"Mademoiselle Dutoit is at the door and wishes to see you. Should I show her in, madam?"
Audrey looked up from the social column that she was half-heartedly reading. She tossed it onto the small table that was beside the arm chair she was sitting in, and hoisted herself up. "Yes, show her in." She smiled, excitement lighting her eyes for the first time in weeks.
As soon as Claudine entered she noticed, from the subtle changes in Audrey's appearance, that she was as affected by the argument with Richard as Mrs Polouvicka had said. There were dark circles beneath her eyes, which had Audrey had tried to hide, and hidden in the depths of her ocean blue eyes, was the same kind of deep sadness that Claudine had seen in Richard's. She smiled at Audrey and stepped forward, clasping the other woman's hands in her own. "Mrs fforbes-Hamilton," she said, "it is wonderful to see you again. I apologize for dropping in unannounced; I'm staying a few days and simply had to pay you a visit before I became too submerged with my business dealings."
"Not at all." Audrey gave her a genuine smile. "It is nice of you to come and visit." She removed her hands form Claudine's grasp and gestured to the sofa opposite. "Won't you sit down?"
Once they were both seated, an uncomfortable silence settled over them. Their eyes' wandered around the room, desperately hunting for a topic of conversation to relieve them of this awkward situation. Audrey was the first to speak. "Would you like a cup of tea?" She asked, her voice unusually quiet.
Claudine was about to decline, however decided it would give them something to fill the silence. "Oh, yes please. Thank you."
Audrey stood up and went over to press the little bell that told Brabinger that she required something. She was sure he would already be preparing tea for her guest, knowing, as he often did, that she would ring for it.
She turned and slowly made her way back to her chair. A matter of seconds later, the door opened and the elderly gentleman, Brabinger, entered, carrying in his arms a silver tea set on a silver tray. "Your tea madam." He made his way to the centre of the room and placed the tray on the table that was positioned there.
"My," Claudine gasped in shock. "That was fast."
Audrey grinned with pride and replied "Yes Brabinger is very efficient. I can honestly say I don't know how I could cope without him." She gave him a fond glance as he left the room, bowing slightly with gratitude.
She moved closer to the tray and began pouring the tea. "Milk? Sugar?"
"Only milk please." They smiled at each other as Audrey handed Claudine a cup.
Stirring her tea, Audrey asked, "So what brings you back to Grantleigh?"
Claudine sipped her tea and then smirked knowingly. "Ah well, I have a few business deals to confirm with companies from around here. I also have a few friends that I have neglected to visit, but mostly it is to go over my dealings with Cavendish and make sure everything is running smoothly. So I am staying with Monsieur Devere at the Manor." She inwardly winced when she realised what she had said. So much for breaching the topic gently.
Audrey's polite smile faded for a moment, but she quickly recovered herself and fixed it back onto her face. Her whole body tensed and her sadness seemed to scream through the cracks of her carefully constructed façade. "Of course. I'd completely forgotten. Richard, "She swallowed trying to calm her emotions. Her voice became weaker the more she spoke. "Richard said you were coming a few weeks back."
Claudine quickly gathered her thoughts. "Mrs fforbes-Hamilton, I know…."
"Cooee." A voice bellowed from the hallway, cutting off Claudine.
"In here Marjory." Audrey called back to the voice.
A woman of about the same age as Audrey entered. She had pale skin and golden hair that came down to her shoulders. Her beaming smile lit up the entire room as she skipped in, like an excitable child. "Hello Aud. Oh, I didn't realise you had company." She gasped as she spotted the auburn haired woman, who was now standing beside her. She recognised the face but could quite…
"Yes, Marjory this is Mademoiselle Dutoit, and Mademoiselle Dutoit this is Marjory Frobisher." Audrey introduced the pair.
"It is a pleasure to meet you Mrs Frobisher." Claudine held out her hand.
Marjory seized it and shock it excitedly. "Oh yes and you. It's Miss though I'm afraid. I never married." Behind her joyful smile, Claudine saw a hint of bitterness at this.
"Ah well neither have I," She tried to reassure her. "There is still time though."
"Oh yes, quite, quite." Both proceed to sit down on the sofa. "Of course we have met before. On your last visit. It was only briefly though, everything was rather chaotic. Audrey introduced me as her at the time. I suppose it made sense though. I mean, I was spending a lot of time at the lodge. I had to look after Bertie, Audrey's dog. Because she was pretending to be Richard's wife."
"Marjory." Audrey's severe bark cut off Marjory's ramblings. "I'm sure Mademoiselle Dutoit does not want to listen to you ramble on." The cracks were steadily growing, more and more.
Claudine carefully watched the grand and proper English lady slowly fall apart. Beside her, Marjory wore a hurt look, mingled with a look of concern and sympathy towards her childhood friend. "Not at all." Claudine responded. She turned back to Marjory. "I do remember yes. It is nice to finally have everyone's identity cleared up." She joked lightly.
For the next hour, the three woman chatted, discussing interests, sharing stories from their pasts, careers (or lack of in Audrey's case, she insisted that running her ancestral home was a career in its own right). When Claudine looked at her watch, she realised how late in the afternoon it was and that she only had a short while to get ready for an exceedingly important business meeting. "I'm terribly sorry but I must be off. I didn't realise how late it was and I have a business meeting in a short while and I'm afraid I cannot be late for it." Claudine arose from her seat.
Marjory also hastily jumped up, glancing fretfully at the clock. "Oh god. I was only going to pop in for a few moments. I meant to ask you Audrey, are you doing it this year? We're in need of people to help out with the charity ball. It's in 4 days' time and we still have a hell of a lot to do. I'm just going up to the manor to ask Mrs Polouvicka if she'll help as well. Oh come on Audrey, please." Marjory practically grovelled at Audrey.
"I don't know if I want to. If I'm not even going to attend this year then why should I want to help? No I'm sorry; you'll just have to ask somebody else." She picked at a few loose threads, where her skirt was starting to fray.
"But, Aud…"
"That is my final word Marjory." Audrey shut her eyes for a second and took a deep breath.
No more was said on the matter. They all said their goodbyes quietly and Claudine and Marjory made their way along the driveway, leading to the manor. "I know that Mrs fforbes-Hamilton and Mr Devere are arguing, and I would like to help if I can." Claudine whispered.
Marjory laughed humourlessly, tears swimming in her eyes. "It's kind of you, but I doubt that very much." She dabbed her eyes with her cardigan sleeve. "In all the years I've known her, I've never seen Audrey get so upset over an argument. Angry yes, but never like this. She rarely leaves the house anymore and seldom gets involved in any local activities or charity events, and she has always got involved with those."
"As I said to Mrs Polouvicka, we must find a way to patch things up between them. Together, the three of us will come up with a plan. We must remain positive that we will succeed."
Marjory stared at her, a small smirk played on her lips. "Well if you do succeed, the rector will be pleased."
"Pardon?" Claudine's face screwed up in confusion.
"We've never had a miracle in the parish before."
There, finally finished. Sorry it took me so long to update. I've been distracted by another TTMB story that I'm working on (called breaking from traditions and it's posted under the new TTMB category for anyone interested). All comments, ideas and criticisms welcome, just leave a little review and let me know.