‘Well,’ said Antoine afterwards, ‘you had an effect on Luc. Suddenly, they can take on the job right away. He obviously has a penchant for English roses.’
Alexandra couldn’t stop herself blushing at this, but she brushed off the compliment. ‘I expect he thinks he can do what he likes and I won’t notice. He’s wrong, of course.’
‘But how will you know?’
‘David will help me. And I’m good at knowing when people are trying to cheat me. In the antiques world, although most people are kindness itself, there are sharks – as in all businesses. I learnt how to spot them. And I don’t think Luc is a shark.’
‘I don’t either. Let’s go and tell everyone the good news. We have builders! On y va!’
The days started early. Each morning, Antoine went to the farm after a cup of coffee and a piece of bread and Alexandra went to where the building work was going on. She wrapped her hair in a scarf and donned her boiler suit supplemented with extra layers of clothing. She liked to arrive shortly before the builders did, so she was there, smiling, and alert.
She did struggle with the language to begin with. But the men were all very willing to help this English girl who was so interested, knew what she wanted and cared how work was done. She praised good work and just a look was enough to make people redo anything that was sloppy. She trained Stéphie to bring English cake in the afternoon, and the work went on apace. The old stable would soon be a comfortable place to stay, with two bedrooms, a reasonably sized kitchen, and a sitting room with double doors that opened on to a terrace.
‘I’d stay here!’ said David, who came to inspect progress. ‘It’s going to be splendid. Good idea to put a big window in that wall. It lets the light in and makes it all look bigger.’
‘They had to put in a stone lintel, which was quite difficult,’ said Alexandra. ‘But Luc is so willing and helpful.’
‘I wonder why that is?’ said David wryly.
Alexandra didn’t protest. Even she had been forced to admit the men did work well for her and, so far, no one had tried to get away with anything underhand.
As word of what was going on went round, people came to inspect progress. Most of them were interested and admiring but one morning, when Alexandra was particularly covered in dust and cobwebs, having just inspected the upper floor of a barn, Lucinda appeared.
Alexandra brushed herself down, waiting for Lucinda to say something, hoping there wasn’t anything actually alive on her head, crawling over her scarf and about to drop on to her face. Eventually she said, ‘Can I help you?’
‘Oh, I’ve just come for a look round. Everyone says how wonderful it is here, so I thought I’d find out for myself.’ She surveyed the barn they were in, where currently nothing had happened. Alexandra had been looking to see if it might be a project for later. ‘I’m not impressed so far. I was hoping some of my friends could stay here, but that’s obviously not going to be possible.’
‘We won’t do any work on this barn until after the wedding. Why don’t I show you the rooms we’re planning to have ready in time for that?’
This was a different matter. There were two buildings currently being converted. One was part of the old stables and the other was a pigeonnier, where pigeons used to provide food for the chateau.
‘This one is coming along well,’ said Alexandra, showing Lucinda into the old stable. ‘You can see the sitting room with its terrace, and the kitchen, but we haven’t done the stairs to upstairs yet, so you’d have to climb a ladder to look at the bedrooms.’
Lucinda laughed prettily, gesturing to the narrow skirt she was wearing under her tweed coat with long boots. ‘And obviously I can’t do that in this skirt. Can I look at the other building?’
‘That’s not nearly ready.’
‘Still, I’d like to see it. You can call me nosy if you like.’
Alexandra had been silently calling her nosy since she first appeared. ‘You’re welcome as long as it doesn’t take too long. I am very busy.’
‘Everyone knows how busy you are,’ said Lucinda as the two women walked to the next building. ‘They are astounded at what a good job you’re doing!’
‘Oh …’
‘But what nobody talks about is how much this is all costing.’
Alexandra opened her mouth to explain that the rental money was going towards the cost of renovation, but she had no real idea if it would be enough. She decided it was none of Lucinda’s business. She shrugged. ‘I don’t know about that.’
‘Obviously not. I heard that Antoine had sold a piece of land to raise money and he’s refusing to pay for the children to go to boarding school in England.’
‘I’m so sorry. That’s not my business.’
Lucinda seemed pleased to hear this. ‘Well, just bear it in mind before you plan on turning all the dozens of outbuildings there are here at the chateau into holiday accommodation that no one will ever want to rent. Unless you’re going to finance it with your own fortune, of course.’
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘Oh, sorry, I forgot. You have to get married to get it, don’t you? And that would only be worth it for you if you and Antoine were very much in love. And it’s highly unlikely that Antoine will so much as glance at you if you go on looking like a char lady on a bad day.’
