108. An Archangel Called Ivan (9 page)

“I am sure there are fairies dancing here at night,” she said to find out what they believed.

“My Mama told me there were fairies here,” Daisy said, “also goblins under the big trees, who live under the earth. But the Governesses we have had would not let us listen for them.”

“You can come here whenever you want,” Arliva promised, “but for the moment we must think of Star and Sunshine who have not been ridden until today for such a long time. When we come out of the wood, we must give them a long gallop which is so good for their legs.”

“I will lead the way,” Johnnie proposed. “I know the way to the old mill and the lake which I expect you will like. I have always wanted to swim in it.”

“As long as it is safe, there is no reason why you should not swim now that the weather is hot,” Arliva said.

The children stared at her.

“Do you mean that?” Johnnie asked.

“Of course I mean it,” Arliva replied. “What is the use of a lake if you are not going to swim in it?”

“I just don’t believe you’re a Governess,” Johnnie piped up. “I believe you have come down from Heaven to help us. It has been really awful for us since Papa and Mama died and we have not had any fun.”

“Well we are going to have lots of fun now,” Arliva promised. “I am sure that there must be children of your age who can come to a party.”

Johnnie shook his head.

“We have not seen anyone for ages and I find it so difficult to remember their names.”

Arliva made a mental note that she would find out who they were and somehow invite them to come along and play with the children.

Johnnie should have games with friends of his own age and the twins were so adorable she felt sure that there must be local people who would love to entertain them.

‘It’s ridiculous for them to be shut away like this,’ she reflected.

They galloped over one field and then back again to the lake for Johnnie to have a look where he could swim tomorrow.

“I am sure that I have a bathing suit somewhere,” he said, “but I have not seen it for a long time.”

“If you cannot find it, we will buy one,” Arliva told him. “There must be shops somewhere near here.”

“There is a town but it’s three miles away,” Johnnie replied. “The Governesses have always said it was too far for us to drive there in the pony cart.”

“We will have to take one of the bigger carriages,” Arliva answered. “It’s a good idea, Johnnie, for you to make a list of all the things you think we need which have been forgotten during these past years. Then you can add up what will be the cost of them, so that we take enough money with us.”

She felt that this would be a good way of starting their lessons, but, as she suspected, Johnnie was not aware of it.

“Of course I will,” he agreed. “And I am sure that Grandpapa will let us spend the money, which was always here when Papa was alive, but we were not allowed to have any of it after he died.”

“He will see to it, I am sure,” Arliva said. “Now take us back through the wood I found so attractive. I have thought of something special we might do there one day.”

“What is that?” Rosie asked.

“It’s a secret and I will have to whisper it to you when you are in bed.”

“That will be exciting,” Daisy laughed.

They then rode back through the wood and Arliva thought that it was a pretty wood for children.

There was a pool in the centre and she knew that they would have to learn the story of ‘
Tom and the Water
Babies
’.

There was a little house used by woodmen where they kept the tools they did not want to carry backwards and forwards to the house.

New ideas were surging through her mind as they rode back somewhat reluctantly because it was long after teatime.

“It has been so lovely! Lovely!” Rosie cried. “Do you really mean we can really ride again tomorrow?”

“Of course we must,” Arliva told her. “As you can see the poor ponies have grown far too fat with not having enough exercise. Although you may feel a little stiff, it will soon wear off, but only if you are riding because you need exercise as well as your ponies.”

The twins gave a hoot of delight and Johnnie said,

“Promise you will stay with us and not go away because you are bored.”

“At present I am not the least bit bored,” Arliva assured him. “I am enjoying every moment of being here. But, of course, you will have to help me and we must think of new things to do every day.”

She paused thoughtfully before she went on,

“But the twins must have children of their own age to play with.”

Johnnie stared at her.

“There used to be children round here when I was little, but after Mama and Papa died they did not come to see us anymore.”

“I expect they did not realise now much you missed them,” Arliva answered. “Leave it to me and you will have to tell me their names.”

“Mr. Marshall will know all their names,” Johnnie said. “He comes on Thursday and Friday to do the wages for people in the house and on the estate. He also copes with all Grandpapa’s correspondence.”

When he said ‘Grandpapa’, Arliva realised that she had almost forgotten Lord Wilson whose rooms were on the other side of the house to where she and the children now were.

When they rode back, it was to find a delicious tea waiting for them in their schoolroom.

There were lots of teacakes and scones, also hot toast that Arliva had not been offered since she was a child.

It was served in a silver toast-rack and the children jumped with joy at what they saw.

Evans stood by with a wry smile on his face and, when he saw that Arliva was watching him, he winked his eye and said,

“You can be quite sure we wouldn’t have carried all this up two flights of stairs to the nursery!”

“I sensed you would say that,” Arliva laughed. “So please do tell the cook we are very very grateful and the children will come and thank her when they have finished their tea for all that she has produced for them.”

Evans looked so surprised that she thought for a moment he was going to refuse.

Then he said,

“I’m sure cook’ll be very pleased to see them.”

They all ate a very large tea and Arliva found that the exercise had given her an appetite, also because it was so thrilling to be doing something different from what had been done here before.

She could understand why the Governesses before her had found it extremely dull at Wilson Hall.

She would have to find out if there were neighbours who would welcome the three children and make life very different for them than it had been.

It was, she thought, Johnnie, who was suffering the most, because in a few years’ time when he had to go to Boarding School, he would find it very difficult if he had been on his own as he was at present.

Instead he should be competing with boys of his own age.

She was still thinking of what she should do next when they rose from the tea-table and Evans led the way into the kitchen where the cook was waiting for them.

It was not until late in the afternoon after they had explored the garden and the greenhouses that Lord Wilson sent for Arliva.

She walked along the passage to his sitting room feeling a little nervous in case he should think that she was too young to be Governess to the children.

When she entered the room, he was seated on a sofa with a rug over his knees and she realised that he was very much older and weaker than she had expected.

When she stood in front of him, he began,

“So you are the new Governess. I hear that you are turning the place topsy-turvy.”

“It is not quite as bad as all that, my Lord,” Arliva replied, “but I think that everyone had forgotten that the children are now too old for a nursery.”

“So you had them moved downstairs into the best rooms,” Lord Wilson said. “Do you really think that will improve their brains?”

He spoke in a rather gruff but not offensive tone.

Arliva gave a little laugh.

“I hope so, my Lord, but I expect you know as well as I do that children have to be enticed into learning not forced into it.”

“I wonder who told you that,” Lord Wilson asked.

There was silence for a moment.

And then unexpectedly he enquired,

“Where do you come from?”

As the question came as such a surprise, Arliva told him the truth.

“I come from Gloucestershire, which is where I was born.”

“Gloucestershire,” the old man said slowly. “I had a friend there at one time. Lord Ashdown was his name. He made a great fortune for himself very cleverly and I wish now that I had followed his advice.”

For a moment because he had mentioned her father, Arliva thought that he had recognised her.

Then she realised that he was looking back into the past and that he was more or less talking to himself.

“If I had gone into the Diplomatic Corps,” the old man was saying, “like old Ashdown, then I would be a millionaire today. Although what I would do with it, I have no idea.”

Arliva thought it best to be silent for the moment and only after what was quite a long pause, did she say,

“I do think, my Lord, that the children should have friends of their own age and it is certainly important for Johnnie to be in touch with other boys before he goes to Boarding School.”

“And where do you think you would find them?” he asked. “When my son was alive, there used to be people coming in for luncheon, inspecting the horses and admiring the garden. Where have they all gone to? They cannot all be dead!”

Arliva knew the answer to this one was that they found the old man, who was clearly almost in his dotage, too dull to bother about.

Then she said,

“I hope you will not mind, my Lord, if I ask other boys and girls in the neighbourhood to come to luncheon or tea. Then to ride or swim with your grandchildren.”

“If you can find them, you ask them,” he replied. “Where are you thinking of swimming?”

“In the lake of course,” Arliva answered. “I believe it will be fun for them to learn to swim and also good for their health. We can also hold a large party with lots of balloons.”

“Ideas! Ideas!” Lord Wilson said. “It’s always the same. Women come here with ideas, then before they have even put them into operation they leave. Too lonely here, they tell me. What do they expect, an Army of soldiers to amuse them?”

Arliva laughed.

“I expect it is what some of them expect these days, but I am sure that there are many people in this part of the world who would love to come to see this beautiful house, admire your pictures and, of course, your superb library.”“Books I am too old to read,” he remarked sharply.

Arliva realised that if he had trouble with his eyes, it was a sore point.

“I have some ideas that I hope you will approve of, my Lord,” Arliva said. “If they provide companions for your grandchildren, I am sure that it will make them very happy.”

There was a pause and then, as he did not speak, she went on,

“Thank you so much for saying I can arrange things as I want them to be, my Lord. I don’t think you will be disappointed with the result.”

The old man did not answer and she turned towards the door.

“Thank you, my Lord,” she said, “and I hope that I will be able to do all that I have suggested.”

She did not wait for him to answer, but went from the room closing the door quietly behind her.

At least he had not prevented her in any way from putting into action the plan she had at the moment, which she thought it would be a mistake to talk about until it was in full swing.

*

She spent the time before supper playing the piano in the music room.

She suggested that the children should sing some of the songs that were popular in London. They enjoyed them and she made a mental note that she must buy more songs for them.

When the children had gone up to bed, she asked Evans,

“Where is the nearest town?”

“Now you’re asking,” Evans replied. “There be two, but they’re each about the same distance from here.”

“Which one has the best shops?” she enquired.

He laughed.

“And you should add to that, ‘which are the most expensive’.”

“We will go to one of them tomorrow morning,” she announced, “as I have some items I want to buy that I am sure will be of interest to the children.”

“When I heard them singing this evening,” Evans said, “it were like the old days. Their father and mother, when they first married, would often sing duets together.”

He paused before he continued,

“Every few weeks we’d have an orchestra to play after the dinner parties and there’d be dancing. Ah, them were the days. I had three footmen under me then and I can assure you they were all busy.”

“I am certain they were,” Arliva said. “And I am positive that, if my plans work out as I hope, you will need them again.”

“That’ll be the day!” Evans exclaimed.

“You wait and see. Anyway don’t forget that we want a carriage at nine-thirty tomorrow morning to take us to the town.”

She knew that Evans was longing to ask her more questions as to what she wanted to buy.

She slipped away upstairs feeling that, if her plan worked, it would be very exciting. But if it did not, they would all laugh at her.

She looked into the girls’ room and saw that the twins were both fast asleep, each of them holding in their arms one of their favourite dolls.

Johnnie, however, was in his pyjamas, but seated at the window sketching the trees below in the garden and drawing the moon above them, which was only just to be seen faintly in the sky.

Arliva looked over his shoulder.

“You draw very well,” she said. “Somehow I did not think of you as an artist.”

“I want to draw and I want to paint pictures like the ones in the Gallery,” he replied. “Do you think I will ever be able to do that?”

“Of course you will. I must find a real artist to teach you properly and show you how to use your paints effectively.”

“I don’t have any,” Johnnie told her. “I asked the last Governess if I could have some and she said that it was a waste of money for me to try to paint when the house was full of pictures by great artists.”