“I see.”

“You will know the family better than I do. You were there for some little time working on those tapestries, weren’t you?”

“Oh yes … several weeks.”

“Well, she won’t be exactly a stranger to you.”

“Er … no.”

“Do you think we shall get on all right with her? Mr. Lansdon seems to think she won’t want to interfere in the nursery.”

“No. I am sure she would not.”

“Well, we shall see. I am afraid it’s certain, Leah. Mr. Lansdon insists. After all Belinda is his daughter.”

“Yes,” she murmured. Her thoughts seemed far away. I wished I knew what she was thinking but she had always struck me as being rather withdrawn … mysterious in fact.

The time arrived when we were to leave Cornwall.

My grandmother said: “It’s the best thing for you really. But we shall miss you terribly. It makes it harder for us because all of you are going. But we both agree it is for the best and it is only right that Benedict should have his daughter with him.”

“He only wants us so that he can have a family to show his constituents.”

“I don’t think that is entirely true. Try to be fair to him, Rebecca. He’s had a hard time and one thing I do know: he really loved your mother. He has lost her, don’t forget, just as you have.”

“But he is putting someone else in her place now.”

“I do not believe he will ever do that.”

I was not sure.

Leah was growing more and more uneasy as time passed. It must have been a great upheaval for her. I believed she had never been out of Cornwall before. Belinda was excited though. She kept talking of the grand house she was going to live in the big city. She was going to live with her rich and important father whom she did not like much but she would forget about him and enjoy the house.

Lucie watched me and would take her cue from me, I knew. So I tried to pretend that I found it all exciting and not give her an inkling of my feelings of disquiet.

I thought at least I should enjoy Manorleigh where I should find the Emerys, Ann and Jane who had been with us before my mother’s marriage. Moreover I had felt a certain attachment to the house … particularly the haunted garden.

In a way, although I did not want to share Benedict’s house, it was an exciting project—particularly as I was to be presented at Court.

A carriage was waiting for us at the station. Miss Springer, who had come from London, was in good spirits. She had no regrets about the move and it was obvious that she believed we were going to lead lives of much greater interest in the big city than we could in some remote country place.

Benedict and Celeste were waiting to receive us when we arrived at the house. He was quite gracious and seemed very pleased to see us. Celeste hovered in the background until he signed for her to come forward.

She had changed from the girl I had seen all those years ago. She was a young woman now. Attractive, I thought, though not exactly beautiful or even pretty; but she was dressed with elegance in a pale grey gown of what I imagined was a Parisian cut. There were pearls at her neck and in her ears. Her dark hair was beautifully dressed and she moved with becoming grace.

She came forward and took my hands.

“I am so pleased you are here,” she said with a very pronounced French accent. “I am touched that you come. You must be happy here. It is what we want … the two …” She smiled ingratiatingly at Benedict.

“Yes,” he said, returning her smile. “It is what we want. And the children …” He looked towards them. “Belinda …” She gave him a rather defiant look. “And … er … Lucie.”

I took Lucie’s hand and brought her forward.

“I hope you will like your new home,” said Celeste very carefully as though she had learned the words by heart.

I could see the children were a little fascinated by her.

She smiled at Leah. “But … we have met. You came … I remember it well.”

Leah flushed and the look of uneasiness returned. She did not seem to want to recall her stay at High Tor although, from what we have heard from Mrs. Polhenny, the Bourdons had been delighted by her work.

Miss Stringer was introduced and seemed to make a good impression on Benedict and his wife as they did on her.

We were shown the nursery which was on the top floor of the house. It was simple but elegant with high-ceilinged rooms and long windows looking out on the square with the enclosed garden in the center. Miss Stringer had a room on the top floor as did Leah and the night nursery was there, too.

We left them up there and Celeste took me down to my room which was on the second floor.

“I think you first want to see the little ones … how is it?”

“Settled,” I suggested.

She nodded smiling. “This is your room.”

It was spacious and furnished with the elegance I found everywhere in the house. The colors were blue and cream; it had the long high windows and the view on the square was just as below the nursery.

She slid her hand through my arm. “I want so much that you be happy here,” she said.

“That is so kind of you.”

“Your beau-pére …”

“My stepfather.”

“Yes, your stepfather … he very much wish. He wants you happy here in his house.” She lifted her hands and added charmingly: “And because he want … I want.”

“That is most kind of you. I am sure everything is going to work out very well.”

She nodded. “Now I leave.” She rubbed her hands together as though washing them. “And when you … préte … you come down, eh? We have tea … and talk … I think that is what your stepfather want.”

“Thank you. By the way … what do I call you?”

“Celeste is my name … I will not be stepmother … oh no. I must be too young to be your maman … do you not think?”

“Much too young,” I assured her. “Then I shall call you Celeste.”

“That will be nice.” She went to the door and looked back at me. “I see you very soon … eh?”

“Very soon.”

She was gone and I thought: She certainly seems welcoming. I think I am going to like her.

I dined that evening with Benedict and his wife. There were just the three of us. The children were already in bed, sharing the night nursery. When I went in to say goodnight Lucie put her arms round my neck and clung to me fiercely.

“You are going to like it here,” I whispered. “And I am right below you.”

She continued to cling.

“It will be almost the same here and later on we’ll go back to Cador to stay for a while,” I assured her.

I went over to Belinda’s bed. She opened one eye and looked at me.

“Goodnight, Belinda. Sleep well.” I bent down and kissed her lightly.

“You’re going to like it here,” I repeated.

She nodded and closed her eyes.

I guessed both children were exhausted after the day’s journey and the excitement of arriving.

Leah had glided into the room.

“They will be asleep in no time,” she whispered.

The meal was served in a small room leading from the large and imposing dining room, presumably where Benedict entertained his political friends. The small room was intended to be more intimate, but I was deeply conscious of the restraint I always felt in his company.

While the fish was being served, he said: “I thought the children should stay in London for a little while, although of course Manorleigh will be so much better for them.”

“Yes,” I said. “I think Manorleigh would suit them very-well. They will have more freedom in the country.”

“Exactly.”

“There are parks here, of course, I remember …”

I stopped. He knew I would be thinking of my mother and the memory would be as painful to him as it was to me.

To my dismay I realized that Celeste had guessed the gist of the conversation. She was hurt.

I went on quickly: “They can walk in the park and feed the ducks … but the country is, of course, better. They can ride there and there is the garden. The garden at Manorleigh is a delight.”

“You must be here,” said Celeste. “There is this … how you say it? …”

“Coming out,” supplied Benedict. “The London season. Yes, Rebecca will have to be here and …” He turned to me. “… I … we … thought the children would be unhappy at first if they were deprived of your company. They have just said goodbye to your grandparents which must have been something of a wrench. Well, the fact is I thought that if you remained in London for a few weeks … then perhaps you could all go to Manorleigh for a while for you to settle them in and then you would come back to London.”

“I should think that would work out very well. They would have Leah who is very important to them.”

“She is very good,” said Celeste.

“Well you know something of her,” I said. “She was with you when she repaired the tapestries at High Tor.”

“They will soon get used to the change,” Benedict said.

I thought: Yes, they will have to. It is necessary that you have your happy family to present to your constituents.

After that, conversation was of a light nature and of so little interest to me that I have forgotten it; but I was aware of a certain tension between them, and it occurred to me that all was not well with this marriage. His relationship with her had been entirely different, but with Celeste there was a complete absence of that obsessive love. In fact I thought I detected a faintly critical attitude in his manner towards her. As for her, it was easy to see that she was besottedly in love with the man.

I tried to assess him as a man. I had been so hedged in with my own prejudices and resentment that I had not really seen him clearly. My mother had loved him. Something told me that he had been more important to her than even my noble father … though of course I had seen nothing of that relationship.

He was distinguished looking though not handsome in the manner of Adonis or Apollo. He was tall and of a commanding appearance; his features were not clearcut but they emanated strength. He was a very rich man and he exuded power and I had come to believe that power is an essential part of masculine attraction. He certainly had that.

I sensed that neither he nor Celeste was happy. There was something between them.

I daresay, I told myself, he married her because she would grace his dinner table. She was to be an asset to his political career and, just as he had acquired a family in Belinda and myself and even Lucie, he had taken a wife.

It would be interesting to watch them and discover what exactly was wrong. I despised myself for taking this attitude, but I could not help gloating a little. After all, he had spoiled my life. Why should his go smoothly?

Morwenna asked me over to the Cartwrights’ house which was not very far from Benedict’s residence.

She greeted me warmly.

I had always liked Pedrek’s mother. There was something very sweet and gentle about her; moreover she and my mother had been close friends and had shared many an adventure together.

“It is lovely to see you, Rebecca,” she said. “I am glad you have come to London. Though I must say I am a little scared about this coming out business. I’m to do it.”

“I’m glad you are.”

She laughed self-deprecatingly. “Helena would have been much better. Wife of a prominent member of the House. She brought us out, you know.”

“Yes, I did know.” I could talk about my mother more easily with Morwenna than I could with my grandmother. Morwenna and I did not mind showing our emotion when we spoke of her whereas with my grandmother we both tried to hide the intensity of our grief. “My mother often talked about it.”

“How awful I was! I was terrified … not so much of a presentation … that was over in a few seconds … just a curtsy and taking care that your train did not trip you up so that you stumbled at Her Majesty’s feet. One can imagine what consternation that would cause but there was very little danger of it. It was the parties and the balls … and the terrible fear that one was not going to get a partner. I was in agonies. Your mother did not care. But then she didn’t have to …”

I had heard it all before, but somehow with Morwenna it did not upset me. It was almost as though my mother were there with us in the Cartwright sitting room and that gave me a warm and comfortable feeling of peace.

“Helena is getting a little old now, though she is sprightly enough and Matthew is still high up in politics and a name to be reckoned with. She will help, of course, but she doesn’t feel like undertaking the whole thing.”