Barbara Cartland - Love comes to the Castle

As they were speaking, they had moved not downstairs but along the corridor, which was also filled with some very fine pictures.

The doctor then opened a door and they went into what Jaela realised was a little girl’s nursery.

It was beautifully furnished.

There were toys everywhere, a large dolls’ house and a rocking horse like those English children always had and a number of coloured cardboard bricks were scattered over the floor.

A little girl was seated amongst them, while an Italian maid was helping her build a castle.

She looked up as they entered, saw the doctor and, giving a cry of delight, scrambled to her feet.

“Dr. Pirelli!” she cried. “You are here. Have you brought me some more of those nice sweeties?”

“I have a whole box of them waiting for you downstairs in my carriage,” the doctor replied, “which I promised you if you were a good girl and did not disturb your Mama.”

“I have been very very quiet,” Kathy said, “have I not, Giovanna?”

She asked the question in Italian and the maid answered her in the same language.

“You have been very good and very quiet.”

“Then the box is waiting for you,” the doctor said, “and now I want you to meet a very charming lady who is a friend of mine, Miss Jaela Compton.”

Jaela crouched down so that she was the same height as Kathy.

“I have been admiring your dolls’ house,” she said. “I used to have one when I was your age, but it was much smaller.”

“Mine is nice,” Kathy said, “but I like my horse best.”

“What do you call him?” Jaela asked. “I too had a horse and I rode him before I had a real pony.”

Kathy, who was not in the least shy, looked at her with interest and Jaela went on,

“I think if you will come with me to England, as your mother wants you to do, you too will have a real pony of your own.”

“I will?” Kathy asked. “That would be so lovely! I have wanted a pony, but Mama said there was no room here for it in the garden. But I did ride when we went across the sea.”

“On a horse or on a camel?” Jaela asked.

Kathy laughed.

“Both! The camel was funny, very very funny!”

“I am sure it was and you must tell me all about it. If you would like to come home with me, I will show you the photographs of the horses I had when I was in England.”

“I would like that,” Kathy smiled.

Jaela looked at the doctor.

There was a question in her eyes and he answered by nodding his head.

He spoke to the maid in Italian, telling her to pack some of Kathy’s clothes as quickly as possible.

Then holding Kathy’s hand, he took her downstairs with Jaela following.

She realised that the child was very quiet the moment they were outside the nursery and passing her mother’s bedroom.

She thought it touching that anyone so young had already learnt to be so considerate.

Only as they reached the hall did Kathy say still in a low voice to the doctor,

“Can I go and see Mama before we go?”

“I think your mother is asleep now,” the doctor answered, “but if you would just like to peep in and wave to her and blow her a kiss, you can do that.”

“I will be very very quiet and I will blow her lots of kisses because I miss kissing her.”

Jaela understood that the child had been forbidden to kiss or touch her mother because it was dangerous. And yet there was nobody else with her except for the servants.

They then went to the doctor’s carriage and he presented Kathy with a box of sugared almonds.

“Thank you, thank you!” she enthused.

She put up her face in a very natural gesture to kiss the doctor on the cheek.

She opened the box and offered it to the doctor, who refused, and then to Jaela, who accepted one.

Then Kathy sat in the open carriage eating one after another.

“They are very very good,” she said, “but Giovanna says that they will make me fat, so Mama ought to eat some.”

“Your mother is too ill to eat sweets,” the doctor replied.

“You are taking a very long time to make her well,” Kathy remarked.

“I have done my best,” the doctor replied as if he was on the defensive.

“It is so dull here without Mama,” Kathy said. “I would like to have a little dog to play with, but Uncle Diego says a dog would be a nuisance in the Villa.”

“I am sure when you get to England you can have a dog,” Jaela suggested hastily.

She saw Kathy’s eyes light up and knew that this could be a way by which she could gradually forget her mother.

Jaela had adored her own mother and she knew well that Kathy was going to find it very difficult to adjust herself to a world where she was alone.

It struck her as if for the first time that she and Kathy were different ages but were more or less in the same boat.

They were both of them alone with nothing for the moment to cling on to.

‘I am sure that her father will mean a great deal to her,’ Jaela told herself consolingly.

Then she wondered if the Earl would be glad to see his daughter back after he had been deprived of her company for six years of her life.

It was a problem she certainly did not wish to face at the moment and she brushed it on one side.

Italians work quickly and in a very short time Giovanna came down the stairs with a case containing some of Kathy’s clothes.

She also brought with her a bonnet and coat for the child to travel in.

“Now can I blow kisses to Mama?” Kathy asked the doctor.

“Yes,” he answered, “but tell nurse what you want to do.”

Kathy jumped out of the carriage and ran back into the Villa.

She was only away for a few minutes and when she returned she had her favourite doll in her arms.

“I should have brought Betsy with me,” she said as if she reproached herself, “but now she will enjoy travelling in the carriage.”

“I am sure she will,” Jaela said, “and I hope you will too.”

“I liked driving with Mama,” Kathy replied. “She used to tell me stories about the places we passed.”

“Then that is something I will do,” Jaela nodded.

“Do you know any stories?” Kathy enquired.

“Lots and lots,” Jaela replied. “And I shall want you to tell me some as well.”

“What about?” Kathy asked.

“About everything!” Jaela answered. “The flowers, the trees, the sea, the sky. In fact, if you think about it, there are stories everywhere we look.”

Kathy laughed.

“That is a funny idea and I want you to tell me all your stories.”

“I will tell you lots of stories while we are going to England,” Jaela promised, “and you must tell me all the stories about Italy as you have been living here for longer than I have.”

“Fairy Stories?” Kathy queried.

“Fairy Stories, stories about Knights, stories of hobgoblins and stories of little girls who enjoy stories.”

Kathy grinned.

The doctor had been giving Giovanna instructions about packing all the rest of Kathy’s clothes and now he climbed into the carriage.

“I am taking you home,” he said, “then I am coming back to see my patient. Some more trunks will be ready then and I will bring them to you this evening.”

“Thank you,” Jaela replied, “and now I am looking forward to showing Kathy my Villa, and, of course, the fountain.”

“Have you a fountain all of your own?” Kathy asked.

“All my own,” Jaela answered, “and there is a special story about where it came from and who made it, besides a Fairy Story of what has been happening while it has been in the Villa.”

Kathy gave a little cry of delight and slipped her hand into Jaela’s.

“Tell me, tell me !” she begged. “Tell me the story now. If you do, I will tell you one before I go to bed.”