“Eleanor, what ever is wrong? You look like you have seen a ghost!” he exclaimed, as he came forward and grabbed both of her hands in his.
“I…I am perfectly fine,” she lied. “Did you see Sir Percy?” she asked to change the subject.
“He has left, the cad. You are right. He had no intention of offering for you. His cousin did not know when he planned to return. She was surprised we knew about his betrothal, but I was very diplomatic about the whole thing. I just told her to tell him you no longer needed his assistance with anything, and to give your congratulations to him concerning his coming marriage. That should let him know the gig is up and he no longer should bother you again.”
“Oh Teddy, this is all so awful. You must help me find some position…”
“Never, Eleanor. You should not have to work. Perhaps the merchant marine is not as bad as we assumed. Why don’t you wait until you have met him at least.”
“No…no. I don’t want to meet him. I don’t want to get married to anyone, least of all him. It was silly of me to even consent to go out with Sir Percy. I have learned my lesson. Men cannot be trusted. I would rather die an old maid then trust myself to any man!”
“Don’t let this unfortunate affair put you off men all together, Eleanor. Not all men are villains, you know.”
“It doesn’t matter. I…I…can’t bare to think of marrying now,” Eleanor insisted.
“You are just distraught from this experience. You will get over it in no time. Wait until you have met Sebastian Brentwood, and then make up your mind,” he encouraged.
“No…I don’t think that would make any difference,” she said in a choked voice. “My experience with Sir Percy has destroyed any hope I may have ever had…” she didn’t finish.
“What did Percy do to make you feel this way? You weren’t in love with the cad, were you?” Teddy questioned, tightening his hold on her hands.
“No…of course not. It was only that he built up my hopes pretending that my position did not make a difference to him. He claimed he was willing to offer for me, in spite of the fact I had no money and no real name. I…I thought because he was so willing to accept me, we would do well together, and then this. I am a terrible judge of character, Teddy. I could not trust my heart, to any man again.”
“You should go up and rest. There is still a few weeks before you have to meet the man. Perhaps by then you will have settled down. After all, you only went out with Sir Percy once. That could not make such a huge difference.”
Eleanor shook her head, as he released her hands. Only once, she thought, and it had made a huge difference. She would never be the same again. She turned and went into the house, as Teddy walked beside her. She would have to think of something. Three weeks was not very much time.
**********************
Sir Percy, pulled his carriage into the drive of his cousin’s townhouse almost two weeks later. He hoped that everything would be worth it in the end. It wasn’t quite what he had hoped for, but at least he was able to break off his pending engagement to Glenda, and persuade his uncle to pay off his debts, but the exchange was that he would over see his uncle’s factory in London, which meant he had lowered himself to the working class, and would have to work off his debt to his uncle now. But at least it would set him free to continue his plans of marrying Eleanor, and he would not have to work forever. His uncle was getting up in age, and if he didn’t at least pay off the debt in a few years, he would inherit his uncle’s fortune eventually.
Uncle Milton had decided it would be good for Percy to learn the business anyway, since he was to inherit, and this was a good way to assure that Percy keep his nose to the grind stone. In the end, they were both pleased with the outcome. But it caused Percy to stay away longer than he had planned. He hadn’t realized that there would be so much involved to take care of his future. He only hoped he could pick up with Eleanor right where he had left off. He was anxious to call on her, as soon as he had a chance to rest and get his wits about him in order to offer for her hand the way he had promised.
“Well hello, dear cousin,” Brenda smiled, when he entered the hall. “Did you have an enjoyable trip?”
“Not as enjoyable as I was hoping, but at least I accomplished my business,” he told her.
“You had a visitor, while you were away, and it wasn’t Dutton.” She smiled mysteriously.
Percy raised his eyebrows. Who else would come calling, he wondered. He hadn’t made a lot of friends here yet, since this was his first visit, since his cousin Brenda had moved out here. “And just who called?” he asked, as he strolled into the sitting room and sprawled onto the settee.
“A Sir Theodor Belington. He returned your coat, he said you loaned to his cousin Eleanor. He said to tell you that Eleanor would no longer have need of your assistance in anything in the future, and to give you her congratulations on your pending marriage to Glenda. I am surprised you mentioned it to someone you barely knew, Percy.”
Percy sat still staring at her. How did Eleanor discover it? Dutton must have told her, he thought angrily. Dutton had been piqued that Eleanor had turned down his advances, and he had not gotten over it. That was the motivation behind the wager in the first place. It would be just like him to try and spoil Percy’s chances with her. He would have a thing to say to Dutton the next time he saw him. He had told him to keep quite about it, but Dutton knew of his desire to marry Eleanor and perhaps he decided to get back at him over the Hunter, in spite of the fact that he had returned the horse to Dutton. What other rumors had Dutton spread around, he wondered. He would talk to Eleanor and deny it, he decided. He should have known Dutton could not be trusted.
“I had only mentioned it to Dutton,” Percy mumbled. “I fear he broke my confidence. But the fact is, I am not going to marry Glenda after all.”
“You aren’t? I thought you needed her money to…”
“Never mind about that. We are not going to marry. I am going to wring Dutton’s neck for spreading that information, though,” he said angrily.
“But Sir Theodor told me that you had confided the fact of it to his cousin and she had neglected to give you her good wishes. I invited them over to visit when you returned, thinking that if you confided in her, you must be close friends, but he claims that his cousin is to marry someone who is taking her away, and he does not know you that well himself. Such a pity, because he was a striking looking gentleman. I would have liked to get to know him better. You wouldn’t be willing to invite him over anyway, would you? I told him you might wish to extend a friendship to him, just in case.”
“I…I don’t understand. Where is the jacket? I left my wallet in it and…” Percy did not complete the sentence. The letter. The letter from Glenda was in his coat pocket. He had received it in the morning post just before he had started out to pick Eleanor up. She must have found the letter.
“It’s in your room,” Brenda told him, and raised her eyebrows when Percy stood up abruptly and pushed past her out of the room without another word.
When he reached his room, he went straight to where the jacket was laid across his bed. He felt in the pocket where he had left the letter, but it wasn’t there. His brows began to pull together in concern, as he lifted his wallet out of the same pocket he had left it in, and as he opened the wallet, the letter fell out. She had put it in his wallet on purpose to let him know she had read it, he thought. What ever must she think of him, after he had compromised her the way he had, and then she read that he was about to marry someone else. He would have to explain it to her. Once he told her the trouble he had gone to in order to break the promise off to Glenda, and lower himself to working status, surely she would forgive him. After all he was still going to offer for her, if she would agree to have him.
Percy forgot how tired he had felt. He turned and bolted out the door and down the hall, running around back to retrieve the carriage again. In a few minutes he was heading up the front steps to Eleanor’s house. He had ba
rely reached the top step when the front door opened and Teddy stepped out. Teddy stopped abruptly and gave Percy a scathing once over.
“What are you doing here?” he asked gruffly. “You are the last person I expected to see. Didn’t you get my message?”
“Yes. I did, but there has been a misunderstanding. I mean about me marrying Glenda Millburn. I am not marrying the woman after all.”
Teddy looked down his nose at Sir Percy, having a hard time believing him. “So you just offer yourself to women right and left and then break it off, and offer to another? Even if you managed to brake it off with Miss Millburn, it is all the more reason not to trust you,” Teddy informed him.
“I believe that should be up to Eleanor. Where is she? I need to talk to her. At least to apologize if nothing else. It is only decent that you give me that opportunity.”
“I am sorry, she is not in. In fact, no one knows where she actually is. I was on my way out to see if I could hunt her down.”
“Could I come with you? I fear I have done her an injustice, and must throw myself on her mercy.”
“It is no use. She claims she shall never trust men again. My uncle is at his wits end trying to convince her to marry Sebastian Brentwood. I think he is about to tie her up and perform the marriage against her will if necessary.”
“Oh, please do not allow him to do that. I am still willing to offer for her if she will have me.”
“That may be so, but at this point, I would rather see her married to Sebastian Brentwood, than you. At least we know he is not planning to marry someone else, while he is offering for my cousin’s hand.”
“I had not expected to be so affected by your cousin, when I agreed to come calling. I was just going to…”
“Oh, I know what you were just going to do,” Teddy spat. “I know your kind, I have talked to Dutton since, and it seems you are in debt up to your eyebrows, and that is why you had intended to marry Glenda. I would not put anything past you, Sir Percy. Even if you had a change of heart about taking advantage of Glenda, no telling what you may do next.”
“Trust me, I believe that I love your cousin,” Percy admitted.
“But you are in debt, and she has no money. What do you expect to accomplish by marrying her?”
“I have gotten out of debt, and plan to oversee my uncle’s factory. I lowered myself to working for a living, in order to marry your cousin, but when my uncle dies, I will inherit his estate, and Eleanor can begin to live like she has been accustomed to all these years, then.”
Teddy looked at Sir Percy, with a sneer. “Lowered yourself to the working class, huh?” he chuckled. “What love won’t do. Come along then, but I don’t know what good it is going to do you. I doubt that Eleanor will even see you, let alone listen to your professions of love. We will take my carriage. Looks like your grays are tired.”
“Yes I have just returned from my uncles home, but when my cousin told me about your visit, I had to see Eleanor immediately. By the way, my cousin, Brenda, was quite taken by you. She wants me to become friends to you in order for her to get to know you better.”
“After this fiasco, I doubt that we will become fast friends,” Teddy said, “but give your cousin my regards. She seemed rather nice.”
“I cannot impress upon you how terrible I feel about all this,” Percy insisted, as they climbed up in the carriage together. “Where do you think your cousin might be?” he asked, as Teddy whipped up the horses and started out of the drive.
“I have no idea. That is the problem. Ever since she discovered you were to marry Glenda Millburn, she has been acting very erratic. If she is not shutting herself up in her room, she is slipping out and wondering off to no telling where. My father is quite worried about her, only I blame it on him for starting all of this in the first place. It is not Eleanor’s fault that she was born who she was, or that my grandfather took in her father as a child.”
“I fear part of it is my fault. I should have waited until I had sorted things out with Glenda before saying I would offer for Eleanor’s hand, but I couldn’t help myself. I think I fell for your cousin the moment I kissed her in the garden that night, and now I have made a mess of everything.” Percy realized it was not only the fact that he had offered prematurely, but that he had taken her virginity away, and she would never forgive him for that, if he did not make it right and marry her like he promised to do.
“She usually comes home after a few hours, but she has been gone most of the day, and did not come home for lunch,” Teddy informed Percy with worried eyes, as he looked down the street in both directions, hoping to find her on her way home. “I hope she has not done anything drastic. She had a terrible falling out with father this morning about her marrying Sebastian Brentwood. She wants nothing to do with him, or any man, for that matter. You are right. This is a mess.”
Percy began scanning the streets as well, his heart falling as he realized how desperate she must be feeling, knowing that if she married Sebastian, he would discover she was no virgin, and perhaps lose respect for her as a wife. No telling how he may respond to it, and it was all Percy’s own fault.
*********************
Despite the fact that Eleanor did not want to marry Sebastian Brentwood, she feared that her uncle may force her hand somehow, and so she decided that if she was forced to marry the man, she needed to learn things about him first. She wanted to discover if he was an honest man, or a harsh person. She knew he was successful and wealthy. She had also learned that he was an American. But that told her nothing about his true character. The only way she was going to learn the truth about who he was, would be to talk to people who knew him and would be willing to talk to her about him, and that would not be easy unless she found a way to get acquainted with those who knew him.
Who better to talk to than those who worked for him, she thought. But to do that she would need a disguise and be able to make friends with the men who worked for him without them suspecting she had anything to do with him.
Therefore, she had taken on the persona of a flower girl, down by the docks, offering her wears, which were cut from her uncle’s hothouse. Each day she would sneak away and spend a few hours on the wharf talking and joking with the men who worked on Sebastian’s ship. She had already made friends with a young lad who was talkative and liked to flirt with her, but through the flirting, she was learning quite a lot about Sebastian Brentwood.
Ned was a nice looking young man. His skin was darkened by the sun and weathered by the sea, but he had a happy smile on his face when ever he saw Eleanor, whom he knew as Rose. His brown hair was streaked with highlights caused by the sun, and his build was muscular from lifting heavy cargo and climbing ropes. He had a swagger, when he walked, and always acted overjoyed when she came to visit with him.
Rose was about the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, and though she spoke in the street language of the lower class, every once in awhile, he noticed a cultured note to her voice, and this always surprised him. She must have had some form of education at one time or another, he thought to himself, and then her family must have fallen on hard times and she forgot her cultured ways. But she was always willing to stop and talk with him and he was happy to have her company. He always bought flowers from her, even though he had no woman to give them to, but he felt sorry for her plight.
She seemed to be so interested in things about the sea and the sailing of the ship. She asked questions about what he did on board and where the ship sailed to. She wanted to know about the cargo and the captain and the owner of the ship. It was like she could not get enough information about everything concerning the ship. At first he chalked it up to idle curiosity, but the more questions she asked the more he realized that she really was interested in the answers he gave her, and this made him feel important. He wondered if maybe she was thinking of stowing away on board in order to have an adventure and get away from her apparent poverty. If that was the case, he would gladly help her do it, he thought.
“How long have you worked for Sebastian Brentwood?” Eleanor was asking, as she and Ned sat on a large cargo box waiting to be loaded onto the ship with a hoist.
“Well I really work for the captain,” Ned told her, “but Mr. Brentwood is very particular, he is. He runs a strict business, and makes a point to check up on his interest, when we are in port, so‘s we have to keep on our toes, in you know what I mean. Sometimes he sails with us, and when that happens everyone is on special alert making sure they don’t break none of the rules. Especially the captain, because Mr. Brentwood demands a tight running ship. He has very strict rules, you understand.
“He started out as a captain, at a young age, you know, and then eventually was able to buy his ship and build his fleet. At his age, that is quite a feat. He is only twenty nine, but he’s been sailing since he was a lad, I hear, since his father was a captain himself. He knows the sea, better than any man, and he knows how to make men toe the line on a cargo ship. Fact is, he came with us this time as well, though he will not be going back with us, seeing as hows I believe he plans to get married soon and wants to get acquainted with his intended wife for the next year.”
“That is very interesting,” Eleanor smiled. “Is he a harsh man?”
“He’s stern. Never gives in, but he is not cruel. He is fair if you do your work, but if not, I would not want to get on the bad side of him,” Ned admitted.
“Where did he meet the woman he plans to marry?” Eleanor asked, wondering how much his workers knew about his pending marriage.
“No telling. He has a woman in every port. He is a real lady’s man, if you know what I mean. I’m just that surprised that he is even settling down. The man has the looks and he has even taken a woman or two on different voyages with him. I never thought him to be the marrying kind, though. What with life on the sea, it is sort of difficult to have a family, but since he owns the fleet, he doesn’t have to sail if he chooses not to.”
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