Chapter Four #3
Kitty didn’t, having been an only child. ‘Is he unwell?’
‘No, my lady, it’s not that. It’s about this medal.
Axe wants to refuse it.’ Her cheeks reddened with vexation.
‘He was always different, right from a child, going off on his own. He didn’t romp and scuffle with the other boys – quiet, you know, interested in birds and animals and such.
He’d spend hours just watching a spider weave its web when he should have been doing chores, like as not.
Father’d beat him, but it never made any difference.
He used to get called names by the other boys, but he was a big, strong lad, so they couldn’t bully him.
They might call him sissy, but he got the job with the blacksmith and there’s nothing sissy about that. ’
‘Very interesting, but I don’t see—’ Kitty began.
‘I beg pardon, my lady, I’m coming to it.
This medal, it’s a great honour, and it’d be good for all of us, the whole family, but he doesn’t think of that.
’ Her mouth tightened with disapproval. ‘He lives in that cottage in the woods, all alone, and we hardly see him, but he’s still a member of our family, and he ought to put other people first, and not be so selfish.
Not just the family, my lady,’ she said quickly, anticipating an objection, ‘but the whole village. It’d put us on the map, my lady, and all the businesses and shops would benefit from the visitors. ’
‘Why don’t you say all this to him?’ Kitty said.
‘He wouldn’t listen to me. Whenever I’ve had a word with him, he pays me no mind, just goes his own road.
I might as well talk to the wall. But if you were to speak to him, my lady – put him in the right way of thinking, make him see it’s not just for him but for everyone…
?’ She ran out of words, and looked at Kitty hopefully, like a dog wanting a walk.
Kitty felt exasperated, and imagined her mother-in-law telling her it was her own fault for seeing the woman in the first place.
‘I could not possibly interfere in such a personal matter,’ she said, as firmly as she could.
‘I’ve barely spoken to your brother twice, and I have nothing to do with the outdoor staff.
It would have a very odd appearance for me to go up there—’
‘Oh, I would make him come here and see you, my lady,’ Ruth said eagerly. ‘You wouldn’t be put to any trouble.’
‘It would be a very great trouble and you should never have asked me,’ Kitty said.
This woman was taking liberties. Little as she had ever thought of her position, or sought to use it, she did feel she should not be badgered and interrupted in her own house.
Why, Kitty, said a deeper inner voice, you’re growing up!
You really are Mistress of Ashmore Castle!
Ruth deflated visibly. ‘I beg pardon, my lady, if I’ve spoke out of turn. It’s just I feel that strongly about it.’
‘I accept your apology, but I can’t help you,’ Kitty said, with as much of her mother-in-law’s magnificence as she could manage, and rang the bell.
Ruth gave a placatory bob, but had one more question. ‘It is true, my lady, that when they get the medal they go up to Buckingham Palace and see the King?’
‘Yes,’ said Kitty.
‘And that they get to take someone with them – a guest, like?’
‘I believe so,’ Kitty said.
Frederick opened the door.
Ruth bobbed again, murmured, ‘Thank you,’ and went meekly out with him.
And Kitty was left to shake her head over the whole thing.
She thought she might tell Giles about it.
It would amuse him. Especially the last bit, where Ruth gave away the real reason she was so incensed by Axe’s intransigence.
He would be allowed to take a guest with him to the Palace.
And he was unmarried, so who would he take but his eldest sister, who had been a second mother to him?
The Falmouths’ ball was always one of the earliest of the Season, but since it was a public ball, held in aid of the hospital, Aunt Caroline would not normally have taken Rachel to it. ‘It will be a dreadful crush,’ she said. ‘So many people one doesn’t know.’
Rachel had said meekly, ‘Yes, Auntie,’ but the droop of her mouth had been obvious, and Caroline had sighed and felt she had no choice. Engagements had been thin, and the young always wanted to be doing.
Falmouth House in Park Lane was lit up like a great ocean liner, and the queue of cabs, carriages and motor-cars stretched from Marble Arch in one direction to Apsley House in the other, but policemen kept the stream moving, allowing each vehicle only time enough to unload its passengers before moving off.
Rachel had a satisfied smile as they stepped into the entrance hall.
It was good to breathe the atmosphere of a proper ball again, feel the current of excitement, see the stirring movement of pretty-coloured dresses and bare shoulders, the fluttering of fans, the glint of jewels, the quick turns of curled and dressed heads as people looked around for acquaintances or, in the case of debutantes, stared around in wonder.
It was her milieu; she felt at home here.
As soon as they had shed their wrappers and proceeded to the ballroom, she was surrounded by friends – Bessie Richborough, Jane Wallingford, Anne de Grey – and even more welcome, some of her courtiers from last Season: Sir Walter Anson, David Courtlandt, Adrian Vesey and Adam Massingberd.
They laughed, chatted, exchanged gossip comfortably like old friends, and she flowered in their attention.
She hadn’t told anyone about the situation with Angus, so they were relaxed with her as a safely betrothed girl.
She could not bear anyone to know: the whole business was so awkward, so shaming.
It was horrid of Angus to put her in this position.
Sooner or later, she supposed, her coterie would ask why they never saw her and Angus together and something would come out.
But for now she meant to enjoy herself – still the prettiest, still popular, and with the young men vying to fill up her card.
And then as she was laughing at something Adam Massingberd said, a movement of the crowd opened a space through which she saw Angus, fair and handsome in the stark black and white of evening clothes.
She had not expected him, and it was a shock that made her scalp tingle.
He was standing with a female, over whom he seemed to be hovering protectively – at least, that was her instant impression, though a second, steadier glance told her he was bending his head to hear what she was saying, as she was much shorter than him.
And just as he straightened and saw her, and their eyes met, the gap closed and hid him from sight.
Aunt Caroline, who was close at hand, talking to some of her own acquaintance among the chaperones, touched her arm and said, ‘Wasn’t that Angus, dear?’
‘Yes,’ Rachel said, as discouragingly as possible.
‘How nice,’ Caroline said. ‘I wonder that he hasn’t called, since he’s in Town.’
Rachel bit her lip and said nothing, wishing she had at least warned her aunt. But this was not the time or place.
‘I expect he’s been busy with his “job”.
’ Caroline went on, putting careful inverted commas around the word.
‘Of course, it’s not as though he’s a grocer’s assistant.
It’s more like the son of a banker starting his career in his father’s bank.
Not that Mr Cowling is Angus’s father, but you know what I mean.
A banker’s son would not have been thought a suitable match for an earl’s daughter in my day, but I suppose things are different now. Oh, here he is!’
Angus had eased his way through the crowd, and was presenting himself very properly to Aunt Caroline first. He addressed her with formal politeness. ‘Lady Manningtree, how do you do? It’s a pleasant surprise to see you here. I did not expect you to be attending a public ball.’
‘Good evening, Angus. It is in a good cause, otherwise one would not think of it. And you may call me Aunt Caroline.’ He bowed thanks for the compliment. ‘If we had known you were coming, I would have asked you to dine, first.’
He blushed. He was very fair-skinned, so it showed. ‘Thank you, but it would not have been possible for me to accept in any case.’
‘I suppose Mr Cowling keeps you very busy, “Learning the ropes”, is that the expression?’ Aunt Caroline said, conveniently making his excuse for him.
‘There is a very great deal to learn, ma’am, it’s true. And there are several new schemes in hand, which occupy me for long hours every day. You see—’
‘Oh, don’t try to explain, dear – I know nothing about business. But I do know my late husband was often at his desk until late into the evening, and never had time for luncheon.’
‘Very few of us in the business world bother with luncheon, ma’am,’ he said gravely.
‘Quite so, my dear. Well, if you find at some later date that you have time on your hands, do feel free to call.’ She touched the back of his hand with her fan in valediction and turned away to speak to a friend.
Angus turned to Rachel, his expression even graver. ‘Cousin Rachel,’ he said. ‘I need not ask how you are. You look radiant, more beautiful than ever.’
Rachel, pleased with the compliment, wondered if it was an overture to an apology, an attempt at rapprochement.
But he did not smile, even a little bit, and the glow faded.
Perhaps he disapproved, thinking she ought not to look radiant in the circumstances.
And calling her ‘Cousin Rachel’ did not sound placatory.
She offered her hand coolly and said, ‘Mr Tullamore. I’m surprised to see you here.
I thought you worked so hard you had no time for pleasure. ’
‘I am here at the request of my principal. There is a man come to Town, a Mr Canning, with whom Mr Cowling wants to do business, and as he’s brought his wife and daughter with him, Mr Cowling asked me to accompany them to this ball. He thought it would amuse them.’