“My mother will be very pleased to see you. Actually, she said so.”
“Then, thank you, Lucian.”
“What about the week after next?”
“That would suit me very well.”
“We’ll say yes then. I’ll write to you and confirm.”
And so it was settled.
I went back in a state of pleasurable excitement. I remembered how I had lost my pendant and Lucian had had it repaired. I still had the pendant. When I arrived back at the house I took it from its box and held it in my hands while my thoughts went back over the years to that day which was really when I had first met Lucian.
I was smiling as I put it back into the box which was playing “God Save the Queen’.
The Grange looked less formidable than it had in my childhood. It was very impressive, none the less, with its grey stone towers and battlemented gateway.
Lucian, who had been at the station with a pony and trap, greeted me warmly.
“I have been ridiculously scared that something would happen to prevent your coming.”
“Oh no. I was determined to.”
“It’s good to see you. Camilla was delighted when she heard you were coming.”
It was certainly a warm welcome. We went under the gateway. I could see the lawn where we had had tea on that first occasion; and there was Camilla, hardly recognizable as the girl I had known. She was rather plump and obviously pleased with the way life had gone for her.
She gripped both my hands.
“I couldn’t believe it when Lucian said he’d found you. Isn’t it exciting that you’ve come back!”
I was taken into the hall. I remembered it so well arriving for tea, feeling rather nervous, the outsider until Lucian appeared and made me feel I wasn’t. How I had adored him in those days!
“Better come straight up to my mother,” said Lucian.
“She is so eager to see you.”
I could scarcely believe it. Lady Crompton had shown no interest in me in the old days.
I was taken into a room which they called the solarium because it had numerous windows which caught all the available sun. Lady Crompton was seated in a chair near the windows and, with Lucian on one side and Camilla on the other, I was taken over to her.
She held out a hand and I took it.
“How nice to see you, my dear,” she said.
“I have heard about your meeting with Lucian. I was most interested. I hear you have come from Australia. You must tell us all about it. Camilla, bring a chair so that Carmel can sit near me. My hearing is not very good nowadays and my rheumatism is crippling. And how are you? You look well.”
I noticed that she had aged more than the years warranted. She had lost her husband and then there had been the death of her daughter-in-law, Lucian’s wife. That must have been a sorrow to her.
“Shall I ring for tea now. Mother?” asked Camilla.
“Please do, dear.” She turned to me.
“And you are on a visit from Australia?”
We talked about Australia and how, coming over on the ship, the friend with whom I had been travelling had met her fiance and was shortly to be married.
Then the tea came and was served.
“There have been so many changes,” said Lady Crompton.
“I was so sorry to hear about your father. Lucian told me. Your father was a charming man. He came here on one occasion. I remember him well. So sad. I suppose Camilla has told you that she has now left us, and of her adorable little Jeremy?”
“We’ve hardly had time yet. Mother,” said Camilla.
“Lucian said you were so eager to meet Carmel that we brought her straight up to you.”
Lady Crompton talked dotingly of her grandson Jeremy and expressed her regrets that Camilla had not brought him with her.
“It’s only for the weekend. Mother,” said Camilla.
“And Nanny is so capable and she doesn’t like Jeremy travelling too much. She says it’s upsetting, and it is only for the weekend. I just came to see Carmel.”
I was expecting Lady Crompton to mention her granddaughter at this stage but, to my surprise, nothing was said of the child. I supposed that I should make her acquaintance during the weekend.
After tea, Camilla showed me to my room.
“It’s on the second floor,” she said.
“Quite a nice view.”
She opened a door and I saw a large room in which was a four-poster bed with heavy drapes matching the bed coverings.
“It’s charming,” I said.
“A touch of other times,” said Camilla.
“I’m afraid that’s how things are at the Grange.”
“Well, it’s an ancient house with all its traditions,” I said.
“I think this is delightful. “
“As long as the past doesn’t intrude too much. My house is modern.
It’s in the Midlands. Geoff is in pottery . rather a sore point with my mother. She would have liked a duke, of course. But she adores Jeremy and as soon as he put in an appearance, my mother was reconciled. “
“It must be a great joy to her to have grandchildren. And you both have given her one.”
“Oh yes,” she said.
“My Jeremy is quite adorable.”
“And the little girl?” I asked.
“Bridget… of course. She will be more than two now.”
“It must have been terrible when …”
“You mean her mother? Well, yes, of course.” She glanced out of the window.
“Look. That’s where we used to have tea on the lawn. You were there sometimes. Do you ever hear of Estella and Henry … and the other one the one who was rather simple?”
“Adeline. No, I have never heard of them since.”
She looked at me gravely.
“It was an awful business,” she said.
“They just disappeared … you with the others. Oh well, it’s all so long ago. I’ll leave you to hang up your things. What would you like to do before dinner? We dine at eight. I expect Lucian has something in view for you. He’s ever so pleased that you agreed to come.”
It was an unforgettable weekend I spent at the Grange. I was very gratified to be accepted so hospitably by Lady Crompton. Camilla was very friendly, and I could not have had a more attentive host than Lucian.
He and I rode a good deal together and I saw more of the country than I ever had when I lived there.
On Saturday we lunched at a quaint old inn he had discovered. We laughed a great deal and I began to feel that I had imagined that melancholy I thought I had detected in him when we met at Easentree.
He was the Lucian I would have expected him to be. He talked about the Grange estate and some of the people who worked on it, and I had stories of my own to tell of Australia, Elsie and the Formans.
This was catching up with the past.
I had not yet seen his daughter, although I had heard a great deal about Camilla’s son who was not even here. I began to think there was something odd about this reticence, but I did learn something during my stay.
It was late in the afternoon. I had returned to the Grange after a very pleasant time with Lucian. I was looking out of my window when I saw Camilla coming across the lawn. She saw me and waved.
“It’s pleasant out here,” she called.
“Why don’t you come down, if you’re not doing anything special?”
I went down and we sat on one of the seats which had been placed under a tree.
“Did you have a good day?” she asked.
“Very pleasant. We went to the Bluff King Hal. Do you know it?”
“Oh yes. It’s one of Lucian’s favourites. I guessed he’d want to show you that.”
“Camilla,” I said, ‘what about little Bridget? That is her name, isn’t it? “
“Oh, she’s up in the nursery with Jemima Cray.”
“Is that the nurse?”