Page 81 of Rivals at Ashmore Castle

Rose had not meant to answer, but it burst out of her like a little spurt of steam from under a pot lid. ‘Got nothing to do all day but enjoy herself, so she’s teasing herself with not being married before now. As if getting hitched at seventeen was the be-all and end-all.’

‘Whereas you and me, Rose, we know it’s marry in haste, repent at leisure, don’t we? Best take your time over it and get it right – like you?’

She was regretting her outburst now, of course. She flung him a look over her shoulder that would have shrivelled a reasonable man. ‘There’s no “you and me” knowing things, and I don’t want any of your cheek!’

He looked sympathetic. ‘Ah, I heard you and your gentleman friend was off hooks.’

‘There’s no gentleman friend and no hooks, and my concerns are my own and private, so you mind your knitting!’

He smiled with what she interpreted as pleasure at having got her riled. ‘He’ll come around, you’ll see. Give it time.’

Rose made an exasperated noise and ran down the rest of the stairs to get away from him.

It was not the Tallant way to make a big fuss of birthdays, and Rachel was satisfied with a small dinner-party and dancing afterwards. It was nice that her birthday fell on a Saturday, so Angus was able to come down in the afternoon and they went out for a ride together before coming back to dress. Apart from the family, the guests were friends of Rachel’s age: Clara and Ena Brinklow from The Red House, Sydney and Eveline Bexley from The Grange, the Massingberd twins, Freddie and Compton, from Asham Bois, and Arnold Baring-Gould from Ashmore Court. He was only twenty and very shy but, counting her brother Richard it made the numbers even for dancing.

Giles did his bit by ordering champagne. For the music, Kitty had discovered that their own Frederick could play the piano, and she had found another fiddler – Tim Whitcroft, son of one of the local farmers – to supplement old Frewing. Then she had only to persuade Rachel that such a scratch orchestra was appropriate for informal dancing at home, and that it would have looked absurdly excessive to hire a military band to come down from London. By the time Rachel had dressed in her favourite pale blue silk and seen the admiration in Angus’s eyes, she was ready to enjoy herself and find no more fault in the arrangements.

At breakfast the next morning the conversation turned to Linda’s wedding. An invitation had come from her for the whole family, in tone triumphant, and so generous Giles assumed Prince Usingen was paying for a lavish affair. ‘Now I’m more than ever persuaded to go,’ he said. ‘To see poor Linda in full feather and – we hope – happy at last is the opportunity of a lifetime!’

Kitty looked shocked. ‘You surely can’t expect me to go, after the way your mother spoke to me.’

Giles was given pause. ‘Ah,’ he said, awkwardly. ‘Of course, the wedding will be at the Usingerhof. But Mother’s behaviour is not Linda’s fault. It wouldn’t be fair to punish her for it.’

‘I understand your point,’ Kitty said, her usually smooth brow still buckled, ‘but how could I possibly accept the hospitality of someone who called me such names?’

‘But, you know, that’s just her way. You shouldn’t take any notice. She’s rude to everyone, but it doesn’t mean anything. She won’t even remember it.’

‘Well, I do,’ Kitty said resentfully.

But by the next post a separate letter arrived from the princess, which seemed to prove Giles’s point. It made no reference to the abrupt termination of the visit in the spring, and talked about everyone attending the wedding as if it had been previously agreed. It then went on to mention Giles, Kitty and Rachel specifically. From the wording, you would assume nothing untoward had ever happened.

‘You see?’ Giles said, reading out the letter at luncheon. ‘If you brought up the incident she’d simply look puzzled. She has no memory of it. And she specifically asks for you. I really think we should go.’

Kitty hated to refuse him anything., but she still felt hurt. ‘I don’t want to. I shouldn’t know how to speak to her. I’d feel uncomfortable.’

‘I promise you, she won’t say anything to you. She’ll be in such a good mood over getting rid of Linda at last – and so well! – she’ll be purring like a cat. Please come, Kitty. I don’t want to go without you.’

‘Well, she hasn’t asked for me,’ Richard said, ‘and much as I’d enjoy seeing Linda in her glory, someone has to stay and mind the shop.’

‘I don’t have to go, do I?’ Alice said. ‘She didn’t ask for me.’

‘You’re one of the many things she’s forgotten,’ Richard said, with a grin. ‘And Kitty will feel better about leaving the children if we are both here to look after them.’

‘There’s a large nursery staff to look after them,’ Giles pointed out.

‘Ah, but we’ll play with them,’ Richard said. ‘And talk to them all the time about Mama and Papa to keep your memory green.’

‘We’ll only be gone for two weeks,’ Giles said.

So Kitty found that it was assumed she was going without her ever having actually agreed. But Giles had said he didn’t want to go without her – she clung to that. ‘So you will be here?’ she said to Alice. ‘When is it that you go back to art school?’

‘They don’t begin again until mid September, do they?’ Richard answered for her.

Alice said, ‘I’m not going back.’

Giles looked puzzled. ‘I thought it was a two-year course. Surely there’s another term to go?’

There was a brief silence, then Alice said, ‘There is, but I don’t want to carry on. I…I think I’ve learned as much as I can from them.’