by Tinnean
“Thank you.” Diamonds.
“Ah, Roddy, why don’t you stable the animals?” Tommy asked.
“If you’ll tell me where I may find the stables, I’ll be happy to.” I’m going to be wealthy! I thought in a flush of enthusiasm.
“Oh, the grooms can do that,” Lady Eugenia assured me.
“No, Mother. Roddy allows no one near those beasts of his, and Anubis has taken a liking to him.” Tommy signalled to one of the footmen and spoke to him in an undertone.
“Your brother still has that devil? I wish he’d get rid of him, Thomas. He’s dangerous.”
“You know Bertie keeps him for me.”
“You needn’t fear him, milady. Anubis is very well behaved,” I told her at the same time.
“For you, he is,” Tommy retorted. “Since he’s met you, he only just tolerates me. Leave the bags, Roddy. I’ll have them taken up to our rooms.”
I unfastened my carpetbag and Tommy’s kitbag from Rocinante’s back and set them down.
“If Sir Bertram ever wishes to sell Anubis, I’d be more than happy to buy him.” I not only had the diamond in the rough, but I had a diamond mine!
“Of course you would. You can afford to.” Was Tommy unhappy about my good fortune? No, that had to be wrong. He was my friend.
“It’s nice to be comfortable.” I endeavoured to curb my excitement. Perhaps only a few stones would be mined.
Tommy choked at that understatement, then said, “This is Wilson. He’ll show you where the stables are, and then bring you back to the house.”
I nodded, reluctant to be parted from my friend but knowing he must want to have a private conversation with his mother. I caught up the reins and followed the young servant around the side of the house and to the beautifully kept, airy stables.
All the grooms made a great fuss over my Arabians, but they approached the blood bay gelding with caution. Surprisingly enough, the presence of Rocinante kept the high strung animal calm. Perhaps when I left…I could never quite escape that possibility. The thought of leaving Tommy depressed me, and resolutely, I pushed the notion from my mind. To lighten my mood, I thought perhaps one day I would gift my…friend with the stubborn little donkey.
* * * *
Wilson made himself comfortable on a bale of hay and watched as I fed my Arabians.
“Don’t you have tasks in the house?” I asked, not wanting him to get into trouble for dallying in the stables.
“Captain Thomas would want me to remain until you’re done here so I can bring you back to the house.”
“All right.”
“Africa must be an amazing place,” he murmured. “Would you mind telling me about it, sir?”
A groom handed me a curry comb, and he and a few others stayed to listen as well as I groomed first the mare and then the stallion and talked about the village I’d grown up in until the Great War left it devastated. I didn’t want to linger on thoughts of the young men who’d been “recruited” and the young women who’d…I shuddered to think of their fate. I was about to tell my audience about the farm I’d tended to after Charlie and I had done our bit toward the war effort, but one of the younger grooms spoke.
“Fighting the Hun…That’s so exciting.” He fiddled with a piece of straw. “I wish I could have gone to war.” He frowned. “I was too bloody young.”
I looked at him. He had to be about eighteen, a year or so younger than I’d been when Charlie and I had taken The Nile Goddess to Lake Tanganyika. “Trust me, war isn’t exciting.” I thought for a moment of the Goddess going down the rapids, bucking like the little pony I’d ridden when I was a boy, but I had a feeling that wasn’t the excitement the groom had anticipated.
“Oh, but—”
“Do you have any idea what it’s like to kill a man?”
He coloured up and shifted from one foot to the other. “Course I don’t,” he grumbled.
I sighed and remembered what Charlie had told me. “A very good friend of mine fought in the Boer War.” Not that I’d known when I’d tried to persuade him to help me come up with a plan to sink the Marie Christine.
“The Boer War? He must have been very old.”
“No.” At least not to me. I continued running a brush over the chestnut’s flank. “At the time, he was just a couple of years older than you, I’d say.”
“Is it really that bad?” the young groom asked, his eyes enormous. “Captain Smythe marched off to war, and he looked very dashing in his uniform.”
“Yes, and he came back without an eye.” Another groom glowered at him.
I paused in brushing George, leaned my head against his side, and thought how Charlie had reacted when I’d told him if he wouldn’t help me sink the German steamship, I’d find a British outpost and enlist.
He wrapped his hands in the front of my shirt and hauled me up until I was on my toes. “I know the kind of things a boy like you reads. The Charge of the Light Brigade and ‘half a league onward rode the gallant six hundred!’ The Three Musketeers and ‘one for all and all for one!’ Gunga Din—’You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din!’ Your head is so filled with that glory bullshit that you don’t realise a hero can be just as dead as an ordinary man.”
My mouth was so dry I could hardly get the words out, because yes, that was exactly how I’d expected war to be. “You’ve seen it, then, what a body looks like when it’s been shot to pieces?”
“Seen it, hell,” he spat. “I’ve done it. I’ve raised my rifle and…and shot the…the enemy through the heart.” He released me and turned away, his hands scrubbing his face. “He was so surprised. A little Afrikaner, not much older than you…”
And it could have been him just as easily. I stood there, uncertain of how to offer him comfort. “That wouldn’t happen to me, you know,” was all I could think to say.
He gave a bark of laughter that had no humour in it. “Yeah, I’ll bet that boy thought the same thing. Right up until he drew his very last breath in my arms.”
“He described it?” the groom asked.
I hadn’t realised I’d spoken aloud, but I went ahead and answered him. “Oh, yes, and in such graphic terms I almost vomited.” I straightened and looked over George’s back at the grooms, at the footman. “You’ll do what you want,” I told them, “but don’t go blindly into a situation, simply because someone tells you it’s the thing to do or because you think it’s the path to glory. That path only leads to the grave.”
I wondered if they’d pay any heed to my words.
Silence filled the stables except for the stamp of a horse’s hoof and the sound of the brush over George’s hide.
Then, “Who’s Gunga Din?” the youngest groom asked, and the tension was broken and we all laughed.
* * * *
Once the horses were settled in nicely, Wilson hopped off the bale, about to escort me back to the manor house, when Tommy arrived, dressed in a suit rather than the more casual clothing he’d worn earlier.
“I’m sorry, Mr Sayer,” he said with the utmost formality. “I’ve been called back to Town.”
“Shall I saddle Anubis, sir?” an older groom asked.
“That won’t be necessary. Ware will drive me. Walk with me to the car, if you please, Mr Sayer.”
I fell into step beside him. “What is it?”
“Bertie rang me up. He needs me in Town.”
“I’ll fetch my carpetbag and be ready to leave with you immediately.”
“No, I’d prefer if you stayed here.”
“I could hardly impose on your mother.”
“You’re not imposing on her in the least. She’ll adore having you.”
“But—”
“Please, Roddy?”
“I don’t see why I can’t come with you, but if that’s what you wish…” I wondered if this was his way of starting to separate us or to build a wall between us. I swallowed. “Of course I’ll accede to your wishes.”
He reached out and squeezed my shoulder
. “Thank you.”
“I wish I could kiss you,” I said, but of course I couldn’t. The chauffeur was standing by the open passenger door of the elegant car.
Tommy looked serious as he held out his hand.
“When will you be back?” I took his hand, but he only gave it a brief squeeze before he released it.
“I can’t say for sure, but…two or three days at the most, I should think. Take care of yourself and of Mother.” He gave me a vague smile. “I’ll see you soon.” He got into the rear seat of the Rolls Royce, Ware closed the door and got behind the wheel, and within seconds, the car was rolling down the drive, taking my…friend back to London.
I watched as the plume of dust gradually drifted down to settle on the drive and the sound of the car’s engine faded.
Wilson cleared his throat. “Would you like to go up to the house, sir?”
“Yes.” I turned and stared at the house. Its stone walls glowed in the warm gold of the late afternoon sun. I followed him across the lawn and through the door.
“Your room is right this way.” He gestured toward a staircase that led to the upper floors, and I was about to fall into step beside him when I was hailed by Tommy’s mother.
“Roddy! One moment, dear boy.”
“Yes, milady?”
“Such disappointing news, Thomas having to return to the city. Bertie put in a call from London, something to do with some investments the two of them are making on ‘Change. Was Thomas able to say goodbye to you?” She didn’t give me the opportunity to assure her that he had. “Apparently time is of the essence, but he did want to see you. I told my chauffeur to run the scamp up to Town. I hope you won’t mind dining with me?” Lady Eugenia finally paused to draw a breath.
If I had known her better, I might have questioned the lengthy, effusive explanation. As it was, all I paid attention to was the fact that Tommy had to go up to Town and only wanted to say goodbye to me; he didn’t want to take me with him.
I pulled myself together. In the face of such charming company, it would be rude to let my friend’s mother think I regretted his absence. “Of course I’ll dine with you, milady. I hope you won’t be dressing. I’m afraid all I have are clothes more suitable for the desert.”
“Not to worry, dear boy.” She studied me carefully, then nodded to herself. “You can borrow something of Thomas’s. You’re much the same height and build, the two of you.”
Tommy had said as much in London, but I’d left behind the suit I’d borrowed when we’d gone to the cinema. “Er—”
She went on as if I hadn’t started to speak. “We keep town hours, Roddy. Dinner will be at seven.”
What could I say, beyond, “Yes, milady”?
* * * *
I’d hoped Tommy would return in a few days, perhaps four or five at most, but instead a message arrived with the post, stating his brother needed him in Town a while longer, and he wasn’t sure when he’d be able to get away.
I stared down at the scrawled lines. Well, this was the perfect day for such a depressing letter as this. It had been pouring with rain, and the horses had refused to set foot out of the stables. I’d become restless from inactivity. And then to return to the house to find this letter…. I liked Greenbriers and the manor house, but this wasn’t my home. And with Tommy away…the only reason I could think for his extended absence—I swallowed heavily—was his desire to put an end to things between us.
I went to find Lady Eugenia. She was in the rose salon, a pink room with roses on the wallpaper and upholstery, arranging, appropriately enough, a bouquet of roses.
“Roddy! Do these colours complement each other?”
“They look very nice, milady. Er—”
“Hmm. I think I should add a bit more of the creams with the pinks.” She realised I was standing there shifting from one foot to the other. “Was there something you needed, dear boy?”
“I think I should go, ma’am.”
“Go where?” She frowned absently and placed a cream coloured rose in the midst of the pink ones.
“Oh…” I hadn’t given that much thought. I had no family here in England. “Perhaps it would be best if I returned to my farm on the Veldt.” Although I did find the thought of another ocean voyage so soon after the last one daunting to say the least.
Lady Eugenia abruptly stopped fussing with the roses and met my gaze. “I beg your pardon?”
“I said—”
She shook her head. “You can’t leave. Thomas will be most unhappy if you’re not here when he returns home.”
That thought made me warm with pleasure, but…would he be happy if I were here? I gripped my hands, twisted them together, and tried to explain. “You can’t be wanting me to stay when the sole reason for my visit is away.”
“Tish and tosh. The problem, young man, is you have nothing to occupy your time.”
I stared at her, my mouth agape, but then reluctantly closed it. She did have a point. After I cared for the horses, I’d take them out for a run, exploring the area, but other than that…. I was left with altogether too much time to miss Tommy.
“Thomas mentioned the two of you had dinner with one of our neighbours.”
“Sir John Synclaire, yes. And his son, John.”
“Yes. And you wrote a note for Thomas to send to Sir John.”
“I did.”
“He was impressed with your handwriting.”
I bit my lip. “Forgive me, milady, but I think he would be impressed with anyone’s handwriting.”
She gave a burst of startled laughter. “I’m afraid you’re right. His is a bit of a scrawl, isn’t it?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Well, as it turns out, I need some help with my correspondence. I try to stay in touch with all my friends, but it just runs away with itself, you see. Perhaps you’d be so kind as to help a lady in distress?”
“I’d be more than happy to.” A valid reason to remain here until Tommy returned? I leaped at the opportunity. And he could tell me to my face if he no longer wanted me here. “I care for the horses in the mornings, but I can rearrange their schedule and do that in the afternoon if you’d prefer.”
“No, I pay morning calls then. It will work much better if you come to me before luncheon. Once you’re done with the horses, you can meet me in the library.”
“Very well, ma’am. But what will you have me do?”
“Oh, you can write out invitations and copy letters for me.” She ran careful fingers around her wrist, an action I hadn’t seen before.
“Is your wrist paining you?”
“A trifle. When the weather is damp.” And today it was raining cats and dogs. Her shoulders slumped, and she looked pitiable.
“I’m so sorry to hear that. And of course I’ll do whatever I can to help.”
“Splendid,” she said briskly, straightening and not looking quite so pitiable. “Let’s get to it, shall we?” She looped her arm through mine and led the way to the library. “I keep paper in this drawer.” She went to her secretary desk and opened the top drawer. It contained lightly scented lilac paper. On a corner of the desk was a bottle of ink and a number of beautifully crafted fountain pens. “Sit down.”
I waited until she drew a chair close to the desk and sat herself before I pulled out the chair and sat, then selected a sheet of paper, filled the fountain pen, and waited expectantly.
“Now. We’ll assume Mrs. Sherwood has invited me to dinner after church on Sunday. She’s the wife of our vicar. I’ll dictate my acceptance, you’ll write it down.”
So she did, and I did, and she was impressed.
“You have a very fine copperplate hand.”
Colour rushed up my cheeks. “Thank you, milady.”
She dusted off her hands. “That settles that, and there will be no more talk of you leaving.”
“No, ma’am.” And if it wouldn’t have revealed my feelings for her son, I would have leaped up and danced across the room with her.
> Chapter 21
“Roddy.”
“Yes, milady?” I’d been working as Lady Eugenia’s secretary for the past week, and on this day I’d come in from the stables just a short while earlier. I’d washed away the odour of the stable and changed into a suit of clothes I’d purchased in Upper Flossmere, the local town, the day after Tommy had left to return to London. I still wore his evening clothes at dinner, though, since that gave me a sense of his presence. Then I’d gone to the library to see what Lady Genie had for me to do.
“I’m planning a dinner party Wednesday week to welcome our newest neighbour.”
“The one who’s renting Thorny Walk House?” I’d ridden over the countryside and had paused to observe the old house as workers finished readying it for the next people who’d be renting it. I’d made a point of learning a bit about the people who lived in this corner of Kent, and I’d been especially interested in the house where Tommy’s boyhood friend had grown up.
“Yes. Lord Carnarvon, Mr Howard Carter, and their host, an Egyptian gentleman by name of Aarm—Erm—”A frown creased her lovely brows. “Ah, I recall. Ammon Runihura.”
“I wonder what an Egyptian gentleman is doing here in Kent.”
“I’m sure the servants will discover it. Now, might I suggest you get started on the invitations?”
“Of course. Who did you wish to invite?”
“The Atkinsons and their daughter, the Straughans and their two girls, the vicar and his wife and daughter, and of course Dr Cliffe. His family have lived here forever, and he was a good friend of Henry’s.” She smiled at my surprise. “Dr Cliffe is a gentleman. He grew up with my husband.”
“It’s very commendable of him to become a doctor.”
“Yes. Freddie has always been like that. It’s fortunate we’ll have enough young ladies to partner with you gentlemen.”
“I?”
“Every man must do his duty for England,” she teased.
“Yes, milady.”
“And since my son isn’t here to partner you…”
I almost choked. Surely she didn’t know how I felt about her son? I decided it best to pretend I hadn’t heard her.
I sat behind the desk, took out the paper and filled a fountain pen, and began to write. Lady Eugenia had taken a seat on the settee and began to leaf through the newspaper which had come from London with the post.
