Page 9 of The Mistress of Ashmore Castle (Ashmore Castle #3)

‘I had no money, just the clothes I stood up in. After three days I was starving. Then I had a piece of luck. I met some prostitutes who took pity on me. They bought me a pie and a mug of coffee from a night stall, and told me about a philanthropist lady who was always “bothering them”, as they put it, trying to reform them. I think they didn’t want me competing with them for customers, but perhaps they were also taking pity on me, being so young.

I looked younger than I was. I went to this lady – I was terrified she’d take me back to Jack, but I was desperate.

But she was good to me. She believed my story.

She gave me a bed for the night, and food, and some clean clothes.

In a day or two she got me a position as a between-maid in a big house.

There was a group of philanthropist ladies who took on lost girls in that way, rescued them from the street, helped them to start a new life, mostly as servants. And I’ve been in service ever since.’

She stopped again, and seemed exhausted by her own tale. He didn’t want to press her to go on, but at last he said, ‘Yet you seem so normal – cheerful, even. How can you be, after such a start?’

‘It was hard at first. I had to move often in those early years. I knew he’d come after me.

I’d get a hint that he was sniffing around, and move on.

Luckily servants in London rarely stay beyond their six months.

But the housework was exhausting. Then one day I was on the stairs when my mistress came past. I flattened myself against the wall, as one does, and as she went by, her skirt caught on a loose nail on a banister and tore.

She cried out in vexation because it was a favourite gown.

She was a good mistress, and without thinking, I said, “Don’t worry, madam, I can mend it for you.

” So then, of course, I had to explain I was experienced in fine work, and she took a chance on me and let me mend it.

After that, things took a turn for the better.

When I left her service, it was with a reference.

’ For the first time the frown relaxed a little.

She didn’t exactly smile, but her voice reflected the improvement in her fortunes.

‘I moved up to better positions. Good sewing-maids are valued. Best of all, I got away from London. I was able to choose between opportunities, and I chose country families.’

‘You could have been a lady’s maid,’ Sebastian suggested.

‘I could have. But ladies’ maids are obliged to travel with their mistresses, and often it’s to London.

I never wanted to go back there. I knew he would never stop looking for me.

And I like my life now. Apart from the constant dread in the back of my mind that he’ll find me, I’m happy – yes, in spite of everything.

I live in a nice house, I have enough to eat and I can save a little of my wages for a rainy day.

I enjoy the work, and I prefer to stay in the background.

You see more that way. It’s amusing to study humanity.

Sometimes you discover interesting people with interesting stories.

’ She paused, staring musingly at nothing.

Then her eyes refocused on him, and she gave a painful small smile.

‘I was content with my lot. To be bitter about things would have been to let him win. So I made a life for myself, as best I could. Then I came here to the Castle, and I met you.’

‘I never meant to make you unhappy,’ he said awkwardly.

‘ You haven’t. I shall always be grateful to you, sir—’

‘You mustn’t call me “sir”!’

‘But I must, you see,’ she said. ‘From now on I must be nothing but a servant. There’s no reason our paths should ever cross.

I’m never called to the public rooms, and I always use the back stairs.

You won’t know I’m in the house. We will never speak to each other again.

’ She forestalled his protest. ‘That’s the only way I can stay here.

Otherwise, I shall have to go away and find another position.

’ She put out an impulsive hand, but pulled it back before it reached him.

‘Don’t you see? It’s too painful otherwise. ’

He shook his head, unable to find words to persuade her.

She went on, in a softened voice, ‘You gave me something I never thought to have in my life – the admiration of a good man. And I shall cherish that for as long as I live. I shall never forget you, sir, and I’ll never stop praying for your happiness.

You haven’t made me unhappy, never think that.

Quite the opposite. I am proud to have been the object of your affection.

It’s that man who ruined our chances. He blights everything he touches. ’

Sebastian thought of making one more plea, but then reflected – plea for what? Things had gone too far for them to return to what there was before. By reaching for more, he had destroyed what he had. Now all he could do was refrain from making her less comfortable.

He bowed his head to her in submission, and said, ‘Goodbye, then.’ And took himself away, to a life from which the sunshine had gone.

In mid-February the final flight of steps in KV20, one of the tombs at the east end of the Valley of the Kings, was cleared, giving access to the burial chamber.

It had been slow work – the infill was so hard that at times it had been impossible to tell if it was rubble or living rock.

In this last corridor they had been finding funerary items, mostly stone vases bearing royal cartouches.

It had long been believed and hoped that KV20 was the burial place of Hatshepsut, the illustrious female pharaoh, so it was very exciting to discover that some of the cartouches were those of Hatshepsut and her father, Thutmose I.

‘I’m so glad we were here to see this,’ said Mr Antrobus. ‘It would have been dreadful to miss it, but we really have to leave by the end of the month. I have business commitments back home—’

‘And I really must spend a few days in Paris on the way, to look at the new fashions,’ said Mrs Antrobus.

‘But what will you do?’ Giles asked Giulia. ‘Will you go home? How will you travel?’

Giulia really did not want to leave before the excavation was finished.

Mary Arthur, who was listening to the conversation, offered to chaperone her after the Antrobuses left.

‘It’s no hardship to me to have a female companion,’ she said.

‘Not to mention the best secretary in Egypt! You can stay with me as long as you like, my dear. And, here’s a thought.

When we leave, why not come back with us to England for a visit?

The London Season will have started, and though I know you’re a serious-minded young woman, I’m sure you won’t be wholly against a little dancing and a few parties. ’

Giulia laughed. ‘Not in the least – though I have always wanted to spend time in the British Museum. The collection there!’

‘You shall – as much time as you like.’

‘I’ll cable my father, then, but I’m sure he’ll agree. He’ll be glad such a chance has come my way. You are very kind, madame.’

‘Not at all. And tell him, if you please, that we will find some respectable family to escort you when you go back to Italy. There are always people of our acquaintance travelling to Florence. He will want to know that you will be properly looked after. You are, after all, still a very young woman.’

Giles never thought of Giulia in terms of a young woman, but he was too absorbed in the new findings and the prospect of breaking through into the burial chamber to give the statement much thought.

He was forced to think about it a few evenings later, however, when he found himself alone for a moment with Minnie Antrobus, who laid a restraining hand on his arm and said, ‘Now, my lord, I really must talk to you, and I hope you will not mind if I am rather frank.’

‘I shan’t mind, as long as you don’t keep calling me “my lord”,’ said Giles, smiling.

There was no answering smile from Mrs Antrobus.

She looked quite grave. ‘As you please,’ she said.

‘Now, I don’t want you to be offended, and you might say it’s none of my business, but I took that young lady under my wing when I removed her from her home, and I feel responsible for her.

I know if it was a daughter of mine, I should want her chaperone to give a hint, no matter who the gentleman in question was. ’

Giles looked baffled. ‘I’m afraid I haven’t the least idea what you’re talking about, except that I’m guessing it concerns Giulia. But what have I to do with it?’

She looked stern. ‘Surely you must know she’s in love with you.’

Giles was taken aback. ‘Oh, nonsense!’ he said robustly. ‘She’s just a—’

‘She’s not a child, she’s a grown woman, with a woman’s feelings.’

‘But I’ve known her since she was a child. She’s like a little sister to me,’ he protested.

She softened a little. ‘Now, I don’t accuse you of any wrong-doing, my lord –’

‘I’m glad to hear it!’

‘– but harm can be done all the same, without intention. You treat her with a friendliness and a lack of formality that can only encourage her. The way you sit and talk with her late into the night, your heads together and your voices lowered: it gives an impression of intimacy that . . . Well, I was quite shocked in the beginning, knowing you to be a married man. Now, I’ve watched you, and I do you the justice to believe you don’t mean anything by it.

But, land’s sakes, man, she’s a warm-blooded young female, and she’s far from home, and if I don’t miss my guess she’s had a crush on you for years!

A handsome man – and a British lord at that – and he all but makes love to her night after night under the stars!

What on earth did you think was going to happen? ’

Giles stared at her in dismay. ‘Are you entirely serious about this?’