Page 146 of The Mistress of Ashmore Castle

‘– in her fifties or sixties. She was housekeeper to the old aunt. Very respectable. And she seems determined to maintain the proprieties. I couldn’t exactly discuss the situation with her – after all, she is employed by Sir Thomas – but I hinted as much as I could and she made a granite jaw and assured me that she would take “verra guid care of the young lady”. And she said, “You need have no fear, Mistress Sands, of any queer goings-on as long as I keep hoose here.”’

Richard laughed. ‘You should be on the halls, Mrs Harry Lauder! But, seriously, I’m glad to hear Chloë has a Cerberus.’

Molly didn’t smile. ‘I’m afraid even Mrs Mackie won’t be able to stave off scandal if this plan goes ahead for a foreign tour next year. If he shows her off around Paris and Berlin, no-one will have any doubt. There’ll be no keeping a lid on it.’

‘But there’ll be a large entourage, won’t there? It won’t just be two of them in a sleeper compartment?’

‘He’ll take a secretary and a dresser with him, and possibly some other servants, but—’

‘Well, then you should go, too, as Chloë’s dresser. What could be more respectable than to have her mother with her?’

She smiled now. ‘Considering how you would hate me to go abroad, it shows greatness of mind on your part to suggest it.’

‘I shouldn’t hate you to go abroad, if you went with me. En épousailles, perhaps. My uncle has apparently just discovered he owns a palace in Venice. Perhaps he’d lend it to us. The Ca’ Scozzesi, it’s called.’

‘The Scottish House?’

‘You see? More Scots. Entirely respectable.’

‘I’m not sure one wants to be entirely respectable on one’s honeymoon,’ she said teasingly. ‘Not that I’ve ever had one.’

‘Neither have I. Which makes me believe all the more firmly that it’s something we should try for the first time together.’

She sighed. ‘One day you’ll wear me down. If only Chloë were safely settled . . . But we’d have to live abroad. The scandal of marrying your father’s mistress would ruin you in England.’

‘Late father’s ex-mistress. And how can I convince you that nobody would know or care?’

‘They’d know, my dear. People have an uncanny knack of always knowing the one thing you want to keep concealed.’

Giles had been in London, consulting the banker, Vogel; and Richard, who had gone up on undisclosed business of his own, met him at Marylebone and travelled back with him. The train rushed black through a frozen landscape of black and white. The sun was a wobbling scarlet ball, sinking towards the horizon behind streaks of lavender cloud like smoke, against a chilly pale pink sky.

Richard and Giles were bundled in their greatcoats against the inadequacy of railway heating. Richard offered his brother a cigarillo, and they both lit up. Giles sighed out the first smoke and said, ‘Well, at least the finances are looking satisfactory.’

‘That’s good to hear.’

‘Your milk scheme—’

‘Our milk scheme.’

‘As you please – it’s taken up some capital this year, and it’s not making a return yet—’

‘But it will. Especially if Lord Shacklock comes in. I don’t care for the man, but his involvement will encourage other farmers to join, and obviously the more we have on board the better. It’s greater volume that will bring in the profits.’

Giles smiled. ‘To hear you talking like this! Can you really be my wild brother Richard, or has a sorcerer exchanged you with a metamorph?’

‘Oh, I’m still Wild Richard underneath. But I have to be serious and weighty to beat Shacklock down to a reasonable price per gallon. He seems to think we should be so grateful that he deigns to sell us his milk that we’ll pay him whatever he asks.’

‘I thought the herd was really his wife’s hobby?’

‘It was to begin with. I think she saw herself as a sort of Marie Antoinette, playing milkmaids with nicely washed cows dressed in ribbons. The reality of the other thing that comes out of cows was probably too harsh a descent to earth. At any rate, her interest has waned, and Shacklock is looking for a way for it all not to be a waste.’

‘She’s a lot younger than him, isn’t she?’

‘Yes, and a lot prettier.’ Richard grinned. ‘Rather a man-eater, from what I observed. If I have to have much to do with her, I may need to take a bodyguard with me, in case she sees the old wild Richard and not the new serious one.’

‘You wouldn’t?’ Giles began to exclaimed.

‘Of course not. On our own doorstep? And Shacklock’s the sort to reach for his shotgun if anyone’s caught tampering with his property. Look how he peppered that poacher last winter! Besides, she doesn’t appeal.’