Chapter One ~ 1874

As the carriage turned into Grosvenor Square, Lady Odela Ford was feeling nervous.

All the way from Florence she had been thinking excitedly about coming home and seeing her father again.

Now, although she tried not to, she felt apprehensive.

After a year of misery and loneliness when her mother had died, her father, the Earl of Shalford, had married again rather too rapidly.

He had told her in a somewhat embarrassed manner that he intended to marry a widow, Lady Dean.

Odela could remember her dismay at this news all too vividly.

She had already met Lady Dean and she thought somewhat scornfully that she was fawning on her father in an exaggerated way.

Odela loved him and understood how desperately he missed her mother as she did. .She was therefore too tactful to make any protest.

Esme Dean had then taken over the house, even before the Wedding took place very quietly.

Odela had to admit that her stepmother was very attractive and she always said the most flattering things to everybody she met.

Everything she did, anywhere she went, was ‘too wonderful for words’ and she never spoke to her husband without complimenting him on his brains, his looks and his exalted position in life.

At first Odela chided herself for being critical and then she knew instinctively that this was an exaggerated pose that was invariably hypocritical.

It had nothing to do with her stepmother’s real feelings.

In a way Odela was not surprised when, immediately after the Wedding was over, the new Countess began to say to her husband,

“Odela is so clever, darling, just like you, and we must be careful that we don’t waste her brain.”

To Odela herself she would say,

“It’s quite unnecessary for you to be both pretty and clever. You should not work so hard and spoil your beautiful eyes.”

Odela soon found that these remarks were merely stepping stones.

Her stepmother had decided that she should go abroad to what was known as a ‘Finishing School’.

There were in fact two or three in England, but the Countess considered that they were not good enough.

“I am told by the most reliable people,” she said to the Earl, “that the Seminary for Young Ladies in Florence is noted for its brilliant teachers.”

She paused before she added with a smile,

“The aristocrats from every country in Europe send their daughters there and what could be better for dear little Odela than to be able to speak French and Italian fluently?”

Odela had not objected because she knew that it was hopeless to do so.

She was also finding it hard to tolerate the many changes her stepmother was making in their two houses that had been her mother’s pride and joy.

Fortunately, Odela thought, the new Countess was not particularly interested in Shalford Hall in the country.

In London the old servants were dismissed and new faces were brought in to take their place.

Odela, as it happened was extremely intelligent.

She knew that it would be foolish and unkind to her father if, as soon as he had remarried, she quarrelled with her stepmother.

He was quite obviously besotted with his young and beautiful wife. He would therefore not have been prepared to listen to anything that was said against her.

Then the moment came when the Countess said in direct tones,

“I have news for you, dearest Odela, which I am sure will please you. You know, dear child, that all I want is your happiness, but I also want you to be a huge success when you become a debutante.”

She paused and, as Odela did not speak, she then went on,

“Your father, who in his marvellous way is always thinking of other people rather than himself, has agreed that you should go to Florence for a year!”

She gave a little laugh, which her admirers always said was like the tinkling of bells, before she continued,

“I know that there you will learn to be as clever as your wonderful father and also have all the graces that every woman should have if she is to shine in London Society.”

Odela drew in her breath, but had merely asked,

“When do you want me to leave, Papa?”

“Immediately!” her stepmother answered for him, “and you will return at exactly the same time next year when I know you will burst like a meteor on London and dazzle us all.”

She gave another laugh before she added,

“You are a lucky, lucky girl! And, of course, it is all due to your kind and understanding father, who I know will miss you while you are away.”

Odela had forced herself to say that she was grateful for the opportunity.

At the same time she was well aware that her stepmother had got her own way and achieved what she had set out to do.

She had, however, experienced a shock when she went upstairs.

She learnt that her Nanny, who had been with her ever since she was born, had been told that her services were no longer required.

It was then she had flung her arms around her neck exclaiming,

“You cannot leave, Nanny, I cannot lose you! Mama always said you would stay with us all your life!”

“Your mother, God rest her soul, said the same thing to me,” Nanny replied, “but her Ladyship has other ideas.”

“I will speak to Papa! I cannot let you go!” Odela cried.

“It won’t be any use, dearie,” Nanny answered. “Her Ladyship’ll get her way and she wants all the old staff out so that she can bring in those who toady to her!”

“But how can I manage without you?” Odela asked helplessly, the tears running down her cheeks.

“You’re goin’ away for a year,” Nanny said, “and when you come back perhaps her Ladyship’ll let me return to maid you.”

“Oh, Nanny, do you think she will?” Odela enquired.

Even as she spoke she knew that it was very unlikely.

The Countess had a smart French lady’s maid, who went tittle-tatting to her with everything that went on in the household.

Odela was quite certain that her stepmother had sensed that Nanny did not like her and once she was out of the house she would never be able to return.

She cried bitterly when she had to say ‘goodbye’ to Nanny.

She wrote to her every week while she was away and she could not have told her father the problems and difficulties that she inevitably encountered in a strange school in a foreign land.

She just knew that Nanny would understand.

It made her feel better to put everything down on paper and be sure that Nanny would read it with love.

*

She thought now that everything would be very different if Nanny was waiting for her in Grosvenor Square.

As the carriage drew up outside Shalford House, she saw two strange footmen putting down the red carpet.

And there was an unfamiliar butler waiting for her in the doorway.

“Welcome home, my Lady,” he said respectfully as she entered. “Her Ladyship’s in her sitting room.”

“Sitting room?” Odela queried.

“On the first floor, my Lady, next to her Ladyship’s bedroom.”

Odela remembered then that it had always been called a ‘boudoir’.

Immediately after she was married the Countess had said,

“As I wish to entertain my friends in my own room, I think ‘boudoir’ sounds too intimate. In future I will call it my ‘sitting room’.”

“You can call it anything you like, my darling,” the Earl replied, “as long as you are in it.”

His wife’s eyes looked up at him adoringly.

“Oh, Arthur, that is what I want you to think,” she simpered, “and you know that, when I am working in my sitting room, it will be so that everything in the house is perfect for you.”

Odela went up the stairs, conscious as she did so that the nervousness she had felt in the carriage had now intensified.

She told herself it was ridiculous and that there was nothing to fear or be frightened about.

While her brain said one thing, however, her instinct told her something different.

The butler opened the door and she saw at once that the room was completely changed from when her mother had used it.

The curtains, the covers and the carpet were all new and the antique furniture, which had been very attractive, had all been replaced with what was more ornate and flamboyant and much more modern.

There were marble-topped tables, which were carved and gilded and there was a far larger chandelier than in her mother’s time.

The pictures had nearly all gone and instead there were gold-framed mirrors.

And they reflected the beauty of its new occupant.

As Odela appeared, the Countess rose from the chair where she had been sitting and held out both her hands.

“Odela!” she exclaimed. “How delightful to see you.”

She kissed her on both cheeks.

Then she put her hands on her shoulders to hold her away from her.

“How pretty you have grown,” she remarked. “Yes, very very pretty! You will be the belle of every ball I will take you to!”

It all sounded very convincing.

Odela. However. sensed, although she told herself that it was unreasonable, that there was something behind all this.

Something that she could not put a name to, but which was undoubtedly there.

“Now sit down,” the Countess was saying, “and I will tell you just how much we have to do – ”

“I hope, Stepmama,” Odela interrupted, “that I will be able to go down to the country. I have been looking forward to riding Dragonfly.”

“Dragonfly?” the Countess repeated in a perplexed tone. “Oh, your...