‘And I must not be late, Mama,’ said Violet, her eyes moving to the clock on the wall. ‘Vita will be waiting for me outside.’
‘Of course, my dear. Now, I will leave the three of you to work out the best timetable to accommodate the girls’ hour a day with Miss MacNichol.’
‘Yes, ma’am,’ answered Nannie, dropping a respectful but awkward curtsey.
Violet sneezed suddenly and her mother turned back towards her with a frown. ‘I hope you’re not catching a cold, Violet dear.’
‘No, it is almost certainly that.’ Violet pointed at Panther, still snuggled happily in Sonia’s arms.
Flora held her breath to see if the kitten would be banished from the nursery but Mrs Keppel merely shrugged. ‘I do not believe in these so-called “allergies” and the best thing you can do in my opinion, darling, is to allow yourself to become accustomed to animal fur.’
Flora was beginning to like Mrs Keppel more and more.
Violet went off to school and Panther was dragged reluctantly from Sonia, who followed Moiselle out of the room for morning lessons. Flora was left alone with Nannie, and the two of them tried to find an hour a day for Flora to instruct the children. Which – in between dancing lessons, gymnastics, and cultural visits to museums and galleries with Moiselle, let alone numerous afternoon social engagements – seemed impossible to fit in.
‘Perhaps at six o’clock?’ A despairing Flora pointed to a blank hour in the diary.
‘Maybe sometimes, Miss MacNichol, but often they are needed downstairs to take tea with . . . a visitor of their mother’s.’
‘Well, we have to start somewhere, or I will never see them.’
‘I will talk to Moiselle and see if she can spare Sonia for a couple of hours a week in the mornings,’ Nannie comforted her. ‘And, of course, you are welcome to join us in the day nursery for lunch and supper, but I daresay you might be eating the latter downstairs very soon. Now.’ Nannie stood up. ‘I must get on.’
As she’d received no instructions as to what she should do, Flora wandered back downstairs to her bedroom. She sat on the bed, wondering why on earth Mrs Keppel had invited her to join a household where it was perfectly obvious they didn’t need her.
There was a knock on the door and Peggie came in.
‘Miss MacNichol, your mother is waiting to see you in Mrs Keppel’s parlour.’
‘Thank you, Peggie.’
Flora walked downstairs to find her mother already in her travelling cape. ‘Hello, Flora. How are you finding the children?’
‘They both seem nice girls, although I have spent only a few minutes with them so far.’
‘Good, good,’ she said with a nod. ‘I am sure you will be happy here, Flora. Mrs Keppel is a very kind and understanding woman. And you will meet many of the highest in society. I hope you will not let me down.’
‘I will do my best not to, Mama.’
‘You have our new address?’
‘I do, yes, and I will write often.’
‘Then I shall rely on you to tell me all the London gossip. I admit to being envious of you; I only wish it was me who was staying here. Goodbye, Flora dear, and I pray this decision was the right one. For all of us.’
Rose kissed her daughter on both cheeks, then swept out of the room.
Flora felt tears prick her eyes. She walked across to the window to watch her mother step into the carriage below. Even though it was she who had been sent away from her beloved home, Flora couldn’t help but feel it was her mother who was being banished.
‘Are you all right, my dear?’ Mrs Keppel had entered the room.
‘Yes, thank you.’ Flora quickly brushed away her tears.
‘It must be difficult leaving the Lakes and your family. But please consider this household your new home and all of us as a surrogate family. Now, my dressmaker will call on you tomorrow morning at ten o’clock. We must have a wardrobe made for you before you can be seen, and’ – Mrs Keppel circled Flora like an eagle viewing its prey – ‘that wonderful head of hair needs a good trim too.’
‘Really, Mrs Keppel, I can manage in what I have and my hair was only cut a few weeks ago.’
‘My dear girl, you may be able to manage, but I most certainly can’t!’
‘I thought I may be given a uniform.’
‘A uniform! Good grief, do you think you are here to be a servant?!’ Mrs Keppel let out a sudden peal of musical laughter. ‘My dear Flora, the situation becomes more absurd by the second! I think I shall nickname you “Cinderella”,’ she added as she led Flora to the chaise longue and pulled her gently down next to her. ‘Rest assured, you are not a servant here, but a young friend of the family who is staying as a guest. Just wait until I tell Bertie! He will be most amused. For now, however, until your wardrobe is ready, I must confine you to the upper floors with the children. Which will at least give you an opportunity to become acquainted with them. Sonia is such a sweet thing and Violet . . . well,’ Mrs Keppel sighed. ‘I think she is in need of guidance from an older girl. She is at such a vulnerable and impressionable age.’
‘I will do my best to help them both, Mrs Keppel.’
‘Thank you, my dear. And now I must change. I have guests coming for luncheon.’
Flora left Mrs Keppel’s parlour, wondering why on earth this woman would be spending time or money on her. She’d arrived believing that she was simply to be a governess of sorts. Now she had no clear indication of what her place was in the household.
Yet, from the little she’d seen, she’d already realised that this was no ordinary home. And Alice Keppel was no ordinary woman.
Flora took up Nannie’s offer of lunch and ate with Moiselle and Sonia in the day nursery. Sonia chattered away, glad of fresh company to talk to.
‘Moiselle says you might teach me to paint? And about flowers.’
‘Yes, I’d like to, if we can find time.’
‘Please find time,’ Sonia said under her breath as Moiselle stood up to collect pudding from the trolley. ‘I hate Moiselle and I hate lessons.’
‘I’ll do my best,’ Flora whispered back.
‘Do you have a sister, Miss MacNichol?’
‘I do.’
‘Do you like her?’
‘Very much. In fact, I love her.’
‘Even Nannie says Violet’s a bit of a madam. And she’s not very nice to me.’
‘Some sisters aren’t, but they love you underneath.’
Sonia opened her mouth to make a further comment, then, as Moiselle approached, thought better of it. ‘I will try and love my sister more,’ she said gravely.
After lunch, Sonia was taken off by Nannie for a wash and brush-up before being driven to a dancing lesson, so Flora retired to her room to read. Then, feeling in need of some fresh air, she took Panther down the stairs to find a way outside for both of them.
On the ground floor, she had just opened a door in the back passage, the stairs beyond indicating a yard of some kind, when Mr Rolfe, the butler, caught her arm.