Charity Girl Part II

Ashley stops and takes Cherry into his carriage, and she tells him that she's running away from her aunt's house and trying to get to London to see her elderly grandfather. He tells her that her grandfather is generally held to be a recluse and a hard hearted man, but she is determined to leave. He can see that Lady Bugle and her cousins have been unkind to her and he can understand her wanting to escape. So he agrees to drive her to London. When they get there, he finds that old Lord Nettlecombe is not in his house, and nobody knows where he has gone. Nettlecombe had quarrelled with Wilfred Steane, Cherry's father, and disowned him and Steane had disappeared and CHerry thinks he may be dead. She is not a very clever girl and is not sure how she can support herself if her father or grandfather dont help, but she tells Ashley that she does have a talent for looking after sick old ladies. Ashley tells her he will take her to Hettas house, to stay for a few days while he finds old Lord Nettlecombe. So he drives her to Inglehurst place, and Hetta and her mother take the girl in. Lady Silverdale is a radther moody lady, but she takes a fancy to Cherry and is willing to have her to stay for a short while. Ashley leaves her and goes to see Lord Nettlecombe at his country seat. When he gets there he finds that the old man has let the house to a retired merchant, and then manages to find out that he has gone to Harrogate, the spa town. He travels there in a post chaise and finds that he's staying in a hotel. Lord Nettlecombe is not willing to see him, nor to hear that his granddaughter is homeless and needs some kind of help. Then Ashley is startled to find that a rather over dressed lady comes in, and Nettlecombe introduces her as his bride. She is his middle aged housekeeper, who was like Nettlecombe himself, very economical, but she managed to persuade him to marry her and now he's tied to a lady who is vulgar and extravagant. Ashley is a little amused at the situation but he finds that he cant get the old man nor his wife to do anything for Cherry other than offer to take her into the house, with an expectation that she will do some work for them. He tells them that he does not intend to have helped Cherry leave Lady Bugles house, only to put her into a house where she will still be an unpaid servant. He leaves Yorkshire to go home unsure what to do next. When he gets back, he finds that Hetta is worried about Cherry. Her mother, Lady Silverdale, is prone to take a liking to someone and then to find fault with her, and she's afraid that this is starting to happen with Cherry. The only solution seems to be to try and find her a job as a companion to an old lady.