107. Soft, Sweet & Gentle Page 6

  She did not need to say anything more as Dawson understood exactly all that she was asking. He knew, she thought, as much about her family as she did.

  *

  The next day, obeying her aunt, she rode over to the farms and each farmer and his wife were astonished to see her riding side-saddle and wearing a very becoming riding habit. And she also wore her hat over her wig.

  At two of the farms they did not recognise her until she introduced herself.

  They were, however, pleased and rather flattered that she had taken the trouble so soon after her father’s death to call on them and explain who was taking his place.

  As none of them had ever seen Alister, she had to tell them that he had been living abroad for some time.

  Now they would have to help him to realise and appreciate what a really magnificent estate he now owned and how well it was worked by those who cared for it.

  Finally she went to visit some of the wives in the villages and she made a special effort to talk to the owners of the village shops.

  There were not many, but they were vital to those living on the estate and she praised the proprietors and made herself so pleasant that she knew they would talk about her and repeat what she had said to them after she had gone.

  Finally she returned to The Castle.

  “You didn’t ’ave no problem, my Lady?” the Head Groom asked when she dismounted.

  “No, I enjoyed my ride, Carter. At the same time I feel that I have much to learn as I have never ridden side-saddle before.”

  She spoke without thinking and then she glanced over her shoulder before she added,

  “But, of course, it would be a big mistake to let the new Earl know that. I trust you all not to mention to him that in the past I have always ridden astride.”

  “You can trust us not to make trouble, my Lady,” Carter assured her with a grin.

  Georgina thanked him.

  When she went back to The Castle, it seemed very large and empty.

  She knew that she was missing her father more than she could express in words or even acknowledge herself.

  He had been such an interesting man and she had an empty feeling in her heart that she would never find another man like him.

  How could she when he had lived such a full and interesting life, apparently content to ride about the estate with his small daughter.

  He had always talked to her as if she was one of his contemporaries.

  ‘There will never be another man like him in my life,’ she told herself sadly.

  Her father had always disliked tears and he had taught her the way to control herself.

  “You may want to cry,” he said, “but no real lady cries in public. It’s a tiresome and rather ugly expression of your feelings that you should put into words.”

  Georgina had challenged this by saying that there were few words to express what one felt before one cried and that started a lengthy debate, which they both enjoyed and neither of them came out as the winner. It was the way they passed most evenings together and they talked rather than played games.

  Now Georgina felt that she had learnt so much from him without realising that she was actually doing so.

  “I miss him so much,” she said to the empty room.

  Finally she went to the music room where they had held parties when she was a child, but, because they bored her father, there had not been any since her mother’s death.

  However, her father had been rather musical and he not only played the piano himself but encouraged Georgina to do the same.

  Now she sat down in the large empty room and then, opening the piano, she ran her fingers over the keys.

  She could remember all too clearly the music that her father had loved which he had played continually.

  One was a song that she had learnt to sing when she was quite young and he had often made her sing it to him while he played.

  She tried to sing it now, but the tears came into her eyes and her father would have disapproved.

  She therefore stood up, shut the piano lid down and walked to the window.

  Then she was fighting against the tears that she had not shed at the funeral and had stopped herself from doing even when she was alone.

  She gazed out into the garden where the sun was sinking behind the trees.

  There were flowers giving a huge splash of colour against the green of the grass and she could hear the rooks going to their nests.

  ‘How could I go away and leave all this?’ she asked herself.

  She recognised then that she was afraid that Alister would have no use for her and would ask her to leave as soon as possible.

  It was with a supreme effort that she prevented herself from crying out and also from praying to her father, wherever he might be at this moment, to save her.

  “How could you leave me,” Papa?” she asked. “If I am sent away, I will not only be without you but without my home.”

  It was with the greatest difficulty that she checked the tears from rolling down her cheeks.

  Then she walked back upstairs to her room feeling as if she was lost and had nothing left in the world now that she was utterly alone.

  *

  The following day, however, the sun was shining.

  Once she was mounted on a horse, even though it was side-saddle, it was better than sitting moping in The Castle and missing her father every time she drew breath.

  She rode for a long time without stopping to see the men who were working or going to a farm or village.

  She kept thinking that perhaps this was the last time she would feel that the land was hers and The Castle in the distance was hers too.

  ‘Why, oh why,’ she asked herself a hundred times, ‘was I not born a boy?’

  In which case she would now be the Earl and would be able to do everything the family required of her.

  ‘It’s not fair, it’s not fair,’ she wanted to scream and yet she knew that the laws of succession were not only unfair but highly effective.

  Finally she went home.

  Although Dawson told her that tea was ready in the drawing room, she first went upstairs to change.

  Alister might arrive at any moment or it might be weeks before he turned up.

  After all, if they found him in Japan, it was a long journey back over the sea and there was always a chance that he would go first to see one of the family in London before he came to the country.

  Equally she knew that she had to be prepared.

  She therefore put on another pretty afternoon dress and arranged the wig over her own curly fair hair.

  When she looked at herself in the mirror, she found it not only difficult to realise who she was, but also she had to admit that she was quite as good-looking as any of the pictures of her relatives that hung in the picture gallery.

  On her instructions the servants had opened all the rooms and indeed many of them had been closed up for a long time. They had dusted all the bedrooms and made them as attractive as possible.

  ‘Just supposing,’ she said to herself, ‘Alister arrives with a number of friends.’

  It would have been very embarrassing to find the beds were not made, the curtains drawn and there was a smell of dust.

  She also knew without giving orders that there was plenty of food in the kitchen, not only for the new Earl but for anyone he wished to entertain.

  She was aware without being told that the staff had often regretted that there were no evening parties and no big luncheons to cater for.

  Although she and her father had always been very appreciative of what came to the table, she knew that just having two people was very different from when there had been the large parties. Her father had given plenty of those when he first inherited the title at which her mother shone as a beautiful and gracious hostess.

  Georgina ate her tea alone in the drawing room and looked gratefully at the flowers that had been brought in that day to decorate the room.

  When the sun be
gan to sink in the sky, she thought that she should go upstairs to change for dinner.

  She had worn a different gown every night even though she had dined alone, thinking that she should see which ones became her and which were likely to impress Alister when he did arrive.

  As she picked up the book she had been reading from the sofa and thought that she would take it upstairs, she heard the sound of wheels outside.

  She knew only too well that the wheels belonged to a heavy carriage and there was the sound of hooves that told her it was drawn by four horses.

  It was then in a sudden panic she wanted to run away.

  She was almost sure that, as it was now too late for anyone to call at The Castle, it must be Alister arriving and she was really apprehensive about meeting him.

  Then she told herself that, as her father’s daughter, she should not be afraid of anything, least of all the man who was to take her beloved father’s place.

  She stood with her back to the fireplace fighting for breath, telling herself that it was childish and stupid of her to be afraid.

  There was the sound of voices in the hall.

  Then the door of the drawing room slowly opened and Dawson announced,

  “The Earl of Langfield, my Lady.”

  Georgina felt as if a cold hand was clutching at her throat.

  As a man then came into the room, it was with the greatest difficulty that she forced herself to look at him.

  He was tall – taller than she expected.

  As he walked towards her, she realised that he was far better looking than she had thought he would be.

  With a tremendous effort she forced herself to say,

  “Welcome to The Castle. As I expect you know, I am your cousin, Georgina.”

  “As I have been away from England for so long,” Alister replied, “I was wondering as I came here if there would be anyone to welcome me. Then I recalled being told that you had always lived here with your father and I am delighted not to find The Castle completely empty.”

  He spoke in a low voice and, as she shook his hand, she knew instinctively that he was a strong determined man who would not be influenced by anything or anyone.

  “I am sure a great number of the family would have been pleased to have been here to greet you,” she said, “but no one knew when you would be arriving.”

  “I was unsure myself just how long the ship would take,” Alister answered. “Actually it was quicker than I expected.”

  “You have come from Japan?” she asked. “It’s a country I would love to visit.”

  “I have enjoyed myself there, but, now I have come home, I expect I will have to live a very different life. I hope that there will be someone to tell me all about it.”

  “My father liked being alone with me,” Georgina answered. “Therefore I am afraid that I am the only person who can answer completely all the questions you will feel obliged to ask. I think I am right in saying that you came here last as a boy.”

  “I came here last when I was at University just for a luncheon with your father. But I stayed here I think when I was ten or eleven. I much enjoyed riding his horses.”

  “The stables are still full,” Georgina told him and she managed, as she spoke, to force a smile to her lips.

  “I expected that,” Alister replied. I was told over and over again how much your father loved his horses and indeed what magnificent ones he had. I only hope when I see them that I will not be disappointed.”

  “I will be very surprised if you are!” she exclaimed. “But I am sure after a long journey you require a drink.”

  Even as she spoke, the door opened and Dawson came in with a bottle of champagne in a gold ice-bucket and he was followed by a footman carrying two glasses on a tray.

  Another footman had two plates of petits fours and sandwiches and he put them down on a table in front of the sofa.

  Dawson poured out two glasses of champagne and, as he was about to leave, Georgina said,

  “His Lordship is, of course, in the Master suite. As he has come from a warm climate, I am wondering if he would like a fire.”

  “Certainly not!” Alister intervened at once. “The temperature is perfect as far as I am concerned and a fire would doubtless make me too hot.”

  “It was very cold last winter,” Georgina told him. “And I can assure you that we were very grateful to have fires, especially in the bigger rooms, but nothing seemed to make them really warm.”

  She was talking just because she felt she had to do so and, when the servants left the room, she said,

  “I think I must explain to you that Dawson has been here for years. In fact he came first as a bootboy to my grandfather and gradually rose to become a much trusted and exceptionally outstanding butler.”

  “That is exactly what I would have expected at The Castle and I imagine that you are staying here to introduce me not only to the staff but to the people on the estate.”

  Georgina drew in her breath.

  “Actually I am staying here as I have nowhere else to go,” she replied. “I was hoping, as you are not married, that I could be of real use to you.”

  Alister looked at her in surprise.

  “I learnt years ago that you are your father’s only child, but I thought by this time you would be married and I would be alone in The Castle.”

  “I have been too happy with Papa to think about marriage,” Georgina answered, “although actually no one has asked me to be his wife.”

  “I am surprised at that.”

  “I have been so very happy with Papa and I helped him with the estate. I thought until you found your feet that you would want me to introduce you to our people and tell you about them.”

  “I am delighted that you should think of doing so. At the same time I find it extraordinary that you have not been married off, as I was.”

  There was an unexpectedly hard and bitter note in his voice.

  Georgina then remembered how pressure had been brought on him when he was young to marry the woman he had finally hated – a woman who had eventually made him run away to a distant part of the world.

  “I expect,” she assured him, “that you will find a number of people only too willing to help you. But in the meantime, as I am the one person who really understands the estate and those living on it, I should be delighted to do anything I can to make you appreciate how successful my father has been.”

  She paused for a moment and, as he did not speak, she went on,

  “Despite the war and the recession that followed it, we have managed to keep our heads high.”

  “I am quite certain that your father was respected and extremely efficient,” Alister commented.

  “Yes, he was and I am sure you will be impressed by the many new ideas he had for the farms and, of course, his horses are unique.”

  “I felt sure you would say that, but first, Cousin Georgina, I will want to explore The Castle and I can say in all truth that it is very exciting, in fact thrilling, for me to own anything so large and so important as a castle that has been in the family for so many centuries.”

  He gave a little laugh before he added,

  “I never in my wildest dreams thought I should be the eleventh Earl of Langfield.”

  “It must have been a surprise,” Georgina agreed. “Because when you left England there were several people who were closer relatives to Papa than you were.”

  “What happened to them?” Alister enquired.

  “One died of his war wounds after suffering quite a lot, I understand. Another was drowned in an accident at sea when he was travelling to America and the third was killed in a duel in France, where he returned after the war was over because he had fallen in love.”

  “That at least was romantic,” Alister replied. “But, of course, you will understand that it never occurred to me that I might step into your father’s shoes. I can only hope that, having done so, I will not make a mess of it.”

  He smiled as if he thought it mo
st unlikely.

  Georgina could only murmur,

  “I am sure you will not do that.”

  As he sipped his glass, Georgina suggested,

  “I am sure after such a long journey you would like a bath. I expect by this time they will have unpacked some of your clothes. Therefore shall I take you upstairs to the Master suite.”

  Alister rose to his feet.

  “Is this castle really mine?” he asked as if he was talking to himself. “I find it hard to believe that I have inherited anything quite so majestic.”

  “But you have and, as I expect you already know, it is a great responsibility.”

  Alister looked at her sharply.

  “What do you mean by that?” he asked.

  “You are Head of the Family and they all depend on you.”

  “In what way?” he asked.

  She thought that she had jumped in at the deep end too quickly and suggested,

  “Shall I tell you about it after dinner? I am sure that now you are tired from the journey.”

  “I think you are prevaricating. Not only in the way you are thinking of me but from the way you have spoken, I am certain that what you have to tell me is of tremendous importance.”

  He was being cleverer than she expected him to be and, because she was nervous that she might say the wrong thing, she replied,

  “It may take quite a time for you to understand all I have to tell you. Therefore as a special dinner is now being prepared for you and our cook, who is the butler’s wife, has been practising for days so that everything will please you, I think we should leave the more serious discussions until after dinner.”

  “Very well,” Alister agreed. “But I think you must be aware that you are frightening me. You are also making me very curious. I am wondering if it is all happening just by chance or whether you have thought it out in a rather unexpected and intriguing way.”

  Georgina laughed.

  “Now you are frightening me. If we don’t want to be late for dinner, I propose that we go upstairs now.”

  “Very well. But I am sure, because you know what you have to say is so vital, you are distinctly keeping me on a string which is something I very much dislike.”