Ravenscliffe Read Online Free PDF Page B

sun had leached the colours from the plants and the earth was baked hard like a potter’s clay in the kiln.
    ‘I’m serious,’ he said. ‘That’s coming out for a start.’
    He pointed at the pagoda, centrepiece of the Japanese water garden and just visible from where they stood.
    ‘Not before t’king’s visit, I ’ope,’ she said. ‘And ’ave you broken it to Lady Netherwood? I mean, I could be mistaken, but I think she might be very partial to that particular corner.’
    ‘I’ll win her round,’ he said. ‘She had all sorts of ideas for Fulton House, and I managed to ignore those too.’
    This was true. The garden of the family’s London residence in Belgravia was a small masterpiece, but it was all of Daniel’s making. In twenty years in her service, he had contrived a way of agreeing with the countess yet all the while pursuing his own obsessions. Curiously, she seemed to detect no discrepancy between what she suggested and what she got; indeed, she happily claimed credit for all improvements, however far they strayed from the original brief. So while he knew he’d have to consult Lady Netherwood before too long, he also knew his vision would be realised. Money wasn’t an issue, because the higher the cost of a scheme, the more Lady Netherwood seemed to regard it. The skill would lie in persuading her, without giving offence, that the garden in its present form did no justice to the house.
    They turned and began to walk together, though Eve released his arm. Hardly anyone knew how things stood between them – it was barely three weeks since he’d arrived here. In any case, there were stringent new rules, apparently, now that he had come to Netherwood for her. In London, in May, when Eve was at Fulton House to cook for the countess, she had fallen into Daniel’s arms with an abandon that filled him with delight. But now – and until they were married, she had said – they would behave with absolute propriety. It wasn’t easy when he knew full well exactly how her naked body felt against his; there wasn’t an inch of this woman he didn’t know, and yet here she was, walking along beside him as prim as a Sunday-school teacher.
    She folded her arms across her chest, to keep from taking his hand.
    ‘Anna showed me t’house,’ she said.
    ‘And?’
    ‘Big.’
    ‘We need big, don’t we?’
    ‘Mmm.’
    They walked on in silence for a few moments. He didn’t want to rush her on this, or on anything else, but he hoped he wouldn’t be too long in the gardener’s bothy. Custom-built for Hislop forty years ago, it provided nowhere, other than on the staircase, that Daniel could stand entirely upright. It would be comical, except he kept cracking his head on beams and lintels. As he went about his ablutions in the morning, he felt like Gulliver making his way around a Lilliputian guest-house. If Ravenscliffe was big, it would get his vote.
    ‘I liked it, actually,’ she said now. ‘It needs some work – y’know, cleaning, decorating – but Anna reckons she can tackle that. Then there’s t’bairns. They know nowt about it.’
    ‘Then tell them, Eve,’ he said. ‘Really. Give them time to get used to the idea of change, of our marrying, of moving house. They’ve probably guessed, anyway. Seth and Eliza, certainly.’
    ‘Aye, you’re probably right.’ Her face was very grave, as if the difficulties she faced were numerous and insurmountable.
    He smiled down at her. ‘Don’t present it as a dark development,’ he said. ‘Keep it light. Make sure they know you’re happy.’
    It was good advice and it was possible, she had come to realise, to tread too carefully around the children, to muddy the waters with veiled hints and allusions rather than clarifying with cheerful facts. When Daniel had first arrived she had made a proper hash of things, introducing him to them in a vague and foolish way: he was a friend, Mr MacLeod fromLondon, come to Netherwood as head gardener down at the big