Page 31 of The Fortunes of Ashmore Castle

That ought to have clinched it, but, oddly, it strengthened Rachel’s resolve. ‘That’s not fair! You know I—’

‘Disobedience to your parent is a sin, are you aware of that?’ Rachel’s lips were trembling too much for her to answer. ‘Is this about that foolish Tullamore boy?’ Maud said, eyes narrowing.

‘I love him!’ Rachel cried. ‘I’m going to marry him.’

‘And how precisely is he to support a wife? I have it on good authority that his father has disinherited him.’ Rachel was weeping again. ‘You propose to choose a life of hardship and penury with that obscure boy rather than a life of ease and wealth with a man of rank and position? Are you insane, or merely an abject fool?’

‘Mama, don’t!’

‘Kindly cease that disgusting exhibition. No, Rachel, I will not let you ruin your life. You are my daughter and you will marry as I see fit.’

‘You can’t make me! You can’t make me!’

‘Don’t talk nonsense. Usingen will take you to Russia and you will forget all about your silly childish fancy – for that’s all it is. I can’t look at you in that state any longer. Go away now. You have wearied me beyond endurance. We’ll speak again tomorrow.’

CHAPTER SIX

Up in the old schoolroom, Rachel wept on Alice’s shoulder. When she was quiet at last, Alice said, ‘Did she mention me?’

‘No,’ Rachel hiccuped. ‘I suppose you’ll get your turn.’

Alice gave her a handkerchief. ‘Do you really not want to be a Russian princess and have jewels and carriages and furs and great houses?’

Rachel gave her a reproachful look. ‘But I love Angus.’

‘Why?’

‘I don’t know,’ Rachel said. ‘I just love him. I could never love anyone else.’

If her sister had come up with reasons, Alice might have doubted her, but she was aware of how love took you and didn’t bother with whys and wherefores. It just was.

‘Then you must resist.’

‘But how can I refuse Mama’s dying wish?’

‘You must, that’s all. If you feel you’re starting to give in, we’ll run away together.’

‘Run away? Where to?’

‘London, of course.’

Rachel looked doubtful. ‘Aunt Caroline wouldn’t side with me against Mama.’

‘We won’t go to her. We’ll get jobs as chambermaids in a hotel – that way we’ll have somewhere to live as well. Then, as soon as you’re of age, you can marry Angus.’

‘I don’t think I’d like to be a chambermaid,’ Rachel said.

‘Well, perhaps you can get some other kind of work,’ Alice said impatiently. ‘The important thing is not to give in.’

Rachel still looked doubtful. The thought of working at a job and living in lodgings like ordinary people was frightening. She wouldn’t know how to go on. People would tell her to do things and she wouldn’t know how, and they’d get cross with her. Her clothes would get dirty and wear out. How could she buy food? She didn’t know how much anything cost.

But the image of Angus’s face came before her eyes in the nick of time. ‘Angus will look after me,’ she said. ‘Angus knows how to do things.’

The next morning the princess was not down to breakfast: word came that she was over-tired and was remaining in bed. Rachel felt horribly guilty. Had she made her mother sicker?

The prince, in his halting English, attributed it to the strain of the long journey, and did not seem worried. ‘Travelling is by all means tiring,’ he told them.

‘He doesn’t know,’ Richard said afterwards to Uncle Sebastian. ‘I’m convinced of it. But how could Mother not tell him?’