Rachel's Story

Chapter 20

Rachel suddenly had an epiphany. They had waited for her faithfully. What was this, if not love? She had almost forgotten that love need not occur only between a man and a woman, or even between people bound by family – love exists between people willing to trust each other implicitly, and in the realization that none other can replace the one they love. Her students loved her; the staff at Carillon, the innocent children of Headley Down and the Trevelyan sisters loved her to varying extents. This was untainted, unbiased love for her as a person; the purest kind that there was. Why should it matter if one single man did not return her love? She, Rachel Warren, was blessed indeed, and never again would she reproach her fate for taking Andrew away.

She showed her pleasure appropriately (if somewhat less sentimentally than she wanted), and the students had a wonderful morning with their teacher, back at last from her time in ‘London’.

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She saw Mr. Herringford that evening while helping Sally dust the pictures in the living room. He stood in the doorway for a moment and admired the willing nature of the dark-haired girl, who went out of her way to assist an overworked maid. Then he stepped into the room and made his presence known to them.

“Good even to you, Miss Warren,” he said warmly, taking her hand in an affectionate gesture. “It is most nice to see you again, and I officially welcome you back to Carillon Hall.” She smiled up at him as he added in a lowered voice, “And glad I am to see that your helpful habits have been untarnished by illness.”

He was just like her brothers-in-law Paul and Harvey – caring, gentlemanly and extremely easy to talk with. Before she had even realized it, she was chatting readily with him about her family’s quarantine, and how she had caught the infection while nursing her mother. He was extremely shrewd, though, and Rachel teetered on the brink of exposure once or twice due to her uncorked conversation.

She was brought up short once when he inquired about the physician who had imposed the quarantine, since scarlet fever did not usually require such a long period of waiting. No sooner had she bluffed her way out of that pitfall when he asked if her brother-in-law Paul had also been barred from going to the university because of the quarantine (what was the procedure in such institutions?). Rachel would have almost believed that he suspected something amiss in her story, had not all his questions been asked with an ingenuous sort of carelessness; as it were, she managed to dodge them with an easy smile and vague answers about being too sick herself to notice anything particularly. Would that be enough?

Her fears were silenced when he never raised the subject again. Finally Rachel was able to console herself with the idea that maybe he was simply one of those people who had the uncomfortable knack of asking unwelcome questions at the wrong times.

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Now that the first flush of meeting everyone was over, Rachel fit in the household as seamlessly as she had always done. The days started rolling away as her life resumed its usual sedate pace. She picked up the thread of education from the point it had been left, gossiped with Mrs. Hutchens and Mrs. Talcott as heartily as ever, taught her students new songs and took them to museums and art galleries on occasion, talked amicably with her employer and stayed out of Mrs. Herringford’s way as much as possible.

She was saddled with the child Brian whenever he was between nurses (which happened quite often considering that he usually got them dismissed within a day), and managed to get through those days by gritting her teeth and maintaining the strictest of scrutiny on him at all times so as to at least be aware of any mayhem he might be contemplating. Sheer vigilance enabled her to avert a fire in the stables on one occasion, and being left behind in the unknown town of Ashford on another. Long stories, and it is unnecessary to relate them here; they could be expressed in one simple word – Brian. If nothing else, Brian Herringford helped her to appreciate Diana and Alicia even more, develop intense awareness of her surroundings and to come a bit closer to gaining that halo of sainthood.