A Captain of Consequence (Westham Chronicles, #2)

by Osborne, Rachel

  “Perhaps,” she managed, at last, her voice still quivering from unexpressed anger. “Captain Sudbury has witnessed Mr Crampton’s attentions and decided that he should step aside and allow the two of you to wed. It would be the gentlemanly thing to do, after all.”

  “Gentlemanly?” Emily laughed, archly. “Oh, Grace, dear. How provincial you are! What gentleman alive can step aside when his prize is threatened?” Her eyes flashed with excitement and drama. “No, I believe Captain Sudbury is merely biding his time. Mr Crampton’s intent is clear, although I must continue to demur until he speaks to Father. If Captain Sudbury should make a claim for my hand in the meantime, then who am I to refuse him?”

  Chapter Ten

  “Milly! Excellent, you aren’t busy!”

  With one hand, Arthur tugged the book his sister was reading from her hands, closing it with a thump.

  Amelia scrabbled for it but he held it high above his head and out of her reach.

  “Oh, you are insufferable!”

  “Thank you!” Arthur grinned at her. “I have a favour to ask of you. It’s an easy favour. One you will doubtless enjoy. What do you say, can I count on you?” He held the book out to her, his fingers clamped tightly around it to keep her from yanking it free.

  “I might care to know what the favour is before I answer,” she huffed, pretending to ignore him whilst trying to determine how she could retrieve her treasure.

  “I want you to come and look at a house with me.”

  He had known that this would elicit curiosity, interest and excitement and, battling a combination of all three, Amelia abandoned her interest in recovering her book. Her eyes narrowed and she glared at him suspiciously.

  “What house?”

  “My house.” Arthur relented his grip on her book, holding it back out to her. “Well, it might be my house. I am undecided and thought I could do with a second opinion. Care to offer yours?”

  Amelia made no answer but rushed to the door in such a hurry that Arthur could only laugh and follow, at a rather more leisurely pace, after her. He glanced at the title of the book she had been reading, opening it to scan a page or two, and closed it only when she called back to him.

  “Leave my book alone, you brute! I shall want to return to it later!”

  Chuckling, Arthur set the book gently down and stepped down the corridor towards Admiral Sudbury’s study. He knocked gently on the door and pushed it open to see his father poring over an old map with a sentimental gleam in his watery eyes.

  “You alright, Pa?”

  “How could I not be?” Admiral Sudbury responded. “My children are around, filling the halls with their merry chatter!” He arched an eyebrow at Arthur. “You look remarkably intact for a fellow who just attempted to separate Amelia from her book.”

  “I offered her a preferable alternative.” Arthur grinned. “We are off to view a property, Pa, a nice little place a mile or so away. Care to come with us?”

  Admiral Sudbury glanced towards the window. It was dry, at last, after too many days of rain, but clouds rendered the skies grey and more than a little menacing.

  “I think not,” he said, after a moment’s consideration. “I shall stay here and allow you and your sister to go and make your assessments unhindered by me.” He smiled, a little sadly, Arthur thought. “You know if I had my way you should stay here...”

  “I haven’t seen the place yet!” Arthur quipped. “I may come running back to embrace this place as my home forever, whether you like it or not.”

  “I should like it!” Admiral Sudbury muttered, then, fearing he was teetering on the edge of feminine sentimentality, he cleared his throat. “But I understand it is preferable for a young man to make his own way in the world, and if you wish to take a home of your own I shall not oppose it. Go along and enjoy your trip with Milly. A mile...” he mused. “Will you walk it, or take the carriage?”

  “Carriage, I think,” Arthur said. He did not object to the notion of walking and knew that his sister would manage so short a journey easily enough, but his father’s attention to the weather brought Arthur’s own concerns about their afternoon to the forefront. Neither he nor Amelia wished for a drenching, and as he had pressed her into service not entirely kindly, the least he could do would be to offer her a little comfort on the journey.

  “I’ll go and make the arrangements,” he said, stepping momentarily into the study to lay a gentle hand on his father’s shoulder. It was a silent gesture, but one that was appreciated nonetheless, for the older man saw a lot of himself in his son and feared to lose him so soon after he had got him back again. “A mile is not so very far, Pa. And that’s assuming I take the place!”

  “Indeed.” Admiral Sudbury returned to his maps. “Well, I trust you to make the right decision. No, let me amend that. I trust Amelia to help you to make the right decision.” His eyes sparkled with fun. “And I look forward to hearing all about it upon your return.”

  Arthur was still smiling to himself as he readied the carriage and when Amelia arrived a moment later, with a warm woollen wrap over her shoulders, he helped her inside with a gentle squeeze to her hand.

  “Thank you, Milly,” he murmured. “You are good to come with me. I did not much fancy going to look at it myself.”

  “You need only have asked!” Amelia said, with an imperious nod. “You did not need to mistreat my poor book.”

  “The book will forgive me!” Arthur grinned, as the carriage lurched into motion. “I only hope my sister might, also!”

  Amelia’s eyes twinkled as if to keep him in suspense and she turned to the window without saying another word.

  They had not gone too far before Amelia’s breath caught and she rapped on the roof of the carriage.

  “Oh, look!” she cried, pushing down the window and waving out of it. “Here is Grace Hardcastle. Grace!” she called. “Grace, dear! Good afternoon!”

  Arthur’s stomach turned over. He had not seen Grace Hardcastle - nor her sister - since the evening of their dinner. He had not been avoiding them, per se, but certainly, he had not made any effort to visit them. It was on account of Emily that he kept his distance, but now, presented with her sister, he could not help but feel a flash of guilt.

  “Is she walking?” he asked Amelia. “She oughtn’t to be out on foot when she is still recovering. Come, persuade her to join us on our visit! We can deliver her home safely by carriage and save her the journey.”

  Amelia relayed this suggestion in her most teasing, persuasive voice and after a moment Grace relented. Arthur had scrambled out of the carriage before Amelia could make a move, and handed Grace inside.

  “You are alone?” he asked, glancing around, half curious, half fearful to see Emily again, but there was no other soul for miles.

  “I am.” Grace’s response was slightly strange and pinched and Arthur felt as if he had said the wrong thing already. The carriage began to move once more and he sank back into his seat, allowing his eyes to flutter closed as he listened to the merry chatter between the two young ladies opposite. Whatever reserve he had noticed or imagined in Grace fell away entirely as she spoke to Amelia.

  It must be me, then, he realised, with a sigh. She is perfectly well, except when forced to speak to me! The thought troubled him more than it ought, and his excitement about viewing a new property gave way to a nameless anxiety over the slight he must have caused without even realising it to a young lady who had never been anything but kind to him.

  GRACE HAD BEEN RELIEVED when a carriage bearing friends pulled up alongside her. She had walked further than she’d planned to, intent on both exercising her ankle and escaping her sister. Alas, her desire for the latter had kept her out longer, and made her walk further, than the former appreciated, and it had been beginning to twinge when Amelia called out to her. Her relief was short-lived, however, for entering the carriage placed her in too-close proximity to Arthur Sudbury, who she had scarcely succeeded in ridding from her thoughts before he app
eared in front of her in the flesh.

  “We are going to look at a house,” Amelia told her, confidentially. “Although that is all the intelligence I have been given about our destination.” She shot her brother a recriminating look. “Arthur is being particularly mysterious, although he was determined I should join him on his expedition.” She nudged Captain Sudbury’s foot with her own, startling him out of his silent reverie so dramatically that she laughed.

  “Goodness me, Arthur!” Amelia spluttered, trying to regain her composure. “And I had it on such good authority that you were a fine sailor and strategist. What is it Papa always attributes to success in those areas? Awareness of one’s surroundings!”

  “I am aware,” Captain Sudbury countered, his sharp voice softened as he regarded the two young ladies across from him. “But that does not mean I invite attack from one I thought a friend and a sister.”

  Amelia pulled a face at him and turned back to Grace.

  “Where is your sister? She did not let you out to test your ankle alone, I hope?” Amelia’s voice was as sharp as her brothers, scathing and critical that the absent Emily should abandon her sister in her perceived hour of need. This would not do, and Grace hastened to explain herself.

  “She had very little choice in the matter,” she said, with a smile. “I have been trapped indoors with her this past few days on account of the weather. At the first hint of a dry day, I was out like a shot and quite determined to put my ankle to the test. I much preferred to be alone, although I am sure she would have accompanied me, had I asked.” Actually, Grace was not sure, for Emily had her own list of plans of the day, none of which included walking out with her younger sister, who had, she declared, been remarkably bad-tempered and snappish of late.

  “There, you see, brother? Had she asked.” She tsked at him over Grace’s head. “I wonder if I ought to refer you to Miss Grace for advice on how best to approach a sister, for I am sure she would not dream of manhandling Emily to do her bidding.”

  “When have I ever manhandled?” Arthur replied, with an affectation of weariness. “You were not greatly occupied.”

  “I was reading!”

  “Indeed.” Arthur grinned. “As I say, you were not greatly occupied....” He dodged out of the reach of his sister’s hand and caught Grace’s eye, the laughter dying on his lips. She could not help but notice the wall of silence that emerged across the centre of the carriage as he cleared his throat and turned his attention once more to the window, remarking upon their arrival as the carriage slowed.

  “Here looks to be the place!”

  Amelia needed no further invitation. She launched herself across Grace to peer out of the window.

  “Where?” she demanded. “I cannot see anything but trees!”

  “It is behind the trees, sister dear.” He glanced at Grace, the faintest hint of a grin still lurking on his features. “Which trees we shall walk under, not climb up, do you understand me, Miss Grace?”

  Grace nodded, colouring at his recollection of her youthful folly on the day they were re-introduced.

  Amelia frowned at her and Grace felt even more that her actions had not been in the least bit ladylike. Surely Arthur thought her foolish and childish for such activity, even were it not to have ended in bodily harm. You should not be so childish, Grace, you are quite old enough to act like a lady now and behave accordingly, Emily had warned her, when the immediate danger of her injury had passed. Grace had never felt the desire to act like a lady if that meant acting as Emily did. Now, seeing the teasing light in Captain Sudbury’s eyes, she could not help but wonder if she had been cutting her nose to spite her face. He thought her a child, still, and perhaps she was.

  “I trust you did not drive all this way to sit in a carriage but wished to actually survey the property?” she asked, lifting her chin in a haughty manner she had seen more often on Emily’s features and despaired of. Yet was Emily not just who she ought to be mimicking, for Emily was the one of the both of them who Captain Sudbury seemed to admire for herself, and not for some misapplied nostalgia and condescension he surely reserved for children like Grace.

  “Very good, Miss Grace.” He was business-like once more and she did not need to look in his eyes to know that the light she so liked to see would be gone, faded into obscurity. Obediently, he clambered out and reached up a hand to help out first his sister and then Grace. He was extra-courteous to Grace, or so it seemed, as if he wished to reassure himself that she truly was stable and well-equipped to walk unaided. Lifting her chin once more, she strode forward, swallowing a wince when her ankle objected to being so heavily weighed down upon.

  “Grace!”

  Amelia linked arms with her, tugging her forward and leaving Captain Sudbury to close matters with their carriage and come along after them.

  “Let us walk together, so we might share our opinions often and in whispers, so as to truly torment my brother!” Her eyes shone mischievously. “We shall not tell him truthfully what we think until we have fully surveyed the house. That ought to be punishment enough for his mischief!”

  “What mischief?” Grace asked, wondering how her friend dared apply the word to handsome, sensible Captain Sudbury.

  “Oh, I forget that you do not have a brother, Miss Grace!” Amelia groaned. “And how fortunate you are that you do not. Mine is the bane of my life!”

  “You called, sister?” Captain Sudbury’s voice floated ahead of them. “I believe I invited you here to hear your opinions about the property, not myself. Miss Grace, please disregard anything my sister shares that is not directly related to bricks and mortar, grounds and trees. She is in possession of a great many opinions and does so delight in sharing them!”

  “Whereas my brother keeps his thoughts close to his chest and will not allow them to be pried from him for love nor money!” Amelia replied, drawing Grace closer. She saw the figure of a man up ahead, and Arthur strode forward, greeting the fellow with a wave.

  “That is the property manager,” Amelia declared. “See how warmly he welcomes my brother. He must be eager to make this sale. Well, Grace, let us go in with an open mind. I do not wish my brother to make a bad deal, but I must also confess that I do very much approve of him taking a property so near to Roland Park. Just think! I could continue to plague him easily even once I am married, and really, what more could a younger sister ask for?”

  Chapter Eleven

  “Well, Grace? What are your thoughts? You must not keep them to yourself, even if you are reluctant to share them with Arthur. I care to know what you think, so tell me, do, and we shall see if we are of one mind!”

  Amelia’s tone was so merry and conspiratorial that Grace wished she could distil her opinions into a sentence or two so as to be better able to share them. As it was, her thoughts ranged widely and she was not quite sure she could wrangle them into order if she tried.

  “I think it is - a fine house,” she managed, at last, her voice sounding strangely choked to her own ears. It was a fine house, yes, she must focus on that. The very details that Amelia wished to hear from her concerned the property and that, she might be able to speak of quite rationally and sensibly. She must conceal all the rest of which she was only too eager not to be drawn. It was a pretty house, although rather smaller than she had expected to see. She was so used to Emily speaking of Captain Sudbury’s vast fortune that she had expected him to be considering a palace, and not a perfectly pleasant little estate, containing a house and grounds dotted with pretty gardens and follies wherever she chanced to look. Her fingers itched to sketch some of them, and she dug her fingernails into her palms to make the urge cease.

  Captain Sudbury had stepped away to discuss a few pertinent details with the estate’s manager, leaving he two young ladies to tour the gardens, once they had all finished viewing the inside of the house. Mercifully, the clear weather held, and Grace could see the very first hinds of sunshine breaking through the grey skies. She blinked, picturing Arthur strolling alo
ng these very paths as the tenant of Meadhaven and smiled. He would like it here, she thought. Living here, he would be close enough to his friends and family to see them as often as he wished, but with his own corner of the earth in which to be independent. Her thoughts snaked onwards, tormenting her. He would not be happy here alone, but with a wife and eventually, she supposed, a family of his own. Grace stiffened. Would Emily be content to live in such a simple home as this?

  “What is the matter?” Amelia asked, noticing Grace’s awkward posture and sensing, correctly, that all was not well with her friend. She took a quick glance over her shoulder to reassure herself that they were alone and not likely to be overheard before turning, frowning, back to Grace. “I know that something is upsetting you, so do not continue in this affectation that all is well. And do not claim it is merely your ankle, for I have watched you walking on it with only the very slightest amount of discomfort, certainly not enough to make your features as wan and unhappy as they appear to me at this moment.” Her frown darkened, and in that fleeting expression, Grace saw again the likeness between brother and sister. Amelia would demand the truth and there would be no putting her off with anything less.

  “I do not think my sister will care for such a house as this.”

  “Your sister?” Amelia’s eyebrows rose. “Well, that is unfortunate, but as it is not her house to live in I do not suppose it matters all that much what she thinks of it.”