Page 2 of The Affairs of Ashmore Castle (Ashmore Castle #2)
Miss Taylor was saved from answering by Rose, who said, ‘That can’t be right. I thought her ladyship wasn’t going at all this year. It’s supposed to be Lady Rachel’s come-out this season. If they go to Germany, it won’t leave time to arrange everything.’
‘They won’t be bringing her out this year,’ said Ellen. ‘Her ladyship said Lady Rachel’s very young for her age, and it won’t hurt to wait a year. She’ll meet lots of people in Germany and get more confidence and show up all the better next year.’
Miss Hatto, Kitty’s maid, who listened to everything but rarely spoke, said, ‘Perhaps she’s noticed that Lady Rachel’s been out of spirits lately.’
‘What do you mean?’ said Daisy. ‘She’s all right. She’s always been the quiet one of the two, but she’s not ill.’
‘I don’t say ill – just not her usual self,’ said Miss Hatto.
‘Maybe she’s in love,’ Speen suggested in a ribald tone. He could make pass the sugar sound like an indecent proposition.
‘But whoever could she be in love with ?’ Daisy said. ‘They never go anywhere. Anyway, I’d know if that was it. She’d tell me.’
Rose gave her a scornful look. She didn’t think either of the girls would open their hearts to Daisy, who was an inveterate gossip.
And not a good maid, either – lazy and self-centred.
‘What I don’t understand,’ she said, ‘is why we didn’t know about this.
Lady Linda would’ve said something to me if she’d known.
She was saying only yesterday that it looked as though she’d have to go home next week, but if her ladyship was going to Germany, she’d be expecting to stay and be hostess. ’
‘But his lordship’s got a wife,’ said Tilda ‘She’s the hostess, surely.’
‘That wouldn’t stop Lady Linda,’ said Rose. ‘She’d say her young ladyship’s condition means she shouldn’t exert herself. Did her ladyship really say nothing to you, Miss Taylor?’
‘My observation,’ said Moss, feeling a little authority was needed, ‘was that the announcement took everyone by surprise. Lady Cordwell, indeed, looked quite put out.’
‘She would do. It’s never occurred to her all these years to ask to go to Germany,’ said Rose. ‘She’ll be wondering what she’s missed.’
‘But if Lady Rachel isn’t out, how can she meet people over there?’ Miss Hatto asked.
‘His lordship asked the same question. Her ladyship said it wouldn’t signify in German society,’ said Moss.
‘She also mentioned that the Grand Duke of Hesse would be at Dramstadt with a large party, and that everyone from the Wachturm would naturally be invited to their entertainments. That would be a great thing for Lady Rachel.’
‘Still, it’s not like her ladyship to decide things on impulse, like that,’ said Rose.
‘Just because none of you knew doesn’t mean it was an impulse,’ said Hook, his lordship’s man. ‘I knew all about it.’
The maids looked at him with interest, but Rose was scornful. ‘Oh, you did not! You’re just trying to make yourself important. As if her ladyship’d tell you stuff!’
‘But she’d tell his lordship, and his lordship has no secrets from me.’
Crooks looked shocked, and mortified. He used to be Giles’s valet, and had been ousted by James Hook to the lower position of valet to Mr Sebastian, who barely needed the services of a highly trained gentleman’s gentleman. ‘His lordship confides in you?’ he said, in a cracked voice.
Miss Taylor disliked Crooks, but she loathed Hook. ‘Pay no attention, Mr Crooks. Rose is quite right – James is just puffing himself up.’
‘It’s Mr Hook to you, Miss Taylor,’ he said angrily. ‘I’m not a footman any more. And a gentleman can choose who he wants to confide in without asking your permission.’
‘His lordship certainly seemed as surprised as anyone,’ Moss said doubtfully.
Miss Taylor hadn’t finished with Hook. ‘The day Lord Stainton confides in a counter-jumper like you, Mister Hook, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse will come riding up the drive from Canons Ashmore and hold a lawn meet.’
Moss was distracted. ‘There is some doubt about whether the Four Horsemen are a truly Christian idea, Miss Taylor. The Book of Revelation has its critics—’
Mrs Webster intervened. Mr Moss owned an encyclopaedia called The A-Z of Universal Knowledge , and his love of imparting nuggets from it was not matched by anyone’s love of receiving them.
‘Well, I’m sure we’ll hear all about it soon.
There’ll be preparations and packing to do.
You always look forward to Germany, don’t you, Miss Taylor? ’
‘The household at the Wachturm is well run,’ she allowed. ‘But it can be bitterly cold there in winter. I wonder what my lady will do about a fur for Lady Rachel. She’ll certainly need one. I’d better have a look through the fur closet after breakfast, to see if there’s anything she might borrow.’
There was a frenzy of preparation and packing.
Rachel had no suitable clothes, and every woman in the house who could use a needle was recruited to create enough to last her until German mantua-makers could be called in.
Housemaids cursed and pricked their unaccustomed fingers as they sewed ribbon and lace onto plain underwear and nightclothes.
A dressmaker from the village came in with bolts of cloth, and two warm travelling-dresses were cut out and made up.
Lady Stainton lent a three-quarter-length sable – which was full length on the smaller Rachel – along with a matching hat and muff.
‘Are you scared?’ Alice asked her sister, as Daisy laid a pile of linen on the bed for Rose to pack. ‘All those new people to meet, royals and everything.’
‘A bit,’ Rachel admitted. ‘But excited mostly. And Aunt Vicky and Uncle Bobo are so nice, I’m sure it will all be lovely.’
‘There’ll be the Grand Duke of Hesse to meet,’ Alice reminded her. ‘He’s Queen Victoria’s grandson, you know.’
‘But Mama says Ernie Hesse is very approachable and jolly.’ She enjoyed the sound of herself saying ‘Ernie Hesse’ as if she knew him. ‘Though she disapproves of him a bit because he’s divorced. But Queen Victoria gave her permission for it, so nobody can say anything.’
‘If he’s divorced, how can he entertain? He’d have to have a hostess.’
‘Aunt Vicky said in her letter that his sister Irene will be hostess. She’s Princess Henry of Prussia. One of his other sisters is Queen of Romania and another one is a Russian grand duchess. I wonder if they’ll be there?’
Alice laughed. ‘Goodness! You’ll be scared rigid!’
‘She won’t,’ Rose intervened. She had known the girls since babyhood and could take certain liberties. ‘She’ll behave just as she ought and be much admired. She’ll have a lovely time. Don’t upset her, Lady Alice.’
‘I’m not, I won’t. But grand dukes and princes – it’s a bit different from—’
She didn’t complete the sentence, but Rachel knew what she meant.
Victor Lattery . Rachel had fallen in love with him the year before – her first love, her first secret kisses.
And he had gone off to America with a cheerful wave and without, it seemed, the slightest regret at parting from her.
She had been in mourning all winter, until now.
She shook her head at Alice, and said, ‘I want it to be different.’
Alice thought, She’s got over him . She was glad. She’d never thought Victor was such a much.
‘Your turn will come, Lady Alice,’ Rose said, thinking Alice’s silence was envy.
‘It needn’t bother,’ Alice said. ‘I like being at home. And I wouldn’t miss the rest of the hunting season for anything.’
The recent snow that had suspended hunting had mostly worn away, lingering only in the shadows of walls.
Last night’s frost had been sharp: it glittered in a crust along the branches, and there was a skim of ice in the ruts that cracked like small-arms fire under the impact of twelve striking hoofs.
The swollen ball of the sun had just managed to haul itself clear of the net of bare treetops, and its scalding orange light turned the frost diamond to fire, and left cobalt shadows in the hollows, as if winter had been distilled to a cold blue liquid.
It was an act of heroism on Alice’s part to take Linda’s children to the meet.
Arabella at eight was not a bad little rider, but Arthur at six was still on the leading-rein, and on the two trap ponies, Biscuit and Goosebumps, they would hardly be more mobile than foot-followers, so it was a sacrifice to give up what promised to be a good day in the field to shepherd her niece and nephew about the lanes.
Still, Giles had shown some heroism of his own in allowing Linda to leave the children at Ashmore when she and her husband were packed off home.
He had told her bluntly – there was never any point in hinting to Linda, who could ignore anything more subtle than a direct order – that she would have to go when Mama and Rachel left for Germany.
Allowing her to leave the children had been for their sakes, not hers. He felt sorry for them.
Linda never brought their nursery-maid with her to Ashmore, expecting Daisy to look after them. ‘She loves children,’ Linda said. ‘And with Rachel away, she’ll have hardly anything to do. I’m sure Alice doesn’t need much maiding.’
In fact, Daisy didn’t much like the little Cordwells, and while she would attend to their washing, dressing and feeding, she didn’t see why she should have to entertain them, and was inclined to leave them in the nursery with a book and a stern instruction not to move.
In sheer pity, the girls sometimes felt they had to rescue them.
On their last visit, they had started teaching them to ride.
Now, on an impulse, Alice had offered to take them to a meet.