103. She Wanted Love (8 page)

They passed over a bridge into a huge courtyard with the sun shining on at least a hundred windows.

Eleta had seen many great houses when she had been abroad, especially the beautiful châteaux in France.

None, however, could equal the magnificence of Teringford Court, which excelled them all.

As they drew up at the front door, it flashed through her mind that, however short her stay might be, she must fully explore this magnificent and wonderful house before she left.

An elderly butler bowed to Eleta.

“Good morning,” she began somewhat shyly. “I am Miss Lawson, the new Governess.”

He looked at her in surprise and she realised that he was thinking she was far too young, but he then said,

“If you’ll come this way, miss, I’ll take you to his Lordship’s secretary, Mr. Clarke, who I know will want to see you.”

There were two footmen in very smart livery in the hall and the butler led Eleta under the carved staircase and along a passage that she was sure ended in the kitchens.

Half way there, however, he stopped at a door and opening it he announced in an almost stentorian tone,

“Miss Lawson, the new Governess, sir.”

Mr. Clarke, an elderly man, was looking a bit tired.

He rose from his desk and held out his hand.

“I was informed that you would be arriving today, Miss Lawson,” he said, “but I did not expect you so soon.”

“They were kind enough in London,” Eleta replied, “to allow me to leave early.”

“Will you sit down?” Mr. Clarke asked.

He indicated a chair in front of his desk and she sat down on it, sitting stiffly upright.

“I expect you have been told,” he said, as he seated himself, “that we have a difficult problem here.”

“Yes, Mrs. Hill told me about it and I hope that I will be more successful than the other Governesses.”

“I hope so too. It is very bad for a child to have women popping in and out, but you must forgive me if I say that you look almost too young for such a position.”

Eleta opened her handbag and handed him the two references she had shown to Mrs. Hill.

He took them from her and read them slowly and then he commented,

“These are certainly complimentary and I can only hope, Miss Lawson, that you will not give up too quickly. I think that the Governesses who preceded you left because they would not give it a fair chance.”

“I will certainly do my best.”

“I can only wish you the very best of luck,” Mr. Clarke said. “And thank you for giving us at least a try.”

Eleta realised that he was trying to be friendly and she smiled at him before she added,

“If my problems are too heavy for me, I will come and ask you how I can solve them. I have always thought a man is better at that than any woman.”

Mr. Clarke laughed.

“I hope you are right and I certainly have a lot of problems to solve here as his Lordship is away so often.”

Eleta felt in that case the Marquis was neglecting not only his estate but also his child.

She rose to her feet, saying,

“Will you be taking me up to meet my new pupil?”

Mr. Clarke shook his head.

“No, the housekeeper will do that. You will find that Mrs. Shepherd will show you round and of course will give you anything you require.”

He touched the bell on his desk.

Immediately the door opened and an elderly woman in the traditional black of a housekeeper entered the room.

“Good morning, Mrs. Shepherd,” Mr. Clarke said to her. “Allow me to introduce Miss Lawson, who has very kindly come as Governess to Lady Priscilla.”

“That sounds a very long name for a very young girl,” Eleta remarked.

“Her father used to call her ‘Pepe’,” Mr. Clarke answered, “but he is more formal now she is older.”

Eleta did not reply, but, having shaken hands with Mrs. Shepherd, she said,

“As I have been travelling since very early this morning, you will understand I would like to go upstairs and take off my hat and cape.”

“Of course Miss Lawson,” the housekeeper agreed. “Your bedroom is in the nursery.”

Eleta raised her eyebrows.

“So Lady Priscilla is still in the nursery,” she asked, “even though she is old enough to have a Governess?”

The housekeeper looked surprised.

“We never thought of moving her, but if she wishes to have a larger room on a lower floor, there’s no reason why she shouldn’t, if that’s what she wants.”

“No one mentioned this to me,” Mr. Clarke said as though they thought it might be his fault.

“Of course not, but it’s something we must think about in the future.”

Mrs. Shepherd gave a quick glance at Eleta, which told her quite clearly that she thought that she would not be staying long.

Eleta turned to Mr. Clarke,

“Thank you very much for being so kind and I hope I will not bother you too much.”

“Of course, of course,” Mr. Clarke replied quickly.

Mrs. Shepherd went the door and Eleta followed.

“I’m afraid that it’s quite a long way upstairs,” she said. “As you’ve just arrived, I think you should use the front stairs which I’ve always been told are very majestic.”

“I should be delighted. As you can imagine, I am very impressed with this beautiful house.”

“Everybody is. I only hope, Miss Lawson, that you stay here long enough to see all the treasures we have in practically every room.”

They went up to the first floor and then climbed again to the second and Mrs. Shepherd stopped outside a white painted door.

Eleta was sure it was the nursery and suggested,

“I think, Mrs. Shepherd, after all I have heard of the difficulties that lie ahead, I would like to go in alone.”

“You don’t want me to introduce you to her?” Mrs. Shepherd asked in astonishment.

Eleta shook her head.

“If you don’t think it rude of me, I would rather introduce myself.”

“Well then, that’s something new at any rate, but of course, Miss Lawson, you have your own way of doing things and we must respect them.”

“Thank you, thank you very much, Mrs. Shepherd, and I expect if I am also to be sleeping in the nursery that my luggage will be brought up later.”

She knew as she spoke from the expression on Mrs. Shepherd’s face that she had not thought of a Governess being anywhere but in the nursery.

“I’ll be in my room, which anyone’ll show you to if you want me,” Mrs. Shepherd said loftily.

Eleta then waited for Mrs. Shepherd to walk down the stairs and only when she had nearly reached the first floor did she open the door of the nursery and walk in.

The small occupant of it was sitting on the floor with a doll on her lap and a whole pile of tin soldiers and other small toys were scattered on the floor beside her.

She looked up when Eleta walked in, then sprang to her feet and stood at the window with her back to her.

Eleta closed the door behind her and, when she was halfway across the room, the child then turned and said,

“Go away! I am
not
doing any lessons! I hate – ”

Before she could say any more, Eleta interrupted,

“Hush! Hush!”

She put her fingers to her lips and the child stared at her and she said again,

“Hush! Hush!”

Then, walking across the room, Eleta opened the door nearest the window.

She was right in thinking that it was the child’s bedroom. It was a pretty room and well furnished.

Eleta looked in and then again she put her fingers to her lips before she said in a low whisper,

“We will not be heard in here. I have something to ask you.”

Lady Priscilla was staring at her in amazement and, as she hesitated, Eleta whispered,

“They might be listening at the door.”

She went to the bedroom, saying again quietly,

“Please come in.”

Slowly and as if she could hardly believe what was happening, Lady Priscilla followed her and, when she was inside, Eleta breathed,

“Shut the door.”

The child obeyed her and Eleta sat down on the bed and, pulling off her hat, she threw it behind her. She then loosened her cape and let it fall down around her.

Then she said again in a whisper,

“I want your help.”

Lady Priscilla, from just inside the door, asked,

“
My
help?”

“Hush! I want to ask you something very secret.”

Almost as if she was mesmerised by the way Eleta was behaving, Lady Priscilla moved towards the bed.

“I want your help,” Eleta murmured again.

“My help?” the girl repeated, “but why?”

“I will tell you, but first I want you to promise to keep everything I tell you absolutely secret.”

Lady Priscilla just stared at her, as Eleta went on,

“So secret that I can only beg of you to help me, please, please help me, I need it so much.”

“I don’t understand. How can I help you?”

“Come, sit down and I’ll tell you why it’s secret.”

Lady Priscilla sat down at the end of the bed.

“If you will help me, I will be very very grateful. But, as I have just said, it is something very secret that no one must know except you.”

“Why is what you are going to tell me so secret?”

“I will tell you why and then you will understand, but first you must promise me on your honour that you will tell no one what I am going to tell you.”

“I promise.”

“Then cross your heart like this,” Eleta said, and she crossed her own heart with her first finger.

Rather slowly, because she had not done it before, Lady Priscilla followed her.

“Now you have promised me, I will tell you the truth, which you will understand is so very secret.”

“What is it?” Lady Priscilla asked.

“I have run away,” Eleta whispered.

“Run away! But why?”

“My father and mother are dead and my horrible stepfather wants me to marry an old man simply because he is important and will help him in with his business.”

She spoke slowly so that Lady Priscilla would not miss a word and after a moment the child enquired,

“So you ran away and they don’t know where you have gone.”

“That is true and it is very clever of you to realise it, but if they find out where I am, I will have to go back and marry this terrible old man.”

“So you want to stay here?” Lady Priscilla muttered as if she was working it out in her mind.

“I would like to stay here,” Eleta said, “but I am not really a Governess, I never have been one and, if they find out that about me, I will be sent away at once.”

She drew in her breath before she added,

“Please, please help me. Only you can help me by pretending I am a Governess.”

“How can I pretend?”

“I was thinking about that as I was coming down from London. As I cannot teach you anything, you will have to pretend you are learning from me.”

“How can I do that?” Lady Priscilla asked.

“The first thing I thought of was that everyone who comes to this house says how magnificent it is.”

Lady Priscilla nodded.

“Then you will say that you always think the Adam Brothers designed wonderful houses.”

She saw that the child looked surprised and added,

“That is all you have to say and they will think how clever you are.”

“What else will I have to say?”

“We will have to pretend we are doing lessons,” Eleta answered. “And we will think of things which will make people believe that you are learning a lot.”

“What sort of things will I have to say?”

“For instance when your father is here and you see him early in the morning you say, ‘
bonjour, mon père
,’ just three words, but he will think you are learning French.”

Lady Priscilla laughed.

“That’s very funny,” she giggled.

“We will think up lots of ideas to impress people and they will be sure I am a very very good Governess.”

“You said we have to pretend to have lessons?”

“We will write something in notebooks,” Eleta said casually. “When they look at them, they will think we are having a long lesson on places I will tell you about. I have been to Paris and I have lovely stories about Egypt and also Greece, where I saw statues of the Gods and Goddesses.”

“You will tell me about them?”

“Of course I will tell you stories. That is the best way we can pretend to be having lessons.”

Lady Priscilla clapped her hands together.

“That sounds a very different kind of lesson from what the other Governesses wanted me to do.”

“I told you I am not a Governess,” Eleta replied, “so you will have to tell me how I should behave like one.”

Lady Priscilla giggled again.

“That will be funny,
me
teaching
you
!”

“If you are going to help me, that is what you will have to do. If I am sent away, I have nowhere else to go. Then if I go back to my stepfather, I will have to marry that horrid old man.”

“I will not let them send you away,” Lady Priscilla asserted. “But what shall we do?”

“I can see that there is so much to do here,” Eleta replied. “I am sure there are many wonderful horses in the stables and we will ride and ride so that no one will ever know where we are or can listen to what we say.”

“You can ride!” Lady Priscilla exclaimed. “None of my other Governesses wanted to ride.”

“Well I want to ride,” Eleta said. “I love riding and we will ride for miles and miles so that no one can snatch me up and take me back to London.”

“I will stop them from doing that!”

“If you are really going to help me,” Eleta said, “I can only say thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I was so frightened you would send me away and I would have to go back to my wicked stepfather.”

“I will not send you away and I am sure if they think I am having lessons no one will want you to go.”

“Then we must act our parts very cleverly. I have to pretend I am a Governess, but really you will be teaching me what I have to do. And I will just tell you what you have to say so that no one is suspicious.”

“We must stop them, of course we will stop them.”

“Thank you, thank you,” Eleta exclaimed. “I was so frightened I would be sent straight back to London and my stepfather would be waiting for me.”