“No, no Mrs. Barrington. It is nothing to do with the master and mistress. It’s someone who has come. She is asking for Mademoiselle Sophie … I didn’t know what to do.”
“I’ll come,” I said. “Who is it?”
“It’s a woman and child.”
I went back with the maid.
In the hall was a woman and with her a young girl. I stared at them for a moment. Then I cried: “Tamarisk.”
“I’ve come back,” she said. “Leah came with me.”
“But…” I began.
“Where is Mademoiselle Sophie? They say she is gone … Gone? Where has she gone?”
“She died,” I said.
Her face crumpled. “Where is Jeanne?”
“She lives in a cottage on the estate.”
“But… I don’t understand.”
Leah spoke then. She said: “The child is distraught. She has talked so much of Mademoiselle Sophie and Jeanne. She missed them sadly. She would not rest until she came back to them.”
“It is a pity she walked out without saying a word.”
“I’ve come back,” said Tamarisk.
I felt angry with her, remembering the suffering she had caused.
I said: “She was so sad when you went away without telling her even. She pined and didn’t take care of herself. Then she became ill… and had no wish to live.”
Tamarisk’s great dark eyes were fixed on me.
“You mean … I did that?”
I shrugged my shoulders. I said: “What is this? A brief visit?”
“I’ve come back,” she said.
Leah laid a hand on my arm. “Please … be kind,” she said. “The poor child … she has suffered.”
“Everything has changed now,” I said.
Tamarisk covered her face with her hands and began to sob.
“I do not want her to be dead. She loved me. Nobody ever loved me like Mademoiselle Sophie did. As soon as I had gone I wanted to come back.”
“It’s true,” said Leah. She was looking at me appealingly.
I said: “I don’t know what can be done now. The house is let.” I suddenly remembered that the house belonged to Tamarisk. She did not know this, of course, and it was not for me to tell her now.
I thought the best thing I could do was take her and Leah to Eversleigh. My parents would know what should be done.
I suggested this. Leah nodded and with the weeping Tamarisk we walked the short distance across the fields.
My mother was astounded at the sight of them. She noticed at once that they looked weary and travel-stained and that what they were most in need of was hot water to wash, clean clothes and some food. She arranged that this should be provided and her brisk, practical approach seemed a great help.
While this was in progress there was a family conference including David, Claudine, my parents and myself.
“The child has grown tired of the nomad life,” said my father, “and I don’t wonder. My impulse is to send her back to it. She was pampered at Enderby by Sophie and light-heartedly she decided to try it with the raggle-taggle gypsies. Then when the novelty of that wore off she says, I’ll go back now. She should be taught a lesson. However, we have to remember that En-derby belongs to her now.”
“She doesn’t know it yet,” said David.
“No, and perhaps it would be wise not to tell her just yet. She might decide to take up residence immediately and banish the honeymooners when they return. She should be a little older before she learns of her inheritance.”
“The question is the immediate future,” put in my mother. “Where is she going to stay? We’ll have them here, of course. They can’t go to Enderby with Amaryllis and Peter away.”
“I wonder where the gypsies were,” said David. “We did make extensive searches at the time she disappeared.”
“Gypsies know how to stay away when it is expedient to do so,” said my father.
Claudine said. “How would you feel about having her at Grasslands, Jessica?”
“Jessica has enough to do,” said my mother quickly.
I hesitated. The days were a little monotonous. They could hardly be that with Tamarisk around. She interested me. Romany Jake was her father. He, too, had fascinated me when he appeared briefly in my life.
“I will take her to Grasslands if you like,” I said.
“But Edward?”
“Edward would not object. He never does to anything I want. I think she might amuse him. Yes, I’ll take her until we decide what is to be done.”
“That’s a problem,” said my father. “The house is hers. I’m a trustee and she couldn’t do anything without my approval and that of the solicitor fellow, Harward, who acts jointly with me. We have to think of her interest, of course. I am of the opinion that we should go on letting the house for a few years.”
“I wonder if Peter and Amaryllis will stay?”
“I hope so,” said Claudine fervently.
“Peter doesn’t seem in a hurry to buy that estate he was talking about.”
“No, he has interests in London now,” said my father. “I think becoming a landowner doesn’t appeal any more.”
“This isn’t settling the problem of Tamarisk,” said my mother. “Let them stay here tonight. You can talk it over with Edward, Jessica, and if he is agreeable I don’t see why they shouldn’t go to Grasslands for a while. We’ve got to look after Tamarisk for Dolly’s sake … and in any case we wouldn’t want to turn the child away.”
“She was desperately upset when she heard about Sophie,” I said.
“So she should be,” retorted my father. “Little minx! Going off like that… and then calmly coming back and expecting to have the fatted calf killed for her.”
“We’ll have to wait and see how things work out,” my mother insisted. “Anyway, let them stay here for the night. Then we’ll see.”
That was how Tamarisk came back to Eversleigh.
It was almost a year since Amaryllis’ wedding and the return of Tamarisk.
I had taken the child and Leah into Grasslands. When I had discussed the matter with Edward, he, suspecting that it was what I wished, had said it would be a good idea to have her come to us. My mother was secretly pleased. Tamarisk was not the most lovable of children and my father certainly not the most patient of men. He was already irritated because Sophie had left Enderby to Tamarisk and so created problems. He said that if he had had his wish he would have sent the child back to the gypsies. So my mother, the soul of tact as ever, thought it would be a good idea if she came to us.
I suppose I really got along with Tamarisk as well as any. I never attempted to show too much affection to her. I was sharply critical and oddly enough that seemed to inspire a certain respect in the child. One thing in her favour was that she was genuinely sorry for the pain she had caused Sophie, but whether this was due to the fact that she missed Sophie’s blatant adoration or to true remorse, I was not sure. Whenever Sophie was mentioned her eyes would grow dark with sorrow and I had often seen her fighting to keep back her tears. One night I heard her sobbing in her bedroom and went in.
“You are thinking of Mademoiselle Sophie,” I said.
“She’s dead,” she muttered. “I killed her.”
“That’s not exactly true,” I said.
“She died because I went away.”
“She was very grieved when you disappeared. We searched everywhere.”
“I know. We went to Ireland. We went straight across the water. It was horrid. I wanted to come back. I wanted to be with Aunt Sophie again.”
“I expect it was uncomfortable living in a caravan after your lovely bedroom at Enderby.”
She nodded.
“And it was only then that you realized all the care you had had.”
“Leah loves me.”
“But she could not give you a warm feather bed, a pony of your own to ride.”