Chapter 22 The Blue Parlour
Simon took his brandy to Juliet’s room, where he found her pacing up and down in a rage.
“Insufferable woman! So smug and self-satisfied! She is all right, naturally, with her lovers and her villa and her tidy little property near Newcastle! And all the time I thought she was dead, and grieved for her, and set all my troubles at Papa’s door, when really it was not at all surprising that he could not bear to have me in the house, a constant reminder of his faithless wife. ”
“I told her I never want to see her again,” Simon said.
“Did you! How wonderful! You are the best brother in the world, do you know that? What else did you say to her?”
“That, unlike her, my mother put up with Edlesborough for thirty years.”
“So she did, and sent us so much money over the years. Twice or thrice a year, there would be the two letters and half a bank note in each.”
“Christmas, Easter and the shooting season, when the house was full of tipsy uncles and aunts not noticing how much they were losing at the card tables.”
“She must be so happy to be rid of the old buzzard at last,” Juliet said.
“Everyone is. Sister, I told Mrs Granville I hoped never to see her again, and I meant it. Shall we go back to Staineybank? There is nothing to keep us here now.”
“Do you not want to talk to Andrew? You will inherit all this one day, so you should know how it operates.”
Simon shook his head. “It could be many years, for he is only forty-five, and I do not want to get under his feet. He must find his own way for a while, without thinking too far ahead. I have something more important to deal with first.”
“The orangery?”
He laughed. “Miss Sophia Merrington.”
“You are determined to have her, then?”
“Indeed I am. Shall we leave tomorrow?”
“If we must. I hate this place so much. Staineybank is much more friendly. It will feel almost like going home.”
“It is what home ought to be,” he said, smiling at her. “I will order the carriage for directly after breakfast.”
In the event, Simon spent the morning with Andrew, soothing his anxieties and assuring him that he would return often.
In truth, he could not find the heart to worry too much about Andrew.
He was not robust, it was true, but he had plenty of years left to him, the physicians assured him, and he would grow accustomed to his high estate.
All Simon’s thoughts now were focused on a certain young lady, and the glorious prospect of converting their secret betrothal into a real and very public one.
Now that he was a future earl, and with money enough to support a wife, even without his profession as an architect, there could be no possible objection from her brother or from the duke.
There was one obstacle, however, that he had not considered.
When he and Juliet arrived at Staineybank, weary from two days on the road, there was another carriage drawn up at the front door, one with arms painted on the door which he vaguely recognised.
Sudden fear drove him to abandon Juliet and leap from the carriage, and race up the steps two at a time, the skirts of his greatcoat flying.
Inside the Marble Hall, much of the household was gathered, including all the Merrington ladies — except one.
“Oh, Mr Payne!” Mrs Merrington cried, rushing forward to grab his arm, her face aglow.
“How lovely to see you again, and at such an auspicious moment. He is back… Lord Daniel is back, and instantly requested a private interview with Sophia. Is it not exciting? She is with him now. The son of a marquess… how delightful… how suitable, do you not agree?”
She finished on a slightly questioning note, as perhaps she recalled belatedly that Simon was not likely to be quite so delighted.
He barely heard her, and certainly could not have formulated a coherent response.
The pain that tore through him rendered him immobile and mute.
She would marry Torbuck, and how could he bear it?
How could he possibly bear it? All the good of the last few days meant nothing if she could not share it with him.
He might as well be dead.
***
There had been no inkling of Lord Daniel’s return in advance. The first Sophia knew of it was when Froggett sidled into the morning room where the ladies were gathered, and coughed discreetly.
“Yes, Froggett, what is it?” the duchess said.
“Lord Daniel Torbuck is here, your grace, requesting a private interview with Miss Sophia Merrington. I took the liberty of showing him into the Blue Parlour and lighting the fire.”
There was a twitter of excitement amongst the ladies. Lord Daniel! A private interview! How very surprising.
“Make sure there is wine in there,” the duchess said.
“Robert is attending to his lordship,” the butler said, then withdrew with a bow.
“Well!” Mrs Merrington said. “So he has returned, has he? This is excellent news, Sophia.”
“A private interview?” she said, puzzled.
“He means to propose, of course,” he mother said. “Perfectly unexceptionable.”
“Is it not rather precipitate?” Sophia said. “Should he not more correctly make his greetings to you and Richard… and the duke and duchess, of course? Be sociable for a while before jumping into private interviews.”
“One does not quibble over details with a man in love,” her mother said firmly.
Was he in love? That was an interesting question, one to which she might find an answer very soon.
But the question of seeing him alone was of more immediate concern.
It was several weeks since his precipitate departure, and his face had gradually faded from her memory, superseded by the more agreeable features of Mr Simon Payne.
Just at that moment, in the shock of his unexpected arrival, she could not bring Lord Daniel’s countenance to mind at all.
A wave of alarm roiled through her. This man, whom she scarcely knew, was waiting for her, expecting her to bind herself irrevocably to him in the next five minutes, or perhaps ten if he should become particularly articulate, and she could not even remember what he looked like.
“Must I see him alone?” she whispered.
“It is usual,” he mother said, smiling. “A man does not like an audience at such a moment. Are you nervous?”
“I should at least like to have my sisters with me when I meet him. It would give me courage.”
“Let us all go to welcome him back to Staineybank,” the duchess said, rising and shaking out her grey skirts. “He may wonder what sort of reception he will receive, given his abrupt departure last time. We will take you to him, and you will see, no doubt, that he is just as nervous as you are.”
“Or more so,” Mama said. “Roland was such a bag of nerves when he proposed that he could scarcely string two words together. It was most affecting.”
“We shall be by your side when you meet him,” Charlotte said.
“You need not fear anything when we are with you,” Augusta said.
“Come, let us not keep the poor man waiting,” Maria said.
Arm in arm, the four sisters made their way to the Marble Hall, with the duchess and Mrs Merrington behind them. Froggett, smiling benignly upon them all, nodded to the two footmen to open the doors and preceded them into the room in a stately manner.
“Her Grace the Duchess of Brinshire, Mrs Roland Merrington, Miss Merrington, Miss Augusta Merrington, Miss Maria Merrington and Miss Sophia Merrington,” he intoned.
And there he was, memory flooding back as Sophia saw the familiar face.
How could she have doubted herself? She would have known him anywhere, but his expression was not so familiar.
She almost laughed out loud at the shock on Lord Daniel’s face.
And then, as his gaze ranged over the four of them, the strange expression she had seen before — surely that was panic?
It was true, then — he could not tell which of the four sisters was Sophia.
There was an awkward silence until the duchess remembered that she was the highest ranking lady and mistress of the house, so must speak first.
“How charming to see you again, Lord Daniel.”
“Duchess,” he murmured, executing a slightly awkward bow.
“I trust your father is better?”
“My father? Oh… yes, indeed, much restored. Very much restored.”
“That is excellent news,” she went on smoothly, more sure of herself now. “We have brought Sophia to you, as you see.”
So saying, she turned and led the others out of the room.
The door shut with a soft click, and Sophia was alone with him.
His face cleared a little, now that he knew he had the right sister.
He still looked a shade bemused, but there was no panic there.
Yet how odd it was, not to be able to recognise the woman he planned to marry! Simon had no trouble recognising her.
But then Simon loved her. The thought warmed her inside, and she smiled so widely, that Lord Daniel smiled too.
“Miss Merrington… Sophia…” There was just the hint of a question about it.
“Lord Daniel. What a surprise to see you again, after all this time.”
His smile slipped a little. “You must have wondered… why I left so precipitously last month.”
“Oh no, for you told us why. You were concerned for your father’s health, which is most commendable.
I quite understood. I am glad to hear that his gout is better, for it must have been very severe to cause you such alarm.
” And then, a mischievous imp wakening inside her, she went on, “I did think, for a while, that perhaps you left because you could not distinguish me from my sisters. Mr Payne had that problem and so we wondered… but you see, we have decided to wear coloured ribbons, so that there will be no difficulty in future. Charlotte… she is the eldest, so she chose her colour first. She chose blue, which is the best colour, in my opinion, but being the youngest, I had little choice. Then Augusta — she is the next eldest, you see — she chose pink, which is also a pretty colour.”