by Eva Ibbotson
Downstairs, Mrs Park sat in her clean apron and waited. Waited for ten minutes, for twenty, her eyes on the bell board, while hope and confidence and anticipation slowly drained away.
Until Proom himself, believing concealment to be impossible, came down and broke the news.
6
The night after the engagement party, Anna could not sleep. She had been on her feet from six in the morning until midnight, and even then Miss Hardwicke had expected her to wait up and help her into bed. By the time she reached her attic, Anna was in that state of exhaustion in which sleep, though desperately desired, is impossible to reach.
For a while she endured the heat and stuffiness of the little room, tossing and turning in the narrow bed. Then she gave up, slipped back the covers, and throwing a cotton shawl over her shoulders, began to creep quietly downstairs.
On the second floor landing she stopped abruptly. Here the back staircase crossed a panelled corridor on which were a series of small guest rooms used for visitors who came for shooting parties: simple, bachelor rooms that she had hardly seen.
And from behind the door of one of these had come the sound of someone moaning, as though in pain.
But who? Surely the rooms were empty? And then she remembered. The earl had moved into the end one temporarily while the grand master suite was being spring-cleaned for the wedding.
The sound came again: a low cry, followed by a spate of indistinguishable words. And, hesitating no longer, Anna pushed open the door.
By a shaft of moonlight coming from the uncurtained window she could make out a tousled head on the pillow. The Earl of Westerholme was groaning. He was also fast asleep. In familiar country now, Anna moved over to the bed and switched on the lamp. Then she leant over and shook her employer’s shoulders.
‘Wake up,’ she said. ‘Please wake up. Completely.’
Rupert opened his eyes, but the slim figure in white with the heavy braids of hair made no sense to him.
‘It is very foolish to sleep on your back,’ Anna said firmly. ‘It is always foolish, but when you have been in a war it is foolish beyond belief.’
The earl looked at her with unfocused eyes. He put out a hand and as he found hers, small-boned, infinitely flexible and rough as sandpaper, recognition came.
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘You. Of course.’ Then, suddenly ashamed, ‘I’m sorry. A nightmare . . .’
‘What was it about?’
The earl shook his head.
‘Yes,’ said Anna firmly. ‘You must tell me. I always made Petya tell me his dreams and then he was better.’
‘Who is Petya?’
‘My brother. He used to see anarchists on the ceiling. There was an icon lamp in his nursery which threw shadows. Tell me about your dream.’
‘It’s always the same. It’s after the crash . . . I was a pilot in the war, you see.’
She nodded. ‘I know.’
‘I’m in the tree . . . hanging,’ Rupert went on, speaking with difficulty, ‘and he’s down there on the grass, dry grass like Africa, and the flames are crackling. He’s on fire, burning like a rick. I try to get to him. I have to.’
‘Who is he?’
‘Johnny Peters. My navigator. I’m responsible for him.’
‘And then?’
‘I struggle and struggle, but the cords of the parachute are tangled round my neck and I know if I cry out . . . If I warn him, the flames will go out and I try to call but nothing comes.’
Anna’s work-roughened hand still rested in his. ‘Was it really like that?’
‘Yes . . . No . . . A little. He was burned earlier, in the plane. The flames weren’t like that. It was muddy . . . a turnip field. The flames are a pyre.’
‘Yes, I see. All men dream like that, I suppose, after a war. Women, too,’ she added ruefully. ‘It will be better when you are married.’ Suddenly she freed her hand and said eagerly: ‘Of course! How stupid I am! I will fetch Miss Hardwicke – she will want to be with you.’
‘No!’ Rupert was wide awake now, sitting up. ‘Good heavens, no! It would be most improper.’
‘Improper?’ said Anna, shocked. ‘She will not think of that when you are troubled.’
‘Anna, I forbid it,’ said the earl. ‘I’m all right now. I’m fine.’ But as she made as if to go he said pleadingly, like a child, ‘Stay a little longer. Tell me about your father.’
She smiled, her face tender in the lamplight. ‘I wish you had known him. He could make just being alive seem like an act of triumph. People used to smile when they saw him coming . . . he made everything all right.’ She swallowed. ‘He was in the Chevalier Guards,’ she went on, letting pride overcome caution. ‘It was one of the tsar’s crack regiments. When the revolution came the men mutinied and killed their own officers, so we tried to be glad that . . . he died when he did.’
‘What was his name?’
‘Peter Grazinsky. He was a good man and he hated war.’ She jumped up. ‘And now I’ll make you a hot drink and then—’
‘No, please. I don’t want a drink. Just stay a little longer.’ One of her thick braids had come unplaited at the ends and he was reminded, foolishly, of the fronded bracken he had uncurled with his fingers as a boy. ‘Tell me about yourself. Where were you born?’
Relieved by the impersonality of the question, she said, ‘In St Petersburg. I can never think of it as Petrograd.’
‘Ah, yes. The city built on the bones of a thousand serfs.’
‘Yes, it was built by Peter’s dream and many people suffered for it. But it is not a sad city. The streets are so wide and the houses are such lovely colours: apricot and moss green and that colour that is like coffee with cream in it, you know? And everywhere there is water. The Neva, of course, and the canals, the Moika, the Fontanka . . . so that it’s as if there were mirrors everywhere and one can see two cities with golden domes, one floating over the other.’
‘Go on. Tell me about the snow.’
She smiled. ‘Ah, yes, the snow . . . We were always happy when the snow came, isn’t that ridiculous? But it made everything so smooth and quiet and . . . joined together. The whole city became one thing and the sledges were so swift and silent after the rattling of the droshkies. And in the country it was even better. We used to wait for the cranes to fly south and then we knew that in a very few days the snow would come. It has to fall three times before it lies, did you know that? The first fall melts and the second – but the third, that stays.’
She fell silent, her eyes full of memories, and Rupert, setting a trap for her, said quietly: ‘Qu’est-ce qui vous manque le plus?’
She frowned, thinking. Then, in a French more fluent and better accented than his own, she answered: ‘La sensation d’immensité, probablement. La Russie est si enorme que cela change tout.’
‘Yes.’ He could see that she might miss just those things: the sheer size of a land, its limitless skies, and the breadth of vision that such size might bring. And she had not even noticed the change of language!
Prompted by some demon to destroy the confidence he had carefully built up, he took hold of her wrist and said: ‘Do you realize if this were two hundred years ago I could keep you here? Exercise my droit de seigneur. What would you do then?’
‘I should scream,’ said Anna, disengaging her wrist. She got up and went lightly to the door, then she turned and said, grinning, ‘I ’ope!’ – and was gone.
The following day was a Sunday and the family had the pleasure of hearing Mr Morland read the banns and of introducing Muriel to those members of the congregation who had not managed to get a glimpse of her as she drove from the station. The future countess, in a Nile green satin suit and pearls, seemed relaxed and serene and bowed most graciously to her parishioners as she walked down the aisle. The earl, on the other hand, looked tired – but then he hadn’t been long out of hospital and men were always nervous about weddings.
It was also noted that very few Mersham servants were present. The dowager, unlik
e many employers, was not in the habit of marshalling her staff on a compulsory church parade. Today, most of the regulars had decided they could serve God best by staying at home and succouring Mrs Park.
The gentle cook had had a sleepless night and now sat like a broken-stemmed flower, reproaching herself, while Win, devoted and uncomprehending, tried to ply her with cups of tea.
‘It’s my fault; I should have found out,’ said Mrs Park. ‘Signor Manotti wouldn’t have done a thing like that.’
‘Give over, Jean, do,’ said James, abandoning protocol to use, for once, her Christian name. ‘Why, you know Signor Manotti had the brandy uncorked and half a pint in the bowl before ‘e even thought what he was going to cook.’
‘I just don’t know what to do,’ said Mrs Park in a low voice. ‘It’s everything, you see. No syllabub ’cos of the sherry, no jugged hare ’cos of the wine. No trifle, no crepes Suzettes . . . No beef stews, no coq au vin . . . Why, even Welsh Rarebit’s got ale in it.’
And as she sat there, seeing the whole rich vocabulary of dishes she had striven so hard to learn brought suddenly to nought, a large tear gathered in Mrs Park’s round, blue eyes and rolled slowly, unheeded, down her cheek.
It was too much for the others. ‘But she will not want you not to cook most beautifully for everyone else!’ cried Anna. ‘It is impossible that she does not want others to eat as they wish. It will only be necessary to prepare something extra that has no alcohol in it for her, and as she is very rich and there are many more people to help you, this will not matter.’
‘Anna’s right,’ said James. ‘Don’t you remember old Lady Byrne? She was a Quaker, never touched a drop herself but kept one of the best tables in the country.’
But Mrs Park was not to be consoled. Though trained by a great international chef, she belonged to the old-fashioned country tradition which bound a good cook, by a thread of skill and understanding, to the mistress of the house. Muriel’s rejection had left her desolate.
‘I’ll have to give in my notice, Mr Proom,’ she said. But even as she spoke, she looked at Win standing hunched and bewildered by the range. At the orphanage they had said Win was unemployable. ‘Defective’ was the word they used – a word that made no sense to Mrs Park, whose patient, loving kindness had turned the girl into a second pair of hands. But would a newcomer be able to take her on? If she herself left Mersham, what would become of Win?
And worn out by strain and sleeplessness and disappointment, Mrs Park let her head fall on her arms, and sobbed.
‘So these are your ancestors?’ said Muriel, looking with pleasure and interest at the serried ranks of Westerholmes in the long gallery.
Returning from church, she had found laid out for her a simple dress of blue linen which matched the colour of her eyes. She had taken the hint and also allowed Anna to arrange her golden hair in a low chignon. Steering her through the armoury, the library and the music room, Rupert thought he had never seen her look fresher or more beautiful and his misgivings of the previous night vanished in the sunlight. Of course Muriel would fit in at Mersham, of course she would love his people and his home.
‘Yes, those are the Westerholmes and the women fool enough to marry them,’ he said, smiling. ‘That’s Timothy Frayne, who founded the family fortune in all sorts of disreputable ways. And that’s his son, James – he was the first earl. James was one of the fair, roistering Fraynes, always in trouble! Then this one’s William – he’s one of the other kind, dark and dreamy. William landscaped the park and furnished the music room – music was his passion. And George here is a throwback to James – a devil with the women and always getting into scrapes. My brother was like him, they said.’
‘And you’re like William,’ said Muriel, looking at the scholarly face above the lace collar. ‘Goodness, who’s this one? He looks very strange!’
Rupert grinned. ‘That’s our black sheep, Sir Montague Frayne. He was a cousin of the fourth earl’s. He’s the only one of my ancestor’s who’s had the distinction of becoming a fully fledged ghost.’
‘Really?’ Muriel’s tone was not encouraging. ‘What did he do?’
‘He murdered his wife’s lover,’ said Rupert, looking at the wild-eyed young courtier nonchalantly posed with one hand on his hip. ‘Or the man he believed to be his wife’s lover: a young architect who built the Temple of Flora and the gothic folly in the woods.’
‘And where does he do his haunting?’ said Muriel, humouring her fiancé, for she did not, naturally, believe in ghosts.
‘Oh, not in the house. Out in the folly where the dark deed was done. It’s quite a big place, a sort of tower with three rooms one on top of the other with a dome on the top. No one uses it now and it’s kept padlocked. The servants swear he howls and wails in repentance, and of course no one will go near it in the dark.’
‘One must allow for foolishness and superstition in the uneducated classes,’ said Muriel.
‘Yes, I suppose one must,’ said Rupert, a little bleakly.
He looked at his watch. In an hour, Potter would be back with the mare. The excitement in the groom’s voice on the telephone had told Rupert all he wanted to know and, at the thought of the gift he was giving Muriel, his spirits soared. He had taken so much from her already, was so greatly in her debt, but the bridegroom’s present to the bride would at least be a worthy one!
‘Shall we go outside?’ he suggested. ‘You must have seen enough of my ancestors to last you a lifetime.’
‘Not at all, dear,’ said Muriel, who was peering intently at the portraits, ‘I find them very handsome.’ She turned to smile coquettishly at him. ‘Just like you. And there don’t seem to be any taints or blemishes, which is unusual in so old a family.’
‘Taints?’ said Rupert, puzzled. ‘What exactly do you mean?’
‘Well, you know . . . deformities, inherited diseases,’ said Muriel, drawing her skirt away from Baskerville. ‘Hare lips and so on,’ she continued. ‘Or mental illness. Though that would hardly show up in a painting, I suppose.’
Rupert was looking at her in rather an odd manner. ‘I don’t know of any; they were a very ordinary lot as far as I know. But if there were, Muriel, would it really matter to you?’
Muriel smiled and patted his arm with her plump, soft hand. ‘You must remember my great interest in eugenics. And once you have met Dr Lightbody, which I hope will be very soon, I know you will become as interested as I am.’
As they walked towards the garden door they met Pearl, carrying coals to Uncle Sebastien’s room.
‘That reminds me,’ said Rupert, as she bobbed a curtsy and scuttled respectfully away. ‘How is Anna making out? It’s early, I know, but are you satisfied with her?’
Muriel frowned, a neat and parallel gesture. ‘Yes,’ she said doubtfully. ‘She is deft and painstaking but I confess, dear, that I don’t really care for her. There is something not quite right about the girl.’
‘You don’t find her disrespectful or anything of the sort? Because I don’t think she means—’
‘No, I can’t say she’s disrespectful,’ said Muriel, who prided herself on her fairness, ‘but for a servant she is too interested. A good maid should be like a piece of furniture: there, but unnoticed.’
‘Yes,’ said Rupert, who saw exactly what Muriel meant. You could say a lot about Anna, but not that she was like a piece of furniture. ‘She’s only temporary, you know; part of the intake to prepare for the wedding. I’m looking to you to engage what servants you will afterwards.’
‘I’m glad to hear you say that,’ answered Muriel as they prepared to cross the stableyard, ‘because I do think quite a lot of changes will be needed. For example, I really think we should have matched footmen. In a house of this quality, to have footmen of different sizes gives a very untidy appearance. I should like them about six foot two, but I daresay we had better content ourselves with six foot, so many people having been killed in the war.’
Rupert looked up quickly to see i
f Muriel was joking, but her lovely face was placid and serene.
‘Isn’t that a little grand for us?’ he said. ‘They have them at Longleat and Blenheim, I know, but Mersham is hardly a palace. And James, who’s been with us for years, can’t be nearly six foot and yet he’s an excellent servant; quick and willing and conscientious. It would be very wrong to turn him off.’
‘Of course it would, dear. Don’t worry, just leave everything to me. You see, I so much want things to be perfect at Mersham and – Good gracious, what’s that?’
‘That’ was an enormous tea-cosy which had just flown out of the first floor window of a cottage built into the stable block, narrowly missing a bed of petunias. It was followed by a strange whooping noise and a shower of spoons, clattering on to the cobbles at their feet.
Muriel, looking with horror at Rupert, was surprised to see him smile like a child experiencing a familiar but long-forgotten treat.
‘It’s Mrs Proom! My goodness, that takes me back! We ought to go and see her, Muriel, she’ll be so pleased.’
‘Mrs Proom? You mean your butler’s wife?’
Rupert shook his head. ‘His mother. She must be well over ninety. She was a very active woman once and now she’s bedridden. It makes her a little fractious sometimes and then she throws things.’
Muriel frowned. Mad old women who threw things were no part of her plans for Mersham. But Rupert was already leading the way into the trim little cottage and she had perforce to follow him.
Mrs Proom was sitting up in bed, her lace cap askew, her little shrunken chest heaving angrily.
‘I’m bored,’ she said. ‘Where’s the Russian girl? Cyril said she was coming.’ The words were hardly decipherable because Mrs Proom, in deference to the weather, which was warm and sunny, had removed her teeth.
Rupert had walked over to the bed and taken her little brown-spotted hand in his. ‘Mrs Proom! How good to see you. Do you remember me?’
The change in the shrunken face was touching. ‘Master Rupert,’ she mumbled. ‘His lordship, I should say, and me without my teeth.’