“Were induced by the pleasure of intimacy. There is no other way to explain how I could think myself in love with a man I knew nothing about. However, now that my mother wanted to know the answers, I took more effort to know the count. He complained of my interrogations during our dances, but I persisted. I would have answers to my mother’s questions. I would have justification for the undying love I felt for the man.”
Catherine frowned. “What I discovered was not a man Mother would like. And if I had not been so determined to blindly love him, I would have realized he was not a fellow that I should like either. Instead, I fought with Mother, insisting I was nothing like her, and I did not want a man like my father. I wanted a real man.”
“And what was the character of this real man?” Domnika asked.
“He was completely self-centered. He truly did believe the rest of the world should bend to his pleasure. His word was not good, and his debts often went unpaid until the threat of imprisonment. He found a lie far more interesting to tell than the truth and would put forth ridiculous lies for no reason other than to see if they would be believed. I once followed him out into the garden and saw him with another girl. They were not walking. He did to her exactly as he did to me. It took me several weeks, but eventually I confronted him, and he told me that he had done it for me. She had seen us in the garden and threatened to tell. The only way he could silence her was to compromise her as well.” Catherine shook her head. “And even though I knew he was a liar, I believed him.”
“That’s it,” Domnika said. “I don’t want a season, and I want us to leave now, this very night, to Italy.”
Catherine pulled Domnika into her arms. “Oh Domnika, you are far more rational than any of us. This could never happen to you.”
Domnika pushed her back. “Tell me how you broke free of this man.”
“The truth is, I didn’t. Had the count ever proposed, I would have accepted and been the happiest girl alive. The choice was not mine. Another young lady with an equally fine dowry suddenly became the count’s fiancée, followed by a very fast marriage. Their first child, a little girl, was born three months later. Ten months later, she had her second child, also a girl. I heard last week she died and he has arranged a marriage with another young lady from the season who left at the holidays and never returned. I expect that she will bring a son with her to their marriage.”
“Dear God. He was seducing all these young ladies for a son?” Amy asked.
“He needed a male heir before his thirty-ninth birthday or the estates would be divided between him and his two sisters. He was far too selfish to share. Thus, he had come to the season with a plan to seduce and mate every young girl with a decent dowry and marry the first who proved to be fertile, which he did, never taking a moment to consider what the other young women would do if they also carried his children.”
Catherine looked at them in disgust. “And this is the man with whom I thought myself to be in love with.”
“I’m in agreement, Domnika. We should take heel and run,” Amy said.
“It did not have to be like that. I was much wiser the second time. I interrogated the young men on their opinions and interest early on before I would even allow them to touch my hand. I never agreed to walk in the garden. If I thought there was any danger, I would ask a friend to intercede and declare my mother wished to speak with me. I took great care to protect myself.”
“It was as easy as that?” Amy asked. “Did you not have longings?”
Catherine smiled. “It was not easy, and if Mother had not recognized the truth of what had occurred between the count and me, it would have been impossible.” She leaned in. “Mother told me ways of reducing this passion so that it doesn’t overwhelm me when I am touched by a man.”
“What ways?” Domnika demanded.
Catherine hesitated.
“Catherine, I need to know!” Domnika insisted.
Both Catherine and Amy stared at their friend in surprise.
Domnika refused to explain herself, but her stubborn expression testified that she would not allow Catherine to leave the bench without revealing the information. Thus, with considerable embarrassment, Catherine described the ways she would reduce her passion using her own hand.
When Domnika was satisfied that she understood, she thanked Catherine and then looked back at the Gazebo. “We should return.” She walked off before either had a chance to interrogate her as to why she needed to know this information.
Amy held Catherine back. She suddenly feared she knew the answer and even the thought frightened her. “Catherine, would it be possible for Domnika and I to stay here for a week or two? I would not ask normally but—”
“It would not only be possible, but greatly welcomed,” Catherine assured her. “But will your guardian agree?”
“Frankly, I don’t think I care if he does or not.”
Catherine stared at her friend and then Domnika. “You don’t think he—”
“I hope not, but he’s changed now. Domnika has not been herself since he threw me from the library for a private talk with her.”
“Oh God, poor Domnika! Had I known, I would not have said anything about my troubles.”
Amy gripped her arms, least she run after Domnika and apologized. “Catherine, we don’t know anything did happen, but either way, it was very good for Domnika and I to hear your story. I have recently experience the pleasure of burning hands and had convinced myself I was in love. You have opened my eyes, and I thank you. If something has happened between Nicolas and Domnika, I am certain she thanks you as well. And I will be indebted to you forever, if we can stay here until I can determine our next move.”
Chapter 14
When Catherine suggested Domnika and Amy stay for several weeks, Mrs. Halloway declared it a splendid idea, and assured Gunter and the others they would remain as guests as well.
When Gunter realized she meant that he and the men would be staying in the guest rooms, he baulked. “We don’t require such fine accommodations.”
“I am well aware that you do not require such, Gunter. As soldiers, you endured the worst of accommodations without a care or thought to the matter. There was nothing I could do to alter your hardships back then, but I can certainly do better now. But do not worry. I will not place you in frilly feminine rooms that grate on your nerves.”
Everyone stared at her in surprise.
“How do you know about our current accommodations?” Gunter asked.
Antonio stepped from behind a tree. “Ann does not appreciate my sense of humor.”
Amy smiled at him, and then remembering Catherine’s story, tried very hard not to smile at him.
“Normally, I take great delight in your fine wit,” Mrs. Halloway assured him. “But placing the King’s men in lady’s rooms filled with lace and silk—that is not wit, Antonio; that is cruelty.”
“It’s tolerable once I’m asleep,” Gunter assured her. “But it gives me a fright in the morning when I wake.”
Antonio laughed and placed his arm around Gunter’s shoulder. “And yet not a one of you complained, although I did think Tomas was going to break that first morning.”
Tomas glared at him. “The pillows had feathers—not just inside, but on the outside. My mouth was full of the nasty things when I woke in the morning. I thought for a moment I had eaten a live chicken in my sleep.”
This caused everyone to laugh, including Mrs. Halloway. “Well, there will be no feathers here. In fact, if anyone will have cause to complain, it will be Amy and Domnika, since all the rooms other than Catherine’s, are decidedly masculine.”
“Oh, Amy and Domnika will stay in my room,” Catherine said.
Her mother looked at her as if she had lost her mind.
“It’s a very large bed, Mother.”
“Not big enough for three grown ladies. I’ll have the servants move out the settee and we’ll put a second bed in your room. That should make conditions more comfortable.”
Catherine smiled. “As always, an excellent solution. Thank you, Mother.”
Mrs. Halloway kissed her daughter on the side of her head. “You are most welcome. Now, shall I send a messenger for the girl’s things, or do I have volunteers for the assignment?” She looked directly at Antonio.
He smiled. “Oh, please ma’am, let the valet do it!”
“Excellent. Don’t forget to bring the men’s items as well.”
“Packing for two ladies and four men, I’m going to need help. Brick…Tomas.”
When neither jumped at the offer, Antonio turned it into a threat. “You know, I’m not a very good valet. Always losing things, so if half your trunks fall off the cart, don’t blame me. In fact, allow me to apologize now in advance.”
That was sufficient for Gunter to order them to help. “I’ve no desire to have all my shirts go missing.”
“I wouldn’t complain if that were to happen,” Mrs. Halloway replied and slipped her hand upon Gunter’s arm. “Allow me to show you gentlemen your rooms.” She led them into the house and upstairs.
Chapter 15
Catherine oversaw the changes in her bedroom. The servants removed the settee, a desk, two chairs, three tables, and several lamps. She then had the current bed moved several feet and turned, allowing space for the second bed to be brought in. She had the servants use her second sheets on the additional bed, so they matched the rest of her room.
An hour later, the room looked as if it had always held two beds.
Amy was most impressed. “You are going to make a wonderful mistress of the house.”
“Or a general, that was fine commanding,” Domnika added.
Catherine smiled. “Coming from two very fine generals, I thank you. However, I cannot truly take the credit. Living in this house, I would have had to be very dull-witted not to pick up some talent to command.”
“I envy you.” Domnika lay upon the new bed. “Until Amy came and blackmailed me into reason, I had no one to emulate.”
Catherine laughed. “Trust me. That did not impair your ability to command.”
Amy laughed as well and stroked Domnika’s hair as she sat down beside her. “You were very impressive when I first met you and are even more so now.”
Domnika’s eyes diminished. “I’m not as impressive as you think, Amy.”
Amy pulled her into her arms. “Yes, you are! And nothing is going to defeat us. We are the mighty Lady Generals and no man stands a chance against the three of us.”
“Here, here,” Catherine declared and then smiled. “But let’s not say that in front of Benjamin when you meet him. It might alarm him.”
“Then let him be frightened,” Domnika declared. “For any man should know from the start that injury done to one of us will be paid back threefold.”
“I think it is time I tell you about Benjamin, so you may judge him on his actions rather than his gender,” Catherine said.
Amy was surprised to learn that Benjamin was the suitor she called the wrong name for two months until he gave up his suit. If a young lady could not even be bothered to remember his name, there was little likelihood she would ever come to feel true affection.
“I am most fortunate he renewed his interest later in the season, when most of the other suitors had dropped me, assuming I, as one of the count’s many favorites, was ruined and possibly carrying his child. Had I continued to be distracted with the glib remarks and pretty words, I am ashamed to say I might not have noticed how extremely intelligent Benjamin was. He is not one to attract attention to himself and bray about his achievements.”
She smiled at the girls. “But allow me to do so in his stead. Benjamin entered Oxford at the age of fourteen when his father could find no tutors capable of teaching him. By his second year at the school he had sufficient marks to take his final exam and graduate, but instead, he chose simply to change his subject of focus until finally there was no subject that he had not learned. He was twenty years old and knew the combined knowledge of all the great professors at the school. When they offered him a position at the school, he accepted, since it had been the first place he had truly felt at home.
“To be sure the other students were hard on him when he first arrived, but by helping his fellow students with their assignments, his days of being hoisted and flown on the flag pole stopped. Soon, he had enough fellow students who liked and protected him that he was able to enjoy his life of unlimited knowledge.”
She laughed. “He thought it was unlimited then. Now he stands daily at the edge of knowledge, fighting for new bits to pass down to the students and mankind.”
“In what field?” Amy asked.
“In the field of Physics. It was thought that we knew all there was in physics long ago, but Benjamin and several other scientists around the world are proving that what we believed to be true was rather like when man thought the earth was flat. The science of physics is far more complex and bizarre than our classical laws of physics would suggest. Benjamin believes that we have not yet even begun to understand the truth of our universe and that it could possibly take many lifetimes before we do.”
Amy nodded in agreement. “I like him already.”
Catherine smiled. “I believe you will both like him. He is plain, but very sweet, and what he likes about me most, and the reason why he vied for my attention a second time, was that he thought me the smartest girl in London.” She paused and then frowned. “Perhaps I shouldn’t allow him to meet the two of you until I’ve married him. He will see your brilliance and regret his choice.”
“He would be a fool if he did,” Amy declared. “So, you should let us meet him so we can ferret out if he is a fool or the perfect husband.”
“Mother assured me there is no such thing as a perfect husband. They all have flaws, and some will be considerable. The question you must ask is if this man is a person you could have as a best friend despite his flaws. If the answer is yes, then you have a slim chance for a long, happy marriage. If the answer is no, you’ve no chance at all.”
Amy frowned. “That is hardly encouraging advice. Are you certain she wants you to marry?”
Catherine smile. “She neither encouraged nor discouraged me into marriage, but she did lay out the problems with never marrying, and I chose to take the risk and try for the slim chance of a long happy marriage. Even if the marriage wasn’t happy forever, I would still have some enjoyable years, and given the husband I’ve chosen, even if we later moved apart, I am confident he would neither gamble nor drink away my money, nor would he take up with all the ladies in the ton. The biggest threat to my marriage is that I am unable to learn enough about physics to be of assistance to my husband. Then he will send me home and forget he has a wife at all. At which case, I would be similar to an unmarried woman, but without the constraints and problems.”
“What constraints and problems?” Amy asked.
“Well, society only embraces young ladies into their arms if they are either married, or in the market to be married. Once they determine either by lack of charm, money, or inclination that a young woman does not wish to be married, they shun her as if she has the plague. And even in the society that she still can claim, people will watch her like a hawk, holding her to the ridiculous standards set for young girls. Thus, whenever she travels she must acquire a married woman to accompany her. And if she has the audacity to travel with a man, even in a carriage through town, it will be assumed they are intimate. She dare not be seen with any of her friend’s husbands. And stepping out into the garden, any garden, any time of day, will create a scandal if there is a man within ten feet of her.”
“It sounds like it would be better to marry a man and kill him,” Domnika observed.
Catherine laughed. “That was mother’s conclusion as well. She swore had I married the count that was the first thing she intended to see to.” Catherine paused at their shocked looks. “She was only joking, of course.”
Amy somehow doubted it, but smiled all
the same. “I never knew my mother. Uncle John said from what he knew of her, she was very sweet, and when I was little I always wished she was still alive to help me grow, but now that I have met your mother, I would wish for her instead. She is very grand indeed.”
“And practical,” Domnika observed. “I would have liked her as well.”
“I know. I have been very fortunate in parents. You used to torture me over that very thing Domnika, and no matter how you tried to force me, I would not say my parents did not love me.”
Domnika grimaced. “Do not remind me of the monster I once was.”
Catherine laughed. “You must grant me the right to torture you in return once in a while, now that you are all reformed and wonderful.”
Domnika stroked Amy’s arm. “This is your fault. If you had not befriended me and made me so ‘wonderful’ then Catherine wouldn’t dare tease me of my past sins.”
“Don’t you dare apologize, Amy, for it was a fine thing you did. Not just for Domnika, but for the entire school.”
There jesting was ended as the door opened and servants entered with Amy’s and Domnika’s trunks.
Mrs. Halloway entered as well and sat down beside Catherine on her bed. “Well, this is very cozy. I almost envy you girls. Do you think Gunter would let me move a second bed in with him?”
Amy’s eyes widened to such an extent that Mrs. Halloway doubled over with laughter. “Have no worries, Amy, I’m sure poor Gunter would run from the house at the thought.”
Once she calmed from her self-amusement, she pulled a letter from her pocket. “A letter from your guardian. Let’s see what the man has to say about me stealing his delightful young ladies away, shall we?” She then read the letter aloud.
“Dear Madam Halloway, I am honored by your request to entertain my ward for several weeks. However, it is unfair of me to expect you to entertain Amy’s friend as well. May I suggest you return Domnika so that she can assist Sicily in the preparations of the coming-out party.”
“No” all three girls cried in union.
Love's Betrayals (The Extraordinary Life of Amy Winston Book 2) Page 7