‘Gilbert, please call me Gilbert.’ He smiled again, this time without guile.
She wasn’t sure she wanted to be on first name terms with him. She had been happy with the professional relationship they’d established, but she found herself returning his smile.
‘I’ll be back in a moment. And Ralph, find your homework, and make sure you’re ready for the test we spoke of.’
‘Ah yes,’ his father said. ‘The test. An excellent idea.’
Alice lowered her magnifying glass when Beth appeared in the doorway. The old lady had begun her painfully slow read through the newspaper and was unhappy with this intrusion into her morning routine, but presented with the fact that her nephew was in the kitchen and had brought her yet another gift, she allowed herself to be persuaded.
‘Only a few minutes though,’ she grumbled. ‘You must come and get him.’
Left alone with May and her pupil, Beth was curious. ‘Why did your father bring you today? He’s never done that before and you’ve been coming for several weeks.’
Ralph kicked the table leg with one foot. ‘He says I play too much,’ he announced moodily. ‘And maybe I should be in school – but I don’t want to go away. It’s much more exciting here.’
‘Then you’d better work hard and prove him wrong. I’m taking Mrs Prendergast into my bedroom to finish our tea, but make sure you know those synonyms inside out by the time I get back. And write me some sentences using the first five words on the list.’
Ralph gave a theatrical sigh but obediently picked up his pencil.
‘I won’t stay more than a few minutes,’ May said, when they’d decamped to Beth’s bedroom. ‘I can see you’ve got your hands full.’ She jerked her head towards the sitting room. ‘When he’s done, I’ll pop in to see Mrs Summer and then I’ll be off.’
‘He won’t be long,’ Beth said. She found a nook on the window seat while May took the narrow bed. ‘I have strict instructions to rescue her. She seems to have little affection for him.’
‘She can be a difficult woman. Not so much nowadays mebbe, but I remember my mother often coming home in a fury about something the mistress had said or done. It wasn’t that Mrs Summer was harsh or aggressive – no shouting orders, that kind of thing. She was vague and sort of floaty. You couldn’t put your finger on it really, I think that’s what got to my mother. Ma never knew what was wrong, just that something was wrong, and the mistress wouldn’t be happy until it was put right. Just plain irritating, if you ask me.’
‘I think she must have mellowed since then, and I wouldn’t have thought she’d give Gilbert Fitzroy problems. It sounds odd, but once or twice these last few weeks when he’s come to see her, I’ve thought him almost scared.’
‘Gilbert? Scared? He wouldn’t be scared. He’s a deep one, though. Mebbe he’s just keen to keep on the right side of her and wants to make sure he doesn’t put a foot wrong.’
‘Why so keen? Alice is a frail old woman. She’s no hold over him.’
May pursed her lips. ‘You could be wrong there. He’s the heir to Summerhayes. He’ll want to make sure the place comes to him.’
‘But surely it will. She wouldn’t disinherit him?’
‘Who knows? She’s probably too much a daughter of Amberley to do such a thing, but old people get funny ideas in their heads. And she don’t like him, so you never can tell. He’s probably busy buttering his bread on both sides.’
‘He can’t need another estate, though. He has Amberley. What would he want with this wreck of a place?’
May took a long sip of the weak tea. ‘There’s always been bad blood between the families over Summerhayes. The old man, Henry Fitzroy – he was Gilbert’s father – hated the place. He reckoned it was unfairly taken from Amberley.’
‘And was it?’
‘Not that I know of. Nor anyone else. Alice married Mr Summer and he gave the Fitzroys a lot of money, leastways that was the rumour. In exchange, he got Mrs Summer and a large chunk of the Amberley estate.’
‘So if it was all legally tied up, why the problem?’
‘The Fitzroys are the problem, my dear. They’re somewhat crafty and they’ve an exaggerated idea of their own importance. Old man Fitzroy never accepted the settlement.’
‘Do you think Gilbert feels that way, too?’
‘I don’t know, but it’s bound to rub off, isn’t it? In any case, he’ll want Summerhayes to prop up his own estate.’
‘But Amberley is rich.’
‘’Tis at the moment,’ May said cryptically, raising her eyebrows into two large question marks. ‘It’s his wife that funds it, leastways that’s what people say. She hasn’t been near the place since war was declared, and what if she goes for good? There’s rumours they don’t get on, but he needs her, I reckon. He’s overspent on that place, something chronic. She’s some kind of heiress. American.’ May sniffed. ‘If she don’t come back and her money stays with her, he’ll be after Summerhayes. And he’d make a tidy sum on it, even in its present state.’
‘Ralph told me his mother was in New York. It’s strange she’s stayed away so long, but maybe she feels genuinely frightened. The bombing hasn’t been anywhere near as bad here as it has in London but still… I wonder why she didn’t take her son with her.’
‘He—’ and again May jerked her head towards the sitting room ‘—wouldn’t let her. A bit of a row about it apparently, but in any case I don’t think Ida was too worried. Not exactly mother of the year. And it wasn’t just the war to my mind. That was a good excuse for her to pack up and go. Gilbert Fitzroy isn’t everyone’s choice of a husband.’
‘Well, she did choose him,’ Beth said stoutly. ‘So she must have liked something about him. And he’s been good to us. I know the presents for Alice are trivial, she can take them or leave them, but he’s gone out of his way to help. He found us a new cleaning woman and that, let me tell you, is worth its weight in gold. If I had to add cleaning to my duties, I don’t think I’d ever sleep.’
‘Molly Dumbrell, isn’t it?’ May gave a small huff. ‘I’ve heard she’s a good enough cleaner but—’
‘But what?’
‘She’s also no better than she should be, if you know what I mean. And Mr Fitzroy recommended her? Well, well.’
Beth was about to probe this cryptic remark when the opening and closing of the sitting-room door halted their conversation. Evidently Gilbert had been dismissed. Beth, with May following, slipped back into the small hall to meet him and found Ralph by his side.
‘Did she like the book?’
Gilbert smiled ruefully. ‘I’m not sure she did.’
‘Daddy said she put it on the table and didn’t even open it.’
‘Then I’ll try to persuade her to take a look,’ May said briskly. ‘I’ll go in now, if you’ve finished, Mr Fitzroy.’
‘Be my guest. I hope you have better luck than I did.’
Beth was certain her friend would. For the old lady, May was a link to the past, but not such a close link that she brought with her disagreeable memories. Alice would be able to reminisce at will and May could be relied on to say the right things.
‘Well now, Master Fitzroy,’ she turned to Ralph. ‘Time