‘But you’ve been playing wars all morning,’ Sophie protested. ‘Put them away right now!’
Simon ignored her and went on righting the injured and replacing the fallen.
Sophie retaliated by taking the whole bag of marbles and tipped them onto the figures, obliterating one army entirely.
‘There,’ she said. ‘The red soldiers have won. Now we can play marbles.’
Simon’s answer to that was to throw as many of the marbles as he could lay his hands on into the far corners of the room. Kate could feel a storm coming. She was so preoccupied with trying to keep the peace between the two of them that she didn’t hear the nursery door open. Nor did she see Philip put his hands to his lips and encourage Thomas to keep their arrival a secret.
‘Perhaps we can play with both the marbles and the soldiers,’ Kate suggested. ‘I have an idea. Simon. You set up the two armies again and Sophie, you collect up the marbles and I will show you both a new game.’
The two children looked at each other, a mixture of puzzlement and irritation on their faces. But they did as Kate asked. She then helped them divide the marbles evenly between them. She took one red soldier and one blue and hid them in her closed fists. Stretching out her arms, she asked them to pick one hand each.
‘You’re red then, Sophie, and you’re blue, Simon.’
She showed them how they could aim and flick the marbles and try to knock each other’s soldiers down.
The children let out a cheer each time they were successful.
‘Can I play?’ Thomas asked.
‘And me,’ said Philip, his sudden appearance beside her making Kate jump.
They spent the next half hour taking turns and when Kate decided it was time for them to tidy up and wash hands for lunch, they did so with the promise that they could play the new game again tomorrow.
‘You have a way with them, Kate, that their last nursemaid didn’t have,’ Philip said.
‘How long have you been watching?’ Kate asked.
‘Long enough to see how you dealt with their little dispute. Very clever of you,’ he replied.
Kate smiled in acknowledgement of his praise. She was beginning to like Philip Winton and feel comfortable in his company. He was open and friendly with her and didn’t treat her like a servant at all. Something she was both pleased and surprised about. She had yet to get any real response from his sister, Clara, as she seemed to be more absorbed in her own daily activities and spent little time with Kate, apart from their daily walks, when there was more walking than talking done. Kate was curious about Clara, but she suspected that Clara never gave Kate a passing thought. They might be close in age but their experiences of life were so different. Kate was a servant and her purpose was to accompany Clara and that was the sum total of their relationship to one another. Their walks were mostly conducted in silence or with Clara listing all the social engagements she was invited to in the coming weeks.
Kate was surprised, then, when Clara entered the nursery one day and said, ‘Follow me, Kate. I need some help with something, urgently.’ After glancing at the twins who were happily playing a game of skittles while young Thomas was curled up in a chair with a book, Kate followed Clara to her room. Clara walked straight over to the window.
‘Good,’ she said, ‘they’re still there.’
She turned to Kate. ‘Come here, quickly, before she goes.’
Kate stood beside Clara who pointed out a young woman and her mother on the opposite side of the street. They were engaged in conversation with an elderly couple.
‘Look closely at the young woman,’ Clara said. ‘What do you think of her attire . . . her clothes?’
‘She looks lovely,’ Kate replied.
‘Be more specific,’ Clara insisted.
‘Well . . .’ Kate paused, she wasn’t sure what Miss Clara wanted her to say.
‘Her suit, her hat, come on, Kate. I need to know.’
‘I’ve never seen clothes like that before,’ Kate said. ‘The black-and-white stripes certainly stand out.’
‘And . . . what else?’ Clara prompted her.
‘That scoop at the front of her straight skirt and the buttons, it’s . . . it’s well, it’s most unusual. Her hat certainly sets it all off and what’s that round her neck?’
‘A feather boa. They’re the height of fashion,’ Clara explained.
