The Hamiltons of Ballydown (14 page)

As the weeks passed, the summer weather continued fine and dry. With Rose’s progress obvious to everyone, only one thing marred Lady Anne’s joy, the absence of her dear Harrington. Each morning at breakfast she would rifle through the envelopes by her plate, opening first the missive addressed in his familiar hand. Short and loving, with kindly queries about their guests and good wishes for all
their activities, he could only say there was still no date to offer, although the recess had now begun.

The Prime Minister had asked for discussions with some of his supporters from both houses. As the matter in hand was Ireland, and Harrington had been an Irish member for so long and still felt so strongly on matters Irish, he was an obvious choice. It was an honour and an opportunity which he couldn’t turn down, but only Lady Anne knew how much he missed his family and how he longed for the peace of Gloucestershire after months of being in London.

‘Oh, no,’ said Lady Anne, with a long drawn out sigh, as she scanned the familiar writing one delightful, sunlit Monday morning when, for the first time, a fresh breeze hinted at the possibility of autumn.

‘Not bad news, Mama,’ said Marianne quickly, as they all turned towards her and saw the troubled look on her face.

‘No, not
bad
news,’ she said quickly. ‘Tiresome news. Irritating news,’ she added, reassuring them. ‘Your father
will
be able to come down on Friday,’ she said briskly, ‘but he has agreed to invite Lord Altrincham,’ she added, with another heavy sigh. ‘Oh, he’s a sweet little man,’ she went on hurriedly, glancing across at Rose, ‘but his wife is just …’ She raised her hands in the air, completely at a loss for words.

‘And why is
Lady
Altrincham coming, Mama, if Father has business with His Lordship?’ asked Teddy coolly.

‘A good question, my dear Teddy,’ she said, dropping the letter dispiritedly beside her plate. She looked around the table as every eye rested on her, with a mixture of sympathy and curiosity.

‘At a guess the lady in question wishes to say she’s stayed at Ashley Park,’ she declared. ‘In fact, I’m absolutely sure she’ll indicate very cleverly that she is on intimate terms with each one of us whenever she’s given the slightest opportunity. We shall all have to be on our best behaviour for your father’s sake. She must have made it clear she wished to be invited,’ she went on, waving a hand towards the abandoned letter. ‘She knows perfectly well it’s the recess and there’s no real possibility of refusing her.’

‘For how long, Mama?’ asked Teddy, his face unmoved as he buttered another piece of toast.

‘Oh, just the weekend,’ she replied, wearily. ‘But that’s bad enough. Friday evening dinner. Entertainments laid on for on Saturday. Church on Sunday morning. Perhaps they’ll leave after lunch, if we’re lucky. I’m so sorry, my dears, this will be a dreadful bore for you,’ she said turning to Hannah and Sarah, who were listening quietly. ‘At least Marianne and Teddy are used to it.’

‘I think it might be rather interesting,’ said Sarah promptly.

‘Perhaps we could help in some way,’ Hannah added, glancing at Teddy and Marianne.

‘It’s very sweet of you to think of that,’ said Lady Anne, smiling for the first time. ‘I’ll give my mind to it. In the meantime, I want you young people to have a lovely week and try to forget all about it till the dressing bell rings on Friday evening. This is
your
holiday and I don’t want it spoilt by a nasty, bossy lady.’

In the five days that followed, the dust sheets were removed from the handsome, elaborately decorated and gloomy guest suite that looked out over the fountain, the newly-laid formal garden and the long gravelled drive. The gardeners were much in evidence outdoors. Indoors, flowers blossomed in unexpected places. The housemaids were unusually visible during the day. Even the stables appeared to be having a spring clean.

Rose was surprised at the change in Lady Anne. Although they enjoyed each other’s company, she found her friend very preoccupied. There was also a general air of tension which was quite new.

By the time the bell echoed through the house on Friday evening, family, guests and servants had all caught at least a glimpse of the very large coach with a newly- painted coat of arms on its shiny door, drawn by six matched horses and attended by two coachmen and two grooms. Sarah, Marianne and
Hannah who’d shared Teddy’s binoculars and then positioned themselves carefully in the upstairs linen room, had a good view of the visitors themselves. A small man in a top hat and morning coat, who smiled cheerfully at everyone in sight, and a taller, gaunt woman, grey haired, sharp faced and opulently dressed, who made up for her husband’s amiability by not smiling at all.

‘She hasn’t improved any,’ said Marianne, as they removed themselves from the linen room and made their way back to Sarah and Hannah’s sitting room.

‘Have you met her before?’ Sarah asked, as they settled themselves comfortably.

‘Oh yes,’ she replied. ‘She came to my ball. I didn’t want to have them, but you have to do these things. If Mama hadn’t invited her, it would have been a snub to Lord Altrincham and apart from the fact that he’s really nice, he’s a colleague of Father, so there wasn’t much choice.’

‘But I thought balls were for getting girls married off,’ said Sarah abruptly. ‘Why do older people get invited?’

Marianne laughed, her dark eyes shining with mirth. She waved her hands around helplessly as if Sarah had said the wittiest thing. In a few moments Hannah and Sarah were laughing too. Although they didn’t quite see the joke, Marianne’s laughter was quite irresistible.

‘But, Sarah, you have to get them married to the
right
people,’ she explained, still laughing. ‘The parents come to make sure you don’t dance with anyone
unsuitable
. At least most of them do. Mama hates balls, but she goes in case I need rescuing from someone awful. She doesn’t interfere, but she’s there if I need an excuse to get away from someone, like the Altrinchams’ son.
He
is ghastly. He’s smaller than I am and he thinks he’s the catch of the season. And naturally his dear mama has her eye on me. You watch out for the way she says
Dear Lady Marianne.
She wouldn’t say
good morning
to me if Father weren’t an earl.’

‘Now then, Miss Sarah, you’ve done your own hair as you wish, but let me settle your dress,’ said Betty severely, as she came into her room, having left Hannah sitting by her window, her pale green silk dress decorated with rosebuds, her long fair hair piled up with ribbon to let her ringlets fall softly to her neck.

‘Stand still then, Miss Sarah,’ she went on, as she tweaked and smoothed with a practised hand. ‘Are you wantin’ a flower there at the neck like Miss Hamilton? It looks very well on her.’

‘Yes, I’m sure it does,’ Sarah agreed readily. ‘Anything looks good on my sister. But no thank you, Betty. I’m sure if I wore a rose it would droop, or fall off and leave me with the leaf and the pin. Better without.’

‘You look very nice, Miss Sarah,’ said Betty softening, her good eye looking her up and down. ‘That dark blue suits you fine though I’ve never seen a
young
lady wear just that shade,’ she added thoughtfully.

‘How kind of you, Betty,’ said Sarah, beaming with delight. ‘My sister’s the beauty in the family,’ she said, striking a lively pose, her chin up, her arms elegantly outstretched, ‘but I try not to let her down.’

She grinned at Betty as she pirouetted round the room in her first silk dress. To her further delight, she found she’d actually made her laugh.

There was a great deal of laughter over dinner, but not all of it was entirely comfortable. Lord Altrincham was exactly as Lady Anne had described him. Those who’d seen him arrive were not at all surprised to find he was lively, good-natured and a fund of amusing stories. His wife ignored most of them and certainly didn’t join in the laughter they produced. Observing her across the table, Rose wondered if the lady had decided that laughter was ill-bred.

Lady Altrincham’s sole contribution to the conversation was a detailed account of the recent Diamond Jubilee Celebrations. She seemed to be exceedingly well informed about exactly what had happened in which location, what the Queen had worn, who had attended her and what magnificent
decorations and arrangements had been made to add to the splendour of the occasion.

When her host and hostess failed to do more than listen with polite attention, it dawned on Rose that this was Lady Altrincham’s strategy to draw out comments she could deploy on later occasions. To be able to quote Lord Ashley or his lady on the subject of the Jubilee would suggest a degree of intimacy very far from the truth. She was not at all surprised when Teddy took up the conversation. With considerable skill he engaged her with a stream of civil questions about the details of all she had said. He showed great interest in her replies, but used them only to initiate further questions rather than respond with comments of his own.

Sarah was fascinated by Lady Altrincham. She could now see why Lady Anne had been so upset at the prospect of her visit. The Lady was acting a part. She’d practised it well and was quite comfortable with her performance, but she was so busy thinking about herself, she’d no time for anyone else, particularly her rather nice husband beside whom she was sitting. Her Ladyship knew what she wanted and had a rather unpleasant, determined look which broke through her carefully composed expression from time to time, when other people were speaking and she was waiting for her next opportunity to respond.

Absorbed in her thoughts about what she had
observed of the lady in action, Sarah was slow to react when the port came and the gentlemen rose to move back the chairs and let the ladies withdraw. Had she been on her feet already, she would not have seen the glance Teddy exchanged with Hannah as he leant towards her before stepping behind her chair, leaving the way free for her to follow the three older women. In the fleeting moment before she stood up, Sarah saw Hannah look up at Teddy and nod imperceptibly. His face softened and brightened, as he leant just close enough to her to brush her sleeve as she rose to her feet. He stood back and watched her as she followed Lady Anne, Lady Altrincham and her mother towards the double doors leading into the domed hall and the long, shallow staircase to the drawing room on the first floor.

For another moment her eyes followed her sister as she moved gracefully down the length of the long table. Then she collected herself, smiled warmly at Lord Altrincham who was waiting patiently, bent over her chair, his whiskery face close to hers.

‘Thank you,’ she said softly.

‘A pleasure, my dear.’

She moved steadily after the retreating figures, reminding herself not to hurry. Hannah and Marianne were now walking together, talking quietly, some distance behind the older women. Sarah took a deep breath to steady herself. She’d seen something no one else had seen nor was meant
to see and it had shaken her. Now she knew why Hannah was looking so lovely this evening. She was in love with Teddy and he with her. If they hadn’t recognised the fact themselves, then it was only a matter of time before they found out, but she was pretty sure they knew.

As she made her way slowly upstairs to the great drawing room, she felt a great sadness come over her. Hannah was her dear sister, her only sister. They had always been so close, such good friends. They always would be, she was sure, but however close she and Hannah might have been in the past, the future would now be different.

Rose had explained to Sarah long ago the purpose of such very large rooms as the main drawing room of a big house, the opportunities it gave for private conversations, or for a little solitude, even when doing one’s social duty. With her mind full of what she had seen, Sarah longed to take advantage of the view from the window or the books of sketches laid out on little tables scattered about the room, but as she came into the room and saw the little group by the marble fireplace, she knew she must make an effort. Lady Altrincham had seated herself close by her mother, who looked composed, but not at all relaxed. Lady Anne was engaged in pouring coffee which Marianne was handing round.

‘My dear Mrs Hamilton,’ Lady Altrincham 
began, with a wintry smile, ‘I know so little about Ireland except what the dear countess has told me of the beauties of Kerry. I gather the Hamilton estates are in both Antrim and Down,’ she said, leaning forward confidentially.

Sarah sat down promptly at the far end of the long settee on which her mother sat, a position from which she could face them both.

‘Mama dear, do let me explain to Lady Altrincham about the Hamilton estates,’ she said politely. ‘You know you always get the dates wrong and the Johns and the Jameses mixed up,’ she said helpfully.

‘Willingly, Sarah,’ she said quickly. ‘I’m afraid, like my own mother, I have a memory for events, but not for their exact sequence,’ she explained, smiling agreeably at Lady Altrincham.

‘James Hamilton came to Ireland as an undertaker in 1606,’ began Sarah, in a relaxed manner.

‘What?’ spluttered Lady Altrincham, putting her coffee cup down hastily.

‘An undertaker, Lady Altrincham,’ Sarah repeated clearly. ‘He undertook to build a fortified house in each of his four territories in Antrim which he’d received by grant together with two granges, one friary, the lands of Castle Toome and the fishing on the Bann from Lough Neagh to the salmon leap,’ she continued fluently.

‘And did he fulfil all his undertaking?’ the older
lady demanded, anxious their audience should put out of mind her unfortunate mistake.

‘No, of course not. He was far too clever for that,’ she replied cheerfully. ‘A fortified house costs a fortune. No, what James did was dispose of his Antrim holdings so that he could concentrate on the Down properties. Somewhere around 1606 he persuaded his two brothers Gavin and John to become denizens.’

Lady Altrincham was not going to make a second mistake. If she was unfamiliar with denizens she was certainly not going to admit it. She looked at Sarah attentively and nodded at suitable intervals as she continued her narrative. Sarah knew she wasn’t really listening, but everyone else was, so she warmed to her task and continued.