Felicity balked. “That may be so, but it scarcely explains why you should be driving me. Nor why I should be visiting Lucille.”
“I did not drive you. You arrived by hired chaise, accompanied by your maid. Ah, yes, you have come to chaperon Lucille while Miss Wimbush visits a sick relative. However, by the time you arrived, she had received comfortable tidings and need not make the trip. How does that sound?”
“Highly unlikely.”
“But plausible, don’t you think?”
“It is inventive, I’ll give you that.”
He laughed and gave a mock bow. “Let us hope we are not obliged to employ the subterfuge. Ah, here we are. Those are my gates.”
He turned the vehicle into the dip towards a wide drive and pulled up before a closed wrought-iron barrier. An elderly man came hobbling out of a small lodge to one side, exclaiming at his master’s unexpected appearance as he hastened to open the gates.
“Thank you, Samuel. Is Lady Lucille in the house?”
“Aye, her ladyship’s there right enough, me lord. Had a drive around the estates in her little gig earlier, but she’s been inside fer better nor an hour now, me lord.”
Lady Lucille? Well, of course, she must be so titled. She was the daughter of a marquis. Felicity’s oppression deepened as the curricle moved forward and rooftops became visible, poking above the trees. Why had she agreed to come here? She would be much more at home in Nanny Kimble’s little house, although her tentative probing had elicited a clear signal that a sojourn with her old landlady would not do.
Once the exclamatory discussion of Felicity’s news had died down, Nanny was induced to loosen up about her situation. It became obvious that Cissy, dealing with a woman in need of care almost around the clock, could not possibly cope with the extra burden of a visitor. Even were Felicity to take care of her personal needs, the necessity to provide additional meals as well as the extra washing and cleaning would be untenable. Felicity’s means would not for long run to providing extra help. She must think of something else.
If she was honest, the prospect of living in such cramped conditions did not appeal. She’d had a small room at the academy, but it was a large establishment with several parlours, including one for the teachers as well as Mrs Jeavons’ own to which she was often invited. But where she would go and what she was to do she could not decide. It began to look as if necessity might force her to accept Angelica’s invitation.
The thoughts faded as a turn in the sweeping drive brought Ruscoe Hall into sight. It stood on a height, a massive square building of three storeys, seeming to go on forever as the curricle climbed, skirting an ornamental lake. Felicity felt hollow and perfectly dwarfed as the curricle came to a standstill in front of a lengthy pillared portico with a sweep of stair leading up to an arched doorway.
“Well? What do you think of it?”
An oddly eager note sounded in Raoul’s voice. She struggled for adequate words. “It is — it isbig.”
He gave an odd laugh. “That’s all?”
She flicked a glance at him. “No, I — I had not thought … expected… But of course it was bound to be a mansion.”
“Don’t let that worry you. It’s still a home.”
His tone was clipped and Felicity felt horribly guilty. She rushed into speech. “I don’t mean to disparage your home. It is extraordinary. Awe-inspiring really.”
His lip twisted in a wry look, but he said nothing, merely preparing to alight as his groom was at the horses’ heads.
Felicity turned her gaze back upon the huge façade and was immediately distracted by a flurry of activity at the entrance as the double doors were flung open and an elderly fellow in livery, accompanied by a couple of acolytes, came out onto the porch. Then Raoul was handing her out, the pair of footmen extracting luggage, the butler greeting his lord and bowing to Felicity as her name was given and within seconds she found herself ushered into a vast hall, its walls a mass of light and shadow, surrounding a wide central staircase. A plump, motherly woman took charge and swept her up the wooden stairs.
“I am Mrs Astwick, ma’am, and I will show you to your bedchamber.”
“My bedchamber?” uttered Felicity, finding her voice. “But you cannot have known I was coming.”
“No, ma’am, but we will scarcely be incommoded. I think the Blue Room will suit, and I will set the maids to prepare it for you. But you will wish to wash away the dirt from the roads and perhaps change your gown.”
Talking gently all the time, Mrs Astwick led her along a wide gallery and through a door at the other end where they turned the corner and began walking through a series of rooms along the side of what she called the West Wing. Two were evidently parlours, but those at the far end proved to be bedchambers and the housekeeper stopped at the second one where a huge four-poster, hung in blue velvet, dominated the room.
Mrs Astwick moved to close the far door. “You’ll be private enough once everyone knows it’s occupied, ma’am. Now let me take your cloak.”
Barely had she allowed the woman to remove it than a procession of servants turned up. A footman bearing her portmanteau, a maid with a jug of water, another carrying towels and a sturdy creature armed with a bucket of coals who proceeded to make up the fire. The footman placed the portmanteau on a chest at the foot of the bed and retired, bowing and closing the door behind him so that the room immediately became more private.
With the housekeeper directing operations, Felicity, completely overwhelmed, was stripped of her outer garments by one of the maids while the other unpacked, busily stowing her belongings in a japanned and inlaid commode at one side of the room. Mrs Astwick poured hot water into a basin on a dressing stand.
“You will wish to wash, ma’am, and I will arrange for tea while Jenny presses your day gown. When you are rested and ready, I will conduct you to the family drawing-room.”
She went off without waiting for a reply beyond a stammered thank you and Felicity, standing in her shift before a glowing fire, was left to begin upon her ablutions with one maid standing ready with a towel. Felicity smiled at her.
