The Marriage Wheel (5 page)

CHAPTER THREE

Frederica s
lept badly that night in the room that had been hers for such a short time. She heard the owls hooting in the trees outside, and the moonlight flooded the room and bathed her in a silvery wonder that had the effect of alerting her brain still more, and she knew that if she didn
’
t get up and draw the curtains she wouldn
’
t sleep at all. But when she got up and saw the shaggy lawns and the overgrown borders that made up the grounds of Farthing Hall all tenderly touched by moonlight; and when she caught a whiff of roses from the rose-garden and heard the mellow chimes of the stable clock, a quite extraordinary lump came into her throat
...
and she knew that what was the matter with her was acute disappointment because she had to leave all this behind and return to London.

She had been getting on so well with Lucille, and even the gardener had had friendly words for her. Lucille had been talking about taking furniture from other rooms to make her room comfortable, and going into the nearby town to buy fresh curtain material for the windows. The house was such an attractive house, and it would all be so much more attractive when all the plans for modernisation had been carried out and the furnishing and interior decorating had been completed. At the moment the place was rather like a great empty
barn—a gem of an early Tudor barn
that no one would ever wish to destroy because it was so beautiful, and the possibilities in connection with it were endless.

But she would never see the results of all the planned endeavour, because its owner had ridden rough-shod over her as if she wasn
’
t merely a stupid young woman but a thing of no account. She felt bruised as if he had actually attacked her instead of simply disposed of her with a few contemptuous words. To him his new car was so all-important that her battered feelings didn
’
t matter.

And there was Electra
...
and Rosaleen to be faced when she got back. She was quite sure they were so certain she was going to hold down this job that they had already done most of their packing in Notting Hill, and were simply waiting word from her that it was all right for them to buy their railway tickets.

She thought with horror that they might even have given up the tenancy of the
flat
and left themselves homeless.

In which case she would have to rush around when she got back to London and find somewhere else for them to live, for neither Electra nor Rosaleen were capable of doing that sort of thing. But they were capable of taking matters for granted, and making fantastically unwise moves. And the trouble was they never either of them considered they were possibly unwise until it was too late.

After this very disturbing thought she found it impossible to go to sleep, and by the time dawn broke she was already up and dressed, and her single suitcase was packed and ready to be dumped in the local taxi.

She had arranged over the telephone the night before to be picked up by Mr. Wilkins. Unless he delayed, or his car broke down, she would be on the London train by nine o
’
clock.

Lucille had left a
corner
of the kitchen table laid for her breakfast. They had said goodbye the night before, and the housekeeper had seemed quite genuinely sorry that Frederica was not to be given at least a trial. She had tried to soften the blow for the girl, explaining that Mr. Lestrode was a man who made quick decisions, and very occasionally changed his mind. It was just possible, if he couldn
’
t find anyone to replace her with the speed he usually liked to arrange matters, she might yet be given an opportunity to prove herself.

But Frederica had shaken her head.

“
I wouldn
’
t work for him now, if—if—!
”

“
I understand,
”
Lucille said sympathetically.
“
He
’
s rubbed you up the wrong way, and you feel he
’
s terribly arrogant. But behind the arrogance there is something else, you know. He can be quite kind!
”

“
I
’
ll take your word for it,
”
Frederica observed, with a forlorn smile, and wondered at the same time why people with kindly impulses so frequently hid them under the most unlikeable exteriors.

For nothing that Humphrey Lestrode could do now would convince her that he was not an extremely hard man at heart. In addition to being a very unfair man!

The worst happened on the way to the station, and Mr. Wilkins
’
taxi broke down. By the time they reached the station the London train had passed through it without picking up a single passenger, and there wouldn
’
t be another train until just after midday. Frederica could have cried with vexation because every minute counted now, and the vague certainty that was building up inside her that her mother and sister were shortly to be bereft of a roof to cover them filled her with a feeling very close to despair. She was having one of what she privately believed to be clairvoyant forebodings
...
and if it was something more than a foreboding then she couldn
’
t afford to be sitting at the side of a railway track for three hours waiting for another train.

But that was exactly what she had to do, although she filled in part of the time exploring the little country town which was the local shopping town for people who lived in places like Farthing Hall, as well as their nearest contact with the railway. And half-way through the morning she bought herself a coffee in an old-fashioned cafe, which revived her somewhat, and after that she made her way back to the station and sat on a seat outside the bookstall waiting for the London train.

At a quarter to twelve she was comparing her watch with the station clock, and deciding that her watch was a little fast, when she heard a slight commotion outside in the station yard. A car swooped into the yard and came to rest within a yard of the entrance, and the bright spring sunshine sparkled on its bonnet and on its glittering fixtures. Frederica glanced casually over her shoulder and expected to be joined on the platform by some plutocrat on his way to the metropolis, and not being in a position to recognise the car imagined it had been driven by someone who was fearful of missing the train—judging by the slight grating of tyres and the hurried slamming of a car door.

Her utter astonishment, therefore, when she recognised the
“
plutocrat
”
as Mr. Humphrey Lestrode, her employer of a couple of days, was so great that she stared up at him open-mouthed. He strode towards the seat on which she had already spent so much time that morning, and with tweed-clad efficiency and hostile coldness stood in front of her.

“
Come on!
”
he said.
“
Get into the car! I was afraid you were half-way to London by now, but there was just a chance that you had missed the earlier train
...
Knowing Wilkins taxi I thought there was quite a strong hope! And luckily the hope has become reality!
”

Frederica gaped up at him.

“
But, Mr. Lestrode—
”

“
No
‘
buts
’
,
”
he ordered her.
“
Get into the car.
”

He stooped and picked up her solitary suitcase, and without giving her an opportunity to enter into further conversation turned and led the way outside.

Frederica had practically to run to keep up with him.

“
I do wish you
’
d tell me why you
’
re behaving like this,
”
she demanded breathlessly, as he put her in the seat beside the driving-seat.
“
Last night you told me that you couldn
’
t employ me—
”

“
The situation is somewhat changed.
”
But his tone could not have been grimmer, or more unfriendly.
“
Last night I said I
would
not employ you, and today I find that I
’
ll have to give you a trial. If you can
’
t drive a car perhaps you can help the gardener, or Lucille, or do a bit of interior decorating
... Y
ou
’
re reasonably decorative to look at,
”
with such a jaundiced expression in his eyes, however, as
he gazed at her, that she realized this was not intended to be a compliment.

“
I
’
m sorry,
”
she said helplessly,
“
but I simply don
’
t understand
...”

They shot away from the station like an arrow from a bow.

“
Don
’
t you?
”
he enquired in a sceptical voice.
“
Then you
’
re not very familiar with the reactions of your mother and sister. If you were you might have anticipated that something like this would happen.
”

“
Something like what?
”
And there was alarm in her voice.

“
My old friend and business manager, Robert Rawlinson, telephoned me while I was still in the middle of my breakfast this morning and warned me that I could expect a visitation ... on the grand scale! It would appear that your mother and sister called on him yesterday afternoon and explained their intention of descending on Farthing Hall with all their impedimenta, their plan of campaign being to take over the cottage that is usually allocated to the chauffeur and dig themselves in there. Most unfortunately Robert Rawlinson is an old friend of your mother
...
possibly an old flame! And the long and the short of it is that I appear to have my hands tied. I can
’
t show them to the door when they arrive at Farthing Hall
...
I
’
ll have to show them over the cottage. And that
’
s that!
”

Frederica sat for such a very long moment completely aghast and utterly horrified beside him and unable to express herself in words that his temper flared, and he would have rounded on her if he hadn
’
t had to attend to the business of driving.

“
Well?
”
he demanded.
“
You knew about it, of course?
...
You knew they
’
d go to Robert Rawlinson? And almost certainly you knew what would happen once they did that! Apparently your mother is even younger-looking than you are!
”
Frederica
’
s clear skin was stained by a painful and agonised flush.

“
I didn
’
t know,
”
she assured him in an equally agonised whisper.
“
I
’
ve never even heard of Robert Rawlinson!
”

“
Well, you
’
ve heard of him now! And I give you my word he
’
s on your mother
’
s side of the fence. Talked of her non-stop for nearly ten minutes—at my expense, of course, since the telephone bill is my responsibility!—and tried to convince me that she
’
s utterly helpless and appealing, and that you
’
ve simply got to be given the job. I told him I simply will not entrust my cars to you, and it was he who suggested that you might be capable of doing something else, especially as we
’
re in the throes of moving in. Can you?
”
he demanded.

“
Can I what?
”
she returned faintly, fairly flinching at the harshness of his tone.

“
Do something else? Can you cook, for instance? Lucille is having difficulty finding a cook.
”

She shook her head.

“
I
’
m the world
’
s worst cook.
”

“
Then can your mother cook?
”
in desperation.

“
She
’
s even worse than I am,
”
Frederica admitted.
“
When we
’
re all at home together we live on sardines on toast and that sort of thing. Rosaleen is quite clever at making an omelette
...
but anyone who employed Rosaleen to cook for them would be mad!
”

“
Why?
”

“
She doesn
’
t get up in the morning until nearly noon
...
and if she goes to a party she stays in bed for very nearly the whole of the next day!
”

“
And does she make a habit of going to parties?
”

“
She has lots of boy-friends, and they take her to parties.
”

“
And is your mother an inveterate party-goer, too?
”

“
No, she
’
s a party-giver.
”

He groaned.

“
Yours sounds to me an utterly fascinating family!
”

They had been driving along very smoothly, and the Daimler had been behaving irreproachably; but all at once he drew in to the side of the road, and under an overhanging spread of trees they came to rest.

Frederica stared at him enquiringly.

“
It
’
s this confounded arm of mine,
”
he explained, flexing an obviously painful muscle.
“
I
’
m not supposed to use it
...
not for a while, at least. I had an accident not long ago, but physiotherapy hasn
’
t yet succeeded in obliterating the after-effects. However, it
’
s improving all the time
...
But I didn
’
t expect to have to drive myself when an agency had just found me a chauffeur!
”
glaring at her.

Frederica realised that this was her moment.

“
Then hadn
’
t you better let me drive you?
”
she suggested quietly.

He appeared to recoil at the suggestion.

“
And risk losing my life amongst other things?
”

“
I
’
m not as bad a driver as all that,
”
she protested in the same quiet voice, but with a gentle note of rebuke in it this time.

He directed at her rather a quizzical look, and then agreed to the change-over.

Once the Daimler was running smoothly again, and Humphrey Lestrode gave the impression of being reasonably relaxed in his seat, Frederica put to him rather a direct question considering she had no right to put questions to him at all.

“
What was the cause of your accident, Mr. Lestrode?
”

For an instant his eyes twinkled—and she had decided by this time that they were really rather peculiar eyes, at one moment grey and the next almost black—as he made his admission.

“
I had a head-on collision when I was driving a Continental sports car. I should have been killed, but by some strange freak I wasn
’
t even badly hurt. My arm was injured, and the driver of the other car received concussion. But we both survived.
”

Her eyes met his in the driving-mirror.

“
And your arm still plays you up?
”

“
It does sometimes, particularly in wet weather. It wasn
’
t exactly playing me up today, but I thought I
’
d better find out what you can really do when you
’
re in charge of a car
...
and despite the weight of this one I think you
’
re managing pretty well!
”

“
Thank you,
”
she breathed, in a husky whisper. She set him down outside the main door of the Hall. He repeated the compliment he had already paid her, and added that on the whole he thought she was quite an efficient driver.

His eyes gleamed at her whimsically as he stood at the foot of the flight of steps leading up to the impressive front door and studied her through the open window of the car.

“
But I
’
ll confess I feel strange being driven by a chit of a thing like you,
”
he admitted.
“
There
’
s so little of you that I suggest you prop yourself up with cushions in future.
”

She answered eagerly:

“
I could do with a cushion behind my back, I think, otherwise it
’
s a bit difficult to reach the gears.
”
But her eyes were glowing at him as if they were constructed of light green water made radiant by sunshine.
“
Does this mean that you
’
re going to continue to let me drive you, Mr. Lestrode—sir?
”

“
You can cut out the
‘
sir
’
.
”
He spoke shortly.
“
And I suppose I
’
ll have to let you drive me since I
’
ve got to pay you a salary—and apparently support that family of yours! But I warn you,
”
bending down to peer at her through the window,
“
I shall expect a lot in return for the amount I pay you! You will not simply have to drive me, you
’
ll have to look after the cars, and if that means getting yourself smothered in grease and oil I can
’
t help it! You
’
ve elected to call yourself a chauffeur—or a chauffeuse, if there is such a word any longer!—and I don
’
t expect to employ a chauffeur and pay garage bills at the same time—not unreasonable garage bills, anyway. Care and maintenance is your province, and if you try to shirk your duties I shall fire you!—With or without Robert Rawlinson
’
s permission!
”

She dimpled demurely, and her eyes continued to make him feel slightly dazz
l
ed by their uncanny brilliance.

“
I understand perfectly, Mr. Lestrode.
”

He looked grim all at once, and brought her down to earth with a thud.

“
And now you
’
d better go and inspect that cottage your mother appears to have earmarked, and get it ready for her and your sister
’
s occupation. Not that they
’
ll be able to occupy it tonight ... I believe it
’
s in a bit of a mess. But between you you
’
ll probably be able to fix things up, and I
’
ve no doubt Lucille will help you. In the meantime,
”
he added,
“
you
’
d better make some provision for them at the local inn
...
the Black Bull. I believe they
’
ve got two or three rooms they let to visitors during the summer, and as it
’
s not summer yet they should be able to cope with this sudden influx.
”

Frederica, whose voice always grew very husky when she was moved by some strong emotion, or feeling under an obligation—and on this occasion she was the victim of both sentiments—tried to convey to him how deeply appreciative she felt.
“
You
’
re being so—so extraordinarily kind
...”

“
I assure you,
”
he told her almost coldly,
“
I
’
m not kind. But I
’
ve never met anyone quite like you before—and I
’
m dreading the thought of meeting your nearest and dearest relatives. Get cracking, Fred!
”
he added with sudden crispness.
“
And be sure to lock the garage doors once you
’
ve put the car away!
”

“
I will, sir,
”
Frederica promised, and drove off in an exemplary manner with an utterly radiant face.

Her mother and Rosaleen arrived two hours later. She had barely put the car away and received a smiling welcome back from Lucille than a telegram was received which indicated that Mrs. Wells and her other daughter had left London by a train which must have been actually on its way while Frederica was sitting on the platform at Greater Corsham and waiting for a train that would return her to London.

But for the sudden appearance of Humphrey Lestrode she would have passed her relatives about half way to London, and what exactly they would have done when they reached Little Corsham—which was the nearest village to Farthing Hall—and found that she had severed all connection with Mr. Lestrode she couldn
’
t think.

As it was, she telephoned the Black Bull and asked whether a reservation had been made for her family, and learned that it had. Later she discovered that Mr. Rawlinson had put himself out sufficiently to make the reservation, but Electra when she arrived seemed to think this perfectly natural.

“
My dear, I
’
ve known him for years ... although of course I hadn
’
t seen him for years until the other day,
”
she admitted when Frederica at last arrived at the Black Bull, Mr. Lestrode having given her permission to use the Bentley for the purpose.