After a sharp rap the door opened and General Cochran strode into the room. He surveyed the bloody clothes and bandages and gave Gerard an assessing look. “Do you want us to send for a doctor?”
“No need. Gordon has done everything I require.”
“In your estimation.”
“I spent a deal of time with the wounded and do know what I am talking about in this case. I will be fine.”
“Very well.” The general turned at the door and looked from one to the other of them. “Carry on.”
The door shut behind him and Chandler once again expelled his pent-up breath. “Do you suppose he heard us?”
“Of course he heard us,” Gerard said. “He’s probably laughing his head off in private.”
”Do you really know what you are about, Gerard?”
“It will be interesting to see if I succeed.” Though what he planned to do he could not say. Was he trying to show courage and merely displaying stupidity? It occurred to him he was trying to win more than Juliet’s hand. He wanted his grandfather’s respect and Nash’s. If he could win Nash over his uncle might be able to control Claude.
Chapter Seven
Juliet had the news from her maid that Gerard had broken open bleeding again. Sophie had said it smugly like she knew everything and Juliet was incompetent. It made her wonder if the girl had gossiped to the other servants about their hasty exit from France. No matter how intimately Juliet had nursed Gerard on the voyage home she felt isolated from him now and worried that he would not confide his hurts to her. But when he appeared in the drawing room before dinner he only moved stiffly, his coat hanging loosely on him as he came to sit next to her.
“What will you do for an encore tomorrow?” she asked. “Get yourself killed?”
“Tomorrow it will rain so there is no possibility of riding.”
“How do you know?”
“Tully told me.”
“Tully? What does he know about weather?”
“I think he is right. The wind is from the east.” Gerard nodded toward the smoking fireplace.
He surprised a giggle from her. Gerard had a sense of humor about everything.
Impelled by an elbow from Helen, Claude crossed the room and grabbed Juliet’s hand, almost dragging her to her feet. The general rolled his eyes and took Helen’s arm to escort her in to dinner. Juliet was disappointed. Until Gerard proved his claim he was still being relegated by protocol to poor relation. Less than a poor relation. A pretender.
But the seating ran counter to her expectations. She had the mountain of Claude on one side and Helen on her other as though they were hemming her in. Gerard was next to General Cochran on her side of the table so that she could hardly see him. Charles was studying Claude and Nash was eyeing Gerard with a dent between his eyebrows. All the Cochran men had it, that mark of concentration between their straight eyebrows. That and the so charming smile just at the corners of the mouth. Claude had a trace of that smile but the rest of his face was different. No one would take him for a Cochran. And it suddenly struck her that possibly he wasn’t one of them. He was large and purposeful, not lithe and graceful like the Cochrans. What if it was Claude who was the pretender?
When Gerard saw her comparing Nash and Claude he shook his head. So he realized it as well yet was subtle enough to warn her off the topic. Helen addressed some comment to her and she snapped her head around when she realized the word wedding ended that sentence.
“What wedding?”
“Yours and Claude’s.”
Juliet dropped her spoon in her soup and the spatter made Helen flinch backward. “There can be no wedding between us.”
“Why not? It has been spoken of in the family for years.”
“Not by me.”
“But you must marry.”
“Why?” Gerard asked.
The general cast him a warning look.
Helen gritted her teeth. “That is what women do.”
Gerard sent Chandler a speaking look.
“Many an heiress has chosen to remain single and in charge of her fortune,” her brother said.
This was not exactly true, Juliet thought. A few heiresses had managed it.
Claude’s face was pink but it may have been the dinner wine. “Someone must manage her affairs.”
“Stop,” Juliet said. “I will not be discussed as though I am not here. Charles can manage my business matters or teach me how to do it. If I ever marry it will be to a man who will not squander my money.” She thought about jumping up and leaving the table but she was hungry and she had not been the one to bring up a totally inappropriate topic at table. Instead she turned her head toward the footman as though the matter was closed and he removed her soup bowl.
Only Helen broached family matters in the presence of the servants and she now seethed at the upshot of opening the wedding item when she might have guessed the discussion would turn nasty. Juliet’s cousin Melanthe and Aunt Emma looked terrified. Jack wasn’t even present. Gerard looked like he was going to say something and she shook her head, nailing him with a threatening look.
“So you are not one to miss the main chance,” Nash said. “You are waiting to see if the imposter will be recognized before you make your decision. My compliments on your agility, my dear.”
Gerard choked on his wine.
General Cochran had gone back to eating but his head came up at this and he stared at his son in disbelief. “This is no time or place for such discussions.”
“I am only trying to settle matters,” Helen whimpered with a good show of tears. Finally it was she who left the table and no one ran after her though both of the other women looked toward the general as though awaiting orders to do so. His brows were as black as thunder but he did not rise and Charles finally had the courage to mention the markets.
Now why had Nash taken the general’s wrath on himself? Was he trying to protect his mother or prevent the weeping display that carried her from the room? Juliet had never liked Nash but had always found his reason sound though often reprehensible. What game was he playing?
When the fruit and nut dishes had finally made the rounds and the women were clearly finished Juliet glanced toward her Aunt Emma who seemed to be in a panic. Then she looked at General Cochran and he gave her a nod. Not Emma but Juliet. It was almost as though he had bestowed the leadership of the household upon her if she wanted it.
“Shall we leave the gentlemen to their port, ladies?” she asked as she slid her chair back. Several footmen leaped forward to assist with the chairs and Juliet led the ladies out. The others went directly to the drawing room but she retreated to her chamber.
Angry voices in Helen’s wing indicated that matriarch’s dresser was paying for the storm at the table. When Juliet got to her room her own maid was nowhere about. Sophie had been far less attentive since the trip to France and Juliet suspected the girl had a beau on the staff. She found her sheet music and went back down to encounter Gerard in the hall.
“How did you escape?” she asked.
“I pulled out these cigars and got drummed out of the room. The general will not permit anyone to blow a cloud in the house.”
“I didn’t know you were given to such a habit.”
“I am not but Tully is. I bought them for him. Walk with me to the stable?”
“You bought them to have an excuse to absent yourself and neglected to correct Great-uncle’s assumption.” In spite of her accusation she laid the music on the hall table and pulled her shawl about her.
He chuckled. “You are a clever girl. Sometimes it’s what you don’t say that is so much more important than what you do say.”
“I agree.”
“Thanks for giving me that warning glare.” He opened the back door for her and picked up a small lantern.
“At least you are capable of taking my meaning from a look. I hope you don’t mean to be out past dark.” Juliet took the lantern from him so that they could link arms.
“
No, of course not. The obvious deduction isn’t always the correct one.”
“Because I balked and you did not leap in to defend me Nash bore the brunt of the General’s anger. Why did he do it?”
Gerard shrugged. “I fancy that was his attempt to lighten the situation.”
Juliet laughed. “It didn’t work. At least Helen is the one in disgrace.”
“Hmm. I‘ll wager she doesn’t warm Grandfather’s bed tonight.”
“I doubt she has warmed it anytime this decade.” She whispered now since they were approaching the stable block and the servants had enough to gossip about.
“I see. I was used to loving parents.”
“So was I.” They glanced around the stalls but the grooms must have been at supper.
“Why do you suppose he married her?” Gerard asked.
“I always thought she had some money but I don’t know that.”
“Somehow I cannot see the general living off a woman. He’d rather starve. I think he wanted more sons.”
“Possibly.” They walked together along the row of half doors still open. Wagram turned away from them to pout in a corner of the stall or so it seemed to her. “You must talk to Charles. I think there is much he never tells me.”
“You should never be compelled to marry and if you chose to, find someone who will let you keep your security.” Gerard dropped her arm to produce a small apple from his pocket.
“I had always though myself trapped.”
Gerard bit the apple noisily. “You have only to say no.”
“What did you say to Wagram to keep him from killing you?”
“I growled at him. Tully told me that might work.”
“The man is a paragon.” Juliet watched as Wagram circled the stall and stretched his neck out to put his lips closer to the apple in Gerard’s hand. “Here let me.” She took the apple and held it in her open palm. Wagram came and took it without hesitation.
“Tully is probably even now mixing old Wagram a bran mash to ease his sore mouth.”
Tully’s head popped out of the next stall down the row. “No I’m not. I’m still mucking. Do you really think you have made your peace with that horse?”
“At least I know how far I can trust him which I can’t say for Helen Cochran.” Gerard held out the cigars.
“Bless you, boy. I didn’t think you would remember. Let’s go outside. If I get caught smoking in here they’ll turn me off without your leave.”
They walked out behind the stall to the area where the grooms cleaned harness. Gerard handed him the lantern and Tully lifted the slide to light his smoke.
Juliet laughed. “Not the most obvious use for a lantern.”
“Does smoke offend you, lady?” Tully asked.
“No, only being kept in the dark.”
Tully led them to a rude bench and Gerard swept it off to make a place for Juliet then sat beside her.
“I suppose you want to know about the battle.”
“I reckon there is little to tell. You could not find Father either.”
“I did look after they patched me up. To tell you the truth with the amount of carnage I could have walked right by him and not recognized him.”
Juliet perceived tears in the old man’s eyes. “I’m sure you did your best.”
“It’s all right, Tully,” Gerard said. ”I’m sorry. You were as close to him as I was.”
“Picked me out of the stews in Plymouth, he did. I hadn’t much of a life before then. We had plans for a horse farm someday.”
“I didn’t know,” Gerard whispered.
“As the wars dragged on he ceased to speak of it. I don’t think he figured to come out of that last battle.”
Gerard nodded. “That was the impression I had.”
“I wish I could have known him,” Juliet said, reaching for Gerard’s right hand and clasping it.
“He would have liked you,” Tully said. “You have spirit like his wife.”
“Thank you, Tully,” Juliet said. “I think if I had to I could be a soldier’s wife.”
* * * * *
Gerard wondered if they were to be relieved of Helen’s menacing presence for the whole evening but she made an entrance after he and Juliet came in and joined the others in the drawing room. That she regarded him with suspicion was evident from her narrowed eyes. She could ask Claude later and discover that Juliet had been missing the same time he had. Looking at her critically Gerard decided she seemed too florid to need the vinaigrette she now clutched.
Juliet took her music to the pianoforte but Helen made a motion with her hand and shook her head. “Please, no music tonight. I have the headache.”
“What do you want to do tonight then?” General Cochran asked.
“Whist. We have not played in ever so long.”
The general rang and had some chairs brought from the dining room. Emma demurred and said she would sew. The table of General Cochran and Helen paired with Juliet and Claude was set up around the central tea table. Chandler took a chair across from Melanthe at the chess table so Gerard was to be Nash’s partner. They sat down opposite each other with a measuring look. “I hope we are not playing for money,” Gerard said as he cut the deck.
“In deference to your poverty we will play for penny points,” Nash conceded.
After two hours of whist Nash and Gerard were the clear winners, sweeping the table again and again. It was as though they could read each other’s minds. Helen and the general were swamping Claude and Juliet but nobody much cared. Gerard was almost sorry to hear the rattle of the tea cart for he did like to play cards and seldom got the chance.
Chandler threw in his last hand and leaned back in his chair. “Now I am the one glad we are not paying for money. Nash and Gerard would have looted us.”
“Where did you get your gift for numbers, Cuz,” Nash asked as he stacked the cards and retuned them to their box.
“There are not so many cards to keep track of. Try counting horses or soldiers when they are all moving about.”
“Do you play any other games?” Nash drawled.
“Chess.”
“Good. We will have a game next time it rains. So what are your other avocations?”
“I am fond of the theater.”
“That’s not a skill we want to cultivate,” Nash said as he took a cup of tea from his mother. “Can’t have an actor in the family. Surely you have some gentlemanly pursuits.”
“I know how to shoot and kill what I hit. Nothing else comes to mind except one.”
“You have us all atwitter,” said Nash. “What do you do well?”
“Of necessity I’ve developed some skill treating wounds and the sight of blood never turns me queasy. I think I could become a fair surgeon.”
“Absolutely not,” General Cochran said as he rose.
Gerard did not even blink. “And that exhausts my repertoire of skills and ambitions. Tell me, Nash, why you are so interested in finding me occupation?”
“It’s not occupation so much as seeing that you don’t embarrass the family. Claude already knows what it means to be a gentleman. But you were raised roughshod in the army. There’s no telling what you might do in polite society.”
Gerard laughed. “I withdraw my objection, then. But I already know how to play cards and drink. What did you have in mind?”
Claude opened his mouth to protest this comment but was interrupted.
“Fencing,” Helen said. “Any gentleman must know how to fence.”
“I don’t think we should tackle that just now,” Nash replied.
“Why not?” the woman demanded.
“Our enterprising cousin was shot in the ribs as he escaped France and neglected to mention it to anyone A fencing lesson will definitely have to wait. I think chess. Tomorrow we begin.”
Gerard pursed his lips to avoid smiling. As the party broke up and he walked toward the outside door Chandler caught up with him. “Now why did Nash let you off the hook?”
> Gerard pushed the door open and they walked around the house toward the rose gardens on the west side. “I come to think he is not half so bad a character as I had at first supposed.”
“No, he must have some ulterior motive for instructing you and almost seeming to accept you into the family.” Charles walked with him and gazed out over the fields where fireflies were lighting up the evening.
Gerard shrugged and felt a twinge. “What puzzles me is why Nash is so complacent now when he seemed on the attack before.”
“I think I know. He had a long session with Great-uncle in the estate office this morning while I was working on the books in the library. Only Old Stand and the immediate lands are entailed. The general can leave the rest of the estate as he pleases including his share of the wool mill, the grist mill and the funds. He and my father were partners in the wool mill. When I come of age I hope to buy him out.”
“That would make more sense really.” Gerard stopped walking and turned to him. “In case one of us does poorly everything won’t be sunk.”
“You would see it that way. How comes it you have more sense than Nash and Claude together?”
Gerard shrugged. “Perhaps the acumen is inherited. The general did not sell out of the funds when they plunged after the battle.”
“How did you know that?” Charles asked.
“Just a guess.”
“In his determination to prop up the national economy he stayed the course and I did as well. We recovered better than ever.”
“If you had the running of your affairs you would not have sold either.” Gerard put his booted foot up on a bench and tried to relax the stiffness in his back.
“It was agreed between us. It was one thing we could do here to support the war effort.”
“You are more a son to him than any of his real sons. It would seem that you should have the running of the wool operation even if he does not mean to sell it.”
Charles nodded. “That does not mean he will hand it over to me. I have no desire to live under his command forever, writing his letters, delivering his orders. I could be replaced by a biddable secretary.”
“And I am used to taking orders and delivering them. I see.” Gerard looked out across the fields and took a deep breath. “Perhaps Nash is waiting.”
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