Gayle Buck

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by The Hidden Heart


  Lady Caroline lifted her napkin briefly to her lips to hide her smile. She had never before known her brother to express concerns over an inn’s housekeeping. It was but another example of the ascendancy of Lady Eddington’s quiet and pervasive influence over him. She dropped the napkin back to its place. “Indeed, Ned! Then I shall bid you and Lady Eddington a good journey this evening, for though I am usually a prompt riser, I might yet miss your departure if it is to be so very early. Or worse still, come upon you and Lady Eddington just as you are stepping up into the carriage. I do so dislike hurried farewells, as you know.”

  “Oh, indeed! The Earl of Walmesley could well testify to that,” Mrs. Burlington said.

  Lady Caroline did not acknowledge her aunt’s interjection and she hoped that her brother and sister-in-law had not heard it, or, if they had, that neither would understand the allusion. In an effort to cover the awkward moment, she smiled at Lady Eddington and inquired, “Shall I request the usual coffee to be served in the drawing room, my lady, or do you have a preference for something else?”

  Instantly Lady Caroline knew that she had erred.

  Lady Eddington’s eyes flashed and her voice was considerably chillier than it had been before. “Thank you for your kind consideration, Lady Caroline. However, I think that I shall relay my preferences myself.” She beckoned the footman in attendance and spoke to him quietly.

  A short laugh sounded from across the table. Lady Caroline did not need to glance at her aunt’s face to know that that lady was wearing a malicious expression. Indeed, she had put her foot well into it, and as clumsily as the most awkward of debutantes, Lady Caroline thought resignedly.

  After Lady Caroline’s unintentional blunder in taking to herself the precedence reserved for the mistress of the house, the remainder of the evening was decidedly less convivial than it might have been. Lady Caroline excused herself soon after the coffee was served, saying that she was unaccountably tired and so she would retire early.

  Lord Eddington looked upon his sister’s exit from the drawing room with alarm, not wanting to be left without what he perceived as Lady Caroline’s protection from Mrs. Burlington’s caustic tongue. He instantly took his sister’s declaration as his own cue. He reached for his wife’s hand and pressed her fingers. “The hour is not so far advanced, but I know that you also must be wanting to retire, my lady. And so should we both, for it shall be an early morning.”

  “Quite so, my lord,” Lady Eddington said, agreeing at once. “I should like to see how the packing is progressing too.”

  Mrs. Burlington pursed her mouth as Lord Eddington politely bade her good night. “I am not as easily readied for my pillow. The nights have become very indifferent for me and so I shall sit up yet awhile. You shall undoubtedly be gone before I rise, I am certain, so I shall say good-bye tonight.”

  Lord and Lady Eddington acknowledged the farewell and exited the drawing room to make their way upstairs.

  * * * *

  There was a knock at Lady Caroline’s bedroom door. A soft voice said, “May I come in, Lady Caroline?”

  Lady Caroline realized with incredulity that her sister-in-law stood outside in the hall. She hesitated, for it had been a long and most emotional day. She certainly did not feel equal to the task of entertaining anyone at that hour, and particularly her sister-in-law after so stupidly giving offense by taking on the office of hostess. But Lady Caroline also felt constrained, by the strict social code in which she had been reared, not to send Lady Eddington away.

  She gestured dismissal to her maid, who quietly went away to her adjoining sleeping closet. “Enter,” Lady Caroline said, turning toward the door.

  Lady Caroline waited until Lady Eddington entered the room and closed the door before she spoke. “Yes, my lady?”

  Lady Eddington advanced across the carpet. Her angelic blue eyes were fixed unwaveringly on Lady Caroline’s face. “Forgive me if I have chosen an odd time to hold conversation with you, Lady Caroline. But I felt it imperative that I speak privately with you before our departure in the morning. I wished to discuss the interview that Lord Eddington had with you earlier today. He was naturally most distressed that he gave offense to you.”

  “I see. Am I to take it, then, that you have designated yourself as my brother’s deputy?” Lady Caroline asked quietly.

  Lady Eddington regarded her for a short moment. “I think you know all too well that his lordship relies on others in that capacity, my lady. Just as you were his deputy in administering this estate while he was in London and abroad, so am I here now on his behalf. However, in this instance, I am acting as much for myself as I am for Lord Eddington.’’

  Lady Caroline regarded the countess for a silent moment. Then she gestured to the wing chair in front of the fire. “Pray forgive my lapse of courtesy. Will you not be seated, Lady Eddington?”

  Lady Eddington smiled and seated herself, even as Lady Caroline took the opposite chair. “I am glad that you have granted me this time, Lady Caroline. After I heard what had passed between Lord Eddington and yourself, I was not at all certain of my reception at your hands. You had every right to your anger. So would I have felt if someone, especially one whom I loved, had suggested that I leave my childhood home.”

  “It was put to me in an intolerable fashion, otherwise I do not think that I would have responded in such a way. That is not my usual style,” Lady Caroline said shortly. She misliked to be reminded of her regrettable lapse of control by Lady Eddington, for though the lady was her sister-in-law, she was still very much a stranger.

  “So I thought, which is why I have taken it upon myself to come to you,” Lady Eddington said. She hesitated a moment, her speculative gaze upon Lady Caroline’s careful expression. “It is not my direct wish that you remove from Berwicke Keep, Lady Caroline, and I do apologize for my own defensiveness this evening. However, I shall not disguise from you that I should prefer to be the only mistress in residence. That circumstance would be of such help to my being able to establish a proper relationship with the household staff.”

  “You are brutally honest, my lady,” Lady Caroline said quietly. She managed to summon up a small smile.

  “I did not believe that you would respect less,” Lady Eddington said.

  That elicited a reluctant laugh from Lady Caroline. She regarded her sister-in-law with a degree of warmth that had not been present a moment before. “Indeed, I would not. In return, I shall be equally frank. It would pain me to leave Berwicke behind, but I do not think it will crush me to do so. My childhood memories are here, and in recent years, too, I have called Berwicke home. However, I have thought very recently that I have stayed overlong. I did not see it in the beginning, as I accepted more and more of the responsibility for the estate, but I realize now that my brother has become too dependent on me.” She paused a moment before she smiled at her companion. “There are other reasons why I stayed, of course, but time has a way of showing one that some reasons become outdated and should be discarded.”

  Lady Eddington regarded her for a long moment. “I shall not ask you now what you mean. I do not think we are such good friends that I may do so. However, it is my hope that I shall one day be able to call you ‘sister’ in all truth.”

  “As do I,” Lady Caroline said. She hesitated, then said, “I wish to ask you a most telling question at this time, my lady. Do you indeed love my brother?”

  A flash crossed Lady Eddington’s eyes. “Do you doubt it, then, my lady?”

  “Perhaps I wish only to hear it from your own lips.’’ Lady Caroline held up her hand, palm out. “Pray do not take offense, Lady Eddington. It is only that your manner has surprised me. You see, I recall you during your visit here with your stepmother as a retiring young woman, seemingly uncertain and untried. You gave no indication then of the purpose that I see in you now.” She did not say so, but she was also curious how Mrs. Burlington might fare once she herself was no longer at Berwicke Keep.

  Lady Eddington sm
iled. “That puzzles you greatly, no doubt. It is easily explained, Lady Caroline. My stepmother was not one to encourage any expression of opinion but her own. I discovered that it was much easier to get what I wanted when I played the mouse that she wished me to be. Do you find that reprehensible?”

  “I know only that I could not have done the same,’’ Lady Caroline said, thinking of her own girlhood and her constant struggles to deter her aunt’s encroachments. She thought now she could understand how Mrs. Burlington could have been led to believe that in Lady Eddington she had discovered a malleable and powerful ally.

  Lady Caroline looked at her sister-in-law and said slowly, “My mother was generous and loving to a fault. She was made unhappy when others whom she loved took advantage of her good nature. Whenever it happened, she chose not to acknowledge it so that her unhappiness would not spoil the way that she looked upon the world. I was not made from the same mold, which is perhaps why my aunt and I clash so frequently. I prefer to face my world as I find it and deal with whatever circumstances are given me.”

  “Whereas Lord Eddington prefers to believe in all that is good and turns a blind eye to the imperfections,” Lady Eddington said, nodding. “Yes, that explains much that I had wondered about. In answer to your question, Lady Caroline, I do love your brother. More than you could possibly guess, for I shall do everything possible to enable him to continue to believe in the good nature of the world. It is his weakness and his flaw, but I find it an endearing quality as well, and I will not willingly see it destroyed.” Unspoken and yet understood was Mrs. Burlington’s name.

  “You have greatly relieved my mind, Lady Eddington,” Lady Caroline said. She smiled in earnest and stretched out her hand. “I could not have asked for a better wife for my brother.”

  Lady Eddington joined her hand to Lady Caroline’s for a brief moment. “Thank you, Lady Caroline.’’ She rose and walked to the door. Before she opened it, she said over her shoulder, “Lord Eddington has told me that you were greatly courted once. It is a pity that you did not find a suitor to your liking.” One last swift glance from those deceptively mild blue eyes was bestowed upon Lady Caroline before the countess quietly left the bedroom.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Lord and Lady Eddington left Berwicke Keep shortly after dawn.

  Lady Caroline, rising an hour or so later, was not altogether disappointed to have missed their departure. She was grateful to have some peaceful time to herself before her next discordant meeting, for she had not forgotten that she had granted an interview to Lord Hathaway for the same morning.

  Lady Caroline sighed over the teacup she had lifted.

  “My lady, do you wish anything else?”

  Lady Caroline glanced down at the virtually untouched plate that she had pushed aside. She shook her head. “I have no appetite this morning, Simpson.” Shortly thereafter she left the breakfast room.

  Lord Hathaway presented himself promptly at eleven o’clock.

  Lord Hathaway knew that Lady Caroline was not one to sleep until luncheon. He knew, of course, that Mrs. Burlington would not yet be downstairs, since that lady was of rather indolent habits in the morning, and so he expected to find Lady Caroline alone. He was not mistaken.

  Lady Caroline received Lord Hathaway in the drawing room. She awaited him standing near the settee, appearing elegant in an ivory day dress trimmed in brown velvet ribbons. As she took note of Lord Hathaway’s austere expression, she was glad that neither her aunt nor her brother would be privy to this meeting. In particular, she was glad that Lord Eddington had already left and therefore would not be informed of an interview that she suspected must be uncomfortable at best.

  She held out her hand to his lordship in a civil fashion. “Lord Hathaway.”

  Lord Hathaway bowed over her fingers in an excruciatingly correct manner. He did not linger over the salute as had formerly been his wont, but released her hand at once. “My dear lady, you appear in looks this morning.’’

  Lady Caroline thanked him quietly for the compliment. She gestured to the wing chair opposite her own. “Pray be seated, my lord. Would you care for refreshment?”

  “No, nothing.” Lord Hathaway settled heavily into the chair, being careful to spread his coattails before he sat down.

  Lady Caroline nodded to Simpson that he could leave them alone. The butler did so with an unusual show of reluctance, but the door eventually closed and Lady Caroline and Lord Hathaway were left staring at one another.

  Lord Hathaway cleared his throat. “I have come this morning to state my thoughts to you, my lady, upon the unfortunate incident that occurred in this very room a few days ago.” He paused to wait for her encouragement, but Lady Caroline merely lifted a slender brow.

  Lord Hathaway puffed out his cheeks in faint annoyance that his hostess apparently did not mean to make the thing any easier for him. “I shall come to the point, my lady. I have come to apologize for my behavior and to beg your forgiveness. I might have done so earlier, on that very day, but for the unexpected interruption that we suffered. Lord Trilby’s surprising appearance, however, put all such noble thoughts to flight. I assure you, it was not my intention to put either of us in such an ignoble position.”

  Lady Caroline saw that Lord Hathaway was not suffering embarrassment over making his apology to her, but rather his lordship was feeling the still-ripe indignation that he had been found in such awkward and questionable circumstances. Therefore her response was drier and far less conciliatory than she had originally intended. “Your lordship’s apology is acceptable to me, for what it is worth. However, I do not believe that I shall be able to return to our old friendly ways, my lord. It was made painfully obvious to me, through the incident that you have referred to, that your lordship has not taken in a serious light anything I have tried to impress upon you these last months. I ask, therefore, that you do not consider yourself as my admirer in any regard, for I shall not receive you as such.”

  Lord Hathaway stared at her in a disbelieving way. He could scarce credit his ears. He had difficulty containing his feelings, and his voice reflected his internal struggle. “Am I to understand that you will no longer receive me, my lady?’’

  “Not at all. Of course you will be welcomed at Berwicke as a good friend and neighbor, as always. I think what I am trying to convey to you, my lord, is that I will not entertain any longer your determined suit,” Lady Caroline said quietly.

  She gestured gracefully, regretfully, with her hand. “I trust that I do not give you pain, my lord, but—”

  “Pain!”

  Lord Hathaway’s heavy countenance flushed dull red. The tenor of his voice was colored with outrage. “My dear lady, you greatly overrate your power over my heart! I am not so much pained as I am incensed by your selfish arrogance. I have taken care to illustrate to you the advantages of a marriage between us. I have endured your coquettish reservations, believing they were but the product of an unordered mind and would with time dissipate. I have proved to you, albeit in circumstances that in retrospect proved highly embarrassing to myself, that I am capable of harnessing your deplorable waywardness. I do not believe that I deserve this flippant dismissal.”

  Lady Caroline was taken aback by his lordship’s unexpected and full-blown wrath. It was borne in on her suddenly that Lord Hathaway was incensed because she apparently regarded him in a lesser light than he did himself. She had not intentionally set out to insult him, and so she tried to minimize the blow. “Your pardon, my lord! I had no notion that you felt so strongly. Believe me, I do not regard you with the least degree of flippancy.”

  Lord Hathaway was not to be mollified. His ego had been cut to the quick. He got up from the chair to take a hasty turn about the room.

  Lady Caroline watched his perambulations with astonishment as she realized that his lordship was operating under the influence of more powerful emotions than she would have believed him capable of sustaining. Perhaps she had misjudged him to a slight degree.

/>   “My lady, I must tell you! Yes, I feel that I now have no alternative but to be brutally frank with you.” Lord Hathaway turned to face her, and for the first time in their acquaintance he seemed to regard her with dislike. “Lady Caroline, I am aware that you do not often go to London or entertain extensively. I have observed that you do not have a court of several gentlemen about you, despite your beauty and birth and portion. I had thought myself eminently positioned to win your hand, in part because there was no one else to rival me. In short, my lady, I represent your one and your best opportunity to escape the fate of spinsterhood.’’

  Lady Caroline rose in her turn. The sympathy she had felt for his lordship evaporated. His discourse was beyond what she would tolerate. She said coolly, “I think that will do, my lord. My fate is my concern. What I make of it is also my concern.”

  “Ah, if I but had the handling of you, my lady—”

  “But you do not, nor ever shall,’’ Lady Caroline said. Now at last there was the glitter of temper in her eyes. She went to the bell rope and tugged it. “I shall bid you good day, my lord.”

  The door to the drawing room opened instantly and Simpson stood waiting, his expression inscrutable.

  Lord Hathaway recognized that unless he wished to make a scene, he had no choice but to make his adieus. He bowed stiffly and stalked out of the room.

  Lady Caroline did not watch him go, but walked to the window, which framed an autumn day that appeared as bleak as her feelings.

  The butler closed the door softly, leaving her to her thoughts.

  Lord Hathaway had scarcely departed the house when Lord Trilby rode up to the door. The earl cast a glance after the rolling carriage and his brows knit thoughtfully. He bounded up the front steps to use the brass knocker, and was swiftly admitted.

  “Is Lady Caroline in, Simpson?” he asked, handing over his low beaver and crop.

  “Indeed she is, my lord. You will find my lady in the drawing room,” Simpson said. “I shall see that your horse is attended to, my lord.”

 

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