Page 48 of The Fortunes of Ashmore Castle

‘All the same,’ Richard said, ‘I don’t see why it’s your responsibility. You feed and house them, what more could anyone ask?’

Giles shook his head, then said, ‘Do you know why Afton sat up all night with Arthur?’

‘I did wonder. Not a butler-valet’s job.’

‘It’s because he was a foundling. Left on the steps of the workhouse.’

‘I didn’t know.’

‘Don’t spread it about. I shouldn’t like it to be the subject of gossip.

His mother abandoned him presumably because she couldn’t feed him and one has to assume his father would never own him, if he ever knew about him.

Abandoned as an infant nobody wanted. He was fed and housed by a beneficent state.

He knows the difference between charity and being given a home. ’

Richard clapped a hand on his shoulder. ‘I see you’ve got a bad case of conscience, but I don’t see what you can do about it, beyond what you already do. You’ve two sons of your own to raise and provide for. You can’t adopt Linda’s brat.’

‘He’s my nephew.’

‘Mine too, but he’s not haunting my dreams.’

Giles scowled. ‘What are you doing here, anyway?’

‘I came to see how you’re coping, of course. Then it’s back to Town for Uncle Fergus’s ball on Saturday.’

‘But you’re staying tonight?’

‘I was thinking of it. By the way, why did your butler ask me where I wanted to eat this evening, rather than whether I did?’

‘I’ve been taking my meals on a tray.’

‘Letting standards slide in your misery?’

‘I’m not miserable,’ Giles said impatiently. ‘There doesn’t seem any point in laying the dining-room for one, that’s all.’

‘Just because one is en garcon it doesn’t mean one has to live like a hermit. Whatever next? Will you grow a great beard and fingernails like bird’s claws and mutter to yourself and keep the shutters closed all day? You had better come back to Town with me when I go.’

‘I can’t leave while Arthur is ill.’

‘You’re not a trained nurse, what can you do? Children have these ups and downs, he’ll be better in a day or two, you’ll see. Don’t make a drama of it. And you can’t miss Uncle’s ball.’

‘I can’t think of anything I’d sooner miss.’

‘It would look like a snub. Now I’m off to see a few people. I won’t be here for luncheon but I’ll be back in time to dress.’

‘Dress?’

‘I am not prepared to eat on a tray, even for my nearest and dearest. We shall have a proper dinner, at a proper dinner table, properly dressed, like civilised men. And I want a good bottle of wine, too – tell Afton. I promise you’ll feel much better afterwards. You’re too inclined to brood.’

‘Brood? I’m not a hen!’

‘You’re all too prone to think yourself hard-done-by and sink into impenetrable gloom. You don’t have my cheerful, outgoing character that leaps over obstacles like a particularly lighthearted mountain goat.’

‘I can’t think about food when that poor child—’

‘Will your not eating do him the slightest good? No. It’s pure self-indulgence on your part. A proper dinner – and you will come up to Town, if not with me then at least for the ball. It’s your duty, and we know what a whale you are on duty.’

Giles turned his head and looked instinctively towards the staircase, thinking of the troubles at the top of the house.

But it only made him aware of how large and how empty it was – and it would seem even emptier when Richard had departed.

‘I also have a duty to my nephew,’ he said stiffly.

‘But I will come if he’s better by then. ’

‘I could ask no more,’ said Richard.

‘He is a lot better,’ Afton said, opening the wardrobe. ‘The Lovat tweed, my lord? He’s sitting up, though he’s very weak, and he’s taken some nourishment.’

‘The fever’s gone?’

‘It comes and goes. And he has a troublesome cough. But, on the whole, Dr Welkes is quite pleased with his progress.’ He frowned to himself, remembering that Sister Sturgeon had not seemed so sanguine.

She’d said, after the doctor had gone, that she didn’t like the look of that young man at all.

But she seemed like someone naturally inclined to pessimism.

Plump Sister Ogden, the night nurse, was more cheerful, cooed over the boy, stroked his hair, said what a good little soldier he was and promised him he’d be out of bed in no time.

The good little soldier liked her much better than his unsmiling day nurse.

Giles, getting out of bed, did not see the brief frown. He said, ‘If he’s going on satisfactorily, I think I might go up to Town. I ought really to pay my uncle the attention. It will be expected.’

‘Very good, my lord.’ He smiled. ‘It will be pleasant for you to see her ladyship again. And the children.’

Giles smiled too. ‘Louis will certainly be glad to see you .’

‘The pleasure will be mutual, my lord.’

Kitty was sitting in the low nursing chair with Alexander in her lap, watching Louis play on the floor with his Noah’s Ark.

Nanny Pawley was pottering about in the background and the maid Jessie was sitting sewing.

Giles paused in the doorway a moment to take in the scene.

The nursery at Aunt Caroline’s house was much smaller than that at the Castle, but was very pleasant, with a skylight as well as windows, making it light and sunny, fresh cream paint on the walls and pretty apple-green curtains.

And Kitty was smiling contentedly, looking absurdly young to be the mother of two.

She glanced up and saw him. The smile faded and she eyed him cautiously for a moment, then said neutrally, ‘I didn’t know you were here.’

‘I’ve only just arrived,’ he said.

Louis saw his father, and his face lit. ‘Daddy!’ he shouted.

‘Hello, my boy.’ Giles stooped to ruffle his hair.

But he was more interested in his toy than endearments. ‘Look, Daddy, I’ve got a nelephant, and a camble, and a draff!’

‘Only one of each?’ Giles murmured. ‘Rather a miscalculation, surely?’

‘And a stripy horse, too.’

While Louis happily displayed his treasures, his parents carried on a conversation over his head. ‘I wasn’t sure you would come,’ Kitty said. ‘Uncle Fergus was asking yesterday and I had to say I didn’t know.’

‘You saw him yesterday?’

‘We all went to the theatre. To see The Scarlet Pimpernel .’

‘Did you enjoy it?’

‘ I did, very much. Uncle Fergus dozed through quite a bit of it.’

‘It is hard to stay awake in a theatre. Particularly when one has dined well.’

‘He applauded loudly at the end.’ She hesitated. ‘Giulia was very critical. She said the story was unbelievable, that it was impossible for Lady Blakeney not to recognise her own husband.’

‘It was a long time ago,’ Giles offered. ‘Perhaps people of rank led very separate lives back then.’

‘Oh, have you seen it?’

‘I’ve read the book.’

‘I didn’t know there was a book.’

‘There is.’

Conversation stuttered to a halt. Nanny, perhaps sensing something, came and took Alexander out of Kitty’s arms. Louis was deeply involved with the Flood, mumbling a narrative as he moved the animals and figures about – ‘They went up here and round there and down there and he went smack smack with his stick and the camble ran away and they all ran after him . . .’

Kitty stood up and moved to the window and Giles followed her. ‘I didn’t think you’d come,’ she said, in a low voice, staring out at the tops of the trees.

‘I couldn’t let Uncle down.’

‘Oh, you couldn’t let Uncle down,’ she said bitterly.

‘Kitty—’

‘After all these weeks, that’s what you decided. You didn’t even want to know how the children were.’

‘I knew they were all right. They were with you,’ he said. She looked up at the tone of his voice, doubtful. ‘They were lucky.’

She didn’t speak, waiting for more.

‘I missed you,’ he said.

‘But not enough,’ she said.

He gathered himself. It had to be done. ‘Kitty, I’m sorry. I behaved like a fool, and a brute. I said things I shouldn’t have said.’

‘But you meant them,’ she said, and it was only half a question; half an epitaph.

He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. ‘How can I explain? It’s such a responsibility, such a burden, I sometimes feel as if I’m shackled to a great weight and I can’t get free. It makes me angry. But I shouldn’t show my anger to you.’

‘You don’t show me anything,’ she said very quietly. ‘I thought married people were supposed to share their feelings. But, then, I’m middle-class, I know. Perhaps it’s different for people like us.’

He winced. ‘Don’t. I never thought that.

Please forgive me, Kitty. I was worried and I overreacted and there’s no excuse, but forgive me anyway.

And you can have your garden.’ She looked up quickly, and he added, ‘Not all of it. Not the earth-moving part. That really is more than I can afford. There’s so much still to do to get the estate on a sure footing.

But you can make a start. When you come home we’ll look at the costs, perhaps have your garden man back, and decide which parts we can afford.

We’ll decide together . And when Richard’s milk scheme is running at a profit, we’ll see about the rest.’

She regarded him for a long, searching minute. But by ‘the rest’ she realised he meant the rest of the garden plan. He was not referring to married people sharing their feelings. When she went home, nothing would really have changed.

‘I see,’ she said in a flat voice.

‘Will you forgive me?’ he pressed.

‘There’s nothing to forgive,’ she said, and it was true, in the sense that he was who he was, and she couldn’t change that.

He seemed to realise that a harmonic was missing from the absolution, and was about to say something more when Afton came in and the dressing bell sounded at the same moment.

‘Time to change, my lord,’ Afton said. There was no need for him to come and announce it, but the real reason for his presence was made clear when Louis jumped up and ran to him with a glad greeting, grabbed his hand and tugged him towards the Ark to have him join the play.

He didn’t jump up when I came in , Giles noted. And for some reason thought of poor little Arthur.