'Ask him!' she exclaimed, indicating Colum. 'I was caught out in something, but they won't browbeat me!'
'Brigid, my girl, you are distraught. Mr Childe, you can be the first to congratulate my son and his fiancée. The two of them eluded his sister and their friends to spend the night together. It was naughty of them, but understandable when two people feel so strongly about one another.'
Matthew's face showed his shock, then he frowned. He knew how Brigid regarded her cousin. She would never had agreed to marry him. His thoughts were proven right when Brigid spoke.
'I was tricked, but whatever scandal you threaten me with, Uncle, I will never marry your son! I detest and despise him. Matthew, please stay with me, and make sure I get home safely. I don't trust these two not to kill me if it suits their purpose, and if I don't fall in with their despicable schemes!'
Matthew turned his horse to ride alongside the gig.
'Don't be afraid. No one can force you to marry against your will. I'll make sure you get back to Sophia's protection. And then, Colum, I need to talk to you about a certain night in St James's Park.'
*
Sophia hugged Brigid hard when Matthew led her into the house.
'Brigid, my love! What happened to you? Oh, I've been so worried! Did you take shelter from the storm?'
'Let the girl come in, Sophia! She needs some good food and a soak in a warm bath, then she will tell you all about it.'
'Of course! I'm sorry. Betsy! Oh, there you are. Organise a bath for Miss Brigid straight away. Then some food. What would you like? Something hot? Some soup? Or some ham and eggs?'
Brigid shuddered, then laughed.
'I don't think I will ever want to eat ham and eggs again! They will remind me. But Sophia, come and talk to me while I bathe.'
In her bedroom, while the maids were bringing hot water for her bath, she stripped off her habit and looked despairingly at it.
'It's so creased, and some of the colour has run. I don't think it will ever look the same.'
'Never mind. Betsy, take it away and try your best. And then, my dear Brigid, you will have to allow me to buy you a new habit, that you've been refusing all summer. Now, into the tub with you, and tell me what happened.'
Brigid breathed a sigh of contentment as she sank into the warm water, into which Sophia had sprinkled a lavish amount of the perfume she used herself.
'It was a trick, and I'm certain Sinead was a party to it,' she said slowly, and explained how she and Colum had been separated from the others. 'The storm was fortunate for them, though perhaps that was why they chose to ride out that day, knowing it was coming. Perhaps Colum even knew the horse I was riding was terrified of thunder. But what I cannot understand is why Colum should agree to such a trick to try and trap me into marriage, when I am sure he does not even like me. It was my uncle who tried to insist we were obliged to be wed, and I am sure he has complete control over Colum, who would have to agree.'
'And your cousin has been conciliatory these last few weeks, here in Brighton. To make him more acceptable to you?' Sophia wondered.
'Why? It does not make sense.'
'Have you finished? The water is getting cold and we have no more hot to add, unless I ring for some.'
'If we add much more it will overflow,' Brigid said. 'My bruises are wonderfully soothed, and I am hungry. I was too angry to eat much of that wretched ham and eggs this morning.'
*
Matthew sent a note to Colum saying he wished to speak to him in connection with a certain event in St James's Park, and appointing a time and place for later that day. He was confident Colum would come. After dinner he left the house on the Steine and walked to a nearby tavern. Colum was already there, nursing a glass of brandy.
'What the devil do you mean, sending me such an impertinent summons?' Colum demanded.
'Don't bother to bluff, O'Neill. When Twyford refused to meet you in a duel, you determined to avenge yourself for his cheating in some other way. You were seen that night.'
'What night? You are speaking in riddles.'
His voice was hoarse, and wobbled slightly despite his attempt to appear unconcerned.
Matthew signalled to the waiter and ordered brandy. He did not offer to replenish Colum's glass, though it was almost empty. He waited until the brandy came and took a slow sip.
'The night Twyford was stabbed to death and then held under the water of the canal to make sure he was dead.'
'That wasn't me! I was nowhere near St James's! You can't prove anything, you are just trying to threaten me because I want to marry Brigid. Do you have designs on her yourself?'
'You were seen,' Matthew repeated. 'The witness described you and would recognise you again, and is prepared to swear to it in front of a magistrate. You know what would happen if you were convicted, don't you?'
'It wasn't me!'
'Can you prove you were elsewhere?'
Colum looked round as if for inspiration.
'My mother would swear I was at home all night.'
'Would she be believed, do you think? You would need something better than the word of a fond mother trying to save her only son from the gallows.'
Colum flinched, and lifted his glass to his lips, swearing when he found it was empty, and calling for more.
'I have no desire to see you swing on the end of a rope, though you deserve it, first for becoming entangled with a man like Twyford, and then taking your revenge in such a cowardly way.'
'He wouldn't meet me! I'd have done it honestly if he'd met me!'
Matthew smiled, a grim, unpleasant smile that was more of a grimace.
'So you admit it.'
'No! That wasn't what I meant!'
'Never mind. I recommend you either go back to Ireland, or flee to France. If you keep out of Brigid's way in future I will not lay information about what you did. Good night, Mr O'Neill.'
*
Sophia and Brigid were walking along the Steine towards their bathing machine the following morning, which was for once warm and sunny, when they were hailed by a couple coming towards them.
'Surely it's Mrs Langston and Miss O'Neill? How pleasant to meet you here, of all places.'
It was the O'Keefs. Sophia replied, asking when they had returned to England, and how they had enjoyed their visit to Paris.
'Disappointing,' Patrick the poet replied. 'I could not work in such an atmosphere of pleasure seeking. Nor could my wife.'
Cecilia shook her head, and sighed.
'Do you know, in all the time we were away I only completed one page of my novel! Think, only one page!'
Sophia blinked. 'How many pages would you expect to write in a normal day?' she asked. 'I have no idea how writers work.'
'It depends on the muse, but this page was difficult. I must have written it a hundred times, to find exactly the right word or phrase, the most appropriate metaphor.'
'So we have returned, and are determined to seek a quiet cottage in the country, where we will not be disturbed, and can work,' the poet explained. 'I wonder, Mrs Langston, does your husband have a cottage on his estate he might lend us?'
Sophia swallowed. 'I'm afraid all our cottages are occupied, by the estate workers,' she said. 'Do excuse us, we are late for an appointment. But I expect we will have the pleasure of seeing you again. Brighton is like a village, one is always meeting people.'
'Unfortunately,' Brigid whispered as they hurried away, and they had difficulty in stifling their giggles until they were safely inside the bathing machine.
*
Chapter 13
Brigid was in Donaldson's library choosing a new book to read when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped nervously. After being stranded with Colum she was wary of surprises. When she turned round she found Sinead standing behind her.
'Did you have to startle me?' she demanded.
'I'm sorry,' Sinead said, but it was a perfunctory apology. 'I need your help.'
'My help? After the trick y
ou played on me, leaving me alone with your wretched brother so that he could pretend to compromise me and force me into marriage? Though why he should want to when we cannot tolerate each other I can't understand.'
'It's because - ' She stopped. 'Papa told me not to mention it. And Colum has vanished. He left last night, but Mama won't tell me why, just that he's going back to Ireland. I can't understand it, it doesn't make sense after we came all this way to - well, never mind.'
And a good riddance to him, Brigid thought, but decided not to say it to Colum's sister.
'So why do you want my help? I do not feel inclined to offer it after what you and your family tried to do to me.'
Sinead brushed that aside.
'It didn't succeed. You're my only relative now Colum's gone away, and I need someone to talk to Papa. I want to get married.'
Brigid glanced behind Sinead, and saw Jonah Meekins lingering near the doorway. Sinead wanted to marry? To him? She knew the girl was volatile and irresponsible, but this seemed unlikely. From the few things she knew about the man she did not believe her uncle would view him as a suitable husband for his daughter. Uncle Brendan wanted money and position in a son-in-law, and Jonah did not appear able to offer either.
'Is your father against your marriage?' she asked carefully. 'What are his reasons?'
'He doesn't know I want to marry Jonah, and I know he won't agree, because Jonah doesn't have an enormous fortune. But you could persuade him.'
'He'd never change his mind, if Jonah is not wealthy.'
'But if I don't care about having a fortune, why should Papa? It would make no difference to him.'
'Isn't it customary to make settlements? I understand the bride's family can benefit by these, as well as the bride, and if Jonah is unable to pay over the sort of money your father thinks suitable, he will never be acceptable.'
'He'll have enough when Colum - '
She stopped, clasped her hand over her mouth, and looked guilty.
'When Colum what?'
Brigid was becoming very curious about Sinead's utterances, when she would seem to recollect herself and stop what she was about to say. What were these secrets that she had clearly been ordered not to reveal? Brigid was certain that if she insisted, Sinead would tell her, but she was not interested in the O'Neills and their concerns. She just wanted to be rid of them.
'Never mind that. Please, Brigid, will you come and speak to Papa, persuade him to permit me to marry Jonah?'
Brigid was becoming angry.
'Has Jonah approached your father? Has your father refused, and you believe I can change his mind? You are clutching at straws!'
Sinead shook her head and was almost weeping as she spoke, slurring her words together in her anxiety to make Brigid understand.
'Papa doesn't know. I won't let Jonah speak to him until, well, until Papa has become used to the notion. I know that if Jonah asks him now he will refuse, and once he has decided something he will never change his mind. I thought if you mentioned to him what a good man Jonah is, and how suitable a match with him would be, it would accustom him to it, then Jonah could do the formal asking.'
Brigid sighed and shook her head.
'Sinead, your father is angry with me because I refused to agree to marry Colum. He certainly won't listen to me, and I doubt if he would ever agree to your marriage with a man who has no fortune, and probably few prospects.'
'But you'll marry Colum in the end. When Papa makes a plan nothing deters him. He said last night that he will force you to agree eventually.'
Brigid ignored this. If her uncle thought she would ever agree to marry her cousin he was deluding himself. She returned to Sinead's problem.
'I thought you came to London to find a wealthy husband? There were men there you might have married, if you had wanted to, men wealthier than Jonah appears to be.'
Sinead shook her head and wiped away a tear.
'No, I didn't want any of them, and Jonah had enough to keep us. Brigid, I made sure you would help me. Please, say you will!'
'I'm sorry, Sinead. You and Jonah will have to solve your own problems.'
*
Sophia seemed to have shaken off her depression, was talking about stopping the sea bathing, and going home to Oxfordshire. Brigid knew she had limited time to find a new position, and when one of the elderly ladies whose advertisement she had answered asked her to come and talk with her, she arranged to hire a gig and drive out to the village where this lady was staying with friends.
'Why do you need a gig?' Matthew asked, having been told she would be going out the following day. They were alone in the breakfast room. 'I'll drive you wherever you wish to go.'
Brigid shook her head.
'I'm going to see a woman who wants a companion,' she explained.
Matthew eyed her with concern.
'Brigid, you'd hate being a companion to a woman who is probably evil-tempered, demanding your attention for twenty-four hours a day, and has a smelly, nasty little pug dog she expects you to walk and bathe, even though he tries to bite your ankles whenever you get close enough.'
She was forced to laugh.
'I have been perfectly happy with Sophia, as her companion.'
'That's different, and you know it is, so don't try to gammon me. Here you are part of the family.'
'You don't know this woman has a pug dog, or is bad tempered.'
'No, but they usually are. There are alternatives. Sophia doesn't want you to leave her.'
'She is too generous. But I cannot live on her generosity for the rest of my life! Be sensible, Matthew!'
'You can live on mine, though. It would not be easy. When you marry me, I shall expect instant obedience, constant attention, to know what you are doing every moment of the day - and night! - and an accounting for every farthing you spend. So when are you going to marry me?'
She was distressed.
'Matthew, I've explained! I can't marry you - '
'But you would like to. Admit it. Brigid, I fell in love with you the first time I saw you, up in Yorkshire. I think you like me, sufficiently to put up with being beaten regularly, every third Friday. I can offer a far more comfortable life than you would have as a companion, even to Sophia. So why do you insist on refusing?'
'I've no fortune - '
'I have sufficient to provide the occasional meal.'
'I'm not the sort of girl your family would expect you to marry. My father was a penniless exile, disowned by his family, scraping a living. You have to marry a girl from a good family.'
'That's utter nonsense. None of my family demand that kind of sacrifice from me. They want me to be happy, and I can only be that if you marry me.'
Brigid held on to her determination. She wanted to agree, to let Matthew solve all her problems, for she knew now she loved him, but for his sake she had to refuse. He might think her lack of fortune, and her background, did not matter, but to her they did. She looked across the table at him, and the expression in his eyes almost undid her.
'Please, Matthew, don't!'
After a long look at her he shrugged, got up and walked from the room. Brigid fought back tears, and escaped to her own room where she indulged in an uncharacteristic bout of weeping. If only she could accept!
*
Sophia, finding her normal energy had returned, wanted to go to the ball at the Ship than evening. Rather to Brigid's surprise her aunt and uncle were present, with Sinead, who was looking unhappy. Had she spoken to her father about her wish to marry Jonah? He wore his normal inscrutable expression, but her aunt looked grim, and the glances she cast at her daughter were full of anger.
Brigid determined to keep out of their way, and managed to do so until almost the end of the ball, when Sinead approached her.
'Mama wishes to talk to you,' she said in a subdued voice. 'Please come,' she added, catching at the skirt of Brigid's gown. 'They will be furious with me if you don't, and say I didn't ask you properly.'
Brigid hes
itated, then the frightened look in Sinead's eyes decided her. Nothing could happen to her in a crowded ballroom. She laughed inwardly at her fears. What did she expect? To be abducted and forced to the altar, bound and gagged? She had heard tales of forced marriages, where the bride's agreement, while she was gagged, had been indicated by someone forcing her head to nod.
'Have you forgotten us?' Aunt Mary demanded when Brigid was several paces away from her chair. 'I expected at least a call to thank us for rescuing you from that deplorable alehouse where Mr O'Neill found you and Colum.'
People nearby were looking curiously at them, having heard this speech. Brigid flushed angrily and all her resolutions to be calm and polite vanished.
'That was no rescue,' she said, making no attempt to keep her voice low. 'You tried to force me into a marriage I did not want by that trick. No doubt you all conspired to trap me at that wretched place, so you could pretend my reputation would be ruined unless I married Colum. Let me inform you I would rather my reputation was ruined a hundred times than be married to your son!'
'Saucy! Not content with ruining yourself, you are trying to ruin my daughter as well, helping her to marry a good-for-nothing pauper, when she could marry anyone in the land!'
Brigid couldn't help it. She laughed.
'Sinead is remarkably pretty, I grant you, but that is not the only requirement a man expects in a wife - '
'She will have a good dowry, which is more than you have.'
Her uncle was looking concerned, and Brigid wondered briefly what Aunt Mary had said to upset his normal placidity.
'Enough,' he said quietly. 'Believe me, niece, if you do anything to encourage this nonsense Sinead has got into her head, you will regret it.'
'I think that is enough of threats,' Matthew said, suddenly appearing beside Brigid and taking her arm. 'Two of us can utter those, and if you slander Brigid, or threaten her, I will see to it that your son's activities in London become widely known. Come, Brigid, you have no more to say to these people, and you don't wish to hear any more of their venom.'
She was trembling with fury as he led her away, and he squeezed her arm consolingly.
The Irish Bride Page 13