"What are you telling me, Christobel?"
"I am half asleep. I talk without thinking. I shall see my family tomorrow and I am envious, I suppose. Why should everything have gone wrong for us and the Rosslyns have so much?"
"You were telling me of a tragedy which has befallen them."
"Kate, my family has lost a large part of our estate ... it is tottering to ruin and there are the Rosslyns, established in what must be one of the most flourishing estates in the country, bemoaning their sad fate because there is no legitimate heir to leave the place to. My lord will have to be dead before that happens, in any case."
"So this tragedy is simply that Lord Rosslyn's wife cannot have any children to leave the estate to."
"That is so. This wonderful, prosperous place will have to go to someone—well, not exactly outside the family, but on the distant edge of it, a distant relative, a remote cousin, usually a poor relation. Rosslyn, despairing of getting a family through the conventional channels, is bringing those obtained in others to live close to his home. Now, is that for his own satisfaction, because he loves his illegitimate offspring, or is it to bring home to his wife how much she has failed him?"
I was silent. I looked at Christobel. Her eyes looked a little glazed. I thought: She is very, very tired.
"Christobel, you ought to go back to your bed."
"So I should," she said, but she did not move from her position on mine.
She went on, as though to herself: "Of course, he might have a conscience. He might think he should care for these children of his. I'll swear these are not the only ones. Perhaps we shall have a little colony of them here. He and Lady R. are scarcely on speaking terms, so they say. She is very angry about this Dower House family."
"But I have only just come."
"That will not please her. I was talking of Luke. He has been here for a number of years. He must be about seventeen or eighteen years old now. He came here when he was ten. Of course, he is a boy ... a double reproach." She yawned. "Well, you will learn all about it, very soon. I have just given you a little insight."
"You are so tired, Christobel. We both are."
She stood up rather unsteadily. She leaned forward and, taking my face in her hands, kissed me.
"You are a dear girl, Kate," she said. "I am very fond of you. You will adjust yourself, I know. There will be difficulties, but I am sure it is the best way for you. Good night."
She left me less prepared for sleep than I had been before her coming.
She was very unlike herself. I was sure she had drunk too much of that mulled wine. It had been so warm and comforting, and we were both very, very tired.
When I was dressed next morning and knocked at her door she called "Come in," in quite a brisk voice.
She was up and looked comparatively fresh.
"It seems you have slept well after all," I said.
"After a while. I was so exhausted. I am afraid I drank a little too much of that wine last night. It was so soothing and warming. I think I talked a great deal." She frowned and looked at me questioningly.
"It was just about the people here ... all that I had to know."
She grimaced. "Well, it is rather an unusual arrangement. But quite rational, when you come to think of it."
"What shall we do today?"
"Settle in. When your father appears he will no doubt give his instructions. We shall certainly continue with lessons, for you are young yet, my dear. But today I want to see my family. They will have heard we have arrived, I am sure. You would be surprised how fast news travels here. Of course Luke will want to get to know you and he'll show you round—he loves this place. But I do want you to meet my family. They will be very eager to meet you. I've told them about you, of course."
"You have not told me about them."
"It will be better for you to make your own judgments."
"Judgments?"
"Oh, just a manner of speaking. Well, I shall go over to Featherston Manor this morning. It is not very far—on the edge of the Rosslyn estate, but that is very big. I should like to take you with me."
"And I should love to come."
"Well, why not? As long as you have not had a summons to await the coming of his lordship, I think it would be an excellent idea. Come along, let us go down and spy out the land."
In the dining room Mistress Longton was seated at the table.
She greeted us warmly and trusted we had slept well. We assured her that we had after a while, and we sat down to partake of meat pie and ale which a servant put before us.
"I dare swear you will not be at your lessons this morning,'* said Mistress Longton. "You will need to recover from your journey and to see something of this place."
"I was planning to see my family this morning," said Christobel.
"But of course. It is long since they have seen you and they have doubtless heard you are here, so will be expecting you. One of the men was on some business near there. He is bound to have seen someone from the Manor and he would have passed on the news."
"I was telling Kate how fast news travels even here."
"It's true. You must certainly go and see them."
"They want to meet Kate."
"Well, why not take her with you? I am sure you will find suitable mounts in the stables."
Christobel looked at me and nodded. "That will be pleasant, will it not, Kate?"
"I should enjoy it very much."
Christobel said: "They will know at Rosslyn Manor that we are here."
"I believe that Lord Rosslyn is not there at this time," Mistress Longton said.
Christobel looked relieved. "Well then," she said, "we will go and visit my home this morning, Kate."
One of the grooms found what he thought to be suitable horses for us and we set out. I was something of a novice and a very mild-mannered steed had been found for me. She was not so young, we were told, but was good for hacking round the lanes, too lazy to get up to tricks ... just the sort to suit a beginner at the game. The fact was, it was only since my mother had died that I had been given riding lessons. Christobel and I had gone off to stables in the village of Kensington where I had taken some lessons, so although I was not a stranger to horses, I was by no means a practiced horsewoman. Christobel said that would soon change now we were in the country.
"We'll take it very slowly," she went on, "and trust your Lively Lady will not live up to her name, which is hardly likely. I think It must have been given to her m her extreme youth and that was quite a number of years ago."
Rosslyn Manor lay before us. It was most impressive, with that look of rock-like endurance which was a feature of its period. Its round arches and cylindrical columns looked as though they could stand another five hundred years without strain.
I said: "It is very grand. I am not surprised the Rosslyns are proud of it and want to keep it."
"Some people set great store by such things, and the Rosslyns apparently do."
I thought how strange it was to belong—even in a furtive sort of way—to such a family. I was reminded of cozy evenings in Maggie's parlor, sitting round the fire with my mother and Maggie, and Martha's coming in with Jane. I felt another of those sudden waves of nostalgia which pierced the excitement of my new experiences and would not be dismissed.
"You will find Featherston Manor far less grand," Christobel said. "Rosslyn Manor is the big house round here. Featherston would have been considered very pleasant if Rosslyn were not there to remind us how insignificant we really are."
We rode on for some way. "This is our land now," Christobel informed me.
We came out into a lane. There was an almost derelict house before us and I heard a voice and realized that men were working there.
They glanced at us and one of them separated himself from the rest and cried out: "Chris!"