The Castle of Love by Barbara Cartland Read Free Book Online Page B

madame."
    "Oh," said Felice with a toss of her head. "Reading!" She said nothing more but took the Earl's arm. The two of them started up the stone stairway to the castle entrance.
    Jacina followed. Monsieur Fronard fell quickly into step beside her.
    "You are an old friend of the Earl, no?" he asked her.
    "My father has been the family doctor for many years," replied Jacina.
    "Ah, je comprends," said Monsieur Fronard.
    Quite what Monsieur Fronard 'understood' from her simple remark Jacina could not tell.
    Over the next few days the atmosphere in the castle began to change. It no longer seemed so peaceful or indeed so sleepy. There was a great more scurrying to and fro in response to the imperious demands of the Earl's fiancée.
    Her handkerchiefs must be pressed just so. The fire in her room must be always lit. She must have hot water brought for a bath twice a day. Two maids must scrub her back and help her into her clothes. She must have champagne brought to her mid-morning.
    She seemed determined to forget the privations she had once endured as the daughter of a penniless count and as a pupil in a strict teaching establishment. Day and night her gay laughter resounded through the castle and it was generally observed that the Earl must indeed be enchanted with her.
     Monsieur Fronard meanwhile set everybody's teeth on edge. He seemed to skulk about the place. The maids kept coming across him in out of the way places.
    "I reckon he's counting the china, Miss Jacina," said Nancy indignantly one morning.
    Jacina looked up from her bowl of porridge. She no longer took breakfast in her room, as she felt the maids had enough to do with running around after Felice.
    "And I wish he hadn't been given Master Crispian's old room," Nancy continued. "It don't seem right, somehow. One morning I went in with clean linen and she was in there with him. They were burning letters in the grate. I was sure they were all the letters she wrote Master Crispian. He'd kept them in a box on his desk. Sure enough, when I looked in the box later, it was empty."
    "She wants to make a fresh start," said cook stoutly, "and who can blame her?"
    Nancy sniffed. "Well, I think she's heartless. And what's more, she's too fancy. Ordering all that French stuff from Fortnum's in London like – like truffles and – and caviar."
    "She has sophisticated tastes, that's all." said cook, "which his Lordship is only too happy to indulge. So what business is it of ours?"
    Jacina listened with bowed head.
    She had noticed that the Earl did indeed indulge every whim his fiancée expressed. He was courtesy itself with Felice.
    Was Jacina the only one who felt Felice was less than courteous in return? She seemed almost impatient with the Earl's blindness. Walking through the corridors and galleries of the castle with him, she rarely allowed him to lean on her arm. She would move swiftly ahead to look at something and then wait, tapping her foot or sighing.
     At supper she sat next to the Earl, but never helped him if he happened to drop his napkin or misplace his glass. She always waited for one of the serving maids to come forward to retrieve the napkin from the floor or place his glass within his reach.
    She was happy enough to drive out with the Earl and visit the local gentry, but she would never accompany him on his walks in the garden. Her excuse was that she did not like to walk in the countryside where there were no shops to look at or other people to meet. Jacina wondered that she did not find the Earl's company sufficient.
    At table Felice sat between the Earl and Monsieur Fronard. Jacina noticed how Felice's head was turned most often toward Fronard.
    The Earl sat quietly by, listening to their conversation, which was in French. Sometimes he made a remark and Felice would turn quickly to him. She would laugh brightly, take up his hand and press it to her cheek. Then just as quickly, she would turn back to Fronard.
    Jacina wondered why Felice did not make more