“My dear,” he said fondly, for who would not be fond at such blatant admiration, “I shall have to wait and see whether my presence is commanded. I daresay we shall attend one of the balls.” He looked at me. “I’m afraid, my dear Annora, that we shall be unable to take you with us as you are not yet out.”

“I didn’t expect to go,” I told him. “And shall we be in London?”

My father hesitated. He said: “I don’t really want to extend my stay. I am thinking of going to Australia and there will be a great many things I have to do at home before I can leave.”

“To Australia,” said Uncle Peter. “How interesting.” He added with a smile: “The scene of your youth, eh?”

“Exactly. I have property there.”

“It will be very interesting.”

“Peter has a wonderful project in view, haven’t you, Peter?” said Aunt Amaryllis.

He looked at her with a kind of tender exasperation, but I knew that behind it he was pleased, because we were now going to hear of another of his triumphs.

“My dear,” he said reproachfully, “they will not be interested …”

“But of course we are,” insisted my father. “What is this new achievement? I know they are commonplace with you, Peter, but we country folk like to hear of the great exploits of government. Is there an election coming up?”

“Not in the immediate future. The Whigs are not very secure, as you know. Melbourne, of course, gets on very well with the Queen.”

“Yes,” said my mother. “Even in the country we hear what a good relationship there is between them.”

“It means,” went on Uncle Peter, “that the Whigs, through one man, have the Queen in leading reins. That sort of thing won’t be tolerated long.”

“You mean by the Tories?”

“Exactly.”

“So what diabolical schemes have you hatched for unseating your enemies?” asked my father.

“Nothing unconstitutional. It will happen naturally.”

“And when Sir Robert Peel’s government is in power …” said Aunt Amaryllis, looking proudly at her husband.

“A post in the government?” asked my father. “Well, we expect that of you, Peter. But we have digressed. What about this triumph of yours? You were just about to tell us.”

“We are all eagerness to hear,” said my mother, looking rather coldly at Uncle Peter.

“Well,” began Uncle Peter with a show of reluctance. “Nothing is settled yet. A commission is being set up. There is a great deal of vice in the Capital. Drugs …” He glanced at me and hesitated. I guessed he was thinking of my youth and the inadvisability of discussing unpleasant realities in my presence. “Disreputable conduct,” he went on. “The chairing of this commission will go to a politician.”

“You?” said my mother in a rather blank voice.

He smiled at her and I saw that understanding flash between them. He seemed to find it very amusing. “I’m not sure,” he said. “It’s really a matter of party politics. Actually I believe it is a toss-up between myself and Joseph Cresswell.”

“Peter says that if he could get it and it was a success … the road would open,” said Aunt Amaryllis. “What do you think, Peter? The Home Office?”

“When Melbourne’s Whigs are defeated and Peel’s Tories are supreme,” said my father.

“Yes, that will have to come about first,” agreed Peter. “But it has to be … sooner or later.”

“So really,” added my father, “it is a question of either you or Joseph Cresswell.”

“I think one could say that with some certainty.”

“Surely they would not be so foolish as to give the post to Joseph Cresswell,” said Aunt Amaryllis rather heatedly.

“They do not all possess your discernment, my dear,” said Uncle Peter, giving her another of those fond glances.

My father said: “Cresswell is, of course, a well-known man. He’s had a great success with the Commission for Canals. He is very able. I daresay in the next Melbourne ministry he’ll qualify for a very high post.”

“Certainly he will. That’s if he gets this and makes a success of it.”

“That’s not going to happen, is it?” asked my father. “It’s going to you, isn’t it?”

Uncle Peter lifted his shoulders. “Melbourne will be behind Cresswell and his power is increasing every week. He certainly knows how to handle the Queen, and that makes him important to his party.”

“But as you say, he is on shaky ground.”

“I think this matter will be resolved before we get rid of this government.”

“That looks like good luck for the enemy.”

“Don’t call Cresswell that. We’re good friends out of the House. I respect and admire Cresswell. He’s a good politician … although on the wrong side, of course.” Uncle Peter laughed. “But none the less an admirable man. He’s a good family man … and Melbourne, with his record, needs such around him. We visit now and then. They are a very pleasant family, aren’t they, my dear?”

“Oh, they are charming,” said Aunt Amaryllis. “I like them all very much. Young Joe is very nice … and that girl Frances.”

“Oh, full of good works,” said Uncle Peter. “As you see, I have a formidable rival.”

“I don’t doubt you have more irons in the fire.”

“It’s always wise to,” said Uncle Peter.

Soon after that we left the men at their port and went with Aunt Amaryllis to the drawing room.

“I do wish you were staying longer in London,” said Aunt Amaryllis.

“It would be nice,” agreed my mother, “but we have to go to Eversleigh.”

“It must be very sad there for you now that your parents have gone, Jessica.”

My mother nodded. “It can never be the same, but I do think Claudine likes to see us and there are Jonathan and Tamarisk.”

“Those two are all right. My mother comes up now and again but my father does not like to leave the place.”

“Oh, Amaryllis, how things have changed!”

“Life does, but we have been so fortunate, Jessica, you and I in our marriages. You and Jake, Peter and I. I do hope Helena and Peterkin and Annora will be as lucky. Jacco, too. I wish Peterkin would decide what he wants to do. Helena, why don’t you try to persuade Annora to stay with us while her parents are in Eversleigh?”

Helena’s face lighted up. “Oh, that would be lovely.”

She looked appealingly at my mother and then turned to me: “Would you like to, Annora?”

“Yes,” I said, “I should. I’d love to see all the festivities for the coronation. I’d like to be with you, Helena.”

“I don’t see why you shouldn’t stay up here,” said my mother. “After all, you’d really enjoy that more.”

“We’d look after her,” said Aunt Amaryllis. “Wouldn’t we, Helena?”

“It would be lovely,” said Helena.

The next day it was decided that when my parents left for Eversleigh, I should stay in the house in the square until my parents returned.

I first met John Milward in the Park. My parents had gone to Eversleigh and I was very much enjoying being with my cousins. When he was away from the house Peterkin seemed to change his personality; he became much more relaxed. I thought that was another example of how trying it must be to live in the shadow of such a successful father.

I shared a bedroom with Helena which was a pleasure to us both because before going to sleep we would share confidences. I learned quite a lot about her and how she had always felt herself to be dull and stupid because she found lessons difficult. Coming out and discovering that she was not attractive to the opposite sex had been the coup de grâce.

But now that was changed. John Milward had come into her life.

Sometimes Peterkin would join Helena and me and we would go out together. Our favourite jaunt was to the Park which seemed a source of never-ending delight to me. We enjoyed walking and would stroll through St. James’s Park and Green Park to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. There we would walk by the Serpentine and stand at the edge of the Round Pond looking beyond to Kensington Palace where the Queen had spent her childhood. She was at Buckingham Palace now and I always hoped that we should catch a glimpse of her riding in her carriage. Everyone seemed delighted that we now had a young girl for a queen.

We had just entered Hyde Park and Peterkin pointed out to me Apsley House, the home of the Duke of Wellington.

“And,” he was saying, “in case you should fail to see it and pay due homage, here is the great Achilles Statue set up in honour of the Duke.”

It was a massive figure, meant I supposed to display the might and grandeur of the masculine figure—a symbol of the power of the great Duke.

I read the inscription which stated that it was dedicated to Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, and his brave companions in arms; it had been cast from cannon taken at the Duke’s victorious battles including that of Waterloo. It had been erected through subscriptions of the women of England to do honour to military glory.

“There has been a lot of controversy about it,” said Peterkin. “Some think it vulgar. Others that it is a work of genius.”

“Isn’t that always what happens to works of art?” I asked. “Most things are criticized before people know what they ought to think, and when they are proclaimed works of genius everyone agrees, and it is as though there had never been any other opinion. Lots of people have to be told what they should think.”

“When I look at that,” said Peterkin, “I think of joining the army.”

Helena said: “You were thinking of going into Parliament a little while ago.”

Peterkin grimaced. “Fancy following our father! Everyone would say, He’s not what his father was!”

“Perhaps you would be better,” I suggested.