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‘I thank you, my lady.’ His voice was weak and even those few words, spoken in English with a strong French accent, seemed an effort to utter.
‘I fear we are tiring you with our chatter,’ Amy went on. ‘If you prefer to go to your room and have supper brought to you there, it can soon be arranged.’
‘Yes, I would, my lady,’ he said. ‘Perhaps tomorrow I will feel more the thing.’
A servant was delegated to help him, then Sir John said that he would like to retire too. ‘I know we have a great deal of catching up to do,’ he told his daughter. ‘But there will be time enough for that tomorrow.’
‘And the next day and the next.’ Amy laughed. ‘And all the days after that. Go to bed, Papa dear. It is good to have you under our roof again.’
‘And in happier circumstances,’ James added.
‘We will not talk of that,’ Amy admonished him. ‘Not ever. It is a closed book.’
Sir John rose. He was not as fragile in health as the Count, but nevertheless was an old man and moved slowly. Another manservant was allocated to act as his valet and he was helped from the room, leaving Lisette alone to dine with Lord and Lady Drymore and Jay.
She rose and was shown to a bedchamber where Hortense was already unpacking and sorting out her clothes, grumbling that she had so few she might as well be a pauper. Nevertheless a green-sack dress in a heavy taffeta with a laced stomacher and ruffled sleeves was found for her. Lisette washed off the grime of travel and was helped into it. Before returning downstairs she went to make sure her father was comfortable. He was already fast asleep. She crept from the room and joined Jay and his parents who had changed and were waiting for her in the salon.
‘Tell us about France, Miss Giradet,’ Lady Drymore said when they had taken their places at the table in the oak-panelled dining room and were being served with a substantial meal, which was surprising since the newcomers had not been expected. ‘Is it very dreadful?’
‘I do not know what it to become of the country,’ Lisette answered. ‘The population is divided among Revolutionaries and counter-Revolutionaries and there are daily riots and skirmishes. There is a man called Henri Canard in Honfleur who leads the Revolutionaries there. It was he who arrested my father. He was determined to have him tried and sentenced to death. If it had not been for your son, he would have succeeded. We are both in the Commodore’s debt.’
‘We will have no more of your constant gratitude,’ Jay said. ‘I was there to bring my grandfather out too, remember.’
‘What was your father accused of?’ Lord Drymore asked, handing round a dish of turbot in a white sauce.
‘I don’t know—they do not need much evidence, or indeed any at all, to throw a man in prison.’
‘I did hear that Canard has a grudge against your family,’ Jay said. ‘Something to do with your great-grandfather and his grandfather. Do you know anything about that?’
‘No, nothing. Who told you of it?’
‘Sam heard it from the prison guards.’
‘Rumour,’ she said. ‘Idle gossip. Until these troubles my father was universally liked and respected and he will be again when it is all over.’
‘I pray you are right,’ Lord Drymore said.
‘Amen to that,’ added his wife, then went on. ‘Tell us about your family. You have a brother, I believe.’
‘Yes. He is in the service of King Louis. There is some talk of putting the King on trial, although I do not see how they can do that, do you?’
‘We did it,’ Jay said drily. ‘Over a century ago. The Parliamentarians beheaded Charles the First.’
‘We won’t go into that,’ his mother said. ‘Do go on, Miss Giradet.’
‘Please, will you call me Lisette? I feel I know you so well already and just lately in France we have abolished titles. We are all calling each other citoyen and citoyeness now. It is hateful.’
‘Lisette, a pretty name,’ Amy said. ‘What will happen to your brother if the King is put on trial?’
‘I hope he will have the sense and opportunity to leave the country. He could join us in England and we could make a new life together. I mean to write to him and suggest it.’
‘I believe you have relations in England.’
‘Yes, but we do not correspond. They did not approve of my mother marrying my father.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because Papa was so much older than Mama and only a French Comte, while Mama’s father was an English Earl.’
‘An Earl!’ Amy said in surprise. ‘But that means you are well connected. It could open doors for you.’
