The Victory (88 page)

‘
How could we have made her?' he murmured to Héloïse at
one point when they were all in the garden, and Sophie was
pretending to be Mathilde dancing at her coming-out ball,
which had Thomas in fits of giggles.

‘
We didn't,' Héloïse said serenely. 'God made her.' And
then she had turned to meet his eyes, and the same thought
had occurred to both of them, and her cheeks had grown a
little pink. When they were married, they could have others
— not like Sophie, for who could be like Sophie? — but others
as wonderful and precious. James thought of the Morland
Place nurseries full again, and could almost feel his mother's
spirit smiling approvingly at him.

So the contrast between the two households struck him
very forcibly when he arrived back at Morland Place. Edward
and Father Aislaby were in the drawing-room, where a fire
had been lit against the cool of the evening. The sight of the
two men sitting in silence to either side of the fire struck him
as somehow pathetic. We have been three old bachelors, for
all that Mary Ann lived here, he thought.

They looked up enquiringly as he came in, and seeing
James's expression, Edward said, 'It's all settled, then?
Congratulations.'

‘You know where I've been?'

‘
Durban told me. Oh, it wasn't his fault: when you were
gone so long, I was worried that you had had an accident, so I
made him tell me.’

James grinned. 'But I hadn't told him! I suppose it's
foolish to think you can ever keep anything from your own
servant. Yes, I went to Coxwold and asked Héloïse to marry
me. I hope you approve?'

‘
Of course I do. I know how much you care for her. And I
think it's the best thing that could happen for all of us,'
Edward said. 'She'll put things right again. It will be almost
like having Mother back.’

James was deeply moved that Ned, from the depths of his
own loneliness, could be so generously pleased for his brother.
‘Thank you for that,' he said. 'I know Mother would have
wanted ...' He had to stop and clear his throat.

‘
Have you made any arrangements?' Father Aislaby
supplied the silence.

‘
Not in detail, only that we shall wait until I have done
three month's mourning before we marry. It ought to be
longer, I suppose, but neither of us can bear any more delay.'

‘You'll be married here, in the chapel?'

‘
Oh yes,' James smiled. 'I wouldn't feel married otherwise.
I hope that as trustee of the estate, Ned, you will approve my
installing a new wife and her household? You have the final say; if you disapprove, we'll have to go and live somewhere
else.'

‘
Don't be silly,' Edward said vaguely, his mind elsewhere.
‘I say, Jamie, have you thought how you're going to break this
to Fanny?’

James looked puzzled. 'Break it to her? Why should you
think it will be bad news? She never cared about her ownmother, so why should she mind a new one?’

don't know
why
she should,' Edward said, 'but I'll wager
the crown of England to a bent nail that she will.’

James saw from Aislaby's expression that he agreed with
Edward. He frowned. 'She doesn't know where I went today?’

 
‘
No,' said Aislaby. 'She asked, of course, but I just said that
you had gone out on business.’

James shrugged it aside. 'Oh well, I'll face that problem
when I come to it. I expect she'll get used to the idea quite
quickly.’

*

Happiness made James wake early the next morning, and he
lay for a while savouring the unfamiliar feeling of looking
foward to his life with delight. Everything would be different
from now on, he thought. He would cast out his old, bad
habits, lying late abed, missing morning mass, getting drunk
at the Maccabbees and coming home in the middle of the
night. He would sleep every night with Héloïse in his arms,
and wake to joy and companionship. He looked back over his
life and was appalled at the loneliness in which he had lived
almost all of it. Well, that was all over now. He would have a
companion with whom to share every moment and every
thought.

He couldn't lie still. He had to share his happiness with
someone, and decided that it ought to be Fanny first of all.
She was still sleeping in the nursery, having it to herself again
now that Lucy had gone back to Wolvercote with her child
ren, and James dressed himself, padded the short distance to
the night-nursery, and went in.

Fanny was up, kneeling on the window seat in her nightgown and looking out of the window. She turned as James
came in, and her face lit, until she remembered she was cross
with him, and then she settled a scowl over her features.

‘Lord, Fanny, what's that for?' James blinked.

‘
You went out all day yesterday, and you didn't even come and say goodbye. And you didn't come up and say goodnight
when you got back, either, and I was still awake, because I
heard one of the maids knock at your door and tell Durban.'
James sat down on the window-seat beside her and pushed
some of her night-tangled hair off her face. 'I'm sorry, my love. If I'd known you were awake I'd have come up, but I
had a lot of things to discuss with Uncle Ned and Father
Aislaby.'

‘Did you bring me a present?'

‘No, but I have got some wonderful news for you.'

‘
Is it about where you went yesterday?' Fanny asked suspi
ciously.

‘Yes. Do you know where that was?'

‘
No,' Fanny said pouting. 'Sarah and Lizzie were whisper
ing last night after I was in bed, but I couldn't hear what they were saying. Where
did
you go, Papa? I asked Durban, but he
wouldn't tell, nasty cross thing.’

James laughed. 'Fanny, my darling, how would you like a
new mother, and two new sisters, and a little brother? Well, a
sort of brother, at any rate.’

He offered it like a great treat, but there was no answering
pleasure in Fanny's face. 'No thank you,' she said firmly. 'Is
that where you went?'

‘
I went to see a lady whom I've known for a very long time,
since before you were born, or I even met your mama. I
wanted to marry her long ago, but there were reasons why we
couldn't. But now I've asked her to marry me, and she's said
yes.' Fanny's scowl grew fearsome. 'Aren't you pleased?'

‘
No,' said Fanny at once. 'I don't want you to get married.
I like you like this. I don't like this lady. I don't want her
here.'

‘
Fan, you don't know her. She's the nicest lady in the
world. Wouldn't you like to have a new mother, to tuck you
up in bed, and buy you pretty clothes, and take you out in the carriage?'

‘No,' said Fanny furiously.

‘
And two nice new sisters to play with?' James tried with
waning hope.

‘
No. I hate them! I won't have them! This is my house,
everyone says so, and if it's my house I won't have this horri
ble lady. You're my papa, and they shan't have you!’

James tried coaxing, but Fanny put paid to that by burst
ing into tears, and when he went on trying to persuade her of
the pleasures of a new mama, she increased the volume and
quickly managed to cry herself into hysterics. The maids
came running, and after a while James crept out, crestfallen,
followed by a hostile, red-eyed glare from his whooping
daugher. Outside in the passage he found Durban waiting for
him.

‘
She'll get used to the idea,' James said hopefully. 'It was
just the shock, coming so soon after her mother's death.’

Durban had no need to reply. For once, his opinion was
there to be read in his expression.

*

For Héloïse,, there was no dissenting voice in her household.
Once the maids had been assured that they were to remain in
her service, they could only be happy for her, and Barnard
looked forward with relish to returning to his own kitchen,
and having the scope of a large household on which to
exercise his skills. Stephen was a little doubtful as to whether
the change would be for the better for him, for in a large
household he would not have the single authority he had at
Plaisir, but Héloïse assured him that they would find some
suitable position for him, which would not be beneath his
dignity, and he had to accept that.

Mathilde was transported by the romance of it all. Dear
Madame was to marry her childhood sweetheart, and they
were all to go and live in a real castle, with a moat and
drawbridge and a ghost and everything! It was like something
in a novel. Of course, Madame and the gentleman in question
were both widowed and quite elderly, but in spite of that,
they were so much in love it was quite pretty to see. And they
were to live close to York, which, to one who had recently
discovered the pleasures of dancing, could only be a benefit. Lizzie Spencer went to assemblies in York, and she said that
all the best people attended them, and lots of officers from the
barracks at Fulford.

Sophie was a little sad at the thought of leaving Plaisir,
which was the only home she had ever known, but the
promise that she should be a bridesmaid and Thomas a page at Maman's wedding, and that they should both have ponies
and learn to ride when they went to the new house, did a
great deal to put it in its proper perspective.

‘
I keep being glad about such absurd things,' James said to
Héloïse on one of his frequent visits to discuss plans. 'This morning when I woke up, I found myself thinking that your
park phaeton and ponies would at last be used for the purpose
they were intended for — driving about the Morland estate.'

‘
I know,' Héloïse smiled. 'I mean, I understand how you
feel. I was telling Mathilde the other day about the swans on
the moat, and I suddenly heard myself, how enthusiastic I
was being about them. Oh, but I shall be so glad to be at
Morland Place again! I keep thinking that I am going home.'

‘
I'm glad you feel like that about it. There are quite a few
of the old servants still there, who remember you. You should
see their faces light up when they talk about you.'