Page 36 of A Landscape of Love

“Papa, Papa!”

Before they could discuss the matter any farther, Tilly burst into the room at a run and was flying towards Pip when a severe voice sounded from the doorway.

“Miss Ottilie! Is that any way for a young lady to behave? How dare you burst into your father’s study without so much as a knock? Come outside and close the door and then do it properly.”

Tilly froze in the middle of the room, her eyes wide. She sent a look of appeal to her father, who melted as he always did.

“It’s quite all right, Mrs Harris,” Pip said with a smile as he and Leo got to their feet. “I’m not busy, as you see. Mr Hunt and I were just—”

“Yes, I see, my lord,” Mrs Harris replied dryly, her eyes lingering on the glass in Pip’s hand. “However, you employed me to raise your daughter as a young lady, not some manner of wildebeest, and if that is what you wish, she will do as she is told. Come, Ottilie, show your father your manners, child.”

Tilly, not the least bit abashed by this scolding, sent her father a swift grin and walked obediently out of the room. The door closed and was followed a moment later by a soft knock.

Leo glanced at Pip and grinned. Pip, rolling his eyes, called out: “Come in.”

Tilly walked in ahead of Mrs Harris, dipped a neat curtsey and said, “Good afternoon, Papa, good afternoon, Mr Hunt. How do you do?”

Leo took the girl’s hand and bowed over it. “I am well, Miss Tilly, and how are you? May I say you are looking fine as fivepence this morning?”

“You may. It is a pretty dress, isn’t it?” Tilly said, giving a twirl to make the pale green material spin around her. “It’s new. Papa bought it for me.”

“And it looks very well on you,” Pip replied, reaching for her hand. Tilly ran to him, throwing her arms about him. Her father smiled and reached down, stroking her pale blonde curls. Looking up, he regarded Mrs Harris. “Won’t you sit down, Mrs Harris? Would you like a glass of sherry?”

“At this hour?” came the scathing reply.

“I can order some tea if you prefer,” Pip offered.

Leo regarded the nurse with interest. She was petite, but Leo’s expert eye ran swiftly over a figure that was soft and curving in all the right places. Her hair was an absolute fright. Leo wondered what on earth she did to it to make it such a dingy, flat brown. It was scraped back in a bun at the base of her neck and pinned ruthlessly in place. He’d been trying since he’d got here to figure out what colour her eyes were, but to no avail. In some lights he’d have sworn they were dark hazel or even brown, but other times… it was those awful glasses she wore, covered in finger marks. Leo wondered how she saw anything at all through them. He’d thought at first that she was a woman in her forties, having only caught glimpses of her, but on closer observation he had realised she was young. Somewhere in her twenties, perhaps.

“No tea, I thank you,” Mrs Harris replied, her voice cool. “Tilly only wished to perform her French recital for you.”

“Oh, of course,” Pip said. “We’d love to hear that, wouldn’t we, Leo?”

“Can’t wait!” Leo replied at once, though he barely spoke a word of French.

Mrs Harris perched on the very edge of the sofa, as far from them as she could get, and looking like she might bolt at the slightest provocation. “Carry on, please, Ottilie.”

Ottilie curtsied again and recited a poem in French. It certainly sounded to Leo as though she spoke well, but she could have been declaiming a shopping list or telling them they had frogs in their hair, and he’d have been none the wiser. The only thing he was certain of was the length. It was interminable. Even Pip’s eyes were glazing over when Tilly finally curtsied again and ran to her father, throwing herself into his lap.

“Well, Papa? What did you think? Do I speak French as well as Mama did? I didn’t make very many mistakes, did I?”

“None that I heard,” Leo replied truthfully.

She beamed at him.

“You’re a clever puss,” Pip said fondly, kissing her cheek. “You mama would be very proud of you, as am I.”

Tilly, flushed with pleasure, looked to Mrs Harris.

“Very nice, child,” she said, her voice far gentler than Leo had heard it before. “You worked hard and did a good job. There were one or two mistakes, but we shall work on those. Now, bid the gentlemen a good afternoon. The sun is shining, and we ought to get some fresh air.

“Oh, but Harry, I want to stay,” Tilly whined, receiving a stern look from the lady in question. She closed her mouth with a snap and sighed, turning to her father. “Good afternoon, Papa. We’re going for a walk now. I shall see you later though.”

“Indeed, you shall see me at dinnertime. Mrs Harris, I hope you will join us.”

Mrs Harris stared at Pip in shock, for he had never before invited her to dine with them.

“Whatever for?” she exclaimed, so startled by the invitation she forgot to mind her own manners.