“Lady Rennington, Lady Tarvin and Mrs Edward Harfield are out at present, my lady,” the butler wheezed. “Lady Woodridge is in the nursery with Master Gerard. She will be very glad to see you, I am sure.”
Josie! Izzy had come to see her mother, but she would be excessively glad to see her older sister, too.
“And I her! I had no notion she might be here, with the baby so young.”
“Just two months old, my lady, and not a scrap of trouble,” the butler said with a paternal smile.
Izzy raised her eyebrows at that. In her experience, babies caused a vast deal of trouble, out of all proportion to their size. She said nothing, however, allowing herself to be led through myriad rooms and passageways, up two separate sets of stairs, and along a gallery overlooking a courtyard to a bedroom pleasantly appointed in shades of pink and green.
“This is charming,” she said, in surprise, for her previous visits had been to apartments noted only for their dark, unwelcoming appearance.
“Lady Rennington will be delighted to hear you say so, my lady. The improvements were her suggestion.”
Izzy laughed. “Oh yes, Mama cannot see a room without suggesting improvements. The painters are never gone from Corland.”
“I shall bring some tea to the Blue Parlour, my lady. That is where the ladies like to sit on summer afternoons.”
“Then I hope there are signs to direct me there, for otherwise I shall never find it.”
“I shall leave a footman outside your door to guide you, my lady,” the butler said, bowing himself out.
Josie was already in the Blue Parlour when Izzy reached it, the baby in a cradle at her feet. The two sisters fell into each other’s arms with cries of joy and a few tears, too.
“Oh, but Josie,” Izzy said when they finally disentangled themselves, “what are you doing here? I never imagined you would leave home when Gerard is so young.”
“I wanted to see Mama, and a baby is very portable at this age, Izzy dear,” Josie said, sitting down again and rocking the cradle with her foot.
“Yes, the baby is, but there is the question of Nurse and a wet nurse and a nursery maid and the vast quantity of clothing required. Then there is the constant stopping and starting on the road for some crisis or other. I only attempted it once, when Helena was about six months of age. Never again! I think you must be mad to leave home with Gerard.”
“Oh, pooh, I have only the under nursery maid with me to watch him at night, and a few changes of clouts and wrappings, and I have never had a wet nurse. The heavy artillery of Nurse and the upper nursery maid have been left behind to look after Claud, and it takes all their efforts to manage him. Boys of three are such terrors, as you will find out when you have sons. Babies are darlings by comparison. Besides, I love having him all to myself, and nothing to do all day but cuddle him.”
She sighed sentimentally. Izzy said nothing, for this was a side to her sister that she could never understand. Izzy had been thankful to hand her daughters over to a wet nurse at the earliest opportunity, so that she might resume her social engagements. She loved her girls dearly, and delighted in playing with them when she was at home, but her duty was clear — she could be of most use to them by maintaining a presence in society so that they would be able to make the most advantageous marriages when their turn came. And now — that future wasgone, entirely gone.
She could feel anger boiling up inside her again, and rose to cross the room with quick steps. The window overlooked the pleasure grounds, but even here there was no beauty, no symmetry. The Priory was tucked into a narrow vale, so there was scarcely a level piece of ground beyond a small terrace. All one could see from a ground-floor window was a slope so steep it almost felt like a green wall. Izzy always felt so hemmed in here. Impatiently, she spun round. Even the ugly interior of the parlour, with its gloomy panelled walls and cracked ceiling, was preferable to the encaging garden.
“But I confess I had another motive,” Josie went on, oblivious. “Aubrey’s mother is paying her annual visit to Throxfield, and you know what that means. She has the place in an uproar. Everything must be done in the Hulme way, which means her way. I should be pulling caps with her if I stayed. And the worst of it is that Aubrey simply disintegrates in front of her. This is a man of three and thirty who manages two estates and any number of other investments, has a government post and is also a respected diplomat. He managed to converse with the greatest ease with the Emperor of all the Russias, in Russian, according to the reports, but his own mother reduces him instantly to a quivering schoolboy.‘Yes, Mother. No, Mother. Anything you say, Mother.’I cannot bear it, and since Mama was here, I decided I would visit, too, at least until the countess has gone and it is safe for me to go home.”
She poured their tea and reached for a cake, too. Josie possessed the sort of features described as handsome rather than beautiful. Her solid frame and greater than average height came from her father. Not for her the delicate figure of her mother and her two sisters. But she had a practical nature, and marriage and motherhood suited her, especially as she had married for love. Izzy knew all this and was glad of it, for Josie’s sake. Yet the dark side of her mind still resented that Josie, socareless of her social position, had managed to marry a man who would one day be an earl. Izzy might outrank her sister now, but it would not always be so.
And sons! Josie had two sons, while Izzy had only daughters. It rankled that she had failed in her primary duty to her husband. Ian mightsayhe was contented with his two little girls, but Izzy knew perfectly well that he had only married her to provide him with a son and heir.
“Where is Ian?” Josie said with studied casualness. “Is he to join you here?”
“I have no idea where he is,” Izzy said, bridling at once. “He went haring off to town within an hour of the letter arriving from Papa, leaving me all on my own and hardly knowing where I was or what to do. I wanted Mama, Josie. Well, Papa too, but mainly Mama. She will know what to do.”
“What do you thinkshecan do?” Josie said in a tone of astonishment. “There is only one thing to be done, Izzy, and that is for you to marry Ian again as soon as you can.”
“But surely—?” She could not go on. Why did everyone say that, as if it made everythingright?Just remarry, and then all will be well. But it would not. It would never be well again. Izzy flopped down onto the sofa beside Josie and burst into tears.
They were still thus, some little while later, when the door opened and Lady Rennington flew in, still wearing her outdoor spencer and a bonnet.
“Izzy! Oh, Izzy, dearest… my poor girl! There now, there, there. Mama is here.”
She sat down beside Izzy and swept her into her arms, making soothing noises, and the familiar voice and perfume and comforting arms brought some solace.
“Oh, Mama!” she wailed. “What are we to do?”
“Do? What we must, of course.”
