T A Williams - What Happens In Tuscany...

‘Can’t you ask your dad?’ When they were younger, Jenny had often visited the big house where Katie’s folks lived, up on the cliffs with a view out over the sea. Katie shook her head.

‘That’s the real last resort. I got myself into this mess and it’s up to me to get myself out of it.’ Jenny gave her a smile. Katie could be stubborn when she wanted.

‘There’s more to life than money, Katie. It can’t buy happiness, or so they say.’

‘It can make unhappiness a hell of a lot more comfortable, though.’

Chapter Two

‘Miss Katherine Parr?’

It was a man’s voice, the accent difficult to pinpoint, maybe Scottish. Katie looked up hastily. She was standing on the platform, still checking that she had remembered to take all her luggage when she left the train. She had always had a fear of leaving something behind and only realising as the train pulled away from the station. She straightened up and studied the man who had addressed her. To her amazement, he was dressed like Toad of Toad Hall. He was wearing a flat tweed cap and heavy leather gloves, although the temperature that sunny July evening was still well into the twenties. All he needed was a pair of airman’s goggles and he would have looked the part perfectly. She cleared her throat.

‘Hello. Yes, I’m Katherine Parr. Have you come to take me to Iddlescombe?’

‘Yes, Miss. My name is Mackintosh.’ Yes, definitely Scottish. Mr Mackintosh nodded gravely and reached out for her two bags. She made a half-hearted attempt to take the smaller one, but his gloved hands were obviously attached to strong arms, and he whisked them away without appreciable effort. ‘If you would care to follow me, Miss.’

The station at Nymptonford was squeezed into the bottom of a wooded valley, between the road and the river. The evening sun at that time still illuminated the surrounding hills, but no longer reached into the valley floor. The air was refreshingly cool after the heat of the train whose air conditioning hadn’t been working. Katie breathed in deeply, glad to be outside. As she followed her driver off the platform, through the small Victorian waiting room and onto the forecourt, she got another surprise. Clearly her journey up to the house was going to be quite different to anything she had ever experienced up till then.

‘I’ll look after your bags, Miss. If you would like to take a seat.’ Mr Mackintosh somehow managed to free one hand and open the rear door for her. Katie just stood there, looking on in amazement. She had never, ever, in her whole life seen a car like this. It was immensely long, immensely old and unbelievably beautiful. It was an open car, with the roof folded down and hidden under a leather cover. An amazingly elegant mascot in the shape of a bird stood on the gleaming chrome radiator, the bodywork was pure glistening white, as were the tyres, and the interior was rich blue leather. Incredibly, there were two windscreens. One was directly in front of the driver, sticking up from the bonnet on imposing chrome pillars. The second was behind the driver, obviously designed to keep the flies out of the faces of the important passengers in the rear seats. It was into these seats that Katie hesitantly stepped.

‘There is a plaid in the compartment by your left hand, Miss, if you feel the chill.’ Mr Mackintosh stowed her bags on the seat beside him and came round to close the door for her. Katie settled back into what felt like a wonderfully comfortable sofa and looked around, feeling very conspicuous and, if the truth be told, a bit silly. Fortunately there was nobody else to be seen. She had been the only passenger to alight here and the only sign of life was a large black and white cow, who studied her meditatively from a gate on the opposite side of the road. Martin had told her that Iddlescombe was deep in the Devon countryside and he hadn’t been joking. Thought of Martin cheered her and saddened her at the same time. As the huge car coughed into life and pulled away unexpectedly smoothly, she found herself thinking fondly of him.

Everything had happened so quickly. The previous Monday she had sent off her application for the position of companion as advertised in The Lady, and the invitation to interview had come back by return. It had been for that same week. The interview was in the legal chambers of a Mr Hereward Evergreen of the old established firm of Evergreen, Evergreen and Lighterman, just behind the Temple Church in London. Martin had offered to give her a lift up there as he claimed he had business to attend to. The drive up to London had been most enjoyable, mainly because it was the first time Katie had found herself alone with him for a relatively long period of time. In spite of her resolve to stay clear of men and concentrate on a career, she very much enjoyed his company and she got the impression that he had enjoyed hers.

Her reminiscing was interrupted by what could have been an expletive from the driver and a shower of feathers in the air. As she looked on, Mr Mackintosh eased the vast vehicle into the side of the road and engaged a huge handbrake. The engine subsided to a throaty rumble. He walked round to the front of the car and reached down. Seconds later, he emerged with a twitching pheasant in his gloved hand. It was a fine-looking cock pheasant, or at least it had been before it hit the radiator of their car. He wrung its neck expertly to put an end to its suffering and lobbed it into the undergrowth. Katie grimaced. As he returned to the driver’s door, he felt obliged to offer an explanation.

‘I apologise for that, Miss. With animals, as with human beings, so often the beautiful ones are the stupidest. It’s not even as if we were going at any great speed. I trust you were not disturbed by the incident.’ Katie removed a handful of chestnut-coloured feathers from her hair and assured him that she was quite all right. Taking advantage of the relative silence, she asked how long it would take to get to Iddlescombe. He glanced down at the clock set into the walnut dashboard. ‘Not too long, Miss. We’re into the Iddlescombe Valley now. It’s about another six or seven miles to the great house. In this huge old thing that probably means about twenty minutes. If we were in one of Sir Algernon’s sportier models, we could probably make it in ten.’

‘Sir Algernon?’ Katie hadn’t heard his name before. At the interview, Mr Evergreen had spoken of Miss Victoria, but had not mentioned a man’s name.

The driver’s face became more sombre. ‘Sir Algernon Chalker-Pyne, Miss. Alas, Sir Algernon passed away in the spring. There’s just his daughter, Victoria, left in the house now.’ He glanced down at the car and ran an appreciative hand over the faultless bodywork. ‘He liked his cars, did Sir Algernon. He had a fine collection of them. Miss Victoria knows that and she has asked me to ensure they’re all kept in working order. That’s why we’re in the Hispano-Suiza today. I can only take this one out when there’s no chance of rain in the forecast.’ He opened the driver’s door and was about to climb back in when Katie asked the question she had been dying to ask ever since reading the advert in The Lady .

‘Please, Mr Mackintosh, what’s Miss Victoria like?’ Mr Evergreen had given little away at the interview. In fact, he had been much more interested in finding out as much as he could about Katie and her parents. It turned out that he was familiar with her father’s law firm and she had no doubt that that had greatly helped her chances. But he had said little about what or who awaited her.

She was reassured to see a smile cross Mr Mackintosh’s face. She realised that he was probably not quite as old as she had assumed at first sight. ‘She’s a fine young lady who’s had an unusual life, Miss. We all like her very much and I’m sure you’ll find her a kind and fair employer.’ He hazarded a question in his turn. ‘You are to be her companion, I believe. Is that correct?’