CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Sir Lucius returned to his house with his mind a whirl of concern, crushing disappointment and anger at himself.
What had risked becoming a very public quarrel had been overshadowed by Miss Ashling’s accident, and though some might wonder how she had come to break the stem of the glass, most had focused solely upon the effusion of blood and the near-hysterical reaction of several young ladies present.
The sight of blood did not, of course, discommode him, but the look in Elizabeth Ashling’s eyes haunted his dreams. The pain might in part have been caused by the gash to her hand, but the desolation was entirely his fault.
He told himself that if she did not care for him at all, there would only have been disdain, but it did not make him feel any the better.
If he could not get her to listen to him, hear him out, what chance was there that he could persuade her of his genuine feelings for her?
It was an unusually terse Sir Lucius who snapped at his valet both as he made ready for bed and upon rising in the morning.
It hurt his honour almost as much as it hurt his heart, and he returned to his house, grim-faced.
Ribston betrayed no sign of emotion when he opened the door of the Mount Street house to a rather haggard Sir Lucius Radstock, but was quite capable of adding two and two together, especially given the additional advantage of below-stairs gossip, to which he paid, of course, no attention.
He took Sir Lucius’s card, but with the dampening comment that he rather thought Miss Ashling was keeping to her room, seeing as how she was unwell.
He gave the card into Ditcham’s hand at the bedchamber door, but did not need to step over the threshold to learn how badly it was received.
He wondered if the angry outburst might even reach down to the morning room itself.
Lady Godmanchester, who arrived some time later, was not turned away, though Lady Chalford received her first, and in some agitation.
‘My dear Lady Godmanchester, I am quite overset. Elizabeth is determined, yes, determined, to return to Sussex. I have told her that it will make things worse, though how much worse they could be I am not sure. For all that we try to pass last night off as a mere unfortunate accident … oh dear … and I was hopeful … and my Amelia, my poor Amelia! What of her chances now? Oh, it will be the same all over again; I should not have made her come. Now where did I set down my sal volatile?’
She continued in a similar vein for some time, and Lady Godmanchester was required to use all her gentle good sense and even a few white lies to return the agitated lady 302to any semblance of calm.
She told Lady Chalford that if Elizabeth retired to the country it could easily be explained by her not wishing to linger in the stuffy capital, unwilling to go about with a bandaged hand, which would make so many simple things awkward, and with only the last few weeks of the Season remaining. Then a thought struck her.
‘Lady Chalford, how would it be if I persuaded Elizabeth to return to Thornby Park with me? Godmanchester is keen that I do so, and in truth, I am finding the exigencies of London too much. I tire too easily and feel the heat. It is but lack of company that gives me pause. If Elizabeth would come with me, I would be eternally grateful, and you could say, quite truthfully, that she was doing so for my benefit.’
‘Oh, if she would … Dear Lady Godmanchester, it would be the best solution to this most terrible situation. And if Elizabeth is not here, and the gossip subsides, though it sounds dreadful, I am sure that by the end of the Season, Carbrooke will have made Amelia an offer.’
‘Amelia is a very pleasant girl, and I am sure Lord Carbrooke would not be put off by tittle-tattle over nothing. After all, what fault of Amelia’s could it be if her cousin has an unfortunate accident? Now, may I go up to her, dear ma’am?’
Lady Chalford sighed, and nodded.
Elizabeth had spent a very uncomfortable night.
Her hand throbbed, and the surgeon putting several stitches into her palm had tried her already strained nerves to the utmost. He had given her laudanum to dull the pain, though she disliked it, but it had brought her sleep.
That it was sleep tormented 303by unhappy dreams meant that she awoke unrested, and filled with the misery that the previous evening’s events had prevented her from expressing, even in the privacy of her chamber.
She had not partaken of breakfast, and it had taken all Ditcham’s cajoling and indeed bullying to get her to leave her bed and dress.
She had viewed her mistress’s pale face and the blank look in her eyes, and shaken her head.
She had seen this before, and it was not a good sign.
The announcement that Sir Lucius Radstock was below, and sought an interview, had produced signs of emotion, in the form of a furious tirade, the gist of which was that Elizabeth did not want to see the man, nor hear his name again, as long as she lived, and it had given the faithful tirewoman much food for thought.
The anger had been followed by tears, and it was a very pale lady with red-rimmed eyes who received her best friend.
Lady Godmanchester came forward, her hand held out to take Elizabeth’s uninjured one. ‘My poor Elizabeth. Are you in much pain? Has the doctor seen you this morning? How did you sleep?’
Elizabeth smiled wanly. ‘Yes, no and not well are the truthful answers, but there.’
‘Your aunt said that the surgeon had to stitch the wound. You must be very brave, my dear. I am sure I would have fainted clean away.’
‘I … It was not pleasant, but such things heal quickly enough, and I had other … things to distract me. Helen, I am going back to Sussex. After last night, I cannot face the looks, the whispers. Not again. You understand?’
‘Of course, though, I assure you, you are making too 304much of the incident. The accident will be talked of for a day, and might have happened to anyone.’
‘Please, Helen, don’t. You know as well as I that it is also more than that. I could not face him, I simply couldn’t.’
‘Elizabeth, at the moment I see that, though in the long term you are bound to—’
‘I have no inclination to remain in London, Helen. I will be safe at home.’
‘Well, I think that a shame. And I also have an idea that will prevent any gossip attending your departure before the Season’s end.’
‘There can be none.’
‘Yes there can. Godmanchester is pestering me to return to Thornby Park, and indeed in many ways I would like to do so. London is becoming very stuffy, and I get tired easily. But I will have months and months ahead of me in seclusion at Thornby, and I am going to be so bored, I just know it. Come with me, to keep a poor, sickly woman company. It would be so much nicer. Do say yes, please. There will be nothing to do but walk with me about the grounds, play with baby George and enjoy hours of doubtlessly meaningless chatter, but it would be better than solitude for us both.’
Elizabeth bit her lip. Hopefully, there would be no recriminations from her aunt, who was caught between the need to remain in London to finish the Season with Amelia, and the fear that letting Elizabeth return to the country alone might seem unfeeling, if her injury was the excuse.
If anyone would understand, it was Helen.
She did foresee one large obstacle, however, and this she voiced.
305‘But Lord Godmanchester and Sir Lucius are the closest of friends. What if he were to invite him to stay? Indeed, what would be more natural than for him to invite him?’
The thought had struck Lady Godmanchester also, but she clasped her hands together resolutely and said, ‘I would beg him to spare me the embarrassment, and’ – she blushed – ‘if he truly thought it would upset me, he would not bring Lucius to the house while you were there. After all, I would not be asking him to sever the connection, that would be unfair, just to refrain from inviting him while you visited. I can be very persuasive.’
So, thought Elizabeth, could the duplicitous Sir Lucius Radstock, since he had managed to get the honest Godmanchesters to be party to his fraud concerning Mist, whom she now only called ‘the Trojan Horse’. This, however, she kept to herself.
‘Would my aunt agree, I wonder?’
‘Oh, I should think she would,’ replied Lady Godmanchester, feigning innocence.
There was a pause. Elizabeth gazed into space, thinking, and then smiled wearily at Lady Godmanchester. ‘Forgive me. I must seem churlish to even hesitate at such an offer. Please, blame it upon a poor night’s repose and my own “indisposition”.’
‘Of course.’ Lady Godmanchester patted Elizabeth’s uninjured hand.
‘I will come, if my aunt permits, and do so with gratitude, my dearest of friends.’
‘Oh Elizabeth, I am quite excited about the thought of showing you Thornby, and most importantly, you can meet 306baby George. It is very unfashionable to say so, but I do so miss him.’ She sighed.
‘London would not be good for him, with all the noise and so many diseases in the air. Country air is so much sweeter. He is such a darling baby, too. I am sure you will fall in love with him, and he says the drollest little words. Let us go and speak to Lady Chalford. We might even be able to set out the day after tomorrow.’
‘She’s doing what?’ Sir Lucius exclaimed, frowning at Lord Godmanchester.
‘Helen invited her to Thornby Park. It seems Miss Ashling was all for bolting back to Sussex, which was causing great fluttering in the Chalford dovecote, and since I had been trying to get Helen out of London anyway, Helen thought it a tidy solution – which in many ways it is. Less gossip all round, and a feasible reason, just about, for Miss Ashling’s withdrawal. ’
‘I see.’ The frown did not lift. ‘She wouldn’t see me this morning, when I went to try and explain, to apologise. At least at Thornby she won’t be able to avoid—’
‘Lucius, I am sorry, but you can’t come to Thornby.’
‘But surely—’
‘You are my closest friend, Lucius, and I would do anything for you, except upset my wife, especially while she is in a delicate condition.’
‘But I have no intention of upsetting her.’
‘If you come to Thornby Park, can you imagine what it will be like if Miss Ashling will not leave her room lest she meet you, takes her meals apart also? As a hostess, as a friend, Helen will be in a hellish predicament and will 307be distressed. If I have to choose between my wife and my friend, then … There is no choice, can be no choice. I am truly sorry.’ Godmanchester ran a hand through his hair.
Sir Lucius gave a twisted smile and laid a hand on his friend’s shoulder.
‘You are the best of fellows, Giles, and honourable in the extreme. It has always been one of the things I most admired in you. I may not like your decision, in fact I am damned put out by it, but I do not hold it against you, nor think it damages our friendship. It does, however, put me in a tight spot. If Miss Ashling were returning to Sussex, then I should seek her there, but as it is I am prevented from doing the one thing I want – in fact, need – to do. She may not forgive me, but, by Heaven, she must be brought to realise that I never intended her hurt, even before I …’
‘Fell in love with her. I know, my dear Lucius.’
Sir Lucius sighed. ‘I never thought it would happen, Giles. It crept up upon me.’
‘It does that, my friend.’ Godmanchester smiled.
‘But you were fortunate. Your Helen returned your affection, or at least was prepared to do so. Elizabeth Ashling views all men as perfidious and none more so than me.’
‘Write to her. Just not quite yet, though.’
‘It isn’t the same, and what hope have I that she will not tear whatever I scribe to her into pieces without ever reading a word?’
‘I know Helen would try and persuade her to read it, and then, perhaps, she could be brought round to seeing you.’
‘But you know as well as I do, it is not just seeing me 308that I want, not really. What do you give for my chances, Giles?’
‘Oh, never say die, Lucius. You can be a jolly persuasive chap when you want. She may yet come round, and I know Helen was convinced that she was not impervious to you before she found out about the horse and then the source of her appellation.’
‘I’d give a monkey to find out who told her about the horse, indeed who knew, other than us.’
‘Well, they never heard it from me.’ Godmanchester sounded aggrieved.
‘Of course they didn’t, so don’t fly up in the boughs about it.’
‘Well, if you ask me, the likeliest person to tell Miss Ashling anything unpleasant is the Rendlesham woman. Seems they were at daggers drawn through their first Season. Or rather,’ Godmanchester revised his statement, justly, ‘she cordially disliked Miss Ashling, until such time as she snapped up her marquis. Just shows that Rendlesham was even more of a fool than we thought him.’
‘Is that possible?’
‘In view of his remarriage, yes.’ Godmanchester grinned.
‘If she found out anything, she would be certain to make trouble with it. Now, as for you, stay up in Town, act as if nothing has happened, so that the gossips will find it harder to concoct a farradiddle just too close to the truth for comfort, then write that letter, and let time and Helen do the rest. Oh, and I am going to tell another lie.’
‘Indeed.’
‘Yes. I am telling Miss Ashling I have now purchased the 309grey mare and so it need not remain eating its head off in my stables here. I am taking it back to Thornby with us.’
‘Do you want it for your wife after all?’
‘No. Too spirited for her. But I have hopes that you might yet, er, “buy it back from me”. If you are successful and in a good mood, I might even sell it at a profit.’ He smiled, though it was a little forced.
‘Now, let’s have a game of billiards, and put all things female out of mind for an hour or so. ’