Page 63 of The Secrets of Ashmore Castle (Ashmore Castle #1)

‘Probably as the King of England,’ said Mawes.

‘It really is too hot in Florence,’ Lucia said at dinner, in the scented, mothy half-darkness of the arbour. ‘Look how your poor little wife is drooping, Giles, like a flower that wants water.’

‘Yes, what are your plans, Giles?’ asked the professor. His English was good, but not as perfect as Lucia’s – she had been secretary to an English Egyptologist. ‘You are welcome to stay here as long as you wish, but we do not remain in August, usually.’

‘I’m sorry, am I disrupting your plans? I’ve been so happily occupied I haven’t thought. Stupid of me! I had thought of going to Naples from here. I’d like to show Kitty the ruins of Pompeii.’

Both protested at once, and even Giulia looked surprised.

‘Napoli? Impossible! Intolerable!’

‘Giles, you cannot drag her round Pompeii in August. You cannot be such a brute.’

‘Every man of sense goes to the sea at this time of year.’

‘Is that where you’re going?’ he asked.

Husband and wife glanced at each other. ‘We always take a villa in Capri for August,’ said Lucia. ‘We have lingered here for you – and glad to do it—’

‘Then we must delay you no more,’ Giles said. ‘You’ve been too polite. I’m sure you’re sick of us by now.’

Lucia reached over and slapped his hand. ‘ Cattivo! We can never be sick of you. We want you come to Capri with us, of course. The villa is big enough for us all.’

Giulia said, ‘Oh, do come, Giles! It is so beautiful there.’

‘And there are ruins,’ Lucia said wickedly, ‘if you cannot bear too much pleasure. Lots of them. Tiberius built twelve villas there, remember.’

Giles turned to Kitty, who was pushing food about on her plate. ‘What do you think, Kitty? Would you like to go to Capri?’

‘I don’t know what it is,’ she said dully.

‘It is an island,’ Lucia said. ‘In the Bay of Naples. Rugged cliffs, beautiful scenery, fresh air, shady trees, and the most beautiful, beautiful sea to bathe in.’

Kitty raised her head. ‘I’ve never bathed in the sea.’

‘Oh, then you must come! It is the best thing in the world. Tell her, Giles.’

‘It is very nice,’ he said. ‘Would you like to go?’

He spoke so kindly, she looked up at him in hope. ‘Would you like to go?’

‘I believe all the ruins have been excavated to the limit,’ he said, ‘but I’d still like to see them. I never did get there before. And you can sit in a cool garden, go for boat rides, and swim in the sea. What do you think?’

‘I would like that,’ Kitty said. She would rather have gone somewhere with him alone, somewhere that Giulia wouldn’t be, but if the choices were staying here or going to the seaside, she chose the seaside.

When Giles’s cable arrived, Lady Stainton said, ‘Then we don’t need to be here, if he’s not coming back.’

‘Good,’ said Sebastian, looking up from the paper. ‘We can be in Scotland for the twelfth.’

Rachel and Alice exchanged a glance. ‘Oh, Mama, we don’t have to go, do we?’

She raised an eyebrow. ‘You most certainly do. We will all go to Kincraig. What are you thinking?’

‘But there’s nothing to do there,’ Rachel cried. ‘We don’t like shooting or fishing and there’s no riding and the midges are awful.’

‘Couldn’t Rachel and I stay here?’ Alice asked hopefully.

‘Of course not,’ said Lady Stainton. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Rachel. ‘Stay here on your own? Nonsense!’

‘I don’t see why we couldn’t stay,’ Rachel grumbled, as the girls went upstairs after breakfast. ‘Nobody wants us there. Mama never wants us around her anyway. And Mrs Webster could look after us.’

‘I think she was suspicious,’ Alice said. ‘Did you see the way she looked at you? I think she knows why you want to stay.’

‘Oh, well, she’ll never agree, now she’s said no,’ said Rachel, gloomily. ‘It’s horrible Kincraig for us.’

‘Your old Victor won’t miss you for a few weeks.’

‘That’s what I’m afraid of,’ said Rachel.

Richard decided not to go to Kincraig. ‘I can’t hold a gun with one arm, or make a cast,’ he said. ‘And I can hardly tramp over the heather like this. I suppose I’ll just have to stay here.’

‘Would you like to come with Grandmère and me to Biarritz?’ Caroline asked kindly.

‘Promenading up and down so that everyone can admire my clothes would be exciting,’ he admitted, ‘but I’m afraid I’d slow you down.’

‘Don’t be satirical. You know there’s more to it than that.’

‘Not a great deal more, surely.’

‘There are the gardens, the galleries, the plage .’

‘I’d forgotten the plage . I’d give a fortune to see you and Grandmère disporting yourselves in bathing costumes.’

She ignored that. ‘There will be lots of parties. And Sir Thomas is conducting a series of concerts in the royal villa.’

‘Ah, all is clear. You want me to increase the size of Sir Thomas’s claque .’

Aunt Caroline gave him a severe look. ‘If you don’t want to come, don’t. There’s no need to be facetious. But I think you would benefit from the sea air.’

He leaned over to kiss her repentantly. ‘You are the most gracious of aunts. I’ll come.’

He went to say goodbye to the Sandses. It was a baking hot day, and although it was fairly cool inside the tall Georgian house, he felt uncomfortable about their confinement when he was going on holiday.

‘I’m glad for you,’ Mrs Sands said. ‘It’s been hard, I think, the inactivity since your accident.’

‘Oh, I’m an idle fellow,’ he said. ‘Inactivity is my natural state. But I wish you and Miss Chloe could have a holiday. London in August is suffocating.’

‘There are the parks and gardens,’ she said lightly.

‘And I expect we shall have a day-trip to the seaside. The steamer to Southend is always pleasant. If I can drag her away, that is.’ She smiled.

‘What do you think happened? We had a letter from your kind grandmama to say that Chloe could still go in and practise while she’s away.

She said she had told the caretaker to let her in. Isn’t that good of her?’

Richard was surprised, but only that Grandmère had thought of it. ‘She thinks very highly of musicians,’ he said. ‘Music is a passion with her.’

‘But I think you had something to do with it, didn’t you?’

‘Not at all. In fact, I’m ashamed it didn’t occur to me. Is that really what you want to do?’ he asked Chloe. ‘Stay in London and practise? Where would you go, if you had your choice of anywhere in the world?’

Chloe looked faintly surprised. ‘I have everything I need here,’ she said. ‘Why should I want to go anywhere else?’

For the life of him, Richard couldn’t tell if she really meant it.