I thought about that a good deal, and as soon as I was assured that the children were sufficiently settled to do without me for a few days, I decided to go to see Polly. So I wrote to her.

Lady Harriet visited the nursery. I encouraged the children to talk to her, but I noticed they kept close to me when she was around.

She did not force herself upon them. That would not be Lady Harriet's way. But I could see how pleased she was when Louise addressed her directly. Alan averted his eyes when she was near and refrained from jumping.

"The children seem to be very quiet," she said to me once when they had gone to bed.

"They have to get used to their surroundings," I told her. "They have lived through so many changes. But they will settle in time."

"They shall be taught to ride."

I said I thought that an excellent idea.

"I shall delay getting the nanny ... just for a little while yet."

I told her I thought that was a good idea. "Let them get accustomed to new faces for a while."

She nodded with approval.

"The news is getting better," she said. "General Roberts is working wonders. He is showing those dreadful people who are the masters, and Sir John Lawrence, they seem to think, deserves great praise for the part he has played. It seems that soon things will be more or less normal out there ... as normal as they can be in such a place. It may well be that we shall have Sir Fabian and the children's father home sooner than I had hoped."

"That will be a great relief for you, Lady Harriet."

"Indeed yes. Then, of course, we shall have wedding bells. Lady Geraldine has waited long enough."

I did not want to look at her. I thought I might betray something.

"There will be no delay," she went on, "not once Sir Fabian is home. It is the last thing he would want." She smiled indulgently. "He is rather impatient, I'm afraid. He always has been. When he wants something he wants it at once. So ... I am sure there will be a wedding ... soon."

It seemed so reasonable now. Everything was different at home. When we were in India, travelling from Delhi to Bombay, I had perhaps dreamed impossible dreams.

Here, I could realize how foolish I had been.

I had had a rapturously loving reply from Polly.

"I'm just singing all over the place. Eff says I'm driving her mad. It's just that I'm so happy you're safe and sound and back home. We'll be waiting, so come just as soon as you can."

The papers heralded the good news. The Mutiny was fast coming to an end and black headlines in the papers proclaimed victory. General Roberts and Sir John Lawrence were the heroes. There was a great deal written about the loyal Sikhs and the treacherous sepoys. But all would be well. The wicked had been shown the evil of their ways and the just were trium­phant.

Old men sat by the pond and discussed the relief of Lucknow. Names like Bundelkhand and Jhansi were tossed about with abandon. They had all defeated the villainous Nana Sahib; they had triumphed over Tantia Topee. They had put the mutineers where they belonged.

There was peace in the air. The spring was with us; the faint hum of insects mingled with the sound of clipping shears as the garden hedges were cut.

This was home. And I set out to see Polly.

I told the children that I would be away only for a few days. They had taken a great fancy to Molly, one of the parlourmaids, and I knew they would be happy with her. She would take them down to the drawing room in the afternoons to spend an hour with Grandmama. This had become a ritual which they accepted, and they were indeed becoming less in awe of her. I felt I could leave them safely and in any case I did feel it was necessary for me to hear what Polly had to tell me.

She was waiting for me at the station. Her eyes filled with tears when she saw me and for a few moments we clung together.

Then she became practical. "Eff stayed at home. She'll have the kettle boiling by the time we get back. My goodness, am I glad to see you! Let's have a look at you. Not bad. I've been that worried ... you out there in all that. Enough to make your hair curl. When we heard you was back ... you should have seen us ... Eff and Fleur ... Oh, she remembers you all right. To tell the truth, sometimes Eff's a bit jealous. She is like that. But it's good to see you. I've told you, I've been singing all over the place ever since ... nearly driven Eff off her rocker. Well, here you are."

We said little in the cab going to the house. And there it was, so dear and familiar.

The door was flung open and there were Eff and Fleur— Eff the same as ever and Fleur grown far more than I had expected ... a beautiful, dark-haired girl, who threw her arms round my neck and kissed me.

"Well, are we going to stand here all night?" demanded Eff. "I've got the kettle on the boil. And there's muffins for tea. Got to be toasted. Didn't dare start till you come. Didn't want them all dried up, did we?"

And there we were sitting in the kitchen, too emotional to say very much at first, but so happy to be together.

I had to meet the governess. "Mrs. Childers, a real lady," I was told. "Come down in the world," Polly added. "She's ever so particular, and glad to be here. No airs and graces ... just fond of Fleur, and my goodness, is Fleur fond of her. Clever, she is. History, geography and French, would you believe? Fleur's a natural for that. You should hear 'em parleyvousing. Eff and me just curl up, don't we, Eff?"

"You do," said Eff. "I know French when I hear it, and it's not all that to laugh about. And it's right and proper that Fleur should speak French, because most ladies do, and that's what she's got to be."

Mrs. Childers turned out to be a very pleasant woman. She was in her late thirties, I imagined; she was a widow and very fond of children. She had obviously, as Eff told me, come down in the world, but—Eff again—there was "no side to her." She faced facts and, as Polly said, they might not be Lady High and Mighty or Lady Muck, but they treated her like one of themselves and she could take it or leave it.

Mrs. Childers had obviously taken it, and she told me that she was happy in the house and fond of Fleur. So it seemed they had all come to an excellent arrangement.

Each morning Mrs. Childers took Fleur into the park. They looked at flowers and things, Eff told me. It was something called botany.

Eff went often to the market to shop, and this gave me an opportunity to be alone with Polly.

She very soon began to talk about Lady Harriet's visit.

"Sent for me, she did. 'Please come to Framling without delay.' Who does she think she is? 'You go and take a running jump at yourself,' I said, not to her ... but to Eff. Then down she comes. You should have seen her. I would have took her into the kitchen, but Eff would have her in the parlour. She was going to take Fleur with her, she said. 'If you think that,' I said, 'you've got another think coming. This is Fleur's home and this is where she stays.' She started to tell us how much more she could do for her. So could we, I told her. Do you know we own this house now? Yes, we bought it, and we're on the way to getting next door. Eff talks about retiring to a little place in the country."

"The country! You, Polly! But you love London."

"Well, when you're getting on a bit it's different. Eff always liked a bit of green. Anyway, it's not for now. It's for later. But what I'm saying is we can look after Fleur without her ladyship's help. Now what about you? You're living there ... with that woman."

"The children are there, Polly ... Louise and Alan. You'd love them."

"If they're half as nice as their sister, I reckon I would. I reckon they're glad to have you, but it can't be much fun in that house with her ladyship."

"I manage. She is fond of the children and she realizes that they need me. I was with them all through that terrible time in India, remember."

Polly nodded. "You know, if you couldn't stand her you could always come here. I reckon we'd manage all right the way we're getting on. Rents are coming in regular and now that we've got our own house ... it's good. Mind you, we had a struggle to get it and we were a bit short at one time. That reminds me. I ought to have told you before. Well, I had to do it. You'll understand, I know."

"I expect so, Polly. What is it?"

"Fleur's been ill."

"You didn't tell me."

"There wasn't no sense in worrying you when you were so far away. There was nothing you could have done. There was one time when it was touch and go."

"Oh, Polly! Do you mean that?"

"H'm. If that old grandmother had been there then, I reckon Fleur would have been with her by now. We'd have had to let her go. Something in her throat it was. It could have been the end of her if she hadn't had this operation."

"This is terrible, Polly. And I didn't know it."

"There was this man ... a clever surgeon or something. Dr. Clement told us about him. He thought he was about the only man who could save her. Mind you, he was one of the Harley Street men ... and it was fancy prices to get him to work. We had to find the money. We'd just bought the house. If it had been earlier we could have used that money and let the house go. But there we were ... not much we could lay our hands on. Well, we'd got the house now, but that wouldn't have meant much to us if we'd lost Fleur."

I looked at her in horror, but she shook her head and smiled at me. "It's all right now. He did the job ... it was a complete cure. I'll tell you what we did. Remember that fan you'd got ... the one the old lady gave you?"

I nodded.

"There was a bit of jewellry in it."

"Yes, Polly, yes."

"I took it to the jeweller and he said that piece of glitter was worth quite a lot of money." She looked at me apologetically. "I said to Eff, 'This is what Drusilla would want if she was here.' She agreed with me. We had to have that money quick. I had to make up my mind there and then. And there were the jewels and there was dear little Fleur ... so I took the fan to the jeweller and he bought the jewels ... took them out he did ... ever so careful ... It saved Fleur's life.

There was even some over, so we took her to the seaside with that ... Eff and me. A rare old time we had. You should have seen the colour come back into that little one's cheeks. You see ..."

"Of course I see, Polly. I'm glad ... I'm so glad."

"I knew you would be. What's a bit of stone compared with a child's life, eh? That's what I said to Eff. And I tell you this. He's made a good job of the fan, that jeweller. It looks just like it did before. I've kept it very special here. Just a minute."

I sat still, feeling shaken, while she went away to get it. I could never think of peacock feathers without seeing that terrible bloodstained fan lying at Lavinia's feet.

Polly stood before me and proudly opened the fan. It looked scarcely different from when I had last seen it; the place where the jewels had been was neatly covered.

"There!" said Polly. "A pretty thing it is. I'll never forget what it's done for Fleur."

As soon as I returned Lady Harriet wanted to know what had happened.

"They are adamant," I told her. "They will never give Fleur up."

"But didn't you point out the advantages I could give her?"

"They think she is better with them. They have a governess, you know."

"I did know. What any good governess would be doing in a place like that, I cannot imagine."

"She seems to be a very intelligent woman and she is very fond of Fleur."

"Rubbish!" said Lady Harriet. "They must be brought to their senses. I can assert my rights, you know."

"The circumstances are rather extraordinary."

"What do you mean? Fleur is my grandchild."

"But you have only just learned of her existence."

"What of that? I know she is my grandchild. I have a right."

"You mean you would go to law?"

"I will do anything that is necessary to get possession of my grandchild."

"It would mean bringing out the facts of the child's birth."

"Well?"

"Would you care for that?"

"If it is necessary it will have to be done."

"But if you took this matter to law there would be publicity. That would not be good for Fleur."

She hesitated for a moment. Then she said, "I am determined to get the child."