“No!”
“Now, hear me out, if you please. If you were to come with us, as Mama’s companion, she would imagine us to be progressing towards a betrothal whereas in fact you would be advising me on choosing between the various young ladies, and ensuring that I behave as a gentleman should. If you have studied the book too, you will be able to say, ‘Pay a lady three compliments before dinner, as chapter three instructs.’ Do you see?”
“Three compliments before dinner?”
He huffed in annoyance. “That is just an example I invented.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Why, to show you how it would work. I have not read the book yet beyond the introduction, so I have no idea what it says.”
“Then why do you talk about compliments?”
“Really, Miss Milburn! If you cannot see—” He took a long breath. “You are still trying to provoke me into an argument.”
“It seemed worth a try,” she said, with a throaty laugh. “Are you serious about this?”
“Perfectly. Will you do it? Help me with the book, and come to Narfield Lodge?”
“To settle my debt of honour I will do so, provided I’m satisfied that Lin and Poppy will have someone to watch over them. They aren’t old enough to leave on their own.”
“That is no problem,” he said at once. “We can set Mildred to keep an eye on them.” She spluttered with laughter. “Now, did you say you know how to get out of this place?”
“Turn left by the nymph with the broken foot and then right at the lion. Do you think there will be some lemonade on the terrace? I’m terribly thirsty.”
“I am sure there will be,” he said. “May I offer you my arm, Miss Milburn?”
“Why, thank you, sir.”
Completely in charity, he followed her lead and they were outside the maze in two minutes.
16: Proposals
As soon as she descended from the Leatham’s carriage that afternoon, Caroline knew that something was wrong. Susie’s face as she opened the door told her as much.
“Mr Stratton’s here,” she sniffed.
“Today? It’s not his usual day.”
“Cooked it up between them, didn’t they? Knew you were going to be out all day, and as soon as you were out of sight, there he was. They’ve been together in the parlour all day, and taking no notice of me, none at all. Holding hands and all sorts. They’re there now, waiting for you.”
“Ah.” Caroline peeled off her gloves and hat, laying them on the hall table. Why was Susie so disapproving? She knew what was coming, and surely it was good news. It would mean the breaking apart of their little family, but for the best of causes. At least they would still have Poppy to look after. “Where is Poppy? She hasn’t disappeared or done anything foolish?”
“No.” Susie’s face softened. “She’s been good as gold, the little lamb. Tending her chicks, and the goat’s arrived with the sweetest little kid you ever saw, so she’s happy as can be. John Christopher’s been helping her settle the creatures into their pen.”
“That’s something, anyway. Can we have some tea in the parlour, please, Susie?”
“Aye, it’s all ready, and a marmalade cake. I knew you’d want something.”
The parlour door was open, so Caroline walked in without knocking. Lin and Mr Stratton were sitting side by side on the sofa, not holding hands, but with guilt written all over their faces. They jumped up at once, and Mr Stratton made a somewhat less fluid bow than usual.
“Miss Milburn,” he said.
“Mr Stratton. What a surprise.”
“Oh Caro, don’t be angry!” Lin burst out. “You must have guessed… we’ve known for ages… Lester’s asked me to marry him and I’ve said yes and please, please don’t make us wait until I’m twenty one or I shall die!”
“I’m not angry,” Caroline said. “Why ever should I be angry?”
“You’ll say I’m too young and I’m not, truly I’m not.”
“I’ve not said anything yet,” she said, with a quick laugh. “But this is exciting news! I wish you both joy.”
“So you won’t stop us? You’ll still be able to manage, won’t you, even without my share of the money?”
Caroline went cold. Lin’s dowry. That was why they were so nervous, and Susie was disapproving — Lin wanted her third of the inheritance. Or rather, Mr Stratton wanted it. No wonder he looked so guilty.
“Lin, let me talk to your sister alone,” he said.
Reluctantly, she left the room and he closed the door behind her.
“Miss Milburn, I—”
“Caroline,” she said, flopping onto a chair. “Or Caro. If we’re to be brother and sister, then we’d better dispense with the formalities, Mr Stratton. Lester.”
“Indeed.” He sat, too, taking the same position on the sofa. “You are not, then, displeased with your sister’s choice? You must know that I will cherish her for ever. I want nothing but her happiness.”
“I am not displeased with her choice, but you want more than her happiness, I think. You want her dowry, too.”
He flushed, and tugged at his neckcloth as if he found it too tight. “I cannot afford to support a wife on my earnings alone,” he said abruptly.
“Then perhaps you should not marry until you can.”
“That is what I have tried to explain to Lin, but she will not have it. A third of all this is hers, she says,” he said, gesturing around the room, “and the funds invested too, and I cannot deny it. With the five thousand you were left by Mr Wishaw, and the money found in the garden, together with the value of the house, it must be worth over nine thousand in total, and Lin’s share would be three thousand of that. It would be enough for us to marry upon. I have accommodation,” he said, suddenly eager. “My uncle has been so kind as to offer us rooms in his house, and a partnership is not out of the question in a few years, so—”
“You have it all worked out.” Caroline jumped to her feet and prowled restlessly to the window. John Christopher was hard at work in the kitchen garden, with Poppy sitting on the low wall that surrounded the forcing beds, a chicken in her arms as she talked animatedly to him. She, at least, was too young to be thinking of marriage. Her chickens and goats consumed her energy. Whereas Lin…
Dear Lord, three thousand pounds! How would they manage? Would the house have to be sold?
“Caroline,” he said gently, coming to stand behind her. “She is almost twenty, and ready for marriage. I have never hidden my admiration for her, but I did not presume to court her formally. I hoped, of course, that in time… but you know what Lin is like! She made no secret of the fact that I had secured her affections, beyond all my expectations, and I… I could not deny my own regard for her. Naturally, she wishes to marry at once, but she tells me that you are her guardian, is that so?”
“It is. When Mama died, her will made our Romsey vicar guardian for all of us, but once I attained my majority, I was to have sole guardianship.”
“Will you deny us?”
She knew at once that she would not. The rational part of her mind told her that six bundles of five hundred pounds apiece had now been found, and that would provide Lin’s three thousand, with no need at all to sell the house or even broach the inheritance from Mr Wishaw. So long as Poppy did not marry for some time, they could survive well enough on the income from what was left. But the irrational part of her mind quailed at the prospect of losing so large a sum.
She said only, “It’s not what I’d hoped for Lin, but if she is happy… and an attorney’s wife is a step up from a linen draper’s daughter.”
“But a step down from the gentry she had become, is that it?”
“We’re not gentry,” she said, smiling. “I’m still making lace to sell, and if Lin and Poppy have abandoned their weaving for the moment, it’s only because they are helping to put food on the table. I imagine they’ll go back to their looms in the winter.” She gave a small laugh. “Poppy will, anyway. Lin will be marrie
d by then.”
The anxiety on his face lifted. “You will give your permission, then?”
“Yes, but there must be no rushing into this. You’ve only known each other a few months, after all. Let us say three months from now… October. That way, the vegetable beds will be fully dug over, and we will know exactly how much money we have to share out.”
“Thank you!” he said with heartfelt sincerity, but neither his happiness nor Lin’s brought Caroline much comfort. Their family was being torn apart, and their reassuring nest egg destroyed, and she could hardly bear it.
She went into the study, ignoring Susie who was just arriving with the tea things, and shut the door on all of them. Then she pulled out her account books. There at least she might find some solace.
~~~~~
The next day, a cavalcade paraded up the drive of Bursham Cottage. First came a curricle pulled by two white horses, then one pulled by black horses, and finally a barouche containing both Lord and Lady Elland. Caroline went out to greet them, as the two young men leapt nimbly down from their equipages, and Lady Elland waved cheerily. Her first visit to the cottage had been rather fraught, but in the company of her sons, she was perfectly amiable.
“Here we are, Miss Milburn, all of us!” cried Lady Elland, almost before the barouche had stopped moving. “Goodness, what a quantity of dust we have thrown up. That is the trouble with these sporting vehicles. There is nothing like a curricle for making a great cloud of dust.”
“No dust if one drives—”
“— fast enough!” her sons said, grinning and bowing, almost sweeping the ground with their hats.
“We’re very honoured,” Caroline said. Susie had been dispatched to find Lin and Poppy, but if they were out weeding or cleaning the hen house, there was no way of knowing if they could make themselves respectable enough for visitors. It was so awkward having to deal with noble neighbours descending without the least warning. Life had been easier in Romsey, when there was only their work to consider.
Lord Elland descended from the barouche and then assisted his wife to alight, as footmen and grooms bustled about with the carriages. Caroline ushered them into the parlour, and allowed them to dispose themselves in chairs about the room. She soon learnt it was not a regular morning call.
“We are come to invite you—”
“—to a party!”
“C’est l’anniversaire de grand-mère!”
“Everyone is invited!”
“Anniversary?” Caroline murmured. “I don’t quite understand.”
“My mother’s birthday celebration, Miss Milburn,” Lord Elland said. “She is French, you see, and still speaks the language in preference to any other, so there is a great tendency to burst into French oneself when speaking of her. Kindly remember, you two, that Miss Milburn speaks no French.”
The two young men rose and bowed again to her, although the room was a degree too small for such flamboyant gestures, and she was in great fear for Lin’s vases of dried grasses.
“Your pardon, Miss Milburn.”
“We will try to remember.”
Susie brought tea and cakes, and the company ate and drank and talked about the weather, and the hope of a fine day for the birthday celebration. Eventually, Lin and Poppy bounced in, boasting clean gowns and scrubbed faces, and with just a trace of dirt beneath their fingernails. Poppy had a small, soft feather caught in her hair just behind one ear.
“Would you like to see my new baby goat?” she said as she bobbed a curtsy. “He is utterly adorable.”
“How charming!” and “We should love to!” the two brothers said at once, and so the whole party drifted outside. Caroline was quite pleased to see that John Christopher had begun work on the rose garden, which had been choked with weeds. Even through the brambles and thick grasses, a few intrepid blooms showed their heads. The wilderness was beginning to feel like a proper garden at last.
Caroline found herself walking beside Lord Elland.
“Have you had any luck in your searches?” he said in a low voice. The missing documents… he must still be hoping they might be found.
“No. I’ve looked through all the drawers and cupboards, and part of the attic. I haven’t given up.”
“Ah. A pity. I should have liked Mama to have them for her birthday. If you should happen upon them, I trust you will return them to me?”
She didn’t answer the question directly, but his persistence gave rise to interesting speculation in her mind, and perhaps an opportunity. He was a wealthy man, after all.
“They must be important to you, these documents,” she said softly.
“To my mother’s peace of mind, they certainly are.”
“You might say they were of value to you, then.”
He stopped, spinning round to face her, and she quailed at the look in his eyes. It was not anger — that would have been easier to bear. No, his expression was utterly contemptuous. She dropped her gaze, unable to withstand the disgust in his face.
“Miss Milburn,” he said in icy tones, “you are very young, and therefore I make allowances, but let me be rightly understood — I do not submit to blackmail.”
Her head shot up. “That wasn’t what I meant!”
“Perhaps you did not intend it, but that is, in effect, what you implied. It is an insult to me to suppose that I would bow to such wrongful behaviour. Let me tell you the full story of these documents, and then you will understand. Abraham Wishaw came to me some five or six years ago, claiming to have papers from Italy which, he said, proved that I had no right to the barony. You will appreciate why this distresses my mother so, for it can only imply some insult to her reputation. Wishaw said he would keep the papers safe and not broadcast the contents to the world if I would pay him a sum of money every year, or a larger sum to buy them outright. I told him plainly that if he had such papers, he should submit them to the proper authorities — to the House of Lords, who would determine the truth of the matter and what should be done about it. I told him, as I now tell you, that I will never bow to blackmail. He went away, but, so far as I know, he has not sent the papers to the Lords. Therefore, they are still in existence somewhere. If you find them, Miss Milburn, you may deliver them to me, if you wish, or you may send them to the Master of the Rolls in London, but I will never, ever pay you a penny piece for them.”
“I’m very sorry, my lord,” she said, trembling. “I never meant… Where I come from, everything has its price, so I thought… it was stupid of me.”
“In my world,” he said, “there are many things beyond price… integrity, loyalty, faithfulness, honesty. A man is nothing without honour.”
She bowed her head, ashamed.
“There now, no harm done,” he said in a softer voice. “You have had a great deal of responsibility thrust upon you at far too young an age, and no wiser head to advise you.”
“I worry so much about money,” she blurted. “I’m terrified of overspending our income, and one of my sisters will be marrying soon and—” She stopped abruptly, realising the foolishness of confessing all her fears to Lord Elland.
His eyes twinkled knowingly. “Ah! The attorney, eh? We suspected as much. It is not general knowledge, perhaps, but Grison happened to be patrolling the woods beside the road yesterday when a certain gentleman was taking his leave.”
Mr Grison! She might have guessed it was him. A pity he couldn’t mind his own business.
“So she will be wanting her share of the inheritance as dowry and you are worried that you might not be able to manage. Hmm. Miss Milburn, forgive me if my interference is unwelcome, but there may be an alternative to splitting the inheritance. If Mr Stratton were to live at Bursham—”
“But his employment is in Romsey, with his uncle!”
“He is a young man, still with his way to make in the world. There is a need for attorneys in Salisbury, also, and that is only a short ride away from Bursham. My own solicitor, for instance, is always lamenting the difficulty i
n obtaining a junior of a reliable disposition. If Mr Stratton were to apply to him, with a letter of recommendation from myself, naturally, and settle in here with you and your sisters… why, think of the advantages to all of you! You would have a man in the house to deal with any difficulties that arise, and to protect you and your sisters. And in a few years’ time, when you and your youngest sister should both be married too, why, then the cottage may be sold and Mr Stratton may return to Romsey and his uncle, if he so wishes.”
She could see the advantages at once. “It would indeed be beneficial to have a man in the house,” she said thoughtfully. “Another man in the house, I should say. We have a manservant, but he is of little use as protection. He sleeps like a log at night and wouldn’t hear an army of burglars if they stomped right through his room.”
“Do you have many burglars?” he asked mildly.
“Somebody’s found a way in twice now, and tried to get in a third time, but he failed. Nothing was taken, though. It was as if he was looking for something. Documents, maybe?” she said, looking straight at him.
He met her gaze squarely. “Not on my orders, Miss Milburn. If you ever find these papers, you will either give them to me openly or you will not, but I will no more condone theft than blackmail.”
“Then I wonder what he was looking for?” she said.
“It is curious,” Lord Elland said. “Very curious. But certainly you will feel much safer with Mr Stratton living in the house.”
When Caroline hesitantly relayed this suggestion to Mr Stratton, he was momentarily struck dumb, the idea having never previously occurred to him. But he saw the advantages of the scheme as readily as she had.
“I have never been quite comfortable with the idea of three young ladies living alone,” he said thoughtfully. “That is no reflection on you, Caroline, for you have done a wonderful job of managing the house and taking care of your sisters, but it is not ideal. But I do not know… there is my uncle to be considered… and for all Lord Elland’s optimism, I might not be able to find employment in Salisbury.”
Lin approved of the idea for another reason entirely. “That would be perfect! We could all stay together, and there would be no need to worry about dowries and so on, so we could get married at once! And then Lester would be here to look after Poppy and me while you are staying at Lady Narfield’s house, Caro.”
The Lacemaker (Silver Linings Mysteries Book 2) Page 17
