Hester and Mungo 3

[rix_scaedu]

 This follows on from Green and comes in at 3,856 words.  I hope that you enjoy this.

Colonel Mungo Munro looked up at the building in Dunedin that his wife, Hester, had brought him to.  "Hester, this is the Court of the Exchequer.  It…Are we going to the office of the King's Remembrancer?  When you said that this property had been bestowed upon you and that it was entailed...."

"I've already apologized for not being able to tell you more," replied Hester.  "I have a letter of introduction, a name and a pass phrase to get us in to the man with the name I've been given."  She turned to him with a smile, "And, as it happens, I have you to give me consequence and gravitas."

"If you keep talking like that, woman, I'll get a swelled head," he replied drily.  "We'd best be getting on with it, instead of standing around on the street."

They walked up the steps and in through the main doors of one of the official buildings on Parliament Square.  A gentleman behind a desk fulfilled the functions of a butler, receiving visitors and deliveries before dispatching them further into the building in the care of porters.  When Hester and Mungo walked up to the desk the gentleman behind it looked enquiringly at Mungo.  Hester produced an envelope sealed with red wax from her portfolio and said quietly, "The Duke of Rothesay has directed me to attend upon Sir Patrick Murray.  I have a letter of introduction."  She showed him the front and back of the envelop.  "Colonel Munro is my escort."

The gentleman, who'd looked offended when Hester had begun speaking, adopted what she could only describe as an aggressively impassive face and gestured at a porter who came directly to them.  "MacNeil, take the lady and gentleman to Sir Patrick's office.  Tell his secretary I believe she is expected."

MacNeil, a barrel-chested man who did not waste his words, led them up the central staircase to the floor above and then down the corridor to their right.  Four sets of paired doors down, and MacNeil knocked on the left-hand door.  A voice inside invited them to enter, and MacNeil ushered his charges into a small office.  The room was illuminated by daylight from a single, clean and handsome window and second door was in the righthand wall leading, Hester suspected, to a corner office.  The space between the two doors was guarded by a professionally dressed man in his mid-twenties.

"A lady to attend upon Sir Patrick, Mr Watson.  I'm to tell you that Mr Fenton believes she is expected.  The gentleman is with her."  The porter looked at Hester and Mungo.  "Do you wish me to stay, sir?"

"Thank you, MacNeil, but I don't believe that will be necessary."  The man at the desk stood and exchanged bows with Hester and Munro as MacNeil was closing the door behind him.   "I am Mr Hugh Watson, Sir Patrick's secretary.  Ma'am, if you and your companion could please take a seat, I will check whether he can see you now."

Mr Watson rose from his desk and knocked on the inner door.  A voice from called for him to enter and he did so, closing the door bind him.  Several moments later Mr Watson returned and said, "Sir Patrick will see you now, ma'am.  If you would come this way, please."  He indicated the door and then asked, "Will the gentleman be going with you or remaining here?"

"I believe Colonel Munro should come with me.  I've been mysterious enough about this business for long enough that I should let him hear what there is to hear from the source."  Hester smiled apologetically at her husband and said, "I have very much enjoyed being Mrs Munro."

Mindful of their audience, Mungo followed her and did not ask questions.  Sir Patrick Murray was the King's Remembrancer and had been for over fifteen years.  Whatever this meeting was about, it was going to be interesting.  Watson, he recalled had not been surprised that Hester was dressed in men's clothing.

As they entered the room Sir Patrick, a well-dressed middle-aged man, stood and exchanged bows with them and then asked them to be seated.  "I'm afraid this all must seem rather havey-cavey to you both," he said, "but we've been directed to be more that usually discreet.  I believe ma'am," he'd turned to Hester, "that you have a letter of introduction for me."

"I do," agreed Hester and she produced the envelop she'd shown the man downstairs.  "If you are Sir Patrick Murray, sir."

"He is," Mungo informed her.  "Sir Patrick and I have met before, although he probably doesn't remember me."

The other man looked at him sharply.  "The voice is familiar....  Weren't you a Captain...Munro?  Son of Andrew.  In the Highland Guard...at a ball in Perth?"

"It was, and I am," replied Mungo.  "Though I'm a Colonel these days."

"Very nice," commented Sir Patrick.  "Now, if I could perhaps see the letter of introduction, ma'am?"  His eyes twinkled, "Now that I've been vouched for, that is."

Hester handed over the letter and watched as he opened and read it.

When he was done, Sir Patrick refolded the missive and said, "As you've probably surmised, Miss Vanns, I'm involved in this matter because the property involved in this business comes from an estate that reverted to the crown as the ultimate heir.  You probably aren't surprised to hear that I received instructions on this matter several days ago via the Royal Mail."

Hester returned his smile.  "I was told that instructions would be sent, sir.  It was also suggested to me that I should travel slower than the Mail to get here.  I understand that I am playing a game of least in sight at the moment."

"So my instructions give me to understand," agreed Sir Patrick.  "Which is why I've arranged for one of our legal gentlemen, The Honourable Mr Walter Dumfries, to take you on an inspection of your properties in Scotland, beginning the day after you present yourself to me.  Mr Dumfries has had the administration of those properties in this office for the past few years, and he can introduce you to the stewards and factors."  He smiled benevolently at Hester.

"Properties," replied Hester faintly.  "I understood that there was a house, possibly quite a small one.  Also, I should inform you that I am no longer Miss Vanns.  Colonel Munro and I were married several days ago in Owsenham.  I have a copy of our marriage lines here." Hester opened her portfolio.

"Ah."  Sir Patrick leafed through the documents in front of him, until he found what he was looking for.  "My recollection is correct.  The terms of the contract of entailment you signed in Lundun mean that your marriage does not change the ownership of the properties, including real estate, vested in the earldom.  I shan't need to see your marriage lines - if you've spent the last few days telling everyone that you're married and conducting marital activities together, then here in the Northern Marches, you are indeed married.  Now, which surname will the two of you be using?"

Hester replied, "Munro."

At the same moment Mungo spluttered, "Earldom?"

Hester turned to him apologetically, "Ah, yes.  That.  The reason I was granted this property is His Majesty decided to make me Countess of Guilfel in my own right.  For services to the Crown and the Royal Family."

"Services to the Royal Family?"  Mungo lifted an eyebrow.  Hester knew that expression - it meant that he knew there was more information, wanted it, but didn't expect to like it.

"Specifically, the Duchess of Cumberland and the Prince of Coburg."  The two most recent royal spouses and among the least objectionable of the family, as far as Hester knew.  She went on, addressing Sir Patrick as well as her husband, "I would prefer not to discuss the details if you don't mind.  What I would like to discuss is the name Guilfel.  It's not one I've heard before, and I was wondering where it comes from."

Sir Patrick smiled.  "We, well this office, investigated that when the sixth Earl Guilfel died twenty-two years ago.  The Guilfels were always a small family and there weren't any surviving cadet lines.  When they went into the first earl's antecedents, they found out that Guilfel was a nom de guerre - he acknowledged it, a number of other people acknowledged it, but no-one wrote down who he was.  As far as can be discovered, he made it up.  Then named the house he built after himself and a later earl built the local church and got the new parish named after the family."  He spread his hands, "And that is all I can tell you."

"Which is why they were the Earls Guilfel and I'm the Countess of Guilfel," commented Hester thoughtfully.

"Yes," replied Sir Patrick.  "They were earls of their name, and you are countess of a place.  An interesting snippet of history, but if anyone tries to tell you that you have legal responsibilities for any of the local clans, other than as your tenants, they're either lying or they don't know what they're talking about.  The Guilfel title has never had anything to do with the local clans - the earls were an import."

Mungo asked, "So, always outsiders were they?"

Sir Patrick sighed.  "Some of them were, at least.  They tended to marry either minor relatives of the local lairds or foreigners.  No doubt all of your neighbours and tenants will be looking to see what you are like, Lady Guilfel."

"Well, the first thing they can know about me is that I married a decent Scotsman," replied Hester.  "Now, where is this house?"

"It's on the western side of the Kintyre Peninsula," replied Sir Patrick.  "North of Campbeltown, and south of Clachaig Water.  That's the principal property.  There are also two smaller properties nearby but not contiguous, in the manner of a hunting box or a fishing lodge.  There are also the town houses in Dunedin and Lundun."

"My."  Hester took a moment and then asked, "Is there enough land to produce the income needed to support these houses?"

"In a good year, yes."  Sir Patrick folded his hands on the desk in front of him.  "This, however, is not a good year and the land management practices on all the properties have not moved with the times.  There is work to be done."

"There's always work to be done on an estate," comment Mungo.

"And it's not a good year anywhere this year," added Hester.  "All the people I worked with on the Continent got letters from home from Easter onwards telling them how bad the weather's been."

"Oh?"  Sir Patrick asked, "Where did your colleagues come from, Lady Guilfel?"

"Moscow, Madrid, Cawdor, the German and Italian states, Pest, and Lisboa.  So yes, this is a bad year for all of Europe."  Hester gave him a wry smile.

"I shall expect food and grain prices to rise further then."  Sir Patrick shook his head.  "It's a bad business.  Anyway, back to the matter in hand.  I will introduce you to Mr Dumfries, who will make arrangements for you to inspect your properties here in the Northern Reaches.  Your movements will be constrained by the instructions that were delivered for yourself to be handed to you by me."  Sir Patrick handed her an envelope.  "With good horse changes, and allowing for difficulties, you can expect the trip to Guilfel to take four days, and another four to come back.  Of course, you cannot travel on the Sabbath so if you leave tomorrow you can expect to arrive next Wednesday, the twenty-fourth.  You need to be back in Dunedin to attend the Regent's Court on Wednesday the fourteenth of August.  Theoretically that gives you up to a fortnight to survey your holdings, Lady Guilfel."

The Honourable Mr Walter Dumfries, a younger son of the sixth Viscount of Cumnock, was a nattily dressed gentleman in his late twenties.  If disappointment had flashed briefly across his face when he was introduced to Colonel Mungo Munro, the countess's husband, Hester couldn't blame him - if she'd had an unmarried brother about to spend, as he thought, up to two weeks in the company of an unattached, newly anointed countess, she would have made sure he'd put his best foot forward for their first meeting too.  Fortunately, he only allowed himself that one brief flash of feeling, then got on with discussing their travel arrangements.

"Two coaches then," he noted.  "One for us and one for our personal servants."  He flashed the Munros an apologetic smile, "I had assumed that Lady Guilfel, her maid, my valet, and I would all travel in the one vehicle, but although six inside in one coach would be possible it would not be comfortable."

Mungo Munro waved aside the need for an apology with one hand.  "You planned on the information you had to hand, and our marriage was both unexpected and only a few days ago.  My batman has been with me since we landed on the Peninsula.  Her ladyship doesn't yet have a maid - interviews with suitable candidates are supposed to be later today."

Mr Dumfries made a note.  "It is possible then that there might not be a maid to travel with us?"

"It is possible, but I hope that there will be," replied Hester.  Looking at the map of their journey that Mr Dumfries had laid out in front of them, she asked, "So are there any known bandit problems on this route?"

"Bandits?  In the Northern Reaches?"  Mr Dumfries was affronted.

"Highwaymen," interposed Mungo smoothly.

"What's the difference?" asked Hester, interestedly.  "Is this one of those little nuances I've missed by becoming an adult out of the country?"

"Highwaymen tend to be more singular," replied Mungo.  "Bandits tend to run in gangs."  He reflected for a moment, "Or bigger gangs.  Also, highwaymen run to horses and guns, bandits tend to have a lesser standard of equipment which they balance out with greater numbers."

"Ah! Thank you."  Hester turned back to Mr Dumfries, "So, are there any stretches of this journey prone to either of those problems?  I was warned about Hounslow Heath before I left Lundun."

"There are several stretches known for highwaymen," admitted Mr Dumfries, "but recent reports suggest that the most recent practitioners of the high toby on those parts have felt the full weight of the law.  Even so, two carriages travelling together will appear less attractive that one.  Two indicates money, but also doubles the number of armed men travelling with the party.  I can assure you, Lady Guilfel, that you will be perfectly safe."

"I'm sure I will be."  Hester smiled at him.  "Now, as I'm not to be making myself known as the Countess of Guilfel until after the fourteenth of next month, I'll be travelling as Mrs Munro.  Does that interfere with your plans at all?"

"As long as Colonel Munro is coming on this trip too, it actually makes them easier, my lady.  I don't have to provide a maid or chaperone if you don't have one."  Mr Dumfries smiled at both of them.

"Hopefully I will have a maid by the end of today," said Hester.  "Now, there's also the matter of my riding horse.  If we're going to be travelling at post chaise speeds with horse changes, then I think it would be best to leave him here in the mews at the Munro family townhouse.  Do you both agree?"

"Particularly as he's just made the trip up from Lundun," said Mungo.  "Yes.  I've known my father's head groom since before he was head groom and I trust him to make sure His Excellency is well looked after until we return to Dunedin."

"Not having a riding horse tethered to one of the carriages would make the trip easier," agreed Mr Dumfries.  "If you were going to Guilfel to stay for any length of time, that would be a different matter. However, as you have to come back to Dunedin so soon, if you have a safe and trustworthy place to stable him while you are away, I recommend letting him rest here while you travel."

"I'm glad we're in agreement," commented Mungo.  "We're staying at my family's house in Thistle Street.  When do you wish to leave?"

"I had thought tomorrow morning at eight, if that is not too early for you," replied Mr Dumfries.

"That should be fine," replied Mungo.  "We're both seasoned campaigners and at least there aren't tents to take down and bedding to pack this time."

Hester interposed, "Unless, of course, Mr Dumfries recommends that we bring our own sheets?"  She looked at that gentleman enquiringly.

He cleared his throat awkwardly.  "I really couldn't say, my lady.  I am a gentleman of modest means, and I don't travel that often."

Hester smiled kindly at him.  "Not to worry.  I'll ask my mother and sisters-in-law for their advice.  I'm sure they have opinions."

The Munros provided Mr Dumfries with their direction, and he had a porter guide them out of the building.  Once they were outside, Mungo tucked Hester's hand into the crook of his elbow and said, "Next, I think we should get you a proper wedding band."

"One that's the right size so that I'm not worried about losing it," agreed Hester.  "I keep worrying at the oddest times that your signet is just going to slide off my finger somewhere without me noticing."

"Hamiltons' will be the place, I think," said Mungo confidently.  "The family's been going to them for years."

Hamiltons was delighted to help Colonel Munro and the eccentrically dressed Mrs Munro choose and purchase a gold wedding band.  They also enquired delicately whether Mrs Munro required any more decorative jewellery, suggesting that blue or purple stones might go well with her colouring.  Colonel Munro thanked them for their advice but said that would be a concern for a later date.  The happy couple then returned to the Munro townhouse to discover the progress that had been made towards the selection of a lady's maid for Hester and a groom for her horse.

The prospective maids had been interviewed by the housekeeper, Mrs Gowanlock, and Isobel Munro's lady's maid, a woman who went by Murdoch. When Hester strode into the room, there were four candidates waiting for her with Mrs Gowanlock and Murdoch.  Hester decided to bite the bullet and let them know what they were in for straight away.  "Good morning, ladies.  My apologies if I have inconvenienced you all by making you wait, but I had business to attend to in the city this morning.  The clothes I am wearing are the clothes I own - I have spent the last seven years living out of two saddlebags and a small valise.  If you take this position, your job will begin with helping me adopt the style of a respectable married lady of the gentry.  The second thing you need to know is that I must leave Dunedin for the Kintyre Peninsula at eight tomorrow morning and will be away for approximately a fortnight.  I will be taking my maid with me.  If either of these are things you cannot or do not wish to do, then I'm afraid that this position is not for you."

Hester took a moment for her words to sink in and thought that two of the women looked as if they were reconsidering.  She added, "At the moment I expect that my time will be spread between the Kintyre Peninsula, Dunedin, and Lundun with visits to Balloch and other locations where member of my and the Colonel's families reside.  At this time I can make no promises of how or when those changes in residence will occur.  Again, if these are conditions you cannot work under, then this position is not for you."

One of the women, grey-haired and broad accented in English, asked, "Do you not want any of us then, mistress?"

"Oh, I do want a maid," replied Hester.  "I need a lady's maid, but I've never had one of my own before, and I don't want you to be mistaken about what you'll be getting if you come to work for me, or disappointed that I'm not your idea of a proper lady."  She smiled and added, "Best you know what you have to work with before you begin."

Mrs Gowanlock intervened.  "It is usual, Mrs Mungo, to have a private conversation before making a decision.  Let's have a seat in the back parlor and Murdoch will bring them in one at a time to talk to you."

Hester acquiesced to being managed by the two more experienced women and had a conversation with each of her potential employees.  Two of them, the grey-haired woman who'd spoken up earlier and younger woman with perfect black eyebrows, seemed to be a little too eager to be more managing of Hester than Hester was comfortable with.  The third woman had been found suitable by the employment agency, Mrs Gowanlock, and Murdoch but there was something about her that reminded Hester of people she didn't want to be reminded of.  That left her with Martha.  Martha was a little younger than Hester, had been a lady's maid for two years and her previous employer had died of old age.  The other young woman was neat, clean, and the two older women were approving when they spoke of her.  Hester hired her and left Mrs Gowanlock to arrange for Martha to join the household that afternoon.

Then she joined Mungo and the head groom in the mews at the back of the house.  In one of those little touches of consideration that she hadn't yet come to expect, Mungo met her at the back garden gate and escorted her across the laneway and into the stables.  There were three men waiting on her consideration, one of whom she knew.   She, Corporal Brody as he had been then, and half a dozen of his troopers had spent a fraught day and night rescuing two of their officers from the enemy.  He was a good man in a tight corner, and she hoped he thought much the same of her.  The other two men may have been equally suitable, but Hester's decision was made.  One of the other men, a wiry older fellow, seemed either surprised or disgruntled that Hester really was the one to make the decision and went off grumbling.  The third man was disappointed but took himself off without complaint.

Then it was a matter of reintroducing Brody to His Excellency, asking after Mrs Brody and the children, and explaining that the newly married Munros were not yet certain where they would be living.

"Colonel Munro covered that earlier, Miss Hester," Brody told her.  Then he asked, "He is the Colonel Munro who sent out the exploring officers, isn't he?"

"He is," confirmed Hester.

"Well, and isn't that an interesting thing to happen?  It's probably best that you've married a man who'll appreciate that you're a fine shot."

Hester and Mungo 4 is now available.

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[lilfluff]

It comes from several years of working in a computer lab and helpdesk environment. Well, that and a father who liked dry humor. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it. :)