Page 40 of The Secrets of Ashmore Castle

‘I can remember the Roman emperors and their dates, in order, down as far as Caracalla and Geta,’ he pointed out mildly.

‘That’s because you want to,’ Aunt Caroline said. ‘Now, there are two useful American girls coming out this Season: Nancy Brevoorte’s father is in hotels and railways – railroads I think they call them – and very rich indeed, though I suspect he may want something higher than an earl. I believe Rockport is looking around for a wife, so you’d be in competition with a duke’s son. Then there’s Cora Van Dycke – the family makes some kind of patent foods, I believe. American girls are so lively.’ She looked at Giles with some doubt. ‘You will have to exert yourself, dear, to engage their interest. They will like to be amused. And they’re much less dutiful than English girls. Their fathers indulge them to a degree we would think foolish.’

‘Be lively,’ Giles repeated, like a dull student. ‘Engage them with witty epigrams and light chatter.’

Lady Manningtree frowned. ‘Are you being satirical with me, Giles?’

‘I’m sorry, Aunt,’ he said,

‘Now, among the English girls there is Honoria Everingham – she’s Lord Rayleigh’s daughter. She came out last Season but didn’t take. She’d probably suit you better than an American, being rather dull and quiet. Plain, too, but that’s nothing to the purpose. But I’m not absolutely sure about the fortune. Rayleigh is playing his cards very close to his chest. That may just be a ploy to excite more interest – I shall make more enquiries, but of course it’s a delicate matter.’

‘Of course,’ Giles said.

‘But he wants her off his hands because he has another in the schoolroom, so if you did make an offer, you’d be well received. Then there’s Toria Scott-Mackenzie – landed people, very big estate in Perthshire. They have their own grouse moor so you’d never want for shooting. Salmon and trout fishing too, I believe, in the River Tay.’

Giles, who had never cared for either shooting or fishing, smiled gamely.

‘And I’ve put down Catherine Bayfield,’ Aunt Caroline went on. ‘Nice old family, father’s a wealthy baronet, mother was a jam heiress, very large fortune. She’s the only child so she’ll come in for everything. I haven’t seen the girl yet – she’s just out of school and they’re working her in quietly. I suppose I should mention Sofie Uffenheim-Bartstein – they’re acquainted with your aunt Vicky, dripping with money, but I think they might be looking for a royal. There’s Russian imperial blood a couple of generations back. Otherwise I’d have put her at the top of the list. Girls from those German principalities, even the minor ones, know what’s expected of them. So there it is. What do you think?’

‘I don’t know any of them,’ Giles said blankly.

‘Of course you don’t,’ said Aunt Caroline crossly. ‘Apart from Rayleigh’s girl, they’re all debutantes. Nobody knows them. For Heaven’s sake, Giles, what do you want? Should I have had their portraits painted for you to inspect?’

He smiled apologetically. ‘That didn’t work out very well for Henry the Eighth, did it?’

‘Didn’t it?’

‘He picked Anne of Cleves but the portrait turned out to be over-flattering. He couldn’t bring himself to consummate.’

She removed her glasses sternly. ‘He was a horrible fat old man, as I recall, and didn’t deserve a wife at all.’

‘Quite. She didn’t like him, either.’

‘But you are very pretty, my dear, and when you exert yourself you can be charming. Just do as I tell you, and you’ll do finely. We’ll set you up with a nice girl with a good dowry. You do pay for dressing, I will say – and Crooks knows what’s what. It was very sensible of you to take him on.’

‘I hadn’t the heart to turn him off,’ Giles admitted.

She smiled and patted his hand. ‘You’re a good boy. I never understood why your father had such a down on you. Richard was his golden child, and Richard was never anything but trouble.’

Richard stood in a fitting-room at Henry Poole’s, cigarillo clenched in his teeth, while Batty did the thing with the chalk, marking the set of the jacket. Richard turned a little this way and that to examine himself in the long mirror. He patted his stomach.

‘Not too bad, eh, Batty?’

‘Very trim, sir,’ said Batty. ‘If I might say so, you cavalry gentlemen always have a very pleasing, upright carriage. Marks you out from the crowd.’

‘Ah, yes, that’s what I want – to stand out. In an appropriate way.’

‘You’ll do that, sir. His lordship is a fine figure of a gentleman, too. Rather on the thin side, but not what you’d call weedy. Excellent shoulders and legs. It’s a pleasure to make for him. Very happy, we all are, to see you both back from Abroad, safe and sound. Not but what the sad circumstances …’

‘Quite, quite.’ Richard did not want to get on to the subject of his father, in case that led to the subject of the very large tailor’s bill his father had left behind. Poor old Giles had been greatly exercised over acquiring more clothes from Poole’s in the circumstances, but Richard had endorsed Markham’s rationale, that the best way to prevent Poole’s from asking for settlement was to order more things. ‘It’s not as if you mean to bilk them,’ Richard had pointed out. ‘You’ll pay up whenever you get the money. Though if you’ll take my advice, you won’t clear the whole account. Leave a little bit on the books to keep them interested.’

Now he said, to distract Batty, ‘Thinking of getting married, you know.’

‘Indeed, sir? Who is the lucky lady?’

‘I haven’t decided yet. But I’m told there’s a fine crop of debutantes coming on the market this year. Everyone says it’ll be a brilliant Season.’

‘Yes, indeed, sir. Our new king will have quite an enlivening effect on the festivities.’