24 Lemons #3
“I hope this will not take all evening,” she said. “It is rather inconvenient to be conducting business at the end of the day.”
“For both of us,” he said shortly.
The rest of the journey was accomplished in silence. When they arrived, she was surprised to see that their destination was not one of the two respectable hotels in Brinchester, but an ordinary looking and rather quiet inn.
“The lawyers are staying here?” she said, puzzled.
“As you see. Inside, Mother, if you please. There is a parlour prepared for us.”
The innkeeper came out to greet them and show them the way. The parlour was empty, apart from a woman setting out wine bottles and glasses on a table in a corner, but a fire blazed cheerily in the hearth and Cora unbuttoned her pelisse and sat down beside it.
“Do you want some wine?” Richard said.
“I had all the wine I want with my dinner,” she said. “I would be very glad of a cup of tea, however. Where are the lawyers?”
“There are no lawyers. I wanted to talk to you, alone.”
She sighed. “There was no need for subterfuge, Richard. We could have talked, alone, at any time. You are always welcome at Lilac House, or I could have come to Staineybank, or we could have met in Brinchester at a civilised hour, instead of disrupting the evening like this.”
“This is more convenient for me. Mother, you must realise that your situation is… unacceptable.”
“Oh, is that what this is about?”
“What else? You are not yourself. This man has disturbed your mind in a most unhealthy way, and it cannot be allowed to continue. To abandon your family, your position in society, your very respectability — it is unconscionable. We all hoped you would get over your infatuation, but there seems to be no likelihood of that. You would not marry Lord Beckwith, and obviously you cannot marry a gardener, so we must find some other way to detach you from this man’s clutches. ”
“But I have no wish to be detached from him,” Cora said gently.
“I am quite content. Why can you not accept that? What harm is there in it? For me, yes, but not for you. The duke’s power protects you — all of you — from any repercussions of my behaviour.
Do you want me to go away? Cal and I can live anywhere.
Would Cornwall be far enough away to prevent any contamination?
Or Scotland?” She laughed. “The weather is pleasant in New Holland, so I hear.”
“Do not jest about so serious a matter! Yes, I should like you to go away for a while, but without him. Great-aunt Trotter would take you in.” Cora made an exclamation of disgust. “Well, she is not very congenial company, I accept that. Norwich, perhaps. Winterdale House is without tenants at the moment. You have friends there, and perhaps Maria and Augusta would go with you, for company.”
Cora stared at him in bewilderment. “Richard, there is no point to this discussion. I am not going to leave Cal behind, wherever I go. He is necessary to my happiness as I am to his. Why do you persist in this futile endeavour?”
“Because I want my mother back!” he cried, throwing his gloves onto the table and sitting down beside her, head pushed forward bullishly.
“I want everything to be as it was! All my life, Mother, you have been the lodestar in the firmament. You and Joe Ingleton, but he only taught me Latin and numbers and history. You were the one who made me the man I am, because you were constant, reliable, ever-present. I never needed you the way the girls did, it is true, but when I did have need of you, there you were, the sun around which all our lives revolved. And now the sun has gone out and my life is in darkness and I cannot bear it!”
“Oh, Richard,” she murmured, taking one of his hands in hers.
“You do not need me any longer. You have Rowena to turn to. That is the whole point, that none of you need me any longer, not even the girls. I am free at last, free to be where I want to be, with the man of my heart. I will not leave him, not even for you.”
He sat up straighter, looking at her with such sadness in his eyes that she could have wept, but her resolution did not waver for a moment. She would never surrender to him!
“Then there is nothing more to be said. Let us have a glass of wine before we leave.”
“I have no wish for wine, Richard.”
But he was already standing by the table, uncorking the bottle and fiddling about with glasses. His back was to her, so she could not even catch his eye. She waited patiently until he turned, crossed the room and thrust a glass at her.
“Here. Drink your wine.”
“Richard, I—”
“Must you argue about every little thing? Where are your manners?”
There was no point in objecting, for what was a glass of wine, anyway? It was the lifeblood of society, and there was not much in the glass, only a mouthful. Best to get it over quickly and get back to Cal. Obediently, she downed it in one swift gulp.
She knew at once it was a mistake. There was a strange, bitter taste, and within seconds she began to feel dizzy.
“Richard!” she whispered, shocked to her core. “You have poison— pois— poi—”
Then the world went dark.