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FARRENDALE LADIES’ COLLEGE, OXFORD, 1927
The building was made of grey stone and looked like a tomb, rising up from the ground into the pewter sky.
Elodie felt a shiver pass through her that had little to do with the cold, rainy weather. She rubbed one bare calf against the other, as they turned goosepimply from the cold. She was dressed in the uniform. It too was grey.
She wondered, if so much of England was this grey then why did they choose to wear it as well? But that thought was dashed out of her mind as she watched a sturdy woman come out of the twin oak entrance doors, then march across to meet her.
Jacob Bell, the chauffeur who had once again come to take her to a new life, turned to Elodie. ‘You’ll be all right, miss, just hang in there,’ he said, though of course it wasn’t his place to say so. She didn’t really understand him, but she got the sentiment at least.
She didn’t have it in her to nod.
Leaving Lamarin and her life in Provence had been almost too much to bear. When her grand-mère had broken the news to her that she was to leave, she’d sobbed all night. Her father didn’t seem to like her at all, so why did he want her to come in the first place? ‘Can’t I just stay here – I’ll be no trouble, I promise,’ she begged.
Marguerite’s eyes had spilled and she had placed her head on top of her granddaughter’s. ‘Oh, I know that, ma petite, I wish you could stay, too, but unfortunately your father is your legal guardian. He promised your mother that he would look out for you. So for him that means he will raise you as a proper English lady, something he is convinced is now necessary after the events yesterday.’
Elodie frowned.
‘However – it is not all bad news, ma petite, he has promised me that you will be allowed to come visit in the summer.’
Elodie broke away from her embrace. ‘I can come back?’
‘Yes, he has promised – however—’
‘What?’ she breathed.
Marguerite sighed. ‘He said that if you give them any trouble, he will not let you come back here.’
Elodie swallowed.
‘So you must try, ma petite, to rein in your temper.’ Marguerite’s eyes softened. ‘I didn’t even know you had one until I saw you kick him like that,’ she said with a half smile.
Elodie bit her lip and sighed. She did know. It had been a long time since she’d been that angry, not since Maman, who sometimes used to leave her alone when she went off with one of her boyfriends… but she didn’t tell Grand-mère that, it would only pain her.
Her father had come to collect her early the next morning, so she didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to Jacques, which was like a double betrayal. Grand-mère had promised, as she gave her one last, teary hug, that she would let him know.
After the ferry crossing in Dover, she’d spent only two nights at her father’s house, a vast sprawling estate with neo-colonial columns and gardens that looked so geometrically precise they could have been measured with rulers.
It was there that she got to meet her older half-siblings, Freddie and Harriet. They both spoke French, and had been far more welcoming than their parents.
Freddie was seventeen and was going to be attending Oxford in September. He looked like a version of Lord Clairmont, albeit one with more than a dash of empathy.
‘Beastly business this whole thing,’ he’d said, when they were all left alone in a beautiful old room filled with books, velvet sofas and a roaring fire. ‘Must have been ghastly leaving France; such a wrench, I should imagine.’
‘I can’t believe father,’ agreed Harriet, taking a sip of wine. She had pale hair, and a face that looked more like her mother’s. ‘Ripping you away from all that.’
Elodie didn’t know what to say. Until they’d been introduced she hadn’t even been aware that she had siblings. ‘I asked mother if we couldn’t just hire you a governess, but she’s adamant about Farrendale – it’s run by her old governess, you see,’ said Freddie.
This was how she discovered that she wasn’t even going to be staying there, but attending a boarding school for girls.
‘It’s near my college, so I could drop in on you, if you’d like?’ offered Freddie.
‘I’d like that,’ she’d said, meaning it. In this new world, she couldn’t be sure of a friendly face.
The following morning her bags were packed for her and she was instructed to get dressed in her new uniform. Then, she was taken to her new school. As Lady Clairmont hadn’t come out to see her off, she realised that this was probably an arrangement that would suit them all.
She still couldn’t fathom why she was here if they didn’t even want her around. Surely, she could have just learned English in a school near Lamarin?
Now as she stood before the grim school entrance, the sturdy, officious-looking woman who had made her way over to them introduced herself as Mrs Knight. She had flaxen hair, and sharp features. She consulted a wristwatch that she’d pinned to her tunic. It was similar to Elodie’s uniform. ‘I’ll take that,’ she said, reaching for Elodie’s suitcase. It was full of new clothes, none of which she’d had any choice in choosing.
