She broke off. I knew I shouldn’t gossip, but it was irresistible to at least ask.
‘Since what?’
‘Well, when he used to come down here before, to his house, he was always such a larky lad in his fancy car and that glamorous girl on his arm. Not that I had a lot of time for her.’ Hetty sniffed. ‘Cold eyes. Anyway, he seemed quite suited to village life, always happy to help move a cow or have a game of darts at the pub. I did wonder how happy he could have been in London, a nice boy like that, but I don’t suppose Madam wanted to move down here permanently with us hillbillies. The rest of the London crowd – and there are plenty of them in these parts – come and go all the time but never reallylivehere.’
I was intrigued by this. All my friends have just one home, which they stay put in other than for the occasional holiday or weekend away, but I could imagine it was different with the super-wealthy, and I knew there were pockets of Dorset that had huge, expensive houses; not to mention the landed gentry, who presumably needed to work in London to keep paying for the massive country piles. I would have asked Hetty to expand, but she was into her stride now.
‘Anyway, then he…’ She paused and I nearly toppled forward in anticipation. ‘He…wasn’t very well.Shevanished and suddenly he was down here for good, but not like he had been. We hardly see him now, and when we do, it’s a curt nod and a ‘hello’ if he’s feeling friendly. Although he is doing something for the church, so it looks like the vicar has found an in, even if the rest of us haven’t.’
When she came to the end of her long speech, I had a hundred questions but had barely drawn breath before the twins approached.
‘We’ve looked, Pixie, Daddy will be able to buy Mummyloadsof things.’
‘Yes,loads. Can we go now?’
I could hardly chatter to Hetty about their uncle with them standing there, and maybe that was a good thing.
‘Of course. Thank you, Hetty, I’m sure it won’t be long before we’re back.’
We went out into the sharp cold of the day.
‘Shall we head home now?’ I asked.
‘Oh, Pixie, can’t we go to the pub?’
This from Seraphina. I was getting used to the Lords’ eccentric ways, but this phrase, coming as casually as it did from the mouth of a four-year-old, made me bark with laughter.
‘The pub? Why do you want to go there?’
‘They do the most a-may-zing hot chocolate,’ said Caspian dreamily. ‘With marshmallows and cream and sometimes a bit of a Flake or some chocolate buttons.’
‘It’s yummy,’ added his sister. ‘Uncle Xander always takes us there when he comes to visit.Pleasecan we go?’
I didn’t see any reason to rush back to the house, and a scrumptious hot chocolate in the village pub sounded irresistible.
‘Sure, why not? Come on, you two, lead the way.’
We didn’t have far to go to reach The Curious Badger, a gorgeous stone building smothered in ivy, with a thatched roof and smoke puffing merrily out of the chimneys. We pushed open the low wooden door and stepped inside. The interior was everything you could possibly wish for in a pub at Christmas time. It was dark, but cosy rather than gloomy. Not much light came in through the small windows; most was provided by the flames ablaze in the inglenook fireplace and real candles dotted about the room. The floor was partly beautiful flagstones and partly floorboards, and the furniture a mix of sturdy tables, wooden chairs and squashy sofas that you could happily spend the afternoon sinking into as you worked your way down a good bottle of red. Whoever had been responsible for the Christmas decorations hadn’t held back. There were thick swags of tinsel-wrapped greenery looped around the walls and above the windows and the bar, bunches of mistletoe hung everywhere they might conceivably catch out a couple for a kiss, and the tree, which must have been eight feet tall, was almost completely obscured by hundreds of baubles and more tinsel. Amongst the decorations I spotted several of Hetty’s knitted creations, which nestled happily cheek by jowl with some exquisitely carved wooden figures of robins and snowflakes. I wondered if these might be Lando’s and was about to go over for a closer look when a voice boomed out towards us.
‘Welcome, welcome to the Curious Badger. Although I hardly need greet these two regulars.’ The twins beamed with pleasure. ‘What will it be – your usual?’
‘Yes please, Cecil.’ They giggled, and ran off to squeeze onto the tiny, padded benches next to the fireplace and be hypnotised by the flames.
Cecil turned to me and put out his hand.
‘Good to meet you. Are you helping Bunny out over Christmas?’
‘Yes, that’s right. I’m Penny, nice to meet you.’
‘What can I get you? When Xander’s down visiting Bunny and Ben and brings those two in, he has a spiked hot chocolate – or there’s our local brew, which the pub’s named after.’
‘Oh no, thank you, but it’s too early for a drink. I’ll have the same as the twins, please, a normal hot chocolate.’
He grinned and started gathering tall glasses and long spoons.
‘So, how are you finding the Lords? Lively bunch, aren’t they?’
‘Very! They’ve been incredibly welcoming and Phina and Caspy are gorgeous.’
