A Countess Below Stairs (11 page)

Everyone smiled and waited and Anna, standing in the doorway with her tray, gave the exact sigh she had given when, at the age of six, she saw the blue and silver curtains part for the first time at the Maryinsky.

Muriel picked up her spoon in her soft, plump hand. She raised it to her mouth. Then she made a little moue and put it down again.

‘You must forgive me if I leave this,’ she said, turning to the dowager.

The stunned silence which followed the remark was total.

‘You see,’ Muriel explained with a charming smile, ‘it has alcohol in it.’

Muriel was correct. There was alcohol in it. The Imperial Tokay Aszu 1904 which Proom, yielding to Mrs Park’s palpable need, had after all allowed her to have.

The dowager, after an agonized glance at her butler, seemed to be in a state of shock. By the doorway, Anna and Peggy made identical gestures, their hands across their mouths. Proom’s face was as sphinx-like as ever, but a small muscle twitched in his cheek.

Something about the atmosphere now made itself felt, even by Muriel. She turned to her fiance.

‘You don’t mind, I’m sure?’

Rupert tried to pull himself together. ‘No … no, of course not. I knew you didn’t drink wine or spirits but not that even in food …’ He broke off as the full implications of Muriel’s embargo sank sickeningly into his brain.

‘Dr Lightbody showed me a piece of cirrhosed liver once. I have never forgotten it,’ said Muriel simply.

But now the shock which had held the guests silent began to wear off. Each and every person present had a memory of some good deed done by Mersham’s gentle, well-loved cook and, led by Minna Byrne, with her fine social sense, they threw themselves on to the dessert, begging and imploring Proom for helpings of the bird. The vicar, Mr Morland, remembering the feather-light delicacies the cook had sent down during his wife’s last illness, disposed of the swan’s neck and beak in an instant and asked for more. Tom Byrne, whose childhood visits to Mersham had always taken in a session of ‘helping’ in the kitchens, however busy Jean Park might be, consumed virtually an entire wing in fair imitation of Billy Bunter. Hannah Rabinovitch, though it cost her dear, abandoned her guard on the tenuous, pitted organ which served her husband for a stomach and allowed him to consume lethal doses of crime Chantilly…

Downstairs, Mrs Park sat in her clean apron and waited. Waited for ten minutes, for twenty, her eyes on the bell board, while hope and confidence and anticipation slowly drained away.

Until Proom himself, believing concealment to be impossible, came down and broke the news.

CHAPTER SIX

The night after the engagement party, Anna could not sleep. She had been on her feet from six in the morning until midnight, and even then Miss Hardwicke had expected her to wait up and help her into bed. By the time she reached her attic, Anna was in that state of exhaustion in which sleep, though desperately desired, is impossible to reach.

For a while she endured the heat and stuffiness of the little room, tossing and turning in the narrow bed. Then she gave up, slipped back the covers, and throwing a cotton shawl over her shoulders, began to creep quietly downstairs.

On the second floor landing she stopped abruptly. Here the back staircase crossed a panelled corridor on which were a series of small guest rooms used for visitors who came for shooting parties: simple, bachelor rooms that she had hardly seen.

And from behind the door of one of these had come the sound of someone moaning, as though in pain.

But who? Surely the rooms were empty? And then she remembered. The earl had moved into the end one temporarily while the grand master suite was being spring-cleaned for the wedding.

The sound came again: a low cry, followed by a spate of indistinguishable words. And, hesitating no longer, Anna pushed open the door.

By a shaft of moonlight coming from the uncurtained window, she could make out a tousled head on the pillow. The Earl of Westerholme was groaning. He was also fast asleep. In familiar country now, Anna moved

over to the bed and switched on the lamp. Then she leant over and shook her employer’s shoulders.

‘Wake up,’ she said. ‘Please wake up. Completely.’

Rupert opened his eyes, but the slim figure in white with the heavy braids of hair made no sense to him.

‘It is very foolish to sleep on your back,’ Anna said firmly. ‘It is always foolish, but when you have been in a war it is foolish beyond belief.’

The earl looked at her with unfocused eyes. He put out a hand and as he found hers, small-boned, infinitely flexible and rough as sandpaper, recognition came.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘You. Of course.’ Then, suddenly ashamed, ‘I’m sorry. A nightmar ‘What was it about?’

The earl shook his head.

‘Yes,’ said Anna firmly. ‘You must tell me. I always made Petya tell me his dreams and then he was better.’

‘Who is Petya?’

‘My brother. He used to see anarchists on the ceiling. There was an icon lamp in his nursery which threw shadows. Tell me about your dream.’

‘It’s always the same. It’s after the crash … I was a pilot in the war, you see.’

She nodded. ‘I know.’

‘I’m in the tree … hanging,’ Rupert went on, speaking with difficulty, ‘and he’s down there on the grass, dry grass like Africa, and the flames are crackling. He’s on fire, burning like a rick. I try to get to him. I have to.’

‘Who is he?’

‘Johnny Peters. My navigator. I’m responsible for him.’

‘And then?’

‘I struggle and struggle, but the cords of the parachute are tangled round my neck and I know if I cry out…If I warn him, the flames will go out and I try to call but nothing comes.’

Anna’s work-roughened hand still rested in his. ‘Was it really like that?’

‘Yes … No … A little. He was burnt earlier, in the plane. The flames weren’t like that. It was muddy… a turnip field. The flames are a pyre.’

‘Yes, I see. All men dream like that, I supposet after a war. Women, too,’ she added ruefully. ‘It will be better when you are married.’ Suddenly she freed her hand and said eagerly: ‘Of course! How stupid I am! I will fetch Miss Hardwicke — she will want to be with you.’

‘No!’ Rupert was wide awake now, sitting up. ‘Good heavens, no! It would be most improper.’

‘Improper?’ said Anna, shocked. ‘She will not think of that when you are troubled.’

‘Anna, I forbid it,’ said the earl. ‘I’m all right now. I’m fine.’ But as she made as if to go he said pleadingly, like a child, ‘Stay a little longer. Tell me about your father.’

She smiled, her face tender in the lamplight. ‘I wish you had known him. He could make just being alive seem like an act of triumph. People used to smile when they saw him coming … he made everything all right.’ She swallowed. ‘He was in the Chevalier Guards,’ she went on, letting pride overcome caution. ‘It was one of the tsar’s crack regiments. When the revolution came the men mutinied and killed their own officers, so we tried to be glad that… he died when he did.’

‘What was his name?’

‘Peter Grazinsky. He was a good man and he hated war.’ She jumped up. ‘And now I’ll make you a hot drink and then—’

‘No, please. I don’t want a drink. Just stay a little longer.’ One of her thick braids had come unplaited at the ends and he was reminded, foolishly, of the fronded bracken he had uncurled with his fingers as a boy. ‘Tell me about yourself. Where were you bom?’

Relieved by the impersonality of the question, sh said, ‘In St Petersburg. I can never think of it as Petrograd.’

‘Ah, yes. The city built on the bones of a thousand serfs.’

‘Yes, it was built by Peter’s dream and many people suffered for it. But it is not a sad city. The streets are so wide and the houses are such lovely colours: apricot and moss green and that colour that is like coffee with cream in it, you know? And everywhere there is water. The Neva, of course, and the canals, the Moika, the Fontanka … so that it’s as if there were mirrors everywhere and one can see two cities with golden domes, one floating over the other.’

‘Go on. Tell me about the snow.’

She smiled. ‘Ah, yes, the snow … We were always happy when the snow came, isn’t that ridiculous? But it made everything so smooth and quiet and … joined together. The whole city became one thing and the sledges were so swift and silent after the rattling of the droshkies. And in the country it was even better. We used to wait for the cranes to fly south and then we knew that in a very few days the snow would come. It has to fell three times before it lies, did you know that? The first fall melts and the second - but the third, that stays.’

She fell silent, her eyes full of memories, and Rupert, setting a trap for her, said quietly: ‘Qu’est-ce qui vous manque le plus?’

She frowned, thinking. Then, in a French more fluent and better accented than his own, she answered: ‘La sensation d’immensité, probablement. La Russie est si enorme que cela change tout.’

‘Yes.’ He could see that she might miss just those things: the sheer size of a land, its limitless skies, and the breadth of vision that such size might bring. And she had not even noticed the change of language!

Prompted by some demon to destroy the confidenc he had carefully built up, he look hold of her wrist and said: ‘Do you realize if this were two hundred years ago I couid keep you here? Exercise my droit de seigneur. What would you do then?’

‘I should scream,’ said Anna, disengaging her wrist. She got up and went lightly to the door, then she turned and said, grinning, ‘I ‘ope!’ - and was gone.

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The following day was a Sunday and the family had the pleasure of hearing Mr Morland read the banns and of introducing Muriel to those members of the congregation who had not managed to get a glimpse of her as she drove from the station. The future countess, in a Nile green satin suit and pearls, seemed relaxed and serene and bowed most graciously to her parishioners as she walked down the aisle. The earl, on the other hand, looked tired - but then he hadn’t been long out of hospital and men were always nervous about weddings.

It was also noted that very few Mersham servants were present. The dowager, unlike many employers, was not in the habit of marshalling her staff on a compulsory church parade. Today, most of the regulars had decided they could serve God best by staying at home and succouring Mrs Park.

The gentle cook had had a sleepless night and now sat like a broken-stemmed flower reproaching herself while Win, devoted and uncomprehending, tried to ply her with cups of tea.

‘It’s my fault; I should have found out,’ said Mrs Park. ‘Signor Manotti wouldn’t have done a thing like that.’

‘Give over, Jean, do,’ said James, abandoning protocol to use, for once, her Christian name. ‘Why, you know Signor Manotti had the brandy uncorked and half a pint in the bowl before ‘e even thought what he was going to cook.’

‘I just don’t know what to do,’ said Mrs Park in a low voice. ‘It’s everything, you see. No syllabub ‘cos of the sherry, no jugged hare ‘cos of the wine. No trifle, no crepes Suzettes … No beef stews, no coq au vin … Why, even Welsh Rarebit’s got ale in it.’

And as she sat there, seeing the whole rich vocabulary of dishes she had striven so hard to learn brought suddenly to nought, a large tear gathered in Mrs Park’s round, blue eyes and rolled slowly, unheeded, down her cheek.

It was too much for the others. ‘But she will not want you not to cook most beautifully for everyone else!’ cried Anna. ‘It is impossible that she does not want others to eat as they wish. It will only be necessary to prepare something extra that has no alcohol in it for her, and as she is very rich and there are many more people to help you, this will not matter.’

‘Anna’s right,’ said James. ‘Don’t you remember old Lady Byrne? She was a Quaker, never touched a drop herself but kept one of the best tables in the country.’

But Mrs Park was not to be consoled. Though trained by a great international chef, she belonged to the old-fashioned country tradition which bound a good cook, by a thread of skill and understanding, to the mistress of the house. Muriel’s rejection had left her desolate.

‘I’ll have to give in my notice, Mr Proom,’ she said. But even as she spoke, she looked at Win standing hunched and bewildered by the range. At the orphanage they had said Win was unemployable. ‘Defective’ was the word they used - a word that made no sense to Mrs Park, whose patient, loving kindness had turned the girl into a second pair of hands. But would a newcomer be able to take her on? If she herself left Mersham, what would become of Win?

And worn out by strain and sleeplessness and disappointment, Mrs Park let her head fall on her arms, and sobbed.

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‘So these are your ancestors?’ said Muriel, looking with pleasure and interest at the serried ranks of Westerholmes in the long gallery.

Returning from church, she had found laid out for her a simple dress of blue linen which matched the colour of her eyes. She had taken the hint and also allowed Anna to arrange her golden hair in a low chignon. Steering her through the armoury, the library and the music room, Rupert thought he had never seen her look fresher or more beautiful and his misgivings of the previous night vanished in the sunlight. Of course Muriel would fit in at Mersham, of course she would love his people and his home.

‘Yes, those are the Westerholmes and the women fool enough to marry them,’ he said, smiling. ‘That’s Timothy Frayne who founded the family fortune in all sorts of disreputable ways. And that’s his son, James -he was the first earl. James was one of the fair, roistering Fraynes, always in trouble! Then this one’s William - he’s one of the other kind, dark and dreamy. William landscaped the park and furnished the music room - music was his passion. And George here is a throwback to James - a devil with the women and always getting into scrapes. My brother was like him, they said.’

‘And you’re like William,’ said Muriel, looking at the scholarly face above the lace collar. ‘Goodness, who’s this one? He looks very strange!’

Rupert grinned. ‘That’s our black sheep. Sir Montague Frayne. He was a cousin of the fourth earl’s. He’s the only one of my ancestor’s who’s had the distinction of becoming a fully-fledged ghost.’