Page 88 of Rivals at Ashmore Castle

‘I have ordered all your household linens from Whiteleys. They will keep them for you until you know where you will be living, then you can send for them to be delivered. Also a Limoges breakfast set, which is a present from the prince. And I wish you to have this.’ She reached out a hand without looking, and Miss Taylor, waiting behind her, placed in it a leather case.

Inside, Rachel found a triple strand of pearls with a diamond clasp, which she had seen her mother wear many times. She wondered how she had managed to keep them when everything else was being sold.

‘They were my mother’s, given to me when I married your father, and I always meant you to have them on your marriage. Linda had my grandmother’s pearls when she married Cordwell. I wish you happy, Rachel. I still think you have made a foolish mistake, but perhaps Tullamore can make something of himself. Stranger things have happened. And if marrying for love means so much to you that you were willing to throw away all I offered, then I sincerely hope that you find it answers. We shall not be at the wedding – one sea-crossing this year is enough. And I’m hoping for a visit from your uncle Fergus in October.’

She nodded to indicate the audience was at an end. Rachel, overwhelmed, could not remember how to move her feet. She looked up at her mother and thought she had grown gaunt again, and was looking tired. She had taken to walking with a stick, and though she wielded it more as though it was for the purpose of striking impertinent servants than because she needed an aid, it gave Rachel a pang. Her mother had never been a motherly sort of parent, but she was the only parent she had left, and they had grown closer during her long come-out. She felt a cold little finger of fear down the back of the neck that she might never see her again. On an impulse, she reached up on tiptoe and kissed her cheek. ‘Thank you, Mama,’ she said fervently. ‘Angus will be a great man, you’ll see. And I shall always treasure the pearls.’

The princess recoiled from the kiss. ‘Of course you will, you nonsensical child. Go now. Don’t keep the carriage waiting.’

But it was not said in a scolding tone. Rachel would almost have said it was kindly.

Nina’s confinement came to an end and Wriothesby House was still not ready. She would have liked to check on progress – Mr Cowling spent time there almost every day – but he had made her promise not to go near until it was finished. ‘I want to be the one to show it to you. I want to see your face.’

Now she was out of confinement Mr Cowling started to go away more often, saying there was a great deal of business to catch up with. One day he told her he was having to go to London and would stay there overnight. ‘I hate to leave you,’ he said, looking anxious.

‘I’m the one who should be worried,’ she said. ‘You’re taking the train.’

There had been the crash at Canons Ashmore in January, another at Salisbury in June, and only two days before, on the 19th of September, a third at Grantham. A mail train with sleeper cars, travelling from King’s Cross down to Edinburgh, had passed through Grantham station at speed, despite the signals being at danger. It had been supposed to stop to allow a goods train to cross over the lines from a branch junction. When the mail train hit the points, which were against it, it derailed, sweeping away a bridge, and the carriages fell down the embankment, leaving the locomotive lying across both tracks. Only the last three carriages remained on the rails. The locomotive exploded and caught fire. Fourteen people including the crew were killed and seventeen were injured. The wonder was that there had not been more casualties.

‘Trains are safe enough,’ Cowling assured her. ‘Three accidents in a year sounds like a lot, but not when you think of the thousands of rail journeys there are. Now, don’t look so anxious, I shan’t die. I haven’t time – I’ve too much to do.’

He hadn’t meant it as a joke, but she gave a watery laugh, so he smiled too. ‘And I’ve arranged a little treat for you tomorrow, so look out for it.’

‘What is it?’

‘It’s a surprise. You’ll have to wait.’

The surprise turned out to be Decius, who arrived early, just as she was getting up from the breakfast table. ‘I’m your present from Mr Cowling. You are to imagine me with a bow around my neck, if you please.’

‘I’ll imagine you however you like,’ she exclaimed, flinging her arms around him. He gave her a brief, surprised hug in return before she remembered herself. ‘Oh, I am glad to see you!’ she said. ‘I had no idea beforehand that “confinement” was meant literally. Shall I ring for coffee? Have you had breakfast?’

‘I was well fed and watered before I came, thank you.’

‘Then come up and see my baby.’

‘With the greatest of pleasure.’

‘Do I sound like a simpleton? But you know, I can’t get over the surprise of it. Every time I say the words, it’s a glorious shock. I, Nina, have a baby – not a doll, or a kitten in a bonnet, but a real, live baby!’

‘Did you have a kitten in a bonnet when you were a little girl?’ he asked, amused.

‘A neighbour’s child, Jane, did, when we lived in India. She used to push it around in a doll-carriage. I had a pet monkey, which was better in some ways because when you held it, it put its arms round you.’

‘What was its name?’

‘Bandar. It means mischievous. He had a little red jacket, which he hated and tried to pull off all the time. I cried when he got out and ran away, but I was secretly relieved. He wasn’t very nice, really. He wasn’t clean in the house, and he bit everyone. He bit my syce, my darling Namgay, and the bite went bad and his hand was in bandages for weeks. Jane’s kitten scratched her quite badly one day when she was trying to tie the bonnet on. You shouldn’t put clothes on animals.’

They reached the nursery. Amelia was asleep, her face delicately flushed, a sheen of moisture on her surprisingly blue eyelids. She had improved enormously in the two months she had been on earth. ‘Isn’t she perfect?’ Nina breathed.

‘She seems a very nice specimen,’ Decius said, and when she looked at him enquiringly, he said, ‘You can take my word for it. Remember what a large family I come from. I have nephews and nieces galore, so I’m quite the expert.’

‘I wasn’t questioning your judgement but the inadequacy of your language. Very nice, indeed! Oh dear,’ she changed tack, ‘I think something terrible has happened to me. I had a letter from Lepida yesterday, full of things she’d read and ideas she’d had. I’ve hardly read anything in months, and I have no ideas at all. I seem content just to sit and look at my baby for hours on end. If I pick up a book, I put it down again after a few paragraphs and I wouldn’t be able to tell you what it was about. Do you think I’ve lost my mind?’

‘Having had the privilege of observing sisters and sisters-in-law over the years, I can tell you that it’s perfectly normal. You’re meant to think of nothing but the baby. It’s a device of Mother Nature to ensure its survival.’

‘But has my brain gone for good? My aunt would be so disapproving.’

‘I believe the change is temporary. You’ve met my mother. She had eight children, and there’s nothing wrong with her mind.’