Page 156 of The Fortunes of Ashmore Castle

She walked on briskly to the kitchen, where the level of activity would have suggested to the untrained eye that a natural disaster, such as a volcanic eruption, was taking place. ‘Have the trays gone up?’ she asked.

Mrs Terry, the cook, answered, without looking up from the béchamel she was stirring. ‘Yes, Mrs Webster. Nursery breakfast just about to go up now.’

‘Those boys will have been awake since five o’clock, if I know children. They’ll be hungry. What are you giving them?’

‘Sausages,’ the cook said. ‘That’ll peg ’em down.’

There were sausages at Wisteria House, too, and buttered eggs, kidneys, which the master was partial to, and fried ham. Crooks stood at the buffet and attended to the coffee pot. He liked things to be done properly: now he was the sole male servant in the household, he regarded himself as keeper of the flame, as well as butler, footman and valet, and did his best to run the small house like a great house. It had been a new lease of life for him. He felt ten years younger.

‘You cried out in your sleep again last night,’ Sebastian said.

Dory looked up. ‘Did I? I don’t remember.’

‘Were you dreaming?’

‘I suppose I must have been. It was something about being chased, trying to find somewhere to hide.’

‘The old dream. Was it him you were running from?’ She hesitated to answer, and without turning, he said, ‘Would you bring fresh toast, Crooks? This has got cold.’ When he heard the door click quietly he said, ‘When will you stop dreaming that he’s coming after you? When will you feel safe?’

‘I do feel safe,’ she said. ‘You can’t help your dreams.’

‘We had such a nice day yesterday,’ he said. They had gone for a long walk by the river – the grass had been rimed with frost and crunched under their feet, there were skims of ice on the puddles, their breath had clouded on the winter air, and Dory had put her hand in his pocket to keep warm as they tramped along. He had looked down at her, and seen her cheeks and nose pink with the cold and her eyes sparkling, and thought her beautiful. After luncheon they had gone out to cut greenery and brought it back to decorate the house, and after dinner he played carols on the piano and they sang together.

‘It was a nice day,’ she said. ‘The best day ever.’

‘So far. They’ll keep getting better, you know.’

‘I know. And I am happy – happier than I ever thought I could be. The dreams will stop coming one day.’

‘It’s done you good with the staff, you know. Mrs May is now your champion, Crooks tells me. Poor sweet creature, she says, and longs for Crooks to tell her what sad thing from your past haunts you. He would never tell, of course, even if he knew. She wants to pet you, and refers to you to Olive as “the mistress”. So you are established, my love.’

‘I did wonder at the number of times she offers me cups of tea,’ Dory laughed.

‘And the ginger pudding last night? It was an experiment of mine. I mentioned – oh, so casually – to Crooks the day before that you liked ginger, just to see what happened.’

‘I know there’s one thing that would establish me for ever,’ she said, looking at her plate, ‘and I long for it as much as they possibly can.’ She looked up. ‘I so want to give you a child. I thought it would have happened by now. I’m beginning to wonder . . .’

‘My love,’ he said, his voice a little shaky, ‘I didn’t marry you for children. If they come, I will be very, very happy. But if they don’t, it won’t matter. You are enough for me. You are everything I want.’

‘It’s early days, still – isn’t it?’

‘Of course it is.’

She changed the subject. ‘So, what happens today? Do you have traditions here?’

‘Little ones. After breakfast I give the servants their Christmas presents. Then we walk to church. We have our Christmas dinner at half past one, and then the servants are off for the rest of the day, so we shall have a dear, cosy time alone together. Mrs May will lay a cold supper for us before she goes, and Joe will make sure the coal scuttles and log basket are full. We shall be as snug as puppies in a basket.’

‘Where do they go?

‘Mrs May goes home with Olive – her mother makes Christmas dinner for them all. Joe has his own family. I don’t know what Crooks will do. At the Castle all the servants got together in the servants’ hall for a party – those who didn’t go home.’

‘I hope he won’t be all alone,’ Dory said.

It was like her, he thought, to worry. Crooks returned with the hot toast at that moment and, to put her mind at rest, Sebastian asked, ‘How will you be spending Christmas afternoon, Crooks?’

He looked faintly surprised to be asked, then pleased, and said, ‘Olive’s mother, sir, has invited me to join the family party. It was a kind invitation, which I felt I could not refuse without causing offence.’

Which left them to suppose that he would have been happier reading alone in his room. Sebastian chose to believe that was not the case. Dory was sure it wasn’t.