“I can do what I bally-well like on my land,” Cedric said. “The amphitheater needs a backstage area and they are simply in the way. Come and see.” He opened one of the French doors and they followed him out obediently, leaving me standing alone in the ballroom.

Chapter 8

KINGSDOWNE

I came out into the hallway and was just making my way back to the main staircase when I met the housemaid Elsie coming toward me with a tray on which there was a teapot and cup.

“Countess Streletzki has another of her migraines,” she said. “And she’s a great believer in chamomile tea.”

I started up the stairs with her.

“I wonder if it would be all right if I visited the countess’s daughter Elisabeth,” I said. “It must be awfully lonely for her, stuck in her room all the time.”

“It is, poor thing,” she said. “And such a sweet-natured child she is too. Let me just deliver this to the countess and I’ll take you up to the nursery.”

“I won’t be disturbing her lessons, will I?”

“Oh, no, my lady,” she replied. “Miss Sissy is supposed to rest after luncheon.”

I waited until Elsie returned from delivering her tray to Irene, and then she led me up another flight of stairs and along the full length of a hallway. Now that we were no longer on the important floors, the décor was not as grand. The walls were whitewashed and plain with the occasional vase in a niche. Elsie tapped at the very end door then opened it.

“Miss Sissy?” she asked. “Are you resting?”

“Why should I rest? I’ve done nothing all day to make me tired,” said a clear voice.

“I’ve brought you a visitor.”

“Oh. I don’t know if I’m well enough for visitors,” she said hastily.

“I promise not to stay long and tire you,” I said and stepped past Elsie into the room. “I just wanted to say hello and introduce myself. I’m Georgiana Rannoch, and I’m staying here for a while so I thought you might like some company.”

The girl was sitting in a bath chair at a window, a rug over her knees and a shawl over her shoulders. There was a strong resemblance to the other two children but her face was less sullen and much prettier; she was older than I thought she’d be—around fifteen, maybe. Almost white-blonde hair spilled over her shoulders, and when she saw me her face broke into a charming smile.

“How lovely. Please, do come in,” she said. “I thought the visitor might be Grandmama or one of my aunts, and I do find them so tiresome. But another young person—well, that’s quite different.”

I noticed that this was a corner room with tall windows on two sides, giving a spectacular view over the estate. From the front window, where Sissy now sat, one looked down on the forecourt, the lake, driveway and lawns. Out of the side window, one could see the cascades and the temple peeping out of the trees of the glen before the formal grounds gave way to thick woods, all the way down to the valley. Smoke was rising from unseen chimneys, curling up into the cold air.