Читать книгу Robins in the Abbey - Elsie Jeanette Dunkerley - Страница 6

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“Let me hold the little Joys!” Joy flung aside her travelling hat and big coat, and sat down and held out her arms. “Oh, girls! It is nice of you!”

Maidlin laid a dark-eyed baby on her arm. “That’s Marjory Joy. She’s my big daughter.”

“Big! Oh, Maidie! What size is the other one? What a tiny pet! And just like you!”

Rosamund brought a yellow-haired twin for Joy’s other arm. “Rosabel Joy. We had to be here to greet you.”

Joy laughed in delight. “My new godchildren! I am proud! Show me the rest of your families! I don’t quite believe Maidie has two, even now.”

Maidlin laid her younger daughter on Joy’s right arm beside Marjory Joy. “This is Dorothy Rose.”

“I like their names! You’re right; she is littler than the first one. Oh, Maidie, aren’t you proud?”

“Very.” Maidlin’s smile glimmered in her black eyes. “But still rather surprised. They didn’t tell me there would be two, until the very last minute. Jock thought I would be frightened. It was a very great surprise to me!”

“I should think so! I was stunned when your cable came. Give me your second too, Ros! I can hold them all if I’m sitting down.”

Rosamund laid a second baby girl on her left arm.

“Rosalin Cicely. Mine are seven weeks old; Maid’s are only three weeks.”

“Girls, you have been clever!” Joy gazed down in rapt delight at the four little heads in her arms, two very dark, two very fair.

“We have,” Rosamund assured her. “They’re all healthy and intelligent, and, as you can see, extremely good-looking, like their mothers.”

Joy laughed. “Wasn’t the President pleased to hear one was to be Cicely?”

“So thrilled that almost on the spot she had a daughter and called her Rose, after me.”

“Ros! What do you mean?” Joy cried.

“The President has a second girl, born last week, and her name is Shirley Rose.”

“Oh, I am glad! She will be pleased!”

“Shirley is quite a usual name for girls now,” Maidlin observed. “But in this case Cicely means it to stand for you and Joan.”

Joy’s eyes widened. “We were Joan and Joy Shirley when she knew us first. How very nice of the President!”

“You can be godmothers, if you like. I’m one, of course,” Rosamund said. “I’m collecting goddaughters fast. Besides Maid’s girl and Cicely’s, there’s Biddy’s Marie-Rose, in France; that’s unofficial, because Marie-Rose is a little Catholic, but I dare say I shall send her a postcard on her birthday.”

“It was nice of Biddy to call her second girl for you, when the first is Madelon, for Maid.”

“Very,” Rosamund agreed. “It means a lot, from Biddy, for it would have been to her interest to call the babe after some rich Verdier relation. I believe the French family wanted her to be Françoise Marie or Marie Simone, after elderly aunts, but Biddy stuck out for Marie-Rose, for the sake of the old days.”

“Yes, it was very nice of her,” Joy said. “There’s a lot of good in Biddy.”

“Oh, heaps! As for my little Rose namesakes, there’s going to be quite a crowd of them. Some day I shall have a house-party and ask them all to the Castle. Did you know that Ruth—you remember Ruth? Mary’s and Biddy’s cousin in Paris—Ruth has a second girl, and as the first was Mary Ruth, she called the new one Bridget, for Biddy; and then, wanting a second name, she asked if she might make it Bridget Rose. So that’s another for my bunch of Roses.”

“They all like to say—‘She has the Countess of Kentisbury for her godmother.’ That’s why.” Maidlin gave Joy her quick smile again.

“Then there’s Jandy Mac’s new babe in Ceylon. She’s called Cecily Rose. And there’s Joan, too.” Rosamund ignored the hint in Maidlin’s words.

“Joan? What do you mean?” Joy demanded. “Her girls are Janice Margaret and Jennifer Joy.”

“The next one’s sure to be a girl. Joan had a boy last time and hers always come in turns,” the Countess said calmly. “She’s promised the next girl shall be Jillian Rose—spelt with a J, to match the rest of the family. Why spell it with a G, when you’re going to pronounce it Jill?”

Joy laughed. “I hope Joan will soon have Jillian Rose. It’s very pretty. Girls, I promise here and now that if I ever have another girl she shall be Madeline Rose.”

Maidlin looked up quickly. “Will you have any more, Joy? We didn’t like to ask you, but we’ve been afraid that perhaps that fearful illness, and the big operation——”

“Not at all,” Joy reassured them. “The doctors want me to wait a year or two, to get quite strong, but I can have another child presently, and I’d like a girl, after two little boys.”

“Oh, I’m glad! Perhaps you’ll have twins again,” Maidlin suggested.

“Where is your family?” Rosamund asked. “Don’t say you’ve left the twins and the boys in New York! We know Ivor had to stay for his conference; but where are all your children, Lady Quellyn?”

“I expect the twins are showing David the garden. He doesn’t remember anything about it; the girls have been looking forward to showing him everything.”

“I wonder we haven’t heard Margaret’s shrieks of excitement.”

Joy smiled. “Oh, Margaret couldn’t go on being noisy when she lived with a month-old baby in the house! She toned down very quickly; you’ll find her changed. Here’s somebody!” as the door opened.

“It’s Jenny-Wren,” Rosamund remarked.

“There’s something wrong,” Maidlin said quickly, and took her babies from Joy’s arms.

“What’s up, Jen?” Rosamund rescued her daughters also, and Joy held out her hands to her friend and sister-in-law.

Jen, Lady Marchwood, lived next door, at the Manor. Tall, with short yellow curls, she was the youngest of the original Abbey Girls, and was only two years older than Rosamund. With a big family of three boys and two girls, life had not always been easy, but she had kept her buoyant spirits, and her happy nature showed few signs of the trials through which she had bravely laughed her way. It was rare to see a shadow on her face, but there was one there now, and her friends looked at her in dismay. It must be something serious to cloud Jen’s face on the joyful day of Joy’s homecoming, so eagerly awaited by the whole family circle.

She bent and kissed Joy. “How are you, old thing? Quite fit again? We thought at one time you weren’t going to come back to us.”

“I’m all right, if I don’t overdo things. I’ve heard about the bad time you’ve had all this year, Jenny-Wren, but I thought it was over and Kenneth was well again. What’s the matter?”

Jen avoided the question. “Isn’t it disgusting?” she broke out. “Isn’t it maddening? These girls, I mean. Both of them to go and have twins! And I, who’d love to have two, get only ones! I do think it’s too bad!”

Joy laughed. “We’ve all beaten you, except Joan; she hasn’t had two yet. Are you fearfully jealous?”

“She’s eaten up with envy,” Rosamund observed. “Maid and I have been scolded for weeks. It was bad enough when I had two, but when Maid did it as well Jen nearly burst with rage. But she’s had time to get over it. What’s wrong, Jen? I want to take my babes home, but I can’t leave you looking like that, without knowing the reason. Out with it!”

Jen dropped wearily into a big chair. “I’ve been to see Joan. I’ve just come from her.”

“Well? Why should that drown you in gloom? Joan’s all right, isn’t she?”

“Is anything wrong with Joan?” Joy asked sharply. “I’m going to see her to-morrow.”

“No, she’s all right. I didn’t mean to frighten you. Sorry! But I had to tell her first, and ask her if she thought I really must——” Jen paused.

“Joy, you might shake her for us,” Rosamund exploded. “Maid and I are too heavily laden with daughters.”

“Must go round the world and enjoy myself for a year,” Jen said simply.

The other three gazed at her, astounded.

“But why?” Joy and Rosamund cried together.

“Oh, Jen, don’t go away!” Maidlin pleaded.

“You don’t think I want to do it, do you?” Jen wailed. “It’s the doctors. Kenneth is all right again, but they want him to go for a long holiday, to build up his strength, before he settles down at home, and they say a voyage would be the best thing.”

“You couldn’t let him go alone,” Joy began.

“It would be good for you too,” Rosamund said practically. “You’ve had a year of nursing and anxiety; you must be run down, whether you feel it or not. It’s a good idea; I’m all for it. If you and Kenneth settle down at home, you’ll go having more babies before you’re fit for it; we know you! You ought to have a holiday. The doctors are right.”

“They want me to go with him, and, as Joy says, I couldn’t let him go alone, after so nearly losing him,” Jen said drearily. “But I don’t want a holiday. I—yes, I am tired. I want to stay quietly at home and rest.”

“And add to your family! You simply mustn’t,” Rosamund said firmly.

“Well, I do want another baby,” Jen cried defiantly. “Katharine is a year and a half now. I don’t like long gaps in families.”

“Then your husband shouldn’t get nearly killed in car crashes.”

“That wasn’t my fault! I’d have given my life to save Ken.”

Maidlin had been laying her babies in the big cradle which had once held Joy’s twin girls. She came to Jen and perched on the arm of her chair, her hand caressingly on Jen’s shoulder.

“You went to tell Joan. What did she say?”

“That I must go, and—and pretend I’m enjoying it, for Ken’s sake,” Jen burst out. “Of course, he knows how I feel; I couldn’t begin to try to cheat Ken! But Joan said—how awful it would be for him if I went in tears, always moaning about not wanting to leave the children and wondering if they were all right at home.”

Rosamund laughed. “Sorry, Jen dear! I do sympathise; I’m not being heartless. But what a picture! Poor Kenneth!”

“Of course you must go, and for Ken’s sake you’ll be jolly and happy about it,” Maidlin said. “The children will be all right. We’ll take care of them for you.”

“Where will you go?” Joy asked. “I can give you introductions to nice people in New York, and in Florida too.”

“Oh, we shall go to Kenya. Ken wants to show me his old shamba, and Nairobi, and the mountains. He can’t ever live in the Tropics again, but a visit will be all right.” Jen’s tone showed no enthusiasm for the Tropics.

“Your honeymoon!” Maidlin exclaimed. “You never had a real one; just a week in London. You always said you’d have it later on.”

“For ten years you’ve been too busy with the family,” Rosamund added. “Oh well, better late than never! Cheer up, Jen! You simply can’t go for a honeymoon looking like that!”

“A honeymoon leaving five children at home!” Jen groaned.

“You could go on to India and Australia, and then home by the States,” Joy, the much-travelled, said thoughtfully. “You’ll like Kenya, Jen, especially if you go up-country.”

“On safari. I’ve heard all about it. I may get keen, once we’ve started,” Jen said gloomily. “At present I feel like a lump of lead.”

“But if it will make all the difference to Kenneth for the rest of his life?” Maidlin suggested. “You’ve fought so hard to save him; this is the last little bit, to finish it all off. You won’t funk now, Jen.”

“Maid, you’re rather a dear!” Jen exclaimed.

“I’ve a husband myself. I’d go round the world twice, for Jock,” Maidlin said simply.

“You must do everything you can for your man, to get him as fit and well as possible,” Rosamund added, sitting on the bed to dress her babies in their tiny coats and shawls for the car-ride to her Castle.

Jen glanced at her. “You’ve done it, for your Geoffrey. You’ve made a new man of him.”

“If you do everything, no matter how much it hurts, you’ll know a feeling of happiness and triumph every time you look at him, for the rest of your life.” Rosamund’s care had nursed an invalid husband back to health, and she spoke from experience.

Jen sighed. “It’s the thought of being cheerful about it that gets me down.”

“Oh, Jen! Don’t be an ass!” Rosamund cried. “You know you’ll be cheerful! Where’s your pluck gone?”

Jen laughed in spite of herself. “I don’t want to go away from you all.”

“We don’t want you to go; you can be sure of that! It will be a horrid year for us,” Maidlin said. “But if it’s best for Kenneth, Jen——!”

“It’s best for Brownie too.” Joy used the old school nickname which was so inappropriate to Jen’s fairness and yellow curls. “I can see she’s tired.”

Rosamund laid down Rosabel and took up Rosalin. “That’s why she’s going on like this. She’s not herself at all. Jen!” She spoke with authority and emphasis. “You must realise that. It’s only because you’re tired that this seems so bad to you. Once you’ve started and the wrench is over, you’ll buck up and enjoy things. Think of seeing Gibraltar and the Mediterranean and Egypt! You could go up the Nile—but you’d miss the Red Sea. You’ll have a wonderful time. Don’t moan over your hard fate any more!”

“Thank you, Ros,” Jen said meekly. “I’m sure you know best.”

“Pig!” Rosamund cried. “I know I’m supposed to be too sure of myself, but this time I’m right. Now what about the family? The boys will be at school, and in the holidays I suppose they’ll go to Joan, with her John. Which of us is to be trusted with the babies? Will you send them to me? We’ve heaps of room, and they’ve been before.”

Jen looked at her gratefully. “No, Ros, dear. You were too good for words when you took Rosemary and Mike that other time, but your hands are full now, with your two boys and those babies. I can’t dump three of mine on you as well.”

“We could manage. I can always get more help.”

Jen shook her head. “Not with new twins to look after.”

“Joan, then? No, I suppose not.”

“Not Joan, just now. She offered, but I wouldn’t think of it. Her hands are full too and will be fuller yet. Jennifer is only two, and Jim just one. No, not Joan.” She looked at Joy. “Either they must stay at the Manor and I must borrow Mary-Dorothy to mother them, or——” and she paused.

“They must come here,” Joy said decisively. “I need Mary, but there’ll be plenty of room for your nurse and the babies. I’m taking Elizabeth and Margaret and the boys back to New York in October.”

“Oh, you are, are you?” Jen exclaimed. “We’ve wondered what you were going to do with them,” and she and Maidlin and Rosamund sat and gazed at Joy.