He told me that he was my stepfather’s righthand man.
“I knew that you were in business together,” I said. “It’s those clubs, isn’t it?”
“That and other things. I worked for your stepfather’s grandfather, you know.”
“Oh yes … Uncle Peter.”
“He was a wonderful man. Astute, knowledgeable and crafty as a fox.”
“Did you like working for him?”
“Immensely. It was a great adventure.”
“He is very much missed in the family although we all knew there was something rather shocking about what he was engaged in. Is it the same still?”
“Those who are shocked are envious of others’ success. The clubs provide a need for certain people. If they want to gamble why shouldn’t they? If they lose money it is their affair.”
“I believe there are other things besides gambling.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “No one is dragooned into attending. They use the clubs of their own free will. It is all legitimate business. There is nothing illegal about it.”
“Uncle Peter wanted to be a member of Parliament and there was some scandal about the clubs. It ruined his parliamentary career.”
“I know. It happened years ago. People’s ideas changed after the Consort’s death. It would have been different if it had happened now. It was the Prince who set out these rigid codes.”
“But might it not still be dangerous for my stepfather?”
“I think you can say he knows what he is doing.”
“My mother was very upset when she knew he had inherited the business. She wanted him to sell out.”
“He is too good a businessman to do that. How could he resist the chance of adding to his immense fortune?”
“Easily, I should have thought, as he has enough already.”
“You don’t understand the mind of a businessman, Rebecca.”
“I think family happiness comes before all that.”
He put his hand over mine. “ ‘Oh wise young judge,’ ” he quoted. “ ‘How I do honour thee.’ ”
“I am no Portia but I should have thought that was clear. My mother was very worried. It was just before she died.”
I pulled myself up sharply. I was trying to blame him for what had happened. I was telling myself that in his greed for more wealth he had worried her, weakened her so that when her ordeal came she was unable to face it.
It was nonsense. That had had nothing to do with her death.
“You see,” Oliver Gerson was saying, “he has a great flair for business. I gathered he did well in Australia before he acquired his goldmine. Didn’t he have men working for him?”
“Yes. My mother spoke of it to me many times. He found gold but not enough to make the fortune he had set out for but he was able to employ those men who despaired of ever doing so and wanted a regular wage. Several were working for him so there was more chance of finding gold on his patch.”
“You see what I mean about this flair for business? You can’t expect such people to take the easy way out just because it offers a more peaceful existence. His sort don’t want peace. They want excitement and adventure.”
“And you … you have this flair?”
“But, of course. But I have not had your stepfather’s good fortune … yet.”
“Well, I can only hope that it will come to you in time.”
“Needless to say, I fervently share that hope. But don’t worry about the business. I can assure you your stepfather will know how to steer our craft past the dangerous rocks.”
“You have a great admiration for him.”
“If you worked with him, so would you.”
When he was not with my stepfather he was with us.
He continued to make much of the children and they admired him. He had a way of treating them as adults, never stressing that he was reducing himself to their level but just as though he accepted them as grown-up intelligent beings simply because they were.
We often went riding together. I had never seen Belinda so happy. I was now convinced that she was a normal child who had for a time been warped by the indifference—and even resentment—of an unnatural father.
I was delighted to see the change in her and I encouraged Oliver Gerson to be with us. Not that he needed any encouragement. I realized that he had a flair for being amusing as well as that of which he had told me, for business. Conversation was always lighthearted and punctuated with laughter from the children … not so much the laughter of amusement as of sheer happiness.
He would devise games as we rode along. He always found something fresh with which to stimulate their interest, so the rides were especially enjoyable.
“A mark for the first one who spots a holly bush with at least ten berries.”
They giggled. Lucie cried: “There’s one.”
“It’s not a holly bush, is it, Mr. Gerson?” said Belinda.
“No … it’s some other thing … not holly. We ought to have your governess here to tell us what.”
“Oh, we don’t want her. She makes a lesson out of everything.”
“Well, sorry, Lucie, it’s not holly. Try again.”
Then it would be the first to see a grey horse.
Thus a spirit of competition was added to the rides and both children enjoyed it.
We all knew what we should do on the morning of Christmas Day. There would be church and then the carol singers would come. Hot punch and fairy cakes would be distributed to them and then there would be midday dinner in the great hall when we would have several guests. The children would be at a table near the screens presided over by Leah, and the meal would be served in the traditional manner, the dishes carried in with a certain ceremony.
Afterwards the grown-ups would be a little somnolent and there would be desultory conversation and some dozing. There would be tea at five o’clock and a buffet supper later. Then the guests who were staying at the house would retire to their rooms and the others leave the house. The children would be allowed to stay up until nine o’clock as a concession to the day.
Oliver Gerson said to me: “What a great deal of preparation for something which has to be over almost as soon as it has begun. I am afraid our two are going to wonder what to do while the grown-ups are resting. We should think up some entertainment for them.”
“What an excellent idea. It was different at Cador. There always seemed something to do.”
“We must make something to do here. I thought of a treasure hunt.”
“How? Where?”
“It would have to be in the garden. We could not have them prowling about the house when people are trying to sleep.”
“Suppose it rains or snows?”
“Well then, it would have to be called off or we should have to think of some other indoor pastime.”
“What sort of treasure hunt?”
“Oh … clues … about six, I think. Little couplets, one leading to another. All very simple.”
“It sounds wonderful. Who’ll do the couplets?”
“We shall. I shall need your help to tell me the right places in the garden.”
“It’s a wonderful idea.”
“Of course. It’s mine.”
We laughed together.
“How many children will there be?” he asked.
“Oh, six … maybe seven. There are the agent’s two and three belonging to those indefatigable workers and our two.”
“That’s an ideal number. And we’ll have a prize for the winner. There must be a prize … some goal to work for.”
“What prize?”
“You and I will go to the village today and buy a splendid box of chocolates. Big … and gaudy … so that it looks like a worthwhile prize.”
“I am sure they will all love it.”
“It will dispense with the boredom of having to be quiet in a houseful of somnolent guests.”
“Are you sure you won’t be too somnolent to conduct affairs?”