Part 27 (1/2)
Peggy nodded, and after a moment's hesitation, she said slowly, ”There's just one other thing, m'lady. Now that she's left to go to another job, I can tell you that Mary Ince was once surprised by a man. He jumped out of the bushes and tried to grab her. But she was quick, and ran. He ran after her, but the minute she left the bluebell woods he stopped chasing her.”
Daphne was now genuinely alarmed by these stories, but she kept her expression neutral when she said, ”I shall definitely confide in Miss Charlotte. She will know the best thing to do.”
”Will you keep us out of it, m'lady?” Peggy asked nervously.
”I will have to tell her about you and Gordon, Peggy. There's no other way. But she won't bring you into it, I promise you. On my word of honor.”
”I'm glad I told you, Lady Daphne, it's really been bothering me. We can't have trespa.s.sers lurking around Cavendon, now can we?”
”We certainly can't ... Leave it to me, Peggy, and in the meantime, let us decide what I might wear for dinner.”
Forty-five.
”You look so well, Mama,” Daphne said, sounding surprised, staring at her mother's reflection in the mirror on the dressing table. ”Better than I've seen you for a long time.”
”I feel better, Daphne,” Felicity answered, and smiled back at her daughter's reflection.
Daphne moved away, went and sat in a chair, so that Olive Wilson could finish doing Felicity's hair, and within minutes the maid had put in the last hairpins and, as a finis.h.i.+ng touch, a diamond-and-tortoisesh.e.l.l comb.
”There, that's it, your ladys.h.i.+p,” Wilson said, stepping back, checking the countess's hairdo from various angles, nodding to herself.
”Honestly, Wilson, you're quite brilliant with hair!” Daphne exclaimed. ”I love these fancy curls, and the way you've then swept one side back with the comb. Just lovely.”
”Thank you, Lady Daphne,” Wilson answered, and helped Felicity up out of the small chair.
”For the first time in months, I feel like going downstairs and having a lovely dinner with you, Daphne. It's been ages since I've even felt like getting dressed for dinner, never mind eating it.”
”You look elegant, Mama, I must say, and the burgundy dress is certainly flattering.”
Felicity laughed. ”It's one of my old Paris frocks, revamped by Cecily. I don't know how she does it, but that clever girl can make anything look brand new. And chic.”
”I know, and Charlotte says her own designs are complex, she calls them engineered. I do know Mrs. Alice has a devil of a time sewing them. But there's no question Ceci's got a huge talent.”
”A little genius, I'd say,” Felicity murmured, and turning to Olive Wilson, she said, ”Thank you, Olive. You've outdone yourself tonight with my hair.”
”It's my pleasure, my lady.” She hesitated, then asked, ”Do you need help down the stairs, Lady Mowbray?”
”I don't think I do, thank you. I believe I can navigate the corridors of Cavendon without any a.s.sistance tonight.”
As they went downstairs, Daphne made sure her mother's right hand was on the bal.u.s.trade, and she kept her watchful eyes on her as they descended. Once they were in the grand entrance foyer, Felicity turned to her daughter, and half smiled. ”You see, I did well, didn't I?”
Daphne nodded and took hold of her mother's arm, walked with her into the sitting room next door to the dining room, where they always a.s.sembled.
”Just the two of us tonight, but I think that's rather nice. We haven't had a chance to talk alone together for a long time.”
”I know, and it's silly when you think about it, Mama, since we do live in the same house.”
”The same big house,” Felicity corrected. ”Your grandfather always said you need a bicycle to get around it, and I think he was right.”
”I hadn't realized Papa wasn't coming back tonight, until Hanson told me. Or that Great-Aunt Gwendolyn wasn't going to be with us for dinner either.”
”It's very slushy outside apparently, all that melting snow, and, of course, Gregg and the motorcar are with your father in Northallerton, so there's no way to send him to get her. Your father had to stay because a dinner was arranged for the family and closest friends.”
”I understand. Anyway, it's cozy, just the two of us, and I'm especially glad that you're doing so well.” Daphne threw her mother a pointed look, and said, with a hint of laughter in her voice, ”It's all because of Baby. She's given you a new lease on life, Mama.”
”You're laughing, and I'm happy to laugh with you, Daphne. But it just so happens you spoke the truth. I've felt so much better since Baby's arrival, and we've got to stop calling her that or it will stick, and she'll hate us when she grows up.”
”I agree. We must call her Alicia from this moment on.”
”I'm sorry, Daphne, sorry I've been so absent in your life for such a long time. I'm afraid I've neglected you, and all of my daughters. However, it was you who needed me the most, and I let you down most dreadfully.”
”Oh, Mama, please don't say that,” Daphne cried, and rising, she went and sat next to her mother on the sofa. ”I know how worried you were about Aunt Anne, and frustrated that you couldn't change the course her life had taken.”
Felicity reached out and took hold of Daphne's hand, and held it tightly in hers. ”You see, she brought me up from the age of three, she was ten years older than me, as you know. It was like losing a mother as well as a sister when she died. A double loss, in a sense.” Felicity grimaced, and gave her daughter a knowing look. ”I was frustrated, you're correct about that, and especially annoyed with Grace and Adrian. After all, Grace was her only child, and she should have returned immediately when Anne became so seriously ill. I'll never know why they lingered in Cairo.”
”I agree, but as Papa would say, that's water under the bridge.”
”I'm happy you married Hugo when you did, and that you insisted on an early marriage. And I'm glad I wouldn't let you spoil the honeymoon and come back for the funeral. There would have been no point, and Anne had made me promise I wouldn't allow that. She understood, and she knew you loved her, and that was good enough for her.”
Hanson appeared in the doorway and said, ”Dinner is served, my lady.”
Daphne found it hard to sleep that night. She had far too much on her mind. Her foremost worry was the news Peggy Swift had given her about a trespa.s.ser on the private grounds of Cavendon and in the bluebell woods and park.
When Peggy had mentioned the bluebell woods she had felt the gooseflesh rising on her neck and arms, and instantly she had thought of Richard Torbett. But surely he wasn't lurking around the woods, being a Peeping Tom, or attacking young women, was he? But he had attacked her, hadn't he?
She pushed the thought of him away. That she had vowed to do on her wedding day, when she had seen him standing on the other side of the road, across from the church. She had looked again, and discovered he wasn't there. Had he ever been there at all? Perhaps she had imagined it.
Until today he had been gone from her thoughts. Not even when she had given birth to her daughter had she thought of him. Because by then she had been loved by Hugo in the most pa.s.sionate and tender way, and she had loved him in return. And it was Hugo who was the father of her child, as far as she was concerned.
Turning in the bed, holding on to the pillow, Daphne suddenly remembered her wedding night. Here with Hugo. Slowly, tenderly, and with infinite patience, he had aroused her, and in the most sensual way. She had discovered desire and pa.s.sion, and had become his.
Later he had said to her, ”If you weren't pregnant already, I'd have made you pregnant tonight, my darling. I've never made love to any woman like this ... with such fervor, love, intensity, and pa.s.sion.”
And she knew that he spoke the truth. Their nights of lovemaking continued, and as always when he took her to him she experienced ecstasy and joy.
She let these thoughts of desire and pa.s.sion slide away. They were too tantalizing. And she turned her thoughts to Charlotte.
She would meet her tomorrow and tell her Peggy's stories, and perhaps something could be done about the Peeping Tom. If there was one, that is. Maybe it was not a Peeping Tom at all, but another man intent on doing damage to a young couple. Or a girl.
This thought sent a s.h.i.+ver through her, and she calmed herself, and finally she fell asleep. It was not a dreamless sleep. Nightmares hounded her all through the night, and she was relieved when daylight broke.