Chapter Three #2
She glanced down at her creased gown and muddy petticoats and smiled to herself as she climbed the stairs, wondering what the aloof duke would make of her if he could see her now.
Reuben and Ezra were soaked to the skin by the time they got back to Alton Hall.
Reuben took the stairs three at a time with Percival at his heels and made directly for his rooms, his mind still engaged for reasons that escaped him on the identity of the female he had observed conversing with Dalton’s tenant.
He doubted whether it would have been the young beauty, which only left the elder daughter, about whom he had heard surprisingly little.
With a shrug, he threw off his soaked attire and dressed himself in something more suitable without bothering to ring for his valet.
He then went in search of his mother, whom he found in her private sitting room, reading a novel from the circulating library.
Her cat was stretched across her lap. Percival growled at the creature, as he did whenever their paths crossed, probably more for the look of the thing than anything else.
The cat barely twitched a whisker and completely ignored the much larger dog.
‘Hello, dear.’ The duchess smiled up at him. ‘I saw you two boys riding off somewhere. Did you get soaked?’
‘Afraid so,’ Reuben replied cheerfully, bending to kiss his mother’s brow. ‘But no harm done.’
Percival shook himself and settled down in front of the fire, having failed to intimidate the cat.
‘You haven’t forgotten that we are entertaining tomorrow night, I hope?
Just a few neighbours. Most families are still up in town – which is where we ought to be, I suppose.
I used to enjoy all the hustle and bustle of the season, but I find the entire rigmarole exhausting nowadays.
Besides, I have some sympathy for you boys.
You are besieged everywhere you go and cannot so much as smile at a young lady without all sorts of conclusions being drawn by her family.
’ His mother shook her head. ‘Ezra and I went up for a month anyway and showed our faces, so I don’t feel too guilty. ’
Reuben laughed. ‘You have never put any pressure on Ezra and me to take wives. I don’t believe we’ve ever thanked you for being so considerate.’
‘There’s absolutely no need. It is not as if you are required to marry out of financial necessity, as so often appears to be the case nowadays.
Besides, I know you will both find your respective heart’s desires in due time.
’ The duchess folded her hands on top of the sleeping cat and beamed. ‘I am absolutely sure of it.’
‘Tell me about Lady Dalton’s dispute with her sister.’
The duchess looked surprised by the request. ‘What has that got to do with the earl’s disappearance?’ she asked.
‘I shall not know until you explain, but I confess to being curious about it. Ezra and I took a look at Dalton’s estate this morning. That’s why we got so wet. It’s in a terrible state of decline and there is considerable dissatisfaction amongst his tenants, so Ezra reliably informs me.’
‘You are worried about such dissatisfaction spreading, I dare say.’
‘Pockets of local disorder have become more prevalent since the end of the war. I don’t want anything of that nature occurring in our area if it can possibly be averted.’
‘Quite right too.’ The duchess nodded emphatically. ‘Dalton’s disappearance must be so distressing for his family. I do so hope you can do something to put their minds at rest, my dear.’
‘The dispute,’ Reuben said gently, aware of his mother’s ability to go off on a conversational tangent and forget the original question if left unchecked.
‘Oh yes, of course.’ His mother settled herself more comfortably in her chair, shuffling her knees until the cat got up, sent her an indignant look, jumped to the floor and stalked away, its tail ramrod straight.
Percival curled into a tighter ball and pretended not to notice.
The duchess appeared oblivious to the heavy rain beating against the windowpane and the sound of the wind howling around the chimneys as she took a moment to gather her thoughts.
‘Ruth Gant, as she was before her marriage to Dalton, and I came out together. We were inseparable at the time and did everything together. Aside from your father, Bartholomew was considered by us girls to be the catch of the season, and there was considerable competition to attract his interest. The poor men ? Bartholomew and your father that is ? were besieged everywhere they went. Which is why I wish to spare you and Ezra from that torment as much as I possibly can.’
‘Your consideration is duly appreciated,’ Reuben replied, smiling.
‘Well anyway, Ruth managed to catch Bartholomew’s eye, and we all assumed that the announcement of their engagement would soon be made.
But then Bartholomew met the younger sister, Alice, who was a year below us and not yet out and …
well, you know the rest. Bartholomew changed allegiance, married Alice, and Ruth to the best of my knowledge has not spoken to her sister from that day to this. ’
Reuben swallowed. ‘I see.’ He paused, attempting to quell a smile even though there was precious little humour in the situation. ‘And your friend was obliged to settle for Dalton, one assumes, in order to save face.’
‘Exactly.’
‘While you won Father’s affections.’
‘Oh yes. I did not pursue him, you see. Not because I did not care for his society, but because I cared for it a little too much. There were prettier young ladies than me, all anxious to make an impression and so … well, I didn’t think he could possibly return my feelings.
I wasn’t prepared to settle for a marriage of convenience, even if he did happen to glance in my direction, and so I treated him as though he didn’t exist. I was protecting my pride, I suppose,’ she added with a smile.
‘Ruth saved face by marrying Dalton but bears a grudge to this day.’
‘Very likely, dear, although we have never discussed the situation. She pretended to be content with Dalton and made the best of it, but once we were both married our priorities changed and we did not see nearly so much of one another. I kept inviting her to join in our activities, but she made excuses. I think it was because she was embarrassed. She had poured her heart out to me about her feelings for Bartholomew, you see, so she knew I would not be taken in when she made out that she did not really care for him after all. Besides, not speaking to her sister told its own story.’
‘Dalton and Bartholomew are both earls, so I fail to see why Ruth was so upset.’
‘Alice was the prettier sister, dear. Sibling rivalry, I suppose. I really couldn’t say.
We none of us know the real truth about what goes on in other families, do we?
All I will say is that the Bartholomew family was reputed to be fabulously wealthy, and still is.
They have a house to rival our own in London and a thriving estate down here in Hampshire that I don’t think you have visited.
Dalton, on the other hand … well, you have just seen the state of his property for yourself. ’
Reuben nodded. ‘Bartholomew is unwell, so I hear.’
‘Yes, he is not expected to last much longer. Lady Bartholomew is apparently nursing him herself here at their country seat.’
Reuben’s mother changed the subject, and he listened to her chatter with half an ear as he mulled over what he had just learned, wondering how it would help his investigation, if at all.
Clearly there was still a lot of suppressed anger in Lady Dalton, since she had been obliged to settle for what she looked upon as second best and had lost face into the bargain.
He failed to understand how past history could have any effect upon the search for Dalton, though.
With Bartholomew on his death bed, his wife would not be receiving guests – and even if she was, she would hardly entertain the husband of an estranged sister.
But perhaps she knew something that would point Reuben in the right direction.
She was a sophisticated lady with whom Reuben’s family had remained on good terms. It was somewhere to start his investigation ? or would be but for the fact that descending upon her when her husband was on his death bed would be an unpardonable imposition.
‘Anyway, dear,’ the duchess said, stirring herself. ‘We had best retire to the drawing room. Ruth will be here at any moment. And I expect she will bring her daughters along too.’
‘Ezra tells me that the younger girl is a vision.’
‘Oh, I’m sure she is.’ The duchess walked through the door that Reuben held open for her. ‘But looks are not everything.’
Ezra bounded into the drawing room to join them a few moments before the sound of wheels on gravel gave the family advance warning of their visitors’ arrival.
‘Right on time,’ the duchess said, beaming at her sons.
Reuben strolled to the window overlooking the drive and concealed himself behind a curtain as he watched the conveyance judder to a halt.
‘Good God! I’m surprised that rattletrap made it all the way from London,’ he remarked, taking in the poor condition of the Daltons’ landau.
‘The family really must be strapped for blunt,’ Ezra agreed, joining Reuben at his vantage point. ‘Lady Sophia looks enchanting,’ he added, presumably referring to the creature with a delicate profile and billowing blonde hair who was in the process of alighting from the battered carriage.
Reuben didn’t answer. Instead, his attention remained focused on the older daughter.
Her fur-lined blue cloak looked familiar, even though he had only seen it from a distance earlier that day.
Lady Farrah, since he assumed it must be she, glanced up at the facade of Alton Hall before turning her attention to the window Reuben stood at.
He had obviously stepped away from the protection of the curtain without realising it and was in full view.
His gaze collided with Lady Farrah’s, much as it had from a greater distance earlier, and she was slow to look away again.
‘Can we really discuss the possible reasons behind Dalton’s disappearance in front of his daughters?’ Ezra asked. ‘It don’t seem right.’
‘I don’t think the older girl will allow herself to be excluded,’ Reuben said, unable to decide why he had reached that conclusion when they were not even acquainted.
Even so, he knew he had got it right. At closer quarters he had caught a glimpse of intelligent grey eyes that sparkled with a combination of anxiety and suppressed amusement.
Either Reuben had lost his senses or there was something she found amusing about her situation that escaped him.
He shrugged as he returned his attention to Ezra.
‘But if you think Lady Sophia’s sensibilities will be overset by the subject matter, feel free to walk with her in the grounds. ’
‘It’s raining,’ the duchess pointed out.
Reuben chuckled. ‘I doubt whether that will deter her from accepting this devil’s company,’ he said, jerking a thumb in Ezra’s direction.
Ezra grinned good-naturedly. ‘I live to serve, big brother, as well you know, although precious little thanks I get for it.’
‘Behave yourselves, boys,’ the duchess scolded mildly. ‘This is a serious business, and I depend upon you, Reuben, to put my friend’s mind at rest. She has endured many disappointments during her life and does not deserve to shoulder this added burden. You really must find her husband for her.’
‘I will do what I can, Mother.’
‘I know you will, dear.’ The duchess sighed. ‘Really, it is so distressing.’
Reuben moved away from the window when the door opened and their butler announced Lady Dalton’s arrival, resolutely determined to get to the bottom of things if it was within his power to do so.