by Lucy Langton
Take that, Stephen Strandmere, Louisa thought as she watched the birds fly into the early morning sun. When we meet again, I shall be far better prepared for your cruelty, no matter what I decide.
Chapter 12
While Louisa spent the entire day mulling her options surrounding Stephen’s proposal in her mind, she did her very best to make it appear that there was nothing else afoot. She helped her father to dress and talked through some affairs that he wanted to keep a handle on; she cooked lunch for her mother to feed to her father and then cleaned up afterwards.
She tended to all the mending that needed doing in the mending basket, and she even worked on the repairs to the chicken coop. Thankfully, no one seemed to be keeping a very close eye on her, and so no one asked her any questions about how she was feeling. That was until Sophie caught sight of her.
Sophie had spent much of the day out of the house tending to family errands in town. When she arrived back at the Pelham home and saw Louisa for the first time, she immediately said, “What’s happened?”
Thankfully, she and Louisa were in the kitchen alone when she noticed her mood so her comment didn’t raise the alarm with anyone else in the household. Louisa did her best to remain nonchalant, although she knew that Sophie could see right through her.
“Whatever do you mean?” Louisa asked her, taking the potatoes out of the sack and chopping them up for dinner. She could feel Sophie’s eyes practically boring a hole into her.
“Don’t be givin’ me any of that now, Louisa, for you know that I can smell a rat from a mile off,” Sophie responded, coming up behind Louisa. That only made her chop the potatoes more frantically, trying to delay the conversation that she knew was inevitable until Sophie put her hand over Louisa’s and took the knife right out of it.
“Did something worse come to Mr Pelham?” Sophie asked, putting one hand on her hip and gesturing at Louisa with the other. She appeared much more menacing than Louisa figured she meant to, as the hand that was gesturing happened to be holding the knife. When she realized what she was doing, she placed the knife down on the board but kept the stern look that she had been giving Louisa upon her face.
“No, no, nothing like that,” Louisa responded, scooping the potatoes into a bowl of water.
“Then tell me what it is like, girl,” Sophie scolded her. “And don’t be trying to evade me no more.”
Louisa wiped her hands on her apron and sat down on one of the kitchen chairs. “The problem is, Sophie,” she said, brushing her hair from her face, “I want to tell you, but if I do, I shall be ruined.”
Sophie gasped under her breath. “Ruined?” she asked with a hint of disbelief in her tone. “You’re jokin’. You’re not a thing like Evelyn, and I doubt that there is anything you could ever do that would …”
“Then just believe me, Sophie,” Louisa said urgently, as she could see her mother about to come in through the back door. “Know that I’m making a choice in an attempt to cause my family as little pain as possible.”
Bewilderment flooded Sophie’s face, but it did not much matter, for Martha came in a second later, and so both girls had to make it seem like nothing was happening. Louisa had to hand it to Sophie, she did a wonderful job of pretending all was well, but whenever her mother’s back was turned, or her father was looking out the window, Sophie gave her a constant look of concern.
When night finally fell, her father was soundly sleeping in bed, Sophie had gone home for the evening, and her mother had taken to the sitting room to do some painting, Louisa finally found a moment for herself. While she would have taken this time to think over her options and what she should say to Stephen, she realized that she did not even need to do that.
The truth was, Louisa had no choice. She had to marry Stephen and accept his plan; otherwise, her family was going to fall into a worse state than the one they were in right now thanks to her. And, unlike her sister, she did not intend letting her family down.
And so, instead of staying up and fretting about the next morning, Louisa retired early and rose early. She wore one of her finer dresses and did her hair up in the only style that she knew she could reliably do that always looked good. She decided that though she was going to admit defeat to a man who she would have rather spat in the face of, she was going to do it with her pride still intact.
She collected her travelling cloak and fetched the family’s horse, Holly, from the barn, and then she set off for Stephen’s estate. It was not a great distance from her home, but to get to it, she did have to travel through town, which she was loathed to do, even this early in the morning. Thankfully, however, there was no one about yet, and so Louisa was able to slip through town unnoticed.
As she and Holly came to the front of the estate, Louisa noticed that even her horse seemed somewhat hesitant to go down the front drive to the house. “Come on, my trusted steed,” Louisa said, leaning down and stroking the horse’s neck. “I know it looks intimidating, but just think of the fine hay that you’ll have to munch on while I’m inside?”
Almost as though she understood Louisa, Holly then positively bounded down the lane towards the house. When Louisa had secured her away with the other horses, she went and stood outside the main entrance of the house. She had to convince herself a few times to hit the knocker, but finally, when she did reach for it, she was surprised to see the door fly open in front of her.
An older, gruff-looking servant opened the door. He had a mean look in his eye and a scowl upon his lips. “We’ve been expecting you,” he growled and opened the door to allow her in.
Louisa now felt even less like entering the house, but she went ahead anyway. She held her shoulders high and followed the servant through the intimidating home. It was big and spacious, but even though the walls were covered in breathtaking paintings and the tables were filled with luxurious fineries, there was a certain ... emptiness to the home. It made her feel uneasy, almost as if something bad was about to happen around every corner. Louisa didn’t dare think about herself living in this home if she were to be married to Stephen, for if so, she knew that she would have run out screaming.
When she and the servant finally came before a door that was so tall it loomed above their heads like a menacing force, the servant knocked. From deep inside the room came an “Enter,” and Louisa steeled herself for Stephen.
When the servant had closed the door behind him, Louisa was left in a very, very long room that was entirely bare except for an enormous wooden desk at the opposite end. There was a deep green wallpaper covering the walls that had details of ivy in gold, and though there were a great many windows, the room seemed to swallow up any light that managed to penetrate it.
Seated at the desk was Stephen Strandmere, smoking a pipe with his feet up upon the desk. His long hair that in yesterday’s morning sun had seemed blond now looked so white that Louisa would not have been surprised if it was iridescent. When Louisa stopped walking to take in the room, Stephen did not move his head but began talking to her.
“Please, come this way, Miss Louisa,” he hissed in his unnatural way, beckoning her towards him. He kept his gaze out the window to his left, and the way he was sucking on the pipe made Louisa want to be sick. It was as though he was suckling on a cow’s teat.
Louisa walked towards him quite slowly, but nevertheless very confidently. As she reached the beginning of the windows, she checked to see what it was that was captivating Stephen’s attention so. It turned out to be a murder of crows that had taken roost in the gnarled, dead-looking trees that lay on the edge of his lot.
“Are those ... crows?” Louisa asked curiously.
“Magpies,” Stephen answered, rising and striding over to the window. “Have you ever seen such a group of them gathered? Legend says that when they converge in a group such as this one, ill deeds are about to transpire.”
Without warning, Stephen suddenly struck his hand against the windowpane, causing the birds to fly off, and simultaneously Louisa jumped a
foot in the air. Louisa made an utter of annoyance, and Stephen turned his attention to her. “But we won’t be engaging in any ill deeds, now will we, Miss Louisa?”
A cruel smile wrapped around Stephen’s lips, and Louisa knew that she had to get the upper hand in this conversation; otherwise, she would be left to flounder in his cruel smugness. “Can we be seated?” she half-asked, half-demanded. “I wish to discuss the terms of my acceptance with you.”
“Your acceptance!” Stephen said, mockingly shocked. “I can hardly believe it! Louisa Pelham, accepting my …”
“Would you sit DOWN.” Stephen was so unaccustomed to being ordered and interrupted that he simply went and took a seat. Louisa was very pleased with having barked at him in that way, for she did not believe anyone in his life had ever done that to him before.
“I will have you know,” Stephen said, re-crossing his legs atop the table, “that when you are my wife, I will never tolerate being spoken to like that. If you continue to be this ... head-strong, then we shall have far greater problems than I originally thought.”
Louisa sat down in her chair ever-so-gracefully and knitted her hands together in her lap. “But if you did not wish to marry me for my personality, Mr Standmere,” she cooed condescendingly, “why ever did you want to marry me in the first place?”
Stephen had no witty response, and so he simply narrowed his eyes at her and picked up his pipe once again. Louisa seized this brief moment of silence to stake her claim. “I shall agree to the conditions that you have set forth,” she stated strongly, “but you must promise me that after we do what you want to Mr Quince that we never see him again.”
Stephen whipped his head around to look Louisa in the eyes. “I cannot promise you that,” Stephen said. “The majority of this plan’s purpose is to ruin Mr Quince and then watch as his world comes crumbling down around him. I shall take no joy in this if we do not remain in his part of society so that we might continue to perpetuate rumours about his misdeeds. You are not in a position to be asking for anything, Miss Louisa, and so I am going to say a very firm no to that.”
Louisa took in a deep breath. “What is it about Mr Quince that has made you feel such hatred towards him?” she asked boldly. “Why do you feel compelled to ruin the life of a man who has so recently lost his father and is just beginning his foray into society?”
Stephen tut-tutted Louisa and shook his head as though she should have known better. “Some things, Miss Louisa,” he responded, wiping his sooty hand upon his fine jacket, “are not yours to wonder. And that is one of them.”
Louisa might have been defeated, but it was not in her nature to be, and so she pressed on. “Mr Strandmere. I understand that you are quite used to having every person in your life bow to meet your expectations, but I simply will not do that. I will go along with your plan, but you must either tell me why you have such a disagreement with Mr Quince, or you must promise me zero contact with Mr Quince after this is finished. Your choice,” she finished, crossing her arms in front of her chest and staring back at him defiantly.
The upper corner of Stephen’s lip began twitching, and for a moment, Louisa thought that she was about to be struck. However, it seemed that Stephen had made the intelligent decision and instead said, “Fine. There will be no contact with Mr Quince after we have completed what I have asked for. That actually works out quite nicely, for then you shall never have any opportunity to try and explain away your behaviour when I am not looking.”
Louisa had thought of that, but in the end, she thought it was better to have Isaac hate her than to endanger his life or her family’s any further than she already had. She knew that the burden with Stephen was hers to bear and hers alone, and so from here on out, she had to be certain of every move she made.
“Then we have a deal, Mr. Strandmere?” she asked, rising to take her leave of him as soon as they were finished.
“So long as you do not do anything to try and deceive me, for that would be a very foolish error, then yes, we are set to begin our enterprise, Miss Louisa.” Stephen rose from his chair as well and extended his hand, asking for hers to kiss. Louisa reluctantly presented it, and when he placed his lips upon her hand, they were surprisingly soft and not unpleasant as she had feared. However, when she tried to draw her hand away, Stephen gripped it tightly and said, “Oh no, you aren’t leaving yet. We have to discuss how we’re going to forge ahead with the first step of our plan that starts ... right now.”
Chapter 13
“I presented myself to Miss Flaherty in a manner that was not un-gentlemanlike and was only meant to make her feel more at ease around me. The accusations that you are making against me are entirely false.” Gregory was seated in his favourite high-backed armchair with the dense history book that he was currently struggling through open on his lap. He was looking at his brother indignantly and pretending that he had not done what Isaac knew he had in front of Sophie the prior morning.
“Entirely false?!” Isaac protested, slamming his far more interesting book on Amazonian tree frogs shut and laughing at his brother. “Gregory, you took your shirt off in front of her!”
“I did not,” Gregory said sternly, looking towards the door, “and I should ask that you keep your voice down so that Mother does not hear your outrageous accusations.”
“And why should it bother you if she hears them?” Isaac asked. “If what I accuse you of is false?”
“Do stop your yammering instantly,” Gregory ordered him, trying to prop up his thick book and make it seem as though he was reading again. “I would have thought that a fellow in your circumstance would have been more sympathetic to my ... temporary insanity that I experienced yesterday.”
“Oh, so you do admit ...” Isaac trailed off as he saw the mischievous look on his brother’s face. “What do you mean, a fellow in my circumstance? I am not in any sort of circumstance.”
Gregory rolled his eyes, entirely bored with the situation. “Brother, I do not wish to have a lengthy conversation with you about your feelings or your desires, but would have had to have been an ignoramus not to have noticed what is going on between you and Miss Louisa. All I ask is that you do not ask me to stand with you at the altar, for you know how dull I find weddings, and so I shall surely fall asleep.”
“There is nothing between Miss Louisa and I,” Isaac assured him. “She said it herself yesterday morning – we are each very grateful to have such a grand friendship at this time in our lives, but we are nothing more than that, just friends. Besides ...”
Gregory looked at him expectantly. “Besides, if you were to marry a woman in such a poor social standing, Mother would surely tear your head from your neck and put it on a post to ward off any other similar suitors for myself?”
“You’re absolutely right,” Isaac admitted. “Mother would never stand for a woman like Louisa in this household ... unless ...” Isaac trailed off and looked away, dazed by his own idea.
“Don’t ... don’t you look away like that, brother,” Gregory warned him. “I know what it means when you get that look upon your face, and I forbid you from doing whatever it is that you’re considering right now.”
A low chuckle emitted from Isaac, but he did not respond to his brother. He had a small plan, not one that he felt like sharing right now, and so he said nothing more to Gregory. He packed up his things from the library and retreated to his room with Gregory shouting behind him, “Isaac ... Isaac! Do not even think about it!”
When Isaac got up to his bedroom, he placed his fascinating book upon the bedside table and went to sit in the chair by the window. This was his favourite place in the whole house, for he could see the furthest extent of their property out of this window, and he loved to watch nature unfolding right before his very eyes.
In the spring, the way that the trees blossomed and the plants took root after the arduous, taxing winter was always a great relief. In the summer, when the warm breeze tickled the boughs of the weeping willow trees down by the st
ream, Isaac felt lulled into relaxation.
In the fall, when the air began to cool, and the animals began retreating to their winter homes, Isaac found himself suddenly energized and ready to face whatever came for him. And finally, in the cold grasp of winter, on the very, very rare occasion that it became cold enough for snow, Isaac got every good book from his father’s vast library and holed himself up for days at a time. He allowed himself to be swayed by the seasons and the way in which Mother Nature called to him.