Daughters of England

by Philippa Carr

  Luke might be delighted to be here…but was I?

  I yawned. I would become accustomed to it, I supposed. It was interesting. Full of history, as I had heard. It was exciting. Oh yes, it was just that this was my first night in a new place.

  I felt calmer after such consideration and in a short time I was asleep.

  I awoke startled. The moonlight was streaming into the room. It was still night. Something had awakened me. What? I asked myself. Someone was in the room.

  My heart was beating fast. I sat up in bed and said, rather hoarsely, “Who is there?”

  There was silence in the room. I listened, but all I could hear was the heavy beating of my own heart.

  I thought I heard a footstep. It was close.

  I said again: “Who is it?”

  There was no response. I got out of bed and looked around me. Then I noticed that the door was slightly ajar.

  I knew I had shut it before I had got into the bed. I had made quite sure of it.

  I went to it and looked out. I saw the spiral staircase at the other end of the corridor where there was another leading upwards. There was no sign of anyone.

  But I knew someone had come into my room. The open door assured me of that.

  Who? Why?

  I thought immediately of Lady Rosslyn’s cold, hard face, her look of contempt before she had forced it into one of indifference. Impossible. She was crippled…unable to walk.

  I went back into my room and firmly shut the door. I stood for a moment leaning against it. It was strange…uncanny. Who had come into my room while I slept, and for what purpose?

  I longed to be back in the Dower House. I wanted to talk to Christobel.

  I went back to bed. I lay there, alert, listening for the sound of a step in the corridor, the slow cautious opening of the door.

  No one came, and it was almost six of the clock before I fell at last into a doze.

  Amy’s tap at the door awoke me the next morning. I started up in panic. That experience last night was still with me.

  “Good morning, Mistress,” she said. “I trust you slept well.”

  I said: “Thank you, Amy.” I could not tell her that I had scarcely slept at all.

  She brought me hot water. I washed, put on a riding habit and went downstairs. One of the first things I would do would be to ride over to Christobel and tell her of my impressions and experience in the mansion.

  Luke was already down in the dining room, sitting at the table eating.

  “What a fantastic place!” he said, his eyes shining.

  “Did you sleep well?” I asked.

  “But of course. I had a wonderful room in one of the towers. Octagonal, an odd shape for a room, with slit-like windows. I suppose they used to pour down boiling oil from them on their enemies.”

  “That would surely have been from the battlements,” I said.

  I felt quite hungry, so I helped myself to bread and meat and a flagon of ale.

  Sebastian came in. He told us that he was going to show us part of the house—the part we lived in. He could tell us quite a few facts about it.

  “You cannot take it in all at once,” he said. “It’s vast, like a village, really. I do not yet know all those who serve us. There are so many. But I am learning much.”

  “It must be fascinating,” said Luke enviously.

  “I’ll show you something of it this morning if you like. Had you plans?”

  “I was hoping to go over to see Christobel, and perhaps go to Featherston.”

  “You can do those things this afternoon,” said Sebastian.

  “I am looking forward to getting to know the house,” said Luke.

  It was a long tour and very interesting. But I was thinking all the time of Lady Rosslyn, who was somewhere in this house, and wondering who it was who had come to my room last night.

  I could not ask Sebastian. He would have no idea who it could have been. He would dismiss it as fancy, doubtless. I supposed many would. So I gave my attention to the house and learned of its history, how King Edward IV had stayed here with his mistress, Jane Shore, the goldsmith’s wife, and other ladies at other times.

  “He was a good king, but a little like our present Majesty, devoted to the ladies. Odd, is it not, how these kings live their rather—shall we say—dissolute lives, yet serve their country well. Whereas poor Henry VI was a real saint, and look where he led his country…into war. And the same with His Majesty’s father…though perhaps we are too close to speak of these matters. Well, his present Majesty, for all that can be said, is hardly a virtuous man, as he would be the first to admit, yet he keeps us at peace, while his father, a faithful husband and a man bent on doing good, led us to war and lost his own head and brought to his family years of royal wandering in the wilderness—or rather on the Continent, living in exile, hoping to regain the throne.”

  And so we wandered through the house, up spiral staircases to the top of towers, looking right down to the ground, many feet below. We saw that spot where one lady of the noble house had thrown herself to her death because her husband no longer loved her, and looked across to the Devil’s Tower, where another had been walled up because she had dallied with a lover.

  In a house such as this, such legends lived on.

  No wonder that the first night anyone spent in it was a restless one. The place was drenched in memories of past tragedies.

  “That is the east wing of the house,” Sebastian told me. “Lady Rosslyn has her apartments there. She always keeps to that part of the house. It is almost like separate households. And now she is there with her cousin, Mistress Galloway, who has been with her for years. I think she prefers to live apart from everyone. I dare say Lord Rosslyn visits her from time to time, but I have spoken with her only once or twice.”

  “It seems so strange. She is Lady Rosslyn, and yet there are two households.”

  Sebastian shrugged his shoulders.

  “Perhaps it has been decided that it is better that way. Now Lady Rosslyn is confined to her couch. As I said, it is like a separate household, and, as you will have seen, this house is big enough to make that possible.”

  So we continued our tour of the house.

  I thought: It is only the strangeness of it all that makes me feel uncertain.

  Luke was different. There was no doubt that he was delighted to be here.

  That afternoon I rode over to see Christobel.

  She greeted me with delight. She had changed since her marriage. Her face had softened considerably and she was obviously pleased with life.

  “Now tell me,” she said, when we were settled in the charming room overlooking the garden, which she herself was tending with care. “How do you like living at the grand ancestral home?”

  “I am not sure yet. I have really had so little experience of it.”

  “So it has not overwhelmed you yet?”

  “No.”

  “You sound a little regretful.”

  “I was very happy at the Dower House, and of course also at Maggie’s.”

  “And not at Rosslyn Manor?”

  “It is early yet. Christobel, there is a rather eerie atmosphere about the place.”

  “It is always so, with old houses. So much has happened there, and the past clings and will not be dismissed. There will certainly have been tragedies over the years, and such things are remembered more than the happy times, I’ll warrant. But you are happy…to be there, under your father’s roof?”

  “He is not like an ordinary father. All those years, I did not know him.”

  “I always thought you had a respect for him. And one good thing he did. He brought us together. I like him for that.”

  “Oh, so do I, Christobel. We shall be friends forever.”

  “If it is in my power, so be it. Has it occurred to you that he might have plans for you?”

  “What plans?”

  “Well, you are almost a young lady now. A few more months and you will be standing on the
threshold of adventure.”

  “You mean…my father will find a husband for me? Christobel, I would rather find my own.”

  “Oh, but you are the daughter of Lord Rosslyn, and even if you did not become so by the most conventional of methods, you are still his daughter.”

  “Perhaps he will think of his own marriage. That was arranged for him, and it was not the most satisfactory of marriages.”

  “People always believe that the way they arrange things will be perfect.”

  “I shall be firm and strong. I shall be as you are, Christobel. After all, you more or less brought me up, did you not? I am a little like you, you know.”

  “But I was only the daughter of an impoverished gentleman.”

  “And I am only the natural daughter of Lord Rosslyn. No, I shall choose for myself.”

  “You speak with such conviction that I ask myself if you have already chosen?”

  “Matrimony is not uppermost in my mind, and what I wanted to tell you about was a strange thing that happened during the night.”

  “Last night? Your first at Rosslyn Manor?”

  “Yes. I couldn’t sleep.”

  “Natural enough. Your first night in the grand old mansion. Creaking boards…dark alcoves…just the sort of house where ghosts would lurk. Was there not someone who threw herself from one of the towers, and wasn’t there that unfortunate girl who was built into the walls?”

  “That was in the Devil’s Tower.”

  “Of course. Where Kirk hid when that obnoxious Oates man was prowling around. That was an alarming time, was it not? Well, ghosts have their uses when a place like the Devil’s Tower can be used. But what about this nightly adventure?”

  “As you’ve guessed, I could not sleep…but I dozed after a while, and then I was awake. Something had startled me. Christobel, someone had come into my room.”

  “You must have dreamed it.”

  “No. The door was open. I think someone was there, looking at me. I awoke and whoever it was slipped out by the door and did not close it. I thought I heard a step in the corridor, but when I looked out there was no one there.”

  “You must have forgotten to close the door completely. It moved and awakened you, and because you were a little overexcited to find yourself in such grand, antique surroundings, you thought someone was there.”

  “I do not believe that.”

  “But who would want to inspect you by night, when they would have a good chance of doing so by daylight?”

  “I do not know. That is why it was rather mysterious…a little unsettling.”

  “Well, whoever it was scuttled off when there was a chance of being discovered. The easiest explanation is that the door was not closed properly. Many things in those old houses are a little faulty. Have they not been in place for many years? Forget it. Go to bed tonight and get some untroubled sleep. Life has become exciting for you. You are acknowledged. Maggie will be delighted, I am sure. You will often have exciting times, I’ll swear, because your father will not want to keep you in the country. He will take you to London. I’ll swear you will be presented to the King. My dear, dear Kate. You have become very grand. Soon you will not deign to visit my lord’s estate manager’s wife.”

  “That will never be so,” I said indignantly. “It will always be one of my greatest pleasures.”

  “Bless you,” said Christobel happily. “I know it will.”

  After I had left Christobel I rode over to Featherston Manor.

  I was told that Kirkwell was working in his office, so I went there. I said: “Kirk, you are busy. It is a difficult time.”

  “Never too busy to see you, Kate,” he said. “Come in and tell me all about it.”

  “You mean first impressions and so on. Well, it is rather an awe-inspiring place.”

  “And you are regretting leaving the Dower House?”

  “It wouldn’t have been the same without Christobel. I have just left her.”

  “She is very happy,” he said. “James is a fine fellow.”

  “It was wonderful that they met. I saw it coming for some time. Did you?”

  “Oh yes, it was obvious. I am so glad.” He looked at me a little wistfully. “But of course it has brought about this change for you, though I dare say you would have gone up to Rosslyn Manor at some time…even if not just yet.”

  “Yes, it was bound to mean change.”

  “Oh, Kate, I wish you were not there. It is going to change everything. If your father has plans for you…I mean, if he is going to take you into grand society…you will not see very much of your old friends.”

  “Of course I shall. You, Christobel and James…you will always be my best friends.”

  He looked a little sad.

  “Don’t forget us, will you, Kate?”

  “What nonsense! As if I would!” I paused and, because I felt emotional, I went on quickly, “How is everything going here?”

  “Do you know, I am beginning to feel gratified. My work has not been in vain. We are becoming…well, scarcely prosperous, but shall I say, showing signs of improvement.”

  “That’s wonderful. You’ve worked so hard.”

  “It is very gratifying. It seems that everything is working according to plan. Then this happens, and you go to Rosslyn Manor, and I’m a little anxious about that.”

  I laid my hand on his arm, and he took it and kept it firmly in his.

  “Don’t be,” I said. “What are you worried about?”

  “That you will change. That you won’t be our Kate any more, you’ll be a grand lady. Your father will have plans for you.”

  I laughed.

  “Nonsense,” I said. “Whatever happens, I shall always be your Kate.”

  Amy and I were becoming good friends. She confessed to me that she had never been in such a grand place before, and she couldn’t believe her ears when she was told she was going to be my maid.

  “And when I saw you were only a girl…beg pardon, Mistress Kate, but you are young.”

  I laughed. “You thought you were going to have some haughty lady, and found it was someone of your own age who was as new to the house as you were. I had been living at the Dower House for a long time.”

  “Yes, I know that now, Miss. I did not know it when I was told. Mistress Clancy, the housekeeper, only told me I was to look after his lordship’s daughter, and that sounded very grand.”

  “Well, now you see that there is nothing to be afraid of.”

  She had in a few days become my friend. She was determined to look after me in every possible way, and I was glad of her.

  I felt lonely. My father had gone away; and Luke seemed different. He was obsessed by the house, learning all he could about it. He was often in Sebastian’s company. I was a little alarmed, for there were times when I caught a slight resentment in him when his gaze fell on Sebastian. I hoped Sebastian was not aware of it.

  From Amy I gleaned certain information about the household—quite different from the kind sought by Luke.

  I learned about the people who inhabited the house.

  There was an army of servants. It was inevitable with a place of that size. Many of them had been there for years, as their parents had before them. Sebastian had said that Rosslyn Manor was like a village, and I saw now how very right he had been.

  Besides the grooms, who lived in the stables which were very extensive, there were the servants who lived in the tower and many others who had cottages on the estate, and most of those who worked in the grounds and gardens. There was also the home farm, which supplied most of the household’s needs.

  It was from Amy that I learned more about Lady Rosslyn.

  I often wondered whether I talked too much of this, but the relationship between Amy and myself was not the usual one between mistress and maid, perhaps because of our ages and the fact that I was no more used to this way of life than she was. In any case, it removed any barrier between us that there might have been.

  Everyone knew,
of course, of the nature of the relationship between the master and mistress of the house. For years they had lived what was referred to as “separate lives.” In such a house it was conveniently possible for there to be two separate households, and it had been thus for many years.

  “There is talk about it in the kitchens,” said Amy. “It has all come up again because you and Master Luke have come here.”

  “What do they say about that?” I asked.

  “That the mistress don’t like it and that she knows…even though she can’t speak much, or if she does, it is only Mistress Galloway who knows what she is saying.”

  Amy was a little hesitant at first, wondering whether she ought to be talking to me thus, just as I asked myself whether, as my father’s daughter, I should be having such conversations with a maid.

  But, because we were both young and inexperienced in what should and should not be done, the conversations continued.

  I was very eager to know about Lady Rosslyn. I felt she had played an important part in my life. It was simple enough to believe that her relations with her husband had led to my father’s entanglement with my mother—and, of course, that concerned my very existence. Moreover, I wanted to know, and I did not care enough about the etiquette of behavior if it were going to bar my way to knowledge.

  So I learned by degrees that there had always been this aloof relationship between my father and his wife. They each behaved as though the other did not exist, except on those occasions—traditional functions and so on—when they had to appear together. But that was in the past. There would be no more of those now.

  For some years now Mistress Galloway had lived with Lady Rosslyn. She was a cousin. They had been brought up together and were like sisters.

  It appeared that Mistress Galloway had become a widow and had been left in straitened circumstances. Lady Rosslyn had invited her to come and live at Rosslyn Manor with her, and this she had done. They were close as two peas in a pod, Amy told me, and always had been. Mistress Galloway made a goddess of Lady Rosslyn, thinking nothing but good of her, and she couldn’t abide his lordship, because she blamed him for everything.