Page 26 of The Secrets of Ashmore Castle (Ashmore Castle #1)

A butler opened the door of the house in Berkeley Street to Nina, and she was admitted into a large hall, with a marble floor, a huge chandelier and a grand staircase.

At school, she had not thought much about Kitty being an heiress, but the size and splendour of the house and the butler brought it home to her.

She felt suddenly very small, and very young.

Still, the butler seemed to have expected her.

He said, ‘This way, if you please,’ and conducted her upstairs.

She had expected to be taken straight to Kitty, but she was shown instead into a small, stiff parlour, and left to wait.

She was shivering by the time Lady Bayfield arrived.

Kitty’s stepmother was tall and thin, beautifully dressed, and wearing eight rows of pearls – Nina had time to count them while she was being coldly examined.

‘Attend, please, Miss Sanderton,’ Lady Bayfield said at last. ‘Before you go to your room, I want to make sure you understand the terms on which you are here.’ The tone was stern, the eye unfriendly.

Nina’s stomach felt hollow. ‘You will be receiving,’ Lady Bayfield resumed, ‘a very great advantage from your stay here. You will go to all the parties, balls and other entertainments that Miss Bayfield attends. Few girls of your station in life will ever have such an opportunity. I hope that you are grateful.’

‘Yes, ma’am,’ Nina said humbly.

‘And I hope you will always remember,’ Lady Bayfield went on, ‘that you are here for Catherine’s benefit.

You are to be at her side and at her service.

You will support her spirits, encourage her, reassure her.

She is Miss Bayfield, and she must always come first. You, Miss Sanderton, are nothing and no-one.

You will not put yourself forward, or try to usurp any part of her consequence. Do you understand me?’

‘Yes, ma’am,’ Nina said.

‘Very well. Ring the bell, and you will be taken to your room.’

Nina’s room was large, and a door led into an adjoining bathroom, which was nothing like the one at home.

It was as big as a bedroom, and there was an old, faded Turkish carpet on the floor, and an enormous fireplace with two deep, comfortable armchairs in front of it.

On the far side a further door led into Kitty’s bedroom.

The girls were delighted with the arrangement, which meant they could come and go to each other’s room.

‘I’m so glad you’re here at last,’ Kitty cried. ‘I’ve been feeling so nervous.’

‘You mustn’t be. We’ll practise together before every occasion, just like we used to at Miss Thornton’s. I say, have you got lots and lots of gorgeous dresses?’

Kitty laughed and nodded. ‘Any amount! And Mama’s hired a real lady’s maid to dress us both and do our hair. She’s French, and called Marie. What do you think about that?’

For once, Nina had no words.

‘I’ve made a list of girls for you,’ said Aunt Caroline, with a notebook in one hand and a small gold pencil in the other.

‘Some big families start coming back after Easter, but the important balls and parties don’t start until May, except for the Wansborough House ball at the end of April.

That’s always the first main event of the Season.

It will be a dreadful crush but at least you won’t be noticed among the crowds, so you can look at the girls I’ve picked out for you without being seen to do so. ’

‘It sounds horribly like a—’

‘If you say “cattle market” I shall slap you! Honestly, Giles, I’ve gone to a great deal of trouble – because, plainly, your mother can’t do anything while she’s in deep mourning – and I’m not going to have my efforts go to waste because you’re stupidly squeamish!’

‘Squeamish?’ he protested.

‘How on earth do you think girls find suitable husbands? Everybody understands the rules. Now, let’s have no more of your silliness.

’ She put her little notebook on the table in front of her.

‘I’ve made a list of ten, but I think you had better concentrate on the first five to begin with, because I’m not sure …

’ she gave him a doubtful look over the top of her glasses …

‘that you’ll be able to keep more than five in your head at once. ’

‘I can remember the Roman emperors and their dates, in order, down as far as Caracalla and Geta,’ he pointed out mildly.

‘That’s because you want to,’ Aunt Caroline said.

‘Now, there are two useful American girls coming out this Season: Nancy Brevoorte’s father is in hotels and railways – rail roads I think they call them – and very rich indeed, though I suspect he may want something higher than an earl.

I believe Rockport is looking around for a wife, so you’d be in competition with a duke’s son.

Then there’s Cora Van Dycke – the family makes some kind of patent foods, I believe.

American girls are so lively.’ She looked at Giles with some doubt.

‘You will have to exert yourself, dear, to engage their interest. They will like to be amused. And they’re much less dutiful than English girls.

Their fathers indulge them to a degree we would think foolish. ’

‘Be lively,’ Giles repeated, like a dull student. ‘Engage them with witty epigrams and light chatter.’

Lady Manningtree frowned. ‘Are you being satirical with me, Giles?’

‘I’m sorry, Aunt,’ he said,

‘Now, among the English girls there is Honoria Everingham – she’s Lord Rayleigh’s daughter.

She came out last Season but didn’t take .

She’d probably suit you better than an American, being rather dull and quiet.

Plain, too, but that’s nothing to the purpose.

But I’m not absolutely sure about the fortune.

Rayleigh is playing his cards very close to his chest. That may just be a ploy to excite more interest – I shall make more enquiries, but of course it’s a delicate matter. ’

‘Of course,’ Giles said.

‘But he wants her off his hands because he has another in the schoolroom, so if you did make an offer, you’d be well received.

Then there’s Toria Scott-Mackenzie – landed people, very big estate in Perthshire.

They have their own grouse moor so you’d never want for shooting.

Salmon and trout fishing too, I believe, in the River Tay. ’

Giles, who had never cared for either shooting or fishing, smiled gamely.

‘And I’ve put down Catherine Bayfield,’ Aunt Caroline went on.

‘Nice old family, father’s a wealthy baronet, mother was a jam heiress, very large fortune.

She’s the only child so she’ll come in for everything.

I haven’t seen the girl yet – she’s just out of school and they’re working her in quietly.

I suppose I should mention Sofie Uffenheim-Bartstein – they’re acquainted with your aunt Vicky, dripping with money, but I think they might be looking for a royal.

There’s Russian imperial blood a couple of generations back.

Otherwise I’d have put her at the top of the list. Girls from those German principalities, even the minor ones, know what’s expected of them. So there it is. What do you think?’

‘I don’t know any of them,’ Giles said blankly.

‘Of course you don’t,’ said Aunt Caroline crossly. ‘Apart from Rayleigh’s girl, they’re all debutantes. Nobody knows them. For Heaven’s sake, Giles, what do you want? Should I have had their portraits painted for you to inspect?’

He smiled apologetically. ‘That didn’t work out very well for Henry the Eighth, did it?’

‘Didn’t it?’

‘He picked Anne of Cleves but the portrait turned out to be over-flattering. He couldn’t bring himself to consummate.’

She removed her glasses sternly. ‘He was a horrible fat old man, as I recall, and didn’t deserve a wife at all.’

‘Quite. She didn’t like him, either.’

‘But you are very pretty, my dear, and when you exert yourself you can be charming. Just do as I tell you, and you’ll do finely. We’ll set you up with a nice girl with a good dowry. You do pay for dressing, I will say – and Crooks knows what’s what. It was very sensible of you to take him on.’

‘I hadn’t the heart to turn him off,’ Giles admitted.

She smiled and patted his hand. ‘You’re a good boy. I never understood why your father had such a down on you. Richard was his golden child, and Richard was never anything but trouble.’

Richard stood in a fitting-room at Henry Poole’s, cigarillo clenched in his teeth, while Batty did the thing with the chalk, marking the set of the jacket. Richard turned a little this way and that to examine himself in the long mirror. He patted his stomach.

‘Not too bad, eh, Batty?’

‘Very trim, sir,’ said Batty. ‘If I might say so, you cavalry gentlemen always have a very pleasing, upright carriage. Marks you out from the crowd.’

‘Ah, yes, that’s what I want – to stand out. In an appropriate way.’

‘You’ll do that, sir. His lordship is a fine figure of a gentleman, too.

Rather on the thin side, but not what you’d call weedy.

Excellent shoulders and legs. It’s a pleasure to make for him.

Very happy, we all are, to see you both back from Abroad, safe and sound. Not but what the sad circumstances …’

‘Quite, quite.’ Richard did not want to get on to the subject of his father, in case that led to the subject of the very large tailor’s bill his father had left behind.

Poor old Giles had been greatly exercised over acquiring more clothes from Poole’s in the circumstances, but Richard had endorsed Markham’s rationale, that the best way to prevent Poole’s from asking for settlement was to order more things.

‘It’s not as if you mean to bilk them,’ Richard had pointed out.

‘You’ll pay up whenever you get the money.

Though if you’ll take my advice, you won’t clear the whole account.

Leave a little bit on the books to keep them interested. ’

Now he said, to distract Batty, ‘Thinking of getting married, you know.’