Chapter Twenty
There would be no Christmas ball at Ashridge Park, as they’d be in mourning.
‘If only we had a proper ballroom,’ Kitty said, ‘we could give one ourselves.’
‘Poor Kitty, deprived of your glory,’ Giles teased.
‘It’s not the glory, it’s the company. I’m so looking forward to Christmas this year, what with Uncle Sebastian and Dory here, and Angus and Rachel will be coming, and I’ve asked Nina and Mr—’ She put a hand to her cheek.
‘Why can’t I remember to call him Lord Wigston?
I’ve asked them and I think they’ll come.
It’s what I’ve always wanted – a big gathering around the table. When I was a child there was only me.’
‘Would you like to ask your farher and stepmother?’ Giles said, taking pity.
‘They wouldn’t come. My stepmother likes to do her own entertaining. And we couldn’t risk her being rude to Dory like last time. But couldn’t we have a hunting party the weekend before Christmas?’
‘I see no reason why not. Who would you invite?’
‘Not too many, just the Massingberds, their two sons and the daughter, and the Denhams and the Ravenscars. Just a nice, neat party of friends. We would be…’ she counted up ‘…eightteen at table.’
‘Ask the Stavesacres as well, and make it an even twenty,’ he said, humouring her.
‘Are you sure? I thought you didn’t like the Stavesacres.’
‘She’s so fashionable she makes my teeth ache, and you know I’d always sooner be just family. But if entertaining makes you happy…’
‘Thank you, Giles. I’ll arrange it all. You won’t have to do anything but eat and drink. I won’t make you dance.’
He laughed. ‘I’ll dance. What sort of a grizzly bear do you think I am? I’m not Lord Shacklock, you know.’
‘What a pity we can’t ask the new Lord Shacklock. I’ve heard he’s a sweet boy.’
‘He’s twenty-six, older than you, but I believe he may be sweet.’
‘Oh, Giles, do you think Louis is old enough to go to the first draw? Giddins could lead him on Goosebumps and take him straight back if they find.’
‘We were so worried when we heard about your accident,’ said Miss Rowsham, as they sat at the first covert, waiting for hounds to be put in. ‘Are you sure you’ve no lingering after-effects?’
‘Only that I still can’t remember a blessed thing about it,’ said Richard. ‘I’ve stopped trying.’
‘But it’s so strange. Do you suppose you came off and hit your head on a stone?’
‘I don’t like that verb, “came off”. Makes me sound like a poor novice.’
‘I wasn’t impugning your horsemanship. One only has to look at you to know you were born in the saddle.’
‘Hmm. I shall take that as a compliment, however it was meant.’
‘Why are you so suspicious of me, Mr Tallant?’
‘Because you have a very satirical tongue, Miss Rowsham.’
‘At any rate, I only meant something might have startled your horse and made him shy and throw you. It could happen to anyone.’
‘My mare is very reliable and never shies. Which brings us back to my being a bad rider. Shall we agree to blame poor Nesta and leave it at that? No use in my cudgelling the poor old brains if they won’t co-operate.’
The word ‘cudgelling’ gave him that odd flash again, of the Grimms’ fairy-story giant, an image there and gone in an instant. He sometimes thought that if he caught its tail and had a good look at it, it might bring his memory back. But he was tired of worrying about it and pushed the idea away.
‘What do you do at Christmas, Miss Rowsham?’
‘Stay at home with my sister and brother-in-law, of course. Be a good aunt to my nephew and nieces. Keep an eye on the servants, make sure everything runs smoothly.’
‘Doesn’t your sister have a housekeeper?’
‘No. She has a butler and a head housemaid, and I fill the gap.’ She made an equivocal face. ‘One likes to be useful.’
‘But you—’ At that moment the field master put up his hand and called for silence, and they had to stop talking.
There was dancing after dinner on the Saturday night.
Kitty could not, sadly, call it a ball, but she invited the Brinklows and the younger Bexleys to come for the evening, so there was a nice young crowd and enough partners for interest. Uncle Sebastian played the piano and Frewing obliged on the fiddle.
Richard danced with Miss Rowsham, and felt how comfortable it was. They had danced together often enough now that they could match each other’s steps and turn at the same moment, and talking or not talking were equally easy.
‘This is so nice,’ she said at one point.
‘Dancing?’ he queried.
‘The atmosphere here, at the Castle. It looks so grand on the outside, but inside it feels comfortable, like a real home.’
‘It must be attributable to my sister-in-law,’ Richard said. ‘It never felt like that when my mother was in charge.’
‘A house takes the character of its mistress,’ Miss Rowsham said.
‘And Ashmore Castle couldn’t have a better mistress than Kitty.’ He looked down at her. ‘I imagine you would give any house you were mistress of a warm character.’
Thank you,’ she said, with a faint blush. ‘But I don’t suppose I’ll ever be mistress of anything but my own bedroom. Lady of the Bedchamber, that’s me.’
And he laughed, but only because he saw she meant him to.
Giles rattled his newspaper into a new shape, glanced out of the carriage window, and said, ‘I really wish you would see a specialist while you’re in London. A blow on the head—’
‘I know. You can’t take any chances with it. I’ve heard it all before.’
‘But it can’t be right that you still don’t remember what happened.’
‘Perhaps I don’t want to. Miss Rowsham all but accused me of falling off my horse like a beginner. Me! The fastest man over timber in all Buckinghamshire.’
Giles smiled and accepted the snub. ‘She’s a pleasant woman, isn’t she? Kitty ought to take her up. I’m sure she doesn’t have much of a life with her sister. And she’s just the sort of woman who’d make a good companion for Kitty.’
‘Oh, Lord! You’ve written her off as spinster lady-companion to some matron, have you?’
‘Not some matron – Kitty! Besides, what else is there for her to do? If you’re worried about her, marry her yourself.’
‘I’m not the marrying kind. And you couldn’t do without me, anyway. I’m your estate agent, in case you’d forgotten.’
‘Well, she could be an estate agent’s wife. We could find you a house in the village, handy for your office. Or you could live at the Castle. Kitty seems intent on collecting relatives like butterflies, the larger the collection the better. She says it’s because she was an only child.’
Richard smiled. ‘You’re very fond of her, aren’t you?’
Giles looked startled. ‘Fond? She is my wife.’
‘Doesn’t always follow. Look at our parents.’
‘So what are you going to do in Town today? I have to see Vogel and our banker.’
‘Dairy business. I’ll call in on Aunt Caroline first, though, do the pretty, and hope to catch Grandmère there. Otherwise I’ll have to fit her in later. You should call on her more often, you know.’
‘Not a bit of it. It’s you she loves. She always looks at me as if I have tragically disappointed her. Will you lunch at the club? I could meet you there.’
‘If I have to go to Bruton Street I’ll probably lunch there with Grandmère. Don’t wait for me. I might not even go down tonight if I don’t get everything done.’
‘Well, don’t overdo it, old chap.’
When Richard got to Berkeley Square, Grandmère wasn’t sitting with Aunt Caroline, but Lord Wigston and Mawes Morris were, and his aunt seemed just to be recovering from a fit of laughter.
‘My dear,’ she greeted Richard. ‘You find me being very well amused by these gentlemen.’
‘Just dropped in as we were passing,’ Wigston said, shaking Richard’s hand.
It was not exactly true. Morris had called on him that morning and he had taken the excuse to get out of the house, knowing that Lady Manningtree would always welcome a visit from the two of them.
He hated to be at outs with Nina, and it was all over these foolish suffragettes, as they were calling themselves now.
He had been relieved when Lady Clemmie had been released early from prison, and assumed that would be the last of her involvement.
He had come home one day and found her visiting Nina for the first time since her incarceration.
‘Clemmie’s been telling me about Holloway,’ Nina told him.
‘We were only in the second division for two days, but it was dreadful,’ Clemmie said.
‘We think of criminals as being dangerous creatures we should fear, but these women were only pathetic. How could they be a danger to anyone? Most of them were old, with sunken cheeks and thin white hair. All of them, even the younger ones, were anxious and careworn, broken down by poverty and overwork. How could we shut them up in that grim fortress?’
‘Well, then, I hope you’ll keep away from activities that might get you arrested again,’ he said.
She had looked at him in surprise. ‘Oh, but we must fight harder than ever to get the vote, so that we can change things,’ she said.
She told him that three further attempts to penetrate Parliament were already being planned for December.
‘We must keep striking while the government is reeling from the first blow.’ She struck her fist into her palm, an incongruously violent gesture for such a gentle woman.
‘But you will not go yourself?’ he said, horrified.
‘They have said I need not, as I was arrested at the first. But I was in prison for such a little time, I feel I must,’ she said calmly.