A Battle of Brains (3 page)

“What has happened, Mama?”

She knelt down beside her mother's chair.

“It may be wrong of me,” she answered, “and some people would think it reprehensible, but I had no choice but to accept Mr. Garrack's kind offer.”

“What was that, Mama?”

“Because he wants my portrait to be painted for his collection, he has offered to pay the bill here and also to pay for us to go back to England.”

She paused for a moment and then continued softly,

“He said there is a painter who will do me justice.  He has just painted the Princess of Wales, and a great number of fashionable beauties including Mrs. Lillie Langtry.”

“I suppose,” Yolanda remarked a little doubtfully, “it is
very
kind of him.”

“Yes, of course it is,” her mother replied somewhat sharply, “and I certainly cannot imagine anyone else being so incredibly generous or understanding after such a short acquaintance.”

There was silence for a moment before she added,

“He told me that if he had known earlier that Papa was being buried here in Paris, he would have arranged for his body to be taken back home to England and he could have been buried in the tomb of his ancestors.”

Yolanda then remembered that they had not seen Mr. Garrack in the dining room since the night he had first spoken to her mother.

She supposed that he must have been out of Paris and had not been aware of the duel or of her father's death.

As if she had spoken out aloud, her mother said,

“Mr. Garrack only returned last night.  When they told him what had happened to your Papa, he was not only shocked but as he said his ‘heart bled' for me.”

Yolanda thought this was a somewhat exaggerated way of talking, but she supposed it was indeed very kind of Mr. Garrack to befriend them.

“We are returning to London tomorrow, Yolanda, and I never want to see Paris or meet a Frenchman ever again!”

She spoke bitterly and tears were back in her eyes.

“Don't cry, Mama,” begged Yolanda.  “You know Papa hated you to be unhappy.  I am sure wherever he is, he is still looking after us and somehow everything will be all right.”

She was trying as hard as she could to cheer up her mother, who now replied,

“It does seem rather like a miracle that Mr. Garrack, whom we have not known before, should appear just at this moment and be so very very generous.

“I told him that I had pawned all my jewellery and the only piece left was my engagement ring. I offered to give it to him, but he would not take it.”

Yolanda was glad, as she knew that it would have completely broken her mother's heart to have parted with the engagement ring that had meant so much to her.

Her parent's marriage had been a love match.  They had been engaged for just a short time and her mother had often said that she and her father had fallen in love with each other at first sight.

“I knew, darling, the moment I saw him,” she said, “that he was the most handsome, exciting and wonderful man I had ever met.”

“I am not surprised, Mama.”

She had noticed that when her father came into a room, the women all looked at him and she could easily understand why her mother had fallen in love so quickly.

“I have heard Papa say,” she exclaimed, “that he looked at you and lost his heart immediately.”

“We were so
very
happy,” her mother said and her voice broke on the last word.

“I am sure it is Papa who sent Mr. Garrack to us at exactly the right moment.  When we get back to England, I am sure we will find things are not as bad as we fear.”

As it happened it would have been a lot worse, except that Mr. Garrack took them to his large and imposing house in Park Lane.

He insisted on finding out if there was any money left in her father's bank account and if they were entitled to sell anything from the family house and estate.

Mr. Garrack reassured the heartbroken Countess that he was sure something had been overlooked and that they had not been left totally penniless.

It was only after all the finances had been scrutinised that he conceded that he had been mistaken – there really was nothing left.

What was more, the income from the people renting the Earl's house and estate had already been given to the bank against his large overdraft.

It was then, looking back, Yolanda realised that Mr. Garrack had taken complete control of their lives.

He managed to persuade her mother that she should for the time being stay with Yolanda at his house in Park Lane.

“I could, of course,” he said, “quite easily buy you a house anywhere you wanted, but I want to be with you, to see you and to talk to you.”

He smiled before he added,

“It seems rather a waste of money when this large house is full of empty rooms and I am a very lonely man!”

There was really nothing the Countess could do but accept his kind offer.

It would have been untrue to say that both she and Yolanda did not enjoy the comfort and luxury with which they were now surrounded.

Because they were in mourning, Mr. Garrack at first did not try to persuade them to meet other people.

But after quite a short time, he gradually began to bring his friends home.

It was then that Yolanda began to notice that in many ways he was not exactly a gentleman.

She did not say it, even quietly to herself, in those particular words – it was just what she observed when she compared him to her father.

What was more, she considered it embarrassing that Mr. Garrack should be so obviously pleased and delighted to have her mother as a guest.

Not only because of her beauty but also because of her title.

There was something in the way he would say to anyone who came to see them.

“Let me introduce you to the delightful
Countess of
Longwood
, who is staying with me, who is not only the most beautiful woman in the world but also a very valued friend.”

He always accentuated her title.

“And also her daughter, Lady Yolanda Wood,” she heard him say dozens of times.

Always he said her name with what she thought was a pronounced accent on the word ‘
Lady
'.

*

After they had been in London for only a month, the Season had come to an end and the majority of Socialites left London for the country or Scotland.

They had been talking to two men who were going grouse shooting and Yolanda asked her mother,

“Do you not think, Mama, it would be a good idea to get in touch with some of your relations?  I know they live in the North, but I have not met any of them and it would be very exciting if we went for a visit.”

The Countess was silent for a moment.

Yolanda knew she was considering what she should answer and it made her wonder why she had not been told anything about them before.

Finally her mother said,

“I suppose, darling, you had better know the truth.  When I married your father all my family were very angry.  They had arranged for me to marry a distinguished man, rather older than I was.  When I fell in love with your father, they tried in every way they could to dissuade me from marrying him.”

“But you insisted, Mama, and I am very glad that you did!”

“Of course I insisted!  But after we were married your father found them so very disagreeable and unfriendly that we came South and never went back.”

Yolanda gave a little cry.

“But, Mama, surely you miss your family.”

The Countess sighed.

“To be honest I was so very happy with your father, I hardly ever gave them a thought.  My father was never friendly like Papa was with you and my mother was, I think, not particularly fond of children – she had four and found them all rather a bore.  As I was the youngest I received the least attention!”

“It is difficult for me to think of your family being like that, Mama.  You have always been so wonderful to me and so was Papa.  You never made me feel you did not want me.  Although perhaps sometimes I was a nuisance.”

The Countess laughed.

“You were never that, darling.  We were thrilled to have you but, of course, I ought to have given your Papa a son to follow after him.”

She paused and then she added,

“I only realised yesterday that now your father is no longer with us, the Earldom comes to an end.  He had two cousins who might have inherited the title, but they were killed fighting with General Gordon at Khartoum.”

“I call it very sad, Mama, but what happens now to the house and all the things which should have come to the next Earl if there had been one?”

“Mr. Garrack is looking into that at the moment,” her mother replied.  “Of course even if we were allowed to go on living there as there is no heir, we could not afford to do so.”

“Have we really no money, Mama, except what Mr. Garrack is giving us?” Yolanda asked her in a low voice.

Her mother shook her head.

“None, my darling, and I feel it is terrible for us to inflict ourselves on him like this.  At the same time he so adores having us here and keeps saying what a difference we have made to his life.  I feel it is no use suggesting we go somewhere else.”

Although it seemed wrong and ungrateful, Yolanda just did not like Mr. Garrack.

There was something about him that made her feel uncomfortable.

When he told her that he now looked on her as if she was his daughter, she wanted to respond that she would never be that in a million years.

Instead she just managed to say,

“That is so very kind of you.”

She thought from the expression in his eyes that he knew quite well it was something she did not want.

*

It was a short while after this that he persuaded the Countess that Yolanda should be better educated and began making enquiries as to the best school for young ladies in London.

He discovered that the best school for the daughters of the aristocracy was in fact the Convent of Our Lady just outside Paris.

A great many aristocrats sent their daughters there and the pupils included the daughters of three Dukes.

The Mother Superior only accepted the girls from France and other European countries if they came from the grandest and most respected Society families.

In vain did Yolanda protest that she did not want to leave her beloved mother or England and, almost before she realised what was happening, she found herself sent off to France.

A middle-aged woman who was one of Mr. Garrack's secretaries and a courier accompanied her on the journey.

When she reached the Convent, she found it rather sparse, but the educational facilities were superb.

The girls were not only taught by nuns but by tutors who came from every part of Europe.

It was easy to learn French and German, as well as Spanish, Italian and Greek.

The music teachers were the best in Europe and this pursuit of excellence applied to every other subject.

Because Yolanda was very intelligent, she enjoyed her lessons enormously and her reports would have pleased any parent.

Her mother was overjoyed by her progress.

“
I am so thankful, my darling
,” she wrote, “
that you
have settled in and are enjoying your lessons.  It is what
your father would have wanted, though I doubt very much
if we would have been able to afford it
.

“
I am just exceedingly grateful to Mr. Garrack for
making this possible for you
.  
He sends his love and says
the prizes he will give you at the end of term will be well
worth waiting for
.”

Yolanda told herself it was very good of him, but at the same time for some unknown reason she had no wish to accept anything more from him.

She resented being in such debt to him, although her mother always spoke so enthusiastically about him.

Therefore it was not really such a shock when she was told that when Mr. Garrack had asked her mother to be his wife and that she had accepted.

She wrote to Yolanda,

“
I will never love anyone as I loved your dearest
father, but, darling, I have to think of you and the future.

You know as well as I do that we have no money, no
house and nowhere to go.

Mr. Garrack has been so kind that I feel it would be
most ungrateful if I did not try to make him as happy as I
can in return for all he has given us.

He says that he will treat you as if you were his own
daughter and you shall have the best of everything in life
.”

The Countess went on for a long time praising Mr. Garrack's kindness, explaining over and over again how the only way she could show her gratitude was to do as he wanted.

At the end of her letter she finished,

“
As you and I are both so aware, darling, there will
never be anyone like Papa, but I know he would want you
to be well educated and for us both to be secure.

Your loving Mama
.”

It was something that Yolanda could not contradict yet she still wanted to.

*

The next time Yolanda saw her mother she was saddened to see that she looked a little older.

She was clearly not as happy as she had been when married to the Earl, but Yolanda had to admit she wanted for nothing.

She had only to murmur her interest in some object and no matter how expensive it was Mr. Garrack bought it for her.

He was also very generous to Yolanda.

He bought her new clothes, a piano because she had learnt to play rather well and what she wanted more than anything else, a horse.

She rode it first in Hyde Park.

Then she learnt that Mr. Garrack had just purchased a house in the country.