Page 119 of The Secrets of Ashmore Castle

‘Well, if you want to look for a new lady’s maid, I think you’ll have to go to a London agency.’

‘Oh, no, I’m happy with Rose, at least for now.’

‘Very well,’ Giles said, and turned away. Markham and Adeane were waiting for him in the library. A volume of work had built up for him during his absence.

‘Wait – Giles! I have something else to ask you,’ Kitty said.

He turned back with barely controlled impatience. ‘What is it now?’ he asked, managing at the last moment to modify his tone and not snap at her.

‘This room,’ she said. ‘Well, I’ve noticed that it’s next to your dressing-room.’

White Chinese didn’t have a dressing-room. ‘You want to swap with me? I don’t really care, you can have Blue if you prefer.’

‘I don’t want to swap. What I thought was, if we moved that console we could make a door through into your dressing-room. And then you could come through into my room without having to go out into the corridor.’

She looked at him hopefully, and watched as the implication sank in.

Giles felt a quickening. He had been too busy since they’d got back to think about it – and being at the Castle had thrown him into a bachelor state of mind: it was something to do with his mother’s presence and dominance, which made changing anything, including his own status, unthinkable. But now he did think about it, a warmth flooded his lower body. His little pagan, he thought. Since that outburst on Capri, he had realised how much of a pagan lived inside that quiet creature. Yes, it would be good to visit her again – and to do it without the danger of running into a staring servant.

‘That’s not a bad idea,’ he said. ‘I’m not sure how much work would be needed – these old houses were pretty solidly built. We could have the estate carpenter in to have a look. Yes, I think it’s a good plan,’ he concluded, turning away. ‘Better run it past my mother first, though.’

Kitty watched him walk out, and felt that with those last words he had doomed it.

Miss Taylor met James on the stairs as he was taking them two at a time, going up with a clean shirt over his arm. He was surprised to find himself halted by a skinny but powerful claw.

‘What?’ he demanded crossly.

She stared at him like an inimical owl. ‘Think a lot of yourself, don’t you? Think you’re very clever.’

‘I am very clever,’ he said.

‘Last I heard, you were still James, not Mr Hook. His lordship’s not confirmed you as valet, has he?’

James was going to argue that names don’t matter, but of course they did. But the best form of defence was always attack. He painted a sneer over his lips. ‘Still pining for old Crooky, are you? I reckon there was more going on between you two than met the eye.’

‘Mr Crooks is a gentleman’s gentleman. You’re not any sort of gentleman. I’ve seen it before,’ she went on, looking him over as if he were a rather inferior piece of meat. ‘You can put a necktie on a pig and call it “sir”, but it’s still a pig.’

James bristled. ‘You want to watch who you’re calling names,’ he growled. ‘People that cross me always regret it.’

She was unmoved. ‘I’ve seen upstarts like you come and go, but I’m still here. I know all the tricks your sort get up to. Just remember, Mr Still-a-Footman James, I’m watching you. I’ll always be watching you.’ And she went on down the stairs.

For an instant he felt a powerful urge to give her a shove and watch her tumble down. Break her skinny, ugly neck! he thought. How dare she threaten him? How dare she? Pig, eh? He’d show her who the pig was! She thought she knew all the tricks, but she didn’t. There were a good few of his own he had up his sleeve. Pig! He’d get her back for that. He’d make her sorry. Have to bide my time, he thought. Wait for the right opportunity. But it would come – and when it did, she wouldn’t be expecting it. He could wait. He was good at waiting. And he was good at hating. Pleased with the rhyme, he went on up the stairs.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

‘I’m going to a political meeting tonight in Kingsway,’ Mawes Morris said at luncheon. ‘I want to make some sketches. I wondered if you girls would like to come with me.’

‘Am I included in the “girls”?’ Isabel asked.

‘Of course. What would I do without you?’

‘You’d be bored.’ Isabel laughed. ‘Don’t be deceived, girls – he doesn’t think you’d enjoy it, he only thinks he won’t enjoy it on his own.’

‘Really, Daddy?’ Lepida asked.

‘There are two good speakers,’ he said enticingly. ‘You know the government is split on the subject of free trade? Chamberlain and his faction want to put punitive tariffs on countries that put tariffs on our goods, while Churchill and his gang want total free trade on everything, regardless. It’ll be a ding-dong sparring match.’

‘And which one do you want to draw?’ Nina asked. She and Lepida had been working on the Free Library scheme, and she had stayed for luncheon.