108. An Archangel Called Ivan (8 page)

“But you cannot read a book without touching it,” Arliva said, “and I want you to find me lots of books about horses as well as about the other subjects I will teach you.”

“What sort of subjects?” the girls asked.

“When I was your age,” Arliva said, “I used to pretend I was going with my Papa in a ship all round the world and, until he could take me, I used to look up places I wanted to visit in books and find pictures of them.”

She paused for a moment as if she was thinking back before she continued,

“Then when Papa came home I used to ask him to take me there – and he did!”

“Our father is dead and Grandpapa’s far too old.” Johnnie sighed.

Arliva smiled sympathetically.

“But I am here and perhaps your grandfather will let me take you in a big ship one day which will be very very exciting and I will tell you all about it.”

“Do tell me now,” one of the little twins implored, whose name was Rosie.

“I will tell you what I want to do first,” Arliva said, “but you must come with me to help me. I have asked Mrs. Lewis to give us rooms downstairs so that we don’t have to come up so many stairs. Besides you are all too old for a nursery now that you have me instead of a Nanny.”

“I miss Nanny,” the other little girl, called Daisy, said.

She looked so like her twin, except that she was a little thinner.

Arliva guessed that she was the weaker of the three children and so should have more attention.

“Let’s go downstairs and see if they have decided to give us rooms in one of the wings,” Arliva suggested. “I am sure it’s bad for us to waste our time up here when we might be doing more exciting things in other parts of the house.”

“We are not really allowed in the other parts of the house,” Johnnie murmured.

“That’s all in the past,” Arliva assured him. “We are now starting a new life together and you must behave in quite a different way from how you did while you were in the nursery.”

“You mean we have grown older?” Johnnie asked.

“And wiser of course. Come on, if we don’t get our own way now, it will be more difficult tomorrow.”

She led the way downstairs and found, as she had expected, the butler and the housekeeper were just coming from the West wing of the house towards the centre of it.

“Have you found a new schoolroom for us?” Arliva enquired.

“We’ve found one,” Evans replied, “but I am just hoping that you’ll not do it any harm.”

“You need not worry at all as we will treat it with the greatest respect,” Arliva said, “just as I want these girls and the boy who are no longer children, to be treated as students.”

She was smiling as she spoke and the housekeeper gave a laugh.

“Well you’re a one for thinkin’ up new ideas,” she said. “It never struck us that the nursery was out of date, so to speak, and that Master Johnnie should move down because he’s growin’ up.”

Johnnie laughed.

“When I get to the ground floor,” he said, “or the cellar, I will be old like Grandpapa!”

“I hope you reach them long before that,” Arliva told him. “Now come along, let’s see what our schoolroom is like before we have a great deal to learn in it.”

Johnnie and the two girls ran ahead.

Evans, determined to be in on the act, hurried after them and opened a door at the end of the passage.

It was indeed a vast improvement, Arliva thought, on the nursery.

It had been furnished as a boudoir for someone who was staying in this part of the house. It smelt a little musty as did the bedrooms that had obviously not been opened or used for a very long time.

“These will do us just beautifully and thank you for being so understanding and so sensible,” Arliva enthused.

She knew that the way she spoke pleased both the butler and the housekeeper.

Evans smiled at her before he replied,

“Well, miss, you’ve certainly altered a few things since you arrived.”

“I think, actually, I have saved not only your legs but your lives,” Arliva carried on, “and please understand when I say I am dying for my luncheon!”

They laughed at this and told her to go downstairs with the children as soon as she had taken off her hat and coat.

By the time she had done so and her case had been placed in a comfortable and well-furnished bedroom, it was almost one o’clock.

The children had been exploring their rooms and the twins had chosen one with a communicating door.

Johnnie had been allocated a room meant for a man and the pictures on the walls were all of horses and this delighted him.

“Now come along and have luncheon,” Arliva said. “Then we must change so that we can go riding. It’s such a lovely day and I do want to see your beautiful grounds before we go to bed.”

The room Evans had decided was to be their dining room had, she found, once been a breakfast room when there had been large families in the house and they had kept the dining room for luncheon and dinner.

The breakfast room was very cosy and the children were thrilled to sit at the square table in the centre of it and be able to look out on the flowers in the garden as they ate.

They were so excited at what was happening that they all wanted to talk at the same time during luncheon.

Arliva listened to them, but did not try to explain anything until she was quite certain that they would not all be sent back in disgrace by Lord Wilson when he heard of the alterations.

She learnt, however, that he was in ill-health and seldom left his bedroom.

In fact there would be no reason for him to know what was happening in his house unless Arliva herself told him what changes she had made.

She had a few words with Evans before she went upstairs to change, having sent the children to put on their riding clothes with a young maid, who had apparently been looking after them.

“His Lordship’s lost interest and feels too weak to attend to what’s happening on the estate,” Evans told her. “He leaves it all in the hands of his manager. He just sits in his bedroom and his valet looks after him as good as any nurse could do.”

He paused for a moment before he went on,

“But it’s a lonely life for him and he’s never been the same since his son drowned and his wife with him.”

“It must have been a terrible shock,” Arliva said.

“It were indeed,” Evans agreed. “Now he just lets everything pass by, so to speak. It’s been up to us to keep things going as they should be.”

“I think you have been absolutely splendid,” Arliva told him. “Now you must forgive me if I try to make the children much more interested in life than they are at the moment.”

“I can tell you one thing,” the butler informed her. “The Governesses as came here never taught them as much as the alphabet or else they wouldn’t learn it. If you asks me, she didn’t like them and they didn’t like her.”

“Well, let’s hope they will like me,” Arliva replied. “They are certainly excited at being allowed to ride.”

“I thinks myself it were a silly idea to stop them, but it wouldn’t do for us to interfere with the Governess as you know.”

“I don’t want you to interfere with me,” Arliva told him, “but I want you to help me and that is what I know you are doing now and I am very grateful.”

”It’s like having a whirlwind in the house, I can tell you that,” Evans said. “We’ve not had a new idea here for years and it’s good for all of us to have a shake-up.”

He laughed and Arliva laughed with him.

She ran upstairs to her new bedroom to change into her riding clothes.

The housemaid, obviously on the instructions of the housekeeper, had already unpacked for her.

She thanked the housemaid and found out that her name was Ann.

“You will have to tell me, Ann, who everyone is in the household and how many are in the kitchen or in the housekeeper’s room. It’s difficult when you are new to find out who works where.”

“I’ll tell you,” Ann said eagerly, “and this place has been as dull as ditch-water until you arrived ’ere, miss. But now it’s all buzzin’ and quite different from what it were yesterday.”

She looked round to make sure that the door was closed before she added,

“To tell the truth I were thinkin’ of leavin’ because it’s so dull and grim. As I says to me Mum, it be like livin’ in a tomb, but now things are movin’ I want to stay.”

“Oh, please stay and help me,” Arliva begged. “I need a lot of help and, as you know, it’s difficult to change anything that has been always done in exactly the same way, especially in houses like this.”

“You’ll change ’em,” Ann said. “I’ve never seen Mr. Evans and Mrs. Lewis in such a state of excitement as they be now. When I left the kitchen, cook were talkin’ of what cakes she’s made for the young’uns and I can tell you she’s not bothered to make any for weeks.”

Arliva smiled, but made no comment.

Instead she asked Ann numerous questions which told her better than anything else what had been happening in Wilson Hall since the heir to it had been drowned.

It did not take her long to put on her riding clothes, although they were, she felt, far too smart for this place.

But it was all she had and she could not bear to leave them behind in London.

When she was dressed, she went to the children’s bedrooms to find that Johnnie’s breeches were rather tight and he really needed new ones, as well as some new boots.

”We will make a long list of all the things you need tomorrow,” she told him, “but now let’s find the horses, which is far more exciting than anything else.”

Johnnie ran off ahead of the two girls, who held Arliva’s hand as they crossed the corridor.

Evans then showed them a side door, which was the quickest way to the stables.

He came along too as if he could not bear to miss the excitement which he anticipated was inevitable.

He was quite right.

The Head Groom who had been informed that they were riding, was waiting with a supercilious expression on his face.

Arliva greeted him with a handshake and enthused,

“This is very thrilling for me, as I have heard about your superb thoroughbreds and, of course, I am longing to try them.”

She was well aware, as he approached them, that he looked at her riding clothes and realised that she was not only smart but dressed in just the right way for someone who was used to being on a horse.

The Head Groom took her into the stables and she saw at once that the ponies for the two girls were old and slow.

“How well can you ride?” she asked them.

“Very well if we have good horses,” Rosie replied. “But the Governess before you always said, as we were so young, we had to go on the oldest and slowest pony and it was very very dull.”

“We do ’ave larger ponies,” the Head Groom said slowly, as if he had been keeping it a secret, “but, as the Governess afore you were scared the girls might fall orf, I were afraid to suggest ’em.”

“Of course they will not fall off,” Arliva asserted. “I rode quite big ponies when I was their age and please, please let’s see the ones you have hidden away.”

They had been bought, apparently, by the children’s father and mother just before they left on the ship which was to sink so that they never returned.

They had grown a little last year, but were still very suitable ponies for children who could ride without being afraid.

The twins were thrilled with them and, from the way they patted the ponies and talked to them and the way they held the reins when she lifted them into the saddle, Arliva knew that they really could ride well.

Johnnie had found a horse he had ridden before, which the last Governess had said was too large for him.

“I want this one,” he said in a way that told Arliva without words that he was prepared to fight for it.

“But, of course, you must have the horse you want to ride, Johnnie,” she told him, “and I think your choice is admirable.

Johnnie’s eyes lit up.

Then, as if he could hardly believe his good luck, he climbed up onto the saddle.

“I love Spitfire,” he said, “and I know he missed me when I was not allowed to come here.”

“Of course he did,” Arliva agreed, “and mind you tell him that it was not your fault you were not allowed to ride him and he will understand.”

She knew that the Head Groom was listening to her with a twinkle in his eye.

He realised without being told that she was used to horses and, as he suspected, a very good rider.

When all four of them set off, Arliva would have been amused if she knew that he turned to the butler and said,

“That be a slice o’ luck. We’ve got a real pusher ’ere at last.”

“And not before time,” Evans said. “If you asks me she be a real lady and knows not only a good horse when she sees one but how the children should be brought up to be the ladies and gentlemen they was born to be.”

The two men exchanged glances and then the Head Groom said,

“Well, let’s ’ope ’er stays and for ’eaven’s sake give ’er what ’er wants indoors or else she’ll be orf to London like all the rest of ’em.”

“I knows what you’re saying,” Evans replied, “and Mrs. Lewis and I’ll do our best. But you know how dull they finds it down here.”

“Who can blame ’em for that?” the Head Groom asked. “We’ve ’ad some ghastly women who didn’t know their job, but this one’s the real McCoy!”

“I agrees with you there,” Evans remarked.

Arliva and the children were now riding away from the house led by Johnnie.

“There’s a lovely wood which we used to come in until the Governess who left us last said the trees might fall on our heads and would not let us go there.”

“She would not let us ride,” Rosie said, “and poor Star must have hated being shut up in the stables with no one to make a fuss of him.”

“You must make a fuss of him now,” Arliva told her, “and tell him exactly what you are going to do. My father always taught me to talk to my horses and that is what you must do. They understand what you say to them and like to know what is happening just as we do.”

She knew that the children were thrilled with what had occurred.

When Johnnie led them into the wood, she thought that it was a lovely wood and the children should enjoy it.