The Tanner’s Daughter – Episode 44
The Tanner's Daughter by Pamela Kavanagh
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- 1. The Tanner’s Daughter – Episode 44
Constance Hatton regarded her daughter.
“What choice have you, Jane? This offer saves your good name and your child’s as well.”
“At what cost, Mother?”
Jane shivered in the east wind that frolicked across the river meadows.
Why her mother had insisted they came here to talk she could not fathom.
“What cost?” she repeated. “I turn my back on what Father wanted?”
“You would still be in charge. Master Glasier stipulated that.”
“But in name only. Any final decisions would be his; all correspondence countersigned by him.
“I would be a mere figurehead. A puppet, with him pulling the strings.”
“You make him sound an ogre.”
“I don’t mean to. He is a good man, but I do not love him.”
“You may grow to. Love comes in many guises.”
“He’s old.”
“And wise. Think carefully. He has made you a generous offer. How many men would take on another man’s –”
“By-blow?”
“There is no call for crudity,” Constance said stiffly. “The babe you carry is my grandchild and I would not have him blackened so.
“Remember what Master Glasier decreed. Not a word of this to anyone.”
“That is already agreed.”
“Good. Be mindful when it comes to your association with Margery Denny. Now, let us go back home.”
Turning, Constance headed back for the town. Jane walked alongside her, her expression defeated.
In the garret quarters above the glover’s shop, Will looked across his desk at his employee.
“Glasier was visiting the Hatton office? You are certain of this?”
Geoffrey Hodge, plainly ill at ease at telling tales, gave a nod.
“He were coming out when I went to deliver the payment for goods to the new fellow, Jarvis.”
Hodge moistened his lips.
“’Tis not the first time I’s seen Master Glasier there. Didn’t think anything of it.
“Him and the old master were acquainted. Master Glasier would often drop by to converse over a sup of wine.
“It followed this might continue, him being in the Guild of Tanners and Mistress Jane a member.
“There seemed no reason to question his intentions.”
“But this time? Come on, man, speak out.”
Hodge shuffled his feet.
“Glasier looked jubilant. Had a spring in his step. He walked out o’ that place like a man half his years, he did. Made me wonder.”
“Thank you, Hodge. That will be all.”
“Aye, sir.”
“And Hodge? Say nothing of this.”
“I shan’t, sir. Now, best I get back to my bench. These afternoon gloves for the Royal order look fine.
“Lovely quality, that Irish pigskin. We’ll be starting on the evening gloves come Monday.”
“Good man. I shall look forward to seeing the end result.”
Hodge made his escape, his honest face concerned. He liked and respected Will Leche and thought a lot of Mistress Jane.
This rift between them worried him.
They had seemed so well matched. He hoped whatever had gone wrong would soon be mended.
Alone, Will sat back in his chair, frowning. What was going on between Jane and that cunning old fox, Thomas Glasier?
Jubilant, Hodge had said. Was Glasier angling to buy the business to add to his leatherware enterprise?
No. Jane would never sell. So what else could have caused the joyful exit that had prompted Hodge to voice his concern?
A thought entered Will’s mind. He tried to shake it off, studying the business papers on his desk.
After an hour of fruitless endeavour he rose, donned cape and hat and, calling to the staff that he would be back shortly, ran down the stair and out.
Margery! If anyone would know what was happening, it was she.
He headed for her lodgings on Pepper Street. There, he took the stairs two at a time and hammered on Margery’s door. There was no answer.
“Margery! ’Tis me, Will.”
Still nothing. He tried the door but it was locked.
Cursing under his breath, Will descended the stair and sought the landlady.
He came across her lounging on a bench in a littered back yard.
“Dunno where her’s gone,” she replied to his enquiry. “Her said as she’d be away a coupla days.”
Desperate to know more, Will slipped her a half-crown.
She tucked the coin into her grimy kirtle, but either the woman genuinely knew nothing or considered the offering her dues for information given.
Will returned home, his mind racing. This was not like Margery. Where had she gone, and why?