Free Ruby Flynn by Nadine Dorries Page A

tenants’ fields for as far as the eye could see.
    Lady Isobel’s manner was wholly vacant and unseeing. Although the rain now beat a tattoo against the leaded windows and whistled an eerie tune as it forced its way in between the cracks, she appeared not to notice. She wore an emerald green silk dressing gown, which had fallen open and exposed a white linen nightdress. The first thing Ruby thought was that she had never seen anything or anyone so beautiful. The weight of Lady Isobel’s chestnut coloured hair had defied the grip of a green satin ribbon and fallen in spiralling tendrils around her face, where the skin was so transparent the blue veins beneath were plainly visible. Her collarbone jutted out above the neckline of the nightdress and Ruby thought she appeared so fragile and thin that surely she couldn’t be touched.
    Mrs McKinnon walked over to Lady Isobel’s chair and indicated for Ruby to follow her.
    ‘The new nursery maid has arrived, Lady Isobel,’ she announced, gently, as though speaking to a young child.
    Lady Isobel started slightly, as if she had been woken from a deep sleep.
    ‘Come here, Ruby, come closer,’ said Mrs McKinnon. ‘Come and say hello. Let Lady Isobel take a good look at you.’
    Tentatively, Ruby took half a dozen steps towards the fireside, at which point it was obvious Lady Isobel became frightened. She began to cry and her cry quickly ascended into a thin, shrill, wail.
    Ruby felt a familiar reaction to sudden and unexpected noise grip her. The hair on her arms rose, her skin prickled all over and she fought down the urge to flee. Run, run, run . The words beat in her brain and she felt her fingernails dig into the flesh of her hands, as she willed herself to stand still.
    ‘Send her away,’ Lady Isobel said, grabbing Mrs McKinnon’s hands. ‘Send her away!’
    Ruby thought she might faint again and willed herself to be strong. She had become used to the noise and now felt her breathing steady to a normal pace. Ruby knew sadness. She knew loss. She knew the kind of grief that could only feel better if you screamed and screamed. Her heart contracted in pity for the bird-like form of the beautiful lady sat before her and now Ruby knew, too, that if anyone could help Lady Isobel, Mrs McKinnon was right, she could.
    At last the screams subsided to a quiet sobbing and Mrs McKinnon held out her hand.
    ‘Come here,’ she whispered, ‘don’t be scared.’
    Ruby looked into Mrs McKinnon’s eyes. She wasn’t scared now, not anymore. She allowed the housekeeper to lead her over to the chair. Mrs McKinnon held both Lady Isobel’s hands in her own, as much, Ruby realized, to prevent them from lashing out as to comfort the lady.
    ‘This is Ruby, she is here to help, just like you asked,’ Mrs McKinnon said softly. ‘Remember? We discussed it with the doctor. You need someone to be with you all the time, just for now, until we have you right again.’
    Ruby thought she had better do something, to show this was the truth, and that she would be of some use and so she bent down to the fire and began to set light to the turf which Betsy had brought in while Mrs McKinnon was calming Lady Isobel. She picked up the bellows and fanned the almost dead embers and within moments, the flames were leaping up the chimney and warming the room.
    Mrs McKinnon smiled and nodded approvingly. ‘See what Ruby has done,’ she said. ‘She will keep the room as warm as toast for you and make sure the fire won’t ever go out, won’t you, Ruby? I won’t have to worry about you sitting in the cold anymore.’
    ‘I will,’ Ruby replied. ‘I have kept a fire going many times at the convent. We all had duties as well as lessons, and we were taught to clean to a high standard.’ She was addressing her remarks to Lady Isobel as much as to Mrs McKinnon, to reassure her of her worth.
    Ruby had actually never understood why they were taught lessons to such a high level. Maria had told them it was