Page 85 of The Secrets of Ashmore Castle (Ashmore Castle #1)

‘Hatto? She’s a queer one,’ Speen retorted. ‘Can’t make her out. But she’s not got the style for a lady’s maid, not a countess’s, anyway. You got to put it on a bit. My opinion, she was never no titled lady’s maid before. Got a middle-class sort of look about her. I bet—’

‘The point is ,’ said James irritably, ‘that they got her in to take over from Rose, because Rose was only temporary. All right? Well, then, if I was only temporary, they’d have done the same with me.

Done it at the same time. No, his lordship knows he’s got a good ’un.

And I saved her ladyship’s life, didn’t I?

So I’m safe as houses. He’ll never get rid of me after that. ’

The crowd was shuffling forward as they talked, and they saw the white head of Crooks up ahead of them disappear under his hat, then bob away to the right. ‘Where’s he going?’ Speen asked. ‘The brake’s the other way.’

‘Oh, he doesn’t go in the brake. He likes to walk back from church, often as not.’

‘Does he? That’s a bit queer, isn’t it? He don’t look like a walker to me. I’d have said he was soft as soap.’

‘Well, he is in general,’ said James.

‘I never told you what happened in London, did I?’

‘What, then?’

‘Let’s see where he’s going,’ said Speen. They followed round the side of the church, and were in time to see Crooks standing at the lych-gate, in conversation with Axe Brandom. Axe had removed his hat, and his fair hair was a flag of brightness in the dull air. ‘Who’s the pretty boy?’ Speen asked.

‘Blacksmith’s assistant. Pretty boy? He could break you in half with his bare hands.’

‘Yeah, but he wouldn’t. That sort, the stronger they are, the softer inside. Come on.’ He turned back the way they had come.

‘Thought you wanted to know where he was going,’ said James.

‘Know now, don’t we? Come on, we’ll have to hurry or we’ll miss the brake, and I don’t want to walk up that hill.’

‘So, what was you going to tell me about Crooky in London?’

‘Tell you later. Not in front of the ladies. But it explains a lot, does this,’ said Speen. ‘Secret assignations with pretty boys? Explains a lot.’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘Course you don’t. Dead innocent all you country folk.’

‘I’m as smart as any Town valet,’ James said angrily. ‘You’d never survive in the country.’

‘I wouldn’t want to,’ said Speen. ‘If Mr Richard stays here, he’ll have to look for a new man.’

*

‘May I speak with you, my lord?’ James said, holding out the waistcoat for Giles to slip into.

‘Yes. What is it?’ Giles asked, not really listening. He was pondering a list of barn and cottage repairs Markham had given him. So many roofs! So much rain!

‘Am I giving satisfaction, my lord?’

Giles jerked back to the present. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘Well, my lord, you asked me to go on the trip abroad in place of Mr Crooks, him being too old and p’r’aps a bit frail for so much foreign travel. And I was wondering whether you were satisfied with how I looked after you.’

‘I’d have damn soon told you if I wasn’t,’ Giles said, scowling. ‘What is it you want? Speak out. I haven’t time for all this Uriah Heep nonsense.’

James didn’t know what a uriah heap might be – did he mean the dung heap in the stable-yard that the grooms wee’d on? What had that got to do with him? But he knew better than to provoke a wasp. ‘I’d like to know if the position is now permanent, my lord.’

‘Of course it is. Why are you asking me now?’

‘It’s just that a gentleman’s gentleman is called by his surname, and I’m still known as James, which is a footman’s name.’

Giles was about to snap, but reflected in time that these little points of status were important downstairs. ‘I wasn’t even aware you had a surname,’ he said, to lighten things.

James’s stony look said it was no joking matter. ‘I have, my lord, and it’s Hook. If it’s not too much trouble, would you be so good as to tell Mr Moss that I’m to be referred to as Mr Hook from now on?’

‘Very well, James – Hook, I mean. I’ll speak to Moss. Anything else?’

‘No, my lord. And thank you.’

As he left the Blue Bedroom with a soiled shirt over his arm, he looked to his left and saw Miss Taylor just starting down the stairs.

‘That’ll teach you, you old bitch,’ he said softly.

He’d get his revenge on her. Call him a pig?

He wouldn’t forget that. He never forgot a slight, and he was patient.

He’d wait for his moment, and his revenge would be a good one.

And that Speen would have to show him a bit of respect now.

Giles and Richard walked their horses side by side down the hill. ‘What do you think of him?’ Giles asked.

Richard patted Lucifer’s black neck. ‘He’s fine. He’ll carry you all day, if I’m any judge. What’s yours like?’

Giles was riding dark bay Zelos. They were the two hunters they had taken on approval from Lord Shacklock’s stable. ‘He’s fast. I like him.’

‘So does that mean you will be hunting this season?’

‘I would like to go out now and then. I haven’t time to be hunting the way our father did, three times a week. What about you?’

‘I’m not sure the shoulder will take it. Even the best horse will pull if it’s excited. And if I should have a fall …’

Giles looked at him with concern. ‘I didn’t realise it was so bad. Does that mean you’ll never be able to hunt again?’

‘I hope not. The sawbones said it ought to get stronger in time. I’m just a bit tender of it at the moment.’ He tried a smile. ‘Wounded twice, you know.’

‘Oh, you mean the bullet in South Africa? Yes, it was unlucky it was the same arm.’

‘Anyway,’ Richard went on, ‘I don’t yet know where I’ll be this winter.’

‘I thought you’d be here,’ said Giles, with the beginning of an annoyed frown.

‘Brother dear, you haven’t told me what you’ve decided about my fate,’ said Richard. ‘That’s the trouble with you thinkers – there’s so much going on inside the skull, you forget the rest of us don’t know about it unless you say it out loud.’

‘I thought we’d discussed your helping Markham,’ said Giles.

‘Discussed it – but you didn’t actually ask me. Am I to assume this is a formal offer – come live with me and be my agent?’

‘Assistant agent to begin with. But I’d really like Markham to become more like a secretary to me – especially if I take up my seat in the Lords next session – so you would eventually step into his shoes.

And you’d have to work with Vogel on the financial side.

’ Giles frowned. ‘It’s a big job, and a lot of work.

If you take it on, you’ll have to be serious about it. ’

‘And you think I’m the right man? I’m flattered. Surprised, but flattered.’

‘I don’t know if you are or not,’ Giles said frankly. ‘You seem to make a joke about everything.’

‘Doesn’t mean I’m not serious inside.’

‘Well, I know I’d sooner have you than a stranger. And, besides, there’s the problem of what to do with you if you don’t take it on.’

‘Ah, the younger son!’ said Richard. ‘What do you do with the blighter if he’s not needed to inherit? I’m not cut out for the Church.’ Giles laughed at the idea. ‘Thank you. And it would be pressing our luck to hope for another heiress to come along for me to marry. What does that leave? Politics?’

‘You need money to go into Parliament. And if I have to pay for you, I’d sooner you did the job I want doing.’

‘So unless I can find a billet in commerce, it’s the estate for me.’

‘You might sound a little more enthusiastic. And grateful.’

‘Oh, I’m grateful all right.’ He was, but only up to a point.

He would sooner not have a job of any sort.

But Giles, for such a dreamer, was hard as flint underneath.

He had refused to pay Linda the allowance the old man had been giving her, so there was little chance he’d go on supporting Richard ad infinitum .

If only he had a private income … He thought fleetingly of Mrs Sands.

If he had some kind of income, he could make her comfortable, get her into a proper house, and maybe then she’d look kindly on his suit.

An image of marriage flashed briefly across his mind like a comet.

‘Perhaps I could get a position in a bank,’ he said. He didn’t realise he’d said it aloud until Giles laughed explosively.

Kitty was sitting in the lobby as Nina came in, and stood, her face breaking into such a smile that Nina hurried to her thinking, I didn’t know how much I’d missed you .

‘I feel as if I haven’t seen you for a hundred years,’ Kitty cried. ‘Oh, this is so good!’

‘You’re looking well,’ Nina said. Kitty had changed, she thought.

That frightened-kitten look was gone. She held her head up now.

Her face had filled out into adulthood. Her hair was rolled all round and the topknot was hidden by a small jaunty hat with a cocked brim and curled feathers held by a brooch – had she chosen that for herself?

It seemed bold. Automatically she noticed her shoes (black kid with a decoration of jet beads all across the toe) and smiled at herself for doing so.

Kitty looked every inch a prosperous young matron.

Marriage must be suiting her. ‘I think you’ve put on weight. ’

‘I can’t think how,’ Kitty said. ‘The food at home is worse than ever – it’s even made me sick a few times.’

‘You called it “home”,’ Nina noticed.

‘I suppose I did,’ said Kitty. ‘I almost think of it as home. After all, I didn’t much like Mama’s house in Hampstead, so I’ve no other. But, Nina, why are we talking about me? You ’re the one with the wonderful news! Tell me all about it!’

‘When we’ve sat down,’ Nina said, as the hovering attendant waited to conduct them to the dining-room.

Kitty gazed around as they were settled at a table. ‘I do love this restaurant. And isn’t it fun to be eating out without a chaperone?’

‘You’re my chaperone,’ Nina pointed out. ‘Married woman of great respectability.’

‘I suppose I am. It’s hard to believe it’s real, sometimes. Being with you, I feel like a schoolgirl again.’