by Abby Ayles
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry.”
Helena’s eyes opened on awe. “You know the work?”
"Robert Burns is one of my favorite poets. Have you ever read Afton Water?”
“Flow gently, sweet Afton, among thy green braes,
Flow gently, I’ll sing thee a song in thy praise;
My Mary’s asleep by thy murmuring stream,
Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream.”
Lieutenant Rock looked at her in admiration. “It seems you truly do know your poetry,” he commented. “It is a treat to meet a fellow poetry lover. Do tell me, do you write your own?”
Helena shook her head. “No. I would not dare. I haven’t the words.”
“I think anyone could be a poet. In fact, I believe we all have the heart of a poet but lack the boldness to put the word of our heart to paper.”
“Is that so?” Helena questioned.
“I can write a poem now.”
“A poem of what?” Helena asked amused by his boldness and candor.
“A poem of your looks.”
Helena stopped walking. “A poem about me?”
Lieutenant Rock looked at her intently and then began to speak.
“Hair the color of the sand on the shore.
Skin of milk and honey.
Eyes of the evergreen, bright and unwavering,
she stands beneath the boughs,
an angel in the midst of the wood.”
Helena stood in stunned silence. How could he find such words without warning? She listened as he continued.
“Tell me how you came to be, oh nymph of the day?
From whence did you come?
Who is your master?
May I lendeth you a while?
For to be in your love is to be present in the sun,
alive and bright and warm.”
Helena could no longer hold his gaze, yet she could not make herself tell him to stop as his words filled her ears.
“Hide not your eyes,” he said immediately.
“Pray they hold they smile and fix it in the heavens
that I may look upon it day or night.
Hear the cry of this soldier’s heart.
Harken unto me an answer, oh nymph of the day.
To be in your love is all this man needs.”
“You do have the heart of a poet,” she commented when his words had come to an end.
“It is the muse that inspires,” he said with a smile. They continued to walk.
By evening, Helena and the Lieutenant had become better acquainted, in fact, she felt as if she had known him all her life. He had no reservation or pretence about him. His words were open and light, and he spoke nothing of anything unpleasant.
They sat together in the library, each facing the other as they sat about the couch, a book of poetry between them.
“William Blake is wonderful,” Helena argued.
“You think so because his work is popular, but I tell you I prefer John Donne.”
“He is good,” Helena answered, “but there is something about Blake’s work that makes me think. Consider ‘The Auguries of Innocence.’ How the wonders of God can be seen all around. It causes you to reflect on the world around you more closely."
“Another wonderful piece, but…”
The lieutenant’s words were cut short by the entrance of a group of happy picnickers returned from their jaunt.
“Reginald,” Captain Standish called as he entered the room. Arabella was right behind him, and behind her, Elias and Lady Alice. The remainder of the party followed.
“I see you are all returned and in good health,” the lieutenant replied.
“I hope you have not bored Miss Helena with stories of your travels as I would’ve done,” Captain Standish mused as he sat in a nearby chair.
“I was not at all bored,” Helena answered in his stead. “The lieutenant and I have spent the day discussing poetry.”
“Has he already won you with Lord Byron and the likes?” Captain Standish mused.
“With his own compositions,” Helena said with a smile. “Your friend is a poet.”
“Indeed, is he?” Elias interjected as he and Lady Alice drew nearer. Helena felt her stomach knot at the proximity between them.
Lieutenant Rock smiled. “When one is presented with such a muse as Miss Helena, one cannot help but find the words. I must thank the lady for bearing with me these past hours.”
Her cheeks warmed at the compliment. "It was my pleasure, sir. Now, if you would excuse me, your friends are returned and I must see to my sister."
Helena got to her feet and the lieutenant and captain did also.
“Will you return for dinner?" Lieutenant Rock questioned. "We can continue our debate on Blake and Donne."
She smiled. “Very well. If my sister can do without me, I will join you.”
“I will save a place for you beside me,” the Lieutenant said boldly. Helena’s eyes danced over the faces that were looking back at her. Some looked at her unpleasantly. Elias’s expression was indiscernible.
“Your kindness is appreciated.”
She turned from the room and felt a lightness come over her that she had not felt in days. She had been wrong to regret the arrival of new guests. It seemed her savior had been among them.
“Helena,” Arabella called after her as she mounted the stair.
“Yes?”
Her cousin smiled up at her. “I am happy to see you smiling again.”
The words elicited the action. “As am I.”
Chapter 28
He was always beside her. Elias sat on the balcony overlooking the garden and clenched his fist against the stone rail. Lieutenant Rock was once again walking with Helena. Another lady followed them, but Elias was unable to recognise her in the distance.
Ever since the man had arrived, his sole focus seemed to be Helena. There was no time of the day or night when he could not be seen with her. What was worse, Helena seemed to enjoy his company.
Elias glared from his perch as he watched them. Helena’s shawl fell from her shoulder, and the lieutenant proceeded to put it back into place. Elias seethed as the lieutenant’s hand briefly touched her skin.
"Get your hands off," he said in a low voice as he willed the lieutenant’s hands away from his Helena.
“Lord Chatleton,” Captain Standish’s voice called. The captain’s footsteps were heard on the stone behind Elias. A moment later, he was at his side.
“Captain Standish,” he said calmly as he tried and failed to move his eyes from the garden.
“He has been with her much,” the Captain stated.
“I know,” Elias said coolly.
“She is a lovely young woman. Prettier than her cousin, and I dare say if it were not for the thanks of young Agatha, she would be the belle of this wedding,” the Captain stated.
Elias looked at him.
“Warn her,” Captain Standish cautioned. “Warn her of him.”
Elias’s back raised higher. He had long suspected the lieutenant of being a man of ill-repute after the stories he had heard in Italy and the few incidents he witnessed himself. Still, he had nothing to confirm the man to be the rake he was portrayed to be. Speaking to a woman did not constitute a crime.
“What are you saying, Captain?”
“I’m saying, the lady is in a fragile state. The very thing that Reginald loves. She’s vulnerable and therefore more pliable to the kind words and gestures of a gentleman. Someone who she believes to be a gentleman.”
Elias’s eyes grew large. “Are you saying he is not?”
“I am saying that, when we met in Italy, I could not allow Captain Payne to speak with you on matters that were personal. We had only just become acquainted and I did not think it right to taint your view of the man.”
“Yet what Captain Payne spoke was true? Lieutenant Rock is a charlata
n?” Elias demanded.
Captain Standish hesitated to respond. “The man is known for his callousness with women. He has left a trail of broken-hearted women behind him. Some in conditions they can never rise from.”
“Of what do you speak?” Elias asked flatly.
Every muscle in his body was tense. He needed the truth. He had restrained himself from uttering a word to Helena up to now for the thought that she at least had someone who could improve her spirits.
If the man could not be trusted with her, then Elias could no longer remain at a distance.
The Captain stepped closer, his voice low. “I have heard it told that he left a woman in Seville in a delicate condition.”
Thunder rolled in Elias’s ears. “You are sure of this?”
Captain Standish shook his head. “Not with certainty. The woman was known about the town, but I did witness him speaking with her several times. If it were other than your connection and Arabella’s cousin, I would not have said anything. However, she is a lady, and a gentle one at that. I would not want her to come to some unhappy end should the stories be true.”
“How can you keep such a man in your company?” Elias demanded. “Knowing his character to be so reproachable.”
“I do not know it for certain, and the man has always proved a good and loyal soldier and friend. I cannot throw away the connection on rumors that cannot be proven, even if I fear them true. You must understand. I have seen battle with this man and lived because of him.”
Elias nodded despite his anger. He understood his friend’s predicament. He had brought the lieutenant amongst them and, whatever Lieutenant Rock did, Elias was sure Captain Standish would feel responsible. He had only uttered a word out of concern for Helena, and for that Elias was grateful.
He turned his attention back to the garden and saw the man they were speaking of approaching. Captain Standish turned toward his gaze as the man walked back into the house. He was so focused he hadn’t noticed them.
“What will you do?” he asked Elias.
“There is only one thing I can do. I must, as you said, warn her of the man she has been in company with.”
“I would ask you to keep my name from the matter. I would not want it known to Reginald or Arabella that we had this conversation,” the Captain requested.
Elias nodded. “I will keep your name out of it.”
“I hope I am wrong about him,” Captain Standish said sadly. “I truly do.”
“I am not eager to take the chance that you are wrong,” Elias replied as he stepped around the captain and headed for the stair. He would speak with Helena now.
Elias rushed down the stairs and began to search for Helena. He checked the maze and the Grecian temple, but she was in none of those places. Finally, he checked the greenhouse.
Elias opened the door and walked in. “Helena? Are you in here?”
She appeared a moment later from behind a small orange tree. She sounded surprised to see him. “Elias? Is something the matter?”
Elias searched the room for the woman he had seen earlier, but she was nowhere to be found. They were alone. He knew this was quite uncustomary and it could potentially bring questions and rumors regarding their relationship, being unchaperoned, but none of that mattered as much as the warning he had to give.
Elias stalked toward her in a rush. He wanted to caution her before the lieutenant returned. “I must speak with you,” he said as he took her gently by the arm and led her to the small white iron bench nearby.
She remained very quiet throughout, as if unsure of what to make of his sudden appearance. He could not blame her for it. It had been months, and they had spoken very little in that time. Now here he was, taking hold of her in the confines of a removed glasshouse. It would cause any to wonder.
“I came to warn you,” he blurted out the moment they were beside each other.
“Warn me? Of what?”
“Of Lieutenant Rock.”
Helena frowned. “You wish to warn me of the lieutenant?”
“Yes. He is not who you think he is.”
“What do you mean? What do you think I believe him to be?” she questioned. There was a slight reticence in her response that surprised Elias.
“I know he has been a friend to you these past days…”
“Yes, a good one,” Helena interrupted. “He has shown me kindness that those of longer acquaintance have not. Those who were once counted upon now have others to engage them.”
Her eyes burned into his and Elias saw the hurt behind the green, but the inference was not lost on him.
“You speak of Lady Alice?”
Helena’s jaw clenched and she turned her gaze from him.
Did she believe there to be more to him and Lady Alice than there was? She was accusing him of passing her over for the other woman?
“If that is to whom you refer, I have not come to speak of her, but about your new acquaintance.”
Helena’s head snapped in his direction. Her lips pursed as if she were resisting the urge to speak.
“He is not to be trusted, Helena,” he cautioned.
“How would you know? Do you know the man that you accuse?” Her words were laced in disbelief and hurt.
"I do," Elias answered sharply. "I met him in Italy when I met the Captain. He is not as he appears.”
“He has been nothing but good to me. What fault is there in that?”
“He pursues women who are in fragile states,” Elias responded as his anger began to rise.
Why did she not believe him as she always did? She had known him her entire life. He always looked after her. He was continuing to do so now. Everything he did was for her.
“Fragile state?” Helena repeated. “So you are saying if I were not brought lower by my father’s unfortunate circumstance, the Lieutenant would not have cared to take the time to befriend me?”
“That is not what I meant. What I meant was…”
“That you think that I am so in want of attention that whatever he may offer me I would simply accept and fall over my pride and dignity for him?”
She was misunderstanding everything he said.
“Helena?”
She was on her feet in a second. “I thank you, Lord Chatleton, for your words of caution. I am sure they were well-meant, but I am capable enough to handle my own affairs. I would have you leave now.”
She called him by his title. It was a knife to his heart. He was always Elias to her. Had they now become so alienated from one another that they had returned to the formalities of strangers? He would not allow it.
“Helena, do not be absurd. I did not come here to insult you but to warn you.”
“You have done both and now I wish to be alone,” she responded coldly.
Elias got to his feet and blocked her path lest she should try to flee. “The man is known for being a rake. He uses women as playthings. His intentions toward you cannot be trusted. Have you not noticed how he has singled you out above every other?”
Helena’s eyes flashed toward him. “And paying attention to a particular lady makes him a rake? You must be careful, Your Lordship, or one might accuse you of the same.”
“Helena,” Elias said firmly, silencing her immediately.
They stood together but they felt worlds apart at that moment. Her eyes refused to look upon him, and it pained him. He could think of no time in their lives that there had ever been such a rift between them.
“I cannot imagine what you are going through.”
“And you are doing nothing to help it,” she accused.
Elias contemplated telling her the truth, but thought better of it. If he failed in his pursuit, it would hurt her more than help her, to have her hopes elevated and then dashed. No, it was better for him to be silent on the matter.
She believed the worst of him. He could not blame her. Through her eyes, he could see how she could misconstrue. Still, how she could believe he would come to her out of anything but genuine
care, he could not understand. Nor could he believe she would take the attention of a man she just met over his word.
How deep did her hurt go that she would allow it to so alter her view of him? Had she finally fallen into the beliefs of her mother and sister? All he wanted to do was to be of help and do what had been asked of him, to respect the wishes of the two men who meant most to him.
