Page 104 of The Fortunes of Ashmore Castle

Richard raised an eyebrow. ‘You know?’

‘This is my beat, sir. I know everyone on it. And I collared a burglar here once many years ago. She was nice enough to commend me. A very fine lady, Lady Stainton – one of the old school.’

‘She is.’

‘Give her ladyship my respects, if you please. And tell her I’ll keep an eye on the house for the next few days, to make sure they don’t come back.’

Grandmère sipped her linden tea, and looked at Richard over the rim of the cup as he soothed his nerves with a brandy and soda. ‘You are not a fit sight for a drawing-room,’ she mentioned.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said, a little shakily. ‘But I couldn’t ignore them.’

She made a graceful gesture of her hand. ‘It is good to have a champion. But we had better rely on the police in future. There will be more of them, I am sure. The case comes on in the Court for Divorce today. It creates . . . an interest.’

‘In Sir Thomas, not in you,’ Richard said. ‘He should be the one to be hounded. Why should you suffer?’

‘Someone at the newspaper has discovered our long association,’ said Grandmère, who despite her calm voice was not as unmoved by the situation as she wished to appear. ‘And perhaps they have found also that I took up the girl, encouraged her. It is une histoire. They all want that. Une histoire de coeurs brisés.’

He was upset. ‘Yours is not broken, surely? I thought it was the dérangement that you disliked.’

She shrugged. ‘I dislike every part of it. But the newspapers will want a broken heart somewhere. They are looking in the wrong place, however. Did I tell you I went to see Violet Burton?’

‘No, you didn’t. Was that wise?’

‘She is an old friend. One felt one should show her some attention in all of this.’

‘Not a friend, surely – an acquaintance at best.’

‘Nous nous sommes toujours entendues,’ she said, evading the question. ‘We had much in common.’

‘Yes, her husband,’ Richard said wryly. ‘Come, Granny, you detested her, admit it!’

‘Not at all. She was necessary to our relationship. You do not understand. And don’t call me Granny.’

‘But what were you hoping to achieve by visiting her?’

‘She was the only one who could stop the madness. And I did not believe she understood what she was doing. I wondered, was she being pressed to do it? She is not une femme d’esprit fort. And he can be hard to resist.’

‘And what did you discover?’

Now Grandmère looked angry. ‘She would not stir herself! Lying on her chaise longue, with a silk shawl of hideous Oriental style over her legs, and a carafe, positively, of madeira at her elbow. Sip, sip, sip, mon dieu!’

‘You didn’t know? Or is it a recent habit, do you think?’

She shrugged in her most French manner. ‘Qu’importe?’

‘But what did she say about the divorce?’

She winced at the word, but answered, ‘She said that they had discussed it in a most civilised manner and that she had agreed to it.’

‘She didn’t mind ?’

‘Of course she minds, but she will not admit it. She said she wanted him to be happy. Pah! Quelle bêtise! I tried to persuade her of the horrors of the scandal. I tried to awaken in her some indignation. But she sipped, and smiled, and said she would do very well, with the house and a pension and her circle of friends – and the magician in the bottle, bien sûr,’ she added sourly. There was a moment of silence. She resumed. ‘So nothing can stop it now. There will be a decree nisi today, and it will be absolute in January. The newspapers and magazines will be filled with gossip, and scandal, and all their foul glee, and who will care but me?’

‘I will,’ said Richard.

‘Well, I go at the end of the week with Caroline to the South of France, and perhaps there one may find a little perspective.’

He had never seen her look unhappy, and it struck him to the core. He reached across and took one of her thin, cold hands, feeling how fragile it was. ‘He does not deserve you,’ he said.