the scholar's sweetheart 22 final

 

Chapter 22

 

Cornelius and Theophilus put their heads together to write to their brother.

 

Dearest Emil,

You might, or might not, have heard from Papa on the subject of Eusebius, who has been becoming stranger and stranger. He has been looking for sins all over the place and made a right royal fool of himself. And yes, to some extent I [Corny] encouraged this... but it got to the state where he flung into the Hall, wounding poor old Larkin, and attempting to assault the marchioness, who hit him with a chair, being in a delicate condition and not unnaturally militating against ill usage of any kind. Anyway, he was unfrocked before an ecclesiastical court and confined with an alienist; but he escaped, tied up papa in his study, and set out with intent to burn the hall and all inside it. Anyway, he managed to fall down the steps of the terrace and set himself on fire – and I swear, he managed it himself, not helped by anyone, and providentially broke his own neck. I don’t suppose you will miss him any more than we do, but if Papa writes some strange, rambling message, this is what it’s about.

Your loving brothers, Corny & Theo.

 

Cornelius returned from his brother’s schoolmaster’s cottage not quite sober, but a lot happier.

“You’re too drunk for me to be your go-between tonight,” said Jasper. “Go and sleep it off.”

“It’s been a heavy day,” said Cornelius.

“Corny, should I confess to your father that I doctored the organ with paper flaps to make it vibrate, and paper plugs to make drones?” said Jasper. “That and buying all those frou-frous.”

“No,” said Cornelius, decisively. “If he thinks it was purely in Eusebius’s mind it will be easier for him. The boy Adam can’t tell Bach from barking, so he won’t tell. My father sees enough sin in the world without a few harmless pranks laid on his conscience.”

“I wondered if it had... you know, tipped your brother over the brink,” said Jasper. “Thinking him just to be a sanctimonious grundiguts.”

“Jasper, if it tipped him over, then he was already very close,” said Cornelius. “He’s a choirmaster, and in some ways the same as a schoolmaster, and something Theo pointed out to me is that it’s a pretty poor schoolmaster who can’t cope with his charges playing pranks. And my poor father also fights with seeing sin everywhere. The difference is, that my father sees what he perceives as his own sins, and assumes other people are tempted as he is; and Eusebius sees – saw – himself as virtuous, and other people beset by sin. And playing pranks is not a sin, it’s a normal expression of high spirits, especially when directed as a prank to point out unfairness.”

“What would you do if I sent you lady’s undergarments?”

“I’d summon you to my room, ascertain it was you, and make you put them on and view yourself in the mirror,” said Cornelius, calmly. “And then, I’d give them to Shuri.”

Jasper sniggered.

“I’d be mortified; that would work,” he said. “Good night, Corny. I’ll see you before lessons.”

 

oOoOo

 

Jasper had a checklist of what he required for his mother’s comfort as Cornelius’s wife. Cornelius nodded along to the list.

“It all sounds very reasonable,” he said. “I can’t afford London fashions for her, but if she’s content to have local seamstresses, that’s within my pay. And when you go to university, Theo and I are going to expand the local school to be a proper grammar school.”

Jasper nodded.

“It’s not a fortune, but it’s a respectable income. I’m sure Imogen will help he redd up any dress to be more special at need. And you will let her be free?”

“Of course,” said Cornelius. “As long as she does not take off with the children when they are very young, too young to go camping.”

“That seems fair,” said Jasper.  “She expects a public proposal on one knee.”

 

 

oOoOo

 

“Shuri Lovell, will you marry me? I have promised your go-between to fulfil all that is asked,” said Cornelius, kneeling before her, as the majority of the tribe prepared to leave the hall on the first fine day in a week.

“I will, Cornelius Reckitt; and I bequeath the chiefdom to my cousin, Woodlock, who is like a brother to me,” said Shuri.

“Then permit me to offer you this ring as a token,” said Cornelius, who had chosen an opal surrounded by diamonds. “It has the play of colours in the sky in all its moods.”

“Why... I am robbed of words. It is perfect; you have put much thought in choosing it,” said Shuri.

“Silas, lad, you will be my brother; will you live with us to be near Jasper?”

“Aye, I’d like that,” said Silas. “I run better with built up shoes, but if I can compensate for a crook leg by being a scholar, it would be good.”

 “Heh, if you’ve a wish to be a lawyer, you can learn to steal more in a day than Fowk could steal in a lifetime, and all of it legitimate,” teased  Cornelius.

 

oOoOo

 

Jasper voluntarily wore items from the female undergarb as a penance for Eusebius’s funeral because he felt he should; he discussed it with Cornelius and Evelyn, and both agreed that it would help his conscience. It was generally held that, apart from the chief mourner, Augustus Reckitt, most of those who attended did so to make sure that Eusebius was, indeed, firmly underground and out of the way. The family from the Hall attended as a matter of support for the rector and his sons; also attending were Leo and Cornelius Reckitt. Emilius was a little busy on the continent.  Woodlock Lovell came as a representative of the gypsies, again out of support for the rector. If the likes of Walter Hanes turned up hoping for a wake and free food, he was to be disappointed. There was no wake, and the remaining whiff of charred human flesh left those who carried the coffin, Cornelius, Theo, Evelyn, and Woodlock, somewhat less than interested in food. The headstone merely displayed the dates of Eusebius’s birth and death, and the legend, ‘Eusebius Reckitt, son of Rector Augustus Reckitt and his wife, Julia.’

And then everyone might try to return to some semblance of normality, and pick up the pieces of their lives, celebrating too that the monster Bonaparte was confined on the Island of Elba, and no danger to anyone else, and Cornelius rejoiced that his brother Emilius would be able to come home.

 

oOoOo

 

 

Evelyn was happy to employ the gypsy men to aid with the construction of a loggia and a room above it on the gatehouse, to give Lementina an outdoor room which kept out the weather, and which could be turned into a conservatory with relatively little effort.  Lementina had recovered, but when Cornelius asked her if she would live with him and Shuri, and teach the lore to their children, she cried in gladness.

“I was lying here, wishing I had died outright of the fire, and not have to get on the road again,” she said. “Now, I can live, and teach, and make cures for those as need them, and build up a stock for the tribe, but not have to worry that I’ll hold people up. I’m getting used to being under a roof.”

“Well, you’ll have a room with windows all round, and a space outside of that which is covered, but open,” said Cornelius. “And a fire with coal so you don’t have to get up in the night to keep feeding it.”

“You’re talking yourself into having me decide to live for a very long time,” said Lementina. “And I’m eighty now. My one regret is not drowning Fowk when he was born. He had mean eyes from the start.”

“Ah, but Mother Lementina, if you had drowned Fowk we should not have had Shuri, Silas, and Jasper,” said Cornelius. “He had his part to play.”

“Aye, and it’s the crazies who think they must play G-d and decide who lives and dies, may that unfortunate soul rest in peace,” said Lementina.

 

Larkin recovered from his broken leg, after a fashion, but had to admit that retirement was attractive.  Evelyn found him a cottage near to the ‘Dog and Duck,’ so he could argue with Walter Hanes. He also continued to pay the old soldier who had nursed him, supposedly as a temporary measure. Everyone but Larkin was aware it was permanent as he had no family.

 

The gypsies agreed to stay for the wedding, and the marquee was erected again. And it was Silas who averted a disaster in noticing a pulled peg, and discovering, and evicting, Honeysuckle the goat before she had done more than sample some egg and cress sandwiches and a rum and walnut gateau.

It was noticeable that she weaved rather as Silas took her home, and by the report of Widow Hodges, had a hangover the next day.

“At least she didn’t get into the pear-and-apple cider,” said Cornelius.

The wedding was officiated by the Reverend Augustus Reckitt, still frail, but less so, after a visit to Bath to take the waters, paid for by Imogen. Emilius, otherwise known as Major Reckitt, came home for the wedding to support his brother, but Jasper was Cornelius’s groomsman. Augustus had returned to the church, and the only independent home he had ever known, but he had a valet now, who had been the nurse who had gone to Bath with him.

 

The gypsies started striking camp to move on as the festivities wound down, and the villagers helped, many shaking hands and well-wishers. Shuri and Cornelius had already said goodbye, and were heading for their new home, hand in hand. Evelyn had already taken Lementina home when she had tired, and settled her in, with what had been saved of her own crazy patchwork quilt, which Imogen and Phebe had attached to a new foundation and added new patches. Lementina and Silas were enjoying such of the gateau that Silas had saved after having removed Honeysuckle.

“Be careful how much of that you eat; I saw Henri making it,” said Cornelius. Silas beamed at him.

Cornelius took Shuri’s hand again to go up the kitchen stairs where a small landing led to the four upstairs rooms.

“This is our room,” said Cornelius. “I listened to everything you said about decorating, and I hope there are enough windows.”

“It’s delightful, Cornelius, and you have made it very light and airy,” said Shuri. “And now we are married, you may kiss me.”

Cornelius needed no second invitation, and kissed his bride with enthusiasm. This led further, and Shuri was very happy to have a confident, loving husband who did not feel any need to show off that he was in charge, and was happy to let her lead. She still thought warmly of Evelyn, but this was what marriage was supposed to be.

 

Epilogue

 

Over the next few years, Sarah, Vashti, and Woodlock were born. Lementina lived to see all of them come into the world and officiated at their births, and finally slipped out of life gently and quietly in her sleep as a cold turned to pneumonia when she was eighty-seven. Silas showed an aptitude for numbers, and for stocks and shares, and went to university a little later than some, explainable by his damaged leg, to study law and finance as the stepson of a respectable gentleman schoolmaster.

But there are other stories there.

 

I have one short story prepped and have, once again, run out of steam. I'm sorry. in the meantime if anyone can think of a better alliterative title than this working one, please comment.