There were the remains of what had once been a fire in the fireplace.
But Michael felt that if the room was cleaned and refurbished it could be a room which any gentleman could find delightful. Any lady would certainly be impressed.
That thought made him shiver. He had come here to escape from prospective brides.
He was quite certain that sooner or later Alice would follow him, determined to marry him, although he definitely harboured no wish to marry her or anyone else for that matter.
Then, as they wandered from room to room, a change came over Michael. Win watched him with interest.
Despite its shabbiness the great castle still resonated with the English history of which it had been a part for centuries. It was all around them. It was there on the walls, hung with pictures of his forebears stretching back for centuries.
It was present in the furniture that they had collected and the books that filled the library.
“It is magnificent,” Michael breathed. “How can the fool who owns it have let it fall into this state?”
Win coughed delicately.
“No wish to be offensive, old boy, but the fool is you.”
“So it is. Then it is for me to put matters right!”
Suddenly he turned and faced his friend, eyes blazing with eagerness.
“And by Jove, Win, that is exactly what I am going to do.”
CHAPTER THREE
Neither of them had any complaint to make about the dinner. Mrs. Brooks had excelled herself and Michael made a point of sending for her to congratulate her. She beamed with happiness.
“Now,” Michael said to Brooks, when Mrs. Brooks had bustled back to the kitchen, “I want you to help me to restore the castle and make it as it must have been when you first came here.”
“Me, my Lord?”
“I need your memory. You must tell me exactly how things used to look.”
“It were fine in those days, even though there were a lot needing to be done to it,” Brooks said. “But now, as your Lordship will see, things have become worse and worse and it’s going to take some time before it looks right again.”
“You must engage plenty of indoor servants to carry out the cleaning,” Michael ordered firmly, “and tell me where we can find men to undertake the very necessary repairs.”
“There’s a good firm that has been repairing the Church. They are local men and would be glad of the work.”
“Splendid. Be so good as to send for them, so that we can discuss the costs.”
“There is one gentleman I think you will find very interesting, my Lord.”
“Who is that?”
“Major Newton. When he retired from the Army, he took to designing gardens and very fine designs they be too. Not just flowers, but a lot of herbs and plants which us had never heard of before.”
“He sounds like the kind of man that I could use. The garden looks as though no one has worried about it for years.”
“No one has,” Brooks agreed. “That’s why you will find the Major very helpful. There be people from all over the County who asks him to advise them on their gardens.”
“It seems a strange business for a soldier,” Michael mused, becoming interested.
“He’s not like any other soldier,” Brooks added eagerly. “He’s a very learned man. Sometimes even the Vicar doesn’t understand a word he says.”
Michael laughed.
“So the definition of a learned man is one who cannot be understood?” he said. “Well, I would like to meet him.”
Brooks’s eyes were shining.
“I don’t believe this is really happening,” he said. “Does your Lordship mean to stay here?”
“I am here to stay, at least while the work is going on, which I think will take a long time. I will send for the rest of my belongings and I am settling in for a long siege. Now, if you will be kind enough to leave us the brandy decanter, I shall not be needing you again tonight.”
The two young men enjoyed a drink in the library. Michael occupied himself with looking at the books, while Win, who was musical, amused himself on the piano which, astonishingly, was still in tune.
Almost without realising what he was doing, Michael began to hum the song he had heard that afternoon.
“I didn’t know you knew that song, old boy,” Win said, looking up from the keyboard.
“Do you know it?” Michael asked casually.
“It’s an old country song. My Nanny used to sing it to me.”
He began singing, accompanying himself on the piano. He had an agreeable light tenor, but he was not as pleasant to Michael’s ears as the sweet voice he had heard that afternoon.
That night, as he walked upstairs to bed in the bedroom which he was told had always been used by the owner of the castle, Michael felt not only tired but excited.
He stood at the window looking out at his estate and for the first time since he had inherited the title, he felt a growing pride of ownership.
‘I have won,’ he said to himself. ‘Or at least, I am going to win. I have never known anything like this. I feel like a King surveying his domain.’
Then he smiled wryly to himself.
‘But on one thing I am resolved. There is going to be no Queen!’
Then, for no reason that he could fathom, he found himself remembering the girl by the river.
*
On the next morning Bettina was washing up the flower vases in the kitchen when she heard her father come in through the front door. At once she was aware of something different in his step, a kind of eagerness.
“I am in the kitchen, Papa,” she called.
He came hurrying in and she could see the excitement in his face.
“What has happened?” she asked.
“I have just heard that the Earl of Danesbury has arrived at the castle. What do you think of that?”
Bettina turned away to concentrate on what she was doing in the sink lest her father see a sudden surge of colour in her face.
“That’s incredible,” she said.
She had not mentioned to Papa that she had caught a distant glimpse of the Earl on the previous day and had encountered his companion.
Considering the stranger’s disgraceful behaviour, she supposed she ought to complain about him. But for some reason she was unwilling to discuss the matter.
“We never believed it would happen,” she said now, for something to say.
“But my dear, I haven’t told you the big news. Lord Danesbury wants to see me so that I can design the castle garden for him.”
Bettina dropped a vase into the sink.
“Careful, my dear! Isn’t that wonderful news?”
“Wonderful,” she echoed in a hollow voice.
“According to Brooks he has big plans. He arrived last night, without warning, accompanied by a friend.”
“What – what kind of friend, Papa?”
“My dear, how do I know? One of his London cronies,
I suppose, that he brought with him lest the countryside bore him. These fashionable men always crave amusement.”
“I suppose they do,” she agreed in a colourless tone.
“But the important point is that he means to stay at the castle and restore it.”
“He must be dreaming,” Bettina observed.
“Well it is a dream that everyone around here is going to appreciate. Do you remember me telling you that when I first lived here years ago, I fell in love with the castle gardens and painted them?”
“I do remember. And then when we came back four years ago and found them in such disarray, you completed some more pictures, showing how you thought the gardens deserved to look. I thought you were indulging in wishful thinking.”
“Some wishes do come true. I might as well take them with me now.”
His eyes were shining and it was clear that he was in seventh Heaven.
“Just think what this will mean,” he said. “I will not conceal from you, my dear, t
hat the money he will pay me is very much needed. You are a wonderful little housekeeper, but my Army pension is very modest and even you can only make it stretch so far.
“And everyone in the neighbourhood will benefit from the extra work that will be available. Think of the prosperity this will bring!”
That decided Bettina. Now there was no way that she could tell her father what had happened. For the sake of the village she must keep silent about the Earl’s friend and his unmannerly behaviour.
Then a terrible thought struck her and her hands flew to her face.
To fend him off, she had told him that she was betrothed, thinking that he was passing through and it would not matter what he believed.
But he was staying. She might bump into him again and in this tiny place he would soon realise that what she had said was untrue.
Suppose he spread the shocking story that she had untruthfully claimed a fiancé – something that no delicately reared female would ever do.
Then she reassured herself again. He could not recount that story without explaining his own part. Besides, he was unlikely to recognise her even if he did meet her again.
He had probably already forgotten that she existed.
Then she discovered that this thought did not please her either, which was very strange.
She knew his behaviour was shocking, but it was only her head that told her so.
For the few minutes they had talked, she had been aware of the bright sun and the glow of the beautiful countryside.
But above all she had noticed that he was extremely handsome. She had never seen such a good looking man in her whole life. Certainly not in the village.
It was like discovering another world, where men were giants instead of village boys. Somewhere, she had known that there must be such a world.
And now that she had glimpsed it, it was to be snatched away. Whoever the handsome stranger was, she would have to avoid him.
She sighed.
Life was very unfair sometimes.
*
An hour later the Major was approaching the entrance to the castle, the plans under his arms. In the light of this new hope the whole world looked different, especially the castle.
The door was open and he walked in. As he did so he saw Brooks coming up the passage.
“If this means what I hope, Brooks, then it is very good news.”
“Very good indeed,” Brooks agreed. “His Lordship wants to restore everything to the way it was originally.”
“Please take me to his Lordship before he changes his mind.”
They had been walking down the passage as they spoke. Now Brooks flung open the door of the library.
“Major Newton to see you, my Lord.”
The Major stepped into the library and saw a man sitting at a table by one of the windows.
He turned round and at once the Major had a feeling that this was a man who could achieve what he wanted, simply because it was the right action at the right moment.
Michael held out his hand.
“Thank you for coming so quickly. I understand from Brooks that I will need your services and he has assured me that you can do what no one else can.”
The Major smiled.
“I believe I can,” he said.
Without further words the Major took his designs from under his arm and laid them out over the table.
“I think these will show you,” he said, “how magnificent the castle garden looked when I first saw it. was young at the time, but I was so thrilled with its beauty that I sat down and painted it.”
“Extraordinarily well from what I can see,” Michael replied turning over the pictures. “This is how I want it to look again, exactly as it does in these paintings.”
The Major drew in his breath.
“I would love to make the attempt,” he said. “But I must warn you, it will be very expensive.”
He spoke almost nervously, half expecting Michael to beat a retreat.
But to his surprise he responded simply,
“I can afford whatever it costs and I am not prepared to skimp or cut corners. I want the garden to be as beautiful as you have shown it in your pictures.
“You have obviously known the castle far longer than I have. I want you to tell me all you know.”
Delighted, the Major began to talk. He carried on talking throughout the excellent lunch Brooks served with Michael listening to him, enraptured.
By the time they were ready to return to the library Win had joined them. He had been exploring the neighbourhood and was in cheerful spirits.
“There’s some good fishing to be had,” he announced. “And a decent livery stable.”
“I am so glad you found something to amuse you,” Michael said.
“Oh, yes, a good deal. Between you and me, old fellow, there are some dashed pretty girls around here too.”
The Major coughed delicately.
“Major, allow me to introduce my friend, Lord Winton Shriver, who is staying with me.”
The two men shook hands cordially enough, but each knew within a few minutes that he did not find the other congenial.
To Win the Major appeared severe and stuffy. To the Major, Win appeared light-minded and trivial.
Michael summoned champagne and the three men drank.
“To the future,” Michael toasted.
“Let me say, my Lord, from the bottom of my heart, welcome home,” proposed the Major.
Welcome home! Those words struck Michael as exactly right. He had, indeed, come home.
He realised that he needed this man as a friend. The Major was intelligent, educated and cultivated. And, as the pictures made very plain, he was in tune with the spirit of the castle.
“Perhaps you could help me in another way,” he said suddenly. “I want to introduce myself to some of my more prominent neighbours, the Mayor, the Vicar and so forth.”
“Then do not forget the Lord Lieutenant of the County,” the Major said with a laugh. “Sir William Lancing is a decent fellow but tends to be very conscious of his own importance. Pay him a little flattering attention and he is yours for life.”
“You know him well?”
The Major laughed ruefully.
“I am obliged to attend a very boring meeting at his house every month. Nothing of importance is ever decided or even discussed, but it cheers him up.”
“Thank you for the warning. I think my best course is to host a dinner party as soon as it can be arranged. Naturally I would want you to come with your wife and family.”
“You are very kind. My only family is my daughter. My wife died some years ago.”
“You must have found life in the Army very difficult with a young girl to raise?” Michael asked sympathetically.
“It had its problems, but my daughter and I have always been deeply attached. Her mind is quick and she has learned from me almost all I can teach her.”
“I look forward to meeting her when you both come to dinner. As neither Lord Winton nor I are married, I fear we are going to be rather short of ladies.”
“Can’t have that!” Win said at once.
“Never fear,” the Major suggested cheerfully. “The Vicar and his wife have three unmarried daughters in their twenties.”
“Ah!” Michael said. “How – how very fortunate.”
“Jolly good,” Win added faintly.
Michael made a swift decision. He had never met Miss Newton but she was doubtless as much a lady as her father was clearly a gentleman.
“I wonder if I might ask you a favour, Major. Would your daughter oblige me by acting as my hostess? I know it is a little unconventional, but your presence will make it perfectly proper.”
“Your Lordship honours us.”
“Not ‘your Lordship’,” Michael said quickly. “Please call me Danesbury as all my friends do. I shall decide on an early date for the party. In the meantime I should like you to start hiring the men you will need.”
He sat a
t his desk and scribbled something.
“This is a draft on my bank to cover your initial expenses.”
The Major stared at the amount. For the first time he understood that this man really could afford the monumental task he had set himself.
*
The Major hurried home and found Bettina impatiently awaiting him.
“Such great news I hardly know how to tell you,” he burst out. “The Earl means to restore everything, the castle, the garden, the furniture. My dear, this place will be so much better for his coming. He is everything that he should be.”
“You liked him then?”
“Oh, yes, a great deal. A sensible man, a man of determination.”
Bettina recalled the willowy youth she had seen briefly and concluded that he must have a store of good sense that did not appear on the surface.
“Was his friend there too, Papa?”
“Oh, yes, Lord Winton. I met him briefly. I have to tell you, my dear, that he did not impress me favourably. Pleasant enough manners, but a light and inconsequential character.”
Bettina did not reply, but her mind told her that this was only what she would have expected.
“But never mind him,” her father continued. “The Earl is the important one. He is moving workmen in to start the repairs. I am to hire everyone I need and he has handed me a sum of money so that I can make an immediate start.”
He flourished the banker’s draft.
“What do you say to that?”
Bettina read it and gulped.
“Papa! So much?”
“He is determined to do everything properly. And now I have some news that will delight you. He is planning a dinner party for the notables in this area and he wishes you to be his hostess.”
“Me? But he doesn’t know me.”
“I have told him all about you.”
“But – me? Be hostess for an Earl? Papa, are you quite mad? What would I wear?”
“What do you wear when we dine with the Vicar?”
“My ‘best’ evening gown is four years old and shabby.
Our friends pretend not to notice but – ”
“Yes, yes, I understand. You must wear a new gown and look appropriate. I shall give you some of this money for the purpose.”
Royalty Defeated by Love Page 4
