Chapter Twenty #2
Farrah offered up a wry smile. ‘So it would appear.’ She paused. ‘What I do not understand is Mrs Armstrong’s connection to my father. The duke thinks that she was the brains behind her husband’s business affairs and understands that she is carrying on with them in a quite ruthless fashion.’
Disapproval fuelled Lady Bartholomew’s expression. ‘From what I have heard of the lady, that would not surprise me.’
‘I very much doubt that Papa has repaid his loan, even if he has depleted the estate’s coffers in order to keep up with the interest payments, and so what service could he be to the lady?
’ Farrah threw her head back, wishing rather than expecting inspiration to strike.
‘The duke thinks that he might be offering introductions to other gentlemen in urgent need of funds and too desperate to worry about the repayment rates, but if that is the case he would be better off in London at this time of the year.’ Farrah picked up her cup and saucer, just for something to do with her hands. ‘I just don’t know what to think.’
‘My dear, pray do not distress yourself. There will be a plausible explanation, I am absolutely sure of it.’
‘Before or after my mother, sister and I are evicted from the estate and condemned to the workhouse?’
‘Now you are being dramatic.’
‘And putting my woes on your shoulders when your grief is still so raw. Really, I am quite ashamed of myself.’
‘Don’t be. Your concern is entirely understandable, especially since you are carrying the entire weight of your family’s affairs on your slender shoulders at a time when you ought to be dancing and generally enjoying yourself.’
Farrah flapped a hand. ‘Ballrooms hold little interest for me.’
‘Perhaps because you have never been held in the arms of a gentleman who excites your passions.’
‘I have no time for passion either.’
‘Passion might well decide to come knocking at your door though, my dear, and when it does you will not find the strength to resist. Take it from one who knows.’ Lady Bartholomew regarded Farrah with a probing look.
‘But then again, perhaps I am not telling you anything that you have not already found out for yourself.’
Farrah chuckled. ‘No such luck, I’m afraid.’
‘I hear that you received several offers during your season. I saw for myself how well received you were.’
Farrah blinked. ‘Was I? Did you?’
‘Lady Bartholomew smiled. ‘You would not have recognised me. Balls and soirees are always such a crush that your mother and I could be in the same room without any danger of our paths crossing. But I knew you, my dear, and watched your success with great interest.’
‘Success?’ Farrah put her cup aside, leaned her elbow on the arm of her chair and her chin on her fisted hand. ‘I would hardly call it that. Three shallow youths asked Papa’s permission to address me. I barely recall the names of two of them.’ She paused. ‘Mr Jackson was another matter.’
‘Ah, the viscount’s younger son.’
‘The very same. He had a little more about him than the other two, but he most definitely did not stir my passions. He did however stir up a disagreement between Papa and me when I declined his proposal.’
‘Your father supported the match?’
‘Yes, which surprised me. He’d taken precious little interest in my season before that point, and did only what he was required to before hiding himself away at his clubs. But he was suddenly very keen to see me wed when Jackson came along.’
‘I don’t want to cause even more friction between yourself and your father, my dear ?’
‘Ha! That would be an impossible ambition to achieve!’
‘You are aware that Jackson came into a substantial legacy upon the death of his grandfather.’
‘No, I am not.’ Farrah took a moment to consider the matter. ‘If I considered the matter at all, I believed that as a younger son he was dependent upon his father and older brother for his livelihood.’
‘Oh no, he is a very wealthy young man, by all accounts.’
‘Which would explain why he was so popular, so much in demand, I suppose.’ Farrah chuckled. ‘I was probably the only female in London who was not aware of his circumstances, simply because they did not interest me. As matrimony does not.’
‘I’m afraid your father may have seen it as a way out of his financial woes.’
‘How? It is not as if a husband of mine would take responsibility for the rest of my family. Not while I still had a father living.’ Farrah allowed herself a momentary pause as she considered her aunt’s suggestion.
‘Even so, Papa did press me to accept him but fell short of insisting. Mama, of course, was outraged by my disobedience. She threatened to disown me, yet here I still am.’
‘I cannot blame you for not wishing to enter into a loveless marriage. I know such considerations are not supposed to be important but having myself married for love I hope that you too can find your heart’s desire.’
Farrah’s expression sobered. Light-heartedness ought not to show its face in a house of mourning. But there again, Lady Bartholomew seemed pleased by the distraction Farrah’s arrival had created, and if her presence eased her aunt’s pain then she was delighted to be of service to her.
‘What are you thinking, my dear?’
‘I was reflecting upon lost opportunities and how much I would have enjoyed having you in my life.’
A tear trickled down Lady Bartholomew’s face. ‘We are in total agreement on that score. You are the daughter I never had, and everything I could have wished for in a child of my own.’
Farrah smiled. ‘Thank you, but you barely know me. Mama has it that I am opinionated, undutiful and contrary.’
‘One might be pardoned for assuming that she was describing herself. But anyway, I must not say such things about your mama.’
Lady Bartholomew poured more tea.
‘Mrs Armstrong rejoiced in letting me know that she is not only acquainted with Papa but also aware of his whereabouts. Oh, she did not say as much. She preferred to drop hints. As I say, a cat toying with its prey.’ Farrah sighed.
‘I cannot leave it there. I have to make her tell me what she knows. What should I do about her, Aunt?’
‘It would be pointless, one supposes, to advise you to steer well clear of her. She sounds most disreputable, and although you are level-headed and intelligent, you will be no match for a woman of her worldly experience. She clearly wants to goad you. Pray do not fall for such an obvious ploy. Your father must return soon. He will not have lost complete sight of his responsibilities.’
Farrah thought of the sorry state of their home but didn’t trouble herself to argue the point.
‘Absolutely,’ she said instead. ‘I am not looking for trouble, but trouble will rain down upon my family if I cannot rectify our situation and do so soon. With that purpose in mind, I must locate Papa before the bailiffs come knocking.’
‘Is it really that bad? Allow me to …’
‘No, Aunt.’ Farrah held up her hand as though stopping traffic.
‘Thank you, but no.’ She had anticipated the offer and was quite determined not to accept charity, especially not when the offer came from a lady for whom her own mother would not spare the time of day.
‘If Papa cannot be found, or if he is found but cannot resolve the situation, then the estate will have to be sold and Mama, Sophia and I will have to survive on whatever we can salvage from the situation. There is nothing else for it.’
‘I would still strongly advise against confronting Mrs Armstrong, my dear, especially not alone. Let her come to you. I have a feeling that the wait will not be a long one. She wants something from you, it seems, and you will weaken your bargaining position if you make the first move.’
‘What could she possibly want from me?’ Farrah asked, spreading her hands. ‘I have absolutely nothing to offer.’
‘You may think so, but that is obviously not the case.’
‘She will not hurt me,’ Farrah replied, with more conviction than she actually felt.
‘Probably not, but if she is harbouring your father because he is useful to her, then she will not want family duty distracting him.’
‘She could at least get a message to him.’
‘Saying what, precisely?’
Farrah shrugged and let out a protracted sigh.
‘Papa is acutely aware of the situation he left me to wrestle with. He knows very well that neither Mama nor Sophia will give our straitened circumstances a passing thought and cut their cloth accordingly.’ She jiggled her knees impatiently.
‘I just wish I knew what it is that she wants from me. Papa must have mentioned Mama’s friendship with the duchess, so it follows that since we are here in the country we would have been invited to her tea party.
That being the case, why did Mrs Armstrong also accept? ’
Lady Bartholomew smiled her way through a tut. ‘One simply does not decline a duchess’s invitation, my dear.’
‘So I have been told on multiple occasions.’
‘The duke discovered everything you have learned about the Armstrongs, one assumes.’
‘Yes, although I’m not sure how. Dukes have the power to ask questions where others would not dare, I imagine, and expect to receive answers when the rest of us would be told to go to the devil.
’ Farrah chuckled. ‘I am reliably informed that the taproom at the Black Sheep is a reliable source of information.’
‘Such places always are.’ Lady Bartholomew leaned forward and touched Farrah’s knee. ‘Leave it to his grace, my dear. Do it to oblige me. A day or two more will not make much difference, and a lot can be achieved in that time if one exercises patience.’
‘Yes, I dare say you are in the right of it, Aunt,’ Farrah replied, careful not to give her word.
The ladies embraced again a short time later when Farrah reluctantly said it was time for her to leave before she was missed back at Dalton House.
‘I cannot believe you drove all the way in that flimsy equipage,’ her aunt remarked, eyeing the gig and the sturdy cob conveying it dubiously when it was brought round.
‘It must have taken you an age. No wonder you were frozen. I so wish … But never mind. We will see one another again very soon. I am sure of it.’
‘I hope so, ma’am,’ Farrah replied.
She looked back at her aunt who stood on the steps waving her off.
Farrah felt a compelling need to remain with the lady and help to ease her pain.
How two sisters could be so different in all respects was a puzzle.
Except of course that it was not, she reminded herself, thinking of the few similarities that existed between herself and Sophia.
The cob seemed revived, no doubt having been well fed and watered by Lady Bartholomew’s grooms. With a full belly and the sun on his back he went off at a lively trot, but not directly back to Dalton House.
Farrah had a very different destination in mind, and one that she would not quit until she obtained answers.
Defiantly, she turned the gig in the direction of the Houghtons’ abode.