Chapter Ten #2
Eleanor smiled. “Is that not just men in general? I must point out that I don’t speak here from experience but rather from listening to what Mama has to say on the point, and she says they love flattery far more than we women do.
” She giggled. “She advised me on more than one occasion that it is best with gentlemen to let them think they are getting their own way, even when they are not, and always to tell them how clever you think they are. Even when it is an outright lie.”
“Your mama sounds very wise.”
“She is. Since she bestowed that advice on me, I have taken to watching her with Papa, and I believe she is right. Papa always thinks things are his idea and that she is just a silly little woman with no ideas in her head, but in truth, everything he does has been her idea first. She just lets him think he formulated the ideas all by himself.”
Verity chuckled. “I should very much like to meet your mama so she can give me some advice.”
Eleanor seemed pleased with that remark. “I’m sure she would also like to meet you, once I have a new baby sister or brother in the nursery. But go on. There must be more to your betrothed than just him being a typical man, must there not?”
Verity bit her lip. “You say he’s like a typical man, and you’re correct in a way.
I have encountered a wide variety of men on my travels in Europe with my father, not all of them gentlemen by any means, and, in the broad spectrum, I would say he fits in with them.
” She wrinkled her brow in deep thought.
“I would also say, however, that his behavior goes considerably further than is normal. This is on very short acquaintance, you must understand, but his behavior is, in many ways, exactly like that of a spoiled child, and I would hazard a guess that his every wish has been pandered to since early childhood. And this, I would say, has caused the faults in his character. It is very easy, I believe, to spoil a child’s character by overindulgence. ”
Eleanor nodded with vigor. “On the way up from Somerton in the carriage, I asked Grandpapa to tell me everything he knows about Lord Dunster, and what he told me inclines me to think you are right. He didn’t want to tell me, of course, but I am learning from Mama and I soon wheedled it out of him, although I daresay he left out all the more salacious bits.
” Her shoulders slumped in evident disappointment at this omission.
Verity glanced back towards the house, only the upper windows of which were visible. “Might I prevail upon you to tell me what you gleaned? You probably know more about his background than I do. The only thing gossip told me before I met him was his nickname.”
Eleanor beamed. “I thought you’d never ask.” She settled herself more comfortably. “He is an only child and always has been. I mean, no dead brothers and sisters as is so common in most families. Mama always says it is not good to only have one child. They become spoiled and unpleasant.”
“I am an only child.”
Eleanor waved a dismissive hand. “I suppose it doesn’t apply to everyone. Probably especially not us ladies. Men are much more inclined to being spoiled if they’re the only son.”
Verity nodded. “Indubitably.”
“Well, as I was saying, he was an only child and his father died when he was still at school. He fell down the stairs at Luxborough one night. My papa knew his papa apparently, although not well. Grandpapa told me the old earl was probably in his cups. He does rather like a bit of gossip.”
“I daresay inheriting a title and estate and everything else he now owns in such a sudden manner and at a young age did not do him an ounce of good.”
“Just what Grandpapa said. Too young and too much. Those were his exact words.”
“And then?”
“Grandpapa said Lord Dunster refused to return to school after he became earl. Declared he’d educate himself in all he needed.
Grandpapa tut-tutted and said it was in all the wrong things for a boy his age.
He also said he threw himself into a hedonistic lifestyle with total abandon, just because he could.
That bit is also his exact words. I’m not sure what a hedonistic lifestyle is, but I’m sure it’s not good, and he refused to elaborate. ”
“A hedonistic lifestyle is not good. It’s what spoiled, rich young men do. They indulge all their vices.”
Eleanor shook her head. “I’m also not at all sure what vices they might have.”
“And I’m not going to tell you.”
She frowned, looking intrigued. “But you know? How is it you know?”
Verity glanced again at the house, not at all sure she should be telling an impressionable sixteen-year-old anything at all about the sort of vices Lord Dunster might have indulged in, might still be indulging in, might continue to indulge in even after his marriage to her.
“Well,” she said, with caution. “Gambling would be one of them. My own papa is fond of gambling.” A mild understatement.
“Just gambling? I hear Lord Dunster has a fortune so that surely wouldn’t matter would it?”
Gambling so very much mattered, Verity wasn’t sure what to say to this for a moment.
“What else?”
“Er, drinking, I should think.” She leaned closer. “My own papa is fond of both vices, I am afraid.”
“As is my papa. But he doesn’t count them as vices, I’m sure. Mama might, I suppose…”
“Both can be done in moderation,” Verity said, struggling to find the right words.
“Your papa perhaps does both in that way, but my father does not. And neither, I gather, does Lord Dunster.” No need to mention what she’d heard despite her short stay in London about his womanising.
Not a subject for an innocent young girl.
“Oh.” Eleanor nodded sagely as though she understood. It was likely she did not. No one could understand what living with a gambler and a drunk was like. The uncertainty, the worry, the constant fear of being left penniless. No one.
They sat in silence for a few moments as Eleanor digested this information.
Then she looked up, her eyes questioning.
“Do you mind if he has these vices? I mean, do you think you can come to love him? Despite them? I would like to think that you will be happy in your marriage, something for which I’m sure all young ladies hope. ”
Another big question. Could she? After what he’d said to her? Perhaps. But he needed to learn his lesson first and make reparations. And she had a good idea what that lesson was going to be.
She smiled at Eleanor’s open face. “I shall have to see.”
And so would he.