Barbara Taylor Bradford – The Complete Ravenscar Trilogy: The Ravenscar Dynasty, Heirs of Ravenscar, Being Elizabeth (страница 64)

Fenella was thinking exactly that at this moment when she said, ‘So you are in agreement with Vicky, Stephen? About adopting Rose?’

‘Oh yes, very much so. I think she is the most adorable child, and we can offer her so much.’ He glanced at Vicky, and added with a smile, ‘Vicky wants her, needs her in a sense, and so do I. Therefore, I will do anything I can to accomplish the adoption. Also, Fenella, Rose loves Vicky, we see that with our own eyes.’

‘Of course she does—’ There was a knock and Fenella broke off, looked at the door of her office, said, ‘Come in!’

Amos Finnister appeared on the threshold and smiled at them all as he entered. ‘Good afternoon, Lady Fenella, Mrs Forth, Mr Forth. I’m sorry I’m a bit late, but I was delayed on some other business.’

They greeted him warmly, and Fenella said briskly, ‘Thank you for coming this afternoon, Amos, we really do appreciate it. Please, come and sit down.’

Amos did so, and observing the expectant expression on Fenella’s face, he shook his head, and said, ‘I’m sorry, I haven’t been able to find out a thing about little Rose. There are no children missing in the area, in the local streets. I’ve inquired everywhere and I’ve even gone farther afield. Let me put it this way: if a girl is missing nobody’s admitting it, or claiming her.’

Stephen said, ‘And there was nothing in that old cloth bag was there, Vicky? Nothing to give us a clue to her origins?’

Vicky bit her lip. ‘Absolutely not. Unfortunately. Yes, there were some interesting things, but they don’t mean anything to us, in that they don’t reveal anything about her. Obviously they do mean a lot to the child, she becomes frantic when we put the bag away for safekeeping.’

‘Perhaps I could have a look at the things again, later,’ Amos murmured, ‘after we’ve had our meeting. Talk to her about them.’

Vicky agreed. ‘I think that’s a good idea.’

Fenella now said, ‘Well, I do have some good news. I have spoken to Hugh Codrill, and he says he can find no legal reason why you and Stephen cannot adopt Rose, Vicky. Legalities aside, he made inquiries at one of the local Dr Barnardo’s Homes, and they have a good system when they take in children, whether they are off the streets or given up by parents who cannot keep them. For health or financial reasons. Every child is registered at Barnardo’s. Name, date of birth, other family details. When a couple come looking to adopt a child, they are given a copy of the registration certificate, and if they are approved they receive adoption papers drawn up by Barnardo’s.’

Leaning forward over her desk, Fenella finished, ‘And he recommends that we do exactly the same, follow their example.’

Vicky beamed at her. ‘That’s such a relief.’ She glanced at Amos. ‘As I told Lady Fenella, the other day Will asked me how we could adopt a child, when we didn’t know who we were adopting her from. And Mr Codrill has given us the perfect solution.’

‘He has indeed,’ Fenella concurred. ‘He is currently drawing up the appropriate documents, a registration agreement for Haddon House to use now, in order to register Rose and the details of her arrival here. It will be a document that we can have printed later, to use if any other children are found on the streets and brought here. However, I cannot encourage that, since we are not an orphanage but a safe house for destitute and battered women, as you know.’

‘I presume Mr Codrill is also preparing documents for us to sign, Fenella?’ Stephen asked. ‘In other words, proper legal adoption papers?’

‘Exactly, and they will be as watertight as he can make them.’

‘And when will you have the documents, Fenella?’ Vicky asked, her eagerness and excitement apparent.

‘Within the week, but now that Hugh has done his legal research he just advised me that you may take Rose today if you wish.’

On hearing this news tears came into Vicky’s eyes, and she gave Fenella a faltering smile and said, ‘Thank you! Oh, thank you, Fenella,’ her voice thick with emotion.

Her beaming husband put his arm around her shoulders. ‘You see, my darling, everything has worked out perfectly, after all.’

‘I must say, it’s a wonderful relief for me, too,’ Amos murmured, his face also ringed with smiles. ‘I’ve worried about the little bairn for weeks now.’ He smiled at Fenella and said, ‘Thank you, your ladyship. Little Rose owes you a lot—well, we all do, really.’

It was Vanessa Barnes who took charge of the tea in the great room, with Vicky and Fenella helping her. As the women busied themselves, setting up cups and saucers and other accoutrements on the trestle table, Amos and Stephen Forth sat and talked for a few minutes about the mysterious circumstances surrounding Rose.

‘I just can’t understand it,’ Stephen said, sounding astonished. ‘How anyone could push a child like Rose out onto the streets, abandon her in such a way, staggers the imagination. It’s frightening to even contemplate such a thing, never mind knowing it’s actually being done.’

‘There are a lot of monsters passing for human beings out there, Mr Forth,’ Amos said in a sombre voice. ‘Take my word for it. Long before I became a private investigator, working for myself, I was a copper on the beat, right here in Whitechapel.’ He shook his head sadly. ‘I can’t begin to tell you what I’ve seen in my day—the most hair-raising things you could possibly conceive.’ He gave Stephen a long look, and continued, after a moment, ‘How any person could throw Rose away like rubbish I’ll never understand. She’s such a beautiful child.’

‘Very, I agree,’ Stephen was quick to say, and then asked, ‘How old do you think she is, Mr Finnister?’

‘Please call me Amos, everyone does. I must admit, her age is hard to figure out. I don’t think she can be any more than five, do you?’

‘Isn’t she a bit tall for five?’ Stephen asked. ‘My wife thinks she’s four, though. And I suppose we’ll never know.’

‘I believe she’s more than four, she’s very bright and intelligent, but not more than five, I’m certain of that. I tried to find out how long she had been on the streets, but she wasn’t able to tell me. She doesn’t have any sense of real time, very few children do as a matter of fact. But she was very dirty, and her clothes were unusually filthy, so I can only think she was out there living in cubby holes and corners, scavenging for herself, for at least three or four weeks, possibly longer.’

An involuntary shudder passed through Stephen and he closed his eyes for a moment; when he opened them there was a strange look in them, a mixture of sorrow and pain most acute. He made no response to Amos’s comment, just sat there looking sickened.

Finally, after a few seconds, Stephen said, ‘When we saw her earlier this afternoon she was bubbling over with happiness that we were here. There’s something quite lovely about her personality, when she’s not so tense.’

‘I know exactly what you mean, Mr Forth,’ Amos replied. ‘She’s full of life.’

‘That’s a good way of describing her. Yes, Rose is full of joie de vivre.’

‘Amos! Amos!’ a child’s voice rang out, and a moment later Rose was rushing across the floor to greet her friend.

As he watched her draw closer Amos thought she had never looked bonnier. There was a big white ribbon tied on top of her auburn hair, and she wore black stockings, a navy wool dress and a starched white pinafore. He knew they were clothes Vicky had bought for her.

As she drew to a stop Amos grinned and picked her up, and swirled her around. And then he placed her on the floor, noticing at once how steady she was now, not wobbling the way she had when he had first found her.

‘Hello, Rose,’ he said, giving her a broad smile. ‘You look beautiful in your new clothes.’

‘Fank yer,’ she said, and bobbed. ‘Mrs Vicky give ’em ter me. She’s like me Mam.’

Amos took hold of Rose’s hand and led her across to the sofa, where he sat down, and brought her close to his knees, looked into her bright blue eyes. ‘Rose, will you do something for me, please?’

‘Summfink ’ard, is it?’ she asked, looking at him keenly, her head on one side.

‘No, no, it’s not hard. It’s easy. I want you to go to Mrs Vicky and ask her to unlock the special cupboard, so I can take a look at your things in your cloth bag.’

‘Wot yer wanna look at me fings for?’ she demanded, frowning, suspicious all of a sudden.

‘We want to try and find out how old you are. It’s possible something in the bag will tell us.’

Reaching inside the neck of her dress, Rose pulled out a piece of black ribbon on which hung the key. ‘Mrs Vicky put the key ’ere ’cos I cried for me fings wen she took ’em.’

‘Isn’t she a nice lady? Well, come along, little one, let’s go to the cupboard.’

Smiling up at him, taking his hand in hers, Rose led him across the floor to a series of cupboards built along the wall facing the trestle table. She pulled the ribbon over her head, and opened the cupboard. Then she reached inside for the cloth bag.

Rose was careful to lock the cupboard, and put the ribbon around her neck, before they went back to the sofa. When Vicky saw what they were doing she hurried to join them. She and Amos sat down on a sofa, and a moment later Stephen walked over, carrying a cup of tea for Vicky. After handing it to her, he said to Amos, ‘Would you like a cup?’