The Chase: A Novel (20 page)

“Make Mama proud,” Papa said.

They were lined up in the entry to meet them. Lord Randolph Elgin was tall, thin, blond, and impeccably attired in his hunting clothes and knee-high boots. He looked as rich as any prince and as used to giving orders and being obeyed. He seemed a little older than Papa. In contrast, his wife seemed no more than twenty. Lady Ellen was black-haired, sloe-eyed, and very pretty, although not as pretty as Sarah. She was wearing more diamonds than Rachel had ever seen in her entire life, and more than she had thought any one woman could wear all at once. She wore a triple-tiered diamond necklace, dangling diamond ear bobs, a chunky diamond bracelet, and a diamond ring with a stone the size of Rachel’s thumb. She glittered just like a diamond, Rachel thought, in her pale cream sateen dress. Rachel looked down at the woman’s shoes. It was the middle of the day and she was wearing ivory shoes of sateen that matched her dress exactly. They had high heels. How did she walk?

A maid in a black uniform and a white apron stood behind her. She held Lady Ellen’s two-year-old son in her arms. The little blond boy seemed to resemble his father; he was sucking his thumb and squirming to get down.

The older boys stood beside their father. They looked like miniature Lord Elgins, dressed similarly, both blond and blue-eyed and quite handsome.

Rachel took in her family in one blink of an eye and then, as Papa and Elgin shook hands stiffly, she gaped at the hall she found herself in.

It was hardly a manor, she thought, eyeing the huge paintings on the walls and the high, high ceilings. It seemed more like a castle. Indeed, there were swords and banners hung on one wall. She turned to look at Sarah. But Sarah was smiling at Harry Elgin. Harry was smiling back.

Rachel felt a pang. It wasn’t jealousy, it was more like . . . longing.

Introductions were made all around, and the maid left to take little John off for a nap.

And then the two families stood facing each other, with several feet in between as if an invisible barrier lay there on the stone floor. No one spoke.

Rachel was aware of being uncomfortable, but on the other hand, she was trying to see past the Elgins and into a huge salon with gilded furniture and crystal chandeliers. Did real people live like this? Maybe the Elgins weren’t real!

She smiled to herself. Maybe they were a figment of her imagination, and maybe being there, in the north of Wales, at this fancy house, was only a dream.

Her smile faded. Maybe she would wake up at home and Mama would still be alive.

A man coughed. It was their host. “I trust your trip was without event?”

Papa looked at him as if he spoke a foreign language or sported two heads. “It was without event,” he said.

Rachel bit her lip. Elgin could not know that, in his own angry way, Papa mocked him. But Sarah knew, because she glanced at Rachel with worry. Rachel realized that Harry also suspected Papa of being sarcastic, as he was studying both men too closely. Her heart lurched. If only Papa were less angry! She was afraid of the conflict simmering inside him.

Elgin was speaking. “Lady Ellen will show you up to your rooms. We’ll take tea as soon as you get settled; supper is at nine.”

Rachel blinked. Supper was so late! They would all die of hunger well before nine. As if reading her thoughts, Harry glanced at her and gave her a reassuring smile. Startled, Rachel realized at once that he was a nice young man. She found herself smiling back at him.

“I’ve given you a wonderful room overlooking the gardens out back. From it, you can see the Clwyd and the ruins of Rhuddlan Castle,” Lady Ellen told Papa eagerly.

Papa made a gruff sound, which meant thank you.

Sarah stepped forward. “Actually, I think I will take a stroll around the house. The gardens are so beautiful,” she said. “And it’s such a beautiful day, I can’t bear to be inside.”

Elgin seemed startled. For the first time, he really looked at Sarah. “Surely you have some things to unpack?”

“I’ll unpack later,” Sarah said with a quick smile.

Elgin just looked at her.

Rachel grew uneasy. She did not like his stare.

“That is, if you do not mind, Uncle Elgin?” Sarah asked, gazing back at him directly.

He seemed startled to be called “Uncle.”

Papa said, “Sarah, why don’t you go upstairs and unpack first, as our host wishes?”

Elgin added, “If you unpack your evening gown now, it will be pressed and made ready for you. And anything else that you need for supper tonight.”

“I can iron my dress in a tick,” Sarah said, but more slowly. Rachel was wide-eyed herself. They would have maids to wait upon them?

Harry stepped forward. “I’ll show her the grounds, Father,” he said, his gaze on Sarah, not Elgin. Then he glanced at Rachel. “I’ll show you both, if you like.”

The last thing Rachel wanted to do was to go upstairs and unpack—she was curious to see an old ruined castle. It would be her first; there were no old castles where she lived. Exploring the grounds sounded wonderful. Rachel glanced at Papa with yearning.

He understood and faced Elgin. “The girls have been cooped up in the train all day. I think they’d like some fresh air and a bit of a stroll. Rachel and Sarah can press their own dresses. We don’t believe in others doing our work for us.”

Elgin nodded rigidly. He turned. “Ellen, see to it that their bags are brought up to their rooms.” And then, as if he had not heard Papa, “Make certain someone can press my nieces’ gowns.”

“Of course,” Lady Ellen said. “Bessie will be more than happy to do it.” But there was a funny expression on her face. She hesitated.

Elgin turned. “Lionel? Why don’t you join Harry as he escorts your cousins about the grounds.” It was not a question.

“Yes, sir,” Lionel said with no inflection at all. Briefly, his eyes strayed to Rachel, and their gazes met. It was awkward, as they were strangers, and Rachel quickly looked away. She wondered if he liked her family, disliked them, or had no feelings at all. She could not tell.

Rachel took Hannah’s hand. “We’re ready,” she said brightly. Then a thought struck her. What was poor Papa going to do while they were out?

“Let’s go, while the sun is high,” Harry said, waiting for Sarah to precede him. Sarah smiled at him as she walked past, and Rachel was well aware of the flirtation.

She did not move. “Papa? Sarah can take Hannah and I can help you unpack.”

His eyes softened for the first time since entering the old manor. “Go and have a good time,” he said. “No one deserves it more.”

“Are you certain?” Rachel whispered, not wanting the Elgins to hear. Of course they did. They were standing so close, and no one else was speaking.

Papa nodded.

Rachel smiled at their host and hostess, and with Hannah in tow, she followed Sarah to the door, Harry and Lionel trailing after them.

Behind her, she heard Lady Ellen say, “My lord?” She was breathless. “Maybe I should go with them?”

Rachel glanced over her shoulder and saw the plea on Ellen’s face.

“Ellen, I prefer it if you make certain everything is in readiness for our guests,” her husband said.

Rachel turned away, but not before she saw Ellen’s face fall.

They trooped past a small lake where several swans were gliding by. No one spoke, but it wasn’t as awkward as it had been a few minutes ago, inside the house with the adults. Rachel’s steps slowed. How lovely the shady lake with the beautiful white swans was.

“Those are pretty ducks,” Hannah said softly, clinging to Rachel’s hand. She was beaming.

“They’re swans, dear,” Rachel said as softly. She had never seen a live swan before, but she’d seen them rendered in art and books, and she knew exactly what they were looking at.

“Well, they’re pretty. I wish we could take one home,” Hannah said.

Rachel was about to smile and chide her for such a thought when she felt eyes on her back. She shivered as she turned. Lionel was studying the sisters.

Rachel didn’t know what to say, so she said, “Your swans are so beautiful.”

“Thank you,” Lionel replied. “They actually belong to my stepmother. Lady Ellen had them shipped here from the south of Wales. She likes swans.” His eyes moved over her slowly.

Rachel didn’t like his gaze. It was so intent and so opaque. She almost felt as if she were under a microscope, and that he was studying her, dissecting her, trying to understand how she worked, as if she were a machine.

“Hey.” Harry and Sarah were ahead of them, turning onto a small meandering path that led through a grove of silvery birch trees. “Are you all right back there?” Harry called with a wave.

“We’re fine,” Rachel said gratefully, tugging on Hannah. “Let’s go.”

“I want to stay with the swans,” Hannah said with a stubborn set to her chin.

Rachel realized the little girl was going to be pigheaded, and her heart sank. She glanced at Lionel. He smiled, but it was a strange smile, neither warm and inviting nor cold and forced.

“We can watch the swans,” he said. “We can feed them if you like.”

“What do they eat?” Hannah cried excitedly.

“Bugs,” Lionel said, looking at Hannah. “And things on the bottom of the pond.”

“I want to feed the swans.”

Rachel was dismayed. She realized she didn’t really like Lionel, or at least she didn’t enjoy his company and would prefer to remain in one group. Then she heard Sarah’s laughter. It was light and free. Rachel glanced ahead and saw Sarah with her hand on Harry’s arm, her smile as bright and sunny as the day. Harry was also grinning. Apparently they were sharing some kind of joke.

Rachel was a bit alarmed. She told herself not to worry, as Sarah might be a bit reckless, but there was nothing she could do just then to get herself into trouble.

“She likes him. All the girls do. But then, he is Father’s heir.”

Rachel jerked and met Lionel’s pale gray stare. “Surely any inheritance will be divided between you. You’re both his sons,” she said, meaning to be kind.

He looked at her as if she were a madwoman. “This is Great Britain. Inheritances are not shared. The oldest son gets everything. Oh, I forgot. You’re not English, you wouldn’t know.”

Rachel stiffened. “I was born in London.”

Lionel shrugged. “But you’re a Jew.”

Rachel hesitated. “I’m also English.”

“Can you be both?” Lionel asked, brows raised.

“I think so. I mean, I know so,” Rachel said, flustered.

Sarah was laughing again. Rachel glanced toward the path and saw her sister and Harry strolling down it, almost out of view. They were walking so closely that Sarah’s skirts repeatedly brushed his thighs.

“I told you. All the girls like him. He will be baron next. He will have the entire Elgin estate.”

Rachel studied Lionel but saw no jealousy in his eyes. “Is that how your laws work?”

He nodded.

“That is so unfair,” Rachel exclaimed.

Lionel smiled then, clearly amused. “If estates were divided up, a family as old as ours would have nothing but the tiniest parcel of land.”

Rachel absorbed that.

Hannah said, “I want to feed the swans.”

Rachel glanced anxiously at the path, but Sarah and Harry were gone. “We had better go join them,” she said. She heard how worried her own tone sounded.

“Why? Will your sister seduce my brother?”

Rachel whirled. “That is a horrid thing to say!”

He put his hands in the pockets of his tweed riding coat. “But Harry is highly moral. He will never seduce her. He will be a virgin on his wedding night, I assure you of that.”

Rachel felt herself turning crimson. “Let’s go, Hannah,” she said.

But Hannah whined in protest.

“Why are you offended? I’m merely being truthful. Harry will be a lord one day, and he will take a wife. There are many fortune hunters thinking to ensnare him.”

She almost strangled on her shock. “My sister is not one of them. She is . . . a romantic!”

Lionel smiled at her. “How absurd.” He shrugged. “In any case, she has no chance with Harry.”

Rachel felt herself flushing again. But now she was so angry. “Because she is a Jew?”

Lionel nodded, watching her closely.

“Your aunt married my father,” Rachel pointed out.

“Only by running away and eloping. She lost her name, her title, and her fortune. Her parents disowned her. My father disowned her.”

“I know what happened to my mother,” Rachel said, tears coming to her eyes. But she hadn’t known the extent of it, and she was shocked and angered by his words.

“Let’s feed the swans,” Lionel said lightly, glancing at Hannah. “Wait here.” He turned and ran back toward the house.

“Is he a mean boy?” Hannah asked Rachel with curiosity.

Rachel wiped her eyes. “I don’t think so. But sometimes the truth is mean, dear.”

“But he was saying mean things about Mama.”

Rachel stooped to hug her. “No, he was not.”

“Then why are you crying?”

Rachel froze. She met her sister’s dark eyes. Unlike Sarah and Rachel, Hannah had their father’s swarthy complexion and dark, nearly black, hair. “I’m crying,” Rachel said, feeling the bubble of grief rising, “because I still miss Mama and it hurts sometimes when we talk about her.”

Hannah nodded solemnly. “I miss her too. But I want to feed the swans.”

Rachel smiled and stroked the girl’s curly hair. “We will. I expect Lionel went to get us some swan food.” She hoped he did not intend to hand them bugs. And why had Sarah taken off with Harry like that? She had seen the look in her sister’s eyes. She was more than flirting with him, she was taken by him.

Rachel made a mental note to tell Sarah that she would never stand a chance with Harry Elgin; not that Papa would ever let her marry a gentile, anyway.

“Here we go.”

Rachel looked up at the sound of Lionel’s voice, which was rather cheerful. In fact, the sound of it alarmed her. If she had learned one thing since arriving at the manor, it was that he did not have a particularly pleasant disposition.

He was carrying a small pail. He smiled at them and led them to the grassy, pebbled bank of the little lake. The swans began drifting toward them, their dark eyes bright with expectation.