Chapter Ten
CHAPTER
TEN
The following day, while they waited for the train from Waterloo, Violet felt obliged to explain to Felicity about her childhood home.
‘Stoneyhayes looks very grand but actually it’s falling down and is freezing cold,’ she began.
Felicity held up a hand. ‘I come from a chateau. I am accustomed to houses that look grand but are falling down and freezing cold.’ She paused. ‘Not that the chateau is collapsing exactly, but it has had a lot of repairs and lots of areas are still unheated. Really, you don’t need to worry.’
‘That’s a relief,’ said Violet, relaxing a little.
‘I understand that people think you are rich if you live in a chateau, or a big house, but often it’s the other way around. I’m wearing two pairs of tights.’
Violet sighed in relief. ‘But I should also tell you that I have no idea what Kiki will have done with the house. She thought my father’s views were very outdated.’ She paused. ‘And of course they are outdated, but when it’s not cold, the house is comfortable, everything blended in with everything else. It was restful.’
‘The chateau is like that. My mother does not approve. She prefers fine antiques. We have some at the chateau but Milou – that’s our dog – gets on the sofas. He leaves hairs everywhere.’ Felicity laughed. ‘When I was living there I found it annoying to have his hairs on everything but now I miss them!’
‘There were plenty of dog hairs at Stoneyhayes when I lived there. I’m sure Kiki couldn’t have got rid of all of them yet.’ She sighed. ‘I’ve a horrible feeling she’ll try and keep the dogs in the kitchen.’
‘She sounds a bit like my mother,’ said Felicity. ‘And my grandmother. Although my grandmother is less formal since she remarried.’
‘I don’t think Kiki would get less formal if she remarried. She wants to be Lady Marchfont and would want to be grander, if anything. The poor thing doesn’t realise that really grand people don’t care about the things she does, and all let the dogs on the sofas.’
Felicity laughed. ‘I can’t wait to meet her!’
Their train arrived at the little station an hour later. The journey had gone quickly as the two women found lots to talk about. As they walked up the long drive to the house, the final bit of their journey from the station, Violet said, ‘Usually I would ask my friend Jenny to collect us but she’s in France.’
‘Our friend David is always willing to collect people from the station but he’s in France too.’
‘Which leaves us with Shanks’s pony,’ said Violet, laughing.
‘What on earth is that?’ asked Felicity.
‘It means walking,’ said Violet.
They were both giggling gently when they arrived in front of the house. The front door was huge and Violet rang the bell. ‘Usually I’d just take us in through the back, but this is the first time I’ve been home since Kiki moved in.’
‘Don’t be nervous,’ said Felicity. ‘I’m sure it will be all right.’
‘Did I say I was nervous?’
‘No. But you are.’
The door swung open before Violet could argue. Kiki was wearing a tweed suit buttoned tightly over her ample bosom. ‘Oh,’ said Violet, ‘are you going out?’
‘Of course I’m not going out. Come in, Violet. And is this your little friend?’
Felicity smiled. Violet could tell she was annoyed at being referred to as little. ‘How do you do? I am Felicity de Belleville.’
‘Oh, you’re foreign. Violet didn’t tell me you were foreign.’
‘I am half English,’ Felicity explained. ‘I do speak the language.’
‘No offence meant, I’m sure,’ said Kiki. ‘Now come in. The house is quite cold enough.’
Violet felt the house was actually a lot warmer than it usually was in winter. Logs burned brightly in the fireplace in the hall, something that had only been allowed on high days and holidays when she lived there.
‘Come through to the lounge – sorry – drawing room!’ said Kiki with a high-pitched laugh. ‘Your father is waiting for you.’
‘Where are the dogs?’ Violet asked no one in particular but when she entered the drawing room she saw her father and ran forward to give him a hug, the dogs temporarily forgotten. ‘Daddy!’
Felicity observed the embrace with a sudden tear. The love between the two was obvious and it reminded her of her own father, so far away.
Like her father the Comte, Aubrey, Lord Marchfont, was tall and handsome, but unlike the Comte, his hair was grey. His smile revealed how much he loved and missed his daughter.
Eventually they released each other. ‘I’ve missed you, darling,’ he said.
‘And I’ve missed you!’ said Violet.
‘Why don’t you come back home?’ he asked, his hand on Violet’s shoulder.
Kiki broke in before Violet could respond to what sounded like a plea. ‘Don’t be silly, Aubrey. Violet has her own life in London now. She’s a city girl. She doesn’t want to leave all that to live with her old dad in the country. Isn’t that right, Violet?’
Felicity observed this exchange and her heart ached for her friend. She obviously adored her father but didn’t feel entitled to live with him any more.
Violet stepped back. ‘You’re looking well, Daddy.’
‘He’s got me to look after him now,’ Kiki interjected. ‘Plenty of good home-cooked food, that’s what a man needs.’
‘Do you live here’ – Felicity realised that she and Kiki hadn’t been introduced – ‘Mrs …?’
‘Kirkby,’ Kiki supplied. ‘And no, of course I don’t live here exactly. That wouldn’t be right. I live in an apartment in the west wing. But when I realised Aubrey was having to cook for himself – well, I couldn’t let him starve on his own, could I?’ She laughed and Felicity realised it was because she was nervous. ‘Abandoned by his daughter, he was.’ She laughed again to indicate this was a joke.
‘I was away for a short time helping my cousin after my uncle died,’ said Violet. ‘My father isn’t an idiot. He’s perfectly capable of cooking for himself.’
‘When I knew that he was not only recently bereaved but living on his own I couldn’t rest until I was in a position to make his life more comfortable,’ said Kiki firmly. ‘Put another log on the fire, would you, Aubrey? I must see to the lunch.’
‘I’ll help you,’ said Felicity, running after her. She didn’t think she could be much help to Kiki, but she realised how much Violet wanted some time alone with her father.
‘No need!’ said Kiki, holding up a defensive hand.
Felicity realised having a stranger observing her cooking skills might not have been what Kiki wanted, but she was resolute. Violet and her father had to be able to talk.
‘I’m very interested in English cooking,’ said Felicity untruthfully.
‘Good old-fashioned recipes I learnt from my mother and her mother before her,’ said Kiki. ‘When I moved into my apartment and discovered Lord Marchfont was living on tinned meat pies and scrambled egg I had to put a stop to it straight away.’
Felicity looked around her. The kitchen was similar to the one in the chateau in many ways. It was large, had a range, a huge dresser and a scrubbed kitchen table, but something was missing. ‘Where are the dogs? Violet told me she had dogs. In the chateau, Milou is always lying in front of the range, getting in the way.’
‘They’re in one of the stables. They are perfectly all right there for now. Aubrey will have them in the lounge in the evening, shedding hairs and mud, but I insisted they were out of the way now.’ She pursed her lips determinedly. ‘I’ll wean him off the habit of having dogs in the house eventually.’
She took hold of a double oven glove, and opened the range and pulled out a large iron pot. When she took off the lid, the most delicious smell filled the kitchen.
Felicity was surprised. She hadn’t been led to expect much from English cooking but she was obviously wrong. ‘That smells wonderful,’ she said.
Kiki bowed, accepting the compliment graciously. ‘Now, if you want to be useful, get the plates out of the warming oven and take them through to the dining room, please. I’m afraid it’s chilly in there; I haven’t yet managed to persuade Aubrey it should have heating.’ She smiled. ‘Men need training, you know.’
The stew, Violet was forced to accept, was very good indeed. It was served with baked potatoes, carrots and peas. The peas, she was fairly sure, were ‘Surprise’ – dried and parboiled – but as they were served with a good knob of butter she couldn’t complain, even in her head. And when a steamed pudding served with custard was produced, she understood why her father was in thrall to someone who wasn’t really his type. It seemed that the way to a man’s heart really was through his stomach.
‘Tell me, Violet,’ her father asked. ‘How is Jenny getting on in France?’
‘Who is Jenny?’ asked Kiki before Violet could answer.
‘She’s an old family friend,’ said Violet and then, as she felt this sounded as if Jenny was a hundred years old, added, ‘She’s a bit older than I am.’
‘And why is she in France?’ Kiki went on.
As Violet wasn’t entirely sure why her friend had decided to shoot off to the wilds of rural France at such short notice – her explanations had never seemed logical – she glanced at Felicity who kindly stepped in.
‘France is a beautiful country,’ said Felicity, obviously sensing a contribution from her was required. ‘Although, as I have lived there all my life, I suppose I would think that.’ She smiled faintly and looked down at her plate, slightly pink.
‘I’m sure it is,’ said Kiki. ‘But they eat garlic with everything. I don’t know why anyone would go and live there if they didn’t have to.’
Violet saw Felicity stiffen. ‘I feel the same about England,’ she said. ‘I would not have come here had my mother not insisted.’
Violet knew this wasn’t entirely true. Felicity had been excited to visit Swinging London, but she was grateful to her friend for sticking up for France – because it seemed as if she were sticking up for Jenny, too.
‘It must be very chilly here compared to France,’ Violet’s father said. ‘It’s surely much warmer there.’
‘It is warmer in the summer, but we have snow every winter.’
‘I hate snow,’ said Kiki. ‘Nasty messy stuff.’
‘I like it,’ said Felicity. ‘When it first falls everything is so still and beautiful. And we skate on the lake.’
Kiki sucked her teeth. ‘I wouldn’t like that.’
‘It was a surprise to Alexandra, my stepmother, when she first came,’ Felicity said. ‘She couldn’t skate at all but she soon learnt.’
‘How did your father and stepmother meet? If I’m not being too nosy.’ Again, the little laugh indicated a joke that was meant seriously.
‘She was our nanny.’
‘Oh. So you were very young—’
‘No. I was too old to have a nanny when she came but my younger sister needed someone.’
‘You have a sister? You only mentioned a brother when we were chatting earlier?’ Kiki was not only a good cook, she didn’t miss a thing.
‘She’s my adopted sister,’ Felicity explained, obviously wishing she had never started this conversation. ‘I have two half-brothers as well. They are twins.’
‘Oh! So your stepmother has her hands full! But I suppose, having been a nanny, she would have had plenty of experience with children. Was she Norland trained?’
Violet interpreted Felicity’s look of confusion and came to the rescue. ‘Norland Nannies are terrifying. They wear uniforms and usually only work for the aristocracy,’ she explained.
Felicity shook her head. ‘No, Lexi wasn’t one of those.’
‘Lexi? I thought you said her name was Alexandra?’
‘It is—’
Violet, suddenly in full control of herself, said, ‘I don’t think we should interrogate Felicity. She will think the English are extremely nosy if we do.’
Felicity smiled. ‘Of course!’ She had picked up Kiki’s way of pretending to joke when actually she wasn’t.
After everyone had finished, Violet and Felicity cleared the table and took everything through to the kitchen. ‘Should we wash up, do you think?’ asked Felicity.
‘We should, but we’re not going to. We can offer to make coffee and give it to my father and Kiki in the drawing room, then I want to give you a tour.’
As Violet led the way to the stables, Felicity realised that her friend needed to unburden. She didn’t blame her. Kiki, in spite of her good cooking, was obviously not a nice person. In Felicity’s opinion anyone who thought it was acceptable to keep dogs in a stable was what David would describe as ‘a wrong ’un’. She couldn’t help wondering how she’d have felt if her father had taken up permanently with any of the women who’d tried so hard to capture his heart. Thank goodness for Alexandra, who was kind, eccentric and entirely lacking in jealousy towards her stepchildren.
Violet opened the door to the stable and at least three large spaniels rushed out, delighted to see her; they were even delighted to see Felicity, who was very happy to make a fuss of them.
‘I have missed animals,’ Felicity said, stroking the head of an excited dog. ‘At home it is always my little sister who wants them, but of course they are there for all of us.’
‘I miss them too,’ said Violet. ‘There is a little dog at the bookshop that I take for walks, but these are proper country dogs. They wouldn’t like London. Come, let me show you the garden.’
The dogs followed as Violet led the way to the walled garden. ‘This was where Jenny and I had started work on a market garden. We sold vegetables to local people. Then Daddy’s cousin died, leaving him the title and all his money. It was a bit of a shock – he hadn’t realised he would inherit it all – and everything changed. Kiki suddenly began bringing food around and, before I knew it, Jenny had left for France.’ She pulled at a weed.
‘It must have been so sad for you: your best friend leaving the area when everything was changing.’
‘The worst part is, I don’t really know why. I have asked, of course, but Jenny just says she had an opportunity to learn so much from this man in France – who sounds quite grumpy and not very kind – and so she had to leave.’
Felicity cleared her throat. ‘This may sound very stupid and please tell me if it does, but did Jenny go to France to get away from something?’
Violet shrugged. ‘Like what?’
‘I don’t know, but maybe she didn’t like Kiki killing your father with casseroles.’
Violet looked stunned, as if this thought had never occurred to her. ‘Are you saying you think perhaps Jenny liked my father – more than just liked – and left because of Kiki?’
‘It’s just a thought, but inheriting money can cause problems. I know because – well, never mind, I’ll tell you another time. Maybe she felt that if your father was suddenly very wealthy and had a title, she couldn’t be friends with him any more.’ Felicity wondered if she’d said too much. ‘Maybe I should explain. Alexandra had a fortune, which she came into when she and my father married. I know he does find it a little difficult. He has land and a title but not very much money, especially as he gave up his position in Paris so he could stay at home.’ She took a breath. ‘I know Alexandra has to be a little bit … devious if she wants to spend any of her money on the chateau.’
‘Your father doesn’t want to spend money that he doesn’t think is his?’
Felicity nodded.
‘I don’t think Kiki would worry about spending money that isn’t hers. But maybe Jenny would, and felt she had to leave because of Kiki.’ She didn’t seem entirely convinced, Felicity felt.
‘I may be quite wrong,’ said Felicity, stopping to survey the scene before them. ‘Is this wood part of your land?’
‘Yes. There’s a little cottage a bit further on. No one lives in it now.’ She paused. ‘I had thought I might do it up and move into it but my godmother wouldn’t hear of it. She swept me off to London. Which isn’t as bad as I thought it might be if only I knew what I should be doing at work apart from making tea and coffee sometimes, and walking the dog.’ She paused. ‘If only I could type and do shorthand, I could get another job.’
‘Can we look at the cottage?’ Felicity didn’t really want to have to go back and make polite conversation with Kiki and Violet’s father, who hadn’t contributed much to the conversation. One could tell he was longing to get back to his ancient maps and books. Felicity remembered seeing Alexandra’s friend Meg’s cottage at the hotel in Dorset where she worked. She’d thought it was delightful. ‘I think maybe because I come from a large house, I am drawn to little ones.’
Violet laughed. ‘I must warn you, it’s in quite a bad state.’
‘Never mind. Let’s look!’
‘Oh my goodness!’ said Violet a few minutes later. ‘I didn’t expect this!’
As it was a Sunday, there were no workmen, but there were signs they had been everywhere. Scaffolding, a cement mixer, ladders and a couple of wheelbarrows were all ranged outside the cottage. A couple of once-rotting windows had been replaced and a small extension had been started at the back.
It was quite easy to get into the cottage and inside they found more signs of major building work.
‘I wonder if this is Kiki’s doing?’ said Violet.
‘Don’t you think your father would do this for himself?’ asked Felicity.
‘I don’t know. I don’t think so. But he’s never had a bean before so maybe now he can afford it, he wants to put the property in order.’ Violet sighed. ‘But to be honest, I don’t think he notices much apart from his academic interests. I suspect Kiki bullied him to make changes. In the same way she’s made him put the dogs in the stables.’
Felicity ran to catch up with Violet who was now stalking back to the house, ready to do battle.
‘Don’t say anything immediately,’ she suggested. ‘In case it’s your father who wants the cottage done up.’
Felicity wasn’t unaware of the irony. She was impetuous herself, so why was she now being sensible and considered with Violet, who was quite a few years older than she was? As she followed her into the kitchen via the back door she realised it was easier to be sensible if your emotions weren’t involved.
‘Oh, there you are, girls,’ said Kiki as they returned to the drawing room. ‘Have you time for tea before you need to catch your train?’
‘Please have tea,’ said Aubrey. ‘I feel I’ve hardly seen you.’
‘We’d love tea,’ said Violet. Felicity could see her shoulders relax a little. ‘But we shouldn’t be too long.’
‘I’ll run you to the station,’ said Aubrey. ‘Which train are you getting?’
‘The five o’clock,’ said Violet. ‘I promised Felicity’s mother I would get her home in good time.’
Felicity didn’t remember any such promise being made and realised that Violet had her own reasons for not wanting to stay late. She assumed it was because she was not enjoying being at her old home when it no longer felt the same.
‘Daddy,’ said Violet, when cups of tea (obviously the best tea set) and butterfly cakes had been distributed. ‘We noticed building work going on in the old gardener’s cottage.’
‘It’s just a few repairs to make sure it doesn’t deteriorate any more than it already has,’ said Kiki. ‘Have another cake, Felicity.’
Felicity took one. It was very good, and unless they had guests her mother didn’t often allow cake across the threshold at home. ‘They are delicious.’
‘My old Be-Ro cookery book,’ said Kiki. ‘Never lets me down. Violet? Another?’
‘No, thank you,’ said Violet. ‘Daddy, it looked like more was going on than just a few repairs.’
‘Looks can be deceptive, my dear,’ said Aubrey.
Felicity, who happened to be looking in the right place, thought she saw him give the tiniest wink. A quick glance at Violet seemed to confirm this. She was glad to see that father and daughter had managed to communicate somehow.
It wasn’t long before Violet got up and said it was time they went to the station. Aubrey looked surprised. ‘Have another cup of tea. There’s plenty of time.’
‘I know, but Felicity gets anxious unless she’s at the station quite some minutes before the train arrives,’ said Violet.
Felicity quickly adopted a worried expression. ‘I do.’
The goodbyes with Kiki were somewhat awkward but soon Felicity and Violet were in the old Bentley with Aubrey at the wheel.
‘Are you happy in London, my dear?’ he asked Violet, the moment they had set off. ‘You can always come home, you know – any time.’
‘I’m OK, Daddy, really I am. I just wish my boss would arrive soon. I seem to spend hours in the basement sorting out old documents and prints. If he was there, I might see daylight more often.’
‘Why isn’t he around?’
‘I don’t really know. No one seems to. He’s abroad, apparently, researching something important. But he’s paying me well, so I can’t complain.’
But this was not the real reason Violet was staying in London, Felicity was sure. Violet didn’t want to come home to Stoneyhayes, not because she was enjoying London life, but because of Kiki being installed in her house, excellent cook though she undoubtedly was.