The Healing Hand Read online

  He realised that under present circumstances it was very unlikely that he would be long in England.

  Once he was abroad there would be plenty of eager men, he was quite certain, who would be ready to take his place at her side.

  ‘At least,’ he lectured himself before he finally fell asleep, ‘I will be sure of seeing her while I am in London.’

  He was almost certain that the Cavalry would not be going out to Turkey right away.

  He would therefore be able to spend some of his time, when he was not actively training his troops, with the lovely girl he had found in a wrecked train.

  *

  When he awoke the next morning, Rupert realised they were still at sea and it was rough.

  The ferry was pitching and tossing and as the waves broke over the bow, it was making slow progress across the Channel.

  He reckoned with a sinking heart that Tania would be lying prostrate and seasick and it would be impossible to talk to her.

  Going to her cabin, he knocked gently at the door. He did not expect an answer, but to his surprise she called out to come in.

  He found that she was up and dressed.

  “Good morning, Rupert, I rather expected that you would sleep in longer and be worried about going on deck in case you were blown away or soaked with foam!”

  “And I was thinking you would be prostrate with seasickness!”

  Tania laughed.

  “As it happens I am a good sailor. I was in a huge storm once with Papa and everybody was sick except him and me, even the crew looked a bit green. But we enjoyed every moment of it.”

  “It is what I might have expected from you Tania! Now, would you like your breakfast here or down below?”

  “Here, if they do condescend to bring it up – but we must be careful not to wake up our neighbours.”

  She smiled as she added,

  “Even though they are great travellers, I was told Mrs. Bracebridge hates a rough sea.”

  “Two very sensible people – ”

  “I think it is so beautiful when the sea is rough and I am always certain I can spy mermaids in the foam.”

  Rupert chuckled.

  “What do you want for breakfast? I had better go and order it, as I am certain the Stewards will think we are too ill to want to eat anything.”

  “Eggs and bacon and coffee, please.”

  He smiled at Tania.

  “You are magnificent! I might have known it if I had any common sense.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because you are completely unique, Tania. Only a unique woman, so different from any others I have ever met, would survive a train crash, a rough sea – and I am sure whatever the future holds for our country.”

  “Now you are being pessimistic again, Rupert. I am hoping that at the last moment we will find a way to keep the peace. Actually I have put it in my prayers.”

  “In which case they will undoubtedly come true, if there was not a large number of other people praying that, as the war is essential for the future of the British Empire, we will win it!”

  “But of course we will, Rupert. Even though you did worry me last night with your gloomy forebodings that the Army has no weapons and doubtless no soldiers!”

  She was joking, but as Rupert went below to order breakfast, he thought maybe it was a joke that could end up as reality.

  After he had given the order and was walking back to Tania’s cabin, he was thinking again how lovely she was.

  He was therefore not surprised to find her standing outside leaning over the rail, watching the waves breaking over the bow.

  The sun was shining on the sea and glittering on the foam from the breaking waves – it was like looking into the heart of a rainbow.

  When Rupert joined her, she looked up and smiled.

  “This is yet another adventure,” she sighed, “and I thought we should reach home without one.”

  “Do you really like a rough sea, Tania?”

  “I like the feeling that something is happening and that we are fighting a battle against the elements and in the end we will win.”

  He could see from her eyes that she was referring not only to what was happening now, but also to whatever happened in the future.

  “Of course we will win, as Britain always does. It’s just that I am wondering what the cost would be for all of us.”

  “What you must tell your men, Rupert, is that they are fighting for a just cause and, if they do die, it is for the glory of England and not just to contain a greedy gesture on the part of the Russians.”

  “You are so right, Tania, our motto is ‘to hear is to obey’.”

  He smiled as he quoted the Arab saying and Tania grinned back at him.

  “I was thinking just now, Rupert, how exciting it was meeting you. Not at all what one would expect in the middle of a train crash.”

  “Funnily enough, Tania, I was thinking exactly the same about you before I went to sleep. I am therefore quite certain you are not human, but have been sent down here from the sky especially to intrigue and entrance me!”

  Tania clapped her hands together.

  “That is a wonderful idea and so very romantic. If you can talk like that, you should put it into a poem or a book and when it is published you will make a fortune!”

  “It’s most unlikely and, although my father always keeps his diary day by day and often talks about writing his life story, it has never particularly attracted me.”

  “We are too young at present to have realised what an exciting world we are living in, where strange things are happening and new things being invented! But war should be abolished all together.”

  “Then we would not be living here in England, but in Heaven where everyone loves everyone else and no one wants to fight.”

  “It is something we must work for, Rupert.”

  “Maybe you will be successful, like that person you were talking about to Mrs. Bracebridge.”

  “Oh, you mean Florence Nightingale. She believes she has something very special to do for the world that has never been done before by anybody.”

  “Then I suppose we could all try to do the same. If I have to bring peace, what do you intend to do, Tania?”

  “I was just thinking about that myself. If you give the world peace and Florence gives the world good health, then I must in some way, though I am uncertain how, give the world love.”

  “That is exactly the right answer, Tania!”

  CHAPTER THREE

  It was late in the afternoon before finally the ferry, rather battered by the rough sea, drew into London Bridge.

  The Bracebridges had hardly left their cabin all day. On the top deck the only people moving about were Tania and Rupert.

  He had always been a good sailor and a rough sea did not worry him – in fact he rather enjoyed it.

  But he had never known a woman enjoy it too. Tania was proving to be even more unique than he at first thought her to be.

  They decided to take luncheon together in Tania’s cabin, as the Bracebridges did not invite them.

  Tania knew this was because Mrs. Bracebridge was feeling seasick and her husband wanted to be with her.

  He had come out once or twice to see if they were all right and was rather amused to see they were enjoying the storm.

  Despite the heavy sea there was no rain and the sun was shining for most of the afternoon.

  Rupert went below and returned to say that nearly all the passengers were seasick and the Stewards were running from one to the other as quickly as they could.

  Tania now felt concerned that Sister Agnes would be suffering on the lower deck, but there was really nothing she could do to help her.

  When they finally steamed into the Thames, it was already dusk but they were no longer being tossed about.

  Mrs. Bracebridge, who had been lying all day in her bed, finally got up and dressed.

  “Can I give you any help?” Tania asked her.

  She shoo
k her head.

  “I am all right now, thank you, Tania. Although I have not actually been sick, a rough sea always gives me a terrible headache and I know it’s wiser to stay in bed.”

  “I think that is very sensible of you. We are so lucky to have that choice, I feel sorry for the poor people below, they only have seats to sit on and must have suffered terribly as they were so seasick.”

  “They will soon recover,” Charles said cheerfully, “and I must commend you and Rupert for being such good sailors.”

  Charles had arranged that their luggage was to be the first to be taken off the ship.

  Tania was not at all surprised to find that there was no carriage waiting for her.

  She thought if her stepmother had sent one at her expected time of arrival it had certainly not waited.

  “Never mind, my dear,” Selina had said. “There is plenty of room in our carriage and we can give both you and Rupert a lift. If you will drop us first, the carriage can then take you on to wherever you want to go.”

  “You are so kind,” Tania thanked her. “I hate to be a nuisance, but I have a distinct feeling that Stepmama will be convinced that it is my fault we are so late!”

  They laughed at this, but Rupert knew she meant it seriously and he was worried.

  He had already recognised that Tania would not be welcomed home by her stepmother and wanted to protect her from being made unhappy and scolded for what was certainly not her fault.

  They travelled first to Belgrave Square where the Bracebridges said ‘goodbye’ to them both and then as she was climbing out of the carriage, Selina held up her hand,

  “What I would suggest, and I might have thought of it earlier, is that you must both of you come and dine with us tomorrow night. I will ask some of your mother’s great friends, Tania. I know they will be thrilled to see you and the word will soon go round that you are back in London.”

  “I would just love to! I am so glad I was able to meet you in such an unexpected way.”

  “I look forward to seeing you too,” Charles said to Rupert. “And tell your father when you see him that I want to be in touch with him at the first opportunity.”

  “I know he is in London at the moment, because he is receiving special medical treatment. He is in our house in Park Lane and I can tell you without asking him how delighted he will be to see you.”

  “I never thought of him in London, as I know how much he enjoys the country, particularly his horses. To be honest I never suspected he would leave them.”

  “His doctors insisted he should take this treatment in London. So I will tell him to expect you just as soon as you have recovered from your journey.”

  “I will be calling on him without fail tomorrow or the next day and don’t forget that we expect you to dinner tomorrow night.”

  “I am not likely to forget it,” answered Rupert, “and thank you again for everything.”

  The footman asked Tania where to go and she gave him the address of her father’s house in Park Lane.

  It was, she thought, only a short way from Rupert’s.

  She was hoping that he would be as anxious to call on her as Charles Bracebridge was to call on his father.

  As they drove off with Rupert sitting beside her, he took her hand in both of his and suggested,

  “Though we will see each other at dinner tomorrow night, I will try to call on you in the afternoon, but sadly it may not be possible.”

  “You mean you will be busy at your Barracks?”

  As she felt suddenly afraid he might be sent away from England without any notice, she added,

  “This war has not yet started, so surely there is still a chance of peace.”

  “I would rather doubt it, Tania. We can only pray that someone has a little common sense before there is a mass slaughter. I imagine the majority of soldiers on both sides will have no idea what they are fighting for.”

  “Naturally they would feel like that if the enemy is not invading their own land and I am sorry for the Turks, who will suffer more than anyone else.”

  Rupert did not answer and after a while she added,

  “I hope you will be able to have dinner tomorrow night with those kind Bracebridges. It was so fortunate for me that we bumped into them, just as I was so lucky that you looked after me when the train crashed.”

  “We must hope that your luck continues, Tania, and I am quite certain, because you are so beautiful, that it will. At the same time I hope if I am sent abroad immediately, you will not forget me.”

  “How could I possibly? It has all been an adventure I never thought could ever happen to me. When we were watching the waves, I felt how marvellous it all was.”

  “And I thought it was so wonderful that you were there beside me,” Rupert breathed.

  As he was speaking, he picked up her hand and to her surprise kissed it.

  She had taken off her gloves to bid ‘goodbye’ to the Bracebridges and had not put them on again.

  Now, as she felt Rupert’s lips on the softness of her skin, she felt a little quiver go through her.

  But, before she could speak, the horses slowed down and they were outside her home.

  As the footman jumped down from the box to ring the bell, she whispered quickly,

  “If you cannot come and see me tomorrow, please will you somehow let me know?”

  “If I do come tomorrow, it will be after tea, but if it’s impossible, nothing will prevent me from seeing you at dinner.”

  As she spoke, the door of the house opened and he kissed her hand again swiftly and released it.

  The footman then opened the carriage door.

  “Thank you for everything,” murmured Tania.

  She would have got out of the carriage, but Rupert jumped out first and helped her alight.

  He escorted her to the front door saying,

  “Sleep well, Tania, and don’t forget our plans for tomorrow.”

  “I most certainly will not.”

  She smiled at the butler, who she had known since she was a child.

  “I am back home, Dawson.”

  “And I’m real glad to see you, Miss Tania. When the carriage comes back to say the ship had been delayed, we were afraid there’d been an accident.”

  “It was not the ship that had the accident, but the train!”

  Dawson gave a sigh of relief.

  “I’m just sorry, Miss Tania, that the carriage wasn’t waiting for you when you arrived. But her Ladyship were adamant that the coachman shouldn’t go out again.”

  “I rather suspected that, but fortunately I was given a lift by two friends who were very kind to me.”

  “I’m ever so glad, miss.”

  While they were talking, two footmen had brought her luggage into the house.

  “Is her Ladyship in?” she asked Dawson.

  “No, Miss Tania. She’s gone out to a party and I doubts if she’ll be back afore the early hours.”

  Tania felt a sense of relief.

  “In which case I will go straight up to my room.”

  Dawson did not reply to her and she looked at him in surprise.

  “Is there any reason for me not to do so?”

  “No, Miss Tania, but I be afraid that her Ladyship’s changed your room.”

  “Changed my room? But I’ve slept there ever since I was old enough to leave the nursery!”

  “I knows that, miss, and I knows it would upset you but her Ladyship wants the best rooms for her friends when they come to stay. So you’ve been put upstairs in the night nursery.”

  Tania stared at him in astonishment.

  The night nursery had been empty for years, only used by visiting servants if the rest of the house was full.

  In her own room her mother had chosen everything carefully. She simply never imagined for a minute that it would be given to someone else.

  For a moment she considered insisting on going to the room she had always used.

  But she knew if she did her st
epmother would be furious not only with her but with the servants who had permitted her to do so.

  “Very well, Dawson,” she said, “but it is a strange homecoming when I cannot even go to my own room.”

  “I know, Miss Tania, and we all knows it’d upset you, but there be nothing we can do about it.”

  “I know. So my luggage had better go up into the nursery, but I will not start unpacking until I have talked to her Ladyship about the arrangement.”

  She saw by the expression on Dawson’s face that he did not think anything she did would make very much difference.

  She had an uncomfortable feeling in her heart that this was true.

  The old housekeeper who, like Dawson, had been with her father and mother for many years affectionately greeted her.

  She was to learn later that the rest of the servants were all newcomers.

  “Now I’m sure you’d like something to eat,” the housekeeper, Mrs. Field, suggested, “and I’ve persuaded cook to make the mushroom soup you always loved. She’s also cooking you a piece of fresh sole that came from the fishmonger only this morning.”

  “That will be lovely, Mrs. Field, and as I am now confined to the nursery I had better eat it at the table where Nanny taught me to have good manners and always to say grace before I ate.”

  She thought as she spoke it would be wise to be grateful for small mercies, even though this was hardly a happy way to return home.

  She longed to go to her Mama’s room and feel that she was still there.

  She would understand how strange it was to come home to find that everything had been altered, but she was afraid that her mother’s room would be changed too.

  In which case it would be most hurtful to see the alterations and to know that they were her stepmother’s choice.

  Perhaps this had all been done deliberately? The new Lady Amesly would want to erase all the memories of someone who had been more loved than she had ever been.

  Tania could remember overhearing her stepmother raging at her father and blustering,

  “I have done everything to make you happy, and all you think about is that woman who is dead and can never return! Forget her! Forget her and think of me! I am your wife and you should not be thinking of anyone else!”