House of Trelawney by Hannah Rothschild

Author:Hannah Rothschild [Rothschild, Hannah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2020-02-11T00:00:00+00:00

18

The Festive Season

SUNDAY 14TH DECEMBER 2008

For as long as anyone could remember, the Earls of Trelawney had held an annual New Year’s Eve party in the Great Hall. In days of plenty, up to seventy-five guests stayed in the house while several hundred billeted in nearby stately homes. It often took an hour to disgorge all the guests from their carriages and footmen had to run up and down the waiting line with hot-water bottles and mulled wine to stave off boredom and cold. To justify the journey, the Earls put on a terrific show: there were minstrels, acrobats and orchestras; the finest chefs were brought over from Paris and the best wine from Bordeaux. At the start of the twentieth century, dance bands were flown in from America. As the money ran out, the bands became a record player; wine came from a box; the guest list was pruned; and dinner became peanuts and crisps.

Jane longed to cancel, but pride spurred her on and she was determined not to be the first Countess to break the tradition. The main problem was who to ask—she dreaded the gossip and endless questions about the whereabouts of her husband. In the end, she resolved to put on a bit of a show. Between Blaze’s modest stipend, Tuffy’s rent and the children’s odd jobs, she had saved enough money to hire some large speakers (her budget didn’t stretch to a local band), two kegs of beer and some crates of wine from the local cash and carry. Mrs. Sparrow helped her bake pasties and tarts.

For the first time in the castle’s 800-year history, Jane was inviting people who lived in the village.

“Don’t expect me to come,” Ambrose said.

“This is 2008,” Toby replied. “Times have changed, you know.”

“Is this a ploy so your girlfriend can feel at home?” Ambrose mocked.

Toby took a swing at his brother.

“Boys!” Jane said. Having all three at the castle tested her patience to the limit. None could drive; all were bored. No wonder generations of Trelawneys had forced their children to ride, hunt, sail, shoot and partake in endless rural pastimes. It was a way of keeping them occupied. Once upon a time Jane had tried to limit social media and computers; now, at the first sign of trouble, she suggested FIFA.

“What do you do when you sneak off with Great-Aunt Tuffy?” Ambrose asked his sister. Arabella longed to explain, but knew it would be met with incomprehension and ridicule. Tuffy’s latest paper, “Lyme disease as a lead indicator of climate change,” to be presented at a scientific conference in Birmingham early in the new year, would make the connection between warmer weather and the spread of infectious illness. Over the last five months, she and Arabella had been monitoring the significant increase in ticks and fleas on dead rodents and carrion, and correlating this to a rise in global temperature.

“Why don’t you ask Taffy?” Jane asked.

“She’s called Tuffy and she wouldn’t be seen dead at a party.”

“Maybe she could hop in and have a bite?” Ambrose roared at his own joke.

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