Secret Schemes and Daring Dreams by Rosie Rushton Page B

about, she told herself, deftly stepping to one side to avoid tripping over Phoebe Pilkington’s Barbie caravan. There was nothing that couldn’t be achieved by simply reading people and boosting their egos.
    After she had pacified the American kids for the absence of maple syrup by assuring them that Superman always ate his pancakes with honey, and besides, this was special honey as eaten on the film set of
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,
she returned to the kitchen to find the back door open and Theo spooning coffee into a cafetière.
    â€˜Hi! One worshipper safely delivered,’ he announced. ‘I said I’d pick her up about one o’clock.’
    â€˜That’s a pretty long church service,’ Emma exclaimed.
    Theo laughed. ‘She’s going to have coffee with her mother afterwards,’ he told her. ‘At the hospital. St B’s is the hospital church. That’s why she wanted to go there.’
    â€˜She told you?’ Emma was staggered. ‘About her mum?’
    â€˜Oh yes,’ he said nodding. ‘She told me everything. Pretty tough life she’s had, poor girl. And you know I was thinking, if I asked her —’
    â€˜Omelettes, table one,’ Luigi shouted, slamming two plates on to the serving trolley. ‘Bagels, table three.’
    â€˜Please,’ said Emma sweetly, gesturing to Theo to take the plates.
    â€˜Me?’ He looked at her aghast.
    â€˜You were doing Harriet’s job, right?’ Emma reminded him. ‘Well, this is it.’
    â€˜Oh. Yes. Right. Fine.’ He picked up the plates somewhat gingerly. ‘Don’t disappear, though,’ he said. ‘I need to tell you about this stunning idea Harriet had.’
    Stunning and Harriet in the same sentence? It’s a start, thought Emma. And whatever the idea, all I have to do is agree with it.
    * * *
    â€˜You know the old photographs of Donwell in days gone by?’ Theo said half an hour later as he and Emma stood at the conservatory door, watching as George explained the finer points of archery to half a dozen enthusiastic wrinklies. ‘The ones on the staircase?’
    â€˜Mmm,’ Emma murmured through a mouthful of leftover scrambled egg.
    â€˜Well, Harriet reckoned we should put them on the website beside up-to-date photographs of the same places.’
    â€˜Wow!’ Emma was momentarily taken aback. Harriet clearly had more about her than she’d thought. ‘You mean,’ she ventured eagerly, ‘like that sepia photo of the orangery in 1880 superimposed with guys working out at the health club that’s there now? And maybe, that one of the boating party on the lake before the First World War merged in with one of people fishing for trout there now?’
    Theo’s eyes widened. ‘Gosh, I hadn’t thought of it like that, with people doing stuff,’ he enthused. ‘You’re amazing.’
    â€˜It was Harriet’s idea,’ Emma pointed out.
    â€˜Well, yes, but she never said it like that,’ he gabbled. ‘Hey, why don’t we try it out, right? We could make a start now with you playing tennis on the court by the orchard – the one where Vita Sackville-West had her picture taken.’
    â€˜Theo, I hate to remind you, but tennis is a game for two and if you’re taking the photos . . .’
    â€˜Oh that’s OK,’ Theo assured her. ‘You just hit a few balls over the net and I’ll click away. So – can you get changed?’
    â€˜Why not wait till Harriet gets back?’ Emma suggested. ‘You could use her – after all, it was her idea.’
    â€˜No way,’ Theo said hastily. ‘See, the thing is, she said she wasn’t terribly sporty and I’d hate to embarrass her. Like you said, she’s a bit self-conscious. I could tell that talking to her in the car.’
    â€˜OK, I’ll give it my best shot,’ Emma agreed,