Letters to Juliet

chapter 17 - part one

Cookie had quickly fallen asleep during Candy's reading. He had been settled on a sun lounger, in the garden of the Grandchester's mansion, under the shadow of a tree that a light breeze came and visited regularly, taking on its trail all the dampness of this hot summer day.

Against all odds, this London summer showed itself to be as scorching as that she had known in Italy, but Candy suffered more of it here because she could not allow herself anymore to wear the light and comfortable little dresses she had bought in Verona. Here, she had to be irreproachable in any circumstances, she had to show respect for the Grandchester and the Andrew family before the visitors who would come to the estate to make her acquaintance. She had to maintain her position, and though she willingly carried this out, she could not prevent herself from imagining herself going for a dip in the nearby river, like she would gladly have done if she were at Pony's home.

The book was not very thick, and she began to wave it before her face like a fan. She looked at Cookie who was sleeping peacefully, a quiet smile on his lips, with the relaxed features of the one who is slowly recovering. They had well taken care of him in Plymouth's hospital, but one's could feel despite everything, under his false enthusiastic look, that he was getting bored and that his mood suffered of it. His former co-workers who weren't able to afford themselves to stay without working, had found a new boat and have left, leaving him alone in his hospital room, with nothing but the view on the nearby cemetery, which did not improve his spirits. Thus, it had been quickly decided that Cookie would settle in London to follow his care and that he would stay there while his recovering.

He could not walk yet but he had not forgotten to speak, so well that meals in his company turned endless, so many sailor stories he had to tell, anecdotes from the ends of the earth that would bring the guests towards faraway lands, where magic would mingle with the marvellous, thanks to the young disable's fertile imagination who did not hesitate to embellish his memories to capture the interest. Cookie looked obviously more comfortable in this house than Candy was, who always feared to do something wrong or to embarrass Terry. It was easier for him, because he was not going to marry Terry, and little by little she could feel growing in her the anguish of the big day, that of engagement that was scheduled for the end of the week. But before this, she had to face something much more frightening: her meeting with the Duchess of Grandchester and her two children who were supposed to arrive the following day. Despite the heat, she dreadfully thrilled at this thought, wondering with concern how this meeting would take place and if everything would be fine. She had dealt with a lot of worse with the Leagan family or the Great Aunt Elroy, but she remained on alert, mainly regarding Terry, to whom patience was far from being a virtue, letting expect some gnashing of teeth.

She looked at the big house behind her, both austere-looking, but very alive inside, with its army of people that would come and go on the upper floors, watching for the least imperfection and correct it in the following, with the slight hope it would not be noticed by Carson, the butler, who was particularly intransigent with what he considered to be a negligence. Woe to him who would leave a cleaning bucket in the corridor, a dust mote on the furniture, or who would not have changed the dead flowers! Nobody wanted to have to deal with him in those times and as a result, would do their best to prevent this from happening. Candy liked this atmosphere of perpetual movement. This reminded her of her childhood at the Leagan's. She had also worked as a maid, had scrubbed many floors and made shine many wooden ones. She knew what it was to have rough hands because of work, her, who had wished them soft and pretty for Anthony... But, for anything in the world she would not have changed her fate for Elisa and Neal's, for the simple reason that everybody hated them, laughing at them behind their back with a contemptuous pout that showed the real hostility of their feelings. In the contrary, Candy, with her kindness and her good mood, had been immediately liked by the staff, welcoming her warmly each time she visited them, keeping for her the remains of a good meal, encouraging her when she was completely down, cursing with her after a dirty trick of the Leagan children... She had kept a so good memory of it that she had not hesitated to repeat the experiment with the Duke's servants, who had not been able to get over seeing her walking around one day in the basement, obviously at her ease, with a nice word to each one. In a few minutes, she had conquered them all and they could not speak highly enough about her since then.