Page 20 of Rivals at Ashmore Castle

Frederick brought the message up to Kitty in the Peacock Room, where she was smocking the bodice of a dress for Alexander. She was wondering why she had ever begun it: smocking was difficult, slow work, and she wanted the dress finished as soon as possible, because he would not have long to wear it. He would be two in August, and by tradition would be breeched, and leave off dresses for ever. It was a moment of great triumph in a boy’s life, but with an edge of sadness for her. It was the first step to his joining the striding, shouting, rough-and-tumble, scab-kneed brotherhood of boys, who wanted to be off and away to the horizon. Soon he would have no more time for cuddles and kisses and Mama’s knee.

She looked up as Frederick came in, and could not help the little shock of noticing how handsome he was, with his thick dark hair and his sculpted features. She had worried at first that he was too handsome, and might cause trouble below stairs, but fortunately he didn’t seem at all interested in the maids, though they were in a constant flutter over him, according to Mrs Webster, who relayed the information at their daily conference with an air of amused tolerance. ‘So long as the work gets done, my lady – I can’t help what they dream about in bed at night. But he never seems to notice them at all, which is a blessing.’

‘A person has called, asking to see you, my lady,’ he said.

She frowned at the designation. ‘A person?’

‘A Mrs Perkins, my lady.’

‘I don’t know the name. Didn’t she send up a card?’

He permitted himself one of his rare smiles, and Kitty was quite glad he didn’t do it often. ‘I don’t think she is the kind of person to have a card, my lady. She is Josh Brandom’s sister.’

‘Is he ill?’ He was one of the grooms.

‘No, my lady. I took the liberty of enquiring and he is at work as usual.’

‘I suppose I had better see her,’ Kitty said, putting aside her work with a sigh. Her mother-in-law would have told her not to encourage encroachment, but people like the Brandoms did not customarily call at the house, so it was probably something important.

‘She is waiting in the hall, my lady.’

‘Put her in the ante-room, and I’ll be down in a few minutes.’ It was a sign of Mrs Perkins’s lowly status that she had been left in the hall, not shown into the drawing-room or the library, but Kitty could not interview her with other servants crossing back and forth and no doubt listening from behind every door.

The ante-room was a sort of buffer state between the hall and the drawing-room, and contained nothing much apart from a few hard chairs and a console table on which a Chinese vase stood, at this time of year bereft of flowers. The visitor was standing in the centre of the room, very upright. Her hat was a wide-brimmed black glazed straw with a bunch of artificial cherries on it, her coat had a bit of dyed rabbit fur on the collar, and she was wearing black cotton gloves. Kitty had been Lady Stainton for long enough to know a Sunday-church-and-weddings outfit when she saw one: Mrs Perkins had obviously put on her best for the interview. She looked familiar – someone Kitty had probably seen at church, though never spoken to.

‘Mrs Perkins? How can I help you?’ she enquired politely.

The woman had an angular face that must once have been, if not pretty, at least handsome. She didn’t smile. Her eyes were sharp and direct.

‘I’m Josh’s sister, my lady, Ruth Brandom as was. Joe Perkins, my husband, is a tiler and roofer. He did the new roof on the Royal George last back-end.’

She was giving her credentials, Kitty understood. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Would you like to sit down?’

‘Thank you, my lady, I prefer to stand, if you don’t mind. It’s very kind of you to see me and I know you must be busy so I’ll come to the point. It’s about Axe, my brother. We’re a big family and I’m the eldest girl, my lady, so I’ve always been a second mother to them all. You know how it is.’

Kitty didn’t, having been an only child. ‘Is he unwell?’

‘No, my lady, it’s not that. It’s about this medal. Axe wants to refuse it.’ Her cheeks reddened with vexation. ‘He was always different, right from a child, going off on his own. He didn’t romp and scuffle with the other boys – quiet, you know, interested in birds and animals and such. He’d spend hours just watching a spider weave its web when he should have been doing chores, like as not. Father’d beat him, but it never made any difference. He used to get called names by the other boys, but he was a big, strong lad, so they couldn’t bully him. They might call him sissy, but he got the job with the blacksmith and there’s nothing sissy about that.’

‘Very interesting, but I don’t see—’ Kitty began.

‘I beg pardon, my lady, I’m coming to it. This medal, it’s a great honour, and it’d be good for all of us, the whole family, but he doesn’t think of that.’ Her mouth tightened with disapproval. ‘He lives in that cottage in the woods, all alone, and we hardly see him, but he’s still a member of our family, and he ought to put other people first, and not be so selfish. Not just the family, my lady,’ she said quickly, anticipating an objection, ‘but the whole village. It’d put us on the map, my lady, and all the businesses and shops would benefit from the visitors.’

‘Why don’t you say all this to him?’ Kitty said.

‘He wouldn’t listen to me. Whenever I’ve had a word with him, he pays me no mind, just goes his own road. I might as well talk to the wall. But if you were to speak to him, my lady – put him in the right way of thinking, make him see it’s not just for him but for everyone…?’ She ran out of words, and looked at Kitty hopefully, like a dog wanting a walk.

Kitty felt exasperated, and imagined her mother-in-law telling her it was her own fault for seeing the woman in the first place. ‘I could not possibly interfere in such a personal matter,’ she said, as firmly as she could. ‘I’ve barely spoken to your brother twice, and I have nothing to do with the outdoor staff. It would have a very odd appearance for me to go up there—’

‘Oh, I would make him come here and see you, my lady,’ Ruth said eagerly. ‘You wouldn’t be put to any trouble.’

‘It would be a very great trouble and you should never have asked me,’ Kitty said. This woman was taking liberties. Little as she had ever thought of her position, or sought to use it, she did feel she should not be badgered and interrupted in her own house. Why, Kitty, said a deeper inner voice, you’re growing up! You really are Mistress of Ashmore Castle!

Ruth deflated visibly. ‘I beg pardon, my lady, if I’ve spoke out of turn. It’s just I feel that strongly about it.’

‘I accept your apology, but I can’t help you,’ Kitty said, with as much of her mother-in-law’s magnificence as she could manage, and rang the bell.

Ruth gave a placatory bob, but had one more question. ‘It is true, my lady, that when they get the medal they go up to Buckingham Palace and see the King?’