Chapter 23 #3
“We had lost touch over the years, and I am only sorry that we must separate so soon after finding each other again. I wish him every success in building his list of patients for the thermal baths that have just opened and regret I will not be able to see it. He has even had a private space built for women.”
“Mr. Fletcher. I heard his name and of baths at Le Tonnelet.” She looked at Amy curiously. “He was . . . fiancé to Miss Prexley, no? Physician daughter?”
Amy nodded. “She ended the betrothal, but yes, he is the one you are thinking of. She is now engaged to Mr. MacFirbis.”
“I am direct nature,” the princess said, “so I ask you. Do you and Mr. Fletcher have tendresse?” Her steady, expectant regard worked on Amy’s habitual reserve, and her need to unburden herself caused her to reply with uncharacteristic frankness.
“He once asked for my hand, but his father was not in favor of the match because he finds my father too eccentric. James’s father is a member of Parliament in the Commons.
” She glanced at the princess, who somehow felt enough like a friend that she could confide in her.
Perhaps it was the uniqueness of their relationship and their closeness in age that made her respond so openly.
“Just yesterday, James promised me that if he had an income to live on, he would offer for me again. So if our situation or the timing had been different, we might have married.”
The princess waved her hand as if timing or situations were of no account. “If there would be desire, a path will show itself. Have you see his baths at Le Tonnelet?”
“Only the outside, but I think they will be effective.” Amy understood what the princess meant by her unusual expression, probably translated directly from Russian.
But she wondered how one might work around such looming problems as finding an income.
The princess would not know such difficulty herself, but she was not unintelligent.
She must be thinking of solutions. Amy eyed her changeable features, which sometimes seemed to reveal all she was thinking.
“The baths appear to be working for my father. However, he has still decided to leave tomorrow.”
“Well.” The princess raised an eyebrow. “You accept fate too easily. Without work, you will catch no fish out of the pond. Need take everything into your own hands. Why not find clients for baths? Or patients for consult?”
“Me?” Amy could not see how. “But we leave tomorrow.”
“If you strongly want, you will achieve.” The princess lifted a shoulder as if to say it was as simple as that and sent Amy a half smile. “Either wait or give up the life of dreams. That I not accept.”
Her words continued to ring in Amy’s mind after she bid her farewell.
The princess had gone on to say that she had decided to bring her children on tour after her husband had died, for she refused to sit in her grief.
She did this even though she was traveling without a male relative to escort her.
If she could do that, surely Amy could take the reins of her own life and help James with his project rather than sitting by idly.
Her mind worked over the problem as she crossed over to their wing in the hotel.
Perhaps she could enlist Rebecca’s and the Ferrins’ help in publicizing the thermal baths.
And Hannah had more than a nodding acquaintance with Madame Necker, who was influential in Spa society.
She might not have time to do much, but she could speak to the connections she had.
She could do this small thing for James.
She stopped at home only to gather her bonnet. There she found her father standing in the living room, staring gloomily at all the objects that had yet to be put in trunks.
“My dear, I do not know how we are to be ready to leave tomorrow, for there is much to pack. Our departure was perhaps hasty, but we must not miss the congruence of the winds.”
One more night in Spa will not set the winds in a fuss, she thought, her face revealing none of these less-than-gracious thoughts.
She corralled her exasperation and tucked it neatly into a vault inside of her heart to be dealt with later.
“I will pack all night if I need to, but perhaps you might speak to Mrs. Mercy and set the servants to packing the items in this room? Many of them are your books, so they will not do so without your instructions. Our own trunks are packed, and I must go out.”
“I quite thought you would see to it,” he said, looking lost in the midst of stacks of books and personal effects.
A tendril of frustration leaked out. “I have something of great importance to attend to. I want to assist James in publicizing his thermal baths before I leave so he can earn a proper living from them.” She turned back to the door, giving the ribbons of her bonnet a tug.
“But why?” Mr. Bridwell insisted.
She whirled on him. “Because I want to marry him, and he cannot afford to marry me without anything to live on.” After seeing the astonished expression on her father’s face, she relaxed her shoulders and forced herself to speak more calmly.
“James and I have decided to continue our correspondence after we leave Spa. I thought you should know.” She was unsurprised when he made no reply.
His expertise on the natural philosophies had not illuminated him on matters of the heart.
Her hand was on the doorknob when she heard him say, “I shall speak to Mrs. Mercy.”