Félicité shrugged. ‘Well, it wouldn’t have occurred to my mother to do such a thing.’
‘Good for you for thinking about it.’
Before Alexandra could embarrass her any more, Félicité left to find her siblings.
When Alexandra had gathered an armful of linen she hoped wasn’t too old in spite of being beautifully ironed, she decided to look in on her charges before worrying about bedrooms. They were all playing cards on the floor of Félicité’s room and seemed very happy. Alexandra waved from the door and received waves of varying enthusiasm in response. Félicité may have wanted to appear to be a cynical teenager but she revealed herself as having a very kind heart.
There was a little room near Antoine’s master suite that Alexandra thought would be all right for the colleague. She’d come across an old stone hot-water bottle and decided she’d put it in the bed, to make sure the mattress wasn’t damp – looking at the ominous patch of damp on the wall, she feared it probably was.
After she’d put sheets on and found some extra blankets in case the colleague was chilly, she was about to go to the kitchen to fill the hot-water bottle when she caught sight of herself in the mirror. She was filthy!
Once she’d washed and changed her dress, she thought she might as well put a bit of make-up on. Her hair needed a trim so she twisted it up into a sort of chignon and secured it. Having gone this far she decided to add her pearl studs which were in a little velvet sack in her handbag. She was quite pleased with the end result and relieved she hadn’t inadvertently spent the evening covered in soil from truffle-hunting and generally looking like a peasant after a hard day in the fields.
She was laughing when she went into the kitchen with her huge stone bed warmer.
‘You look very glamorous, m’dear,’ said David.
‘Indeed you do!’ Jack agreed.
‘Thank you. I’m laughing because making up beds for people is really not what I would have predicted for myself a year ago. However, looking glamorous would definitely have been the plan. Now, this is going to take a lot of boiling water to fill but worth it, I think.’ She put the stone hot-water bottle on the table.
‘We can always boil more water,’ said David. ‘The children came down and Stéphie is wearing her new dress. It’s a little big for her but looks very sweet.’
‘And it will be clean!’ said Alexandra. ‘If I hadn’t caught sight of myself I’d have come down covered in mud. Truffle-hunting is a grubby business. Any news from the travellers?’
‘Antoine phoned just now. They’ll be here in twenty minutes.’
Alexandra was aware of butterflies of excitement at the thought of seeing Antoine and she squashed them firmly. ‘Is the table set?’
‘Yup,’ said Jack. ‘And I’ve opened a couple of bottles of the wine we bought. I lit the fire in the salon, more for the welcome than for warmth, but it does look very charming. I put candles in the candelabra too.’
‘Anyone would think we lived in a chateau,’ said David.
Alexandra was back in her room redoing her chignon having put the bed warmer in the bed and found towels when she heard a couple of very loud, deep barks from Milou and realised Antoine was back.
To stop herself getting so nervous about seeing him that she’d stay in her room for ever, she left and ran down the stairs. She was nearly at the bottom when she stopped. Antoine was there being greeted by Milou as if he’d been away for years, not a matter of hours, and with him was a woman.
Alexandra’s mouth went dry. Why hadn’t it occurred to her that Antoine’s colleague might be female? Even if it had, she wouldn’t have imagined she’d be so very Parisienne, so extremely glamorous.
Antoine looked up and saw her, poised on the stairs. ‘Alexandra!’ he said in English. ‘Come and meet Véronique. Véronique, this is …’ He hesitated for the tiniest second and Alexandra rushed in.
‘I’m Alexandra, the children’s nanny.’
Véronique, who, Alexandra was convinced, must have stopped to titivate on the way here so she’d arrive looking soignée, seemed surprised. ‘The nanny?’ She addressed Antoine in French.
‘Companion, rather,’ he said smoothly. ‘She has been running the house, engaging teachers, and of course you’re right, Félicité and Henri are far too old to have a nanny—’
Alexandra didn’t think this was the reason Véronique questioned the term. She straightened her back and lifted her chin.
At this moment Alexandra’s charges clattered down the stairs and arrived in the hall. Stéphie flung herself into her father’s arms. ‘Papa! We found a truffle! Well, Milou did!’
‘Milou?’ Antoine hugged his other children in turn. ‘I didn’t know he was a truffle hound. Are we going to eat it?’ He addressed the question to David, who had appeared in the hall.
‘No, Papa!’ said Stéphie. ‘We’re going to sell it, so you don’t have to go away to work any more.’
Véronique smiled charmingly, and squatted down to be on a level with Stéphie. ‘I’m sure you’d like that, sweetie, but it would take more than one truffle to make enough money for that. And your father’s work is very important. But it’s very good that your dog didn’t eat it, so well done.’
‘It’s enormous,’ said Félicité. ‘Look!’ She held out the truffle to her father.
