Sylvia Andrew – A Very Unusual Governess (страница 9)

‘It is only for two months, Edward.’

Lisette’s intervention seemed to give Mr Barraclough pause. He looked at Lisette sharply. ‘You’d like her to stay, too? It isn’t just because you’re sorry for her?’

Lisette shook her head and said emphatically, ‘I think she would be absolutely right for us.’

Octavia could see that Mr Barraclough was impressed by Lisette’s words, and decided that it was high time she said something. ‘I’m sorry, but I must tell y—’

‘What are your qualifications?’ he asked. ‘I suppose you have some?’

Octavia was once more annoyed by his tone. He could do with a lesson or two in good manners himself, she thought. ‘I think I may say that I am qualified to teach the necessary skills,’ she said coldly, remembering all the expensive tutors and governesses insisted on by her mother, her sojourn at a highly exclusive Seminary for Young Ladies. ‘But that’s not the point—’

‘I suppose I’d be satisfied as long as you can keep them safe and happy, and under control. Can you do that? You wouldn’t have to teach them very much. Lisette is to come out next year, but I expect her aunt will see that she knows how to behave in Society.’

‘I do know something of that, too, but—’

‘This would be the very highest society, Miss Petrie. I wouldn’t expect or ask you to cope with that. I don’t suppose Mrs Barraclough would want you to teach Lisette the manners of some Dame’s School or other. She would want better.’

While Octavia was choking at hearing a Seminary that had been patronised by the cream of the English aristocracy described as ‘some Dame’s School,’ he went on, ‘Well, I suppose we could try you. If you’ll come into the library I’ll give you the terms and so on. You’ll find the salary generous, but the appointment is only for a short time—eight or nine weeks at the most. You do know that, do you?’

‘Your niece did say something of the kind. But I didn’t come—’

‘Good! Then it’s settled. Come through to the library.’

Am I never to be allowed to finish a sentence? Octavia asked herself. This Mr Barraclough absolutely deserves to be deceived! She looked at the two Barraclough girls, Pip nodding her head and almost falling off her perch with excitement, Lisette smiling for the first time since they had met, her wonderful eyes glowing with pleasure. Gipsy-black eyes hovered at the back of her mind…sparkling window-panes…To her astonishment she found herself saying, ‘Very well, sir,’ and meekly followed ‘the ogre’ into the library.

Chapter Four

At the end of her interview with Mr Barraclough Octavia fervently hoped that Lady Dorney had been sincere in what she had said. She wasn’t sure whether she had succumbed to the force of Mr Barraclough’s powerful personality, or to the equally powerful force of this strange house. But to her bewilderment she found she had agreed to come back in four days’ time, complete with suitable references, to take up duties as a governess companion to the Barraclough girls. The ‘ogre’ had proved to be more accommodating than she would have imagined—or perhaps more desperate. After she had explained that she would like to keep an eye on an elderly relative who lived some distance away, she was promised two days a month, together with the use of the gig.

However, Mr Barraclough had made it all too clear that he was still not convinced that she could manage. This poor opinion of her abilities so annoyed Octavia that, as she took her leave of the Barracloughs, she swore to herself that she would prove him wrong if it was the last thing she did!

She refused the girls’ offers to accompany her down the drive, and set off in good time to be at the gate when Will Gifford came to pick her up. Having committed herself to a totally mad impersonation, she wanted to make sure it was carried through without any hitches, and Will and the gig were a potential giveaway. Most chance-met governesses did not leave in a well-cared-for gig with a groom who treated them with the deferential familiarity of an old servant!

Perhaps ‘impersonation’ was not the word—escapade was more like it. After all, she was not impersonating anyone else, and she had given Mr Barraclough her real name, if not her proper title. And though she had never sought employment of any kind, she was fully competent to look after two girls for two months, whatever their uncle thought. She would earn the very generous salary he had promised her…

But she still couldn’t understand why on earth she had agreed to do it! The house must have bewitched her. She stopped, turned and looked at it again. Wychford was once again sparkling and smiling in the sunlight. Perhaps there was more to the stories about the house than she had realised? Perhaps Aunt Carstairs had been the witch she and Harry had thought her! Why had she left her house to Octavia? Had she seen her goddaughter’s restlessness, yet understood Octavia’s reluctance to marry simply to escape from Ashcombe? It was possible.

But even the Witch of Wychford couldn’t have foreseen the Barracloughs and their problem. Or…could she?

As Octavia walked on down the drive she was thinking of the last time she had seen Aunt Carstairs. They had said their farewells and the footmen were waiting to assist the old lady into her carriage. But just before she got in her aunt had turned round to take Octavia’s hand and say, ‘Be patient, child. Rescue is at hand.’ Then, as the carriage prepared to drive off, she had put her head out of the window and added with a crow of laughter, ‘There’s even a hero in prospect, though you’ll take time to recognise him.’

Octavia was turning these words over in her mind now as she drew near the gates of Wychford. A hero? Not among the Barracloughs, that was certain! Edward Barraclough was not only already married, he was the opposite of all her ideals. Dark, abrupt, discourteous, and not much gaiety about him…Anyone less like Tom Payne would be difficult to imagine! No blond prince among the Barracloughs, then. So where? Perhaps one of the local neighbours had a son…But how could she meet him if she was an employee, a governess at Wychford? Octavia gave a sigh. Surely Aunt Carstairs could have managed better than this! But as Will Gifford drove up she laughed out loud. She was beginning to believe her own nonsense!

Octavia got back to Ashcombe in daylight and, wasting no time before setting her plans in motion, invited Lady Dorney to have tea with her in private. ‘It’s an age since I saw Papa so happy, ma’am,’ she began as they sat down in her parlour. ‘You are so good for him.’

Lady Dorney looked at her with amusement. ‘I’m glad to hear that. But I believe I know you too well to think it an idle remark,’ she murmured. ‘Tell me, what plans are you hatching in that pretty head of yours? I don’t believe you invited me here just to pay me compliments. Incidentally, you, too, look happier—excited even. What happened today?’

Octavia hesitated, then launched into an account of her adventures. When she reached the point where Edward Barraclough said that she wasn’t the featherhead he had thought, Lady Dorney was so amused that she nearly dropped her cup.

‘So when did you tell him that, far from being an indigent governess in search of a post, you were the daughter of the Earl of Warnham, and the owner of the house he was renting?’

‘I didn’t. I haven’t.’

‘What? Why on earth not?’

Octavia took a breath and said defiantly, ‘I’ve agreed to begin as their governess in four days’ time.’

‘But how can you possibly manage that? Rupert would never agree! To say nothing of pretending to be something you are not! No, no! You can’t do it, Octavia!’

‘I could. With a little help from you, ma’am.’

‘Your papa will never consent.’

‘I wouldn’t ask him. I would tell him that it was as he feared—Wychford needs further attention than I thought, that I need to spend some time seeing to it. It’s not quite a lie, ma’am!’

‘It’s not the truth, either! What do you think he would feel if he learned that his daughter was working as a governess?’

‘I don’t suppose he ever will. At the end of two months I’ll come back here and take up my old life again. But I wish I could explain to you…Those children need me, ma’am.’

‘So does your father. How will you persuade him to do without you?’

‘Ah! That’s where the favour comes in.’

‘Tell me!’

‘Well, you did say that you’d like to stay longer this time. And if you were here Papa wouldn’t miss me nearly as much. Our housekeeper is perfectly competent, and the servants are all familiar with the routine of the house…’

‘If you are suggesting what I think you’re suggesting, the answer is no, Octavia! I won’t do it! Take charge of this house? Certainly not!’

‘You needn’t take charge, exactly—just be here. I could come back regularly to see that everything is working, though I’m sure it won’t be necessary. Please say you will, ma’am!’

Lady Dorney said somewhat coolly, ‘You realise, I hope, what I would be risking? Rupert and I have always been good friends. He would hardly believe it if he found out that I had helped you to deceive him. He would certainly be distressed. It might well mean the end of our friendship!’