The General's Granddaughter

by Dorothy Mack

  Sarah turned bright pink as she stared into mocking dark eyes.

  “I told you not to expect me to be blind and deaf just because I’m stuck within these four walls,” her grandfather reminded her with gleeful satisfaction.

  “Do you approve, Grandfather?”

  “You could go farther and do worse,” he said, patting her hand in the most demonstrative gesture of affection he ever permitted himself. “Eversley comes from good stock and he’s sound to the core. His father was a good friend of mine, and I’m not sure but what Mark isn’t a better one. He had a bad experience with his marriage, but it hasn’t soured him. I wasn’t sure about that until the second time I saw him with you. That’s when I knew he’d recovered his faith in women. I’m pleased with your choice, Sarah. I just wish I could have kept you here longer, that’s all.”

  “There’s no mad rush, Grandfather.”

  “If there isn’t, then he’s not the man I took him for.”

  Sarah giggled at the indignation on her behalf expressed in her grandfather’s tones, and received a slight tap on her cheek in rebuke.

  “Little liar. There’s no need for a long engagement. If I cannot keep you in this house, then I’ll settle for having you both three miles away.”

  “I play chess too, Grandfather,” she said demurely.

  A speculative gleam came into his eyes. “Ah, methinks I scent a challenge. I’ll remind you of that when this lot clears out.” He cleared his throat and said, “Now, where was I when the room became permeated with orange blossom? Ah, yes, the dowries. I’ll fix it so you have an income of your own, but I am tying Arabella’s up in her children. They’ll need protection if she exercises the same amount of intellect in choosing a husband as she does in her conversation. Of course, if her mother has her way, the child will be bartered for a title and bags of gold, with no say in the matter at all.”

  “I would not worry too much about Arabella, Grandfather. I do not believe she subscribes to her mother’s requirements for choosing a husband, and I should think she intends to have a say in the matter.”

  “You say this with authority, but I am seeking no information,” Sir Hector remarked, holding up his index finger and wagging it from side to side. “She’s her mother’s problem, not mine, I am happy to say. I thought one of her cousins might do, perhaps, but Cecil is still too young and William will not be in a great hurry to fix his interest again, I warrant.”

  Sarah’s eyes fell, her expression concealed by thick crescents of dark lashes. She did not speak, nor, in a rare instance of tact, did the general pursue the subject.

  “You may have noticed that I have not yet mentioned the boy,” he invited.

  “Or Cecil.”

  “We’ll come to him in due course. About Richard… Did you speak the truth when you said you came here to ensure his education, no more?”

  “Yes, Grandfather.” Sarah’s eyes remained steady on his. “Richard is a wonderfully alert, capable, and energetic person even at this tender age. I have every confidence that he will make a successful life for himself.”

  “I happen to agree with you. That boy is destined for a military career.”

  Alarmed, Sarah’s mouth dropped open, but she was given no opportunity to protest.

  “Now, you keep quiet and hear me out, girl. This is none of my doing, I promise you. I hope I have learned my lesson on that score. As it happens, the inclination skipped a generation. I knew in less than a sennight that the lad was a natural for the military. He knows more about military history than I did at his age, and I had a father in the army.”

  “Richard has never given any indication that he would like a military career,” Sarah said, still doubtful.

  “He might not know it yet, or it may be he feared the money would not be there to buy him a pair of colours. It is now, but it can wait upon his schooling. I won’t push him toward it. I’ve already set the wheels in motion to get him entered at Harrow.”

  “Thank you, Grandfather. I could not have hoped for more.”

  “Oh, there is more. I’ll settle a sum on him as I will for Cecil, who has been sounding me out about buying him a commission this visit. The war in the Peninsula may be all but over, but the Americans want reminding of their place. He’ll see some action over there unless I miss my guess. They won’t get the principal until they are thirty, but they’ll have the income to supplement their army pay.”

  “You’ve been very generous, Grandfather, and thoughtful too of what is best for each person.”

  Sarah carried a picture of her grandfather’s gratified face with her as she went on to breakfast. He might insist that he cared nothing for the opinions of his family, but he had certainly given much thought to the welfare of each individual member when deciding how to leave his fortune. She felt light-headed with relief that now it could never be claimed that she or Richard had cast a spell over an old man whose conscience tormented him over his treatment of his elder son.

  The worried faces Richard and Lottie turned to her as she entered the dining saloon brought her back to reality in a rush. At present she was the only person who knew the provisions of the new will, so the danger that had threatened her life yesterday remained, and she would do well to remember this.

  “I am so sorry to be late,” she said with quick repentance to Richard and Lottie. “I stopped in to say good morning to Grandfather.”

  What conversation there was at table that morning was a stilted affair. The men were all present, but even William seemed disinclined for light chatter.

  Lottie, having obviously come to the same conclusions as Sarah concerning her safety, said meaningfully, “I trust you still plan to help me finish your new dress today, Sarah?”

  Sarah hastened to reassure her old nurse on this point, but in the end she did not immediately accompany Lottie to the nursery for a day of sewing. To everyone’s surprise, Arabella drifted in toward the end of the meal. She greeted everyone with a dazzling smile and chatted away brightly — a bit too brightly, Sarah decided as she studied her cousin, looking pretty as a picture this morning in red-sprigged white muslin dress. The chatter was designed to hide the fact that she was making a poor pretence at eating, though she consumed two cups of coffee and crumbled a muffin on her plate when anyone glanced her way.

  As the men went about their various affairs and Lottie was preparing to leave, Arabella asked Sarah in an undertone if she could spare her a few minutes before she busied herself about the house. Aware that Lottie had stiffened, Sarah sent her a reassuring smile before agreeing to her cousin’s request.

  “Shall we go into the library?” Arabella suggested.

  “Let’s make it the chapel instead,” Sarah countered. She considered herself more than a match for her delicate cousin, but it would ease Lottie’s mind to hear that she had foiled any unlikely conspiracy involving attackers stationed in the library by simply changing the place of the meeting that was obviously the whole reason for Arabella’s rare presence at the breakfast table. Arabella nodded agreement, watching with barely contained impatience while Sarah finished her coffee as Lottie, satisfied that no immediate danger threatened, left the saloon with her own version of a meaningful look directed at Sarah.

  Studying her silent cousin nibbling nervously at her lower lip as they crossed to the chapel, Sarah knew past doubting that Arabella cherished no lethal animosity toward her. The poor child was concerned exclusively with her own complicated romance. She smiled encouragingly at the girl as they sat in two of the straight chairs placed in the chapel.

  “I … I wish to thank you, Sarah, for covering up for me with Mama,” Arabella began with a rush. “I suppose you guessed that I went to the village to meet Simon Rydell?”

  “Yes,” Sarah said simply, her sympathetic eyes on her cousin’s half-defiant, half-fearful countenance.

  “And I suppose, like Vincent, you believe I am conducting some mad flirtation to relieve the boredom of a stay at Beech Hill?”

  “No,
I certainly do not believe you are flirting with Doctor Rydell. Did your brother challenge you with this?”

  Arabella nodded unhappily and fell into a brown study. After a lengthy pause, Sarah probed, “If you are not engaged in a flirtation, what are you doing with Doctor Rydell?”

  “I … I am in love with him, and he loves me!” There was a challenging tilt to Arabella’s dimpled chin.

  Sarah merely nodded. “What do you plan to do about it?”

  “We wish to marry, of course!”

  Sarah nodded again, accepting both the sincerity and the bravado in the bald statement. “Have you given any thought to what your life with Doctor Rydell would be, Arabella? Very different, I think, from the life you have been leading.”

  “I am sick to death of the life I’ve been leading. It was fun at first to make my bow to the queen and go to parties and flirt and become one of the successes of my season, but I have had two seasons already, and I have grown to hate the everlasting round of social events, seeing the same people at each one, and each one exactly like the one before it.”

  “And yet I believe I have heard you describe your existence at Beech Hill as tedious and boring also.”

  Arabella flushed. “I know, but that was before I met Simon.”

  “You do not believe there would come a time when you might find life with Doctor Rydell boring also?”

  “No! And so I told Vincent when he tried to paint a depressing picture of my life as the wife of a country physician. When you love someone, you become interested in their concerns, and Simon has the sole responsibility for the health of everyone in this district. It’s a dedicated life and I wish to help him, and I know I can help him. You said yourself that I was very good with Minnie.”

  “But not all the doctor’s patients are as attractive as a charming little child,” Sarah felt obliged to point out.

  “No, of course not, and I am not so simple as to think squalor and wretchedness are anything but deplorable, but Simon does things to help people. Oftentimes it is depressing work because he cannot always help, but he feels the rewards are great. And I know I can make his home comfortable and happy for him.”

  “Do you think of him as a noble character?”

  Arabella’s chin went up again, but she answered forthrightly, “Yes, I do, though Simon would scoff at such a high-flown description. At the very least he is dedicated to the best interests of the people of this district, and I honour him for it and I wish to be by his side.”

  “You do not think you will regret the parties and social activities that make up your life at present?”

  “No, and anyway, it is not as if this were a desert or some uncivilized locale. I know all the local families, and Simon also is welcome everywhere. There will be ample social life, Sarah. He is not penniless, you know. He has a modest income apart from his practice, and a comfortable house in the district.”

  “Well, you seem to have matters settled nicely in your mind. Am I to wish you happy?”

  For the first time, Arabella’s eyes shifted and her assurance slipped away from her as her soft mouth twisted unhappily. “I think you know my mother will be adamantly opposed to our marriage. Vincent too suspects Simon might be a fortune-hunter, and he has gone to confront him this morning. I don’t mind that. Simon will acquit himself well, and it matters only a very little if Vincent refuses to believe in him. Vincent is a very worldly person. How can he be expected to have anything in common with Simon?”

  How, indeed? Sarah’s respect for her seemingly featherbrained cousin’s inherent shrewdness and understanding of all the ramifications of her romance was growing by leaps and bounds, but she probed a little further. “Do you believe you will in time be able to obtain your mother’s consent to the marriage, Arabella?”

  “If you really knew my mother, you would not ask that question. I doubt she could reconcile herself to the fact that her daughter married a mere physician even if Simon were to become the king’s medical adviser. We shall have to wait until I am of age, of course, which is in six months. Will you stand my friend, Sarah, though I have no right to ask it of you after the way I treated you in the beginning?”

  “Yes, of course. But surely you are aware that my opinion carries no weight at all with your mother?”

  Arabella smiled a little mistily at her cousin. “No, but it carries weight with Grandfather, and I should not wish him to think poorly of me, though I know he already thinks me a flibbertigibbet with more hair than wit. I was used to think it rather fun to tease him, but I shall be well-served now if he disapproves and decides to rescind the dowry he promised me. I have a little money from my father, but I have more of a practical nature than Simon, and I would like to ensure my children’s future education at least.”

  Sarah studied her “practical” cousin and was hard-pressed to contain her amusement, though she conceded her point. Arabella had indeed thought the matter through and was exhibiting a ruthless single-mindedness of purpose that did credit to her mother’s training, though Lady Townsend would never be brought to see the virtue of it.

  “As soon as Simon applies to Mama for my hand, she will begin packing and whisk me away from here, Sarah. I would take it as a great favour if you will write to me and give me news and, if your conscience will permit, messages from Simon. Mama will see to it that we have no direct communication for the next six months. I shall be paraded before every eligible parti in the kingdom.”

  Arabella sighed and Sarah continued to marvel at just how far off the mark had been her first impression of her cousin. She had no qualms about promising what the younger girl asked of her because she was persuaded Arabella did indeed know her own mind and heart. Moreover, she agreed with her cousin’s decision and wished her well.

  It would be pleasant to have Arabella residing in the district where she would be living, Sarah exulted as she set off to check with Mrs. Glamorgan on the accommodations being readied for Mr. Hammond.

  On the way back from this errand, she happened to pass through the great hall at a moment when Richard and Joseph were standing together engaged in serious conversation. The fact of their engagement was not surprising — Richard had become great friends with the likable footman — but Sarah was a trifle surprised to note that neither had apprehended her presence, so absorbing was their talk. She did not bother to speak to either, feeling she would disturb their concentration, but headed up to the nursery, where Lottie proceeded to scold her severely for wandering about the house unattended when she well knew a hidden danger lurked. Aware that Lottie’s snappishness was a measure of her anxiety, Sarah bore the strictures meekly and settled down to a session of determined stitching.

  CHAPTER 16

  Mr. Hammond arrived before lunchtime and had already left Beech Hill before Sarah wandered into the drawing room for tea. Evidently the landlord at the inn in Marshfield where he had spent the previous night had just received some fine Scottish salmon, and enticed by promises of a feast, Mr. Hammond had made arrangements to dine and stay there before proceeding back to London the next day.

  All this was explained by her grandfather when she checked on him before heading for the drawing room. To her consternation, Sir Hector decided to accompany her. Though initially concerned that he should attempt to climb the stairs, Sarah found that he did very well with some support from Joseph’s strong right arm as she hovered anxiously in the rear.

  Admittedly, her anxiety was not all on her grandfather’s account. Richard had not put in an appearance in the nursery since lunchtime. This, coming on top of his absorption in his own thoughts during the meal, had caused Sarah to arrive at the logical conclusion that he was up to something. She took advantage of the flurry of activity to make her grandfather comfortable in the drawing room to ask if anyone knew her young brother’s whereabouts that afternoon, but no one admitted seeing him since lunch. Nor had he told anyone of his plans. Everyone else was present when she and Sir Hector arrived, with the single exception of Arabella, who s
lipped in a moment later while the others’ attention was on the fuss being made over her grandfather. Arabella shook her head when Sarah inquired if she had seen Richard that afternoon.

  As soon as Millbank left the room, an expectant hush descended on the gathering, as though they were members of a church congregation waiting for the service to begin. As Sir Hector proceeded without roundaboutation to outline the provisions he had made for his family, he had the rapt attention of all in the room save one. Sarah was growing more anxious about Richard by the moment, her normal concern at the length of his unexplained absence augmented by the horrors of last night’s attack. Having already been told of her grandfather’s intentions, what attention she spared from her worry about Richard was directed at the avidly listening members of her father’s family. She witnessed Aunt Adelaide’s frustration and William’s astonished delight when her grandfather explained his rationale for disposing of the house in the unorthodox manner he had chosen. When her cousin’s eyes sought hers involuntarily, she was ready with an unclouded smile for his good fortune. She knew by the slight dimming of his eagerness as he turned away that he understood that it did not change her decision not to marry him. There was a strange glitter in his mother’s usually mild gaze as she listened and watched her son, but she did not seem as transported by triumph as Sarah might have expected. Perhaps Mrs. Ridgemont felt the slight to her husband, though Horace admirably concealed any disappointment he might have felt at not inheriting Beech Hill outright.

  Sir Hector did not pause for comment but proceeded to list all his arrangements in a dry uninflected voice, not even pausing when Cecil let out a whoop at the offer to buy him a commission in the army. When he came at last to the end of his recital, it was Vincent who spoke first.

  “Do you mean I am to have the Hellion immediately, Grandfather?” His dark Ridgemont eyes shone with anticipation.