Mother,’ said Paul hastily.
‘Thank you, dear,’ she said, exchanging a glance with her sister-in-law. ‘I should like to sit down. No, please, Mrs. Alleyn, don’t move. So sweet of you. Thank you, Paul.’
‘Noddy and I,’ said Miss Orrincourt brightly, ‘have been having such fun. We’ve been looking at some of that old jewellery.’ She stretched her arms above her head and yawned delicately.
‘Noddy?’ Troy wondered. ‘But who is Noddy?’ Miss Orrincourt’s remark was followed by a rather deadly little pause. ‘He’s all burnt up about having his picture taken,’ Miss Orrincourt added. ‘Isn’t it killing?’
Pauline Ancred, with a dignified shifting of her torso, brought her sister-in-law into her field of vision. ‘Have you seen Papa this afternoon, Millamant?’ she asked, not quite cordially, but with an air of joining forces against a common enemy.
‘I went up as usual at four o’clock,’ Millamant rejoined, ‘to see if there was anything I could do for him.’ She glanced at Miss Orrincourt. ‘He was engaged, however.’
‘T’uh!’ said Pauline lightly, and she began to revolve her thumbs one around the other. Millamant gave the merest sketch of a significant laugh and turned to Troy.
‘We don’t quite know,’ she said cheerfully, ‘if Thomas explained about my father-in-law’s portrait. He wishes to be painted in his own little theatre here. The backcloth has been hung and Paul knows about the lights. Papa would like to begin at eleven tomorrow morning, and if he is feeling up to it he will sit for an hour every morning and afternoon.’
‘I thought,’ said Miss Orrincourt, ‘it would be ever so thrilling if Noddy was on a horse in the picture.’
‘Sir Henry,’ said Millamant, without looking at her, ‘will, of course, have decided on the pose.’
‘But Aunt Milly,’ said Paul, very red in the face, ‘Mrs. Alleyn might like – I mean – don’t you think –’
‘Yes, Aunt Milly,’ said Fenella.
‘Yes, indeed, Milly,’ said Cedric. ‘I so agree. Please, please Milly and Aunt Pauline, and please Sonia, angel, do consider that Mrs. Alleyn is the one to – oh, my goodness,’ Cedric implored them, ‘pray do consider.’
‘I shall be very interested,’ said Troy, ‘to hear about Sir Henry’s plans.’
‘That,’ said Pauline, ‘will be very nice. I forgot to tell you, Millamant, that I heard from Dessy. She’s coming for The Birthday.’
‘I’m glad you let me know,’ said Millamant, looking rather put out.
‘And so’s Mummy, Aunt Milly,’ said Fenella. ‘I forgot to say.’
‘Well,’ said Millamant, with a short laugh, ‘I am learning about things, aren’t I?’
‘Jenetta coming? Fancy!’ said Pauline. ‘It must be two years since Jenetta was at Ancreton. I hope she’ll be able to put up with our rough and ready ways.’
‘Considering she’s been living in a two-roomed flat,’ Fenella began rather hotly and checked herself. ‘She asked me to say she hoped it wouldn’t be too many.’
‘I’ll move out of Bernhardt into Bracegirdle,’ Pauline offered. ‘Of course.’
‘You’ll do nothing of the sort, Pauline,’ said Millamant. ‘Bracegirdle is piercingly cold, the ceiling leaks, and there are rats. Desdemona complained bitterly about the rats last time she was here. I asked Barker to lay poison for them, but he’s lost the poison. Until he finds it, Bracegirdle is uninhabitable.’
‘Mummy could share Duse with me,’ said Fenella quickly. ‘We’d love it and it’d save fires.’
‘Oh, we couldn’t dream of that,’ said Pauline and Millamant together.
‘Mrs. Alleyn,’ said Fenella loudly, ‘I’m going up to change. Would you like to see your room?’
‘Thank you,’ said Troy, trying not to sound too eager. ‘Thank you, I would.’
IV
Having climbed the stairs and walked with a completely silent Fenella down an interminable picture gallery and two long passages, followed by a break-neck ascent up a winding stair, Troy found herself at a door upon which hung a wooden plaque bearing the word ‘Siddons’. Fenella opened the door, and Troy was pleasantly welcomed by the reflection of leaping flames on white painted walls. White damask curtains with small garlands, a sheepskin rug, a low bed, and there, above a Victorian wash-stand, sure enough, hung Mrs. Siddons. Troy’s painting gear was stacked in a corner.
‘What a nice room,’ said Troy.
‘I’m glad you like it,’ said Fenella in a suppressed voice. Troy saw with astonishment that she was in a rage.
‘I apologise,’ said Fenella shakily, ‘for my beastly family.’
‘Hallo,’ said Troy, ‘what’s all this?’
‘As if they weren’t damned lucky to get you! As if they wouldn’t still be damned lucky if you decided to paint Grandpa standing on his head with garlic growing out of the soles of his boots. It’s such cheek. Even that frightful twirp Cedric was ashamed.’
‘Good Lord!’ said Troy. ‘That’s nothing unusual. You’ve no conception how funny people can be about portraits.’
‘I hate them! And you heard how catty they were about Mummy coming. I do think old women are foul. And that bitch Sonia lying there lapping it all up. How they can, in front of her! Paul and I were so ashamed.’
Fenella stamped, dropped on her knees in front of the fire and burst into tears. ‘I’m sorry,’ she stammered. ‘I’m worse than they are, but I’m so sick of it all. I wish I hadn’t come to Ancreton. I loathe Ancreton. If you only knew what it’s like.’
‘Look here,’ Troy said gently, ‘are you sure you want to talk to me like this?’
‘I know it’s frightful, but I can’t help it. How would you feel if your grandfather brought a loathsome blonde into the house? How would you feel?’
Troy had a momentary vision of her grandfather, now deceased. He had been an austere and somewhat finicky don.
‘Everybody’s laughing at him,’ Fenella sobbed. ‘And I used to like him so much. Now he’s just silly. A silly amorous old man. He behaves like that himself and then when I – when I went to – it doesn’t matter. I’m terribly sorry. It’s awful, boring you like this.’
Troy sat on a low chair by the fire and looked thoughtfully at Fenella. The child really is upset, she thought, and realised that already she had begun to question the authenticity of the Ancreds’ emotions. She said: ‘You needn’t think it’s awful, and you’re not boring me. Only don’t say things you’ll feel inclined to kick yourself for when you’ve got under way again.’
‘All
