Chapter Fifteen
"Shall we have tea before we go home? I think we've earned a cream cake too!" Isobel smiled up at Dickie.
"Yes, let's. It's been quite some time since I sampled the best that Mackie's has to offer." Dickie grinned in return.
"You and your cream cakes!" Isobel laughed "I've quite enjoyed shopping for John's room this morning. Ooh, I just want to pop in here too."
"Merton! Merton!" A gentlemen across the street hailed them.
"That's Mark Scripps. You pop in and I'll see if I can shake him off before we go for tea." Dickie said quietly while waving across the street. Isobel disappeared into the shop.
"Dickie, old chap! Haven't seen you in some time! How are you keeping?" Mark Scripps shook his hand vigorously.
"Oh, can't complain. Keeping myself busy, and Isobel still has her work with the hospital too. Never a dull moment!" Dickie was deliberately vague "How's Helen?"
"Desperate for grandchildren." Mark rolled his eyes. "I keep telling her, if she nags the boys too much they'll just stop coming home altogether. I mean, Thomas isn't even married, for pity's sake!" The men chortled "Anyway, glad I bumped in to you. I'm just back from a brief trip to London, stayed at the Club. I heard a bit of a rumour last night that Merton House may be coming on the market. Didn't want to believe it, thought I'd ask you."
"I signed all my London holdings over to Larry when I married, along with handing over the reins of Cavenham. If Larry has decided to sell, that's up to him" Dickie tried to look disinterested, but he wasn't sure Mark was fooled.
"Well, rumour was that it's the bank that's selling it, not Larry. Is he in a spot of bother?" Mark probed.
"I really don't know, I'm afraid. You know the boys and I have never really seen eye to eye, and since I married Isobel they've barely had anything to do with me." A thought struck Dickie. "Have you done any business with Larry recently?"
"Hmm? Me? No, no. Not recently" Dickie thought Mark was a bit evasive. "We did talk some time ago about an investment he might have recommended, but I don't remember ever doing anything about it. You know me, discuss something over a post dinner cigar, forget by breakfast" He laughed half-heartedly. "Are you saying I should be worried if I did?"
"Mark, I have no idea what Larry gets up to. I've never been involved in banking or any of that investment stuff. I'm a farmer at heart, you know that. Ada was always going on about how unadventurous I was" Dickie replied. "Truth is I never understood it, so didn't want to get mixed up in it."
"Yes, wise choice." Mark frowned. "Anyway, must be off. Give my best to Isobel. Helen will have my hide if I'm late for lunch. Ta-ra!" And with that, Mark was gone.
No sooner had he disappeared around the corner than Isobel stepped out from the shop with a bag in her hand.
"How did that go?" She asked a stony-faced Dickie.
"He'd heard a rumour at his Club in London last night about the bank selling Merton House. Wanted to know if I knew anything." Dickie replied quietly as he took the bag from Isobel's hand to carry it for her.
"What did you tell him?" Isobel took Dickie's arm as they headed in the direction of Mackie's tea room.
"That I'd signed over everything in London to Larry when we married and had very little contact with the boys since then." He looked at her with concern. "I'm worried he'd invested with Larry. He tried to bluster out of it, but he looked worried when I said I didn't know anything about Larry's affairs or how sound they were." He opened the door to the tea shop for Isobel and their conversation was paused while they were seated and placed their order. Dickie continued "Scripps is a bigger gossip than any fishwife. If he's heard a rumour it will be all round Yorkshire by tomorrow at the latest. He won't let the newspapers steal his thunder. Do you think we should tell the family?"
"Tell them what, exactly? There are things that the police may not want us revealing still. Nothing has been in the papers that I've seen yet." Isobel said quietly.
Dickie considered "Maybe just that we know Cavenham has cash flow problems. We know that's true and it would probably not be too much of a surprise. Downton was in strife not so long ago. Realistically a decision will need to be made about whether we go on with Cavenham or not, and if so in what capacity. Tom and Mary may be able to offer some advice on that." The tea arrived and Isobel poured.
"How do you feel about that? Cavenham has been your home for your whole life." Isobel tried to be gentle.
"In truth, I don't know. I think it's something I will need to consider very carefully. I don't miss it, but as you say there is a lot of my life mixed up with it. I need to think about it in terms of what John's future will be, more than what my history is with the place." Dickie played with his cream slice "It will take a lot of work and probably most of my fortune to try and resurrect the place, so anything that is done must be the right choice and profitable. But the world is changing. In 20 years time will it matter that Lord Merton doesn't have a country estate? Does it really matter now?" He looked at Isobel questioningly.
"I don't know that we can predict that. I suppose that depends what kind of man John turns out to be, in some ways." Isobel thought for a moment "I doesn't matter to me that Lord Merton doesn't have a country estate." She looked at Dickie lovingly.
He smiled "I know. And I love you for that, and so much more." He paused. "We're dining at the Abbey tonight, I think I might try to bring it up at dinner. I don't want any of them put on the spot by someone like Scripps and then feel like we've been dishonest with them." He sighed.
"I think it might be time. If there are rumours in London, how long before it's public knowledge? I think you're right. I'll telephone Violet when we get home in case she wants to be there." Isobel added.
"Violet? Why would she want to be there?" Dickie was surprised.
"Are you kidding? Family drama without the great Dowager Countess involved or at least with a ringside seat? I'd never hear the end of it!" Isobel joked.
Dickie chuckled, then decided to change the subject. "What's in the bag?" He gestured to the shopping Isobel had done when he was chatting to Scripps.
"For this afternoon with the children. It's a box brownie. I thought they might be interested, and then we would have some pictures to show people when we're in London next week" Isobel grinned.
"You want to show off to your friends, hmm?" Dickie chuckled.
"Don't you want to show off your grandchildren to Hugh and boast about how many sixes they will hit?" Isobel laughed.
-TW- -TW- -TW-
"I think the photographs were a great idea" enthused Cora that evening as they headed into dinner "I must mention it to Edith. It would be a way for us to keep in touch with how the children are growing even when we can't see them so often."
"I must admit I was surprised at how easy it was. I'll ask Stokes to take the film into York to be processed tomorrow." Isobel laughed "We may find they were all blurred and unusable!" Cora laughed with her.
"So you're off to London on Monday? Where will you stay?" Robert asked.
"With my friend Hugh Barrington-Smythe: do you know him? We were at school together." Dickie mentioned.
"I don't think so. Do I know him Darling?" He asked Cora.
"I do think we've met him. Don't he and his wife live near Rosamund? I'm sure we've met at a party Rosamund threw a couple of years ago." Cora replied.
"I don't think you'd forget Hugh" said Isobel "Big chap, handlebar moustache, always talks about cricket!" She and Dickie shared a chuckle.
"Yes! I know the chap! Told me a story about how you hit a hundred to win a cricket match while you were at school! Hit a score of sixes!" Robert enthused. Isobel laughed. Dickie scowled. "What?"
"Forty-six not out. Only two sixes." Grumbled Dickie "He always exaggerates."
"So you didn't smash a bat over the keeper's head?" Robert looked a little crestfallen.
"I did break a bat when a fast ball hit it, but I certainly didn't hit anyone with it" Dickie looked incredulous "He said I'd broken it over someone's head?"
"To be honest, I can't imagine you ever doing anything like that" said Tom as he tucked into the excellent pâté.
"Nor me." Agreed Mary "Don't take this the wrong way, but you seem far too sensible."
"He did tell a thrilling story though!" Protested Robert.
"I'm sure he did, but Hugh likes his stories to be eventful and engaging rather than truthful." Grumbled Dickie "Should have been on the stage".
"I will let Rosamund know we're going down. Is there anything you would like us to take for her?" Isobel asked.
"Knowing Rosamund, she will request a basket of produce from the estate." Violet interjected. "Of course, she could visit more often if the food is so irresistible" she sniped.
"Will you see anyone else while you're in Town?" Robert asked "Or is it just this party that you're going for?"
Dickie exchanged a look with Isobel "Well, actually, there is something else that I wanted to raise tonight." He took a sip of his drink. "I met Scripps in York today who asked me about a rumour in the Club surrounding Merton House, so I wanted to tell you all what we know before you maybe find out about it from someone else."
"Heavens, this sounds serious!" said Mary.
"Well, yes and no. When we married, I gave the running of Cavenham to Larry as you know. I also signed over Merton House and everything associated with it in London to him. He had control of everything, but not the title: that didn't seem to bother him unduly at the time."
"Humph, ungrateful child" Violet muttered.
"Anyway, when I was in London last time I became aware that a mortgage had been raised against Merton House and I had been named as a guarantor. Thankfully the document wasn't properly executed so I couldn't be held accountable, but that left the bank with no option but to foreclose. I'm surprised it's taken this long for the rumours to surface." Dickie looked around the table. "If Scripps has heard the rumour, it won't be long before all of Yorkshire knows. I didn't want any of you to be caught out and feel like you were the last to know."
"So what will happen?" Robert asked.
"I presume it will go to auction" Dickie said resignedly "The bank will want to make as much as possible in hope of covering all the debt held by the bank."
"Is that why John is here?" Asked Tom "Have they bolted? Made a run for it?"
"We don't know for sure, but it may be that is the case, yes." Dickie confirmed.
"Well! I didn't expect that at dinner tonight" said Mary shocked. "And what about Cavenham?"
"Well, Cavenham is a little different. I could let Larry run it, but I couldn't sign it over to him due to the way the legacy is written. When we visited a few weeks ago we found that it is all but bankrupt." Dickie admitted.
"What?!", "How come?", "Really?", "But how?" astonished questions came from all sides. Dickie waited for a moment.
"I wanted to ask you for some advice actually." He looked at Henry, Mary, Robert, Tom in turn. "Downton has been through some scrapes in the last ten years, and I know you work hard to keep it going. I have to make the decision about whether to try and take on the task of rebuilding, or whether to sell and cut our losses. If I keep it, I need it to turn a profit in order to keep itself going but also to build up reserves and protect it from future strife, so what do I do with it? Hotel? Rental? Parties? Any ideas?"
Tom and Mary shared a glance. "Do you have any capital at all?" Tom asked.
"Some, but I'm not about to invest it if the chance of success is small" Admitted Dickie. "I'm no longer so attached to it that I would keep it at any cost." He smiled at Isobel. "But I am concerned about John: should I make the effort for him, do you think?"
"I don't think that should be a concern at all" stated Tom.
"Well of course you don't." Said Violet "You'd take land away from all of us and give it to the people given half the chance!"
Tom rolled his eyes "I do think wealth should be more fairly shared, yes, but that's not what I meant in this instance." Tom said. "In the short term there are a number of people who rely on that land for their livelihoods, and we should consider their immediate needs as well as the longer term requirements of the house."
"You mean selling may be in their best interest as well as ours?" Isobel asked.
"Yes, if a new owner has the capital to make the improvements that may be required to keep the estate operating, then that may be the most sensible course of action." Tom agreed.
"When we were looking at options for Downton we had to be sure that anything we chose to do would have medium to long term gains as well." Mary agreed. "There was no point in us saving the estate for ourselves only to saddle George with the same problems in 20 years. It's one of the reasons we came to the agreement that we did with the tax office over the Inheritance Tax. We didn't want to saddle the estate with future debts."
"I tell you what, why don't we come over to Cavenham with you after you get back from London. We can have a look and discuss things with your Steward. You will probably need to do some research, but until we know how the land lies there's no point in theorising." Tom suggested.
"I'd be very grateful." Dickie said "I must admit it's been playing on my mind a little."
"So has the blackguard had all the money?" Robert asked indelicately.
"Robert!" Cora chastised.
With a rueful smile Dickie admitted "Pretty much. I don't even know if we've uncovered everything yet. I have tried to see Tim and explain, but it seems Larry has spun him a tale of woe and he blames me for Larry taking off."
"But that's preposterous!" Robert exclaimed
"Oh what a tangled web we weave…!" murmured the Dowager enigmatically.