It was only by accident that Edward succeeded to the peerage. He was the third son, and normally his oldest brother, Charles, would have inherited the title and the estate when Lord Blaine died. His Lordship was a man of tremendous energy, and very much an outdoors person. He had no time for any sort of artistic activity and as far as he was concerned he was only ever really happy when he was on a horse, holding a gun or, rather unusually for his time, in a sailing boat, and it was the latter that caused his demise.
While Edward was a very good horseman and quite a reasonable shot, sailing was not one of his best points. While he could handle a boat quite well, he suffered badly from seasickness. This was so bad that anything more than a mild swell would have him retching and puking over the side and there was no chance of him sailing sensibly. His father was convinced that he was afraid of the sea and would not accept that he just had a physical problem which he could not overcome. Thus when his father went to sea on a particularly rough day with his two brothers he refused to join them, and so was not present when the boat overturned and all three were drowned.
Edward was just 26 when this accident occurred, and was completely unprepared for this unexpected inheritance. The estate was considerable, including as it did a very smart London town house, and a 5000 acre country estate, in the centre of which was a magnificent house dating back to the 16th century. Most of the estate was leased to tenant farmers, the home farm being of 1000 acres of mixed arable and dairy. This part of the estate was of particular interest to Edward, as he had been very involved in the management of the farm before his father's death. He was rather a country boy, and not very interested in participating in the London season, although he did host a ball at his house. However, he returned to the country as soon as possible, where he felt most at home.
One problem which he had not anticipated soon arose to cause him considerable anxiety. His sudden accession to the title made him a prime target for the young ladies who were looking for husbands, preferably wealthy ones. He was a very attractive man, just over 6 feet tall, good-looking with a dark head of hair, but unfortunately was extremely shy. While he was very comfortable talking to men of any station about country matters, he was completely tongue tied in the presence of young women, which seemed to make him even more attractive to them, as they all thought that he would be an easy husband to manage.
Given free choice, he would have happily stayed single, and had he not inherited, this might well have happened. However this was no longer an option. It was crucial that he not only married but that he should produce a son and heir. In the event that he should have died childless, the estate and title would have passed to his cousin Harold, a wastrel who would certainly have gambled the whole thing away in fairly short order. So he had to find a wife, but the thought of being married to any of the young women who had put themselves on the market in the London season absolutely horrified him. What to do? Suddenly a solution occurred to him.
He had been friendly with the daughter of a neighbouring farmer, having played with her when she was a baby, and through the years of her girlhood. Now Alice was 18, and had turned into a very attractive young woman, and he realised that the feelings he had for her were much stronger than anything he had felt for the husband seekers who had been paraded in front of him during the annual upper-class flesh market. Unfortunately, although they were great friends, Alice was as shy as he was, and it took him quite some time before she became aware that their feelings were far more than just friendship. Finally he screwed up his courage and spoke to her father to ask his permission to ask Alice to marry him, which was gladly given.
The proposal was a little confusing, and it was quite some time before Alice realised that he was actually asking for her hand. When she finally understood she was delighted to accept, though she did ask him if he was sure that she would be grand enough for him, to which he replied that he didn't want a grand wife, he just wanted a loving one. The marriage took place quite quickly, and, although he was under pressure from his relatives to have a grand affair in London they both wished to have a quiet event in the local village church, attended not only by their relatives but also by a lot of the employees of the estate and of her father's farm.
They were blissfully happy together in the period leading up to the wedding, but after a few months it was clear to them both that something was not right. Edward badly needed advice, and there was only one person to whom he could turn, and that was Alfred, his personal servant. So now we need to know something about Alfred.
Alfred Watkins, or Fred as he was always known, had been born on the estate, the son of the butler. He was two years older than Lord Blaine, and, despite the difference in his standing from that of his Lordship, the two boys had played together from an early age. There was a large age gap between Edward and his elder brothers, so it was natural that he should enjoy the company of Fred, who was near his own age. Theirs became a very close friendship, and although Fred started his working life as a general servant and dogsbody, he was always unofficially Edward's personal servant, and this position was consolidated when Edward inherited the peerage.
When Fred was 18, he enjoyed his first sexual experience with Mary, one of the maids, with the not surprising result that she became pregnant. Her father was not too displeased, as he could insist on Fred marrying the girl, thus getting rid of one of his daughters. Edward persuaded his father to allow Fred to live in one of the houses on the estate, where Mary produced a son, followed by another two years later. Although it had been a shotgun marriage, Fred was quite happy with Mary though he had one regret. He had been very involved with Jane, another maid, and would have preferred to be with her. However, her father had got a job some way away, so she moved and Fred consoled himself with Mary, rather more than he should have done. The marriage was not to last long, unfortunately, because the thatched roof of their cottage caught fire, probably due to a spark from a traction engine that was working nearby, trapping the two children inside, and just as Mary ran back into the house to rescue them, the roof collapsed and all three were killed, leaving Fred as a childless widower.
He was distraught at the loss of his family, and he moved back into the servants accommodation in the big house. He made no attempt to find other female company, but this situation changed when Jane came back to take up a post as Lady Alice's personal maid, and their friendship was renewed. However, neither of them wished to commit themselves to each other, and, as there was no birth control methods available, they avoided a physical relationship. Jane had been involved with a man while she was away, and had become pregnant, but she lost the baby in the early days of the pregnancy, and she now wished to be very sure of their relationship before risking any sexual activity.
So this was Fred, to whom Edward turned when he had a problem. It had been a daily practice for Fred to bring a whisky decanter and glass to Edward's bedroom just before he went to bed, but after the marriage this no longer took place, so it was a surprise when Edward told him to bring the decanter and two glasses to his room. When he arrived, he was told to pour a drink for both of them and to sit down. They sipped their drinks in silence for a few minutes, while Edward decided just what to say.
'Fred, I have a problem and I want you to solve it for me.'
'You know I'll do anything I can to help'.
'Well you might not be so keen when you know what it is. You must realise that Alice and I are wonderfully happy together, or at least we are most of the time. Trouble is, it's just not working in the bedroom. It's not her fault, it's mine, I just can't do it. I know what I'm supposed to do, but, to be coarse, I just can't get it up.'
'I don't quite see how I can help with that, it sounds as though you need a doctor.'
'I can't go to a doctor, it's hard enough telling you, but to tell the doctor would be just too much for me. But I've got to do something. It's not just a question of Alice not having the pleasure of making love, but as you know well, it's vital that I get a son. If I don't, and anything should happen to me,the estate will go to Harold, and you know what a disaster that would be'.
'Well, he certainly does have a reputation for throwing money away, and I must say an awful lot of people would be badly affected if he were in charge. Apart from which, we all be pretty unhappy if anything nasty should happen to you.'
