Chapter Forty-Two
Andrew found his sister-in-law dry-eyed when he arrived at Doncaster Park House.
“I wasn’t altogether surprised when I received Parson’s letter about Richard,” said the Countess, “I shed tears, of course, thinking of the happy times we had together when we were younger. He was so handsome!” She went into a reverie, from which she emerged with a sigh.
“But in recent years he had become more and more unreasonable. He complained about having so little money, but as far as I could tell, his plans for enriching himself just left us worse off. And he lost so much at the tables! Parson didn’t say, but I imagine he’d been drinking and gambling that night.
He took my jewels, you know.” Then her hand went to her mouth.
“Oh, Andrew, he took the family jewels, too! Where are they? Did anyone find them? Please don’t tell me he gambled them away! ”
“I’m afraid he did,” replied her brother-in-law. “I made some discreet enquiries. I’m sorry, Dottie. Sorrier than I can say. Perhaps if I had given him my inheritance, he wouldn’t have thought himself forced to take the jewels from you.”
“Don’t blame yourself!” said the Countess. “He would have gambled that away and then the jewels after it. Once he started, he just couldn’t stop.”
They were both quiet for a moment. Then Dottie echoed Parsons’ sentiment.
“You should have been the Earl, Andrew. You should have had the Park. You wouldn’t have doubled its size.
You wouldn’t have bought that house in London.
You would have looked after the land and you wouldn’t have gambled.
Richard and I should have had a little house on the estate and been perfectly happy. ”
Andrew smiled. “I don’t think so, Dottie dear,” he said. “Richard was always ambitious for bigger and better. It led him to make foolish choices, except in the choice of a wife. You were the best of wives to him.”
“I loved him,” she said simply. “Even though I knew he had other… interests. But I couldn’t give him a son, and that rankled with him, you see.”
Then she lifted her head. “But no good crying over spilt milk. You are going to tell me I must move to the Dower House, aren’t you? You want to let out this place.”
“Yes, I’m afraid so. We have to pay our debts somehow.”
“Don’t be afraid. I offered to do it weeks ago, but Richard wouldn’t hear of it. I like the Dower House. In fact, I prefer it to here, though Richard would be furious if he heard me say that.”
Andrew hugged his sister-in-law. “You are a Trojan,” he said.
“I thought I’d have a woman collapsed with the vapors on my hands, and here you are, ready to go to war.
What I propose is we drive over there tomorrow and see what needs to be done, what furniture you will want to take, and so on.
But we have to bear in mind that this place is to be rented furnished to a merchant who’s made a lot of money, but doesn’t have a family history like we do.
I’d ask you to leave as many of the older things as you can bear to part with. ”
“I can imagine the type. If I tell him the screen in the study is Elizabethan, and is believed to have been used when Queen Bess came to visit, he’ll be delighted. He’ll let me take anything I want so long as I leave that!”
The butler came in to find them both laughing, a welcome sound that hadn’t been heard in many a month.
“Madame est servie,” he said, and brother and sister-in-law went companionably arm-in-arm into the dining room.
Over dinner, Dottie asked him where he would live, once the Park was let.
“Of course, you are welcome to live with me in the Dower House,” she said. “There are one or two other houses on the estate, of course, but they are small and not really suitable.”
“I don’t plan to stay here,” he replied. “I am going to marry and live with my wife in a village near Winchester.”
“Marry!” cried his sister-in-law. “Who is the lucky lady? Do I know her, or the family, at least?”
Andrew laughed. “Her name is Cynthia Rowley and she has no family to speak of. In fact, none at all.”
“But how did you meet her?”
“When I collapsed on her doorstep. I had been making my way as an itinerant artist and had developed an inflammation of the lungs. She nursed me back to health from death’s very door.”
“How romantic!” sighed Dottie. “Is she very beautiful? Was it love at first sight?”
“No,” said Richard, baldly. “At least, I was too ill to fall in love with anyone, and I’m sure I was nothing but a bother to her. We grew to love each other.”
“Oh.” His sister-in-law was disappointed.
“But still, she must be beautiful for you to have fallen in love with her. When can I meet her? Where is the wedding? We must arrange a reception here before I move out. This will be her home, after all, even though someone else will live in it for the time being.”
Andrew shook his head, imagining his Cynthia receiving a line of people she had never met in her life, all curious to know who this new Lady Doncaster might be. He knew she would hate it.
“No, Dottie. That wouldn’t suit Cynthia at all. Besides, we can’t afford it. We have to pull in our horns for the next three years at least. All of us. We owe a great deal of money, so there can be no parties or receptions. No new anything. I’m sorry, my dear.”
“I’m used to that, Andrew,” she replied.
“Richard was always telling me I might have a new carriage or a new gown next year. But the next year never came. It doesn’t matter.
I live a very quiet life here, and it suits me.
But you must introduce your wife to our people at some point! When is the wedding?”
“I’m not sure. We were going to read the banns in the village church, but Richard’s death has delayed them.
Anyway, it will be a very quiet country affair.
No member of the ton will be there. I shall announce it in the Gazette when it’s all over.
I shall bring her here to meet you, in the spring.
You’ll like her. You and she have a lot in common.
She likes a quiet life, too. She’s never been to London and doesn’t care to go.
She likes nothing more than sitting by a cozy fire with her embroidery. ”
“Goodness! She must be a very unusual young woman! Before I was married, a quiet evening by the fire was the furthest thing from my mind!”
“She is an unusual woman. You’ll see.”
Andrew smiled, thinking of Cynthia next to the hearth, reading him The Castle of Otranto, making him laugh by adopting what she considered a menacing voice for Manfred, the villain of the story. She couldn’t be menacing if she tried!