Chapter 22
Cecilia and Bianca headed out along the strand a little, but the tide was coming in fast now, making them nervous, so they soon made their way inland.
Cecilia had passed along the lane in the cart this morning on the way to Debenbridge, so they knew that if they carried on walking, they would reach the village with its small harbour.
They had an errand, though not a particularly onerous one: Mrs Pritty had told them which cottage to visit for potatoes, if they cared to bring some back for dinner.
The hedgerows were full of blossom and birdsong, and the hum of bees could also be heard, though not yet at its summer peak.
‘It’s wonderful here,’ Bianca said, swinging the empty basket energetically as she strode.
‘I don’t miss London at all. Of course, I may grow bored, I am quite easily bored, but it’s all new and fascinating now.
And I want to draw and paint everything I see.
But was Miss M right about Lord Pallant, do you think, or being overcautious? Both Pallants, I suppose.’
‘I think she was correct,’ replied Cecilia slowly.
‘It was all very rehearsed somehow, as though he’d told his younger brother that they must go out looking for us and not stop till they found us.
They’d realised we might well have business at the auction, given the state of the furniture at the Hall.
It’s an easy jump from that to predict that we’d explore the town afterwards, and it’s not so very large a place.
It would have been much harder to approach us actually at Marjoram’s, with so many people watching.
No, I think it was all quite deliberate, and we should be wary, as she cautioned.
It is discouraging to have to consider that any man who approaches us, even here, might very well be a fortune hunter with no genuine interest in any one of us.
This is a new problem we have to face. But then, I suppose we were the fortune hunters before.
It must have been said of all of us in general gossip – particularly of Viola when she married Edward. ’
Bianca frowned. ‘It’s not as if she wanted to. What choice did she have? Women can’t do like Mr Albery – go out and make their own way in the world. I’d be quite prepared to do so, if any avenue lay open to me.’
Cecilia laughed. ‘I confess I can’t quite see you as a banker.’
‘It does sound rather dull. I don’t even know what they actually do all day long. If I could not be an artist, if I turned out to lack any aptitude, I’d be a soldier or a sailor, I think. Something exciting and varied.’
‘Not the Church?’
‘Definitely not the Church. Oh, but we should go to church on Sunday, shouldn’t we?
It’s not like London. People will notice if we don’t.
Last Sunday, we’d only just arrived and could be excused, I’m sure.
At any rate, it’s too late to worry about that omission.
But now we have the dog cart and I’m sure everyone knows it.
Let’s not forget, lose track of the days, or it will reflect badly on us. ’
Cecilia agreed that this was a good idea.
It was something Bianca would never have thought of a week or so ago, she realised, when she – all of them – had had very little say in the direction of their own lives and how they spent their time.
Perhaps they were all changing, expanding, away from their mother’s influence.
Mrs Constantine was a strong personality, and it seemed they were all stepping out of her shadow and beginning to think for themselves – another gift that Mrs Albery had given them along with her bequest. Miss Macintyre might be a careful chaperon with their best interests at heart, but she was not their mother and did not seek to control them as Leontina would.
This was exhilarating, if also a little frightening.
They would make their own mistakes, and deal with the consequences of them.