Chapter Three
Burkhart had stopped at The Pig and Pony, which was but a half hour from Chemsworth Hall, to freshen himself and change his shirt.
He did not take such a precaution because he was a fussy dandy, but rather because he was a tall and muscular sportsman.
Somehow, even though sitting in a carriage for a full day of traveling was no exertion, it would end with him smelling somewhat less than roses.
Ladies could be very sensitive to things like that. At least, so claimed his old tutor.
As he did not know if he would encounter any eligible ladies, he thought he best not risk it.
He found he could also benefit from some cold water splashed on his face. He’d been up late at the last inn, far later than he’d planned. Some fellow travelers had engaged him in cards. They’d probably imagined they’d fleece him, though they’d ended the night fleeced themselves.
As he walked out to the innyard, a gentleman hanging out his carriage window caught his eye. The gentleman was staring at him and the gentleman looked suspiciously like Lelander.
At first, he dismissed it. After all, there must be a thousand gentlemen in England with that insipid fair hair and angular, almost feminine, features.
However, he could not shake the feeling that he’d seen something startling. That fellow had really looked like Lelander. Then he and Smith had set off, and both carriages were traveling in the same direction. Not five minutes later, Burkhart’s valet poked his head out the window to get a look.
“Meegan,” Smith said in a dark tone, sitting back in his seat.
Meegan was Lelander’s valet.
Smith claimed he’d know that nose-up Meegan anywhere.
The fellow only served a mister, and yet he walked round straightening his cuffs and flicking nonexistent dust from his coat as if he served a duke.
Smith had on occasion said he’d like to throw Meegan to the ground so he could have real dust to flick off.
What was Lelander doing in this part of the world? He was supposed to be kicking rocks at Pepperdon Hall, eventually hearing of Burkhart’s trip and burning with envy.
“You don’t suppose they’re going to Chemsworth Hall too?” Smith asked.
“No, no, how could they be?” As he said it, he searched his mind for any sort of connection.
He supposed it might be possible that Hemmings had written the fellow in some sort of campaign to introduce himself to every lord, and lord-to-be, in the northern counties.
He could not see why, though. Especially not Lelander, as he was only to be a viscount.
“I wonder if that Lady Ainsworth has got anything to do with it,” Smith said. “She visited the viscountess at Pepperdon Hall, and we heard all about it in the servants’ hall.”
“Why would that lady have anything to do with Lelander turning up in this part of the world?”
“Lady Ainsworth’s son did wed one of the Granger ladies from Chemsworth Hall. Smythesdon, I think his name was.”
“Blast,” he said. “Hemmings wed one too. I could not think why I was to come to Hemmings’ father-in-law’s house. Could it be that all the gentlemen associated with the Grangers had invited people to Chemsworth?”
“It could be, but why?” Smith asked.
“The only thing I can think of is there is a lady in the house of the right age to be wed. Perhaps her mother asked all the in-laws to bring gentlemen to the house. Perhaps they do not attend Town, as we do not.”
Smith snorted. “Perhaps Lord Hemmings’ father-in-law also slapped a gentleman with his glove at Almack’s many years ago.”
“Very amusing.”
“If you have both been invited to Chemsworth Hall on account of looking for suitors for their young lady, then the real coincidence is they managed to rope in two gentlemen living so close by each other who cannot bear the sight of one another.”
“Yes, that is rather inconvenient, if our speculations turn out correct. I do not know if they are going there, but I do know that if anybody is to arrive to Chemsworth Hall first, it will be us. There is a crossroads just ahead, tell the coachman to pass that carriage when he gets the room to do it and then keep it in the rear view.”
Smith did as he was asked and the coachman urged the horses to pick up speed. The crossroads afforded them the space and as they made the turn, and they pulled ahead of Lelander’s carriage. Pepperdon Hall’s coachman had clearly not been ready for the maneuver.
Now, they would just see if Lelander’s man made the turn up the drive to Chemsworth Hall or if he kept going. Whatever he did, he would do it behind Burkhart. He held a higher rank, and he ought to be ahead in everything.
He could see Chemsworth in the distance, sitting on its rise, and it was a magnificent old place.
It had probably stood through The Anarchy period and The Roses War.
What side of the Roses War they had been on he could not say.
Probably both, if they had followed Neville.
The details were likely a thing that had been long forgotten and never spoken of, unlike in the north.
The carriage turned onto the estate’s drive. “What’s he doing, does he follow us?” Burkhart asked.
Smith poked his head out. “Yes. He’s turned too.”
Burkhart pressed his lips together. Was he really going to have to stay in the same house as Lelander? It was enraging.
He took in a long breath. He was moments away from arriving and being introduced to people who did not know him. He could not present himself as an enraged lunatic. He must suppress his growing displeasure over this and slap a smile on his face.
The carriage sped up and the horses had lurched into a canter.
“He’s trying to get around us, but we have him blocked.”
“Good, let us keep it that way. I have no intention of that rogue beating me at this or anything else.”
As Chemsworth loomed closer, both carriages were at a gallop. Smith pulled his head back inside the carriage and held on to a strap. “I cannot imagine what anybody looking out a window will think of this unusual arrival.”
Burkhart imagined that two carriages galloping to a front door as if they raced to alert the king of a French landing looked quite ridiculous.
He had hoped there would not be anybody at the windows to see the display.
However, he did see two boys high up on a balcony, ringing a bell.
He prayed they were the only people who were looking.
Nevertheless, he would not be beaten by Lelander. Even if it did appear ridiculous.
Pansy had donned her best day dress, and she and Poppy had paced the house. They did not know when the two gentlemen would arrive, they just assumed it would be sometime before sunset.
One of them could be mere minutes away and the other could be hours from now or they could arrive within a half-hour of one another. Perhaps they even traveled together and would turn up at the same time.
They did not know how the viscountess was calmly reading letters in the drawing room, or how the viscount had gone out with their steward.
They did not understand Violet and Lord Smythesdon walking the garden or Lord Hemmings and Daisy sketching a design of what would become a little hideaway on their property in Cumberland.
Henry was seeing to something in the stables and Maribelle was searching the library shelves for something to read, though she had exhausted everything she found remotely interesting.
They all went forward as if it were any other day. It was astounding, really.
Only Bertie and Teddy matched the twins’ energy and nerves. They’d been up in The Inviolate Kingdom since breakfast. They had tried out the cowbell several times, each time one of them would run to the top of the staircase and shout down. “That was just a test! I repeat, a test!”
Pansy had practically jumped out of her skin every time they did it.
Just now, though, the cowbell began to ring in earnest. Pansy looked at Poppy, who stood frozen where she stood.
Teddy shouted down the stairs. “This is not a test. I repeat, this is not a test. Two carriages approach on the drive.”
Two carriages. Either both gentlemen arrived at the same time, or one gentleman brought two carriages.
She hoped it was both gentlemen together and thought there was every chance of it.
After all, they probably had traveled down together, they could not live so nearby one another and not be fast friends.
She and Poppy raced to the windows to look upon the drive, which sloped downhill all the way to the lane that led to the crossroads.
There were indeed two carriages, and they were coming up the drive at a breakneck speed.
“Gracious,” Poppy said.
“I wonder if they always drive like that,” Pansy said.
The viscountess had risen to join them. “I cannot think what is the meaning of that,” she said.
Pansy could not imagine either. Though, it did seem rather dashing. It was perhaps the most excitement their drive had ever experienced.
Smuckers raced across the great hall, with Jimmy and Johnny on his heels. He might have had more time if the carriages were not coming so fast.
Daisy dropped the paper she and Hemmings had been sketching on and they both hurried over. Lord Smythesdon and Violet ran in from the garden. Maribelle came in from the library.
“Let us proceed out to greet our guests. And their unusual speed,” the viscountess said.
They all took a breath and headed toward the door.
At least, Pansy took a breath. Really, it was one thing to anticipate some event in future, and quite another thing for that event to have arrived.
Especially when she and Poppy were the main players in it.
She’d not been at all nervous over the string of gentlemen who had arrived for her sisters.