The Black Swan (28 page)

“I thought they would be a little extra welcome home.”

“They were,” I replied. “It was thoughtful of you.”

“I do want to be useful here. You see, Lucie, this is your house. …”

Both she and Roland were looking at me anxiously.

“But that makes it so convenient, doesn’t it?” I said. “Roland and I have been talking about where we would live, and this seems ideal. There is plenty of room. And then there is your little place in London when Roland is there on business. He can get there so easily from here.”

“We decided we would try it like that and see how it worked,” put in Roland.

“And you won’t mind my being here …?”

“My dear Phillida, of course I
want
you to be here. How could it be otherwise? Do you understand that?”

“Yes … I think I do. I just wanted to hear you say it.”

“This reminds me,” said Roland. “I shall have to go to London in the morning … just for the day … to see how things are.”

“There’s something I have to tell you,” said Phillida, a little shamefacedly. “I’ve brought Kitty here.”

“Really!” said Roland.

“Who’s Kitty?” I asked.

“She’s a woman who works for us in London. We have a Mr. and Mrs. Gordon who live in the basement there and Kitty who comes in every day to help. She’s been like a personal maid to me and I did miss her. So I’ve brought her here. I hope you don’t mind.”

“What do you mean … to work?”

“Well … only for me. She does all sorts of things with my clothes … sewing and all that. She’s very handy. I missed her … and, of course, with my being down here and Roland on his honeymoon, there really wasn’t anything for her to do in London. She got restive, so … I brought her down here. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Of course not,” I said. “What is she like?”

“Middle-aged … very clever with her hands … needlework and all that. She’s really a treasure. I am sure you will find something you’d want her to do for you.”

“Well, I can’t think of anything at the moment,” I said.

Phillida went on. “She was getting a bit worried … with all this change. I knew she relies on what she earns. I couldn’t let her go … and as we shall be here such a lot …”

“I understand, of course.”

Phillida looked immensely relieved. “I didn’t want you to think I was interfering … or behaving like the mistress of the house.”

“Of course I wouldn’t do that!”

“Phillida is rather impulsive, I’m afraid,” said Roland. “Perhaps it would have been better, Phillida, if you had waited to ask Lucie.”

“I knew it would … as soon as I’d done it. But the poor woman was so worried … I just had to tell her it would be all right. Forgive, Lucie?”

“Of course it’s all right. Have you met many people round here yet … in the village for instance … while we’ve been away?”

“I haven’t. I have been too busy … exploring the house for one thing. Isn’t it fascinating? I’m so excited because I’m going to live here … at least until other plans are made.”

We retired early.

“Traveling is more exhausting than one realizes at the time,” said Roland.

We had not been in our room for more than a few minutes when there was a knock on the door. It was Phillida. She was carrying a tray with two glasses on it.

“I want you to try this,” she said. “It’s really very nice. It’s what they call a nightcap. There is a shop in St. James’s where they sell it … a health shop, they call themselves. They have all sorts of herbs and things. I bought this and tried it. It’s a sort of gruel … only much nicer. You take it in hot milk every night and it gives you peaceful sleep.”

“And you believe it?” asked Roland.

“My dear brother, I know it. I would not suggest you take it if I had not first tried it out myself.”

She set the tray on a table while Roland and I sat side by side on the bed.

“You stir it,” she said, “and there it is. Lucie …” I took the glass she offered. “And Roland.”

“I always have it last thing before I get into bed,” she told us. “Now drink it.”

She watched us while we obeyed.

“It’s rather pleasant, isn’t it?”

We agreed that it was.

“Now … I’ll go.” She kissed both of us. “Good night, my precious ones. I can’t tell you how happy I am to have you home,” she said. “I was rather worried about you … wandering about in foreign parts.”

She smiled at us rather tremulously and, taking the tray, went out.

The next morning Roland went off early to catch the train, promising he would be back in the evening.

I remembered that I had an appointment with Mrs. Emery, so I went to her sitting room where she asked me if I would like a cup of her Darjeeling, and, knowing that she might be even more put out if I declined, I said that I should like that.

There followed the somewhat ceremonial ritual of making the tea and when we had our cups before us, she came to the point.

“I’ve been in this house a good many years, Miss Lucie,” she began. “And I trust I know my place and do my work well.”

“But of course you do, Mrs. Emery.”

“There have never been any complaints that I have known of.”

“Certainly there have not. Everyone, including my father, had nothing but praise for all you did.”

“I’ve run this house for more years than I care to recall.”

I was getting uneasy. This long preamble suggested something more serious than I had imagined.

“Do tell me what has upset you, Mrs. Emery.”

“Well, Miss Lucie, it is the task of the housekeeper and the butler to engage staff … the housekeeper for the females and the butler for the men …”

“Yes.”

“It seems there are some who think they can come in and change all this.”

I knew now what was wrong. “You object to this new maid whom Miss Fitzgerald has brought with her?”

“I do that, Miss Lucie. I’ve always engaged the staff in this house, and I see no reason why there should be changes.”

“I don’t think Miss Fitzgerald meant to interfere with your rule, Mrs. Emery.”

“
I
didn’t employ this Kitty … or whatever her name is … to come here.”

“Has she done anything to which you object?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that. But she does come into the kitchen. Mrs. Grant won’t like that.”

I could not imagine Mrs. Grant, our fat and comfortable cook, would have any objections. She did not have Mrs. Emery’s rigid code of protocol.

“I’ve spoken to Mr. Emery about it and he agrees with me,” she went on.

Didn’t he always have the good sense to agree with Mrs. Emery? I could see now that she felt her dignity had been affronted and I had to put that right.

“I think I can explain this to you,” I said. “Mr. and Miss Fitzgerald only have a small house in London. They have a man and his wife living in and there was Kitty who came in to help. There wasn’t enough for Kitty to do and she does, of course, act as a sort of personal maid to Miss Fitzgerald … so she came here. She’s not really concerned with the household. She will just be attached to Miss Fitzgerald, you understand?”

“Well, I wasn’t asked, Miss Lucie.”

“I am sure Miss Fitzgerald thought that as Kitty was really her maid it would be all right. She would be most upset if she knew she had hurt your feelings.”

Mrs. Emery was a little mollified.

“Well, I’m glad you’re back, Miss Lucie. You’re the mistress of the house and that’s something everyone should remember.”

“Oh, I’m sure they do. Miss Fitzgerald did mention Kitty to me and she was most apologetic for what she had done. She said she acted on the spur of the moment. There was no work for Kitty and she did not want to dismiss the poor girl.”

“She’s no girl. She’s a woman close on forty, if you ask me.”

“I see. I haven’t met her yet. But Miss Fitzgerald really meant no harm. And Kitty must stay here. Don’t hold it against her, Mrs. Emery.”

“Well, as long as I know where I stand, Miss Lucie.”

“I think you know how much I appreciate you and it upsets me very much to know that you are unhappy.”

“Oh, I didn’t say that. But I’ve always done my work here as well as I could and I’ve always felt people knew that. I was aware of just where I stood and I thought everyone else was. I just didn’t like strangers coming in and setting up their own rules.”

“Well, you see, Miss Fitzgerald is hardly a stranger. She is now my sister-in-law; and I hope we are all going to get along well together.”

“Now that you put it like that, Miss Lucie …”

“Well, that’s how it is, Mrs. Emery. And I must say, you make one of the best cups of tea I ever tasted.”

She was mollified.

It was a storm in a teacup, I thought, smiling to myself.

During the day I met Kitty. She was different from what I had been expecting. She was a big woman … quite forty, I should say. She had little to say for herself when Phillida introduced us.

“This is Kitty,” said Phillida. “She is really making herself useful.”

“I hope you like it in the country, Kitty,” I said.

“Oh yes, ma’am,” she replied.

And that was all.

Roland returned that evening. I had missed him even in that short time. I told him this and it delighted him.

At dinner he explained that there had been quite an accumulation at the office. The cleric had had to leave a good many matters for him to attend to; and he thought he would have to go up for a short spell … perhaps four or five days.

“I suppose you’ll be hard at it all day and half the night,” said Phillida. “I know you work in an erratic fashion and seem to take a lot of time off.” She turned to me. “But when he works he works.”

“She’s right,” said Roland. “That is how it goes. It’s spasmodic in a way. But I really must go soon. In a day or so … I think on Monday … and I shall probably be up for the whole week.”

“As long as it is no more we’ll allow it,” said Phillida. “Lucie and I will be counting the days till your return.”

“Can’t we go with you?” I asked.

Roland hesitated and Phillida said, “Well, from experience, I know it will be better for him to get the work done quickly. He’d be worrying about us all the time if we went. It would take two or three weeks instead of not quite one. You go on Monday, Roland, and then you can be back by Friday and we can all have a lovely carefree weekend.”

He was hesitating, looking at me apologetically.

“I think it’s for Roland to decide,” I said.

“Well,” he replied, with reluctance in his voice. “I suppose Phillida is right. Perhaps it’s better to get on with it quickly … without distractions … very welcome ones, I hasten to say. But this does need a great deal of concentration and I shall be working all hours.”

“Go and come back soon then,” I said.

“It’s settled then.” Roland sounded gloomy.

“It will soon pass,” I assured him.

Phillida came to our room that night with glasses of her special beverage.

“Now did you feel the benefit last night?” she asked.

We looked at each other and smiled.

“Oh, come on,” she said. “Of course you did. I know, I tell you. I’ve studied these things. This is good for you. It’s got all the ingredients on the packet and they all have special virtues. And, promise me, Roland, when you are in London, you will take it. I shall make you take some with you and I shall want your solemn promise.”

“All right, I promise.”

She was looking at him quizzically.

“Do you want him to swear on the Bible?” I asked.

“My dear Lucie, if he promises me, he will do it. My brother is a man of honor. Now, drink up like good children.”

“We are not good children,” said Roland. “At least we are not children.”

“I know I can be a fussy old hen. But you see, I love you both so much, and I have missed you, and now I have you back. And Roland is going away!”

“Never mind,” said Roland. “You will still have Lucie to coddle.”

She flew at us and kissed us both, her eyes misty.

“My dears,” she said, “I love you both so much.”

We drank our beverages which were really rather pleasant and, as she had on the previous night, she took the tray away and left us.

After the weekend Roland left for London. I knew that I was going to miss him for there was no doubt in my mind now of the deep affection he had aroused in me. It was not what I had felt for Joel. I supposed I had been innocent and romantic when I had fallen in love with him. This was a more sober affection. I felt peaceful with Roland; and I realized that this was what I had needed for so long.

I had written to Rebecca telling her how I felt, for I could open my heart to her. She replied at once and said how happy she was for me. She was sure I had done the right thing and had known as soon as she had seen Roland that he was the one for me.

I spent a lot of time with Phillida. She was very interested in every subject raised and she wanted to hear all about the places we had visited in Italy. We went to the library—my father had built up quite an extensive one at Manor Grange—and there we were about to find some references to Naples, Pompeii and Amalfi. Phillida said how wonderful it would be if we could all go back there together.

“But you might not want there to be the three of us,” she said a little wistfully.

“Of course I should love it,” I assured her. “And so would Roland. As a matter of fact, while we were in Italy, we were constantly talking of you and Roland was always saying, ‘Wouldn’t Phillida have liked this?’”

“Sometimes I worry about it. I wonder whether I ought to get away … get a place of my own. It seems unfair to you two … always to have me tagging along with you.”

“Will you please put such nonsense out of your head?”

“Oh, Lucie, I’m so glad Roland married you.”

I asked how Kitty was getting on.

“Oh, quite well. She’s got a skin like a rhinoceros. It’s a good thing. She doesn’t notice the occasional barb sent in her direction.”

“Barb?”

“From the dragon, Mrs. Emery. I don’t think the lady likes Kitty very much … and it’s not Kitty’s fault. It’s mine really … for bringing her in like that. But she was a sort of maid to me and it didn’t occur to me that I ought to have consulted the oracle.”