But that only brought her back to the unhappy suspicion
that perhaps this woman was in permanent mourning for
James. The silence was beginning to be uncomfortable to
Héloïse, and since Mrs Skelwith did not seem to feel obliged to initiate conversation, she said, ‘I have not had the pleasure
of meeting your son, but he did my husband and step-daughter
a great service yesterday.’
Mary Skelwith looked at her with a leaden eye, but said
nothing.
‘
Indeed,' Héloïse went on determinedly, 'if it were not for
him, I believe my husband might have had a sad accident, so I
am most grateful to him, as you can imagine.' Still no
response. 'He must be a great comfort to you?’
She injected enough interrogative into the statement to
force Mrs Skelwith to answer.
‘
He is a good son,' she replied. Her voice was light, but
toneless, like a tired wind murmuring. 'He has never given me
a day's unease in his life.'
‘
I suppose he mentioned what happened yesterday?'
Héloïse said, thinking it best to stick to direct questions.
‘Yes,' said Mrs Skelwith, defeating the ploy.
The sun came out for a moment, and in the briefly
improved light, Héloïse saw that she was being studied closely
with a suspicious and perhaps hostile eye. How much, she
suddenly wondered, did Mary Skelwith know about her? Did
she know about the time James ran away from his wire to live
with her? Did she know, or at least guess, whence Sophie
came? She suddenly saw herself from the other woman's point
of view — like her, a former mistress, and mother of an unintentional child; but fifteen years younger, and now possessed
of the prize. Did she think it unfair? If indeed she did still love
James, it must be a bitter thing for her to contemplate, and
Héloïse's ready sympathy rose up.
She leaned forward a little and said warmly, 'Well, as I
said, we are all very grateful to your son, and I am glad that it
gives me the opportunity to make your acquaintance. We are
having a little ball next week, for my ward's birthday, who is
eighteen, and I hope so much that he will be able to come to
it. I believe that your son and my ward have many acquaint
ances in common, so it will be pleasant for the young people
to be together. And perhaps you —'
‘
You refine upon it too much, madam,' Mrs Skelwith inter
rupted suddenly. 'It was no very great service that John
rendered your husband. There is no need to reciprocate in any way, or to build on the acquaintance, as you seem, for reasons
I cannot understand, eager to do.’
It was the most direct snub Héloïse had ever received in her
life, and it so surprised her that for a moment she felt neither
hurt nor anger; and she was still staring at Mrs Skelwith,
trying to assemble her wits, when the door opened, and a tall
young man came in. He was in riding clothes, and a faint
smell of outdoors and stables clinging to him suggested he had
just arrived home. Mrs Skelwith looked annoyed at his
appearance, but she could have been no more agitated than
Héloïse at this first sight of John Skelwith.
He looks like James,
she thought, and it went through her
like a hot needle into her heart. It was one thing to know with the mind that Mary Skelwith had borne a son to James; but to
meet with the reality of it, to see the flesh and blood of it
standing before her, was quite another. Her hands were cold
in her lap, and she felt the blood leave her head, so that for a
moment the room went dark, and she heard him speaking
through a roaring mist.
‘
Mama — Betty told me Lady Morland had called. I'm so
glad I wasn't too late. Lady Morland, how do you do? Forgive
me for coming in in all my dirt, as you see me, but I did not
want to miss the opportunity of making your acquaintance.’
Héloïse could not speak. Her lips felt numb as she offered
her hand to the young man, who grasped it warmly, and
smiled down at her with James's elusive smile. The brown
hand which held hers was James's too, the shape of the nails,
the fine, long-jointed fingers, the texture of the skin. Across
the room she caught sight of Mary Skelwith's face, and
thought in a brief access of pity,
Dear God, she has lived with
this ghost for twenty-one years — half her life! No wonder she
looks so weary.
‘
I am
pleased to meet my husband's rescuer,' she managed
to say at last, 'and to make formal the invitation my brother
Edward gave you yesterday. We will all be very pleased if you
will come to Mathilde's ball on Tuesday. I was speaking of it
to your mother when you arrived.'
‘I shall be delighted to come,' John said quickly. 'In fact, by
coincidence, I had the pleasure of meeting Miss Nordubois
yesterday afternoon. When I got back into town, I met her
walking with Miss Keating and Tom in High Petergate, and
as the Keatings are old friends of mine, they were able to
make me known to her.'
‘
Well, then that is settled. I am so glad. You will find it
quite an informal dance, just ten other couples, but all
friends, I think.' She removed her fascinated gaze from John's
face and looked a little defiantly at Mary Skelwith. 'I thought
it only proper to call on your mama,' she added, 'as it seems
by some chance we have never met before.'
‘
That was good of you,' John said warmly. 'I'm afraid my
mother goes out very little, and as I am so much from home,
life is sometimes very dull for her.' He smiled from his mother to Héloïse, and essayed a little joke. 'She must be eager for me
to marry at last, so that I may bring home a daughter for her
to love.'
‘
Nonsense! I have never said anything of the sort, John,' Mary Skelwith snapped. 'And as to the ball, I have already
told Lady Morland that there is no need at all —’
Héloïse held her breath, but John only leaned down and
silenced his mother with a kiss on the cheek. 'None at all,' he
said cheerfully. 'That is why it is so kind, and why I am
very
glad to accept, Mama.’
The emphasis he placed on the words shewed Héloïse that
they had already discussed the matter, and she wondered,
rather troubled, what reason Mary had given him for not
wishing to further the acquaintance. She could hardly have
told him the truth. What must he imagine? Oh, what a
tangled web, she thought wearily, and suddenly wanted to be
out and away from here, away from this claustrophobic
atmosphere of secrets and choked passions. How had John
Skelwith managed to grow up so straight and fair in such
inhospitable soil? She hoped he really would enjoy the dance:
she doubted if he had had much simple pleasure so far in his
life.
‘
I must take my leave of you now,' she said, rising. 'I am so
glad to have met you both.'
‘
And I am honoured to have met you, ma'am,' John said. 'I
look forward very much to Tuesday.’
Mary Skelwith said nothing, only watched Héloïse across
the room with a gaze of burning resentment.
*
The addition of John Skelwith's name to the list of guests for
Mathilde's ball caused certain problems. To make the num
bers even, another suitable young female had to be found.
Héloïse applied to Mrs Micklethwaite, the attorney's wife,
who knew everyone, for intelligence. She was a comfortable
woman of the old-fashioned sort, mother of a large and hope
ful family, pillar of society, and staunch minder of everyone's
business; and after careful thought, she suggested Miss Cowey
of Beverley House, or Miss Chubb of Bootham Park. Miss
Chubb was already on the list, and as Miss Cowey would
never go to any kind of evening party without her next sister,
Miss Pansy Cowey, that left the numbers uneven again.
Mrs Micklethwaite could offer no more help. 'You seem to
have asked all the best young men already,' she complained.
'You have my Joe and my Ned, and you might have my
Horace too, and welcome, but he's only just sixteen, and the
likes of Miss Chubb and Miss Williams won't care to dance with a boy younger than themselves. I hardly know what to
suggest.'
‘
I suppose I must look further afield, Héloïse sighed. 'But
I did so want all the guests to be friends — apart from the
officers, of course.'
‘Officers?' Mrs Micklethwaite asked, a little sharply.
‘
Three young officers from Fulford,' Héloïse explained.
'Very gentlemanly, I am assured, and recommended by their
colonel, who is a friend of James's, and by the colonel's wife, who inspected them on purpose.’
Mrs Micklethwaite laughed. 'Then there's your problem
solved,' she said. 'Ask the officers to bring a friend. Depend
upon it, they will have no difficulty in recruiting someone,
and the girls will be delighted to have the choice of four red
coats instead of three.'
‘
But the mamas,' Héloïse asked anxiously. 'How will they
like it? I do not wish them to think I am bringing their daugh
ters to meet strangers.'
‘
If they're gentlemen, unwed, and possessed of anything resembling a fortune, the mamas will be as meek as pussycats, I promise you,' Mrs Micklethwaite said. 'Particularly
Lady Grey, with her seven daughters to shift off her hands. I
presume you must be having one Grey girl at least to the
dance? Nothing ever happens within twenty miles of York
without a Grey girl turning up.'
‘
Actually, there are three invited,' Héloïse said guiltily.
‘Lady Grey was so pressing —'
‘
Three! The impudence of that woman knows no bounds!
Well, my dear, you ask the officers to bring a friend. The
Grey girls will dance with anything male and over eighteen.’
*
On the evening of the ball, everything looked set fair: it was
dry and mild, and the full moon sailed clear between a few small clouds, so there was no reason for anyone to cry off.
The family dined early to allow time to dress, and to give the
servants the chance to clear the dining-room and lay out the
supper. The floor of the long saloon had been chalked and
tested, the flowers had been arranged and the chairs set out, and the musicians had already arrived and were being enter
tained in the servants' hall under Ottershaw's watchful eye.