Toblethorpe Manor (34 page)

He was scrupulously polite to Rosalind, and completely formal. Taking her cue from him, she was equally constrained, and their mutual coolness cast a pall over the other three. Lucy decided to ride with Charles for a while in the afternoon and Lady Annabel seized her opportunity.

“Rosalind,” she said hesitantly, “have you quarreled with Richard? I do not mean to interfere, only if there is some misunderstanding, perhaps I may help.”

“We did not precisely quarrel,” Rosalind answered. “He…he saw me kiss Lord Harry and gave me no chance to explain that I was just saying good-bye. I…Harry needed comforting, you see. I cannot say more.”

“I think I understand,” Lady Annabel assured her. “Perhaps I should tell you a little about Richard so that you do not misinterpret his behaviour. I am afraid he often appears arrogant, even cold, when he is trying to avoid being hurt.” She described to Rosalind his painful school-days and his subsequent inability to trust anyone with his feelings.

“And all because of his darkness?” asked Rosalind wonderingly. “What horrors little boys are! Lady Annabel, you should not be telling me this. Mr. Carstairs has been as kind to me as if I were truly his cousin, but I have no right to know of such personal matters.”

“My dear, I had hoped…”

“Mr. Carstairs has given me no reason to think he looks on me as anything other than a cousin. That is why I was angry when he enacted a Cheltenham tragedy after seeing me and Harry. I only wanted a bit of fun before I go home and marry Ian Heathercot.” Rosalind started this speech firmly. By the end, she was wailing and she burst into tears. Lady Annabel took her in her arms and patted her soothingly.

“Hush, child, hush. I did not know you were already betrothed or I would never have…. Oh dear, what a coil!”

“I am not betrothed,” hiccupped Rosalind. “I told Ian I would give him my answer when I return to Bennendale. If I had been already promised, I’d not have behaved so, and none of this would have happened.”

“You are not…? I declare I am growing quite confused. Well, then, we must hope that Richard will climb down off his high horse, and we may all be friends again. Come, dry your eyes, my dear. I am sure everything will work out for the best.”

Meanwhile, Lucy was attacking her brother. “Richard, how can you be so odious to poor Rosalind! You are making her quite miserable.”

“I
making
her
miserable!” he exclaimed with bitterness.

“Did something happen at the Hunt Ball?” asked Charles curiously, adding in haste, “No wish to pry, old man, but it seemed to me that until then you were contriving admirably.”

“Come, tell, Richard,” coaxed Lucy. “It will quite spoil my wedding if you and Rosalind are both full of megrims.”

“Well, if you must know, I saw her kissing Harry Graham.”

This news struck Lucy dumb, but Charles was equal to the occasion.

“And the next day Harry left before dawn,” he pointed out sapiently. “Do you think my cousin has the air of a girl concealing a secret engagement?”

“N-no,” admitted Richard. “But if she was just saying good-bye to him, why did she not explain to me?”

“Did you give her a chance?” asked Lucy. “Anyway, have you given her any reason to suppose that you have a right to an explanation? You are not
her
older brother, you know, and if you go on this way, you will never be her husband, either.”

“Lucy!” reprimanded Charles.

She flushed but objected. “It’s true! I beg your pardon, Richard, but I do not want you to ruin your life because everyone is too mealymouthed to tell you when you are being chuckleheaded.”

Charles laughed, and even Richard smiled.

“I assure you,” he said to Charles, “that my mother has done her utmost to teach Lucy to speak like a lady. However, I daresay she is right,” he added painfully. “I find it difficult to keep in mind that Rosalind does not remember…what I said to Clara Fell.”

“Clarissa!” maintained Lucy.

Richard had no idea how to go about mending the breach. He wished he could invite Rosalind to ride with him. Failing that, he decided to wait until they reached Doncaster, where they were to spend the night, and attempt to speak to her privately at the inn.

 In the meantime, the reminder of the late Miss Fell brought another problem to mind. “Oh, the devil!” he groaned. “How are we going to introduce Rosalind to Aunt Florence?”

“Oh dear,” gasped Lucy, “I had not considered! And what is more, Rosalind must not hear whatever we tell her, Richard, or she will know the whole.”

Charles demanded an explanation, which his betrothed supplied. He then demanded an explanation of the explanation from Richard.

“I see,” he said at last. “Of course, I do not know your aunt, but surely it would be best to lay the whole business before her.”

“Never!” cried Richard and Lucy with one breath. “I cry craven,” admitted Richard with a grin. “Besides, my mother is involved in the deception, also. In fact it was she who invented the story about her old school friend.”

“Then we shall have to leave the school friend intact,” mused Charles. “That leaves only the change of name to be accounted for.”

“And the sudden demise of the school friend,” Richard pointed out.

“I think she must have died quite some time ago,” suggested Lucy, “and mama simply forgot to mention it to Aunt Florence.”

“I suppose so,” agreed Richard dubiously. “Wait a bit! Rosalind said something about her Grandfather Stuart having a strong distaste for London. Perhaps we might build a tale around that?”

“I have it!” cried Charles in triumph. “Listen! Rosalind’s mama died, oh, say eighteen months ago. We might as well stick as close to the truth as possible. After a year of mourning, as I was in India and showed no signs of coming home, Lady Annabel invited her to spend some time with you in London. Now, here is her grandfather’s will: No member of the family was ever to grace the metropolis with his presence. The lawyers agree that the provision is unreasonable and suggest an alias as a way of avoiding it. And there we have Miss Fell”‘

“Charles, you are so clever,” murmured Lucy admiringly.

“It looks all right to me,” assented Richard. “And I know why Aunt Florence is not to mention the matter to Rosalind. Miss Stuart is wretched about deceiving her and she will do her a kindness by not bringing it up or appearing to have known her before.”

“That last is a little weak. And I thought you said Miss Carstairs was a very Gorgon,” objected Charles. “Why should she be so considerate of my cousin?”

Lucy looked a little guilty. “Aunt Florence is only terrifying to gentlemen and
young
ladies,” she admitted. “Mama thinks her perfectly amiable.”

“I believe she became quite fond of Miss Fell,” added Richard. “Mama will have to tell her all this. She will not question her.”

“And mama may tell her she did not disclose the whole before because she respects Aunt Florence’s dislike of gossip. Then she will be quite unable to ask anything further!” declared Lucy triumphantly.

“Now all we have to do is to persuade Lady Annabel to present this farrago to Miss Carstairs,” said the practical Charles.

“I shall leave that to you two,” Richard told them. “You may disclose the whole to her in her chamber at Doncaster, and I shall distract Rosalind so that she does not suspect what is going on.”

Charles and Lucy exchanged looks and agreed.

On arriving at the Angel, the ladies went to their room to rest before dining. Lucy and Rosalind were sharing a chamber. They sat by a glowing fire, the curtains pulled tight against the dusk outside, and chatted in a desultory way. Rosalind was inclined to be thoughtful and spent some time gazing absently into the flames. After a while, Lucy announced that she was going to dress for dinner.

“I expect Vane is with Lady Annabel,” said Rosalind. “I shall ring for Joan, and she may help us both.”

It did not take them long to prepare themselves. Lucy led the way out of their room as if to go below to their private parlour.

“I must speak to mama for a moment,” she told Rosalind. “Do you go on down and I shall join you presently.”

Rosalind continued down the stair, shivering in the icy blast from the open front door of the inn. A potboy directed her to the parlour. When she entered she was taken aback to find only Richard there, standing at the window looking out into the dark street. He turned and came toward her.

“Come by the fire,” he said, taking her hand. “The corridors are decidedly chilly, are they not?”

“Yes,” she murmured, looking at him questioningly.

“Miss Stuart, I believe I misunderstood something I saw.” Once he had started, the words rushed out. “I beg you will forgive me for behaving like a sulky child. I thought…I thought…”

She placed a finger to his lips. “No matter what you thought if you do not think it now. I am not over pleased with my own behaviour,” she confessed wryly. “I hope you will overlook it and we may be friends again. Is it not mortifying to find it so easy to indulge in schoolroom sullens?”

Richard kissed her hand. “I cannot imagine that you were ever a naughty child, Rosalind.”

“Oh, can you not?” She proceeded to regale him with tales of the horrifying exploits undertaken by herself and Charles in their tender youth, and Richard reciprocated. When the others ventured to join them, they were both laughing as helplessly as any pair of schoolchildren.

Lady Annabel, much against her will, had agreed to approach Miss Carstairs. She had, however, posed a difficulty that the conspirators had somehow overlooked.

“My dears,” she had said, “it is not just Florence who must have an explanation. The whole family met Miss Fell. I cannot imagine how we came not to remember it before.”

It was decided that Richard must ride ahead to Arnden in the morning, a distance of some thirty miles, and disclose the whole to his Uncle Geoffrey. That gentleman would be left to determine how to present the matter to his family and to coach them in their roles before the others arrived.

“We must arrange it so as to arrive at about two o’clock,” Lady Annabel proposed. “Florence always takes a nap at about that time, and I shall be able to see her privately. Oh dear, what a complicated business.”

They spent a delightful evening in conversation, and if her companions were at times somewhat distrait, Rosalind did not notice it. She was looking forward to the next month, to seeing Charles happily wed, and was determined to look no further.

The following day, all went without a hitch. Mr. Geoffrey Carstairs, a genial gentleman but one accustomed to being obeyed, simply ordered his family to forget that they had ever seen Miss Stuart before. Lady Annabel, with a more trying mission, caught Miss Carstairs when she arose from her forty winks, and stumbled through an explanation.

“So you see, Florence,” she ended airily, “I did not wish to bother you with the details, knowing how you abhor tattle-mongering. However, the poor child is sadly afraid that you will be offended with her. She would take it as a kindness if you would act as if you have not met her before.”

“Odd!” commented Miss Carstairs. “If that is what she wishes, of course I shall do so, Annabel, but what of the children? They also met Miss…Stuart before.”

“Geoffrey is dealing with them,” explained Lady Annabel. “Our only aim is to avoid any possible embarrassment to dear Rosalind.” She hesitated. “I daresay should not tell you this, Florence, but I have some hopes that Richard and Rosalind may make a match of it.”

“A sensible and charming young woman, as I recall. You would be glad of the connection, I take it.”

“Oh yes, especially as I am to lose Lucy. We are already agreed that she is to be my niece-in-law but that will not keep her by me, and it would be delightful to have her as a daughter.”

“And good for Richard, no doubt,” declared Miss Carstairs magisterially. “You may depend upon it that I shall do nothing to make Miss Stuart uncomfortable.”

She was not so sparing of Richard, greeting him with a look of disapproval and announcing that he might have better taste in clothes than his Cousin Edward, but she doubted that he had any better sense. Since he had not seen her in several months and could not imagine on what grounds he was
being attacked, he was speechless, casting a long-suffering glance at Lucy, who came off only slightly better.

“So you have caught yourself a husband,” commented Miss Carstairs acidly. “Good luck to you, niece!”

To Charles’s astonishment she was perfectly good-natured when Rosalind was presented to her, even going so far as to say kindly, “I am happy to make your acquaintance, Miss Stuart.”

Rosalind, alarmed by her treatment of her nephew and niece, blushed at this condescension, which Miss Carstairs put down to quite other causes.

Charles was even more surprised when the formidable lady turned to him with something close to approval.

“A military gentleman, I understand,” she said. “You shall tell me about India.” Lady Annabel had quite forgetten that Florence had always had a soft spot for a soldier.

They had intended to stay at Arnden for only one night, but Blanche easily persuaded Lady Annabel that Lucy should shop for bride-clothes in nearby York.

“You say they are to be married as soon as the banns have been put up, Annabel? You cannot possibly find all the necessary in that time. Toblethorpe is very isolated,” she pointed out. So they stayed for several days. In spite of Lucy’s impatience, she was dragged on daily expeditions round the shops of York, which her envious cousin Jenny enjoyed far more than she did.

Rosalind found the family friendly and hospitable. She was as amused by Edward’s costume at their second meeting as she had been at their unremembered first. He was indeed more spectacular in a country setting, where he had no competition. After a few conversations with him she could not understand how Miss Carstairs could have compared Richard to him with regard to sense. She did not think he had any whatsoever.

While they were at Arnden, news came of the Battle of Trafalgar. The French and Spanish fleets were destroyed and Admiral Lord Nelson had won another great victory, this time at the cost of his life. Everyone seemed to feel that the loss of England’s hero outweighed the end to the Emperor Napoleon’s threat of invasion, and there was no rejoicing. In fact, the news seemed to have no impact whatever on their way of life. Lucy went on shopping, Richard continued to guide Rosalind’s daily rides, and Edward continued to wear his shocking pink waistcoat with the purple butterflies.