Page 105 of The Fortunes of Ashmore Castle

She came back abruptly from her reverie, raised her eyebrows at him, snatched her hand away impatiently. ‘Of course he does not,’ she said briskly. ‘He never did. What has that to do with it?’

‘I would have thought everything.’

‘Don’t talk nonsense. My tea is cold, ring the bell.’

‘Thank God, there have been no reporters here. I suppose they don’t know about me yet,’ Molly said. ‘Or I’m not important enough.’

‘Chloë’s name won’t be mentioned in court,’ Richard said. ‘Even the professional co-respondent isn’t named when the petitioner is a woman.’ It was thin comfort. There would be few in the ton who would not soon know the real reason for the divorce, if they hadn’t guessed it already. And the press would easily trace Chloë back to her mother.

Molly knew it too. ‘Well, when they do work it out and come here, they will find me gone.’

He felt a prickle along his scalp. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I met her yesterday at an hotel – she didn’t want to come here, in case it drew attention to me – and she told me their plans. They’re going abroad at once, to do a concert tour. France, Germany and the Low Countries to begin with. Then Italy. Christmas in Vienna. He is taking a string quartet as well, and he’ll hire other musicians locally as they’re needed. Apparently he has been working on the details for months. All the bookings are in place. Chloë will have a dresser with her, but he insisted she must have a chaperone as well. He wants no breath of scandal to touch her, so he said.’

‘But that’s a good thing, isn’t it? That he’s being careful?’

‘Oh, Richard!’

He knew what that exasperated cry meant: It would have been better if he had left her alone! But he believed that the business had been driven as much by Chloë as by Sir Thomas. She knew what she wanted, and in pursuit of her career she was ruthless. Sir Thomas, though ruthless in his own way, was the one who was helplessly in love: the trembling dragon in the clutches of a fire-breathing maiden.

‘So, what has all this to do with your leaving this house?’ he asked.

She met his eyes steadily, in the way that told him he was not going to like the next part. ‘He was going to hire a chaperone, but Chloë asked me, and he reinforced the request, strenuously. Oh, don’t look like that! It makes sense, you know it does! A young artist travelling in the company of her mother: what could be more respectable? A chaperone might be suspected by those determined to look for scandal, but never a girl’s own mother.’

‘So you will be gone for four or five months?’ he said, carefully controlling his voice.

Now her eyes moved away. ‘The decree will be made absolute in January, and they intend to marry immediately, or as soon as it can be arranged.’

‘So you will see them married? And then you will come home?’

‘They are going to marry in New York,’ she said. ‘The east coast of America is very strong for music. Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington all have rich patrons and enthusiastic audiences. He thinks of building his own concert hall – in Manhattan first, but perhaps later a string of them. A Burton Hall in every big city. And then there are phonograph records. Musical artists are becoming known over there by their recordings, quite independently of actual concerts. Fortunes can be made that way. There’s a new business, the Victor Talking Machine Company, in New Jersey – Caruso has a recording contract with them. Imagine if they took up Chloë—’

‘Stop, stop!’ Richard begged. ‘They are going to live there, permanently?’

She gave a nervous smile. ‘Divorce is not frowned on in America in the same way. They can make a life over there without shadow. Once they are established, I expect they may come to Europe on tours. But the American market is so big, they would not need to.’

‘And you? You still have not answered my question. You will come home?’’

‘No, my dear,’ she said steadily. ‘I will make my home with them. Chloë will need me to keep her feet on the ground, especially if her career takes wings. And if there are children, they will need me – dedicated artists do not make good parents.’

‘But what about me? I need you.’

She reached out and took his hand. ‘It’s better this way. You know that you and I can never marry.’

‘I don’t accept that! Just because—’

‘Yes, just because. It would be wrong. You know that. Society forbids it, God forbids it. It’s in the Bible. Leviticus: thou shalt not uncover thy father’s nakedness. Cursèd be he—’

‘Oh stop!’ Richard cried. ‘The Bible? I love you. Don’t you understand? I love you, and if you love me, that’s all that matters.’

‘I do love you. But it’s never all that matters,’ she said sadly. ‘I’ve had to deal with Chloë’s situation, and it almost destroys me. I’ve thought about you and me, night after sleepless night, longing for you, wishing we could . . . But we can’t, we just can’t. This is for the best. To be here, always tempted, always struggling, is more than I can bear. And you – when I’m gone, you can make a proper life for yourself. You’re young. One day there will be someone else.’

He was holding her hand so tightly it was hurting her. There were tears on his face. ‘This is the end? You’re leaving me?’ She didn’t answer, only looked at him with immense sadness. ‘How can I live without you?’ he cried.

‘Don’t make it harder for me,’ she said. ‘Try to understand.’

‘I want it to be hard for you,’ he said passionately. ‘I hope your heart will break.’