The Thoroughly Compromised Bride

by Catherine Reynolds

  “No, of course not,” she murmured, taking a sip of the dark liquid and coughing a little as it burned its way down her throat.

  Somehow, just having Charles near was immeasurably comforting and that, along with the brandy, soon made her feel more hopeful and relaxed. Becoming aware that she had not even removed her bonnet and pelisse, she did so, then smiled at Charles. “I am feeling much more the thing now and should like to see Aunt Emily if I may.”

  “Certainly, my sweet. Come along and I shall take you up to her.”

  Elizabeth felt another shock of fear as she stood at her aunt’s bedside. The curtains at the window were drawn and there was only one branch of candles burning in the chamber, but even in that dim light, she could see the unnatural pallor of Aunt Emily’s complexion, and the hand she took in her own was alarmingly cold.

  Aunt Emily’s eyes opened and she smiled faintly. “You have come,” she whispered in a thready voice. “I knew you would, my love. You are a good girl, and I should not have lost my temper with you.”

  “No, no. Aunt Emily. It was all my fault. But you must not try to speak. You must rest and regain your strength, my dear.”

  “So good to me,” whispered Aunt Emily, closing her eyes once more.

  Elizabeth’s hand went to her mouth as she turned her apprehensive gaze towards Charles.

  He looked nearly as disturbed, and shot a sudden look, which seemed strangely angry, at his sister, who stood at the other side of the bed. He opened his mouth to speak, but was forestalled when Lady Langley declared, “I believe I hear the doctor now!”

  The door opened and a rotund little gentleman, carrying a small black bag, bustled officiously into the chamber. “Well, well,” he said, approaching the bed as Elizabeth and Charles stepped back to make room for him, “What have we here?”

  When Lady Langley had described Aunt Emily’s symptoms to him, he nodded his head wisely, said, “Hmmmmm,” then demanded that the room be cleared of all but her ladyship so that he could get on with his examination.

  Elizabeth’s objections to being excluded were soon overcome, and Charles led her from the room after telling his sister, rather sternly, that he wished to see her in the library when she was free. He then escorted Elizabeth to her chamber, advising her to rest and promising that she would be called and could speak with the doctor as soon as he finished ministering to her aunt.

  The waiting was an agony for Elizabeth who, unable to rest, spent the time pacing in her chamber. But finally she was summoned to the hallway outside her aunt’s door, where the doctor awaited her.

  “Shall she recover, doctor?” Elizabeth asked pleadingly.

  “Oh, yes,” replied the doctor, “I have every expectation that she shall, so long as she is kept quiet and not allowed to become agitated over anything. If that should happen, I can guarantee nothing.”

  “Oh, you needn’t fear. I shall allow nothing to overset her, I promise you.”

  “Good, good!” responded the doctor. “I have left a draught with her ladyship to ensure that the patient gets plenty of rest, and I shall call again tomorrow to see how she does.”

  As soon as the doctor had gone, Elizabeth hurried back to her aunt’s bedside, where she spent the remainder of the afternoon until dinnertime, watching Aunt Emily sleep. At both Lady Langley and Charles’s insistence, she did leave her aunt long enough to go down for dinner, but was back again as soon as the meal was over, and would have stayed for the entire night had not Charles assured her that either he or Margaret would be with her aunt the whole time. Even then, she might not have allowed herself to be persuaded had she not been so exhausted, both emotionally and physically, and had Charles not pointed out that with the medication supplied by the doctor Aunt Emily would very likely sleep soundly throughout the night.

  It was not until Elizabeth was in bed, mentally reviewing the events of the day, that it occurred to her to wonder at Charles’s attitude towards her since her return. It struck her, in retrospect, that he had been rather warmer than one might have expected, given all that had gone before. Had he not used several endearments when speaking to her? Yes, definitely he had. But what did it mean?

  She shook her head irritably. She must not fall into the error of thinking that it meant more than it actually did. After all, he was an accomplished and practised flirt, and endearments had always come easily to his lips. And yet, the ones he had employed today had seemed subtly different from those he had used when first they met. The way he had spoken to her today, the tenderness she thought she had glimpsed in his eyes, the caring concern he had shown her did not seem to betoken mere flirtatiousness.

  But no! It would be much wiser not to think along such lines. He was simply being kind, offering friendship and support in a difficult situation, and she must be grateful for that and not ask or wish for more. It would be the height of idiocy to begin imagining that he harboured sentiments that did not exist. It would be foolish beyond permission to do so, tantamount to self-flagellation on her part. She must not be such a silly goose as to open herself to the pain of rejection once more.

  But despite her resolution to put a strong guard upon it, she could not prevent her ridiculous heart from swelling a little with hope.

  While Elizabeth was thus occupied, Charles stood stiffly, hands clenched at his sides, facing his sister across the width of Aunt Emily’s bed. “Damn it, Margaret! I tell you, I do not believe I can go through with this! I must have been mad to have agreed to such outrageous chicanery. Lord, never in my wildest imaginings did I ever think that I might one day fall in with any of your cunning machinations!”

  Aunt Emily, propped up against the headboard with a profusion of pillows behind her, turned her worried eyes from Charles to her friend as Lady Langley straightened from where she had been diligently cleaning the layer of pallid maquillage from Emily’s face.

  Lady Langley cast a look of disgust at her brother. “Good God, Charles! This is no time to come over all righteous! You had no such scruples last night when you agreed to this, and it is working beautifully, you must admit. What do you imagine Elizabeth will do if she discovers how we have tricked her before you have had time to win her over? If you think she will remain here in such an event, you are a great nodcock! I wish I may see it! She would leave on the instant and you would be thrown into flat despair again. How else do you propose to keep her here, pray?”

  Charles threw himself into the bedside chair. “Confound it all, I don’t know! But I had not considered how frightened she would be, and I cannot bear to see her so.”

  “ ‘Tis very handsome of you, but I had not thought you to be so pigeon-hearted. You are making a great piece of work over nothing! There is not the least occasion for this nonsensical flight of yours. Elizabeth is not such a frail creature and, in any case, by tomorrow we shall allow Emily to seem much improved. I shall apply a much thinner coat of face paint and on the next day we may not need to use it at all.”

  Charles glanced at Emily’s face with distaste. “Where the devil did you come by that disgusting stuff, anyhow?”

  “Oh,” said Lady Langley, bending to her task once more, “we were used to have frequent amateur theatricals here. They were all the rage, you know. And what a fortunate thing it is that I saved this ‘disgusting stuff,’ but I always knew that I would one day find a good use for it.”

  Charles watched the operation in brooding silence for a moment, then asked, “And what do you suppose will happen if Miss Godwin should forget herself and slip out of character at some point in this charade?”

  “You must call me Aunt Emily, dear boy!” twittered that lady.

  “Oh, I think there is not the slightest danger of such an occurrence,” his sister told him confidently. “It cannot have escaped your notice that Emily has a most amazing talent for acting. I do believe she might have had a career on the stage, had she so desired.”

  Aunt Emily blushed with pleasure. “Indeed, I do think I did quite well, did I not? And truly,
it has been rather diversing, though it is a trifle wearing to pretend to be sleeping for such lengths of time, and I do hope I shan’t be obliged to plunge my hands into that freezing water too often.”

  “No, no! I do not think that will be necessary again,” her friend assured her.

  “Good Lord!” Charles groaned. “I do not believe this! You are both bedlamites, and I have allied myself with you! If Elizabeth should ever discover this, I would not wager a groat on my chances of winning her!”

  “Then you had better work quickly, and bring her to hand before she does discover it, had you not?”

  Charles only groaned again.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  In the morning, Elizabeth visited Aunt Emily before going down to break her fast, and was pleased to find her aunt seemingly improved. She still seemed more weak than Elizabeth could like, but her colouring, while not yet natural, appeared less pallid than on the previous day, though it was difficult to be sure in the subdued light of the room. However, when her niece suggested that the drapes be opened, Aunt Emily became so agitated that Elizabeth did not insist.

  The physician arrived soon after breakfast and was shortly closeted in the bedchamber with Aunt Emily and Lady Langley, and once again Elizabeth was excluded. But though she resented this banishment, she accepted it without demur when the doctor quietly reminded her that Aunt Emily must not be overset.

  And, indeed, she soon got over her pique when Charles appeared, saying, “Come along, my dear. You must leave the good doctor to work his miracles as he sees fit. I am going to introduce you to my ancestors.”

  Without allowing her the opportunity to object, he drew her hand through the crook of his arm and led her to the main wing of the house where the portrait gallery was to be found. Stopping before the first of these, a man who had every appearance of being a rogue, Charles said, “Here you see the gentleman whose namesake I am, Sir Charles Carlyle, the founder of my family. What do you think of him?”

  With the devilish gleam in the eyes of Sir Charles’s likeness fixed upon her, she replied faintly, “Why, he looks quite... quite...”

  “Exactly! He looks like the knavish renegade that he was. A regular thatch-gallows, I believe.”

  “Oh! How can you speak so of an ancestor who was very likely quite blameless?”

  “Easily.” Charles grinned. “It is no more than the truth, and why not? Not all of those fellows who came over with the Conqueror could have been Norman nobles. In fact, I believe Sir Charles received his baronetcy for his part in subduing the natives. And as you may have surmised, his reprehensible ways were passed on to some of his descendants. One of them even managed to lose the title. So you see, I come by my own less than admirable traits quite naturally.”

  Elizabeth blushed. “You are not so bad as that. You are not a...”

  “A thatch-gallows?” He laughed. “Then your opinion of me is not so low, after all. I begin to have hope.”

  She glanced at him askance, but he merely took her arm, saying, “Shall we move on?”

  As they made their way down the line of portraits, Elizabeth lost all sense of time, and it was not long before she knew that Charles was hoaxing her. He told such outrageous tales about every one of them that she began, laughingly, attempting to guess what crime he would attribute to each of his progenitors. She was so diverted, and it was so like past times with him, that it was not until they had almost reached the last of the line that she recalled Aunt Emily.

  With a sudden rush of remorse, she cried, “Oh! What am I about? The doctor must long since have gone, and I must return to Aunt Emily.”

  Charles frowned, but did not attempt to dissuade her and politely escorted her to her aunt’s bedchamber.

  Elizabeth was amazed to discover the doctor still there, alone with his patient, for it had been well over an hour since he had come. Upon her entrance, however, the physician immediately took his leave, and Elizabeth, fearing that his lengthy stay meant that Aunt Emily’s condition had worsened, followed him from the room.

  But when she questioned him, the doctor replied soothingly, “No, no! As I told you, there is no cause for worry so long as she is not permitted to become overly distressed over anything.”

  After assuring him once more that she would not permit such an event, Elizabeth returned to her aunt’s bedside to spend the remainder of the morning with her.

  She had been sitting for nearly an hour, watching her aunt sleep and attempting, rather unsuccessfully, to divert her thoughts from Charles, when Aunt Emily’s eyes fluttered open.

  “You are here, my love?” she breathed. “So good of you. But you must not waste all your time in trying to amaze a sick old lady.”

  “Do not be absurd. Aunt Emily. You are nowhere near to being an old lady. And where else should I prefer to be, if not with you?”

  “I had hoped...”

  “Yes, well!” Elizabeth rushed into the breach. “How are you feeling, dearest?”

  “Much better, my love. I am so sorry to have frightened you so.”

  “Nonsense! Only tell me what I can do to hasten your recovery.”

  Aunt Emily clutched her niece’s hand. “Oh, Elizabeth, do you mean it? For there is something you can do which will make all the difference!”

  With a feeling of dismay, but hoping that her suspicion was wrong, Elizabeth said, “Of course I mean it. Aunt Emily. I would do anything to help you. What is it you wish? Something special to tempt your appetite? Should you like me to read to you? What can I do to make you more comfortable?”

  “Oh, my dear, if you truly wish to make me the happiest of creatures and quickly recoverated, you will marry Charles!”

  The colour drained from Elizabeth’s face, and she could think of nothing to say for a moment, but then, cognizant of her aunt’s delicate condition, and not wishing to worsen that condition, she said gently, “Aunt Emily, I promise you that I would do so if it were possible, but, indeed, it is not. You must know that it is not. Charles—”

  She stopped speaking abruptly as Aunt Emily released her hand and raised her own to clutch at her chest, gasping for breath.

  Elizabeth leapt from her chair and, leaning over her aunt, cried, “Oh, Aunt Emily! I will do anything! I will marry Charles! Only please, please do not die!”

  Aunt Emily heaved a great sigh, and smiled radiantly at her niece. “There!” she exclaimed. “The pain is leaving me now.’’

  Elizabeth sagged with relief and dropped back into her chair as the door burst open and Lady Langley rushed in, demanding, “What has happened? I thought I heard Elizabeth cry out!”

  “Oh, Margaret—” Aunt Emily beamed “—I have the most wonderful news! Elizabeth has agreed to marry Charles!”

  “Excellent! I shall inform him immediately,” said her ladyship, turning to leave the room.

  “No!” cried Elizabeth, reaching out as though to stop her.

  “No?” asked Lady Langley, turning back again.

  “No... that is, perhaps we should not be too precipitate. I mean...”

  “Of course, my dear. I understand perfectly. You will wish to tell him yourself.”

  “Yes, I suppose so,” agreed Elizabeth without conviction.

  “You may find him in the library, my dear, and I shall remain here with Emily while you are gone, so you may take all the time you like.”

  “Oh, but there is no hurry!”

  “Elizabeth?” came Aunt Emily’s voice weakly. “You do not plan to change your mind again?”

  “No, of course not, dearest,” she answered, and seeing the distressed look on her aunt’s face, she submitted to her fate and added, “Very well. I shall go and tell him now.”

  But how on earth was she going to do it? Elizabeth asked herself as she made her way slowly to the library. How humiliating to be obliged to beg Charles to marry her! For all her agonizing, however, by the time she reached her destination, she still had no clear notion of what to say to him.

  As she entered the
room, Charles took one look at her troubled countenance and came to her, taking her hands in his. “What is it?” he asked with concern. “It cannot be your aunt!”

  “No... Well, yes, in a way it is Aunt Emily.”

  He looked annoyed. “What has she done now?”

  “Charles!” Elizabeth exclaimed, shocked at his show of insensibility.

  “No, no!” he declared, attempting to look contrite. “I meant to ask, what has happened to her?”

  “Well, fortunately nothing irreparable. However, I fear that I caused her to become agitated and she very nearly had a set-back. You know that the doctor warned me of it.”

  “Yes, but she is better now?”

  “Yes,” Elizabeth said hesitantly.

  “Then why are you still looking so harrowed?” he demanded.

  Realizing suddenly that Charles had been holding her hands for the past several moments, Elizabeth tried to free them, but he only held them more tightly, and blushing, she lowered her eyes. “Well, you see, I only averted a more serious outcome by...by promising something to her.”

  “And?”

  “Oh, dear. This is so difficult!”

  He was silent for a moment, then asked, “Am I correct in assuming that this promise of yours involves me in some way?”

  Her eyes flashed to his, “Oh, Charles, I tried to tell her that it was impossible, and I know how you will dislike it, but, truly, I could not deny her when she very nearly went into another dreadful spasm, and... and...”

  His lips twitched almost imperceptibly as he said, “Come now, can you not tell me what this promise of yours is?”

  “Will you marry me, Charles?” she blurted out. His eyes seemed to blaze for just an instant with an odd light, but unable to decipher its meaning, she rushed on. “It need not be for very long. As soon as Aunt Emily is well, we can obtain an annulment.”

  He released her hands, crossed his arms over his chest and eyed her with what looked suspiciously like amusement. “An annulment? We shall see. I have not yet accepted your offer, but it seems to me that if I am to help you keep this promise, I should be allowed the privilege of making the decisions regarding this proposed marriage.”