Page 69 of One More Christmas at the Castle
‘OK, and Lucy’s already down, so I’ve taken her a pot of tea. She says it tastes so much nicer when I make it.’
‘I bet she wouldn’t say that if you tried her with one of your hellish herbal brews!’ I told him.
Plum polished off his breakfast in record time and then sat and watched us eat ours.
I described to Xan how Plum had performed a backwards somersault through the baize door the previous evening.
‘I would have liked to have seen that,’ he said regretfully, ‘but I expect it was totally unintentional and he’ll never do it again.’
‘Oh, I think it’s something he’s perfected,’ I said, and a little later, when I was simmering the chicken carcass to make good, rich stock for the freezer, he did it again.
‘Who’s a gorgeous, clever boy, then?’ I asked, stroking his little domed head.
‘Me?’ suggested Xan’s deep voice from behind me.
20
Thin Ice
I looked up, startled – I hadn’t heard him come in.
‘Of course,’ I agreed, recovering. ‘That goes without saying! But actually, I meant Plum. He’s just done his trick with the door again.’
‘He obviously has hidden depths I’d previously never suspected.’ Xan scooped Plum up and held him, nose to nose. ‘You’ve been holding out on me, haven’t you?’
Plum tried to lick his face and Xan tucked him under his arm. ‘It’s amazing what greed will do. I’ve only just noticed he’d gone, but it’s about time for a break and a bit of a walk, anyway. Would you like to come too, or are you too busy?’
‘No, I’ve finished for the moment and the stock has to cool before I can freeze it. Give me ten minutes to clear up and I’ll meet you in the Garden Hall,’ I suggested. ‘Henry’s taken his snowboard up to the field in the hope there’s enough snow.’
‘He might be in luck, because I think quite a lot more fell during the night. I’ll just go and close down my laptop. I’ve been making some notes from a bundle of letters Tommy wrote to Asa. It’s lucky Asa was such a packrat with his papers,really, even if sorting them is such a huge task,’ he said. ‘See you in a few minutes.’ And he went out again, carrying Plum.
I stacked everything into the dishwasher except the large pan, which I left to soak, and then gave the dried fruit and rum in the larder another stir. There would be all the old favourite Christmas desserts: the cake, pudding, trifles and fruit jellies … and speaking of jellies, I’d spotted a big pottery mould in the shape of a turreted castle, in one of the glazed kitchen cupboards …
I realized I was daydreaming again, changed quickly and was putting on my coat when I reached the Garden Hall.
Xan was already there, pulling on his wellies, and looked up. ‘We’ll have to stop meeting like this,’ he joked.
I felt myself go faintly pink, but replied sedately, ‘All roads seem to lead to – or through – the Garden Hall.’
‘True. Come on, let’s see if the lake has frozen solid yet.’
There was certainly a thicker covering of snow, which, although it looked soft and fluffy, scrunched underfoot in a crystalline kind of way. The sky was a clear, pale and icy azure that reminded me of Mrs Powys’s eyes, and our breath hung before us in white clouds. The temperature had definitely dropped.
We decided to walk down the track through the woods on the side further away from the Roman site, the one we’d driven down to select the Christmas trees, and it was sheltered under the canopy of branches.
Plum scampered ahead, plumed tail waving, turning from time to time, to check we were still there.
‘I enjoyed yesterday evening, and so, I think, did Simon,’ Xan said. ‘I don’t think he gets out much.’
‘No, I suspect the tragedy of losing his wife at such a young age has turned him into a bit of a recluse. He’s such a nice man,but his smile is quite heart-breaking, so I don’t think he’s ever got over it.’
For some strange reason, this seemed to cheer Xan up. ‘Heisnice, isn’t he? Interesting, too, when you get him on to his own subject.’
‘I suspectHome Alonecame as a bit of a shock to his academic soul,’ I said, smiling.
‘It was a bit of a shock to mine, too, but I enjoyed it. I can see you and Henry are going to radically re-educate my taste in films.’
‘It would be even more radical if you stayed on for his late-night horror film sessions.’
