107. Soft, Sweet & Gentle Read online

  Too late Georgina realised she had taken a wrong step and she should not have mentioned it in the first place.

  Because she was worried that she could not carry out the instructions of the family, as they expected her to do, she said quickly,

  “Please don’t think that I have any other reason for asking you to wait than the fact that my father was always very punctual. As a result dinner will be ready at exactly eight o’clock.”

  “Then, of course, I must wait to hear what you have to tell me,” Alister replied. “Naturally I am anxious to see the Master suite which will undoubtedly make me feel very proud of myself.”

  “You will find it very impressive. Remember that your ancestors have slept there for over six centuries.”

  “I only hope they will not haunt me! In fact they may sit around when I want to go to sleep, telling me that I am incompetent and feeling ashamed that they have been succeeded by someone who does not live up to their high standards!”

  Georgina smiled.

  “Some of them have very strange standards as you will find if you read the history of the family. But it would be very difficult to find fault with either my father or my grandfather.”

  “Then I must follow them as best I can.”

  There was undoubtedly a twist to his lips and a touch of sarcasm in the way he spoke that made Georgina feel uneasy.

  Because she felt it was a mistake to go on talking, she walked towards the door and Alister reached it before she did to open it for her.

  They walked in silence across the hall where there were four footmen on duty.

  Again in silence they walked up the magnificent staircase that led to the first floor.

  Georgina wondered if she should point out to him the flags by the Mediaeval fireplace that had been brought back by their ancestors from battles over the centuries.

  She felt that that sort of lesson would last until tomorrow and for the moment she should keep to small talk of what was currently happening and make it as easy as possible.

  She was aware, however, that Alister was looking round him as they went along the first floor corridor where all the State bedrooms were situated.

  On each door was printed the name of the bedroom and most of them were called after the King, Queen or Royal personage who had slept in them in the past.

  At the far end the Master suite consisted of a very large and impressive bedroom, a boudoir and a dressing room with a number of wardrobes for his clothes.

  The bed which had been handed down the centuries was an enormous four-poster with carved pillars of birds and wild game.

  There were heavy curtains of deep red velvet and the headboard over the bed displayed the family Coat of Arms picked out in gold and mother-of-pearl.

  Alister did not speak, but stood for a while looking at the bed which had a gold candelabrum on each side of it.

  Then unexpectedly he laughed.

  “I will certainly feel grand, in fact Royal, in such a magnificent and imposing bed!”

  “My father always said it was as comfortable as it appeared,” Georgina answered. “If you have not brought a valet with you, I know that Dawson will look after you.”

  As she spoke, Dawson came in from the dressing room followed by a footman.

  “We’ve unpacked everythin’ that we thought you’d require, my Lord,” he explained. “The rest will, of course, be done tomorrow.”

  “I am very grateful, thank you,” Alister replied.

  As he spoke, Georgina moved towards the door.

  “I will be downstairs in the drawing room,” she told him, “just before eight o’clock, so there is no need for you to rush.”

  She did not wait to hear his reply, but hurried into the passage and almost ran towards her own room.

  It was only when she had shut herself in that she felt she could breathe freely.

  She had somehow thought that Alister would find everything rather awe-inspiring and she was sure that it would be hard for him to find his feet in a completely strange environment to anything he had found abroad.

  Alister was, she guessed, not particularly awestruck by The Castle and she had the feeling that he was intending to make it quite clear that he had no use for her.

  It was not what he had said, but the way she had felt his reaction to everything she had told him.

  Although he had said that he was surprised and overcome with The Castle, it had not been entirely true.

  He was clearly too much aware of his own personal appearance to be awed and he was certainly not intimidated by his ancestors.

  ‘I am quite certain of one thing,’ Georgina mused as she walked to the window, ‘he will not do anything he does not want to do. If Aunt Marjory thinks I can twist him round my little finger, she is very much mistaken.’

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Mrs. Dawson had excelled herself with the dinner and Georgina knew that she must have been thinking it out for days before Alister arrived.

  Every course was a delight, not only to the tongue but to the eye.

  However, she realised that he was not particularly impressed, but at the same time he was enjoying his food.

  She asked him to tell her about the countries he had visited. He did so, but in an off-hand way as if he thought that she would not be interested in any detail.

  But because Georgina realised only too well that she must be quiet, gentle and appreciative of everything he did, good or bad, she talked in a low feminine voice.

  Although her questions to him were intelligent, she was careful to make it appear that she was a pupil at the foot of a Master.

  When the last course was finished, Georgina said,

  “We usually have coffee in the drawing room or wherever we are sitting, but perhaps you would prefer to have it in here.”

  “The drawing room will indeed suit me as well as anywhere else,” Alister replied.

  “In which case you will not wish me to leave you to your port,” Georgina answered, “and perhaps you would like to tell Dawson if you prefer a liqueur.”

  “I want neither,” Alister retorted almost sharply.

  Georgina realised that she had made a mistake and she should have left it to him as Master of The Castle to decide what he drank, but she thought on the first night it would be advisable to tell him what had been her father’s habits.

  However, she rose with dignity from the table and walked unhurriedly towards the door.

  Dawson, waiting to hear what was required, turned to open it for her.

  As she walked past him, she said,

  “Thank you, Dawson, and do tell Mrs. Dawson that it was a most delicious dinner. I enjoyed every mouthful.”

  Dawson smiled and she then walked on wondering if Alister would also say something complimentary.

  But she did not hear him say anything.

  When he joined her ten minutes later in the drawing room, she knew that it would be tactless to ask him any more questions.

  She sat down on what had been her usual place on the sofa and Alister took one of the armchairs.

  There was a long silence until Dawson brought in the coffee with one of the footmen carrying the tray and he then offered Alister one of the liqueurs carried by another footman.

  When the servants had left and she was sipping her coffee, Alister declared,

  “Now I suppose you are waiting to tell me what I would much rather hear from the secretary or one of the managers of the estate.”

  Georgina looked at him in surprise and then she replied quickly,

  “Oh, no! I am not going to tell you anything about the estate until you ask me directly to do so. Of course the manager will be waiting to meet you and, as you can well imagine, he will be somewhat long-winded about it.”

  She thought he might laugh, but instead he asked,

  “So what do you wish to tell me?”

  Georgina drew in her breath.

  “It’s about the family,” she answered.

  “The family!”
he exclaimed in surprise. “And what have they to do with it.”

  “They are afraid that you will not know, as you have been abroad so long, that in your new position as Earl and owner of The Castle, all the family, including myself, rely entirely on you.”

  Alister stared at her.

  “I don’t understand what you are saying.”

  “It has always been the habit in this family, as in others that are very old, that we keep to the rules which existed when The Castle was first built. They are that the Head of the Family is responsible for every member of it.”

  “In what way?” he enquired. “I don’t follow you.”

  “Perhaps I am putting it badly,” she replied. “It is that the Earl of Langfield, whoever he might be, supplies every one of the family with money that he holds on their behalf. They are all, in fact, entirely dependent on him.”

  Alister sat up in his chair a little further.

  Then he quizzed,

  “Is this completely true?”

  “Of course it is! I thought, as you are a member of the family, you would have been aware of the custom.”

  “I had no idea of it,” he confessed. “As a matter of fact my mother left me money when she died and before that gave me a large allowance and so did my father. I have never had to worry about money in any way.”

  “That is very pleasant for you,” Georgina remarked. “But the rest of the family rely entirely on the goodwill and the generosity of the Head of it.”

  There was silence for a moment and then Alister said as if he could hardly believe that what she was saying was correct,

  “Are you telling me that I have to dole out to our relations the money they wish to spend otherwise they will have none?”

  “Some of them have money from the woman or the man they married,” Georgina told him. “But the majority, including my aunt, who is Papa’s sister, have always had a large allowance from him. They would be almost destitute without it.”

  “This is the most extraordinary arrangement I have ever heard,” Alister exclaimed sharply.

  “It happened at one time in most of the old families in England,” Georgina replied. “But I think some of them have broken away now and prefer to be independent.”

  She paused before she went on,

  “Equally those who have not done so would be utterly impoverished if they had not been looked after.”

  Alister rose to stand in front of the fireplace.

  “It never occurred to me,” he sighed after a long pause, “that I would have to be Father Christmas to the family who I am not particularly interested in!”

  Georgina drew in her breath and then she said as quietly as she could,

  “I am afraid that if you don’t look after them they will be very unhappy and some will be poverty stricken.”

  “But surely, if they have had money all their lives, where has it come from?”

  “It has come from the reigning Earl.”

  “It’s the most ridiculous idea I have ever heard of,” Alister said angrily. “Supposing he dislikes someone in the family or quarrels with him, do you mean he can cut them off without a penny?”

  “It would be very cruel and unkind if he did, but it is possible,” Georgina affirmed.

  “It’s also out of date and extremely dangerous!”

  “Why should you say that?” Georgina asked.

  She forgot for a moment to make herself soft, sweet and gentle as she had managed to do all through dinner.

  Now without thinking she remarked,

  “It may seem absurd to you, but, as it has worked perfectly well for hundreds of years, you can hardly expect a family as ancient and respected as ours not to keep the old traditions going.”

  “How can you be sure?” Alister asked. “Many of the family might have been cut off without a penny and died in complete poverty.”

  “If they had, there is no mention of it in the history books,” Georgina informed him. “Nor do I think any man who calls himself a gentleman would behave in such a way to those who are totally dependent on him.”

  Alister turned and walked away towards one of the windows and, pulling back the ornate curtains, he opened the window and gazed out.

  The moon had risen and the garden was flooded with a silver light that was very beautiful.

  He stood gazing out without speaking for a while.

  Then he turned and walked back to stand as he had before in front of the fireplace.

  “Is that all you have to tell me?” he asked.

  “There are many other things I could tell you,” she replied. “But I think that this is the most important and, of course, you will understand that a number of our relations have been waiting anxiously for your return.”

  “I am not surprised,” Alister agreed, “and so the sooner I make them independent the better.”

  “Independent?” Georgina queried.

  “I suppose I could give them some money outright so that they need not come troubling me again and need no longer watch to see if I am generous or not.”

  “But of course you must not do anything like that!” Georgina cried. “It would upset everyone! The whole family has been quite content to accept that the reigning Earl should look after them and that they can turn to him with their troubles and difficulties and he would do his best to solve them.”

  She paused and when he did not speak she went on,

  “It is a most important position and, as my father always said, they looked on him as the Father of the Clan and he must behave as a father should to his children.”

  “It was all very well for your father to talk like that,” Alister replied. “He had lived here all his life and been close, I suppose, to every one of his relations who, as you say, depended on him. I have been abroad and don’t even know the names of half of my relatives and actually have no wish to know any of them.”

  “You must not say that,” Georgina protested. “Can you not understand that this is a wonderful position for anyone to have?”

  She threw out her hands as she continued,

  “You own this castle. You own nearly half the County and you are looked up to and respected, not only by the family but by everyone in the vicinity.”

  “I can assure you here and now, that it is something I don’t want. I want to lead my own life. I want to enjoy myself as I have managed to do these past years because I have been on my own. And most of all I have no wish to have relatives, whoever they may be, screaming at me for help all the time!”

  It was with the greatest difficulty that Georgina bit back the words that came to her lips.

  She was absolutely horrified at the idea that Alister was not pleased at taking on such a distinguished position.

  If he was not grateful for it, then he should at least be grateful for the possessions and the large sum of money that was now at his disposal.

  It was only by using every ounce of her willpower that she prevented herself from replying to him angrily, telling him that he was being outrageously selfish apart from anything else.

  Almost as if her father was guiding her and helping her, she knew that if she quarrelled with him he would throw her out and perhaps never speak to her again.

  Twisting her fingers so that they hurt, she managed to say in a very quiet voice,

  “What you have just said is, I find, very upsetting.”

  “Why should it worry you particularly?” he asked sharply.

  “Because I am not only totally dependent on you,” she replied, “but this is my home. I have been here – since I was born and have – nowhere else to go.”

  The words came jerkily from between her lips and Alister stared at her.

  “Is this true?”

  “Absolutely true,” Georgina replied. “If you send me away, I have no idea where I will go.”

  “You have plenty of relatives,” Alister retorted.

  “I have seen very little of them during the years and they will have no wish for me to be with
them, especially if you don’t provide them with any money.”

  “I have not said I will not provide for them,” Alister answered. “I only think it is a ridiculously absurd idea that I should become, as you say, a father to these people who I don’t know and for whom I dislike being responsible.”

  “I have been brought up to believe that blood is important and that one has an affinity to those who belong to the same Family Tree, who like ourselves believe that they must obey and admire the man who represents the whole family to the world.”

  Alister walked across the room and back again before he replied,

  “I understand what you are saying. At the same time I think it is a lot of nonsense. What would happen if I paid off the relatives and had little more to do with them.”

  Georgina was silent for a moment as she thought it out and then she replied,

  “To begin with they would be very upset, although they might well appreciate the money that you would give them. But you must understand that Papa invested it very carefully. Here on the estate we make enough every year to keep it all going. Also we provide for our pensioners, those who are sick and the families who suffered terribly from the war when the father and sons were killed.”

  As she finished speaking, she realised that Alister had been listening to her attentively.

  He had obviously no idea that this was expected of him.

  “It may be difficult for you,” Georgina went on, “to understand exactly what I am saying. But if you had been at Papa’s funeral which, as he had died so suddenly, was attended by very few of the family but by almost everyone on the estate, you would have known what he meant to them and how unhappy they were at losing him.”

  She was thinking as she spoke how the women had cried and how the men had appeared tight-lipped and pale when they carried his coffin.

  They were upset not just because he had employed them but because ever since they had been born the Earl of The Castle had been of great consequence in their lives.

  They had felt, although perhaps they did not put it into words, that they belonged to him.

  She wondered now what she should do and how she could appeal to Alister.

  Then, as if she had been guided, she said,

  “I know that this has been a shock to you. But I suggest, instead of making up your mind now, you allow me to ride round the estate with you tomorrow when you will meet the people and see for yourself what they feel about you and forget the relatives for the moment.”