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Several days after Lady Harmony Vesper's visit (Lucas calculates to a nicety a period of time long enough to infuriate her but not long enough to cause her to pay another visit to express her displeasure in person), Lady Hardwind receives a sympathetically couched invitation to tea with Lucas and Solace in their private apartments at the Castle.
When she arrives, she will find them in a prettily furnished drawing room, decorated in delicate pastels with fine furniture in the style of Louis Quinze on Shadow Earth. Hope is playing a building game on the heathrug, while Phillippe is crawling on his own momentous exploration, watched by his parents. At Lady Hardwind's arrival, a signal brings Nanny Starch to remove the children (after Hope has demonstrated her manners by curtseying to the visitor, and the children have been duly admired) and also brings Gaston to serve the tea.
Aunt Felicity, for so she has long encouraged her niece's cousins to call her, is always pleased to see the children, and of course Solace and Lucas too. She is gravely charming to Hope, and seems almost sad to see the children hustled out by Nanny Starch.
After condolences have been made, Lucas keeps the conversation light and pleasant until Gaston has withdrawn. Queries about his health (and his ear) are politely but firmly deflected. It is only as they finish the first cup of tea and reach their scond cucumber sandwiches (white bread; the crusts removed - the trick is in grinding a small amount of the right sort of pepper onto the cucumber) that Lucas turns to more weighty matters.
It is then that he says sympathetically, "I understand that there are some difficulties about your late husband's estate. Might I be able to help in any way?"
Aunt Felicity smiles sadly at Lucas. "You're very kind to offer, but I'm not sure what there is to be done. The paperwork is a mess, and we're straightening it out as best we can. My late husband's affairs were not in as good order as I thought, and I knew there was less money than some people believed. The economy these last few years--but you know all of that."
She pauses and adds, "Opal is a lovely girl, of course, and very devoted to her father. But I think she'd rather think that someone influenced him to do something foolish than believe that he let his finances go to ruin."
Although Felicity may be glossing things politely, she is quite sincere.
Lucas nods gravely and sympathetically. "Sometimes those not directly involved cannot see the pressures that can be placed on one who is at the centre of things," he says. "We are so sorry that you have all this worry in addition to what must be your natural feelings at this sad time, Aunt Felicity.
"Perhaps I could help ... I don't pretend to be able to work miracles, but perhaps I could help bring the papers into some sort off order."
He smiles at her. "And really, you would be doing me a service by giving me something practical to do. Solace will tell you that I am proving a fractious convalescent. Some light paperwork of this kind would be exactly the sort of stimulus my doctor has ordered. And when one's doctor is my Uncle Gerard - well, refusing to follow his instructions is positively foolhardy."
Felicity smiles. "It's not done to turn down Gerard, of course."
"Of course not," says Solace. "And my dear Lucas will be ever so much better with something to occupy his mind." She stretches out her hand and places it on Felicity's. "You were such a good friend to me when I first came to the castle, Aunt Felicity. Please let Lucas repay you in some small measure for your kindness."
Felicity hesitates, but she takes Solace's hand in hers and nods. "I suppose it would be easier if someone from outside looks at the accounts. But Lucas, please don't overexert yourself. I don't want to slow your recovery."
"No, no," agrees Lucas languidly. "I shall be careful. Not that I could be anything other with my wife, my mother and my doctor all taking such pains to help me recover." He gives the smile to be expected of a delicate invalid. "And Gaston will be there to ensure I don't over-exert myself."
The lugubrious manservant looks more than usually pained as he offers around the sachertorte.
"Perhaps I could meet with your man of business tomorrow?" Lucas suggests.
"Yes, yes--I'll send him up," says Felicity. "What time would be most convenient for you."
Solace smiles and pats Felicity's hand.
"Shall we say mid-morning?" suggests Lucas, appearing to give this matter some thought. "Not so soon after breakfast as to find me en dishabille, but not so close to lunch that the combination of solid figures and liquid refreshment might give me indigestion.
Felicity smiles at Lucas' description of the morning hours. "I'll talk to him this afternoon."
"But now, Aunt Felicity, won't you tell me what you think of this chocolate cake? Just the merest sliver for me, Solace darling. I have to watch my figure, you know. So many others do - and it must not be possible for them to detect a certain embonpoint on the Lucan silhouette."
Solace slices the cake: a small, but not so small as all that, piece for Lucas, and similar-sized servings for herself and Felicity.
Felicity samples several bites of the cake. "Excellent," she pronounces it. "But I expect nothing else where you have influence in the kitchen, Lucas. When I have straightened all this out, you shall have to recommend me a new cook."
"I shall be delighted," says Lucas. "You will have to tell me some of your favourite dishes, so that I may match the man with the meals he is expected to produce. And then make sure he is capable of adding the soupcon of unpredictability that is the secret of a good kitchen. Unless the soupcon contains offal. Or blow torches."
The conversation meanders around cooking, the difficulty of finding and affording good servants, and a variety of other topics. Eventually the tea is over, and Solace sees Felicity out.
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XI: Encounter on the Rooftops | Index | XII: Lucas meets a termagant
