“I will race you up the stairs,” Eleta suggested.
Pepe gave a cry of excitement and they both started to run and Eleta allowed the child to win by just one stair.
They were both laughing as they climbed the next staircase hand in hand.
“Now hurry and change,” Eleta urged.
A housemaid appeared from nowhere and it was clearly her job to help Pepe to dress and undress.
Eleta then went into her room next door, which she thought was very ordinary and rather dreary. Only one of her boxes had been unpacked as the others were locked.
Then, throwing her riding clothes onto a chair, she put on a pretty but comfortable dress.
Then she and Pepe went downstairs.
The tapestry room was obviously very special and it was indeed one of the finest Eleta had ever seen and the tapestries themselves were varied, but they all had pictures woven into them.
She made up a story for the first one and Pepe for the second and the way she spoke told Eleta that she was not only intelligent but imaginative.
It was a pity that she had not been encouraged to use both in the past rather than try to force her to learn the humdrum lessons considered necessary for all children.
When they had finished tea, Eleta proposed,
“As we have done a lot already, I think it would be a mistake to visit the picture gallery today, because there are so many stories there for us to tell each other later on.”
She thought that the child agreed and she added,
“I would like you to take me to the music room. I am sure you have one here in this lovely house.”
“We have a very big music room,” Pepe said. “But the Governesses I have had could not play the piano and the teacher who came from the village gave up after I had only had three lessons.”
“Why did she do that?” Eleta asked.
“Because I would not play the way she wanted me to,” Pepe replied.
“I can show you how I would like you to play.”
They walked a long way down a corridor and the music room was at the far end of it.
It was not only hung with fascinating pictures, but there were many plants coming into flower placed round the platform where there was a grand piano.
Eleta thought it was one of the finest she had seen anywhere.
She had forgotten for a moment that Pepe was with her, as she sat at the piano and played a piece that had been written by a Master not only of music but of romance.
Pepe listened spellbound and Eleta said,
“This is the most perfect piano to play on. And, of course, you must learn some lovely music. Sit down now and try it for yourself.”
Pepe did so without argument.
She picked out the notes in some instinctive way and they all seemed to follow each other almost as if they were a real tune.
“I know one thing about you, if nothing else, Pepe.”
“What is that?” she asked.
“One day you are going to be a real musician and the piano will inspire you. You will be writing tunes you hear in your mind that will be published.”
“I hear tunes in my mind sometimes when I am in bed, but I could not play them on a piano.”
“It is something you will do, Pepe, but you will have to do some practising first and I will play for you to show you how to do it.”
“Please play for me again.”
Eleta was only too willing and she played one tune after another until she realised that it was getting late and it was time for the child to have supper and go to bed.
“Now don’t say a word,” she said. “I am going to talk to Mrs. Shepherd and see if we can be moved down to prettier bedrooms and more comfortable ones.”
Pepe looked excited.
“I am sure one of them,” Eleta went on, “and there must be a great many in the house, must have a boudoir attached, which is far nicer than this rather dull nursery.”
“That will be lovely. I want to be downstairs. I hate being up here in this old nursery. But they said this was to be my schoolroom.”
“So we will just have to find something different,” Eleta replied. “I think we would be wise if we talked first to Mr. Clarke.”
“I like him,” Pepe said unexpectedly. “He is a nice man and, when I told him once I had thrown a book out of the window, he laughed and said if it was very dull he would have wanted to do that himself at my age!”
Eleta laughed.
“Then I think he is just the person we want at the moment. Come along, we will go and see him before you have supper.”
They walked to the office where Eleta had been that morning and Mr. Clarke was rather startled to see them.
When they told him that they had to talk to him, he sat down and was prepared to listen attentively.
“Now what we have decided,” Eleta began, “is that Lady Priscilla is too old to be up in the nursery.”
Mr. Clarke looked surprised and she continued,
“What we would like and we have discussed it very carefully is one of the bedrooms on the first floor that I am sure has a nice boudoir attached to it.
“If Lady Priscilla has a bedroom with an adjoining boudoir, it would be convenient if I could have a bedroom on the other side of the boudoir. Surely in a big house like this that is possible.”
“Yes, of course it is,” Mr. Clarke replied. “I am only surprised that you thought of it. It is something that has never occurred either to me or to Mrs. Shepherd.”
“As I am sure all the rooms are ready for any guests who might happen to come,” Eleta added, “we would like to move in immediately. As you can imagine I have no wish to unpack and then have to pack up again.”
“I think by that statement you are contemplating staying with us,” Mr. Clarke smiled.
Eleta looked at Pepe.
“It depends on Lady Priscilla,” she said. “I do hope she will want me to stay.”
“Of course I want you to stay and she is quite right, Mr. Clarke, in saying that I am too old for the nursery. I want a very pretty room and I would like a piano in it too.”
“Now that’s a really clever idea,” Eleta said, “and something I did not think of myself. Of course you need a piano. You can practise at any odd moment and then go to the music room and play on that glorious piano without feeling it is laughing at us.”
“I’m sure it would not laugh at you.”
“I am not certain,” Eleta said, “because I am rather out of practice. We will practise upstairs, you and I, and then go to the music room which will have to applaud us!”
Pepe laughed loudly and Eleta could see that Mr. Clarke’s eyes were twinkling.
“I think,” he said, “you would both be satisfied, which naturally is most important, if I gave you the King’s room – named after George IV, who was supposed to have stayed here soon after he was made King.”
Eleta gave a little cry.
“Oh, how brilliant! I do love reading about George IV and I know Lady Priscilla will adore the stories about him and all his bucks and beaux.”
“I think a great number of them have been here at one time or another,” Mr. Clarke said with a smile. “He was very dashing as the Prince of Wales and even more so as the Prince Regent.”
Eleta knew that he was thinking of his many love affairs and also of his extravagance in what he spent on Carlton House and she was sure she could relate amusing stories about him for Pepe.
“I will tell Mrs. Shepherd to move all your things down there while you are having supper,” Mr. Clarke said.
“That is very kind of you. They will have to hurry because, as we have so much to do tomorrow, I don’t want Lady Priscilla to be overtired tonight.”
“There are plenty of housemaids in the house to do things quickly if you require it,” Mr. Clarke suggested.
He rang the bell on his desk sharply and the door was opened almost immediately by a footman.
“Ask Mrs. Shepherd to come here at once,�
�� he said, “and I also require three or four men like yourself,”
“Very good, sir,” the footman replied.
Eleta rose to her feet.
“While they are moving us, I am just going back to the music room to play one last tune for Lady Priscilla. It will bring her new dreams tonight in her new bed and I think I shall be dreaming too.”
“I know I will too,” Mr. Clarke grinned. “I had no idea that anyone like you really existed.”
“I often think that myself,” Eleta replied and they both laughed.
Holding Pepe by the hand, she ran down the long corridor that led to the music room.
“Now close your eyes,” Eleta said, “and see what story the music tells you and if you can see pictures of what is happening.”
“I will do that,” Pepe replied, sitting down on the nearest sofa.
Eleta went to the piano and played some of the soft romantic tunes she had danced to in Paris and those she had listened to at different theatres all over Europe.
She felt moved herself by them and was certain that the child would be too.
She was very still with her eyes closed and then, when Eleta stopped playing, she jumped up and went to the platform to stand beside her.
“That was wonderful and I have a lovely, lovely story to tell you!”
“And I have one to tell you too.”
Eleta glanced at the door and said in a whisper,
“Thank you, thank you for helping me. You have been superb. I don’t think they will send me away now.”
“Send you away? I will scream and scream if they try to! And if they insist, I will come with you!”
“I think we will just stay here and enjoy ourselves.”
Eleta bent and kissed Pepe on the cheek.
As if she knew instinctively what she was about to do, the child put her arms round her neck and hugged her.
“Now I’m going to tell you my story,” she said “and it’s a very exciting one.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Eleta slept peacefully in the large canopied bed that reminded her of her own home.
She now felt more at ease than she had been since coming home from Paris.
Apparently Pepe slept very well too and they met for breakfast in the boudoir.
Eleta thought that it was a child’s breakfast rather than a grown-up’s.
As they finished, Pepe asked,
“Are we going riding?”
She had on her riding habit and so had Eleta, but for the moment Eleta paused before she replied,
“We have one thing to do first and I do want you to come with me and help me. We are going to see the cook.”
“The cook!” Pepe exclaimed. “I am not allowed in the kitchen.”
“You will be allowed if you are with me. I am sure you agree that we need more exciting food than this.”
She did not wait for an answer, but walked towards the door and Pepe came running after her.
They went down the stairs and, when they reached the hall, Eleta said to the nearest footman,
“I want to see the cook. Will you find out if she is available?”
He looked at her in surprise and replied,
“She’s a he!”
“A man?” Eleta questioned.
“Yes, his name is Monsieur Téyson.”
Eleta’s eyes lit up, but she said nothing. She just took hold of Pepe’s hand and followed the footman.
They passed the pantry and she had a brief glimpse of the safe and then there was a door that obviously led into the kitchen.
“Here you are,” the footman said. “I expects you’ll find him there all right.”
She walked into the kitchen and saw an elderly man working at the large table in the centre and one look told her that he was a Frenchman.
She therefore began,
“Bonjour, monsieur.”
The chef looked up in surprise and answered,
“Bonjour, mademoiselle.”
Then, looking at Pepe, he said,
“Good morning, my Lady.”
Then Eleta, in her best Parisian French, started to talk to him.
She told him who she was and that she was very anxious for her Ladyship to learn French and what could be better than if she first learnt the names of French dishes.
“The French are the best cooks in the world,” she said. “I have travelled a great deal, but I have never found anything as good as French cuisine.”
The chef was at first astonished at her addressing him in such excellent French and then his eyes twinkled.
He knew without being told, Eleta thought, that she was making her pupil interested in French, but in a very different way from any of her other Governesses.
Finally he said,
“Of course, mademoiselle, you are right. We will teach French through mouth, taste and stomach and result will be fantastique!”
“I thought you would understand and I am most grateful to you. I know that his Lordship will be pleased if his daughter learns languages and naturally nothing is more important in Europe than French.”
The chef was delighted at the compliment.
“I have something for the young lady, some petits fours I believe she loke”
He turned and Eleta whispered to Pepe,
“When he gives you his petits fours say, ‘merci bien, monsieur’.”
She then repeated the words twice, so that she was certain that Pepe understood.
The chef came back with a box of petits fours that Eleta knew at a glance would be delicious.
He arranged several of them on a plate and then he handed them to Pepe.
“Merci – bien – monsieur,” she said slowly.
The chef was astonished and clapped his hands.
“Vous parlez Francais!” he exclaimed. “That very good, his Lordship be delighted.”
“I am sure he will,” Eleta agreed.
Pepe was eating his petits fours and said that they were delicious, as Eleta expected.
“Now Monsieur Téyson,” Eleta said, “is going to give us French food and you must learn the names of every dish, so that you can ask for it again.”
“These are really, really scrummy,” Pepe enthused, “I would like to have these every day.”
“Then ask Monsieur to make them for you again. If you thank him once more in French he will not forget.”
“Merci bien, monsieur,” she repeated obediently.
The chef clapped his hands again with delight.
As they turned away to leave the kitchen, Eleta was aware that the butler was standing in the doorway and that he had been listened to them.
“I am sure you will agree with me,” Eleta said to him, “that Monsieur’s brilliant dishes must not get cold going up to the first floor. I therefore think in future that her Ladyship and I should eat in the dining room, both for luncheon and for supper.”
The butler stared at her and Eleta thought for a moment that he was going to argue and then he said,
“I’ll arrange that, miss.”
Eleta felt that she had gained a victory and then she hurried Pepe out to the stables.
The Head Groom had a horse for her that was not too large and he said it was perfectly broken in so that she would not find it difficult to ride.
Eleta thanked him and Pepe was delighted.
“Now I can ride really fast like you,” she smiled.
“But first you have to talk to your new horse and make him realise that you are in charge of him and he must do what you tell him.”
“Talk to him! Will he understand.”
“Of course he will. My father always made me talk to my horses before I could ride them. They recognised the sound of my voice and knew just what I required them to do. But first we must find out the name of your horse.”
“He be called Silver Star,” the Head Groom said.
“What a lovely name!” Pepe exclaimed, “and thank you for finding me such a beautiful horse.”
S
he held out her arms to Silver Star and then talked to him very quietly.
She was rather shy of being overheard and then to encourage her Eleta drew the Head Groom away to ask his advice about one of the other horses.
She did not, however, leave Pepe for long and very shortly they were riding off into the paddock.
The child was thrilled with her new mount and Eleta was aware that she was handling the horse extremely well and would come to no harm.
They rode off over the fields and through the wood and, when Pepe wanted to go up to the top of the hill that towered over the field, Eleta shook her head.
“We will explore it another day. I have to find out if it is really dangerous as you have been told it is or if that was an excuse to stop you climbing up on your own.”
Pepe laughed.
“I think the Governesses I had before you were so old they did not want to walk so far.”
“Well, we will find out why you were told not to go there, but now, as it is nearly luncheontime, I suggest we go back through the woods and look for the goblins. Then afterwards we will go down to the lake and have a swim.”
Pepe looked at her in astonishment.
“Go for a swim! Can we really go into the water?”
“Yes, we can, have you not been there before?”
“I went swimming in the sea two years ago, but I kept being bowled over by the waves. Papa swims in the lake, but the Governesses would not let me swim too.”
“Well, I love swimming,” Eleta volunteered, “and that is what we will do this afternoon.”
*
It was what they were to do almost every afternoon for the next two weeks and by then Pepe was beginning to swim quite well.
Eleta loved the swimming and enjoyed it almost as much as riding the splendid horses in the stables.
She had difficulty in persuading the Head Groom to let her try out a different horse every day, but, when he saw how well she rode, he let her choose the one she fancied.
She also found that there was a hut near the part of the lake where they swam and she then persuaded the Head Gardener to move it nearer to the water.
They could undress there and dress again instead of going back to the house in wet bathing suits and she asked for fresh towels to be put in the hut every day.
Eleta felt that she had made Pepe’s life far more comfortable at Teringford Court than it had been.
103. She Wanted Love Page 8
