“I don’t know; mostly, I suppose, but I think there is an instinct, beyond the immediate attraction, which you both recognised but had not had a chance to speak of – although he may have tried to explore it in the parts of his letters which you didn’t read.”
“He can’t have had much idea of the sort of person I was because I had never said anything except reiterate embarrassingly childish outpourings of passion. I wonder now if he had as much of a shock when he saw me again as I did when I saw him. I am sure he soon realised what a shallow, thoughtless girl I am.”
“He has shown no sign of being disillusioned with you though, has he? Anyway, if anyone should be ashamed of their actions years ago, it is he for he was a grown man – young, it is true, but still a man - and he seems to have been perfectly content with what you offered.”
“I cannot see why he should not have been. You and I thought ourselves in love the first time we saw a handsome man, but most women marry without knowing much more about their betrothed than we did. The men do the choosing and, if they are not absolutely bent on acquiring a fortune, are generally swayed by a pretty face – I am certain Papa was for he could not have chosen my stepmama if he had had the least inkling of the sort of person she would turn out to be.”
“I have revised my opinion of Lord Archibald,” Aspasia said carefully. “He seems an excellent man. He is held in respect and affection by his former colleagues, is loved by his brother and has behaved, ever since I met him, impeccably.”
“Lud - what a recommendation! He has, though, the most odious mama that it is possible to imagine. I could not live in the same house with her.”
“I don’t think you would have to; it seems more likely that it is I who will be obliged to endure her presence for Stonegate is convinced she has no intention of leaving her Tower and, although that is a little separated from the rest of the Castle, it is still a great deal too close for my taste.”
Letty laughed but said, “Will you reject him on account of his mother?”
“He has not offered me anything,” Aspasia said, not quite truthfully. “I don’t know. Have you ever heard of a man keeping his peculiar in the country? I suppose he already has one in London so that he might consider it a convenience to have one in the country too.”
“Would you take that?” Letty asked, knitting her brows.
“I own I am reluctant to share him with Lady Vanston; I suspect I would always feel she had the upper hand because she has known him for so long and, really, I do not think I want to be part of a harem; but, if we cannot marry because of Mr Ripley, yes, I think perhaps I would.”
“But he needs a wife – and a son.”
“Indeed. But there is always Archibald; no doubt it would please the Countess if he were to continue to be the heir presumptive.”
“He may marry Miss Pottinger.”
“Has he told you so?”
“No, but that is what his mother wants, and it seems to me that she usually gets her own way.”
“I think,” Aspasia said slowly, “that both her sons indulge her whims in order to avoid a disagreeable scene, but I am by no means convinced that either is so excessively feeble as to do his mother’s bidding against his own wishes when it comes to matters as important as taking a wife – or not taking one.”
“Do you suppose Miss Pottinger will come tonight?” Letty asked.
“I don’t know; Lady Stonegate said she wanted to keep her away until Lord Archibald’s appearance had improved.”
“It has – vastly. He no longer looks like a monster.”
Chapter 28
When they got back to the Castle it was to be told that the Earl had succumbed to another bout of sickness and been forced to take to his bed – at least for the time being.
Lord Archibald and the soldiers were gathered in the saloon and engaged in what Major Fielding called a ‘war conference’.
“I think we should cancel the ball,” he said. “His lordship is very unwell, and it would surely be wrong to have the place overrun with rowdy guests. There will be a great deal of noise and running about. What do you think, Meridew?”
“I think it had probably better go ahead for it is a little late to cancel it now, but I will ask Frederick what he wants to do. He cannot be so ill that he will not be able to answer a simple question.”
Since nobody liked to argue this point – particularly when his lordship spoke with such authority – the rest of the party sat down uneasily to await developments.
When Lord Archibald returned, it was obvious that he had not found his brother in good shape. He looked pale and anxious as he hobbled into the room.
“He is not at all well,” he said, “but has insisted that the party go ahead. I am to host it, apparently – and he has expressed a strong desire to see you two ladies in your new dresses. He does not think his illness is contagious but is of the opinion that, if you remain at the opposite side of the room and the window is kept open, you will very likely come to no harm.”
Aspasia asked if she should visit him immediately rather than wait until she had put on her new dress.
“He told me he would prefer you not to see him at present,” Archie admitted. “The thing is, you see, that he is not lying there looking pale and interesting with a high fever but is wracked with the most frightful pains and frequent bouts of vomiting. I expect he hopes to be a little better by this evening.”
“What is the matter with him?” Letty asked when Aspasia moved away.
“It sounds as though he did eat something which upset him,” Aspasia said.
“You mean he is casting up his accounts?” Letty asked with a youthful lack of sympathy.
“Apparently, but I cannot think what it can have been for we all ate much the same thing last night.”
“Yes, but probably not altogether,” Letty pointed out. “And, in any event, he may have consumed an extra supper after everyone else had gone to bed. Do you think I should go and see how he is since I am supposed to be his fiancée? You could accompany me as my chaperone because I daresay it might be considered improper for me to visit my betrothed alone in his bedchamber even if he is rather taken up with something else just at present.”
Aspasia smiled but said, “If he does not want to see me, I should think it even less likely that he would welcome a visit from you.”
“Thank you!” Letty said coldly. “I take it you mean he would rather see you than me; well, I daresay he would if he were well but very likely he doesn’t want to put you off by casting up his accounts in your presence. I should not imagine he would mind a bit in mine since it is perfectly clear he has no wish to impress me.”
“I did not mean that at all,” Aspasia retorted, annoyed. “You are a young girl and he would not wish to distress you; I, on the other hand, am a mature woman who is quite accustomed to the sick room.”
“Really, Aunt? Whom have you attended in a sick room?”
“Well, I own I have not,” her aunt was forced to admit. “But most people would expect me to have done so.”
Letty nodded. “Do you think I should go upstairs?”
“Do you wish to?”
“Not particularly, but I own I have grown fond of Lord Stonegate – not in the way of falling in love with him – but he has been very kind to me. I would not like to be remiss in any attention I should show him.”
“Very proper,” Aspasia conceded, impressed in spite of herself by her niece’s unexpected thoughtfulness. “Perhaps you should consult Lord Archibald on the matter.”
But Archie seemed set against the idea. He also expressed approval of her offer but vetoed the suggestion without hesitation. “He looks dreadful and I don’t think either you or he would be comfortable with him vomiting – or worse – in your presence. Leave him be. I will tell his valet to pass on your good wishes. Why don’t you all go into the garden for a spell – or, better still, take a ride? You can leave me here to oversee the arrangements for tonight.”
In
the end it was voted that a ride would be the best way of removing the four able-bodied persons from the Castle as well as giving them something else to think about.
When they returned from their ride the equestrians found Lord Archibald standing in the hall with a small man wearing spectacles. Both looked grave.
Aspasia, suspecting the small man, who was holding a suspiciously medical-looking black bag, was a doctor and that Lord Archibald had sent for him, changed out of her riding habit with so much celerity that she barely waited for Wilson to finish doing up her buttons before she called out to Letty that she was going downstairs.
There was no sign of Lord Archibald in the saloon, so she rang the bell and asked Crabb where he might be found.
“I believe him to be in the library, Madam. Would you like me to ascertain whether he is free?”
Aspasia doubted whether such a way of requesting an interview with the young man would be likely to yield a positive result but, seeing no other way of gaining an audience, nodded and sat down to await her fate. It was less than ten minutes later that Crabb entered the room – still empty of everyone else – and offered to conduct her to the library.
“Oh, thank you,” she said, rising at once and following the old man out of the room.
It turned out that the library was in another tower, the one where she rather thought the Earl’s bedchamber was located. Getting there involved a long and complicated route through a number of other rooms and along a great many corridors until they arrived in a hall much like the one in the South Tower. Its appearance, however, was entirely different. This room was sparsely furnished with pieces that looked contemporaneous with the Castle itself. The floor was stone and covered by only one rather thin rug, the walls – also stone – were unadorned; there was not even a picture to soften their bleakness and yet the atmosphere, quiet and restrained, had a soothing effect. The only embellishment was a large vase of yellow roses resting on a carved chest. It felt, Aspasia thought, not unlike a church; she almost expected to hear the distant sound of an organ.
They did not linger in the hall for long; Crabb went into one of the rooms leading directly from it and she found herself in a library. It also was sparsely furnished, apart from bookshelves which filled the space from floor to ceiling. There was, again, one threadbare rug upon the floor in front of a huge stone fireplace. There were two chairs, medieval in design but furnished with tapestry-covered cushions, in one of which Lord Archibald was sitting, his back to what light managed to penetrate the gloom and a book in his hand.
He rose as she came in and requested Crabb to bring some refreshment.
“Pray be seated, Mrs Ripley. I presume you have come to enquire after my brother?”
“Yes. Was that the doctor I saw you speaking to in the hall?”
“Indeed. I sent for him because Frederick seemed to me to be exceedingly unwell – much more so than I recall his ever having been in my childhood. He has, as Mama keeps pointing out, a weak digestion and has frequently over the years suffered from bouts of sickness of this nature. This one struck me as so extreme that it seemed to me possible that he had eaten something so injurious to his system that it was as though he had been poisoned. Dr Stone, who has been keeping an eye on me recently, came as soon as he received word and took a look at him.”
Archie paused but Aspasia said nothing because she suspected he was wondering how much he should confide in her, and she thought he was more likely to continue if she did not interrupt. She was proved right for, after a moment, he continued.
“We went to my brother’s room at the very moment when Frederick was in the throes of something that looked like a fit. He was rigid in his bed but shaking violently, his eyes were rolling in his head and yet, I thought – and the doctor later confirmed – that he was not conscious.”
Aspasia, horrified, turned pale but no sound escaped her whitened lips. She swallowed and waited for the young man to continue.
“I can see you are shocked,” Lord Archibald said, pushing his hair back from his forehead. He had taken off the piratical black patch so that she found herself meeting his full blue gaze for the first time and understood why he had worn it; the sword had cut the skin so close to the eye that it was a wonder he still retained it. It must have missed blinding him only because his cheekbone and eyebrow had taken the major force of the blow.
“The convulsion did not last long and, when he grew quiet again, Frederick lay still. I thought at first that he was no more, but Dr Stone assured me that he had a pulse and that, while he had, there was hope that he could be brought out of his malady. He told Maltman, my brother’s valet, who was hovering in the background, that my brother must be purged until nothing remained of the poison, which he seemed convinced must be the cause, although no one could think how he could have come by such a thing. He promised to return shortly to bleed him. In the meantime, he has forbidden anyone but me and Maltman to enter the room and instructed Maltman to give him sips of water between the purgings in the hope that more of the poison can be washed from his body.”
“Good God! But how could such a thing have happened? He was quite well last night.”
“Indeed. It seems, from what Maltman told me, that he became ill shortly after he retired. His valet has not left him all night.”
“But he appeared at breakfast. He did not look well but he was on his feet and quite lucid,” Aspasia said, remembering with a stab of the heart the way the Earl had begged her to drive to Tunbridge Wells to buy evening dresses for herself and Letty.
“Yes,” Archie agreed. “That is typical of him; he does not like to make a fuss and insisted on coming downstairs.”
“Has Dr Stone bled him now?”
“Yes. Poor Frederick is feeling exceedingly weak, but he has stopped vomiting. The doctor and I are hopeful that the worst is past.”
“Thank God! Is he, do you think, too weak to see me? I would very much like to – just to pay him a very short visit.”
Archie, perhaps moved by Aspasia’s anxious expression as well as the humble way in which she made her request, cast a sapient eye over her and said simply, “If you like to wait here for a moment, I will go up and ask him.”
Aspasia nodded and sat down while his lordship rose and made his way to the door. He returned some quarter of an hour later to tell her that his brother was awake, still very weak but desirous of speaking with her.
She followed the young man out of the library and up a spiral staircase similar in design to the one by which she and Letty reached their chambers. Lord Archibald took the steep stone steps very slowly, holding to the rope which ran down the side and served as a banister. There was nothing to hold on the other side and she wondered how he managed to come down again.
At the top of the stairs he led the way from another spacious hall, as sparsely furnished as the one below, through a set of rooms which were largely bare of any embellishment, until he came to a heavy oak door on which he knocked.
“Come in!”
Lord Archibald opened the door, saying as he did so, “Frederick, I have brought Mrs Ripley to see you.”
“Thank you. Mrs Ripley, you may prefer to sit near the window for fear of contagion.”
“I am persuaded there is nothing to fear on that score,” she said quietly, walking up to the bed and taking his hand.
“Are you a doctor?” he asked, smiling.
“No, but from what Lord Archibald has told me, it sounds more like something you have eaten, which has disagreed with you, than a disease. Are you feeling a little better now?”
While she was speaking, Archie had dragged a chair from across the room to the side of the bed, so that she was able to sit down. She was still holding his lordship’s hand, which was so cold that it almost made her shiver. She said, “You have no fever.”
“No, indeed. To tell you the truth, I almost wish I had for I am a little cold.”
“Could the fire not be lit?” she asked, glancing at the fireplace where one wa
s neatly laid.
“Dr Stone thought it best to keep me cool in case I should develop a fever,” he said.
“You will contract pneumonia if you are not careful,” she said, dropping his hand and leaning forward to pull up the blankets around him.
“Shall I set a match to the fire?” Lord Archibald asked.
“I would say yes,” she answered, “but, if his lordship does not wish to countermand the doctor’s orders, I suppose he will have to continue to shiver. Could we, do you think, go so far as to shut the window at least?”
“An excellent notion,” Lord Archibald agreed, “for it is uncomfortably chilly and Mrs Ripley will go down with pneumonia if she spends more than five minutes in here.” As he spoke he moved across to the window and, with some difficulty, pulled it shut.
“I will wait in the hall at the top of the stairs,” he told Aspasia, “so that I will not be far away if you need me.”
Chapter 29
“Did you manage to find any dresses?” the Earl asked when the door had shut upon his brother.
“Yes, indeed we did. They are quite lovely, but I do not think we will be able to wear them tonight. Do you not think we should cancel the ball even at this late stage?”
“Certainly not. I am hoping it will be definitive in deciding Letitia’s mind for her – and perhaps yours too. Fielding and Sharpthorne are leaving tomorrow so that tonight will be the perfect opportunity for them to declare themselves.”
“It sounds as though you are hoping that Letty will accept an offer from Lord Sharpthorne – and perhaps that I will run off with Major Fielding.”
“I certainly hope you will not run off with the Major; but Letty? Yes, I think she might and, although of course it is none of my business, I believe he would make her happy.”
“Do you? I own I am ignorant of her true sentiments for, although I have taxed her with them, she still seems inclined to change her mind with alarming frequency. In any event, to my mind, it is too soon after her disappointment vis-à-vis your brother for it to be wise for her to choose another.”
Letitia Or The Convalescent Heart Page 24