‘Merry Christmas,’ they carolled in a chorus.
Lucetta hung back in the ensuing flurry of kisses and fond greetings, but Mrs Harcourt rose majestically from her seat by the fire and sailed over to her, embracing her on both cheeks. ‘You must be Miss Froy. Welcome to our home, my dear.’
Lucetta felt her throat constrict as she inhaled the achingly familiar aroma of a perfume that had been her mother’s favourite. ‘Thank you, ma’am.’
Mrs Harcourt clapped her hands for silence. ‘Girls, do be quiet for a moment.’ She turned to Lucetta with a charming smile. ‘Miss Froy, may I introduce my daughters. Jemima, the eldest, Chloris and Caroline, my baby.’
‘I’m fifteen, Mama,’ Caroline protested, pouting.
‘And a spoilt brat,’ Chloris said, tweaking her sister’s dark curls.
Caroline retaliated with a shove that sent Chloris staggering against Jemima who slapped Caroline on the wrist with her fan.
Mary thrust herself between them. ‘Girls, what will Lucetta think of you?’
‘She started it,’ Chloris said, glaring at her younger sister. ‘She is a brat.’
Sir Hector raised his eyes to the ornately plastered ceiling rose above his head. ‘It’s Christmas Day. Can’t you girls call a truce for one day at least?’
Mrs Harcourt clapped her hands. ‘You’re absolutely right, Hector. Girls, look after your uncle and cousin. I want to speak to Miss Froy.’ She took Lucetta by the hand. ‘Come and sit by the fire, my dear. Leave my girls to get over their excitement, and tell me about yourself. It must be very difficult for you, particularly at this time of the year.’
Lucetta opened her mouth to answer, but was forestalled by Caroline who came bounding over to them like an eager puppy. ‘So you are Lucetta. Giles has told us a little of your story, but you know what men are like: they leave out all the interesting bits. Come and sit by me and tell me everything.’
‘Caroline,’ Mrs Harcourt protested mildly. ‘Leave the poor girl alone.’
‘Yes, don’t monopolise our guest,’ Chloris said, pulling a face at her sister.
Caroline scowled and her rosebud lips pursed in a sulky pout. ‘Go away, Chloris. Lucetta is going to be my friend, not yours.’
‘Don’t squabble, girls,’ Mrs Harcourt said faintly. ‘You’ll upset our guest.’
Sir Hector crossed the floor to embrace his hostess. ‘My dear sister-in-law, you look younger every time I see you. If I did not know better I would think you were these girls’ sister and not their mama.’
Ellen Harcourt blushed rosily. ‘Still the same old Hector.’
‘I should hope so, my dear.’
Mrs Harcourt held her arms out to Mary. ‘Come and give your auntie a kiss. We hardly see you since you started working at the hospital.’
Mary extricated herself from her cousin Jemima’s embrace and she crossed the room to kiss her aunt on her cheek. ‘I know, Aunt Ellen. But the hours are long and—’
‘The pay is so low that it is almost an insult,’ Sir Hector said, standing with his back to the fire. ‘I’ve done my best to persuade her to give up nursing, but my girl is as stubborn as—’
‘Her father?’ Ellen interrupted, smiling. ‘Come now, Hector. Would you have taken advice when you were Mary’s age? I’m sure that my dear Hubert would not have done, and you two might as well have been
twins you were so alike.’ She paused, dabbing her eyes with a scrap of lace handkerchief. ‘It’s just three years since he passed away, but it seems like a lifetime.’
Chloris gave an exaggerated sigh. ‘Heavens, Mama. Don’t get in a state. This is supposed to be a happy day.’
‘Yes,’ Caroline agreed, tugging at Mary’s sleeve. ‘Isn’t it time we exchanged presents?’
‘You hateful children.’ Jemima pushed her sisters aside so that she was between them and their mother. She bristled like an angry cat. ‘Greedy Caro and unfeeling Chloris. What will Miss Froy think of us?’
There was a moment’s silence as all eyes turned to Lucetta. She felt herself blushing furiously. The sisters were glaring at her as if it was all her fault and yet she had said nothing. She was at a loss for words but Mary turned on her cousin with an angry frown.
‘You are all as bad as each other. If you are going to behave like witches, then I’m sure I would rather spend the day at home. What would Giles say if he could hear you now?’
‘What indeed?’
Giles’ voice from the doorway made everyone turn their heads to look at him. He shook his head, wagging a reproving finger at his sisters. ‘Can’t you furies keep the peace for one day of the year? Look at Mary and Lucetta; they behave like ladies, not like fishwives from Billingsgate. Shame on you.’
Jemima tossed her head. ‘You’ve only just arrived, Giles. So don’t put on that holier than thou face. You didn’t hear what was said.’
‘I heard you screeching at each other from the bottom of the stairs,’ Giles countered. ‘And if you can’t behave yourselves, then I would be more than happy to leave you to your squabbles and take Mama over to our uncle’s house, where we would spend a much more congenial time without you.’
‘Come now, Giles,’ Ellen said mildly. ‘It’s just youthful high spirits.’
‘Yes,’ Sir Hector agreed, patting her hand. ‘But you must not upset your mother, girls. And I would remind you that we have a guest in our midst.’
Chloris flicked a sideways glance at Lucetta, her green eyes veiled by thick, dark lashes. ‘We won’t be allowed to forget it,’ she hissed in a barely audible whisper.
‘What was that?’ Giles demanded. ‘I hope you weren’t being nasty to Lucetta.’
‘Heaven forbid that anyone should offend your favourite, Giles.’ Pouting, Chloris slumped down on the sofa, arranging her skirts so that there was no room for anyone to sit by her side. ‘We’ve hardly seen you since Miss Froy arrived on your doorstep.’
‘Yes,’ Jemima said, addressing her remark to Mary. ‘Some of us have had our noses put out of joint by your obvious preference for the unfortunate Miss Froy.’
Lucetta bit her lip as a sharp rejoinder rose to her lips. She was not concerned for herself but she could see that the cousins’ spiteful comments had left Mary close to tears. She cast an appealing glance at Giles, whose normally cheerful countenance had darkened to that of a thundercloud.
‘Come, come, girls,’ Sir Hector said jovially. ‘Peace and goodwill to all men, and I believe that includes young ladies too.’
‘Yes,’ Ellen agreed, rising to her feet. ‘There are presents under the tree. I think it’s time we exchanged gifts.’
‘And a glass of sherry might be in order, Ellen,’ Sir Hector said, winking. ‘Maybe a little negus for the younger girls might sweeten their tempers.’
‘I think chloroform might be more beneficial,’ Giles replied with a wry smile. He put his arm around Mary’s shoulders. ‘Or maybe a few drops of laudanum in their wine might be just as effective. What d’you think, my dear?’
Mary smiled valiantly. ‘I think that opening the presents is the best idea.’ She turned to Lucetta, holding out her hand. ‘Come and sit by me, and we’ll open them together.’
Lucetta sensed how much it must have cost her friend to behave with such generosity of spirit. She could have quite cheerfully banged all three sisters’ heads together, but she must suppose that their spite had roots in simple jealousy rather than ill nature. She hoped so anyway. She went to sit beside Mary and was rewarded by a smile of approval from Giles.
Ellen resumed her seat with a sigh that could have been one of relief or resignation. She waved a vague hand at Caroline. ‘You are the youngest so you may hand out the presents, darling.’
Caroline pushed Chloris out of the way as she made for the Christmas tree in the corner of the room.
Beneath it was a pile of interesting-looking boxes and packages wrapped in gaily coloured tissue paper tied with satin ribbons. ‘I’m to do it,’ Caroline said crossly. ‘Go and sit down, Chloris.’
‘Brat,’ Chloris muttered as she flounced over to the sofa and sat down, crushing the silk of Jemima’s outspread skirt.
‘You beast, Chloris,’ Jemima cried, pushing her away. ‘You’ve creased my best
faille française
and it cost four and six a yard.’
Chloris sniffed, looking down her sharp little nose. ‘There’s no need to be vulgar. You’re talking like a tradesman’s daughter.’
Sir Hector cleared his throat in a way that Lucetta had come to realise signified his embarrassment. He waved to attract Caroline’s attention. ‘Where are those gifts, my dear? Ours should be on top, since I sent Phyllis over with them last evening.’
‘I can’t read the labels, Uncle,’ she said in a sulky voice. ‘Somebody writes like a rheumaticky spider that’s fallen in the inkpot and crawled across the paper.’
Mary rose to her feet. ‘I’m afraid that was me. I was rather tired when I finished my shift at the hospital.’
Giles pressed her back onto her seat. ‘Allow me, Mary. If I can read other doctors’ dreadful scrawl, then I will have no trouble deciphering your delicate hand, even if you were exhausted, which I don’t doubt for a minute.’ Flashing a comforting smile in her direction, he crossed the floor to take the package from Caroline. ‘There, that’s clear enough, Caro. It says to Aunt Ellen, with love from Mary.’
‘Oh, all right,’ Caroline snapped. ‘Just because you’re a doctor you think you’re so very clever.’
‘I would have studied medicine if I had been allowed to do so,’ Jemima said primly. ‘But instead I am forced to sit at home and wait for an eligible husband. It’s not fair.’
‘With a face like that you’ll be waiting a long time.’ Chloris wriggled to the end of the sofa, out of reach of her sister’s flailing hand.
Giles thrust a box tied with scarlet ribbons into Caroline’s eager hands. ‘This one is for you, Trouble. And this one is for Chloris. Perhaps that will keep her tongue still and give us all a rest.’
‘I hope it’s a scold’s bridle,’ Jemima said in a low voice. ‘Hurry up, Chloris. Can’t you wait until we’ve all had our gifts before you tear into yours?’
Sir Hector tugged at the bell pull. ‘How many of you would like a glass of negus?’
‘Imagine them tipsy,’ Mary whispered in Lucetta’s ear. ‘A half-glass of wine and they will love everyone.’
Lucetta smiled a reply, but she thought privately that there was not enough warm port and lemonade in the world to sweeten Chloris into a nice person, and Caroline might have benefited from a stern governess who did not spare the rod. She looked up as Giles came over to them, handing a large bandbox to Mary and to Lucetta’s surprise he pressed a small, beautifully wrapped package into her hands.
‘Merry Christmas, Lucetta,’ he said with a smile that melted her heart. ‘The misadventure that brought you our way was our good fortune.’
Lucetta fingered the satin ribbon tied in a bow, and as she raised her eyes to his she felt her heart skip a beat at the warmth of feeling she saw in his gaze. ‘Thank you, Giles, but I have nothing to give you.’
‘You have given us all something that money cannot buy, Lucetta. You make the dullest winter day seem like summer.’ He paused, glancing over his shoulder as he appeared to realise that the room was suddenly silent. He struck a pose, hand on heart. ‘If I were a younger fellow or indeed if you were an older woman, I would be on my knees before you, but as it is I am your devoted friend.’
The ensuing silence was broken by Caroline. ‘You’re only twenty-seven, Giles. I don’t call that old.’
He turned to her with a smile. ‘And you can be a sweet little sister when you keep your kitten-claws in. Stay like that, Caro, and we will all love you too.’
‘Open it,’ Mary urged, nudging Lucetta gently. ‘Let’s see what Giles has given you.’
Reluctantly, Lucetta tore away the tissue paper to reveal a shagreen box, the type that only came from the most expensive jeweller’s. Her fingers trembled as she opened it and she gasped at the sight of a gold bracelet fashioned in a delicate filigree pattern. She shot a sideways glance at Mary and to her relief she saw nothing but admiration and approval in her eyes.
‘Do you like it, Lucetta?’ Giles asked anxiously. ‘We can always change it for something else if you don’t.’
‘I’m sure he wouldn’t be so generous to me,’ Chloris muttered. ‘And I’m part of the family.’
Giles turned on his sister. ‘Chloris, if you can’t behave
yourself in company I suggest you go to the nursery where it seems you still belong.’
‘Mama,’ Chloris wailed. ‘Are you going to let him speak to me like that?’
Ellen exchanged meaningful looks with Sir Hector and she nodded her head. ‘Giles is right. I’m ashamed of all you girls. I thought I had taught you better but it seems that I was wrong. You will all apologise for your rudeness to Lucetta, and then I hope we will see the end of this bad behaviour.’
‘I agree,’ Sir Hector said sternly. ‘Listen to your mother, girls, and do as she says.’
The sisters obeyed grudgingly, mumbling apologies, and then, seeming to forget their disgrace in the flicker of an eyelid, they began tearing the paper off their presents.
Lucetta met Giles’ eyes and she smiled. ‘Thank you. It is the most beautiful gift I have ever received, but it makes me feel all the worse for having nothing to give you in return.’
‘I’ll bear that in mind,’ Giles replied, laughing. ‘And when you inherit your fortune I will remind you that you owe me a present, and I will insist that it is very costly and must be delivered by you into my hand.’
‘I promise.’
‘Put it on,’ Mary urged. ‘It is very pretty, Giles. I didn’t know you had such good taste.’
He took the bracelet from Lucetta and fastened it around her wrist. ‘I am a man of many talents, my dear Mary. I don’t think my family truly appreciates me.’
‘I do,’ Mary said simply.
Lucetta was quick to hear the wistful note in Mary’s voice and she hid her hand and wrist beneath the folds of her skirt. She looked up at Giles but he did not appear to have noticed anything amiss. He had moved away to serve the negus that the maid had just deposited on a side table. He handed the silver cups round to his mother and sisters.
Lucetta accepted one and sipped the heady brew which worked quickly to sweeten the sisters’ tempers, and soon they were laughing and giggling and had apparently overcome their initial antipathy towards her. She might not have been included in their conversation, but at least they left her alone and refrained from making barbed comments. Mrs Harcourt relaxed visibly and Sir Hector became expansive after several large glasses of sherry, and by the time luncheon was announced the atmosphere in the room had become much more congenial.