Chapter 27 A Walk In The Gardens #2
Lance frowned. “Hammond’s case is different.
He is an employee who will live out his working life here at Staineybank, and the apartment is where he was born.
No doubt when there are too many children to be housed there, the duke will give them a cottage on the estate.
I am a guest, however, and it would not be proper to allow the duke to house and feed me over an extended period, still less a wife as well, when I have a perfectly good house in London.
Of course, if you prefer to live in Brinshire, then we can take a house in Brinchester and I can travel to town when I need to. ”
“And how convenient that will be!” Mrs Merrington said. “We can all dine with you before a ball, so that we need only take a chair to the assembly rooms.”
Charlotte’s eyes went from one to the other and back again, but she said no more.
Lance was not surprised, however, when she proposed a walk in the gardens after breakfast. Naturally, all her sisters went along, too, together with Simon Payne, but Lance was used to that now.
It was not difficult to walk a little more slowly, to pause at a particularly enticing bloom or to admire a butterfly, so that the others had soon left them behind.
Charlotte was silent, her arm in his, her expression thoughtful.
Lance had no hesitation in broaching the subject. “You like living at Staineybank, I think, Lottie.”
“Oh yes! Who could not?” A hesitation, but then she went on, “But you dislike it?”
“Not at all, but I cannot take advantage of his grace’s hospitality indefinitely.
You will enjoy having your own establishment, I am sure, and it need not be London, not if you dislike it.
We can live anywhere you like. My work will take me often to town, but you do not need to be always with me.
I do not plan to be a dictatorial husband, Lottie. ”
They had reached the upper bridge over the river, and she released his arm to lean on the parapet and look down towards the builders, hard at work on the new bridge. The rest of the party had long since disappeared into the woods, even their voices no more than faint echoes.
“It is difficult, this marriage business,” she said, with a sigh.
“Is it?” he said, in light tones. “I would not know, since I have never been married.”
She turned to face him but there was no smile.
“All my life I have wanted to marry,” she said in a low voice.
“It was my only object in life, to find a husband — any husband, you understand, although if he should be handsome and charming, so much the better. And here you are — excessively handsome and charming, and everything a woman could want in a man. I could hardly believe my luck when you offered for me. And yet… there is something troubling about it.”
He waited, but she said no more, her head lowered again.
“Tell me what troubles you,” he said gently, raising her face with one finger under her chin. “I would not have you made unhappy by anything it is in my power to amend.”
“You are kind,” she said, lifting her face fully towards him.
She fell silent again, leaving him confused. Was this simply about houses? Or was there something more to it?
“Lottie,” he murmured, taking her face in his hands and lowering his head.
To his surprise, she spun out of his arms. “Stop that!” He was shocked by the rage in her voice.
“What is it? Am I not allowed to kiss my future wife? What is the matter, Lottie?”
“Stop calling me that! I wish— Oh, I cannot tell you what I wish. You would only give me honeyed words that mean nothing to you.”
“Lottie, I—”
“My name is Charlotte!”
“Charlotte, I do not know how I have offended you, but I assure you I have never given you honeyed words that mean nothing. I have never told you anything but the truth.”
“Do you love me, Lance?”
His intake of breath was audible. Still, if she wanted honesty, she should have it. This was no time for prevarication.
“No. Nor did I love Patience when I offered for her. Marriage does not need to be built around romantic love, Charlotte. A good marriage — a happy marriage — needs only respect and two minds which understand each other. I am very fond of you, and I do not doubt that my affection for you will grow year by year, but I am not in love with you.”
“Have you ever been in love?”
“That is not a fair question to ask me. You have every right to discover the truth of my regard for you, but no one is entitled to see into any man’s heart in its entirety.”
“I beg your pardon,” she said in a low voice. “I did not mean to pry. I thank you for your candour, and in return I shall tell you that I am not in love with you, either.”
He laughed then. There seemed no other possible response. His treacherous heart leapt with sudden hope, but he dared not think about that. He was still irrevocably engaged, his fate entirely in Charlotte’s hands.
She moved to the other side of the bridge, gazing down into the clear water as it leapt over the stones.
On this side, there was no nascent orangery visible, no pilings in the river, no men with buckets and ladders and lengths of wood moving about.
There was only the river as it must have looked for centuries, the ancient woodlands along the banks shading it with their mid-summer greenery.
“When we came here two years ago,” she said, her voice soft now, the anger dissipated, “we increased the size of the household vastly. Everything was different, the duke’s quiet life blown away by the Merringtons — and Rowena and Georgie, too.
So much more to be done every day, every season, every year.
Cousin Hester… she is very good, but there is no housekeeper, and the burden fell on her shoulders.
So we set out to help. Well, not all of us, to be sure, but Mama and I, and Georgie.
We did what we could. But Mama would always rather be arranging flowers, or moving fire screens from one room to another, or repairing footstools.
Tedious jobs like counting the linens after a great wash, or checking the still room ingredients — that was not her strongest suit.
And Georgie was and is very willing, but she has never been used to an establishment of any size, so she waits for direction. ”
“So it fell to you,” he said quietly. “But I can take you away from all that. There is no need for—”
“No, no!” she cried eagerly. “You do not understand! I love it — being in charge of a house of this size. I followed Cousin Hester about avidly, learning everything I could from her and now that she is ill, I run the house on my own. Oh, I tell her what I am doing, and bring her the menus to approve, and ask her advice about the woodworm in one of the bedrooms, all of that. But she keeps to her room most of the time now, so I get to do everything, and it is glorious, Lance. You cannot imagine how much I love running Staineybank.”
“So this is why you want to stay at Staineybank?”
“Yes! And it was not until you started talking about your London house that I realised that I could lose all of this.” She waved a hand towards the house, glowing slightly in the afternoon sun.
“Instead of managing Staineybank, I should be living in a much smaller house, with three or four servants and a string of children, and obliged to go wherever you go… or else stay behind on my own. Whereas here, I have Mama and Richard and my sisters, and a useful occupation that I love. Do you see?”
“Are you giving me my congé, Lottie… Charlotte?” he said, with a wry grimace. “How humiliating after such a short betrothal.”
“You need not give me any flummery about breaking your heart,” she said, laughing merrily.
“Have we not established that there is no love in the case? You wanted a replacement for Lady Patience and I simply wanted a husband… until I thought about it a little more. Are you very cross with me for accepting you so thoughtlessly?”
“How could I ever be cross with you? We have always been good friends, and nothing that has happened in these past days need affect that situation in the slightest.”
“You will find a replacement for Lady Patience, will you not?”
“I shall… in time. I think perhaps it was a mistake to rush into this. It would be better to wait until just the right lady comes along. A lady to fall in love with.”
“You are bound to meet someone before too long,” Charlotte said happily. “Will you shake hands with me, Lance? To show that you have forgiven me.”
“There is nothing at all to forgive,” he said, with sincerity. “We both made a mistake.”
His heart was as light as a feather as they walked arm in arm back to the house, in perfect charity with each other.