Frank threw his mallet on to the ground in a huff. ‘I tell you, it went through as sweet as a nut. If you were a boy again, Cat, I’d beat you for calling me a cheat.’
‘Frank!’ exclaimed Lizzie. ‘When are you going to start treating Cat properly?’ Frank shrugged and helped himself to a glass of sherbet. ‘I’m serious,’ Lizzie continued. ‘You’ve set the tone with the servants, you know – they all treat her like an honorary boy in the house, taking all sorts of liberties with her.’
Frank gave me a quick look then turned away to watch Pedro who was collecting up the balls with his mallet. ‘What sort of liberties?’ he asked stiffly.
‘Lizzie, it’s nothing –,’ I tried to interrupt. I knew what she was going to say and blushed to be reminded of my latest indiscretion. There was something about being in the splendid surroundings of the Duke of Avon’s residence that made me incapable of behaving as I knew I should.
‘No, he should hear what he’s done,’ said Lizzie firmly. ‘Only last week, Joseph jumped out on her in the library and pushed her along on one of the ladders so she fell off and broke Father’s bust of Voltaire.’
Frank laughed. ‘Oh, that’s all right then. I thought you meant something far more scandalous.’
‘Well, to some people that would be, Frank. And do you know what Joseph told me when I challenged him about it?’
Frank shrugged.
‘He said, in his best Joseph manner, that he “couldn’t resist it, my lady” and that he “knew Miss Catherine liked it”. In his defence, I should say he offered to pay for the breakage out of his wages. I refused, of course – the bust was an ugly thing that none of us really liked. Now don’t tell me that you haven’t encouraged your footman to behave like that?’
‘Lizzie, I –’ I began.
‘No, Cat, this is between me and Frank. It’s not that I want to spoil your fun but you’re both growing up fast. My brother needs to treat you with respect or, well, you might find it very difficult in the future.’
I didn’t want to listen to her. So many things were changing; I couldn’t keep pace. Behaviour that I had got away with just six months ago was now thought immodest for a young lady of my age. Everyone seemed to expect me to grow up, make my own way.
‘I’m sorry, Lizzie, I’ll try to behave better when I’m at your house,’ I said, unsuccessfully trying to hide my frustration.
‘Oh Cat, I’m not scolding you,’ said Lizzie with a smile. ‘We all like you as you are. I’m just trying to drum some manners into my incorrigible brother.’
‘I stand corriged,’ said Frank with a bow. ‘Miss Royal, if you would be so kind as to move your delicate toes from the end of the seat so that my sitting apparatus can place itself in the shade, I would be most obliged.’
Even I had to laugh at that. Lizzie poured two more glasses of sherbet and the four of us sat at our ease, sipping them appreciatively.
‘So, you’re both leaving Drury Lane and Syd’s off on tour, is he?’ asked Frank. ‘I wish I could go with him.’
‘We all seem to be on the move,’ said Lizzie.
‘Oh? Are you going to the country soon?’ I enquired. The Avons usually spent the summer on their estate near Bath.
‘No, it’s better than that,’ Lizzie replied, her blue eyes shining with a light I hadn’t seen since a certain gentleman of her acquaintance had left England. ‘Our cousin, the Comtesse de Plessis, has invited us to Paris. She thought that Father, as a friend of the revolution, might enjoy the 14th July celebrations.’
‘What do they get up to?’
‘Since the people of Paris stormed the Bastille prison on that day two years ago, they have begun to hold an annual holiday. They have music and processions – it all sounds wonderful.’
‘Lizzie wouldn’t think it was so wonderful if a certain foreign dignitary wasn’t going to be there,’ added Frank in an undertone. ‘I fear Cousin Rebecca is playing cupid.’
‘Oh?’ asked Pedro.
‘Don’t tell me, Johnny’s going to be in Paris!’ I exclaimed.
Lizzie nodded shyly, her face wreathed in smiles. ‘He’s been sent by an American newspaper to record the proceedings.’
‘Lizzie and Lord Johnny have been plotting this between them for some time,’ Frank continued.
‘Not exactly plotting, Frank,’ corrected Lizzie. ‘Just taking advantage of a happy coincidence.’
As pleased as I was to hear that the two young lovers were to be reunited, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed that my friend Johnny was going to be so near and yet I wouldn’t have a chance to see him. Johnny still had the little matter of an arrest warrant hanging over his head for treasonous cartoons – he would be unable to return to England for many years.
‘Are you going too, Frank?’ I asked enviously.
‘Lord no, Cat. I’d be quite the wallflower. Mama and Lizzie will be shopping all day, Father talking to the political chaps. In the evening, Lizzie will be billing and cooing with Johnny and my honoured parents going to dinner parties – I’d be in everyone’s way. No, I’ve been exiled to the family pile.’ He gave me a sour smile.
‘What nonsense, Frank! You know that’s not why you’ve got to go to Boxton. You need to prepare for your college examination,’ said Lizzie, prodding her brother with her fan. ‘Father doesn’t want you to get by on your rank but on your merit.’
‘And unfortunately, according to my tutors at Westminster School, my merit is not sufficient,’ Frank added sorrowfully. ‘I wish I had your feel for Latin, Cat: it would make my life much easier and the summer much shorter.’
‘And I wish we could swap places,’ I replied, thinking that I wouldn’t mind spending the summer on a country estate improving my language skills – it would certainly be better than the uncertain future I was facing in London.