Frederica

She did not believe it, nor would she have been surprised to have learnt that Charis was at the moment seated on a bench in a secluded part of Kensington Gardens, between her brother and her lover, agitatedly telling Endymion of her conviction that they were to be for ever parted.

‘I wish you will stop talking such flummery!’ said Harry. ‘I’ve told you a score of times that nobody can part you for ever!’

‘Couldn’t do it for ever,’ agreed Endymion.

‘Once I am imprisoned at Alver –’

‘Ay, that’s the worst of it!’ said Endymion, his brow darkening. ‘Devilish shabby trick, I call it! Shouldn’t wonder if it was a plot: devilish clever fellow, Alverstoke, up to all the rigs! Y’know, I haven’t been easy in my mind since he told me not to be quite so particular in my attentions. Amiable enough, but giving me the office – that’s what I thought! I was right, too. Well, what I mean is, might have seen you at Ramsgate, but not at Alver. Everyone knows me down there, and you may lay your life some snitcher would tell Alverstoke, if I was to show my nose within ten miles of the place!’

‘And when we leave Alver, you will have been sent on a dreadful mission, and Frederica will drag me back to Graynard!’

‘Not if he’s been sent off on a mission,’ interposed her more practical brother. ‘Now I come to think of it, she couldn’t do it in any event: she hired the place to Porth for a twelve-month.’

‘Harrogate, then – so that Felix may drink the waters!’ said Charis bitterly.

‘She might do that,’ Harry admitted.

‘I shan’t go on a mission,’ suddenly announced Endymion. ‘I shall sell out. Nothing my cousin can do to stop me. What’s more, once I’ve done it, there’s nothing anyone can do to stop me marrying Charis!’

‘But I am under age,’ said Charis sadly.

‘Ay, that’s the devil of it! And when I think of having to wait for two whole years, and very likely not being given the chance even to see you – well, it’s enough to drive one to the Border! Not that I would!’ he added hastily, and with an apprehensive glance at Harry. ‘Too ramshackle by half!’

‘Oh, no! I couldn’t do such a shocking thing! Perhaps, if Frederica realises that we are unalterably determined – But she won’t give her consent! I know she won’t!’

‘Just a moment!’ interrupted Harry, sitting up with a jerk. ‘Lord, why didn’t I think of that before? By Jupiter, I have it!’

Two anxious faces were turned towards him; Charis said breathlessly: ‘You have what, dearest?’

‘You don’t need her consent: nothing to do with her!’ Harry said, his eyes sparkling with mischief. ‘She’s not your guardian: I am!’

Twenty-seven

It was surprising, Frederica thought, how much benefit was to be derived from two nights of unbroken sleep. She felt very much better, far less depressed and irritable. Her affairs havi

ng been taken back into the Marquis’s capable hands, she had very little to worry about: none of the complicated arrangements attached to the removal of a family from a house in London to another a hundred miles distant, and no housekeeping cares to contend with at the end of the journey. To one who, from early girlhood, had never had a respite from these, this was bliss indeed. It ought to have made her happy, and she was obliged to take herself to task when she found that she was looking forward to several months spent in sylvan solitude with a slight sinking of the heart. Not that it would be really solitude, of course: there would be Charis, and the boys, and the unknown Mrs Osmington, the widowed cousin whom Alverstoke had decided, in his usual highhanded way, to instal at Alver. There would be Septimus as well, and no doubt his mama would drive over to visit them. It was bound to seem a trifle flat at first, and she would certainly miss her friends in London; but Alverstoke meant to come down for a few days, which would make an agreeable break. He had given her a carte blanche to invite any of her friends she chose to stay with her, begging her to consider the house her own. She had no intention of taking him at his word, but as she was unable to think of any friend whom she particularly wanted to invite this resolve cost her no regret.

Alverstoke was going to escort them to Alver, too: that was another of his sudden and highhanded decisions! She had protested, as in honour bound, but he had merely said that he had business there, so she had said no more, though she guessed that his business was to introduce her to his cousin, and to make sure that his servants had provided every comfort for the party.

How anyone could say that he was selfish and heartless was beyond comprehension! No one was ever less so; it made one quite hot with anger that people should dare to misjudge him so wickedly.

For the rest, everything was going on fairly well. Mr Peplow had invited Harry to accompany him on a visit to Brighton; Buddle and Mrs Hurley were thankful to be granted a long holiday after the exigencies of a London house; and Charis, though in unequal spirits, seemed to be growing more resigned to her fate. To be sure, she was subject to sudden attacks of woe, which made her run out of the room with her handkerchief pressed to her eyes, but Frederica, recalling the agonies attending the dismissal of her first very undesirable suitor, hoped that the present agonies would be of similarly short duration.

Septimus Trevor, a well-set-up young man, with easy manners, and a general air of cheerful competence, she liked on sight. So, which was more important, did her brothers. She made an excuse to leave him alone with them, to become acquainted. She felt a little doubtful about Felix, who, unlike Jessamy, was not at all eager to resume his studies; but when she came back into the room he greeted her with the information that this Mr Trevor knew much more than the other Mr Trevor: they had been talking about coal-gas, and the transmission of power by compressed air; so that doubt was laid to rest, leaving her with only one serious anxiety: Felix’s health.

This was a very real anxiety, and would not be allayed until Sir William Knighton had seen Felix. He was better, certainly, but far from well yet. He flagged quickly, became too easily excited – even, she suspected, a little feverish – and his normally sunny disposition had given place to irritability, and occasional fretfulness.

‘I expect it is just that he doesn’t feel in high force yet, and that he will be better in the country, but I can’t help feeling anxious,’ she told Alverstoke.

‘No, and you can’t think of anything else, can you, Frederica?’

‘I suppose I can’t,’ she confessed. ‘I do try to!’

‘Do you feel that you may be able to – without trying – if Knighton gives you a comfortable report?’ he enquired.

‘Oh, what an unspeakable relief that would be! Yes, of course I shall!’

‘I’m glad,’ he said cryptically. ‘I feel pretty confident that he will, and I trust it won’t be long delayed!’