Page 19 of Taming of the Rake
“It’s all right. I cannot avoid these unpleasant matters forever. Pretending they don’t exist will not make them go away. I take it he is in the drawing room?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then I will see him. We aren’t to be disturbed.”
David set off to meet his tenant, the sense of unease growing worse with every step. He had been surprised to discover that so many of their tenants had remained, given Wren’s neglect. If every last one of them had packed up and abandoned their cottages as well as their work, David wouldn’t have been the least bit surprised. However, he didn’t know how close they might be to such a mass exodus. He supposed Mr. Stone was here to enlighten him.
He found the older man pacing near the windows overlooking the overgrown front lawn. He was nearly David’s height, and thick with the sort of brawn honed by manual labor. Work-roughened hands twisted a worn cap, which he must have removed upon entering the house. Without it, his head was as bald and shiny as a billiards ball, while his jowls were speckled with silver stubble.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Stone.”
Stone’s jaw clenched as he perused David from head to toe, nostrils flaring as if he took in a noxious odor. His clothing was stark black save his shirt, his plainest and least remarkable pieces. However, he was aware of how it looked for him to stand here, fresh from London in the first stare of fashion while the house and estate were in shambles around him.
“Didn’t think you’d see me. That butler of yours seemed to think you wouldn’t.”
David glanced to the console where a collection of decanters was neatly arranged, glad to see that one of them was half-full. Crossing to it, he lifted the lid on what his nose told him was a decent brandy.
“Caruthers simply wanted to ensure I had adequate time to hear your concerns. Drink?”
Stone scowled at the tumbler David offered him but accepted it anyway. When David gestured toward a chair in invitation, Stone opted to remain standing.
“I ain’t come here to exchange pleasantries.”
“Of course not. I understand you have some concerns, and I am here to listen.”
Stone scoffed and glared down into his brandy. “Concerns be puttin’ it mildly. I been up to this house every week for months askin’ to speak to Mr. Graham, but that bounder Wren always claimed he were too busy. Said he was the man to see about estate concerns and such.”
David bit back a curse, despite having already known what to expect. He could place the blame on Wren until he was blue in the face, but his father had been no better, wallowing in self-pity and drowning himself in drink. A man like Stone didn’t look as if he would appreciate a string of excuses from his previously absent landlord.
“Mr. Wren is no longer in my employ, and I am currently on the hunt for a new steward. In the meantime, I will manage estate matters myself, so you may bring your concerns straight to me. Caruthers will be informed to admit you when you call.”
Stone made a gruff sound of derision, swirling his brandy about his glass. He had yet to take a sip. “Sure, I can come and you’ll hear me out. But what’ll you actuallydoabout any of it? You got thousands of acres of land what’s been worked to death, herds of cattle we can’t feed through winter, and enclosures that won’t keep them penned long enough for it to matter. Most our cottages have started fallin’ down around our ears, and it’s a wonder the lot of us haven’t said to hell with it and taken ourselves off elsewhere.”
“Why haven’t you? I am genuinely curious, and might I add baffled, that you haven’t done just that.”
“‘Cause before he was a pitiful drunken heap, your father was a good man. Most of us been here our entire lives, have raised our children here. A few decided to try their luck, but the rest of us …”
David raised an eyebrow when Stone trailed off, giving him a measured look. “Yes?”
“The rest of us is content to give you a chance to prove you’re more than a pretty London fop in a nice suit.”
The insult struck as intended, but David bit his tongue around a retort. He would be within his rights to throw Stone out on his ear, but figured the man could be excused for being in a dudgeon. Because of the mismanagement of the estate, Stone and his family would see a bleak Christmas along with an understandable amount of worry over what the coming spring might have in store. David’s pride was of no consequence here.
“By God, this is good.” Stone had finally sampled the brandy, and his expression of scorn had been replaced by one of shock. The brandy was probably the finest thing the man had ever tasted in his life.
“There’s plenty more. Have as much as you like.”
Stone seemed content to take him up on the offer, downing what was left in a single swallow before going to the console to help himself to more. David’s lips twitched in amusement, but he wiped the coming smile away. Time to get down to business.
“Caruthers tells me you’ve visited often in the past several months. He made no mention of any other tenants, so I take it you speak for the others as well as yourself and your own family.”
“I do,” he grunted out after another healthy swallow of brandy. “S’pose I ought to tell you … some think we ought to refuse to work or pay the Christmas rents till our demands are met. I haven’t cast my lot with them as of yet, but am thinking that all depends on whether you do more than fix your mouth to spout off empty promises.”
David set his empty tumbler aside and considered the clear, underlying threat in Stone’s words. Tenants who wouldn’t pay rents was one matter, but to refuse to work would cripple the last leg David had to stand on, and Stone knew it. So did all the other hands, who he suspected would abandon their work with nothing but a word from Stone.
“We have our own to think of, after all,” Stone went on. “I’ve five mouths to feed myself … six come summer.”
“Congratulations. I, too, have a household to think of, which is why I’m sure you know the loss of labor would be untenable. Without you all, the problems you just outlined cannot be fixed, and the farm cannot sustain enough to support even my family, let alone yours.”
