Виктория Холт - The Devil on Horseback

“I should like to get you a new dress,” she said.

“Something pretty. Velvet perhaps.”

“But, Mama, when should I wear it?”

“Who knows? You might be asked again.”

I doubt it. Once in a lifetime is enough for such an honour. “

I must have sounded bitter for she looked sad and I was sorry. I went to her and put my arm about her.

“Don’t worry, Mama,” I said.

“We’re happy here, are we not? And the school does very well.” I remembered then what I had forgotten until that moment.

“Oh, Mama, when I was going in I met Joel Derringham.”

Her eyes lit up. She said: “You didn’t tell me.”

“I forgot.”

“Forgot … meeting Joel Derringham! He’ll be Sir Joel on day.

Everything will be his. How did you meet him? “

I told her, repeating word for word.

“He sounds charming, she said.

“He is-and so like Sir John. It’s amusing, really. You could say: That’s Sir John . thirty years ago. “

“He was certainly very pleasant to you.”

“He could not have been more so.”

I could see plans forming in her mind.

It was two days later when Sir John came to the schoolhouse and a Sunday so there was no school that day. My mother and I had just dined and we had sat over the table as we often did on Sundays until nearly three o’clock discussing the next week’s lessons.

Although my mother was normally the most prosaic o women, where her heart was involved she could dream a romantically as any young girl. I knew that she had made u] her mind that I was to have many invitations to the Manor am there I should meet someone perhaps he might not be o too exalted a rank but at least he. would be able to offer mi more than I could reasonably hope for if I spent my days ii a schoolhouse.

Previously she had decided that I must havi the best possible education to provide for my future as i schoolmistress. Now her thoughts had escaped to wild dreams of fantasy, and because she was a woman accustomed to succeed, they knew no bounds.

Through the window of our little dining-room she saw Si:

John tethering his horse to the iron bar which had been put there for that purpose. I felt myself turn cold. It immediately occurred to me that the malicious Count had decided ti complain against me. I had left him abruptly and shown bin quite clearly that I deplored his conduct. This might be hi revenge.

“Why, it’s Sir John,” said my mother.

“I wonder …”

I heard myself say “Perhaps a new pupil…”

He was ushered into our sitting-room and I was relieved to see that he was smiling as benignly as ever.

“Good day to you, Mrs. Maddox … and Minella. Lad:

Derringham has a request to make. We are short of a guest for the soiree and supper which is to take place this evening. The Comtesse Fontaine Delibes is confined to her room and without her we shall be thirteen. There is, as you know, a superstition that thirteen is unlucky and some of our guests might be uneasy. I was wondering if I could persuade you to allow your daughter to join us. “

It was so like one of the dreams my mother had been conjuring up during the last two days that she accepted it calmly as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

“But of course she will join you,” she said.

“But, Mama,” I protested, “I have no suitable dress.”

Sir John laughed.

“That had occurred to Lady Derringham when the matter was suggested. One of the girls can lend you something. That is a simple matter.” He turned to me.

“Come to the Manor this afternoon.

You can then choose the gown and the seamstress can do any necessary alterations. It is good of you, Mrs. Maddox, to lend us your daughter. “

He smiled at me.

“I shall see you later.”

When he had gone my mother seized me in her arms and hugged me.

“I willed it to happen,” she cried.

“Your father always used to say that when I made up my mind I’d get what I wanted because I believed in it so firmly I just created it.”

“I shan’t much care about parading in borrowed plumes.”

“Nonsense. No one will know.”

“Sybil and Maria will and Maria will take the first opportunity to remind me that I am there as a standin.”

“As long as she does not remind anyone else that does not matter.”

“Mama, why are you so excited’ ” It’s what I always hoped for. “

“Did you ill-wish the Comtesse?”

“Perhaps.”

“So that your daughter could go to the ball!”

“It’s not a ball!” she cried, aghast.

“You would have to have a proper ball gown for that.”

“I was speaking metaphorically.”

“How right I was to educate you thoroughly. You will be as musically knowledgeable as any of them there. I think your hair should be piled high on your head. It shows off its colour that way.” I heard a cynical voice murmuring: “Like corn in August.”

“Your hair is your best feature, my dear. We must make the most of it.

I hope the dress will be blue because that brings out the colour of your eyes. That cornflower-blue is rather rare . as deep as yours, I mean. ” ” You are making a princess out of your budding schools mistress.

Mama. ” ” Why shouldn’t a budding schoolmistress be as beautiful and charming as any lady in the land? “

“Certainly she should be if she is your daughter.”

“You must curb your tongue tonight, Minella. You always did say the first thing that came into your head.” ;

“I shall have to be myself and if that does not suit .. They might not ask you again.” j “Why should they ask me again? Are you not attaching too much importance to this? I am asked because they need another guest. It is not the first time someone has been asked to be the fourteenth. If the fourteenth decided to come after all, I should politely be assured that my presence was no longer j necessary.” The fact was that my mind was as busy as my mother’s. Why had this summons (which was how I thought of it) followed so closely on my visit to the Manor? Who had’i prompted it? And was it not something of a coincidence that] it should be the Comte’s wife who was indisposed?

Could it possibly be that he had suggested that I should fill the gap? What an extraordinary idea! Why? Because he wanted to meet me again? He had not reported my ill manners, after all. I remembered what he had said of my hair as he tugged it cares singly and then . those kisses. It was insulting. Was] he saying: “Bring the girl to the Manor.” That was how men such as he was behaved in their own world. There was some thing called the droit de seigneur which meant that when a girl was going to be married, the lord of the manor, if he liked the look of her, took her to his bed for a night-j more than one night if she proved satisfactory and then she was passed on to her bridegroom. If the lord was generous there was a present of some sort. I could well imagine this’ Comte exerting such a right.

What was I thinking? I was no bride and Sir John would never permit such conduct on his estate. I was ashamed of myself for harbouring such thoughts. That interview with the Comte had had a deeper effect on me than I had imagined.

My mother kept talking about Joel Derringham. I had to repeat what he had said to me. She was thinking romantic thoughts again. Oh, it was too foolish. She was telling herself that the indisposition was a myth and that as Joel had wished to make my further acquaintance, he had prevailed on his parents to ask me for the evening. Oh Mama, I thought, dear Mama, foolish only where her daughter was concerned. If she could see me satisfactorily settled she would die happily.

But she did indulge in the most preposterous dreams.