Anna Jacobs by Persons of Rank Page A

himself after the carriage accident which had killed her parents and younger brother. Her governess, who had broken her ankle a week previous to that, had declined absolutely to subject herself to the jolting of a journey across country, and the rest of the staff, who lived in dire terror of the Dowager’s rare visits, were glad to abnegate responsibility.
    Once at Satherby, Anders had been offered the job of becoming Miss Eleanor’s personal groom, for the Dowager, grim-faced in flowing black, did not neglect her duty to look after her favourite son’s faithful servants, however much she might be grieving over his death.
    From that day onwards, Anders had supervised Miss Eleanor and her riding with the utmost care and now boasted that she was the best lady rider in the county.
    As the sole link with her past, he was the only other person apart from Beatrice who was able to cheer up the solitary child mourning the loss of her parents and brother. He had chosen Miss Eleanor’s horses for her, guided her through the mysteries of learning to jump and accompanied her to her first hunt. He was generally reckoned by the other servants to be willing to kill for her, if necessary.
    Left to her own devices and feeling more than usually restless that day, Eleanor went for a walk in the woods, disobeying the Dowager by doing so unescorted by either maid or groom - and disobeying Anders too, for he agreed absolutely with the Dowager on this point.
    Eleanor felt she desperately time to herself. It had been a trying week since the letter from Crispin Herforth, with her grandmother’s temper fluctuating between rage and scorn, and Eleanor was finding it hard to remain cheerful.
    The puppy strayed from the narrow path to follow a quite irresistible scent and refused to obey a command from his mistress to return to heel. Terrified of losing her pet, she ran after him and caught up just in time to see him disappear down a rabbit hole. Some of the soft earth fell in on him, so although he managed to turn round, he was unable to get out again and cowered in the narrow tunnel, whimpering with fear.
    With no thought for her own appearance, Eleanor fell to her knees and at once began trying to dig the puppy out, scolding him all the time in a tender voice.
    She didn’t hear anyone approach and started in shock when a twig snapped beside her and a voice asked, “Is something wrong?”
    “Oh!” She brushed her hair away from her face with one dirty hand, hoping she’d not deposited any smears of dirt on her cheek. “Oh, you quite startled me, sir!” It didn’t occur to her to be afraid of the stranger, for it wasn’t in her nature to be suspicious of others, and besides, the gentleman had a very warm smile.
    “I’m sorry about that.” He knelt beside her. “I thought you must have heard me coming.”
    She sat back on her heels and smiled at him. “No. I was too busy trying to help poor Snowy.”
    “Yes, so I see. May I assist you?”
    He was staring at her in undisguised admiration and she found herself blushing slightly. For a moment everything seemed to happen very slowly and she was conscious only of the stranger, with his blond hair and bright blue eyes smiling down at her. Then Snowy whimpered and she jerked back to the present crisis. “I’m having difficulty digging my dog out, for the earth will keep falling back in again. I’m afraid my poor little darling will be smothered if I’m not careful and I daren’t go for help, because Snowy may bring the earth in on himself with his struggles. Or I may not find him again.”
    “Let me see if I can help.”
    Obediently she moved aside. The stranger was undoubtedly a gentleman, neatly, though not fashionably dressed, and he didn’t seem to care that he, too, was dirtying his clothes. As he began to dig, she couldn’t resist staying beside him and they worked together to hold back the earth and enlarge the hole.
    Once or twice their hands touched and she was surprised at