Page 91 of One More Christmas at the Castle
‘I forgot to tell you, I found an amazing epergne in the same cupboard as the punch bowl,’ he said.
‘Well, don’t shout about it, or everyone will want one,’ I replied absently, knotting a green cord loop.
‘You know what I mean,’ he protested. ‘One of those big table centrepieces, with several little dishes to hold bonbons, nuts and that kind of thing.’
‘No, I can’t say I do. Is it nice?’
‘Yes, this one’s porcelain, decorated with Christmas motifs. It’ll look lovely on the sideboard in the dining room.’
‘I’ll take your word for it, but if it’s antique and valuable, you’re in charge of cleaning it.’
‘OK, and we’ll fill the little dishes with nuts … though marrons glacés and crystallized fruit would look pretty, too. Fortnum and Mason dothemost wonderful crystallized fruit.’
‘You could always ask Mrs Powys if you could order some?’ I suggested. ‘And shouldn’t those gifts she bought from Liberty be arriving soon?’
‘I checked and they’re on their way.’
‘You’ll have hours of harmless fun, then, helping Mrs Powys to wrap all those.’
‘Speaking of fun, Xan said he’d help me bring the tree in and set it up in the Great Hall, so I ought to go and spread out that rug over the mosaic to protect it. I could bring down the boxes of decorations and take the stepladders through, when we’ve done that.’
‘And you need that metal stand to keep the tree steady,’ I reminded him.
He looked at me a little quizzically. ‘While I’m doing all that, you’ve got time to closet yourself away in the study with Xan for a bit more dusting … or whatever it is you get up to in there.’
‘Just dusting,’ I said firmly, and then checked the clock. ‘I suppose Iwouldhave time to clean another shelf or two, before we have to get the mulled wine and mince pies ready to go.’
‘You do, especially if I have everything else ready: music, lights, cameras – action!’
‘Music!’ I exclaimed. ‘Mrs Powys said there should be carols playing.’
‘There will be. I’ve borrowed a double CD from Nancy; she was playing them in her car on the journey here.’
I relaxed a bit. ‘Oh, good, that’s sorted. And, Henry, I forbid you to wear your cyclops headband camera.’
He looked hurt. ‘Would I, when it would spoil my impeccable professional image?’
‘It might if youhadone,’ I said, but he just laughed and went off to winkle Xan out to help bring in the monster tree. I heard the swishing noise as they dragged it past the kitchen window a few minutes later.
I was already in the study when Xan came back. He told me they’d had quite a struggle getting the tree up and firmly clamped into its cast-iron stand, but now it looked magnificent.
‘Before that, I recorded some of Nancy’s memories of Asa and Sabine,’ he said. ‘She and her husband stayed with them on Corfu quite a bit, especially in later years when Stephen, Nancy’s husband, suffered from ill health and had to take early retirement.’
‘I suppose it gives you a different perspective,’ I said.
‘Yes, the onlooker always sees things differently, even when they’re as old a friend as Nancy.’
He dunked the rear end of the gingerbread pig I’d brought him into his mug of coffee and then ate it before it crumbled.
I had one, too, though I just nibbled mine … and somehow, instead of getting on with the shelf clearing, we ended up simply sitting on the sofa, Plum between us as usual, while Xan told me about his boyhood in Greece and how his father and Tommy had taught him to dive.
‘As he got older, Tommy liked to talk about the early days with Asa and the first expeditions, andIlove to listen to his stories,’ he said. ‘It’s useful, too, because it’s given me a different slant on the things Sabine’s telling me.’
‘It must be useful,’ I agreed, and then suddenly realized time had flown and we hadn’t done a thing except talk!
‘I must go and wash my hands and put a clean tunic on,’ I said, springing up. ‘Still, at least I’m not dusty and dishevelled today, that’s something! I’ll see you in the Great Hall in thirty minutes, with mulled wine and mince pies.’
‘Life has become a moveable feast,’ he said, and Plum snorted himself awake for the first time since I’d arrived and stared at us through his slightly prominent eyes, as if suspecting us of plotting to hide some treat from him.
