Emma sat down to prolonged cheers and the waving of order papers, and those members who had wondered why this woman had been plucked out of obscurity were no longer in any doubt that Margaret Thatcher had made the right decision. Once the House had settled, Lord Barrington rose from his place on the opposition front bench and looked benignly across at his sister before he began his unscripted speech. Emma wondered when she would be able to do that, if ever.
‘My lords, if I display a fraternal pride today, I can only hope the House will be indulgent. When the minister and I squabbled as children, I always won, but that was only because I was bigger and stronger. However, it was our mother who pointed out that once we both grew up, I would discover that I had won the battle, but not the argument.’
The opposition laughed while those seated on the government benches cried, ‘Hear, hear!’
‘But allow me to warn my noble kinswoman,’ continued Giles, sounding serious for the first time, ‘that her moment of triumph may be short-lived, because when the time comes for the government to present its new health bill, she should not expect to enjoy the same indulgence from this side of the House. We will scrutinize the bill line by line, clause for clause, and I do not have to remind the noble baroness that it was the Labour Party under Clement Attlee who founded the National Health Service, not this jumped-up bunch of bandwagon Tories, who are temporarily sitting on the government benches.’
The opposition cheered their leader.
‘So I am happy to congratulate my noble kinswoman on a remarkable maiden speech, but advise her to savour the moment, because when she next returns to the despatch box, this side of the House will be sitting in wait for her, and let me assure the noble baroness that she will no longer be able to rely on any fraternal assistance. On that occasion she will have to win both the battle and the argument.’
The opposition benches looked as if they couldn’t wait for the confrontation.
Emma smiled, and wondered how many people in the chamber would believe how much of her speech had been worked on by the same noble lord who was now jabbing an index finger at her. He had even listened to it being delivered in his kitchen in Smith Square the previous night. She only wished their mother could have been seated in the public gallery to watch them squabbling again.
Mr Sutcliffe, the headmaster of Grangemouth School, was grateful that Lady Barrington had accompanied Freddie back to Scotland, and once the boy had reluctantly returned to his house, asked if he might have a private word with her. Karin readily agreed, as she’d promised Giles she would try to find out the reason Freddie had run away.
Once they had settled down in his study, the headmaster didn’t waste any time raising the subject that was on both their minds. ‘I’m rather pleased that your husband isn’t with you, Lady Barrington,’ he began, ‘because it will allow me to be more candid about Freddie. I’m afraid the boy’s never really settled since the day he arrived, and I fear his mother is to blame for that.’
‘If you’re referring to Lady Virginia,’ said Karin, ‘I’m sure you know she isn’t his mother.’
‘I’d rather assumed that was the case,’ said the headmaster, ‘which would explain why she hasn’t once visited Freddie while he’s been here.’
‘And she never will,’ said Karin, ‘because it doesn’t serve her purpose.’
‘And while Lord Fenwick does everything in his power to help,’ continued Sutcliffe, ‘he isn’t the boy’s father, and I’m afraid the situation became worse when Freddie met your husband for the first time.’
‘But I thought that went rather well.’
‘So did Freddie. He talked of nothing else for several days. In fact, after coming back at the beginning of term, he was a different child. No longer haunted by the other boys continually teasing him about his mother because he was now inspired by the man he wished was his father. From that day, he scoured the papers in search of any mention of Lord Barrington. When your husband called to say Freddie was with him in London, I can’t pretend I was surprised.’
‘But are you aware that Giles wrote to Freddie, wishing him every luck for the Castle versus Village cricket match, and asked him to let him know how it turned out but didn’t get a reply.’
‘He carries the letter around with him all the time,’ said the headmaster, ‘but unfortunately he scored a duck, and his side was soundly beaten, which might explain why he didn’t reply.’
‘How sad,’ said Karin. ‘I can assure you, Giles still scores far more ducks than centuries on and off the field.’
‘But the boy couldn’t know that, and his only other experience of reaching out was to Lady Virginia. Look where that got him.’
‘Is there anything I can do to help, because I’d be delighted to?’
‘Yes, there is, Lady Barrington.’ He paused. ‘I know you come up to Scotland from time to time, and wondered if you’d consider taking Freddie out for the occasional exeat weekend?’
‘Why only weekends? If Archie Fenwick will agree, he could also join us at Mulgelrie during the summer holidays.’
‘I must confess it was Lord Fenwick’s idea. He told me about the chance meeting with your husband.’