The Emperor (65 page)

‘
I'm four, nearly,' Fanny said proudly. 'Uncle Chetwyn,
don't you think four is old enough to have a pony of my
own?'

‘
Well, that depends a lot on the person,' Chetwyn said gravely. 'For instance, if a person hasn't managed to train
their dog not to jump up at people, it might look as though
they weren't very good at controlling animals, mightn't it?’

Fanny's lip jutted, but she hauled on Puppy's rope, albeit
rather ineffectually.

‘
That dog's a damned nuisance,' Edward said. 'You see
we've had to insist she keeps it tied to her, or she lets it go,
and it gets under everyone's feet and frightens the horses.'

‘
I thought perhaps the rope was to keep Fanny tied
down, not the dog,' Chetwyn said, and James grinned.

‘
About half and half — isn't that so, Fan? You need
putting in a cavesson and lungeing for an hour every
morning, according to your uncle Ned.' He smiled down
affectionately at his daughter, and she wound herself round
his leg and gazed up at him wheedlingly.

‘I'd be
really
good if I had my own pony,' she coaxed.

James laughed. ‘Put you on horseback, and we'd never
know where you were,' he said, ruffling her dark curls. 'It'd
take more than Puppy to weigh you down. But how are you,
Chetwyn? You're looking fagged to death! Too much
frowsting indoors in Brighton, and too many late nights, I'll
be bound. We must get you out in the fresh air now you're here. Have you seen my plans for the new stables? It's my
latest project, you see. I always had a fancy to dabble in
architecture.’

He spread out the plans and the three men bent over
them.

‘
Rather ambitious, ain't it?' Chetwyn said, poking at it
with a finger. 'Like a glorified greenhouse. What's this
thing? It looks like a fountain.'

‘
That's what it is,' James said defensively. 'You're not
very appreciative. This is my masterpiece, you know. Don't
you see the benefits? A circular building, with the boxes all
facing into a central courtyard covered with a great glass
dome, so that the weather need never bother us; and in the
centre the fountain, with a large basin for filling buckets.

Every stall is the same distance away, you see. You obvi
ously have no idea how much time is spent watering in a
stable like this — probably more time than on any other
single job.'

‘
Well, I see the point of the basin — but what are the
statue and the fountain for?'

‘
For beauty, of course,' James said indignantly. 'What a
philistine you are!'

‘
He's roasting you,' Edward said. 'I've already described
your plan to him on the way over. It's going to be quite a
sight when it's finished, don't you think?'

‘
And when will it be finished?' Chetwyn asked, looking
around him doubtfully at the evident lack of progress.

‘
Oh, not for four or five years, I don't suppose,' said
James.

‘
You sound positively cheerful about it,' Chetwyn com
mented, and James grinned.

‘
It keeps me occupied. Fanny, what's Puppy eating?
Don't let him do that.'

‘
I'm looking forward to the races next week. What's the
favourite?' Chetwyn asked. 'I hope the Gold Plate will be
coming back to Morland Place for another year.'

‘
Of course it will — our colt Aboukir is going to come
home by a street, or even two. He's so fast he'll be past the
winning post before the others reach the first turn. Come
and see him,' James said, rolling up the plans.

‘
Papa, Papa, then can Uncle Chetwyn see me ride?'
pleaded Fanny.

‘
Yes, all right, my star,' James said, and grinned at
Chetwyn. 'It is a great treat, you understand. She don't
perform for everyone.'

‘
So you keep telling us,' Edward said cynically, 'but
we've never yet discovered who it is she
won't
perform for.’

*

Later they all went back to Morland Place together for
dinner. Ned and Chetwyn took Puppy in the gig, and James rode Nez Carré alongside, with Fanny astride the saddle in
front of him, her short legs almost at right angles, and her
stout boots waggling at the end of them.

‘
She reminds me sometimes of Lucy when she was a little
girl,' James said, 'except that Mama could never keep shoes
on Lucy.' Chetwyn's face revealed nothing as he concen
trated on preventing Puppy from walking over the side of
the gig.

‘
This dog seems to have absolutely no sense whatever,'
he commented with a sort of scientific interest.

‘
Not my fault — Mary Ann picked him out,' James said
cheerfully. 'But how is Lucy? Is she never going to come to
Morland Place again? I thought her latest little adventure
was over.’

Chetwyn shot him a hard look as Edward said, 'What
adventure?'

‘
All her adventures are over for the time being,' Chetwyn
said lightly. 'She's pregnant again. That's why she didn't
come — she don't care to travel so near her time.'

‘
You didn't say,' Edward said in surprise. 'Why didn't
you tell us before? When's the baby due?'

‘
In September,' Chetwyn said, and sought about for some
way to change the subject, which amused James, who obvi
ously knew all about it. 'But tell me, Ned, who is going to
give the mid-week ball, if the Chelmsfords don't, on account
of Charles's health?'

‘
We are,' Edward said, successfully diverted, 'though of course it can't be such a big affair, since we only have the
long saloon to dance in. But we are going to have twenty to
dinner, and thirty couples for the ball, and if they can't all
dance at once, they will have to make do. We'll have supper
laid out in the dining saloon, and the drawing-room for cards, and those who aren't dancing can stroll about the
great hall. I dare say it will work very well.'

‘
People never mind a crush,' Chetwyn said, out of a
wealth of London experience. 'It convinces them that they
are enjoying themselves. And if you can't ask so many
people as the Chelmsfords, it only makes
your
ball the more exclusive. But how will you know who to leave out?'

‘
Oh, Mary Ann is seeing to all that,' Edward said. 'She
has made out the guest list, and sent the invitations, and
she's been in conference with the cook for weeks.'

‘Danvers is a very different proposition from Monsieur
Barnard,' James said with amusement. 'Try to confer with
Barnard, and he would be as likely to attack you with a
basting spoon, but Danvers says yes, madam and no,
madam and squirms like a puppy, and says what a privilege
it is to work for someone who takes so much interest in his
art.'

‘
It makes for a quieter household,' Edward said defen
sively.

‘
Yes, but
so
dull!' James replied, and then gave in to
Fanny's ceaseless demands for a canter just as far as the
barbican.

*

Aboukir won his race, not precisely by streets, but by a good
margin, which gave added zest to the celebrations, although
his name had made him so popular with the public that the
Morlands had not been able to get good odds anywhere.

All the same, the Gold Plate was prominently displayed
in the dining-saloon when the dinner party sat down.
Enthusiastic toasts were drunk, and James declared that he
would try his hand at equestrian painting, and have a
portrait of Aboukir on the wall by the same time next year.

An elegant dinner was spread on a table elaborately
decorated, as was the new style. Mary Ann, now seated at the foot of the table as mistress of the house, admired her
handiwork, and felt that the occasion was a kind of culmin
ation. Her place was now secure: she had staff who were
loyal to her, her orders were obeyed, and everything was
done as
she
liked it.

The centrepiece of the table was a peacock with its tail
on, and the flowers, ribbons, and other decorations were in
blue, green and gold to complement it. The removes were
green soups — chicken and verjuice, pigeon and pistachio,
and pea soup with forcemeat balls. In the first course there
was a salmon pie in the shape of the fish, with a gilded crust,
a roast goose set about with golden apples, a lemon
pudding, and a dish of pike with spinach; in the second
chickens in egg-sauce, a tansy custard, and pistachio creams amongst the many dishes. As the china service was blue and
gold, the colour of the dinner itself matched the decorations,
and Mary Ann, gracious and smiling, received many
compliments from the delighted and amused guests.

After dinner, the party gathered in the drawing-room
while they waited for the evening guests to arrive. Then
Fanny made her appearance, dressed in a new frock of
white muslin sewn all over with tiny knots of pink ribbon, and a broad pink satin sash. Awed into her best behaviour,
she made a good impression, holding Dakers' hand, smiling,
curtseying, and allowing the gentlemen to pat her cheek or
tweak her curls. Then James caught Dakers's eye, and she
was hurried away before the strain of being good became
too much for her and she began to demand cakes and to be
allowed to stay up for the ball.

Some time later, when the ball was in full swing, Edward
and Chetwyn were strolling along the edge of the long
saloon arm in arm, watching the dancers.

‘
How red-faced they are, and how they puff and blow at
their pleasures!' Chetwyn remarked languidly. 'They must
all be in love, to go
^a
t it so hard. Look at that one — her
feathers are drooping with the heat, but she skips like a
spring lamb!’

lust as you said, they don't seem to mind the crush,'
Edward said. 'I think it's a success, don't you?'

‘
Do you remember,' Chetwyn said a while later, 'how
your mother used to pursue us around the house to make us
dance with the young women no-one else would stand up
with?'

‘
Poor Mother,' Edward said. 'She worked so hard to get
us married.'

‘Well, age has released us now, my dear!'

‘
Yes, we need never dance again. Now Jamie's master of
the house, he can stand up with all the ugly women, while
you and I enjoy ourselves.’

They stopped at the corner and watched the couple at the
head of the set dance down, cheeks bright, eyes sparkling,
feet flying.

‘
Poor Mother indeed,' Chetwyn mused. 'Isn't it frighten
ing to think, my dear, that now there's a new generation
growing up, Fanny and Polly and Minnie, and Bobbie and
Marcus, to start the whole thing going again? Like an
infernal engine, grinding away, year after year; and all the
things we've learned at such cost they will have to learn for
themselves just as painfully. What's it all for, Ned? Where
does it all end?’

Edward considered for a moment. 'You need some more
wine,' he concluded. 'Let's go and find a bottle and take it
to the steward's room, away from all this noise, and have a comfortable coze.'

‘
Good idea,' said Chetwyn, and flung an arm across his
shoulder, and they slipped out from the brilliantly-lit saloon
and down the chapel stairs to privacy.

*

’The indefatigables,' James said much later still to his wife as
they watched the last six couples dancing down yet another
set. 'I think perhaps this ought to be the last, however.'

‘
Yes,' said Mary Ann. 'I shall give the signal to the
musicians. It's very late. Besides,' she added briskly, 'all the
soup is gone, and the patties.’

James smiled at that. 'I think it has been a great success,'
he said after a moment. 'I am surprised at how many
dancers managed to squeeze in here. I'm sure more people
came than were invited.’