Lord of the Far Island by Victoria Holt (free e novels .TXT) 📕

She liked me to sit beside her while she talked.

"I always wanted a daughter," she told me. "I hope you'll have some girls. Of course they want boys . . . and the first should be one, I suppose, but girls are very charming. I always wanted a girl or two."

From her conversation I learned far more about the Carringtons than I had known before.

The house in Sussex had come to her. She had been an only child and Trentham Towers had been the home of her family for five centuries.

"It was a pity there were no boys . . . the title went to a cousin, you know. But I kept the house. I was so glad. At one time it seemed . . . and then I had boys, two boys and no girls. Isn't that strange? My parents longed for a boy and got me . . .I would have liked a daughter and had two boys. You are my new daughter, Ellen. I think we shall be fond of each other. You're a bright girl and you and Philip are so young. . . ."

"Perhaps you think we are too young," I said.

"I was seventeen when I married. It was a good match. We were so poor. Trentham was falling to pieces. Josiah has done so much for it. I used to shiver in my bedroom. So cold in the winter. Now we are in this house in the winter and we go there in the summer.

So pleasant; and of course the servants ... we had our faithful ones. Poor souls, they rarely were paid. So good; and the roof was a constant anxiety. . . . They were always talking of the fabric of the building. Such a strange term! And then there was Josiah. Of course it was not a family like ours. . . but so rich. He was ten years older than I. You wouldn't believe it, would you? The Carringtons wear well. It's all that energy. They are always doing something that's vital to something, some country, some business and of course to themselves. It keeps them alert and to be alert is to be young, they say. I was never very alert, but I did marry Josiah and that was the end of Trentham's troubles. I haven't heard the fabric mentioned for years. Josiah's people . . . builders and suchlike . . . take care of that. As soon as the fabric does what it shouldn't, it is rectified. Everything changed on the day I married Josiah. My parents were delighted with the match, and Rollo was born a year after our marriage. Perhaps this time next year, dear. . . ."

"I do hope I'm going to produce these babies," I said.

"You will, because you're in love. I believe that's very important. Philip adores you. He always did. He was always talking about you, you know."

"I thought it would be Esmeralda."

"Well, to tell the truth, my dear, so did I. You see, your cousin was certain of it but, as Josiah said, you are more vital and amusing and truthfully, my dear, much more good-looking and we are delighted that Philip and you chose each other."

I took her hand and kissed it suddenly. I was growing very fond of her.

"You are a dear girl. How I wish Rollo could have found someone like you. Ah, Rollo . . . !"

"You are not. happy about him?" I prompted.

"My dear, how could I be . . .in the circumstances? He is his father all over again. He is going to be a power in the City . . . and of course with everything he touches. He needs a wife beside him though. Oh dear, it's so unfortunate. But of course we mustn't talk of it. It makes us all so unhappy and this should be a happy time. Tell me, have you and Philip decided on a date yet?"

"Philip thinks the end of June."

"That's a lovely month for a marriage. Josiah and I were married in June. Such a charming ceremony ... at Trentham church of course. You should be married there . . . but perhaps London will be more convenient. What does the place matter when two people are in love? London will certainly be more convenient because your cousin will want you to have a grand wedding, I'm sure."

"I don't know. I have no income of my own, you know, Lady Emily."

"So much the better," she said. "I had none. All I brought was the house with its dilapidated fabric. I think it as well. A husband likes to be the sole provider, you know."

So we talked and the affection between us deepened. I think Philip was her favorite although she was proud of Rollo. Rollo was too clever for her, she confided in me. He takes after his father. He and Josiah got on like a house on fire.

Philip used to come and sprawl in a chair and look from one of us to the other. I could see he was delighted with the friendship between us.

One day he took me down to the mews to show me a new horse he had acquired.

I immediately noticed one of the grooms because I had seen him somewhere before. Philip introduced me and chatted with him in the easy way he had and which I was sure endeared him to everyone.

"This is Hawley," he said. "He hasn't been with us very long."

Hawley said: "Good afternoon, Miss Kellaway," and I continued to be puzzled.

When we left the mews I said to Philip, "I've seen him before. I wonder where."

"It may have been at someone's house. I forget where he was before he came to us, though he's not really a stableman. He just wanted any job that was going, I think my father said, and as he seemed a good man and there was this vacancy at the mews he took him. ... I think