Tallie's Knight Part 33

over it, blinked care's Knight fully, and then said with a bright, false smile, "See, it is out now.

Shall I ring for tea? "

Janey looked at her in dismay.

"My dear, you don't have to pretend with me. It is monstrous crue--' Tallie cut her off.

"Yes, tea, I think, and shall we take it in the new Blue Room? I am anxious for your opinion." She took her friend by the arm and led her towards the new blue salon.

Janey allowed herself to be taken, a troubled frown on her face. She stood in the doorway, admiring the newly refurbished room.

"I cannot believe what a change you have wrought in this house, Tallie," she said.

"I never did like-- I mean, this house was always very grand and impressive, but--' Tallie smiled.

"I didn't like it much either."

Janey smiled back.

"Forgive me, I didn't mean to be rude. But you've made such a difference. It is so light and... so pleasant and welcoming. How did you manage, in your condition?"

Tallie shrugged.

"It was not difficult. My husband gave me carte blanche to do as I wished with the house, and all I had to do was decide what changes to make."

Tallie made light of her achievements, a little embarra.s.sed to receive praise for something done in a surge of anger. During the first shock of Magnus's abandonment she'd blamed the house itself for her predicament--the house where the boy Magnus had not been welcome, where the man Magnus could dump his unwanted bride.

If he'd had a home instead of an ancient showplace Magnus might have been a different man, a man who could let himself care, even a little, for his wife. So she'd attacked it with a vengeance, changing everything she could, forcing the past into obscurity, removing all reminders, all echoes of his forebears. It might not ever be a home for Magnus, but she was determined it would become a home for her children. And for herself.

"I cannot believe what you have done," added Janey.

Tallie looked at her new friend with faint trepidation. She had done what she'd set out to do--made Magnus's boyhood home unrecognisable. Men hated change. He would probably be furious with her. Good. She was utterly furious with him-she told herself so a hundred times a day so she would not forget.

"You have turned a mausoleum into a home."

Tallie smiled politely, but she knew Janey's words were not true. The house was more pleasant, but it was not yet a home. A home needed love to warm it. and children. She felt her eyes mist and laid her hand on her stomach.

Janey's eyes followed her movement.

"It won't be long now, my dear.

Do. have you had any word from your husband? "

Tallie rubbed a hand over her swollen belly and gazed out into the' garden She turned to her companion and smiled brightly, but without a great deal of conviction.

"Oh, no. But then he is extremely busy. Urgent business, you know."

Janey snorted.

"In all these months?"

"Well, men do not enjoy writing letters, I believe. In any case, they say no news is good news," said Tallie with a pathetic attempt at cheeriness. The two women fell silent for a while.

"I cannot believe he--' began Janey.

Tallie laid a hand on her friend's knee.

"Don't, please." She bit her lip and Janey subsided.

"I am sorry to distress you. It is just I cannot bear to see you so unhappy."

"Unhappy?" said Tallie tremulously.

"How could I be unhappy? I have a lovely house, a secure home, wealth to spend as I like... You forget I was little better than a pauper before I married."

"As if that--' " But I explained it to you before, Janey. I knew what I was doing when I married Magnus. I knew then he planned this, planned to leave me here as soon as I began increasing. "

"It is just so cruelly unjust--' " No! It is all my own fault. It is just. I have a foolish tendency to indulge in silly, childish daydreams, and in my foolishness I read something more into Magnus's behaviour towards me, that is all. But he never said anything to make me believe he. he lo-He never lied to me. It is just. misunderstood. he has. he has beautiful manners. that is the trouble. " Tallie pulled out a damp and crumpled handkerchief and blew noisily into it.

"This dust is shocking, is it not?" she added, blinking her lashes furiously.

There was a long pause as Tallie dabbed at her eyes. At last Janey spoke.

"You know you do not need to face this alone, my dear. I will--' " It is very good of you, but I will not. be alone, thank you, Janey.

My husband said he will come, if he can. This child means a great deal to him, you know. " Tallie added wistfully, " He needs an heir. The d'Arenvilles are a frightfully ancient family. "

Janey patted her hand.

"Well, just in case, be sure to send for me the minute you experience the slightest twinge."

"There is plenty of time. Monique says it will be several weeks yet,"

said Tallie. Poor Monique, Tallie thought. She, too, had been unluckyin love."Um... Freddie wrote to Magnus, you know.""Does Freddie know where he is?" Tallie turned a look of painful intensity on her friend.

Janey shook her head, regretting her impulse.

"No, he sent it to Magnus's lawyers to pa.s.s on. It was just about...

about parish matters," she lied."Oh." Tallie nodded dully."Parish matters. Of course.""I must go now," said Janey."Sorry I cannot spend more time--' Tallie forced herself to brighten."No, no, of course you must go. I cannot keep you from your dear husband and your two lovely children.

It must be wonderf-It was very good of you to visit me, Janey. I find it hard to walk far these days; my ankles swell so if I overdo it. " She levered herself out of the chair.

Janey bent to kiss her on the cheek.

"Take care, my dear," she said, and left.

Take care, my dear. Magnus's last words; his last written instructions

to her. Tallie closed her eyes. It was dreadful how shockingly weepy

her condition caused her to be. It would pa.s.s soon, she told

herself.

That and the dull aching pain of knowing she was not loved, not valued at all, except as a brood mare.

It was her own fault, she told herself firmly. She had deceived herself. He had never said he loved her.

And it wasn't as if she had anything to cry about. Others had much more serious problems--her little brother, for in- stan-No. The thought of a small boy facing the winter alone was too distressing even to contemplate.

It was just her condition that made her feel a touch melancholy. And it wasn't as if she didn't have hundreds of moments of happiness to look back on. Tallie gasped suddenly as a tiny fist or foot thumped her from within.

It was a timely reminder. She should stop fretting over the past and think only of the future, for soon she would have a dear little baby to love.

The pain would pa.s.s.

Everybody said it would.

Although they were only talking about the pain of childbirth.

Chapter Seventeen.

Q^y^sssQ.

Tallie sat on the terrace enjoying the winter sunshine. She had several shawls tucked about her, for it was very cold. It would have been sensible to go inside, but she did not feel inclined to be sensible. She felt both lethargic and oddly restless.

Idly she watched a coach bowling along the road bordering the estate.

She knew most of her neighbours' conveyances and she did not recognise this one. A pa.s.sing stranger?

She sat up straight as it turned in at the gateway. Miles Fairbrother, the gatekeeper, came out to speak to the driver. Then he opened the gate and the coach drove through. Whoever it was must have legitimate business, for Miles did not grant entry lightly.

For one terrifying, ecstatic moment it occurred to Tallie that it might be Magnus, returning for the birth of the child, but this coach was plainly not her husband's. It was small, outmoded and shabby, and the horses were not at all the sort of cattle her husband would own.

The horses seemed tired. Whoever it was had travelled a long way.

Tallie pushed herself out of her-chair and walked around the house towards the front. Harris had also seen the visitors, for the front door was wide open and he stood there, waiting.

"Do you know who it can be?" she asked him.

"No, m'lady. I've never seen that coach before. I hope Fair 3 brother knows what he's doing. Would you care to wait inside the house, m'lady? "

"No. I know it is not the thing for me to wait here like this, but I'm curious," answered Tallie.

"I'm sure it will be all right."

The coach came rapidly up the drive and halted. The driver, an unshaven ruffian in a frieze coat and red m.u.f.fler, climbed down.

Tallie frowned. He reminded her of Gino, but he turned to let down the coach steps and she could see his face no longer.

Tallie stood watching. A fris son of tension pa.s.sed through her and a hand crept to her throat. A tall man stepped down from the shabby coach, a tall, weary-looking man, with overlong dark hair and--she knew without seeing them--grey eyes.

"Magnus!" She hurried down the steps and ran awkwardly towards him, then recalled herself and stopped short, hesitating, suddenly afraid.

By the very manner of his leaving he had made it abundantly clear he did not want her love. So how was she to respond to his return? All she wanted was to be in his arms. But what did he want?

He took several steps towards her, then stopped and stared.

Tallie ran a hand self-consciously over her stomach, but she did not take her eyes off Magnus. His skin was uncharacteristically bronzed, but under that he looked exhausted. He had not shaved in several days and his eyes had dark shadows beneath them. His face was thinner, too, almost gaunt. A tattered greatcoat was draped around his shoulders. He lifted a hand in an awkward, half-hearted greeting, and the coat slipped from his shoulders. His arm was in some sort of sling, she realised.

"Magnus, you are hurt," she cried, and hurried across the gravel towards him, her misgivings forgotten in her concern. But just as she was about to reach him he turned away from her. She stopped, unbearably wounded.

He said something she didn't catch to a person inside the coach.

Tallie waited, struggling for composure. He had brought a guest.

A small figure scrambled out of the coach and stood behind Magnus, as if hiding. The coach rumbled away, leaving the three of them standing on the gravel drive. Magnus reached behind him to pull the small person out, but he or she resisted.

Magnus said something. In Italian.

Italian? Tallie's heart was in her mouth.

A thin, sharp, not very clean little face peered out at her, frowning, then ducked back behind Magnus. Tallie could hardly breathe. The face peered out at her again, examining her intently. Tallie didn't move.

After a mo menthe stepped out, a skinny little boy, dressed in clothes too big for him. A boy with ragged, curly, light brown hair, streaked with sun. A boy with a scattering of freckles over the bridge of his nose. A boy about seven years old.

"My dear," said Magnus, "I have brought you your brother. Richard, this is your sister."