Dilly Court - The Swan Maid

Florence fixed Lottie with a piercing gaze, from which there was no escape. ‘You’re very young. How old are you?’

‘I’m twenty, Miss Nightingale. I’ll be twenty-one in January.’

‘I don’t consider anyone under twenty-three. If you want to be a nurse, you must train in a hospital here, at home. Now, allow me to go on my way.’

‘Is this person bothering you, Miss Nightingale?’ A uniformed porter hurried up to them, glaring at Lottie.

‘No, she was just making enquiries.’ Florence’s stern expression lightened into what was almost a smile. ‘What is your name, young lady?’

‘Charlotte Lane, ma’am.’

‘Good luck, Charlotte.’ Florence nodded to the porter and he held the door open for her.

Lottie watched spellbound as the small figure climbed into a waiting carriage.

‘You was lucky,’ the porter said tersely. ‘She could have had you thrown out.’

‘Yes, but she turned me down. I just wanted to do something useful.’

‘Go home, miss. It’s getting late and a young person like yourself shouldn’t be roaming the streets unaccompanied.’

Lottie was about to tell him she was quite capable of looking after herself, when she heard footsteps approaching. She turned to see Lieutenant Gillingham striding towards them.

‘It’s Lottie, isn’t it?’ He came to a halt beside her. ‘I thought I recognised you.’

‘Yes, sir.’ She bobbed a curtsey, out of habit rather than necessity. Even this far from the inn she had a sneaking feeling that Mrs Filby might be hiding around the next corner, watching her.

‘What are you doing here on your own?’

The porter cleared his throat noisily. ‘I told her it was late for a young lady to be wandering the streets, sir.’

‘Yes, thank you. I know this lady and I’ll see her safely home.’

The porter muttered something as he stalked off to deal with a drunk who was swearing and threatening to punch a young doctor.

A sudden thought occurred to Lottie and she shivered. ‘It’s not Private Ellis, is it, sir? He hasn’t taken a turn for the worse?’

Gillingham smiled and shook his head. ‘As far as I know, Ellis is already back on duty and doing well. I was visiting a patient: my old nanny, God bless her. She’s very frail, but determined to make a full recovery, and she’s the only family I have left now.’ He proffered his arm. ‘Anyway, you must allow me to escort you home.’

‘I can find my own way back to Gresham Street, thank you all the same,’ Lottie said with as much dignity as she could muster.

‘I dare say you could, but I am headed that way, and we could share a cab.’

‘You’re going to The Swan?’

‘My colonel’s lady is arriving on the mail coach from Bath, and I’ve been detailed to meet her, which is why I took the opportunity to visit the hospital. I’ve booked two rooms for us at The Swan and we will travel on to Chatham in the morning.’

‘Oh, well, in that case, thank you.’ Lottie had been prepared to walk, but it was a hot night and there was a sense of unrest in the humid, foul-smelling air. A ride home would be more than welcome.

Gillingham ushered her outside onto the forecourt where a cab had just dropped off a fare. ‘The Swan with Two Necks, Gresham Street, cabby.’ He handed Lottie into the vehicle and climbed in after her. ‘Were you visiting someone in the hospital? It’s not the best place to be during a cholera epidemic.’

‘I wanted to speak to Miss Nightingale.’

‘By Jove, that’s a worthy ambition. Did you succeed?’

‘Yes, I spoke to her, although much good it did me.’

He settled back against the leather squabs. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘I want to go to the Crimea. I wanted to join her team of nurses.’

‘Really?’ He eyed her speculatively. ‘Did looking after Private Ellis have anything to do with your decision?’

‘I suppose it did, in a way. I realised that I could do better than waiting hand and foot on travellers at the inn. I was born into an army family, and spent my first six years in India. Talking to Private Ellis brought it all back to me, and suddenly it seemed the most natural thing in the world to want to do something worthwhile. Does that sound silly?’

‘No. It sounds like a brave move. It’s a pity nothing came of it.’

‘Yes, but I’m not giving up yet.’

They lapsed into silence as the cab tooled along the streets, which were much quieter now than they had been when Lottie set out that morning, and they arrived at the inn just as the mail coach from Bath was pulling into the stable yard.

Filby stepped out of the shadows and caught Lottie by the arm. ‘What sort of time do you call this? You was supposed to be back by seven sharp.’

‘I must take the blame for Lottie’s late return, sir,’ Gillingham said firmly. ‘It was entirely my fault.’

‘If you say so, sir.’ Filby cringed visibly. He waited until Gillingham had walked off to greet the colonel’s wife. ‘No good will come of you mixing with the military, you stupid girl. Soldiers and sailors are all the same when it comes to women. D’you get my meaning, you stupid little bitch?’

She wrenched free from his tight grasp. ‘It’s not like that. I met the lieutenant by pure chance.’

Filby caught her a stinging blow on the side of her face. ‘Don’t cheek me, miss.’

‘I say, was that really necessary?’ A silvery voice rang out across the stable yard as a young, fashionably dressed woman descended from the mail coach.

‘I’d leave it be, my lady,’ Gillingham said in a low voice.

‘No, Farrell, I won’t.’ She moved across the yard with the grace of a ballerina. ‘You, fellow with the leather apron.’ She addressed Filby, who stared at her, apparently dumbstruck by her beauty. ‘What do you mean by slapping the poor girl’s face? What could she have done to deserve such harsh treatment?’

‘Who are you, ma’am?’ Filby stuttered, puffing out his cheeks.

‘I am Lady Aurelia Dashwood, sir. And who may you be?’

Gillingham moved swiftly to her side. ‘This is Filby, my lady. He is the landlord.’

‘Landlord or no, what right have you to strike this young woman?’ Aurelia demanded angrily.

‘She is a maidservant, employed by me, my lady.’ Filby dropped his voice to a mere whisper. ‘Begging your pardon, ma’am.’

Lottie had an almost irresistible desire to giggle at the sight of Filby grovelling before the elegant lady. ‘I’ll get on with my work then, shall I, guv?’

‘Yes,’ Filby said with a vague wave of his hand, ‘and don’t let it happen again.’

Aurelia laid a gloved hand on Lottie’s shoulder. ‘What is your name?’

‘Lottie, my lady.’

‘Well, Lottie, my maid was taken ill at the start of the journey from Bath and I had to send her home. I need someone to help me with my toilette.’ She turned to Filby with a smile that would have melted the hardest heart. ‘I take it you have no objections, landlord?’

‘No, my lady.’ Filby bowed from the waist. ‘Of course not. If there is anything you need, you have only to ask.’

Gillingham glanced at the luggage that was piling up on the cobblestones. ‘Is this all yours, my lady?’

‘Of course it is, Farrell. Have you ever known me to travel light?’ Aurelia laughed and tossed her head. The feathers in her dashing straw bonnet waved and danced, and her golden ringlets bobbed with each movement of her head.

Lottie could only stare at her, entranced. She had never seen anyone as lovely or as lively and spirited as the colonel’s wife. ‘I’ll see that the lady’s baggage is taken to her bedchamber,’ she volunteered. ‘Which room is hers, guv?’

‘Why, you silly girl, the best in the house, of course.’ Filby seemed to recover from his daze and he strode into the middle of the yard. ‘Jem, where are you, boy? Take the lady’s luggage to room ten.’ He bowed to Aurelia, keeping his head bent low as if addressing royalty. ‘Lottie will show you to your room, my lady. If there is anything we can do for you, please don’t hesitate to ask.’