Page 141 of The Secrets of Ashmore Castle

‘So does that mean you will be hunting this season?’

‘I would like to go out now and then. I haven’t time to be hunting the way our father did, three times a week. What about you?’

‘I’m not sure the shoulder will take it. Even the best horse will pull if it’s excited. And if I should have a fall …’

Giles looked at him with concern. ‘I didn’t realise it was so bad. Does that mean you’ll never be able to hunt again?’

‘I hope not. The sawbones said it ought to get stronger in time. I’m just a bit tender of it at the moment.’ He tried a smile. ‘Wounded twice, you know.’

‘Oh, you mean the bullet in South Africa? Yes, it was unlucky it was the same arm.’

‘Anyway,’ Richard went on, ‘I don’t yet know where I’ll be this winter.’

‘I thought you’d be here,’ said Giles, with the beginning of an annoyed frown.

‘Brother dear, you haven’t told me what you’ve decided about my fate,’ said Richard. ‘That’s the trouble with you thinkers – there’s so much going on inside the skull, you forget the rest of us don’t know about it unless you say it out loud.’

‘I thought we’d discussed your helping Markham,’ said Giles.

‘Discussed it – but you didn’t actually ask me. Am I to assume this is a formal offer – come live with me and be my agent?’

‘Assistant agent to begin with. But I’d really like Markham to become more like a secretary to me – especially if I take up my seat in the Lords next session – so you would eventually step into his shoes. And you’d have to work with Vogel on the financial side.’ Giles frowned. ‘It’s a big job, and a lot of work. If you take it on, you’ll have to be serious about it.’

‘And you think I’m the right man? I’m flattered. Surprised, but flattered.’

‘I don’t know if you are or not,’ Giles said frankly. ‘You seem to make a joke about everything.’

‘Doesn’t mean I’m not serious inside.’

‘Well, I know I’d sooner have you than a stranger. And, besides, there’s the problem of what to do with you if you don’t take it on.’

‘Ah, the younger son!’ said Richard. ‘What do you do with the blighter if he’s not needed to inherit? I’m not cut out for the Church.’ Giles laughed at the idea. ‘Thank you. And it would be pressing our luck to hope for another heiress to come along for me to marry. What does that leave? Politics?’

‘You need money to go into Parliament. And if I have to pay for you, I’d sooner you did the job I want doing.’

‘So unless I can find a billet in commerce, it’s the estate for me.’

‘You might sound a little more enthusiastic. And grateful.’

‘Oh, I’m grateful all right.’ He was, but only up to a point. He would sooner not have a job of any sort. But Giles, for such a dreamer, was hard as flint underneath. He had refused to pay Linda the allowance the old man had been giving her, so there was little chance he’d go on supporting Richard ad infinitum. If only he had a private income … He thought fleetingly of Mrs Sands. If he had some kind of income, he could make her comfortable, get her into a proper house, and maybe then she’d look kindly on his suit. An image of marriage flashed briefly across his mind like a comet.

‘Perhaps I could get a position in a bank,’ he said. He didn’t realise he’d said it aloud until Giles laughed explosively.

Kitty was sitting in the lobby as Nina came in, and stood, her face breaking into such a smile that Nina hurried to her thinking, I didn’t know how much I’d missed you.

‘I feel as if I haven’t seen you for a hundred years,’ Kitty cried. ‘Oh, this is so good!’

‘You’re looking well,’ Nina said. Kitty had changed, she thought. That frightened-kitten look was gone. She held her head up now. Her face had filled out into adulthood. Her hair was rolled all round and the topknot was hidden by a small jaunty hat with a cocked brim and curled feathers held by a brooch – had she chosen that for herself? It seemed bold. Automatically she noticed her shoes (black kid with a decoration of jet beads all across the toe) and smiled at herself for doing so. Kitty looked every inch a prosperous young matron. Marriage must be suiting her. ‘I think you’ve put on weight.’

‘I can’t think how,’ Kitty said. ‘The food at home is worse than ever – it’s even made me sick a few times.’

‘You called it “home”,’ Nina noticed.

‘I suppose I did,’ said Kitty. ‘I almost think of it as home. After all, I didn’t much like Mama’s house in Hampstead, so I’ve no other. But, Nina, why are we talking about me? You’re the one with the wonderful news! Tell me all about it!’

‘When we’ve sat down,’ Nina said, as the hovering attendant waited to conduct them to the dining-room.

Kitty gazed around as they were settled at a table. ‘I do love this restaurant. And isn’t it fun to be eating out without a chaperone?’