Chapter Nine #2
“Have you taken the acquaintance of the younger Lord Graham?” her aunt asked, which set off the alarm in Freya’s mind. Was Aunt Felicity also matchmaking?
“Not for many years,” Freya admitted. “We met briefly at a house party when we both were around ten or eleven. I understand from Miss Whitchurch that Lord Boyde Graham has been lately in London, enjoying the City after his time at university.”
“I have the impression,” her aunt admitted, “Lady Rayland would prefer her new husband’s estate was not so close to London.
I assume Her Ladyship worries how the Capital might prove to be a temptation for her son.
The lad seems to prefer a worldly crowd—Corinthians, I believe they call them.
Or is it bucks? ‘Vanity of vanities,’ your Uncle Philip would declare.
” Her aunt adjusted the cloth cap covering her hair and stuffed a lock back under the white mob cap.
“I have heard something similar,” Freya admitted. “Before I left Thom Manor, I overheard the elder Lord Graham tell Lord Thompson that he had already been called upon to pay his brother’s debts in London.”
“When did you learn this?” her aunt asked.
“Lord Graham arrived at Thom Manor as Miss Whitchurch and I were preparing to come here. Lord Graham said he had been delayed because of his brother’s antics.”
“What do you think of Lord Graham, I mean the one related to Lord Thompson?” her aunt asked.
“I have always found His Lordship acting the role of a gentleman. As part of the Home Office, he serves the United Kingdom’s wishes, which are not always those of Scotland.
Lady Orson has spoken of the advice His Lordship provided her in her budding relationship with Lord Orson.
He escorted Lady Annalise Dutton to Scotland so Her Ladyship and Lord Beaufort might marry.
In that manner, Lord Graham protected Lady Annalise’s reputation.
I know Lord Graham assisted Miss Whitchurch in finding the necessary paperwork to prove the legitimacy of her nephew’s birth.
You see, the younger Miss Whitchurch died in childbirth after learning her husband was missing and presumed dead as part of our soldiers on the Continent.
Lord Graham has many such, what others might call obscure, contacts in his role with the Home Office. ”
“Could not Lord Thompson have discovered the information for Miss Whitchurch?” her aunt asked with a lift of her eyebrows in a challenge.
Freya feared she had said too much. “I cannot speak of how each of Lord Duncan’s sons serve the Home Office, but from what I have heard, each have areas of preference or specialty, one might say.
I know that Lord Thompson was permitted to pursue his interest in medicine.
His Lordship assisted in saving both Lord Duncan, when His Lordship was shot a year prior, as well as his brother, Lord Marksman, in that business in capturing those involved in forging bank notes.
Lord Thompson also has many contacts in the areas outside of Mayfair, especially in Cheapside. ”
“It sounds as if you have extended your admiration to Lord Duncan and the others. I cannot imagine your father is pleased with this turn of your allegiance,” Aunt Felicity observed.
“I did not plan it to be so,” Freya admitted. She felt ashamed for her manipulations. “It was simply comforting to discover someone who accepted me as I am.”
A long pause followed. Finally, her aunt said, “Your father never understood why I chose to marry your Uncle Philip when I could have married someone with a higher standing in society. Iain Cunningham could not comprehend that I fell in love with Mr. Philip Turner the first time I laid eyes on him serving the community as a poor curate. My sister may be richer, but…”
“But my mother has known no happiness, for she has failed to present her husband with an heir,” Freya said softly. “She fears her husband. A woman should not fear the man who swore before God that two should become one.”
“No, she should not,” Aunt Felicity said solemnly and sighed.
“I cannot save Maeve, but we can perhaps convince your father to agree to another match. My memory of Sir Patrick Hodge is not a pleasant one.” Her aunt shivered in revulsion, which made Freya giggle, but the remainder of Aunt Felicity’s suggestion went against Freya’s wishes.
“Perhaps we should convince the younger Lord Graham that he requires a wife—a Scottish wife.”
Freya had silently fretted all day, worrying how she could deny her aunt’s stratagems. Having avoided the many innuendos, the next day, she decided to take a walk and explore the Rayland estate.
She knew she was too far away to visit Thom Manor.
Moreover, she had no reason to call upon Lord Thompson’s household.
Therefore, she set out on a walk across what was assuredly Rayland’s land.
The day was cool, but pleasant, and the breeze lightly ruffled her hair as a few strands claimed their freedom from her chignon and bonnet.
At first, she followed the path her aunt had suggested and had discovered the elegantly decorated folly, but the folly was not what caught her attention. It was a single bench under a majestic oak, which she would love to view in full bloom.
Instead of approaching the spot and sitting on the bench, Freya wanted to examine the tree from a different view, so she might return tomorrow and sketch it.
She retreated and began to circle the tree nearer the bottom of the slope, stopping periodically to look again on both the tree and the bench, searching for the perfect angle.
Viewing the bench in profile directed her eye to what surely was the grandest view.
“Definitely. I must return and draw the scene—present it as a gift for Aunt Felicity to recall our time together,” she murmured to herself.
Suddenly there was a snort behind her, and Freya turned slowly to view a bull watching her with interest from one of the fields that sat at the base of the small hill over which the tree ruled.
She belatedly realized the bull and the animal’s retinue of cows studied her, equally as suspicious, as she now studied them.
Slowly and carefully, Freya began to back away from the scene.
Unfortunately, the bull wished to prove himself to his ladies.
He lowered his head and pawed the earth.
A snort.
Then another.
Freya required no other impetus to take flight. Hiking her skirts, she ran for the bench and the nearly bare oak tree.