“She will recover …”
My mother said: “It has been a long time. She seems to have no life in her. It seems as though she wants to be shut away … by herself … with just me and Leigh. So it is wonderful to see her so happy with Clarissa. Oh, I am so glad you came, Carlotta. It has been so long … so dreadfully long.”
“We must not let these absences happen again,” I said.
“No. Whether Damaris would be fit to travel I don’t know. Perhaps we’ll have one of the new coaches. Leigh was talking about it. That must make travel easier.”
“I don’t think we could have brought Clarissa without the coach. She’s going to have her first pony soon. Benjie thinks she can’t begin too early.”
She took my hands in hers. “I am so glad to see you happy with Benjie. He is such a good man, Carlotta. I shall never forget that terrible time when you and …”
“Beaumont Granville,” I said.
She shivered as though the mention of his very name had its effect on her.
“We came through it,” she said, and there was a strange note to her voice. “It is all behind us now … All behind us.”
I was silent. I was not so sure. But I would not say so to her. She had enough to worry her with Damaris in this state.
She said brightly, “I wonder if you have changed your mind about Enderby. It just stands there year after year … that can’t be sensible, Carlotta.”
“No,” I said, “it isn’t sensible.”
I knew then that I never wanted to go into that house again. The memory of Damaris’s coming into that bedroom had suppressed all others.
“Mother,” I said, “I’ve made up my mind. I am going to sell Enderby Hall.”
Naturally we went to Eversleigh within a few days of our arrival. The grandparents were eager to see us.
There was a big family party—the biggest for a long time. My uncle Edwin was there, the present Lord Eversleigh home from the war for a brief while. My other uncle, Carl, was also there. Besides them there was Jane and her son. Then there was my grandfather Carleton and grandmother Arabella, besides myself and Harriet with my mother, Leigh and Clarissa. Damaris was with us. It was the first time she had left the house and Harriet had said that she should go the short distance in the coach and if it was one of her bad days someone could carry her into the house.
“I will,” declared Clarissa which made everyone laugh.
Damaris was about to protest, and Clarissa said: “So you’ll have to come now, Aunt Damaris, or I’ll think you’re laughing at me like all these other people.”
That seemed to decide Damaris.
“Well, I could try,” she said.
My mother was delighted. “I have thought all along,” she said, “that if we could get rid of this listlessness …”
“If she made an effort, you mean,” said Harriet. “Well, Clarissa has made it impossible for her to refuse on this occasion.”
So Damaris came with us and Clarissa sat beside her and told her all about the coach once more, to which Damaris listened as though enthralled.
My grandmother was delighted to see us and was really excited because Damaris had come.
“It’s a step forward,” she said.
I was pleased to be at that table again. I had always enjoyed the conversation there, which was usually dominated by my grandfather, who always stated his opinions with vigour. He cared for nobody, did my grandfather. He and I were kindred spirits in a way. He had taken more notice of me when I was a child than he ever had of any one of the others.
He insisted that I sit beside him.
“Never could resist a pretty woman,” he said. “And ods bodikins [using an oath from King Charles’s days] you’re one of the prettiest I ever clapped eyes on.”
“Hush,” I said. “Grandmother will hear.”
That amused him and put him in a good mood.
They were talking about the war—and Marlborough’s successes.
“A good leader, that is what is wanted, and we’ve got it in Churchill,” said Edwin.
He had always been a keen supporter of the Duke of Marlborough and so had Uncle Carl. They should know, for they had both served under him.
My grandfather started to complain about the influence Marlborough’s wife had on the Queen.
“They say Duchess Sarah rules this country. Women should keep out of these things.”
“The hope of this country,” countered my grandmother, “is that women will stay in them … aye, and have more and more influence. That’s what we want. I can tell you there would be an end to senseless wars.”
This was an old argument which was brought up from time to time. My grandfather enjoyed pointing out what disasters women had created in the world and my grandmother would defend her sex and decry his with fierce vehemence.
My mother, I knew, agreed with my grandmother and so did I. It was a war of the sexes and there was no doubt that my grandfather enjoyed it.
I said: “What amazes me is that those men who take such pleasure in feminine society are the first to denigrate us and try to keep us in what they consider our places.”
My grandfather said: “It is because we like you so well when you behave as you are meant to behave.”
“There are times,” said my mother quietly, “when it is the lot of the woman to act in such a way as only she can.”
My grandfather was subdued for a moment and the subject was quickly changed by my grandmother.
It was not long, however, before it was back to the war.
“A senseless war,” said my grandmother. “Fighting about who shall sit on the throne of Spain.”
“A question,” retorted my grandfather, “which concerns this country.”
“It’s to be hoped,” said Uncle Carl, “that we are not going to have trouble from the Jacobites.”
“They haven’t a chance now,” I said. “Anne is firmly on the throne.”
“We thought James was at one time,” put in Edwin. “He and we learned that this was not the case.”
“Do you think they are working overseas?” I asked and I hoped no one detected the excited note in my voice … no one but Harriet, that was. She was aware of it and why I was interested. Harriet could be uncomfortable sometimes. She understood too much about me.
“I know they are,” cried Edwin.
“Louis encourages them,” added Carl.
“Naturally,” said my grandfather. “The more disruption he can bring to us the better for him.”
“I should have thought with the death of James …” said my mother.
“You forget, my dear,” said Leigh, “that there is a new James.”
“A boy,” snorted my grandfather.
“About your age, Damaris,” said Edwin.
“Who might not even be the true Prince,” grumbled my grandfather. “There was a bit of a mystery about his birth.”
“Surely you’re not thinking of that warming pan scandal,” said my grandmother.
“What was it?” asked Damaris.
“Oh,” said my mother, “before the boy was born they had had other children, none of whom had survived. There was a rumor that the Queen had given birth to another stillborn child and the boy James was smuggled into the bedchamber in a warming pan. It was such utter nonsense.”
“It was an indication even at the time of the unpopularity of James,” said my grandfather. “He should have seen what was coming and given up his adherence to the Catholic faith. Then he would have kept his crown.”
“The trouble,” said my mother, “is that we rarely see what is coming. It would be so easy to avoid it if we did. And to ask a man to give up his faith is asking a good deal.”
“We’ve got a warming pan,” Clarissa told Damaris. “I wonder if we’ve got any babies in it.”