CHAPTER SEVENTEEN #3
“Good heavens, no! But she told me after her dance that her father expected her to accept an offer from Sir Cyril Mildmay. Exactly,” she said at Jack’s exclamation of disgust. “From something Aubrey let fall, I suspected she was attracted to Mr. Trent, but he has only been Aubrey’s tutor for a few weeks, and she has never once mentioned his name in my presence.
Obviously she confided more in Miss Chandler.
I knew she was unhappy and afraid of her father’s power to command her obedience ultimately, but I never dreamed she was contemplating such a desperate action.
I could not get her to discuss any — where are you going?
” she squeaked as he pulled her in a different direction.
“To the main entrance. It is highly unlikely that a fleeing couple would waste time rowing across the river when their first priority must be a fast carriage to outdistance any pursuit.”
“Oh, of course.” Laura was nearly running now. “We’ve got to stop them, Jack, or she will be ruined.”
“Is this Trent a fortune hunter?”
“I … I don’t know. I assume he is impecunious. At the time he engaged him, my uncle mentioned that the tutor was a recent university graduate awaiting a preferment to a parish.”
“Somehow I cannot see your cousin as a parson’s wife,” Jack said, leading her around an arguing knot of inebriated youths.
“Actually,” Laura replied, recalling Sophia’s comments on friendship that had surprised her, “there is more to Sophie than the face she presents to society, but I have understood that elopement is the equivalent of social suicide. Is this perhaps not always true?” she asked hopefully.
“Well, an unsuccessful elopement would ruin a girl’s reputation, which is generally the same thing. Any elopement will certainly cause a lot of scandal broth at the time, but Sally Jersey eloped and she is one of the so-called arbiters of society.”
Laura had not time to mull over his words because they were coming into a well-lighted area.
She could hear horses snorting and the jingle of harness as they approached the entrance.
The area was a hive of activity. Oddly, there were carriages disgorging arriving parties this late in the evening among those picking up departing patrons.
“Do you see anything that looks like a post chaise?” Laura asked Jack, after an anxious study of a line of carriages stretching away from the entrance.
“No, but a hackney to take them to a prearranged posting inn would be less conspicuous and delay a possible pursuit. Look ahead on your right — that couple moving off.”
“Yes! Hurry, Jack!” Laura broke into a near sprint toward the disappearing couple, calling out her cousin’s name only when she had considerably shortened the distance between them.
The pair froze at the sound of her voice. Sophia, for it was indeed her cousin, took another step away, but stopped when Mr. Trent put his hand on her arm. She turned and faced Laura.
“I might have known Dolly Chandler had no backbone,” she said bitterly.
“Perhaps not, but fortunately she had enough common sense to realise that a friend was about to make a disastrous mistake. You must not do this, Sophie — it will ruin your life!”
“My social life, perhaps, but that does not signify. I’ll be married to the man of my choice.”
“I am not questioning your feelings for each other,” Laura began, treading with caution, “but you are both quite young and you have known each other only a few weeks.”
“I’ve known Martin longer than you’ve known Jack Hastings!”
Laura, who had been decreasing the space between the two couples, stopped short. “What did you say?” She was not even aware that Jack had unobtrusively herded the party a few steps down a dimmer path, out of the direct view of persons coming and going from the entrance.
Sophia met Laura’s shocked gaze straightly. “It was an accidental encounter last winter, at the home of a neighbouring family where Martin was visiting. I was still in mourning and not going about in society, but we … managed to meet on several other occasions.”
There was an electric silence while Laura recovered from this thunderbolt. “Then you planned this together, that Mr. Trent would become Aubrey’s tutor?”
“No. I was afraid I’d never see Martin again after his visit ended. I had told him I would be making my come-out this spring, but he had no entree into Society — no mutual friend he could call on to introduce him into our circle in London. I was stunned that day when we met him on the staircase.”
“I see. If you intended to pursue an honourable courtship, Mr. Trent, why did you not go to Sophie’s father and ask for her hand?” For the first time Laura addressed the silent young man struggling to keep his feelings under tight control, but it was Sophia who rushed to reply.
“Martin is no fortune hunter, if that is what you are implying, Laura. He is of good family and will shortly have a very respectable living in Shropshire. He has been promised a modest legacy from a great-uncle also. He always intended to speak to my father. It took me a long time to convince him that Papa would never countenance the match. I knew he would instantly dismiss Martin, and when I refuse Sir Cyril he will take me away from London. That is why we have to elope. We have enough money between us for the trip to Scotland, and we will live with Martin’s family until the living becomes available, so you need not worry about us. ”
“That is an appalling way to begin a marriage, Sophie,” Laura pleaded. “In just two years you will be able to marry without your father’s consent, and with no scandal or shame attached to your name or Mr. Trent’s.”
“You still do not understand. My father will see to it that we have no future communication. I shall not know if Martin is well or sick and dying!” Her voice contained a note of rising hysteria as she repeated, “This is the only way!”
“Ahem — I don’t wish to butt in on what isn’t my business,” Lord Hastings interposed, causing all heads to swivel in his direction, “but thought I should perhaps point out that unless Mr. Trent’s promised living is in his own family’s possession, there is a strong possibility that the offer might be withdrawn in the face of a scandal, even if the elopement is successful.
Of course I do not know Sir Oswald well enough to speculate on his determination to prevent you from reaching Scotland, but —”
His words, cut off abruptly, fell into a pit of silence that erupted into wild sobbing as Sophia threw herself into her beloved’s arms. “Oh, Martin, is that true? Have I ruined your life? I c … cannot bear it! You have always wished to be in orders. I … you must not marry me! I…”
“Shhh, my darling, do not cry so. How could you believe I would value a career above you? If you truly feel elopement is the only way we can ever be together, then we will leave right now, even if we have to run over the bodies of your cousin and Lord Hastings to do it.”
A watery chuckle interrupted Sophia’s weeping that, under the continued murmuring of her intended husband into her ears, dwindled to hiccupping sobs.
“On the other hand,” Lord Hastings added softly, glancing from the self-absorbed couple to a mesmerised Laura, “even if Sir Oswald proves as obdurate as you fear, I shouldn’t think he could prevent all communication over the next two years.
Sophie can always visit us at Rosehaven if her cousin should need her — isn’t that right, my love?
” He had been edging closer to Laura as he spoke, so it was not too long a stretch to push a finger under her sagging chin to stop the instinctive rebuttal trembling on her lips as he slid his other arm around her shoulders.
“Of … of course,” Laura said weakly in the face of two pairs of anxious eyes riveted to hers.
She essayed a smile at the relief that replaced anxiety, but as the lovers turned to assess their options together, she nipped Jack’s chin with strong fingers in retaliation and hissed, “I do not recall accepting an offer of marriage from you, my lord. You presume too much.”
“I know,” he agreed humbly, after ascertaining that the others were still in their private world, “but I could see that you were prepared to make any sacrifice for your cousin, and it seemed to me that the possibility of some contact during the two years to her majority might tip the scales in favour of abandoning this ill-considered elopement scheme. Besides,” he added, growing bolder under her narrow-eyed stare, “I was about to propose again when your other cousin interrupted us, before the concert. I had thought of an inducement you would not be able to refuse.”
“And what was that?” Laura finally asked in the pause that ensued, knowing she was being manipulated but unable to restrain her curiosity, even to teach him a much needed lesson.
“I plan to pension off my farm manager and offer you the position in his stead.”
“Jack Hastings, you are the most outrageous, unprincipled creature it has ever been my misfortune to encounter!”
“Ah, love, you don’t mean that?” He assumed an even more humble attitude. “About the misfortune part, I mean?”
“No,” she admitted, afraid to imperil her soul with a lie, “but the rest is true, and I shall write that contract!”
“Done!” He gathered her fully into his arms, ending contract negotiations in favour of a kiss that left her speechless and clinging.
After a split-second eternity in paradise, Jack and Laura jumped apart at a discreet masculine cough.
“Er, forgive me, Miss Marsh, but Sophie and I have agreed it would be wiser to deal with one problem at a time. I shall stay on as Aubrey’s tutor until the family leaves London.
She will refuse Sir Cyril’s offer while you and her aunt are present to support her if her father behaves badly.
I will present myself to Sir Oswald this summer at Elmwood and …
and we will decide then what course to pursue. ”
“That sounds like a sensible approach, Mr. Trent,” Laura replied, somewhat breathless. “May I make you gentlemen known to each other officially? Lord Hastings, Mr. Martin Trent.”
As the men shook hands and took each other’s measure in a moment nearly devoid of the awkwardness that might be expected under the extraordinary circumstances, Sophia turned to Laura, saying hurriedly, “If we are to carry this off with no one the wiser, I had best get back to the Chandlers before Dolly breaks down and tells all. Martin will escort me as far as the central area. Do I look a complete fright?”
Laura bent forward, scrutinising her cousin’s countenance as Sophia dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. “Except for damp lashes, you look fine — no blotchy skin to indicate weeping. I will see you presently, then.”
If there was a hint of question in her cousin’s voice, Sophia ignore it as she took her lover’s arm and they set off at a brisk pace.
“Do not look so worried, love. Trent was never enamoured of the elopement solution, but your cousin was very set on it as the only way.”
Laura gripped his extended arm tightly and they followed at a more leisurely pace, walking closely together.
“You were wonderful, Jack. If it had not been for your intervention, I shudder to think how this situation would have ended. Sophie would never listen to me. Though I talked myself blue in the face, she would go her own way.”
“I had the advantage of observing that Trent was her Achilles heel. She would never do anything to hurt him, even if it meant giving up what she most desired.” His voice was quiet, his countenance serious, and Laura realised she was seeing another side of the amiable, ever-popular Jack Hastings.
“It must be wonderful to be loved like that.”
He heard the wistful note in her voice and covered her hand with his own, promising with a tender smile, “You will be.”
Laura was awed by the confidence she saw in his steady gaze, and a gentle sensation of homecoming stole into her heart. “I’ve done nothing to deserve such devotion, but I’ll try to earn it, Jack, truly I will,” she promised earnestly.
“I don’t know that merit has much to do with the feelings a man has for the woman he wishes to marry.
It’s a mystery to me; I simply knew, from the moment I opened my eyes after the accident and saw you there in the lamplight, that I never wanted to leave your side.
You were the answer to questions I hadn’t even thought of asking until then.
It might have been called infatuation at that point, I grant you, but we have got to know each other this spring and I still feel exactly the same way.
I love you, Laura, for always. Can you trust that? ”
“I trust you, Jack.”
The words were soft but uttered with confidence. There was a suspicion of moisture in her eyes, but Laura’s smile rivalled the stars blinking overhead, silent witnesses to the sealing of her destiny on a balmy night in spring.
***