyes and something made her stop thrashing around.

"That's it," he said, "I have you now ... let me get you to the bank!"

Jack was tiring himself, but they edged towards the side of the lake. When he was close enough to stand, he picked Mariella up in his arms and carried her out of the water, with her arms locked around his neck. He slumped, exhausted, to his knees and laid her down; but she didn't relinquish her grip so he lay on the ground beside her. He wanted to sleep, but some inner urgency drove him on.

"We ... we can't stay like this, My Lady ... it's ... it's not right!"

"No, it's not right!" she said, " ... But I don't want to let you go! You're tired, Jack ... close your eyes!" He lacked the strength to argue, so they both lay naked in the afternoon heat, allowing it to dry their bodies.

He woke with a start. "I think it's time we went back, Jack!" They sat near each other and watched each other dress. There was now a bond between them as strong as that between Richard and Mariella, and Jack and his former Captain.

"How long until we get back to the house, Jack?"

"Three miles at a steady pace: an hour for me; maybe longer for you, My Lady!"

"I'd like to do this again if I may ... without nearly drowning, of course! Perhaps the day after, the day after tomorrow! Would you like me to ask Joseph if he can spare you?"

"I think it might be better coming from you, My Lady! Do you want to try another part of the estate?"

"Do you know somewhere as peaceful?"

"Oh, yes, there are several such places! I sometimes think it's far too beautiful a place for so few people to see. Where I'm from there are people who never get a chance to see such things: there are the public parks; but they are for the gentry and not the common folk!"

"I appreciate what you are saying, Jack: I am part of a class that takes such things for granted, and I'm sure we don't appreciate them enough! Perhaps one day we will share them with all that wish to see!"

Eventually they neared the house. But before they got too close Mariella stopped. She took off a glove and gave his hand a squeeze.

"Thank you for everything, Jack! You seem to be making a habit of saving the lives of the Moresby's! I will send for Joseph tomorrow and ask him about our next excursion ... shall we say ten-thirty at the same place? I won't tell him about our arrangement: it might be better if you appear uninformed! I may even take a horse out tomorrow; to see a little more of the estate before then!"

After they had parted, Jack walked slowly back to the keeper's cottage. Even bearing in mind his experiences during the war, he thought that it had been one of the most extraordinary days of his whole life!

Mariella knew where the keepers cottages were, but she had never been very close to them. There were only three cottages: the first was the home of head keeper Joseph Williams and his wife; the second was inhabited by his son, Matthew, and his family; and the third was that of Jack Campbell. The three keepers took it in turn to carry out the night patrols until six in the morning; after which they were free to rest until noon ... in that way the whole day was covered with overlapping shifts. Before the Earl had gone away to war: when there were private shooting parties at the house; all of the keepers worked during the day and not at night, as both Joseph and Matthew were needed to oversee the beaters and the locals who helped with the guns.

It was during one of their rides together after Sir Richard's return, that Mariella had asked about the three cottages on the edge of the woods. They looked very intriguing, and so she decided to pay a visit to Joseph ... not Jack, of course ... so the morning after her walk, she had a groom saddle her favourite horse and she headed off in that direction.

Joseph Williams was in his fifties and his son was a little younger than her husband, she understood. As she rode slowly up the track outside the cottages, she saw young children playing outside, so she dismounted some yards from them and led her horse on foot.

"Hello!" she said, cheerily, "Is your grandfather home? Can someone please tell him that Lady Moresby wishes to see him!" While the youngest children stood and stared, the eldest ran into the first cottage. After a few minutes Joseph appeared, hurriedly buttoning his waistcoat.

"Hello, Joseph! I apologise for calling on you unannounced like this!"

"There's no apology needed, My Lady! I was out 'keeping last night, so I was just getting ready to start my day! Can I invite Your Ladyship in for a cup of tea!" Mariella smiled, she had met the Head Keeper on several occasions since her marriage.

"Thank you ... if it's no trouble! Can I tie my horse up somewhere?"

"I'll see to that," Joseph said, "You go on through!" She entered the cottage where Joseph's wife was nervously waiting to greet her. She gave a quick bob. "Will you wait in the parlour, My Lady!" Mariella smiled warmly.

"The kitchen will do for me!" she said.

"Certainly, My Lady, this way!"

The kitchen was as homely and welcoming as she had expected. It was about as far from her usual lifestyle as it was possible to get: but none the worse for it. In fact, in all the time that she had lived in Moresby Manor, she had never even seen the kitchen!

"You have delightful grandchildren, Mrs Williams!"

"Yes, My Lady, they are sweethearts ... and very lucky to grow up in such a place as this!"

"Yes, after talking to Mr Campbell yesterday, I am beginning to realise how special it is! He told me that many of the poorer people in the cities have never even seen the countryside we take so much for granted!"

"Begging your pardon, My Lady, I expect that you will be thinking about children yourself, now that Sir Richard is home!"