Chapter 26
The new room is complete. It has been designed according to the specifications from Selwyn and his chaps at the British Museum.
The team there has gone to a great deal of trouble to authenticate my book and have even trawled through many other collections held in the archives to create a provenance.
He has suggested I also deposit all other supporting paperwork with the manuscript.
It seems the least I can do when I have denied them the chance to reveal their discovery to the world.
Veronica and Ernest have departed to Maynooth in County Kildare until the New Year, where she will be staying with her sister, Jane, and her husband, William Skinner.
They have taken a house there for a year while William works on a book.
He has dreams of writing his memoirs after his many years as a diplomat in India, although why anyone would be interested when he has led a tiresome life is beyond me, but each man must do as he sees fit.
Sad though it makes me to be parted from Ernest again, it does offer an opportunity for my darling Helena and our daughter, Eglantine, to join me.
My heart bursts at the chance to finally show Helena my beloved Cerensthorpe Abbey.
We have concocted a story saying she is the cousin of a friend who has been recently widowed and is in need of a break in the country.
We are aware it is a flimsy story, but perhaps neither of us care, as long as we are together.
If life had been different, Cerensthorpe Abbey might have been her home and she would have been mother to both Ernest and our daughter.
However, thoughts such as these are wrong. This way madness lies. Fate has dealt us a difficult hand, but we do our best. We depart London in three days; in the meantime, I intend to shower Helena with gifts and ensure she has all she will need to be my temporary lady of the manor.