‘I can’t tell you that, I’m afraid, chérie, but don’t worry. He’ll come as soon as he can. I’ll send the cable now.’
Alexandra told Félicité what Maxime had said.
‘It’ll probably take at least four days for him to come,’ said Félicité, sighing. ‘He travels all over the world. He could be anywhere. China possibly. Although if it’s China it’ll take even longer for him to get here.’
‘Well, let’s hope it’s not China,’ said Alexandra. ‘Come and see if the others found some eggs. And even if they haven’t, I think we should make chocolate mousse anyway.’
A few days passed before they heard from Maxime that the Count was on his way home. Alexandra suggested they prepared David and Jack’s rooms, who were due to arrive the following evening. Rather to her surprise the children agreed and they set off to the rather distant part of the chateau where their new tutors were to stay.
Félicité found some wonderful antique, lace-edged bed linen in an armoire. Henri fixed a wobbly leg on one of the beds and Stéphie picked vases of flowers for both bedrooms and the bathroom. Henri said men didn’t like flowers, but Alexandra said that sometimes they did.
‘What will David and Jack expect me to do? Write essays and things?’ said Félicité, obviously a bit anxious about the impending arrival of her tutors.
‘I’ve never met Jack, but I expect he’ll be nice if he’s a friend of David’s. I don’t know what David is like as a tutor, but he was a very good friend to me in London. He had a flat at the top of the house where I lived, but he used to cook for me, he taught me to drive, he taught me all about antiques—’
‘But he wasn’t your boyfriend?’
Alexandra laughed. ‘No. He was more like an older brother, or an uncle. He was always giving me good advice. He was the one who taught me how to mend china, only I got better at it than he was quite quickly.’ She didn’t think it was appropriate to explain that there was another reason why David could never have been a boyfriend. ‘He’s quite a bit older than me, too.’
‘How old?’
‘About thirty-five, I think. Too old for me.’
‘Papa is thirty-five,’ said Félicité.
Alexandra thought about Félicité’s father. She had only met him that one time in Paris but he had made a big impression on her. And although she was five years younger than she had stated on her application form, she didn’t think he was too old for her at all. But of course, he would think that she was too young. Maxime was nearer her in age, so why wasn’t she thinking about him, instead of M. le Comte?
‘Do you like music? And maths?’ she asked.
‘Henri is brilliant at music,’ said Félicité. ‘Have you heard him play the cello?’
‘That was Henri? I have heard little phrases of music but I thought it was a record.’
‘He’s very shy about people hearing him play, but he’s very good. He should have proper lessons really.’
‘I’ll speak to your father about it,’ said Alexandra, feeling very remiss that she hadn’t known about Henri’s talent.
‘As for maths,’ said Félicité, ‘do they matter?’
‘I didn’t take any exams in maths but I know how to budget. Jack might expect a bit more of you than that. But I can almost guarantee that both David and Jack will be good teachers.’ Alexandra gave a rueful smile. ‘As long as your grandmother is satisfied, and your mother, of course.’
‘My mother!’ Félicité tossed her head. ‘She has no right to come here and demand that we live with her!’
‘Your father is coming and will sort that out, so you have no need to worry. Now, is there anything else you can think of that David and Jack might need?’
Alexandra and Félicité looked around the room together. It was sparsely decorated but with what Alexandra thought was a lit à demi-ciel which gave the room some grandeur. It had a high top, protruding about a foot from the wall, from which hung (somewhat threadbare) curtains. In England it would be called a half-tester bed, but she remembered one turning up on a stall on the Portobello Road when she was there selling antiques with David, and being given the proper name.
‘Grand-mère likes to dry her face on a linen towel,’ said Félicité, ‘but I couldn’t find any.’
Alexandra laughed. ‘They’re men, they’ll be fine with the towels they’ve got.’
As she and Félicité walked back to the kitchen, Alexandra asked, ‘Why isn’t there more furniture here? I mean, there’s enough, but it’s not full. Is there a reason?’
Félicité shrugged. ‘I know that Papa inherited the chateau and the title from his uncle. It happened before I was born, but maybe Papa and my mother just bought the minimum of furniture they needed then. I think my mother liked the idea of living in a chateau but didn’t really like living in the country.’
‘That would explain it, I suppose. Now, I wonder if we’ve got anything to eat except chicken?’
‘Chicken is what the farm produces,’ said Félicité. ‘That and a few pigs and sheep.’
