‘Trying to make me jealous?’ she asked, tucking in a wisp of hair that had escaped her complicated hairdo.
‘Make you jealous?’ Rikki echoed with mock amazement. ‘I wish I could!’
And Ginny realized with a sense of shock that this woman with the heavy makeup and faintly sluttish air had ensnared the elusive Rikki.
‘Ginny’s about the only backing I’ve got at Falcon’s Keep this weather, so I’m rewarding her with coffee and cakes.’
‘Come into the kitchen and we’ll have a cosy chat over something stronger. I know a good sherry, even if I do say so.’ Without waiting for their answer she led the way through swing doors.
The kitchen was steamy and chaotic with waitresses scurrying to and fro and gathering about the seething urns of coffee and tea and shelves of scones and confectionery.
As they entered one of the girls was standing idly leaning against the long table and studying her nails. As she caught sight of Muriel she suddenly became alert and immediately began loading a tray. Evidently the proprietress of the Copper Kettle had her staff well under control, and was not prepared to stand any inefficiency.
Muriel disappeared into an inner room and returned with a bottle and glasses and planked them down on the table. ‘Draw up chairs,’ she said easily, ‘and we’ll let our hair down. Actually I’m glad to get a breather. We’re rather busy this morning, and the girls slack unless you keep them on their toes. ’
‘You believe in keeping people on their toes, don’t you -especially the male sex?’ said Rikki.
Muriel shrugged and filled the glasses. ‘If you’re speaking about yourself, if it weren’t for that snobbish brother of yours we’d have been married ages ago. Luke thinks I’m not good enough for the high-and-mighty Kendricks.’
Rikki shrugged. ‘You know he’s in control of things and he has dug his heels in as far as you’re concerned. But I’m hoping Ginny will exert a softening influence.’ he added lightly.
Muriel gave a raucous laugh, her plump well-formed hands playing with the stem of her glass. ‘I’d certainly like to see this softening campaign in action.’ She considered Ginny carefully for a moment. ‘Though perhaps you’re his type after all. He’d want a wife who would take a back seat and be grateful to mother future little Kendricks in a nice self-effacing ladylike way.’
Ginny flushed at the implication that Muriel had dismissed her as spiritless and acquiescent.
But the older woman leaned across the table and patted Ginny’s hand good-naturedly, as she saw the effect of her careless words. ‘Sorry, kid, you mustn’t take me too seriously, but Luke Kendrick is the type that makes me see red. He looks down his nose at anyone he thinks isn’t good enough for the blue-blooded Kendricks. ’
Ginny, rather appalled at the casual way in which Muriel revealed her affairs, gazed at her helplessly and was glad of the diversion caused by one of the waitresses dropping a plate of sandwiches. The hapless girl was immediately sharply denounced by her employer, and when, at last, Muriel had exhausted her invective, the conversation turned towards other things.
Later, as they drove home, Rikki said with studied casualness, ‘Well, what do you think of my girl-friend? And don’t bother to say she’s an out-going friendly type of person, because anyone with half an eye can see that. I mean, what do you really think?’
As he had left her no opening for evasion, Ginny hesitated before answering. It was true, as he said, there was no mistaking Muriel’s brash high-spirited nature that, apart from her rather brazen good looks, was in itself attractive. But she had reservations as to how a marriage between them would succeed. Somehow she couldn’t see Muriel settling down to the disciplined monotony of life at Falcon’s Keep. It was not likely, she surmised, that Rikki’s marriage would be either peaceful or enduring.
It was impossible, of course, to express this, and she temporized by saying, ‘ Well, actually I know so little about her! We’ve only just met and people can be so different when you get to know them really well.’
‘Sly-boots!’ he said sardonically. ‘You’re only sneaking out now, aren’t you? I suppose you’re like Luke. You feel she’s not just the right type for Falcon’s Keep. Yet, strangely enough, in her own way she’s every bit as tenacious and unyielding as any Kendrick. When she became a widow she started the Copper Kettle on practically nothing, and now it’s a thriving little concern. If you ask me Luke’s attitude stems from nothing but downright snobbery. ’
Ginny glanced at him, troubled by the bitterness which had replaced his former high spirits. ‘You want to marry her very badly, don’t you?’ she said sympathetically.
‘Yes,’ he said abruptly. ‘Yes, as a matter of fact. I do.’ ‘Then why let Luke interfere?’
He frowned, his eyes on the road ahead. ‘My grandfather considers me too frivolous to be in charge of my own financial affairs and has left things in Luke’s hands until I’m twenty-five, and as Luke is completely adamant there’s really nothing I can do at present - but naturally I don’t feel particularly benevolent towards him ruining my life.’
In spite of herself Ginny smiled. It was very hard to think of the gay, insouciant Rikki with a ruined life, and as he drove in through the gates of Falcon’s Keep, expertly manipulating the wheel, she glanced at his thin, reckless face, covertly wondering what lay in store for him as far as his hopes for a marriage to Muriel were concerned.
It was not in Rikki’s nature to be cast down for long. He was humming as the car sped along the avenue - a humming that was abruptly interrupted at the sight of the big sleek car parked under the terrace. ‘Now what on earth made him change his mind about going to town?’ he exclaimed.
Ginny, recognizing Luke’s car, was surprised and annoyed by the distinct pang of apprehension she felt at that moment.
Rikki seemed to echo her reaction as he said with elaborate casualness, ‘Not that it matters, of course, but if Luke should question you, I’d as soon you didn’t mention that we went to the Copper Kettle.’
Ginny glanced at him uncomfortably. It was not in her nature to score where subterfuge or deception were needed. ‘But why?’ she asked.
‘Because,’ Rikki shut off the engine, his face sullen, ‘as I told you, Luke is in charge of the money-bags, and he’d take a dim view of me revealing the family skeleton. ’
‘You mean Muriel?’ Ginny was still puzzled.
‘Yes, I do mean Muriel,’ he said angrily. ‘The plain truth is that he doesn’t feel she’s good enough for the Kendricks, and he’d simply hate to think that you were being let into our sordid secrets.’
As Ginny’s eyes widened at this remark, he added, ‘If you ask me, he’s got family pride on the brain.’
She sat still for a moment considering this. Somehow it didn’t ring quite true and there was a certain evasiveness about his manner that made her confused and uncertain as to what line she ought to take if she should be questioned by Luke concerning her activities.
‘You go ahead and I’ll drive around to the courtyard,’ Rikki said, biting his lips in vexation, ‘and remember what I told you. You went with me into Netley, but we didn’t go to the Copper Kettle.’
Ginny nodded, and feeling nervous and apprehensive walked up the steps of the terrace. Perhaps, she thought, Luke wouldn’t be in the hall and she would be able to slip up to the
Peacock Room by the back stairs.
Feeling angry with herself for the hesitant way in which she had almost tiptoed into the hall, she made her way as quietly as she could towards the passage that led to the back of the house and the service staircase. She was on the point of congratulating herself on succeeding in remaining undetected when a tall figure loomed up in the library door and Ginny started nervously.
‘I always seem to startle you, Ginny. Why?’ Luke asked coldly.
‘I - I thought you’d be in town by this time,’ she stammered.
‘It happens I had to return for some papers I had left in the library. It is true, then, that you
were trying to evade me?’ he pursued.
‘Evade you?’ Ginny tried to draw herself together and put a tone of injured innocence into her voice. ‘Why should I?’
‘Perhaps because Rikki has already briefed you. He so seldom does anything that is entirely motiveless that I suspect when he drove you in the direction of Netley the trip was not entirely innocent. ’
‘But how did you know we’d gone towards Netley?’ she asked with an ingenuousness that made him glance at her with new interest and curiosity.
‘Mrs. Hingston keeps me au fait with the happenings at Falcon’s Keep and, according to her, you drove off with Rikki shortly after your interview with my grandfather.’
‘Do you mean she was spying on us?’ Ginny asked hotly.
‘Not exactly spying,’ he answered coldly, ‘simply doing what she’s paid to do, assisting me to keep Rikki from making too big a fool of himself. ’
‘I can’t see what business it is of yours,’ she said crossly. ‘At least, my actions are no concern of yours.’ ‘That’s just where you’re wrong. As long as you’re under my roof I expect you to try at least to conduct yourself with
decorum. ’
Ginny almost spluttered with rage. ‘How dare you!’ she exclaimed. ‘Just because we went to the Copper Kettle—!’ she stopped and could have bitten her tongue out as she saw his face cloud angrily.
‘So I was right! He did take you to see that woman?’
‘She’s not a “woman.” You make her sound horrible and mercenary. She’s simply a nice jolly sort of person - the right sort of person for Rikki!’
‘And who are you to know what’s best for Rikki? You seem to forget you’re a newcomer here and, in spite of your diluted Kendrick blood, can have no possible excuse to interfere with our affairs.’
‘Oh, Rikki is right,’ she snapped, stamping furiously. ‘You are a snob!’ And without waiting to see his reactions she turned and ran towards the service stairs. She had felt tears of rage fill her eyes and she wanted to gain the Peacock Room before they spilled over and disgraced her in front of this cold derisive creature.
To her dismay she saw Mrs. Hingston advancing down the corridor as she gained the top of the stairs. She hastily brushed the tears away and was uncomfortably aware that the housekeeper was regarding her with faint surprise and disapproval.
‘There’s no need for you to come up these stairs, Miss Lovelace,’ she said. ‘They’re used only by myself and the girls. Guests,’ she emphasized the word, ‘usually use the front staircase.’
‘Yes, of course, I know,’ Ginny stammered, miserably aware that she should have been able to dismiss Mrs. Hingston with calm self-possession, but was failing utterly.
Her spirits were not raised, when, later in the day, Rikki waylaid her, demanding, ‘Must you be such a little goody-goody, and spill the beans to Luke about the trip to Netley?’
His handsome face was sullen and Ginny said guiltily, ‘I couldn’t help it. He asked me directly.’
‘And you always tell the truth!’ he said. ‘Couldn’t you have side-stepped the issue a bit?’
‘I’m not very good about side-stepping things,’ Ginny confessed a little ruefully.
‘Well, you should learn,’ he said crossly. ‘Luke is simply furious. Fact is, he regards Muriel as the scarlet woman and he probably thinks I’ve contaminated your sweet innocence by taking you down to the Copper Kettle.’
‘But that’s ridiculous,’ Ginny protested. ‘I don't believe he really cares one way or the other where I go or what I do.’
‘Quite the contrary,’ Rikki rejoined. ‘He kept on about how I should keep my private life to myself and not drag you into it and what a bad influence Muriel would have, etcetera, etcetera. ’
‘How dare he!’ Ginny spluttered. ‘My life is my own business. If he thinks he can bully me—’
‘Oh he thinks that, all right,’ Rikki grinned suddenly. ‘Luke bullies everyone - for their own good, of course.’ And he strolled away, humming tunelessly, his good nature restored.
CHAPTER FOUR
IN the days that followed, Ginny found herself establishing a precarious foothold in the Kendrick household. She learned to value her occasional conversations with old Nicholas Kendrick and his unfailing courtesy and counted herself lucky that she had not again fallen foul of Luke. Rikki continued to be a good-natured, undemanding companion in the moments he had to spare from his ill-starred infatuation with Muriel
Johnson. Ginny gathered from hints he dropped that he now found himself confronted with a rival - a rival who was in a position to offer marriage, and Rikki was not so mesmerized as to be unaware that Muriel was not a woman who would wait for him for ever.
The comparatively placid existence Ginny was now leading was rudely shattered one evening by Mrs. Hingston, who said abruptly, ‘I suppose Mr. Luke has told you that Mrs. Clifford and her daughter are arriving tomorrow. ’
‘Tomorrow?’ Ginny echoed blankly. Somehow the solicitor’s information that a Mrs. Clifford and her actress daughter had also decided to accept Nicholas Kendrick’s invitation had receded into the background of her mind. For some reason or other it gave her a sense of shock that she was being first informed of the news by the housekeeper.
A faint smile of triumph touched Mrs. Hingston’s lips as she observed Ginny’s surprise. She’s glad, Ginny thought miserably, that Luke hasn’t told me. It’s a sign to her that I’m still an outsider.
‘Yes,’ the housekeeper pursued, ‘they’re arriving by the morning train. The reason I brought the subject up is that I’m sure you won’t mind doing your room in future. The arrival of Mrs. and Miss Clifford will add to the work and we’re understaffed as it is.’ She refrained from adding that the understaffing was directly due to her own jealousy and possessiveness, Ginny thought.
But if the housekeeper had intended to humiliate Ginny by this request she was mistaken, for Ginny immediately acquiesced eagerly. ‘Oh, but I’d love to,’ she said. ‘The furniture is so beautiful. It will be fun shining up the carvings.’ It was the housekeeper who now looked annoyed. ‘I’m sorry you don’t consider it properly dusted, but we simply haven’t the time. These old houses are very troublesome to keep in order, you know, and young girls don’t go in for domestic service the way they used to.’
‘Oh, I didn’t mean that,’ Ginny hastened to say —’
as usual anxious to placate this unbending woman. ‘But I like to feel that I’m some use and am contributing something to the household. ’
Mrs. Hingston nodded regally. ‘In that case you’ll find dusters and polishes downstairs. If you come down to the kitchen in the morning one of the girls will show you where they’re kept.’ She swept on, her figure rigid in her worn black dress, and Ginny walked slowly along the corridor to her room.
She felt depressed and humiliated that Luke had not thought her sufficiently intimate in the family to be worthy of being informed of the Cliffords’ arrival on the following day. The sharing of the news would, to a certain extent, have made them allies, but he was determined to keep her out.
She opened the door and for once found the shadowed grandeur oppressive. She felt small and insignificant as she stood in the middle of the vast room with its long tapestry hangings and ancient furniture. She had no part in this life. It was time she realized it. As far as Luke Kendrick was concerned she was no more than an incubus, but passing, fortunately! Someone whom he had to endure until his grandfather became bored with his latest hobby and made it plain that her presence was no longer desirable. If it wasn’t for the restraining influence of his grandfather Luke’s attitude would be even more antagonistic, she felt sure.
During dinner that evening she glanced covertly at Luke. Old Nicholas Kendrick dined alone in his room, so there were only Luke, Rikki and herself at the gleaming oak table with the portraits of long-defunct Kendricks regarding them from the shadowed walls. Rikki was in good spirits, ignoring the fact that Luke sat at the top of the table wit
h compressed lips, withdrawn and remote.
As Rikki chatted cheerfully, Ginny rather envied him his chameleon-like ability to change moods, for she herself was oppressed by the high gloomy room and by the atmosphere of disapproval that emanated from Luke.
‘By the way,’ Rikki was saying, ‘what if this Anthea Clifford turns out to be a stunner? I expect she’ll get on swimmingly with Grandfather. He has a taste for the exotic, and it will certainly be unusual for an actress to be living beneath this venerable roof. ’
‘We’d better accustom ourselves to the unusual,’ Luke said dryly, laying down his glass. ‘After all, these situations were bound to arise once Grandfather began riding this latest hobby-horse of his.’ He didn’t deign to glance in Ginny’s direction, but she flushed at the implication of his words. She, too, was considered a misfit under the staid and stately roofs of Falcon’s Keep.
Rikki, however, seemed to be happily unaware of any unpleasant overtones. ‘Oh, I expect it’ll cheer us all up a bit,’ he said brightly. ‘We’re much too conventional. It’s time there was a breath of fresh air blowing through the old mausoleum.’
‘I wouldn’t consider you a particularly conventional person,’ Luke said dryly, ‘and, as far as I am concerned, I am prepared to put up with the Cliffords until Grandfather’s enthusiasm abates a little. No doubt they’ll have the good taste to realize that they shouldn’t outstay their welcome.’
Ginny felt herself shrink with mortification and wretchedly longed for the meal to end.
Rikki, however, ignored the savagery of his brother’s retort. ‘I don’t suppose a busy tycoon like yourself will have time to go down and meet them?’ he asked cheerfully, obviously anticipating a negative answer.
Luke peeled a tangerine with cold precision. ‘No, you’re right, I shan’t have the time. Anyway,’ he added, smiling faintly, ‘a great many actresses aren’t as beautiful as you seem to imagine. Be careful you don’t get an unpleasant surprise.’
‘Oh, I’m rather an optimist as far as the visitors are concerned,’ Rikki said cheerfully. ‘After all, look at Ginny! But to keep to the subject,’ he added hastily as Luke pointedly ignored Ginny, ‘as you’re not going to meet them I suppose you’ll have no objection if Ginny and I trot down to the station as a sort of welcoming committee?’
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