The Hamiltons of Ballydown (15 page)

‘His chief aim was to rearrange his holdings, so as to make the most of the fertile, well-wooded peninsula of Ards. He was very successful in attracting Scottish settlers to his lands and in 1608, he was knighted, though at that point he hadn’t yet acquired Dufferin. But of course, he managed that quite soon afterwards.’

Sarah paused to take her coffee from Marianne and then continued.

She outlined the various manoeuvres, many of them distinctly dubious, by which James Hamilton and his brothers became the holders of enormous tracts of very productive land. She then proceeded
to outline the activities of John Hamilton in Armagh, Robert Hamilton of Stanehous and their relationships with the Montgomery’s, the Chichesters and the O’Neills.

Rose sat fascinated by the compelling tale Sarah was able to make out of the Hamilton machinations. However dubious their methods, they had certainly achieved King James’s objective of re-settling the country with loyal subjects and developing its commercial potential.

‘What an interesting history, my dear,’ said Lady Altrincham sweetly when Sarah paused. ‘As you say, Sarah, three centuries later it is such an extended family. And such a successful one,’ she acknowledged, bowing slightly towards Rose. ‘I presume your family are still mostly associated with Dufferin and Clandeboye?’

‘Good heavens, no,’ said Sarah sharply, before Rose could open her mouth to reply. ‘We’ve been in Ireland
much
longer. We are the Hamiltons of Ballydown,’ she announced proudly, as the drawing room door opened and Lord Altrincham and Lord Ashley preceded Lord Cleeve across the wide spaces of carpet to where the ladies sat.

It was obvious next morning that Lady Anne had recovered her usual good spirits. After breakfast she offered Lady Altrincham a tour of the new formal gardens, the kitchen gardens and the greenhouses.
There, she explained to the staff what an experienced gardener Lady Altrincham was and how valuable her comments would be on their current projects.

After lunch, Teddy insisted that Lady Altrincham be photographed with the family. When she agreed most readily, he and Sarah occupied her in the studio and the gardens for an hour or more until the whole family was available to pose for a long series of pictures. By the time they’d completed everything to their satisfaction, the lady in question felt the need to rest a little.

‘Well, how did it go?’ Hannah asked, as Sarah came into their sitting room and flopped down in a large comfortable armchair.

‘She’s gone to have a rest,’ she said thankfully. ‘Teddy was great. He kept taking long exposures, so she had to keep still. There’s only tonight to get through and Marianne says she’ll do foreign travel. Ask her advice. She’ll like that. She’ll talk about anything so long as she’s the centre of attention,’ she said sharply.

‘What will you do, Sarah? You were marvellous last night on the Hamilton’s. Ma said this morning she’d no idea what she was going to say and you rescued her beautifully.’

‘I really don’t know,’ Sarah replied, beaming with pleasure. ‘I’ll see how Marianne and Teddy get on. What’s Teddy thinking of for tonight?’

To her amazement, Hannah blushed.

‘He did very well last night too,’ Sarah said slowly. ‘He just needs you to encourage him a little,’ she went on with as much nonchalance as she could manage, her eyes averted as Hannah blushed even more deeply.

The two summer months which had once seemed such an unlimited stretch of time now rapidly shrank to weeks and then to days. To everyone’s surprise, the days themselves flew faster than ever. All three Hamiltons were overcome with such mixed feelings of sadness at leaving Ashley Park and delight at the thought of being home again.

For Hannah, the feelings were particularly painful. Since the visit of the Altrinchams, she’d found herself walking or riding with Teddy more and more. While they might well set out with Sarah and Marianne, sooner or later the two girls would ride ahead, or fall behind. Whether or not Hannah and Teddy sensed the opportunities being created for them, they were certainly aware of every moment they spent together.

One pleasant, sunny afternoon, a week before the Hamilton’s were due to depart, the two of them sat together on a bench in the accessible part of the overgrown garden where Hannah had
spent so much time sketching and painting. Yet once more, Sarah and Marianne were nowhere to be seen.

‘I cannot bear the thought of your going,’ said Teddy baldly.

‘I’m trying not to think about it,’ replied Hannah softly.

They sat in silence, staring out over the vibrant colours of the flowerbeds, the only sound the comfortable hum of myriads of small bees who disappeared bodily into the glowing interiors of large throated blooms or swung perilously from the tiny ones.

‘I
am
twenty-one, but I have another year to do at Cambridge,’ he said soberly. ‘I should like to take my degree,’ he added, looking up into a nearby tree, smothered with late flowering clematis.

‘Of course you must take your degree.’

She glanced at him cautiously. His face gave not the slightest clue to his feelings, any more than they’d done the evening he’d engaged Lady Altrincham. But she knew he was distressed. His whole body was alive with a tension he could control only by sitting bolt upright. Every few minutes he drew in a great, deep breath. Between times, he seemed hardly to breathe at all.

‘What can I do, Hannah? What can I do?’ he said at last.

‘About what, Teddy?’ she said encouragingly.

‘About not wanting to part with you ever again,’ he burst out.

‘According to Miss Austen’s novels, at this point you are supposed to make me an offer,’ she said steadily.

‘And would you accept?’

‘Yes, I would.’

‘Truly?’

She nodded vigorously, as if only by some physical gesture could she persuade him she would.

‘And would your father consent, do you think?’ he persisted, a glimmer of hope softening his voice.

‘I think he could be persuaded,’ she said, smiling briefly. ‘But I don’t think
my
father is the problem. You must think of
your
parents, Teddy.’ I have neither money, nor title. I’m hardly a suitable match.’

‘Hannah, my love,
you
don’t need money or title. You can have mine. You can have everything I can give you, if you’ll be my wife. But you’ll have to help me, like you did when the Altrinchams came. I’d never have managed that evening but for you. How do I manage this?’

‘Of course I’ll help you. We’ll help each other,’ she said, putting out her hand and resting it on his. ‘We must work out what it’s best to do.’

He turned to her and smiled, a warm, glowing smile, such a rare thing with him she was quite overwhelmed.

‘Can we seal our promise before we work out our strategy?’ he asked softly, as he slipped his arm around her.

‘Yes,’ she whispered, as he drew her into his arms and kissed her.

Even if Sarah had not spotted Hannah and Teddy leaving the old garden hand in hand, she would have guessed something had happened from the sparkle in Hannah’s eyes and the lightness of her step. She and Marianne had long ago shared their thoughts about Hannah and Teddy. They agreed
something
had happened, but before they could celebrate, they had to find out exactly what.

Lady Anne was completely taken aback later that same afternoon when Teddy asked to speak to her alone. She’d never in her life seen Teddy so animated or so obviously and openly happy. She was even more amazed when he managed to tell her quite calmly that he wanted to marry Hannah. He’d asked her, he said, and she’d accepted him and now he’d like
her
advice about approaching his father.

‘Teddy darling, I thought I was so old nothing would ever surprise me again, but you’ve managed it. Hannah is a dear girl and I’m sure we’ll find a way, but do remember she is
only
eighteen …’

‘And what age were you, Mama, when you said “yes” to Father?’

‘I was
nearly
nineteen,’ she said, trying to sound
firm, ‘and your father was
much
older than you are.’ Then she laughed. ‘Go away and let me think and don’t say anything to your father yet. I want to talk to Mrs Hamilton before I speak to him,’ she said, shooing him away. ‘Send Betty up to ask her if she would come down to me now. If she’s not too busy with her letters,’ she added quickly.

Rose was equally surprised when Betty tapped her door and made her request. She’d left her friend not an hour earlier, so they could both catch up on their correspondence, having spent the day on a most pleasant drive with Lord Harrington to the part of his estate nearest the Somerset border.

‘I have a surprise for you,’ Lady Anne said, as Rose crossed the room and came to sit beside her in the wide bay window.

‘Nice, I hope?’ she said, laughing.

‘I hope you’ll think so. I do. Or rather, I think it will be nice when you and I solve one or two little problems,’ she added carefully.

‘Now you’re teasing me. I’m consumed by curiosity,’ she responded, settling herself more comfortably. ‘Now tell me, do.’

‘My dear Teddy has had the great good sense to fall in love with your daughter,’ said Lady Anne without more ado. ‘She’s only eighteen and he has a year to do at Cambridge, but it’s perfectly clear they’ve made up their minds. I’ve never known
Teddy so absolutely sure of what he wants. She’s the only girl he’s ever looked at. Three years of balls and house parties and he’s never so much as remembered a girl’s name when I’ve asked him. Will you and John give your blessing?’

She opened her mouth to speak and then closed it again. Now that Lady Anne had put it into words, she realised she’d been aware of something new in Hannah’s behaviour, but Teddy had been so generous with the time he’d given to Sarah and her camera, she couldn’t quite see how he’d come to know Hannah well enough to fall in love with her.

‘I think the bigger question is what you and Harrington think,’ she said slowly. ‘It’s hardly the match he might have had in mind, if he’s thought about a match at all.’

‘Oh, he’s thought about it all right. Don’t imagine we don’t have to make our appearance at these wretched balls. I won’t tell you what he says about some of the girls who think Teddy would be a good catch. Like Lady Altrincham’s daughter. As great a charmer as her mother,’ she added sharply. ‘Besides, Harrington will ask me. And I’m asking you. What shall we do, Rose? Now we are old and wise,’ she went on with a grin. ‘Teddy did point out that I wasn’t much older than Hannah when I said yes to Harrington. Though Harrington
was
twenty-five.’

‘If we’re going to draw on our own experience, we
can hardly object, can we?’ said Rose, thoughtfully.

‘Would you want to object?’

‘No, I wouldn’t,’ said Rose, shaking her head vigorously.

She paused before she continued more soberly.

‘I’m only concerned at the question of status. Hannah’s mother was a servant, if you remember,’ she said, with a small, wry smile. ‘Such things are important for their future, as you know only too well.’

‘Yes, I suppose I do see what you mean, Rose,’ she replied reluctantly. ‘Hannah is prettier and better educated than most of these girls Teddy’s been trying to avoid. She’s very cool and steady, far more ladylike than Marianne. I can’t imagine her having problems even if some stupid gossip found out how you and I became friends,’ she went on more forcefully. ‘But I expect you have a point. You usually do.’

Rose sat quite still, letting herself take in fully what had happened. With the wisdom of hindsight, she could see it all now quite plainly. It had been there in one of Sarah’s first photographs. The gardener picking the peach. She’d seen something in the two reflected figures standing so close so unselfconsciously watching Sarah take her picture. But only now could she make the connection.

‘Don’t forget now, Rose, thanks to Sarah, Lady Altrincham will be boasting in all the best places
how she met the Ballydown Hamiltons at Ashley Park.’

They both laughed and put out their hands, each to the other.

‘The same lady is more likely to go and look us up in Burke’s Peerage before she does anything of the sort,’ Rose retorted. ‘I’m afraid she won’t find us there.’

‘It’s none of her business,’ said her friend fiercely. ‘Teddy can marry whoever he wants and Hannah is a dear girl. I confess I’ve got to know Sarah better, but I can see why Hannah appeals so much to Teddy. She’s just what he needs,’ she added, thinking again of an assurance in Teddy’s voice she’d never heard before.

‘Oh, Rose, can you believe it?’ she burst out suddenly. ‘You and me, sitting here, discussing our children’s marriage? It seems no time at all since we were discussing our own. You do realise, don’t you, that if we can’t be sisters, it looks as if we’re going to be mothers-in-law!’

They sat on, talking quietly, their laughter easing the tension as they gave their minds to the problems and difficulties they could foresee for the two young people. In the end, it was Lady Anne who hit upon a plan that might resolve Rose’s unease about Hannah’s status. Hannah should go with Marianne to finishing school in Switzerland.

‘Marianne would love it and they get on so
well together,’ she said, enthusiastically. ‘I’m sure Hannah will agree if she knows it will help Teddy. Switzerland is lovely, so I’m told. And I do know where it is,’ she insisted, smiling. ‘The school isn’t far from Zurich. It’s very expensive and quite international. A year there and Hannah would have no difficulties with the likes of Lady Altrincham or her daughter. It would be my engagement present to my future daughter-in-law. I’m sure your dear John wouldn’t deny me that.’

From the hall below the dressing bell rang.

‘Come, Rose, what do you say? Shall we put our plan to them after dinner? If they agree, I shall speak to Harrington tonight and you can write to John in the morning.’

‘It’s a very good idea, Anne,’ she said warmly. ‘You’re very generous. The more Hannah can learn of the world she has to enter, the better it will be for both of them. I’m sure Teddy will understand.’

They kissed each other and parted. As Rose walked slowly along the wide landing towards her own room quite suddenly she had an image of John on a hot day in Kerry, in a groom’s coat that was too small for him, swinging her up into a Molyneux coach to keep an irritable old lady company. What
was
he going to say to his eldest daughter marrying Richard Molyneux Harrington and giving his blessing to Lord Cleeve, his prospective son-in-law?

Neither John Hamilton nor Lord Ashley raised any objection to the proposed marriage, none at least that stood up to the gentle and considered persuasion of their respective wives. John’s immediate concern was a fear he might not see Hannah before she departed. As for Lord Ashley’s, his concern was that none of the manor houses on his estate might be available for the young couple in a year’s time.

Rose and Anne agreed that Hannah must go home, however briefly. Her return journey to London to join Marianne required an escort. With admirable timing, Anne’s sister Lily, who still lived in the family house in Dublin, wrote to say she would be coming to London for her annual autumn visit, just when Marianne would be making her preparations for departure. John could take his daughter to Dublin by train and deliver her to a house he knew well enough, for he and Rose had spent part of the first week of their married life there.

As for a suitable home for the young couple, Anne simply assured her husband that something would turn up. She had been so right, so often, in such circumstances, that Harrington forgot all about it and began to enjoy his summer break. He rode with his wife each morning, enjoyed the company of their guests in the afternoon and nodded off after dinner, overcome by much fresh air and two or three glasses of port with his son. To his great surprise and pleasure, his son seemed to have developed a firm
grasp of the political situation in England, along with an awareness of the growing tension in South Africa and Russia’s designs on the areas of China adjacent to their southern and eastern boundaries.

The last week was a happy one for everyone at Ashley Park. The engagement of Hannah and Teddy, symbolised by a pretty ring he’d recently inherited from his grandmother, was celebrated with outings and picnics, boating parties and tea on the lawn. Sarah had the privilege of photographing the whole family, complete with staff, arranging them to her liking on the marble surround of the fountain.

Early that same morning, she’d taken Teddy and Marianne on horseback. Now she posed Hannah and Teddy together, hand in hand, beneath a rose covered arch in the garden. Finally, in the late afternoon, she tapped quietly at the door of Lady Anne’s sitting room, knowing her mother was there. She enquired politely if she might photograph them, talking by the open window. It would only take a moment, she said.

She excused herself as soon as she’d taken her pictures and ran back upstairs to her own room. She pushed the door closed behind her, threw herself down on the window-seat and wept. It had been a wonderful summer. She’d made such good friends with Marianne and Teddy. But now it was over. Hannah and Marianne would go off to Switzerland, Teddy back to Cambridge, to take up lives utterly
remote from hers. All she had was going back to school in Banbridge. Boring old school. And no Hannah to share it with. Never again to cycle down the hill with her. Never again complain about the teachers they didn’t like. Never again go sketching with her and Ma in the pony and trap. Soon Hannah would be Lady Cleeve, living in a big house somewhere in Gloucestershire.