Read The Dead Queen's Garden for Free Online Page A

back a smile as she caught a glimpse of that very fair head going purposefully towards the dining-room. As though he felt her gaze upon him, the boy looked round and saw her, his blue eyes alight with mischief as he grinned and made good his escape. Frustrated in his search, Lord Granville disconsolately turned back to the lady he had expertly penned in the bay window. ‘Tchah, he is not to be seen; well, well, lads will be lads, will they not? Now, my dear ma’am, you must allow me to be of service to you. What can I procure for you?’
    ‘You may procure for me a large sum of money,’ came the startling response as Miss Nightingale’s weary features lightened for a moment and a fleeting colour warmed her pale, sickly-looking complexion. At Lord Granville’s sudden, astonished silence, the famous lady waxed eloquent and her eyes gleamed with a zealous fervour. Charlotte, listening unashamedly, thought that here must lie the clue as to why Miss Nightingale had abandoned the seclusion of her sick room to mingle with so many people who were at most mere acquaintances, and, in the main, total strangers.
    ‘I am collecting funds towards setting up a new nursing order and I shall be most happy to accept your banker’s draft for five thousand pounds.’ She held his stricken gaze with a basilisk stare and added, ‘See, I have written your name at the very top of this list of today’s guests, some of whom have already been delighted to subscribe. I took the precaution some days ago,’ she explained,‘of discovering from our hostess, the names of those who were invited to attend today and as you, my lord, are the gentleman of highest rank present, to you must be the honour of setting a generous example by heading the page. To that end, I have left a large space for you to write in the amount.’ Her tone brooked no refusal and she added, ‘Here, my lord, on this desk I have laid out both pen and ink. It only remains for you to set the amount and sign your name. My bankers will do the rest. You see? We are agreed, are we not, upon five thousand pounds? Now, I will save you some trouble by inscribing that amount. You have only to append your signature – here.’
    As Lord Granville, mesmerised by the famous lady’s insistent gaze, set his signature obediently upon the paper, Barnard’s voice rang out in a cheerful bellow as he stood foursquare on the staircase visible to all, through the wide open doors to both the drawing-room and the dining-room.
    ‘Well, well, here we all are,’ he began, stubbornly ignoring his wife’s pained expression and little whispered hints. Charlotte distinctly heard her peevish complaint, ‘You should have begun with, ‘My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen….’
    ‘I’m glad to welcome one and all on this happy occasion, by God so I am, and I know I speak for Lily too, hey, m’dear?’ He beamed down at his proud little wife who was clad sumptuously for the great day in a silk taffeta dress in a cheerful but unlikely tartan of purple and yellow trimmed with gold fringing which, Charlotte observed suddenly, emphasised Lily’s growing resemblance to portraits of Her Gracious Majesty when young.
    ‘I pride myself on a master stroke,’ Barnard preened. ‘That is, when I realized young Algy’s christening would be so near to Christmas, it seemed only fitting to celebrate the day along with all the trappings of a grand Olde Englishe Yuletide.’ Charlotte smiled fondly at the large young squire who had proved such a good brother to her. He was getting into his stride now, she grinned, and looking more and more jolly and festive by the minute.
    ‘Well now, before we drink a toast to the hero of the hour, let us raise a glass to Absent Friends.’ Barnard frowned in an attempt to make his genial features look solemn as he continued, ‘Lily’s fatheris sadly unable to be here as Lily’s stepmother presented him with a bouncing pair of twin boys, not an hour before he was due to set