However, now that she had unburdened herself, Mrs. Creed began to look more cheerful, and the rest of the conversation was confined to household matters and the meticulous running of Longmere, a subject that was obviously dear to her heart.
When Mrs. Creed had talked herself out and began to glance at the clock a little anxiously, Caroline decided that it would be as well to make a tactful withdrawal. The housekeeper offered no opposition when Caroline said it was time she returned to her duties.
“Yes, you may continue upstairs in the meanwhile,” Mrs. Creed conceded graciously, “and later we’ll get your duties ironed out. Don’t worry about the polisher,” she concluded. “I’ll set Fred to mending it this afternoon.”
For the next half hour Caroline worked busily and had just completed her chores when she saw Betty advancing along the corridor. “The master wants you in the small sitting-room immediately,” she announced without ceremony.
Caroline laid down her duster and swept back her hair. She felt grimy and dishevelled. “I’d better go and tidy up, then,” she said doubtfully.
Betty’s eyes opened incredulously. “You’d better do no such thing,” she remarked. “The master will be in a tearing humour if he’s kept waiting.”
But Caroline had no intention of presenting herself before the master of Longmere looking ungroomed and ill at ease.
“Well, I must say!” Betty gasped as she accompanied Caroline along the corridor, “you certainly have a mind of your own, but then it seems you’re Mrs. Brant’s cousin, and that makes a difference, no doubt.”
She sounded faintly sour and Caroline could see that the girl was considering her warily, no longer as one of the staff, but as a privileged member of the household.
As though impelled by an insatiable curiosity, she followed Caroline into her room and watched her as she brushed her hair. She gaped curiously around the room while Caroline tidied herself. “I expect you’ve left a boy-friend behind you?” she asked tentatively. “Never mind, there are plenty of nice boys in the village. It’s a good step from here, but every Saturday night there’s a dance. If you like to come along with me, I’ll introduce you around. They’re always on the lookout for a new face at Lynebeck,” she giggled.
Remembering Mrs. Creed’s remarks about Betty’s penchant for boy-friends, Caroline said a little cautiously, “Oh, I don’t expect I’ll have much time for that sort of thing.”
Betty appeared astounded at this information. “What do you intend doing with your time off?”
For a moment Caroline glanced through the window towards the rugged hills and the view of a lake. “Oh, I enjoy walking. And there’s so much to be seen around here. The scenery’s so beautiful. ”
Betty giggled incredulously. “Well, I never did! What a way to spend your time—walking! But if you change your mind, let me know. My boy-friend Jim would be only too pleased to bring someone along and we could make a foursome. ” Then, seeing that Caroline showed no enthusiasm for the idea, she said a little huffily, “Oh well, I’d better push off or old Creed will be on me like a flash. She’s a frightful old bully, so don’t let her make a doormat of you.” And with this parting exhortation and after giving Caroline instructions how to reach the sitting-room, she whisked away.
Rather than lose her way and keep her irascible master waiting longer, Caroline hurried down the main stairway, instead of obeying Mrs. Creed’s injunction to use the back staircase. As she approached the sitting-room she found that the door was slightly ajar and she could hear the deep mellow tones of Randall Craig and the high musical notes of an answering
voice, which she immediately recognised as Grace’s.
When she went in she was confronted by Randall, standing in front of the chimneypiece and was aware of Grace lolling back in a deep armchair, looking extraordinarily beautiful in an emerald-green corduroy trouser suit with a double row of large black buttons; a filmy black tinker scarf tied about her long white throat.
She had barely time to take in her surroundings when Randall Craig said grimly, “So you’ve decided to honour us with your presence at last! Did Betty not give you my message? What delayed you?”
Caroline was aware that she was being surveyed amusedly by Grace, and a feeling of rebelliousness bubbled up in her at this peremptory greeting.
“Yes, Betty told me, but I’d been dusting and I thought—” She paused, embarrassed at the idea of confessing that she had gone off to titivate herself before appearing in his presence.
“So you decided to pretty yourself before putting in an appearance, isn’t that it?” Grace put in smoothly. “Naturally, Randall, a girl doesn’t want to appear with her hair standing on end. ”
Randall Craig ignored this interjection. He stood, his hands behind his back, his eyes piercingly fixed on Caroline, who stood in the centre of the room feeling flushed and awkward at this reception.
“I don’t expect my staff to be beauty queens,” he said harshly. “In future, when I send for you, I’d be obliged if you’d come as quickly as possible.”
Caroline’s lips tightened mutinously.
But again Grace’s soft musical voice interjected, “You forget, Randall, that it was I who wanted to see Caroline.”
“In that case, I’ll leave you together for your chat,” he said brusquely.
“Oh no, don’t go,” Grace said swiftly. “What I have to say to Caroline concerns you to a certain extent.” She lowered her eyelids, letting the dark, silky lashes fan her cheeks, and
Caroline got the impression that, strange as it seemed, the confident Grace was faintly disconcerted and reluctant to proceed.
“All right, let’s have it.” A faint sardonic smile brushed Randall Craig’s long, rather cruel mouth. “But don’t keep her too long or you’ll have Mrs. Creed reading the riot act.”
“I can’t say how surprised I was when I heard that you are working here at Longmere. I had the impression that you were going straight home after you left my house. ” Grace began twisting a large opal ring on her finger and studying it intently.
“I was,” Caroline admitted, “but when Mr. Craig turned up at the station and offered me a job I was only too pleased to take it.”
“Well, I don’t know how you can be pleased, now that you see how things are here at Longmere. That Creed woman is a perfect dragon from all accounts. It’s beyond me how you can stand it,” Grace said a trifle acidly.
“If I were you I shouldn’t worry myself unduly concerning Caroline’s welfare,” Randall interjected dryly. “I’m perfectly certain she’s well able to take care of herself, and Mrs. Creed, dragon though she may be, is in her own way fairly just.”
“But we are sort of cousins,” Grace put in plaintively. “It’s only right I should be concerned that she’s happy in the place she’s working.”
“Just what are you getting at, Grace?” he asked a trifle grimly. “Don’t think for a moment I’m taken in by this show of cousinly concern for Caroline’s welfare.”
Again Caroline got the impression that Grace was slightly uncomfortable and that she was taking care to hide this by smiling brightly. “Would you believe it, Randall, but that woman, who was recommended so highly for Robin, has walked out on me. Just left this morning without as much as a good-bye to anyone, and now I’m left in the lurch again! Not that I’d have kept her anyway. She was so utterly cruel to the poor child; boxed his ears, simply because he’d been a little naughty.”
“What exactly did the little naughtiness amount to?” Randall inquired.
Grace shrugged. “Nothing at all really. He simply turned on the water sprinkler when she happened to be passing. I’m sure it was completely accidental, but immediately the wretched woman attacked the poor child. He cried for hours afterwards. I was simply furious when I heard the full story, but by then she had gone, without as much as a word of explanation or apology.”
“I see. and what has all this got to do with Caroline?”
“Well, I was wondering
if I might have her. After all, that’s what she came for in the first place, and she’d be ideal for Robin. She’s young enough to understand a child and make allowances.”
“Is she indeed?” Randall said coldly. “Then Caroline must have got the wrong impression last night. It seems you told her she would be quite unsuitable: she was too young, if I understand correctly.”
Grace glanced up and shot Caroline an anything but friendly glance. “You seem to have been recounting our conversation in detail,” she said sharply.
“There’s no need to put the blame on Caroline. I elicited much of this myself. After all, I did find her at the railway station after being bunged out by you. Naturally I inquired how she came to be in such a situation.”
“Well, don’t let’s argue over that,” Grace said a little pettishly. “What I want to know, Caroline, is whether you’d be interested in coming. After all, you can’t be much use to Mrs. Creed, and this is the sort of work you wanted in the first place. ”
“So you feel Caroline should now come to you—after being sent away on a most insalubrious evening to make the trip back to London—supperless, if what I gathered was correct.”
“Oh no, Cecil gave me something to eat,” Caroline reminded him.
“Yes, that tame musician brother of yours has more humanity
than you have, Grace,” Randall told her.
For a moment Caroline glanced from Randall to Grace undecidedly. It was true, no doubt, that life as a governess to Robin would offer her more leisure and a better way of life and, in spite of her capricious nature, Grace was after all a relation. Apart from that, she still felt vestiges of anger against her employer, for his peremptory, imperious manner. His face was inscrutable now, showing neither acquiescence nor disapprobation, and she felt free to make her own decision.
“Yes, I think I’d like that,” she agreed at last.
“Good.” Grace said eagerly. “Run up and pack like a dear, and I’ll drive you over right away. I’ve a dinner date tonight and it would be terrific if you could take over Robin immediately.”
Again Caroline glanced briefly at her employer, but he seemed to be staring at some far distant object, the steel-grey eyes hooded and impenetrable.
“It won’t take me long, for I haven’t really unpacked properly,” Caroline said. She felt her spirits rise. Perhaps she would succeed where others had failed with this difficult child.
She turned and walked quickly towards the door. But as she put her hand upon the knob she heard Randall’s voice say, low and commanding, “Come back. Caroline.”
She turned, to find him gazing at her fixedly. “You’re not leaving here,” he said coolly.
“What!” Grace sprang to her feet. “What do you mean by that extraordinary remark?”
“I say she’s not leaving here,” he repeated. “She’s mine.”
“She’s yours?” Grace gasped. “What on earth are you talking: about? Do you think you’re some sort of feudal lord, with the power of life or death over your subjects?”
Coolly he placed his hands in his pockets and surveyed her. “No, not exactly, but I did pick her up from the station, after she’d been slung out by you. You show a touching interest in her future, but it was I who took her over when she had no place to go, and I intend to hold on to her.”
“But this is utterly ridiculous! ” Grace’s eyes flashed angrily. “She’s not your slave. You can’t keep her against her will.”
As she spoke, Caroline had slowly returned to the centre of the room and now she gazed in bewilderment as the two sparred over her future.
“Caroline, come here! ” he ordered.
She went towards him, as though mesmerised and found his eyes staring down into hers. He loomed over her—like a bird of prey, she thought, feeling all her resolve melt away under his steely glance which seemed to bore into her very being.
“Tell me,” he said quietly, “do you really want to be the servant of an obstreperous, spoiled child? Do you realize what your life will be like? No one can put up with him. Actually I admire that excellent woman, who departed without as much as a goodbye to anyone, for her courage in boxing his ears. It’s what he’s needed for a long time. I guarantee that if you take him on you won’t last more than a week or so. Then back you’ll be, waiting for the train to London! ”
“How dare you!” Grace gasped, her face flaming angrily. “You’re always down on poor Robin. You’ve always disliked him—and don’t think I don’t know why. You’re jealous. Jealous, because he’s Paul’s child,” she burst out shrilly.
Then, as though realizing she had gone too far, Grace slumped back in her chair.
But Randall appeared oblivious of this outburst. His eyes still bored into Caroline’s, who stared back at him as though hypnotised. There was something about this man which seemed to make her willpower melt away.
“All right,” he said softly. His voice was low as though he were communicating with her alone. “Make your choice. I admit life won’t be heaven for you here and I’ve no intention of changing my ways, but at least it will be better than playing dogsbody to that ill-mannered child.”
A long silence lay between them and almost involuntarily, as though her lips formed the words without her will directing them, Caroline whispered, “Yes, I think I’ll stay.”
Immediately he straightened and resumed his usual inscrutable expression, and Caroline felt a strange sensation of let-down. Now that he had got his way it was as though he had withdrawn his interest from her.
“Well, now that’s settled,” he said almost briskly, “is there anything further you would like to say to Caroline? A cousinly chat, perhaps, Grace? If so, as I said before, I’ll withdraw and leave you in peace.”
“No, I’ve nothing more to say,” Grace said sulkily. “Really, Randall, you are a frightful boor.”
“Yes, aren’t I?” he agreed, “and I’m sure it’s a refreshing change for you to come across a man who doesn’t fall in a heap or run to obey your smallest behest. ”
“Well, I suppose I can count the dinner party off,” Grace said, getting to her feet. “But I have to go up to London tomorrow for a few days and, now that you’ve got your way, couldn’t you have the decency to let Caroline take care of Robin while I’m away? I’ll make arrangements immediately to get another governess,” she added almost pleadingly.
“As victor I can afford to be generous,” Randall said, “but how do you feel about it, Caroline? Are you willing to take on the redoubtable Robin?”
“Oh yes, I think so,” Caroline told him confidently. “In that case it’s fixed. You can drop Robin off here on your way up to London. ”
It was as though, now that he had got his way, he drew a sudden and abrupt line to the subject, and again Caroline felt a faint sense of disappointment.
Grace stood up and pulled on her gloves. “You are a brute, Randall Craig,” she said sulkily.
“Indeed? As to my being a brute, by this time you should know me better than to be surprised at this.” For a moment Grace’s small white teeth showed in a smile. “I expect I rather like you the way you are,” she returned.
“Just as well, for I have no intention of changing my ways,” he assured her.
“Did I say I wanted you to?” She went close to him for a moment, her large jewel-like eyes fixed on him with an
expression that was unmistakable.
As she went towards the door Caroline was aware of their proximity, and somehow the knowledge gave her a sudden painful sense of isolation. To both of them she no longer existed.
“Don’t you know that you suit me just as you are?” Grace was saying, her voice low and husky, as Caroline quietly shut the door behind her.
CHAPTER THREE
TO Caroline’s surprise it was Mrs. Creed herself who woke her on the following morning, bearing a breakfast tray. Caroline blinked sleepily as the housekeeper pulled back the curtains, letting the bright morning sunlight flood through the window of her li
ttle room.
But any ideas that might have been aroused in Caroline’s mind by this extraordinarily gracious gesture on the housekeeper’s part were dispelled by Mrs. Creed saying crisply, “I brought you breakfast here to your room today because I thought it would give me an opportunity of discussing your duties quietly without that Betty overhearing and getting notions of herself. She’ll just have to get used to the fact that from now on her life will be very different from yours.”
Caroline sat up and reached for her bed-jacket, feeling somewhat embarrassed as Mrs. Creed placed the laden tray in front of her. This special treatment she was being accorded would be sure to make Betty her enemy, and she had begun to enjoy the companionship of the light-hearted girl, the only other young person on the staff.
But, on the other hand, Mrs. Creed’s point of view was only too easy to understand. With the prospect of Grace coming to Longmere as mistress, should she marry Randall, the housekeeper was wary of making an enemy for herself of the girl who was her cousin. Who knew but that Grace might lend a ready ear to any complaints that Caroline might make! What would become of Mrs. Creed then and her lethargic, easy-going husband should Grace decide to dismiss them? It was impossible, of course, for
Caroline to inform Mrs. Creed that she hadn’t the slightest influence with her cousin and that, as a matter of fact, she had got the distinct impression that Grace disliked her intensely.
The housekeeper stood at the foot of Caroline’s bed, her hands folded severely. “I understand Mrs. Brant is bringing Robin across today, isn’t she? So there’s no sense in your settling down to anything particular before he arrives. Perhaps in the meantime you’d pick a few flowers and place them in vases and bowls here and there—wherever you think they’d look best. I’m sure I haven’t time for such extras, even if I were up to it! But as you’re accustomed to mending china and are artistic, and that sort of thing, I’m sure you’ll make a good job of it,” she concluded hopefully. “Anyway, I know any time I attempt to do it Mrs. Brant always has a complaint, so that I’ve quite given up in despair. Then last time she was here she said the house looked so bleak and bare that, it was plain a bachelor lived here—though, goodness knows, I try to make it as comfortable and homelike as possible,” she ended aggrievedly.
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