Love by the Lake Page 6
Simon went off with him excitedly and Lolita started up the stairs.
The housekeeper, rustling in black silk with a chatelaine at her waist, was waiting at the top for her.
“I’m Mrs. Shepherd, ma’am,” she introduced herself, “and I understand you’d like to wash your hands before luncheon.”
“Yes, that is just what I would like to do,” replied Lolita, “and I think I might take off my hat as well.”
“That’ll be more comfortable,” agreed Mrs. Shepherd,“and, as I always says myself, more homely.”
She went ahead and showed Lolita into a room on the first landing.
“If you’re staying with Master Simon,” said Mrs. Shepherd, “I’ll have the schoolroom ready for you. It just happens I had all the rooms on the second floor turned out last week. It seems as if fate was telling me they’d be needed!”
“It’s very nice for Simon to come to the castle,” commented Lolita, “which he had heard so much about from his father.”
A housemaid came hurrying in with a can of hot water which she placed on the washstand.
Lolita took off her hat sitting in front of a mirror surrounded by golden cupids placed on a very elaborate dressing table.
The bed had a carved and gilt canopy and the furniture, Lolita thought, was just what she might have expected to find in such an impressive castle.
Knowing that she should not keep luncheon waiting, she hurriedly tidied her hair, hoping it made her look older than she was.
Then having washed her hands she thanked Mrs. Shepherd for looking after her.
“It’s been a pleasure, ma’am, and if his Lordship doesn’t need you after luncheon, I’ll show you the schoolroom.”
“I would like that very much and thank you again.”
Lolita hurried down the stairs to find Simon inspecting yet another suit of armour in the passage and Lord Seabrook was telling him the story of the battles which had been fought by his ancestors with some of the trophies they had brought back with them displayed proudly in the hall.
When Simon saw Lolita he came running towards her holding out his arms.
“This is a such an exciting castle, just like your stories and I want to explore it from the top of the tower down to the dungeons.”
“I am sure you will be able to see everything before long,” Lolita told him, “but I think your uncle is hungry.”
“I think we are keeping my other guest waiting,” remarked Lord Seabrook.
Lolita wondered who it was and then he opened a door beside them and walked ahead into a very attractive and exquisitely furnished drawing room.
Seated in an armchair in front of the fireplace was a woman.
It had never occurred to Lolita that Lord Seabrook might have guests staying at the castle and she thought she had been rather stupid in expecting him to be on his own.
The woman in the armchair held out a slim-fingered right hand.
She said in what seemed a caressing and somewhat seductive voice,
“I thought you had forgotten all about me.”
“How could I possibly forget you?” replied Lord Seabrook soothingly. “But as it happens I have had an unexpected visitor.”
“A visitor!” exclaimed the woman.
“My nephew, poor Rupert’s son, and I am delighted to have him here.”
He put out a hand and pulled Simon forward as he spoke.
“Simon,” he said, “this is a very beautiful lady, in fact the most beautiful lady in the whole of London. She has been kind enough to come North and stay with me. Her name is Lady Cressington.”
Simon held out his hand and Lady Cressington said in a rather affected tone,
“Oh, what a dear little boy. I’m sure he has a likeness to you.”
It was a pleasant enough remark, but Lolita was quite certain it was completely insincere.
She did not quite know why she should think so, yet there was a note in Lady Cressington’s voice which told her that she was not at all pleased to see Simon or anyone else.
Lolita was sure that she wished to be alone with her host.
Lord Seabrook turned back.
“And I must introduce Mrs. Bell, who has kindly brought Simon to me and is going to stay with him as his governess.”
Lady Cressington gave Lolita a brief and indifferent nod and then having glanced at her without any interest she looked again and her eyes widened.
“A governess! I should have thought your nephew was old enough for a tutor.”
“We will think about that later,” said Lord Seabrook, speaking as if he thought she was being rather rude to Lolita.
Then before there could be any reply Barty announced,
“Luncheon is served, my Lord.”
Lady Cressington held out her hand again and Lord Seabrook helped her rise to her feet.
She was slim and sinuous and was wearing an extremely elaborate gown in a somewhat startling shade of pink. She was also bedecked with more jewellery than Lolita thought was appropriate for the country.
Ignoring Lolita completely she walked towards the door with Lord Seabrook at her side and Simon followed them.
Then as if instinctively he realised Lolita was being ignored, he slipped his hand into hers.
“The castle’s full of treasures, Lolo,” he said.
“We will explore them all when we get the chance,” Lolita assured him.
As they walked towards the dining room they went down a high-ceilinged passage filled with all kinds of interesting objects, including a wall of swords and ancient rifles arranged around a shield.
Lolita could understand that any little boy would be thrilled at everything in the castle and she thought history would be a very easy subject to teach in such surroundings.
The dining room was large and must in ancient times have been the banqueting hall. There were magnificent crystal chandeliers and a marble mantelpiece, which must have been carved by one of the great craftsmen of the eighteenth century.
Lady Cressington continued to ignore both Simon and Lolita.
She flirted with Lord Seabrook in the accomplished manner that Lolita had seen the married ladies using in London.
It was, she thought, like watching a clever performance on the stage and she only wondered if Lord Seabrook realised how artificial it really was.
He laughed at Lady Cressington’s innuendos and her double entendres, which she often spoke in French as if she thought Lolita would be ignorant of that language.
Simon was hungry and had no wish to chatter and by the end of the meal Lolita had become well aware of exactly what her position would be as a governess.
Lord Seabrook spoke to her only once or twice and every time he did so Lady Cressington deliberately turned the subject to something personal or alternatively she answered the question he had asked before Lolita could do so.
Luncheon was just finished when Barty came to Lord Seabrook’s side to say,
“Excuse me, my Lord, Mr. Winter wishes to have a word which I thinks concerns your Lordship’s yacht.”
“Oh, yes, of course, it is being brought here today and I told Winter where I wanted it anchored.”
“Is a yacht a ship?” asked Simon excitedly. “Have you a ship all of your own, Uncle James?”
“I have, indeed, and as soon as it is seaworthy I will take you on it.”
“I would like that so very much,” enthused Simon. “Can I stand on the bridge and help you drive it?”
Lord Seabrook laughed.
“You shall certainly try, but I shall be very angry if you run it ashore or into a rock!”
“I will never do that, I just want to go to sea in a big ship.”
“I am afraid we cannot oblige you with the sea,” said Lord Seabrook, “but the lake is there and we will explore it together.”
“It’s a big, big lake, just like Papa told me.”
“There is another big lake near it and I am sure you will enjoy our voyages of discovery.”
“Which could certainly be part of Simon’s education.”
“That is just what I thought,” agreed Lord Seabrook.
He had risen to his feet as he was speaking and when he reached the door he said,
“I will join you as quickly as I can in the drawing room unless you want to go into the garden.”
It was not exactly obvious whether he was speaking to Lady Cressington or Lolita.
“Let us go down to the lake,” suggested Simon.
“We will certainly do so, but perhaps we should wait until your uncle comes back, because he may want to take you himself.”
“I will run and ask him.”
Without waiting he ran across the room and out of the door after Lord Seabrook and he was too quick for Lolita to stop him.
For the moment there was no one else in the room.
Lady Cressington rose from her chair and in a sharp aggressive voice which was very different from the one she had been using with Lord Seabrook, she said,
“I suppose you know, Mrs. Bell, that it is usual if governesses do come down for luncheon that they are seen and not heard. What is more I consider that Simon is old enough to go to school and the sooner his Lordship finds the right place for him, the better it will be for the child.”
“I am afraid I must disagree with you,” replied Lolita. “Simon has been through a very difficult and unhappy experience, which is why I have brought him to his uncle. It is absolutely essential for him to take things easy until he no longer remembers what has upset him in the past.”
“That may be your opinion,” insisted Lady Cressington, “and of course you want to keep your job. But you are too young to be a governess and, as I have already said, the boy should be at school with other boys of his own age.”
As she finished speaking she walked towards the door and left the dining room.
It was then that Lolita realised that having rescued Simon from a life of misery she might have to rescue him again.
She could not believe it was possible.
Yet at the same time Lady Cressington was exceedingly beautiful and it was quite obvious that she was courting Lord Seabrook, if that was the right word for it. Doubtless with the intention of marrying him.
Vaguely at the back of her mind Lolita remembered that she had seen Lady Cressington before. It was at one of the balls she had attended in London and for the moment she could not remember which one it was.
She was certain that Lady Cressington had been pointed out to her as one of the great beauties of the Season.
As far as she could recall she had been surrounded by a number of admiring young men.
She was certainly beautiful, but the difference in her tone of voice when she spoke to Lord Seabrook or to her was a revelation.
‘She is here alone and un-chaperoned,’ thought Lolita, ‘so she can only be thinking of becoming the Mistress of the castle.’
If her conclusion was true, it was a frightening prospect for Simon and yet Lolita was almost sure that was the reason why she wanted to push Simon out and of course her.
The boy came back to say that his uncle was not certain how long he would be and therefore he thought it a good idea if Mrs. Bell took him down to the lake.
They set off hand in hand with Lolita thinking there was no need for her to put on her hat as the sunshine was warm but not too hot.
Simon was thrilled when having passed through the garden, they came to the lake.
He threw stones and because he was so excited at being on the edge of the water, Lolita let him take off his shoes and socks and paddle, but telling him to be careful with his clothes.
“We have not found out yet,” she cautioned, “if there are any clothes here for you to wear. If you get these dirty or wet, you will have to stay in bed.”
She was only joking, but Simon responded,
“I’m not going to stay in bed while there is a castle to explore. I expect Uncle James owns a lot of horses.”
Lolita remembered that Simon’s father had loved horses and so she suggested that they visit the stables.
It was difficult to draw Simon away from the lake, but she managed it in the end and they found the stables were, as he had expected, filled with horses and when she introduced Simon to the head groom, he said he remembered Mr. Rupert.
He lifted Simon on to one of the largest stallions so that he could see how tall it was and Simon was thrilled with everything.
“I would love to ride this horse,” he told the head groom. “I’ll have to ask ’is Lordship to find you somethin’ a little smaller than this stallion, Master Simon. As it ’appens I knows where there’s a pony for sale which’ll be just the right height for you.”
“I am sure Simon would love it,” added Lolita. “I expect he will be a good rider, as it runs in the family.”
“He couldn’t be anythin’ else,” the head groom said, “with ’is Lordship lookin’ as if he were born on a horse, and you’d ’ave said the same of Mr. Rupert.”
When they returned to the castle Lord Seabrook was looking for them.
“I wondered what had happened to you,” he began. “I went to the lake and wondered if you had fallen in.”
“I paddled,” Simon told him. “It was rather cold for my feet and the stones were slippery. Lolo was frightened I would fall in because she said if I did, as I have no clothes to wear, I would have to stay in bed, so we went to the stables.”
“That was a very wise thing to do.”
Turning to Lolita he asked,
“Is it true that he has no other clothes?”
“Nothing except what he stands up in, my Lord, and a new shirt I bought for him.”
“We must talk to Mrs. Shepherd,” proposed Lord Seabrook. “I am sure she has an Aladdin’s cave filled with the clothes my brother and I used to wear. In fact at times she has even produced items which belonged to my grandfather and my great-grandfather!”
Lolita laughed.
“That is where you are lucky in owning a castle big enough for everything. Most people have to clear out their attics before they buy anything more than a new pair of shoes.”
“What about you?” he enquired of Lolita. “I understand you have brought only one small case between the two of you.”
“I expect I shall be able to manage, my Lord. At any rate while it is still summer.”
“It depends what you want to do. If Simon wants to ride, I rather suspect you will want to ride with him.”
“Why do you think that, my Lord?” asked Lolita curiously.
“I don’t know,” he answered. “I just thought you would like to ride on a horse. Am I wrong?”
“I have been riding since I could crawl and if I could ride with Simon it would be wonderful. It would be something I would rather do more than anything else in the world!”
“Then of course your wish is granted,” Lord Seabrook told her, “and I am sure you will find my horses as good, if not better, than anything you have ridden in the South.”
“You are so very kind, my Lord,” said Lolita. “I hoped and prayed you would be and I am very grateful that my prayers have been answered.”
She spoke with the sincerity which told him she was speaking the truth.
At the same time she had no idea how curious he was, wondering how he could find out more about her.
‘How is it possible,’ he asked himself, ‘that anyone so beautiful, so well-dressed and obviously a lady in the full sense of the word, should pick up an ill-treated little boy crying in the street, and to bring him without asking anyone the long distance from London to Ullswater to save him from a cruel and unpleasant stepmother?’
What was more, this lovely girl, for she was little more, had said she was a widow.
Yet his instinct told him that she was innocent and untouched.
She was certainly not besmirched by the gentlemen in London, who pursue relentlessly
any female so stunning if she was not heavily chaperoned.
‘I do not understand,’ Lord Seabrook said to himself.
He recognised that she was a puzzle and he was determined to find the answer, and he would not be satisfied until he had.
CHAPTER FOUR
Lolita and Simon spent an exciting afternoon exploring the castle.
Several times Lord Seabrook was called away, but they continued on their own.
It certainly was the most fascinating castle Lolita had ever seen, but, as she told herself, she had not seen very many.
She returned with Simon to the schoolroom, which she found was even pleasanter than she had expected.
The room itself was large and in a cupboard they found a number of toy soldiers which Simon’s father and uncle had obviously played with when they were boys.
Simon was entranced with it all.
Lolita thought the bedrooms were very comfortable and the larger, Mrs. Shepherd said, was for her, while the smaller one on the other side of the schoolroom was more appropriate for Simon.
“It’s where his father slept,” she said, “and I feel he’ll like the pictures which haven’t been changed all the years the room has been empty.”
Simon was happy to be anywhere as long as he was with Lolita, who realised he was always looking for her. Although he was quite happy to go a little way with someone else, he always came back to her.
It was as if he thought that he belonged with her.
She considered that more fresh air would be good for Simon, so they walked down to the lake again.
Simon threw more stones and Lolita showed him how to make them skim. Then they walked back for tea which was laid out for them in the schoolroom.
Lolita remembered that a governess usually had luncheon with her employers because the children were present and for dinner she would be alone in her glory in the schoolroom.
Lolita therefore was not surprised when Lord Seabrook sent for Simon after tea and the footman announced,
“His Lordship wants to say goodnight to Master Simon.” There was no suggestion of her going too and Lolita waited in the schoolroom until Simon returned.
He came back full of excitement.