‘You should have warned me.’
‘No time. It was decided that I should visit Paris so I came without delay. And here I am.’
‘Well, come in. They’ll take your horse. You must be hungry.’
‘For a sight of you.’
‘Please, Dickon,’ I said, ‘while you are here in my husband’s house … ’
‘Point understood,’ he said. ‘I’ll promise. My behaviour shall be impeccable.’
The maid summoned a groom while I took him into the house.
‘H’m,’ he said. ‘A fine place. I fancied a glimpse of Aubigné but did not call. I had an idea that your mother would make me less welcome. She has never really been a friend of mine. In any case I want to spend as much time as I can with my delectable Lottie.’
‘You promised … ’
‘A delicate compliment to a delightful hostess, nothing more.’
Even as he looked round the hall I saw the speculative look in his eyes. He was assessing the value of everything. He could not help that. That was Dickon.
I sent one of the maids to see if she could find Charles and meanwhile told them to bring some food and prepare a room.
‘You will stay for a few days, I suppose,’ I said.
‘I shall certainly do so if invited.’
‘As a relation, of course you are.’
‘Lottie, you are so beautiful. Do you know, when I am away from you, I forget how beautiful you are. Then it bursts upon me suddenly when I see you and yet I tell myself that I carry an image of you in my heart for ever.’
‘Just another example of self-deceit,’ I said lightly.
Food was brought and I took him into one of the small rooms which led from the hall, and sat with him while he ate. I heard Charles come in and went into the hall.
‘Charles,’ I said, ‘we have a visitor. You have heard of Dickon. He had to come to Paris so he has called to see us.’
The two men seemed to fill the small room. I watched them intently while they took stock of each other.
Dickon was an inch or so taller and he seemed more blond than ever beside Charles’s darkness. Charles’s manner was faintly hostile. I thought: He is seeing Dickon as the persecutor of colonists … but it was more than that. Dickon was smiling, summing up Charles and being rather pleased by what he saw, which I guessed meant that he was discovering defects.
In any case they were making up their minds to dislike each other.
‘Welcome to Tourville,’ said Charles, but his tone belied his words.
‘Thank you,’ replied Dickon, speaking French with an exaggerated English accent. ‘It is a great pleasure to be here and meet you. I have heard so much about you from Lottie.’
‘I have heard of you too,’ said Charles.
‘Sit down, Charles,’ I said, ‘and let Dickon get on with his food. He was very hungry when he came and he has had a long ride.’
Charles sat down and Dickon went on eating. Charles asked him which way he had come and how he had found Paris.
‘In a state of some excitement,’ said Dickon. ‘But then it often is, is it not? They seem to fancy themselves on the brink of war. I had some black looks when certain people discovered my nationality, I was surprised and wondered how I had betrayed myself.’
‘It would be fairly obvious,’ said Charles drily.
‘Well, to tell the truth, I was hoping so. There is all this chatter. So many of them seem eager to leap into combat. I can’t think why.’
‘The French pride themselves on a love of justice.’
‘Do they?’ said Dickon, showing surprise and cutting himself a piece of capon. ‘This is delicious, Lottie. I congratulate you on your cook.’
‘I am glad you are enjoying it.’ I felt I had to change the subject from that of the war as quickly as possible, so I went on: ‘Tell me, how are my grandmother and Sabrina?’
They were uneasy days which followed. Dickon had some purpose and I guessed it was that he had no intention of letting me slip out of his life. He had chosen the first opportunity of coming to Tourville. I wondered if it were true that he had business in Paris and thought it might possibly be so as there had been hints of his being concerned in all sorts of affairs. He was in Court circles, Sabrina had proudly told us, and I wondered whether he was concerned in politics. He did not sit in Parliament but there were other posts … perhaps secret ones. I could imagine Dickon enjoying being involved in such adventures.
Lisette’s comment was that he was an outstandingly attractive man. ‘He has come here to see you, Lottie,’ she said. ‘How lucky you are!’
‘I don’t think it is lucky. I don’t want trouble.’
‘With Charles? Well, naturally husbands can’t be expected to like overpowering admirers turning up and throwing themselves on their hospitality.’
‘Dickon is really a relation of mine.’
‘He behaves more like a suitor.’
‘You are imagining things.’
Charles was suspicious of him and of me.
When we were alone in our bedroom on the first night after Dickon’s arrival, he said: ‘You saw him in England?’
‘Of course I saw him. Eversleigh belongs to him and that was where we went. It is where my grandmother lives. Remember I went there because she was ill.’
‘Was he there all the time?’
‘Most of the time.’
‘What is he doing here?’
‘Oh Charles, I am tired of this catechism. I know no more than you do. He has business in France and came to see me and the children.’
‘He hasn’t expressed any great interest in them.’
‘He will. He has two fine sons of his own. Parents always want to compare.’
‘I don’t like him very much.’
‘You don’t know him.’
‘He’s arrogant.’
‘Well, perhaps you are too.’
‘I wouldn’t trust him. What’s he doing here in France?’
‘You said that a moment ago. I can only reply, Ask him.’
‘I might.’
‘All right then.’ I put my arms about his neck. ‘Shall we forget about him now?’
He kissed me then; he was very possessive that night and I felt his mood had something to do with Dickon.
There was danger in the air. I supposed that was inevitable with Dickon there. He seemed to generate trouble and had done so all his life. It might have been because he pursued his own way without caring very much what happened to those whom he encountered in achieving it.
I longed for him to go and yet I wanted him to stay. Every hour that he was in the house seemed fraught with danger and yet at the same time I felt I was living at twice the rate I normally did.
He went round the estate with Charles and me and made comments which I was sure were very much to the point. If he saw anything to praise—which was rare—he did so; mostly he gave veiled criticism and made comparisons between estate management in France and in England, implying the excellence of the latter. He was knowledgeable and more interested than Charles had ever been; and I realized that all the time he was showing his superiority in every possible way.
Charles was inclined to lose his temper whereas Dickon remained serenely good-natured, enjoying the situation enormously. He was maddening.
He went to the nurseries and admired the children. Both Charlot and Louis-Charles were delighted with him, and he hovered between ignoring them and treating them as grownup individuals, which often seemed to earn the admiration of the young. His size and his overwhelming personality won their respect and even Claudine regarded him soberly when he picked her up, and she tried to pull the buttons from his coat, which indicated that she liked them very much.
He charmed my parents-in-law and when Amélie and her husband called to spend the day he did the same with them. He was determined to please everyone in the house except Charles.