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Patricia moved to the doorway. ‘Thank you, Mr Selly. We won’t take up any more of your time. Besides which, we have a train to catch. I think we’re done in London for the moment.’
The journey home was uneventful but Nancy did not arrive back at the castle until late evening. Hester made no secret of the fact that she was furious and she stomped off without waiting for an explanation. Nancy made her way to the morning parlour, where she hoped to find a welcoming fire. She was cold and tired and very hungry.
Moments later, before she had even had time to take off her outdoor garments, Tommy burst into the room.
‘Hester told me you had come home. You might have told me what you planned to do,’ he said angrily.
‘I left you a note because you would have insisted on coming with us if you had known.’ Nancy sighed wearily. ‘It was a brief visit to London, Tommy. Mr Selly, Sir Michael’s solicitor, was very helpful.’
‘Leo was furious with Patsy. I’ve no doubt he’ll let her know exactly how he feels. If I hadn’t shown him your note, he would have caught the next train to London.’
‘Well, we’re back now and no harm done. In fact, I have the information I need. The Greystone estate is not entailed.’
‘I don’t know what that means.’ Tommy gave her a searching look. ‘You’re pale as a ghost. Have you eaten today?’
‘Yes, I think so. At least, we had a cup of coffee from a stall at the station. There wasn’t time to stop for a meal.’
Tommy’s angry expression melted into a sympathetic smile. ‘I’ll go and talk nicely to Mrs Jackson. Maybe she can find you something left from dinner.’ He left the room and Nancy shrugged off her cape and untied her bonnet strings. She was suddenly tired and she sank into the comfortable armchair by the fire. She had wanted to know her real identity for so long, and she could never have imagined that she was related to the Greystone family, but it still seemed doubtful.
Tommy returned bearing a tray laden with food and they sat round the fire while she ate. She answered his questions in between mouthfuls of warmed-up beef stew, followed by apple pie.
‘So from what the solicitor told you, the estate is not entailed, which makes you the legal heir.’ Tommy took a jam tart from the plate of cakes and bit into it.
‘That’s right. But I have to prove my identity before I can put myself forward. The only way to do that is to find some documentation or someone reliable who would corroborate Mrs Betts’ account of the night I was born. Gervase was just a little boy when he saw his uncle hand over a tiny baby. He might have dreamed it or simply been mistaken.’
‘He obviously hasn’t found proof that he is the legal heir to the estate. I think he would have been crowing it from the rooftop of Greystone Park if he had.’ Tommy licked jam off his fingers.
‘Yes, I agree. I just don’t know how I am ever going to find out whether I am Sir Oliver and Lady Greystone’s daughter. I would like to be certain for my own peace of mind. I don’t care about the estate.’
Tommy grinned and selected another jam tart. ‘You could marry Freddie and be the richest woman in England. It wouldn’t matter about Greystone Park then.’
‘Freddie hasn’t proposed and I don’t think he ever will. His mother will see to that.’
‘She might change her mind if you were to inherit the estate. By the way, talking of Freddie, he came looking for you this morning. It was all I could do to stop him from following you to London.’
‘I’ll go to the cottage tomorrow and explain.’
Nancy rose early next morning. She ate a hurried breakfast before putting on her cape and bonnet and setting off for the gamekeeper’s cottage. The sound of wood being split made her go round to the back garden, where she found Freddie wielding an axe to chop logs into firewood. His bare torso gleamed with sweat, despite the fact that it was a chilly March day. Nancy averted her eyes but she could not resist the temptation to take another look. Freddie was surprisingly muscular for someone who had never done a day’s manual work in his life. His broad, well-muscled chest was as perfect as any of the paintings she had seen of Greek gods and she felt a shiver of excitement. However, it would not do to let him see that she was impressed and she looked away hastily.
‘You are a constant source of surprise, Freddie. I never thought of you as a practical man.’
He reached for his shirt, which was hanging from the picket fence. He slipped it on and stood for a moment, doing up the buttons. ‘I’m country born and bred, Nancy. I used to spend more time out of doors as a child than I did at my books. My tutor used to get very angry.’
Nancy hesitated. ‘Tommy told you why I went to London yesterday.’
‘He did, but I wish you had come to me first. I would have accompanied you.’
‘Patsy and I decided to do it on the spur of the moment. Leo would certainly have prevented her from travelling had she told him. I dare say he was angry with her but she had to see Sir Michael Greystone’s solicitor in person.’
Freddie swung the axe so that it lodged safely in the tree trunk. ‘Come inside, it’s too chilly to stand out here.’
Nancy followed him into the cottage. ‘My goodness! What a difference.’
‘I am not the useless person you thought I was, Nancy. Take a seat and I’ll make a pot of tea. I know how to do that, and I can make toast. I won’t pretend that I can cook.’
Nancy gazed round at the spotless kitchen. The range had been cleaned and a fire burned merrily in the grate. A big black kettle bubbled on the hob and there were a few ill-matched pieces of crockery, including a teapot, neatly arranged on a shelf by the door.
‘Where did you get all this stuff, Freddie?’ Nancy pulled up a chair and sat down at the freshly scrubbed pine table.
