“Harriet, you are incorrigible. But what can we say to Lady Eversleigh?”

“That I was secretly married.”

“To whom?”

“Not Charles Condey. For Heaven’s sake, keep him out of it. Someone who came here for a few days on his way to England. We fell in love, we married and this is the fruit of our union.”

“You have so little regard for the truth.”

“On the contrary, I have the greatest regard for it. But there are occasions when it is necessary to set it aside … for Lady Eversleigh’s sake.”

“And not your own?”

“My dear Arabella, you know me well enough to understand that I am outside convention. I only submit to it out of regard for those who hold it dear. So I will tell my little tale to Lady Eversleigh and you will not contradict me because to do so would make her most unhappy.”

Lady Eversleigh came. She was entranced by her grandson. She held him in her arms and wept over him. He was very intrigued by her tears and crowed with delight. I am sure he thought they were some special game contrived for his pleasure.

It was touching to see her.

“Such tragedy, dear Arabella,” she told me. “First Charlotte. Poor girl, she suffered. And then this terrible thing. Oh, how glad I am that you married before he went. Now we have our compensation, have we not?”

She made it clear that she found young Edwin immensely superior to any other child.

“The news is excellent,” she said. “Very soon, dear Arabella, we shall be in England. Lord Eversleigh tells me that General Monck has been in touch with the King’s most loyal supporters and that negotiations are already going ahead. What a happy day that will be when we may return to our country and build up our homes again. You and I will carry our great sorrow with us. But when we go, you will come to Eversleigh Court. We must try to subdue our sorrow, for we have our little Edwin now. We shall make such plans for his future. He will be my life from now on.”

I had not thought of going to Eversleigh Court, but I could see that it would be expected of me.

I said: “What of Carleton Eversleigh? He must have looked upon himself as the heir when Edwin died.”

“So he was … until our little one came. Carleton will be delighted. He was wonderful to Edwin when he was a boy. He used to alarm me a little. He was so rough with him, but my husband said it was good for the boy. Dear Edwin had rather a gentle nature. Though he was full of fun, he was not like Carleton. Carleton forced him to fence and box and ride. He tried to make him like himself.” She shook her head. “Darling Edwin, he was so good-natured. He did his best. I daresay Carleton will want to take on this little Edwin.”

“I will not have him at risk.”

“Indeed, that shall never be. He is the most precious of children.”

We talked at length of him. How he smiled; how he so rarely cried; how he was so much brighter than all other children. We became close through our love for the child.

To my surprise she accepted our story about Harriet. She was not really interested. She disliked her because of what had happened with Charlotte. I wondered what she would have said had she know that Charlotte had come near to taking her own life.

She showed very little interest in young Leigh at first, but he had such winning ways with him, that she could not but be charmed. She made it clear, though, that she had no desire for friendship with Harriet.

After she had left I had had letters from my parents who were now in Breda.

It was April. The babies were three months old and my parents were certain that departure for England was imminent. There were letters full of what was happening in the King’s entourage. Negotiations were in progress. Envoys were going between Breda and London. Sir John Grenville had taken a letter from Charles to General Monck and the General had openly declared that he had ever been faithful to the King and that it was only now that he was in a position to be of service to him.

My mother wrote that there had been some, like our own dear General Tolworthy, who had shared the King’s exile with him and given up all for his sake, but no matter. This was great news. “The King has been asked to return,” she wrote, “and he has sent back his terms to Monck. It cannot now be long.”

I read my mother’s letter as we sat at the table. Lucas said we ought to start making our preparations, for we should be leaving. The children were excited at the prospect of change, but the servants were flatteringly subdued, and as for Madame Lambard, she demanded to know what she was going to do, having brought two darling children into the world and to have them snatched away from her.

“It is not yet arranged, Madame Lambard,” I soothed her. “So many times there has been talk like this and nothing came of it.”

The babies slept in a room next to mine. If they cried in the night I wanted to know. I would go and comfort them. Sometimes it was Leigh who needed to be picked up. Harriet never heard them, she said.

I scolded her. “You’re an unnatural mother,” I told her.

“Reluctant would perhaps be a more apt description,” she answered.

I was disturbed when she talked like that, for I thought of poor Leigh who was really more aware of me and of Madame Lambard than he was of his mother.

One night Harriet came into my room just as I had retired to bed. That was in mid-April and there had been more news from my parents about the imminent return of the King to England, and this time it was indeed significant. The Parliament had voted that the government of the country should be by the King, the Lords and the Commons. That was good enough.

Preparations would now go on apace.

Harriet was in a pensive mood.

I was already in bed, so she took a chair and studied me.

“What a lot has happened in a short time,” she said, “and now there will be more changes. Just think of it, Arabella. We really shall be going home.”

“It’s strange,” I replied. “It’s what we have been waiting for and yet at the same time I feel a little sadness. This old château has been home to me for a long time. I have been happy here. I loved it before I realized that it was shabby and life was rather dull here. It didn’t seem so once.”

“You have a contented soul, dear Arabella. In time I believe you would make a home wherever you went … and then start to enjoy it.”

“I realize how little I knew of life before …”

“Before I came,” suggested Harriet.

“Yes, I suppose that could be a starting point.”

“Perhaps I shouldn’t have stayed, Arabella.”

“I wonder what would have happened if you had not?”

“To you … or to me? You would have met your Edwin and married him, for that was preordained … by your families. But you would never have followed him to England.”

“Then he might be still alive. I should have had him and the baby.”

“You see, I am a poor exchange.”

“Oh, please, Harriet, don’t talk like that. It’s a mistake to say, if this had happened something else would. How can we know?”

“Yes, how can we know? But ‘If’ is a fascinating game and sometimes one can’t resist playing it. If he had lived, perhaps it would not have been as you imagined. There might have been things you would have learned.”

“What do you mean?”

“About each other. You parted when you both were ideals to each other. It is difficult to remain an idol for very long, you know. Unfortunately, every one of us has, if not a foot of clay … a heel … a toenail … You see what I mean?”

“I can’t bear to think of what I did, Harriet. If I had stayed here …”

“Let’s not speak of it, then. When you go to England it will be to the Eversleigh ancestral home.”

“I don’t know. There will be so much to be done. These homes were all but destroyed.”

“Eversleigh Court wasn’t. We know that by his good services to Cromwell, Carleton Eversleigh managed to keep the place intact, to say nothing of all those treasures stored in the secret compartment behind the books.”

“Yes, they were fortunate in that.”

“The treasures will be brought forth and there you will have a luxurious home. Yes, you will go there with your son, Edwin, the heir to a goodly estate, I don’t doubt. For the Eversleighs will be one of those lucky families who will be high in royal favour. The same will apply to the Tolworthys. Little Edwin is well cushioned from either side. But from what I gather, Far Flamstead, the Tolworthy residence, was rather badly mauled by the Roundheads.”

“I can’t imagine what it will be like after all these years.”

“Prayer meetings in the banqueting hall, I suspect, and hard pallet beds to replace the comfortable fourposters. One thing we know. It has not been kept cozy by a clever Carleton.”

“You didn’t like him, did you?”

“I know his kind. Arrogant, overpowering, wanting to be the master of us all. He didn’t like me, and I have the common human failing of not liking people unless they like me.”

“It is a new experience for you not to impress a man.”

“Rare, I grant you.”

“Doesn’t that make him some sort of challenge?”

“Not for me in the case of such an overbearing, conceited creature as your cousin-in-law.” Her voice changed suddenly. It was the first time I had ever heard her sound forlorn. “If you go to Eversleigh Court … which I am sure they will want … what of me?”

“You would come with me.”

“Do you think I should be welcome? A woman of no consequence with a bastard boy?”

“Don’t talk like that, Harriet. You know that I should always want you with me.”

“Dear Arabella. But you see everyone does not feel so kindly towards me. Lady Eversleigh dislikes me … and makes no effort to hide her feelings.”

“That is because of Charlotte.”

“No matter what the cause, it exists. I should not be welcome there. Your parents? Would they invite me to Far Flamstead … or wherever they go? Be sensible, Arabella. Where shall I go?”

“Oh, Harriet, you have been with us so long. I can’t imagine your not being there.”

“You won’t have to imagine it. It will be a fact.”

I was silent, for what she said was true. I knew that Lady Eversleigh would not want her and my mother was suspicious of her. Lucas adored her and so did the children, but how much weight would they carry?

I was horrified by her plight and I said firmly: “No matter what the Eversleighs say, you shall come with me, Harriet. You have done them no harm. Edwin was quite fond of you. They would be a little shocked by Leigh if they were to discover the truth. Ladies are not expected to have children unless they are married. Some servant girls do, and my mother was always kind when they did.”

“Perhaps I shall be treated with the same leniency as a servant girl,” she said with a laugh.

Then for some reason we were both laughing.

She came to the bed and implanted a light kiss on my brow. “Don’t worry about me,” she said. “I shall be able to look after myself when the time comes, never fear.”

Then she went out and left me. She was right. I could feel confident that she would look after herself. And in my heart I believed that she would come with me. I could not imagine life without Harriet.

News came filtering in at speed.

The City of London and the Fleet declared for Charles.

This meant that as soon as the King was ready to sail, he might safely do so.

His statue had been set up in the Guildhall and the Commonwealth’s arms had been reduced. That was not all. News immediately followed this that Charles had solemnly been proclaimed King in London and Westminster. There was to be a day of thanksgiving because the Commonwealth was ended and there was once more to be a king on the throne.

Then the greatest news of all. A committee of six lords and twelve commoners had arrived at The Hague with an invitation to the King. He was asked to return to his kingdom. His birthday by good fortune fell on the twenty-ninth of the month, and it seemed fitting that on that day he should make his triumphant entry into London.

So at last it had come. Our return was imminent.

It seemed as though friends emerged from all over France. They were making their way to the coast for the great day, and there were constant visitors at the château. The servants had always liked visitors but now they were saddened. They knew that soon we should be going. Sometimes I thought Madame Lambard might attempt to kidnap the babies and hide them away to prevent our taking them. The melancholy in the castle was an odd contrast to the high spirits of our visitors, but it was rather touching and very complimentary. We were sad too, for now that the promised land was in sight, we could spare a thought for those whom we should have to leave behind.