Chapter Twenty-Three
P
Arabella took two daily walks now: one long one traversing the neighborhood to clear her thoughts and one with Mater around the walled lawn surrounding the dower house.
She was not overly familiar with this part of the estate.
Her childhood romps with the Jonquil brothers had not included the area surrounding the dower house.
“It is very quiet here,” Arabella observed.
“It’s ghastly.”
Arabella turned shocked eyes on Mater and received something of a smile in return.
“I confess I’m being a touch dramatic,” Mater said. “I simply feel a little too much like an old workhorse sent to the back acres to live out its life in peace because no one has any use for it any longer.”
Arabella nodded sagely. “That would explain the delivery of oats we received this morning.”
Mater laughed lightly. “My husband often said that if you were free of your aunt and uncle’s home, your personality would blossom. I am discovering that he was correct in that.”
Arabella had often thought of the earl when they were apart, but she had not, until that moment, known if he had ever thought or spoken of her when she was not nearby. To know that he had, at least in a small measure, brought tremendous comfort.
“Mr. Lancaster told me he was surprised I didn’t think you were talkative,” Mater said as they turned a corner near the back wall.
“He told me he was surprised people didn’t generally think I was funny.”
Mater eyed her a moment. “You were different in his company. I don’t know if you realized that. You were more sure of yourself, more at ease. You seemed happier.”
“I was.” Arabella plucked a leaf from a shrub as she passed. “But it amounted to nothing in the end.”
Mater’s expression was utterly empathetic. “Things do not always turn out the way we expect them to.”
“Says the old, abandoned workhorse.”
Mater slipped her arm through Arabella’s. “Do not worry for me. I have plans.”
“Do you?”
Mater nodded eagerly. “I am going to travel.”
That was unexpected.
“I don’t know where yet but someplace new and interesting. Of course, I would have to convince my companion to come with me, and we would have to keep it a secret from my sons, or else they’ll worry themselves into a decline, and then where would we be?”
“I believe we would be someplace new and interesting.”
Mater squeezed her arm. “Oh, I do like you, Arabella.”
Just as she was beginning to think everything was wonderfully right in the world, her aunt appeared on the garden path and ruined the illusion.
“We appear to have a visitor.” Arabella sighed.
“We can be gracious,” Mater said. “For a while, anyway.”
That was one advantage to being Mater’s companion: the Dowager Countess of Lampton had no difficulty ridding herself of visitors who overstayed their welcome.
Curtsies and words of greeting were exchanged, then Aunt Hampton joined them on their stroll about the lawn.
“Has Arabella imposed her walking habit upon you?” Aunt Hampton asked. “Such an odd occupation.”
“Is it?” Mater posed the question innocently enough, yet Arabella sensed something more strategic in the question. “I’ll make certain to inform the Almack’s patronesses, as they will likely wish to never walk again.”
Though Arabella recognized the subtle jab for what it was, Aunt Hampton didn’t seem to. “The patronesses? You speak with them often?” her aunt asked.
“Often enough,” Mater said.
“Perhaps you might introduce me when we are in Town for the Season.” Her aunt eyed Mater hopefully. “We are neighbors, and my niece is a member of your household. That was our arrangement, after all.”
“I understand you left early the night you joined us for the house party.” Mater’s conversational tone didn’t slip, but her posture had grown more rigid. “My son, in fact, spoke to me of it at length.”
Arabella hadn’t realized her misery had been discussed. She shouldn’t have been surprised. Plenty of other people had been spreading word of her. Those “discussions” had sent Linus running for the hills. If only they’d had the same impact on Aunt Hampton.
“Our departure that evening stemmed from a mere misunderstanding, I assure you.” Aunt Hampton was almost desperately insistent.
Mater held her chin at an authoritative angle. “I am not certain I can introduce to the patronesses someone with whom I have that kind of ‘misunderstanding.’”
Aunt Hampton urged Mater aside. “We were simply concerned. Arabella had been ill. We were hearing rumors that a duchess’s brother was showing her attention.
We simply wanted to know that she was well and that she wasn’t being taken advantage of.
A gentleman of Mr. Lancaster’s standing is less likely to have honorable interest in a mere lady’s companion than he would in one of your more exalted guests. ”
“That ‘mere lady’s companion’ will have vouchers to Almack’s next Season.
” Mater appeared genuinely offended on Arabella’s behalf.
It was little wonder Arabella felt so safe amongst this family.
“Furthermore, I certainly hope I would not be one to extend an invitation to a gentleman who would behave in such a caddish manner as you are implying.”
“Forgive me.” Panic edged Aunt Hampton’s words. “Our concern that evening temporarily overcame our reason.”
The desperation in the apology was not difficult to interpret: her aunt and uncle were depending upon Arabella’s position in the Lampton Park household to further their own standing. Any threat to their connection to her was reason, in their minds, for great concern.
“In the end, we were right to be concerned.” Her aunt, not one to be cowed long, pressed onward. “The young lieutenant left without a backward glance.”
That was a truth Arabella couldn’t deny.
Mater managed it though. “On the contrary. Mr. Lancaster’s uneventful departure is evidence you made a spectacle for no reason.” She urged Arabella on toward the dower house. “I will bid you farewell, Mrs. Hampton. I wish to lie down.”
They moved with determined step, leaving Aunt Hampton little choice but to accept her dismissal.
“I may have to instruct the housekeeper to always tell your aunt that we are not at home to visitors; otherwise, all the powders Dr. Scorseby can procure will likely not be enough to prevent that woman from giving me indigestion.”
“I don’t know about the wisdom of that,” Arabella said drily. “If she does not come by, how will I know if I am pinning my hopes on a gentleman who isn’t likely to come up to scratch?”
It was more than Arabella had intended to confess, she having thus far not admitted that she’d actually had hopes of a future with Linus Lancaster. Mater didn’t press the matter.
“We will simply have to travel somewhere where your aunt won’t find us,” Mater said, her tone light and laughing.
Arabella latched on to the humor, grateful for it. “And somewhere without gentlemen,” she added.
Mater tossed her a mischievous look. “Where would be the fun in that?”
There was no doubt in Arabella’s mind: life with Mater, though perhaps not the one she had always dreamed of, was going to be an absolute joy.