Page 36 of Scandalous Nights With the Earl

‘To our father’s old uncle and aunt in Bristol, but they could only ever deal with one child at a time, and so as the youngest he went. I was glad not to be chosen, as coming here to Summerley Court was far more fun.’

‘Poor Oliver.’

He turned and looked at her.

‘I never thought of it like that but I suppose it was difficult for him. After our mother died, he put his foot down and went to his own friends and I continued to holiday at Summerley.’

‘How did she die?’

‘She drowned.’

‘Is that why you do not like to swim?’

‘It’s part of the reason.’ He said no more.

Wilhelmina St Claire was putting all Benjamin Harcourt’s confidences together and coming up with a picture of himself as a child, Phillip realised. He could see the pity in her eyes and he did not want that. He wished Benjamin would say no more about their history or their exploits. They still had to get through lunch and part of the afternoon before they could leave for London and the hours left worried him.

Why had he not thought of this? Wilhelmina was both clever and intuitive and he saw that she listened carefully to what was being said. He had not wanted to answer the question about his mother but it was difficult not to, so he had only given her a little of the answer.

The lake dark under the evening light and the water rough and deep, blood running down his arms and leg from where his mother had cut him with a knife and Oliver screaming from the upturned boat.

He felt the sweat bead on his forehead. This place brought back memories that he did not want to resurface.

‘Where did you go for holidays as a young girl?’ If he changed the subject it might be easier.

‘Nowhere. Mama and Papa were always busy.’

‘You had no siblings?’

She shook her head.

‘No pets?’

‘I did have a hedgehog that lived under a bush by the front door. I fed him until Papa tossed him into the stream because he was eating too many of the insects that they wanted to study.’

‘Did they know you valued it?’

‘Probably not. They weren’t monsters, they were just extremely focused on their work, as I said.’

‘How do children ever get through childhood in one piece?’

‘I don’t know,’ she returned. ‘Perhaps they do not, really.’

‘Unless they have parents like Sarah and Ben and life is just a wonderful adventure?’

She nodded. ‘And then they flourish.’

Such a truth was sobering but Phillip did not wish for melancholy to blight their day.

‘It is so good to be out of the city, and this part of Richmond is gentle and green.’

‘I thought your part of Hampshire was beautiful as well.’

‘It is wilder, I think. Less civilized.’

‘There is a charm in that, too,’ she gave him back, and sounded as if she meant it.

‘Where exactly is Belton Park?’