Emilia
Elham returned to London the
next morning - after leaving the inn where he had met Emilia he had only gone
as far as the next village and had taken a room for the night. Unable to sleep,
Elham had spent most of the night planning his revenge on Chloe.
Once in London, he immediately
began to set his plans in motion. It only took him a couple of visits to the
right places to deprive Chloe of both employment and a place to live, but he
was not going to stop there - Chloe, he felt, would have to leave London for
good. It would not do to merely banish her into the country - Chloe would
always find a way to return and plague him. Then Elham remembered a friend of
his who still owed him a favour. He, Elham thought, was just the man to take this
matter in hand, and luckily he was in England at that moment.
This was certainly not her best
day, Chloe thought. At the theatre, she had been informed that she was not
needed any longer. This did not bother her overly much - she had been toying with
the idea of finding some other engagement for a while and had often said so.
Only when she arrived at her home and found a letter from a solicitor,
demanding she move out of her lodgings within three days, she began to sense
that something was wrong. She was just in the process of writing a frantic note
to Mr. Bosworth to ask for his assistance when a visitor was announced - Lord
Elham. All at once, Chloe understood who was behind her troubles, and resolved
to charm Elham into helping her. Now that his little fiancée was gone, he was
free to renew his love-affair with her, and Chloe was not loath to give him
that opportunity.
"Elham!" she exclaimed
with one of her famous smiles. "You are the last person I expected to come
here, but I must say I am happy to see you!"
"Whether you are really
happy remains to be seen," Elham said coldly, evading the kiss she had
wanted to place on his cheek. "Stop your comedy, Chloe."
"You are angry with
me," Chloe said, pouting, and allowing a tear to trickle down her cheek.
She had perfected the art of crying at the right moment and was rather proud of
her achievement. But to her disappointment, it did not work this time.
"No, not angry," Elham
said, unmoved. "Disgusted - that's the word. I knew you were a scheming
bitch, Chloe, but I never thought you'd stoop so low. I won't ask you why you
told my fiancée you were pregnant - your reason for doing so is pretty obvious
to me. But you forgot one thing - I am a dangerous man to cross, and you will
have to suffer the consequences."
Chloe laughed defiantly.
"You can't make me afraid," she said. "What can you possibly do
to harm me? Unless you want it known that your betrothed left you because of
our affair there is nothing you can do, and I know you only too well to be
certain you don't want it known."
"You may not be afraid
yet," Elham said coolly. "But you certainly are ruined, and I am not
finished with you. You have lost your employment and your home, and you'd
better not count on Bosworth to get you out of this. Bosworth is tired of you
and won't move a finger to assist you. I have heard he hasn't called on you
very often lately, or has he?" Elham could not repress a malicious grin,
and Chloe hated him for it.
"There are others,"
she said disdainfully. "I don't need Bosworth. I know three gentlemen at
least who'll be happy to protect me."
"A homeless ex-actress who
has overstepped the boundaries of what is permitted to women of her kind?"
Elham asked with a laugh. "You can try, of course, but in the end you'll
be happy to accept the alternative I can offer you."
"Never!" Chloe
screamed. "Get out of here!"
Elham shrugged. "Very well.
Tell me when you have changed your mind."
Chloe spent the following three
days trying to find someone to help her out of her scrape, but strangely enough
none of her fervent admirers seemed inclined to assist her. On the third day, a
gang of disreputable-looking men were on her doorstep, telling her they had
come to lend a hand with removing her furniture from the house.
"The new owner of the house
wants you out of here by nightfall," one of them said. He did not need to
inform Chloe who the new owner was. It seemed Elham had avoided no cost to get
rid of her. She would not have credited him with so much determination as that.
Realising that resistance was useless, she waited until Elham called on her
again. By the time he arrived, the men had finished taking her furniture out of
the house and only those bits she had rented along with the building remained.
"Are you happy now?"
she demanded when he entered her drawing-room.
"Not yet," he said
with a grin. "I take it no one has offered you any assistance?"
"As if you did not know
that," she said angrily. "I suppose everyone is afraid of you."
"And right they are,"
Elham said. "But apart from that I'd say most people are on my
side."
"So what are you planning
to do?" she demanded.
"I am going to take you
away from London," Elham said. "I cannot expect my wife to have you
anywhere near her."
"She is going to
marry you?" Chloe asked disbelievingly. She had not credited the chit with
such devotion to her future husband that she'd overlook his loose morals.
"That, my dear Chloe, is
none of your business." Elham said coldly. "Now, unless you want to
end in the gutter - which is very likely to happen if you stay here - are you
going to do as I tell you?"
"I don't have any
choice," Chloe said bitterly.
"There is always a
choice," Elham said. "What you haven't got is courage. It's easy to
hurt a girl who never did you any harm, but quite difficult to face the
consequences of your actions, isn't it? Have you finished your packing?"
"Where are you going to
take me?" Chloe asked.
"You'll see," Elham
said curtly. "Let's go."
It had been very easy, Elham
thought as the carriage with Chloe and him was on its way to Chatham. The
manager of the theatre had asked no questions - the theatre owed a great deal
of money, and could not afford to decline an offer of a couple of thousand
pounds in return for Miss Watson's dismissal.
The owner of Chloe's house had
been ready to sell it to him - with the option of buying it back cheaply and
winning a couple of thousand in the bargain. He had not had enough courage to
get rid of his capricious lodger himself, so when Elham had offered to buy the
property, evict Miss Watson and sell the house back to him once the task was
accomplished, the plan had met with his immediate and wholehearted approval.
"Where are you taking
me?" Chloe interrupted Elham's musings.
"Chatham," Elham said.
"I thought I wasn't allowed
to stay anywhere near London," Chloe said.
"I did not say your voyage
would end there," Elham said calmly.
"What?"
"Don't pretend you did not
hear me," Elham said. "You will continue your journey from Chatham -
alone."
"Where am I going
then?" Chloe said. "Don't you think I have a right to know?"
"But that would spoil your
surprise, wouldn't it? Let me just say you won't need your furs there."
"I beg your pardon?"
"Does the name Georgetown
ring a bell? A charming place, I've been told, though the climate is rather
warm and humid. But the best thing about it - in my point of view - is that
there is an entire ocean between Georgetown and here. That outweighs the
disadvantages of Georgetown by far -- it certainly does in my point of
view."
"You bastard!" Chloe
screamed. "You'll have me shipped to some odious place? Over my dead
body!"
"I told you there was
always a choice," Elham said with a grin. "But I will have to
disappoint you - I won't harm you."
"Oh no," Chloe said
caustically. "You rid me of my home and income, but you won't harm
me."
"You forget one thing,
Chloe. You brought this on yourself. Had you not told those filthy lies to
Emilia, you'd still be in London enjoying the attentions of Bosworth and those
three other fellows you were talking about. I wouldn't have cared. But you were
a bit overconfident - and we all must pay for our mistakes."
"If I want to hear a sermon
I'll go to church," Chloe snapped.
Elham laughed. "And how
long exactly is it since you saw a church from the inside?"
"As if that was your
business," Chloe said. "I want you to set me down at once."
Elham opened the carriage window
and ordered the coachman to stop.
"Get out of the carriage
then," he said. Chloe looked out of the window, regarding the bleak
countryside around them.
"Here?" she asked
incredulously.
"You said at once,
didn't you?" Elham said. "I'm happy to oblige."
"But how am I going to get
back to town?" Chloe asked.
"From the moment you have
left my carriage, that won't be my concern," Elham said. "Nor will I
care what becomes of you. You know you cannot show your face there, so you'd
better consider your options. If you go to Georgetown, you'll find I've made
arrangements for you. You won't live in luxury, but you will have everything
you need. Back in London, you'll end up either in the gutter or in a brothel.
No one will assist you, I've seen to that. Now, which is it to be? The streets
of London or a cosy little house in Georgetown?"
"You swine," Chloe
said in a furious whisper. "Why not kill me? You know I'll die in
that horrid place!"
"You certainly will, for
you'll never be able to afford the journey back," Elham laughed. "I
do not believe for a moment that the event will take place at any time in the
near future though. You are tough, Chloe. People like you live to see an old
age. It's the good people that die young."
From that moment on, Chloe
seemed to have resigned herself to her fate. She pointedly ignored Elham for
the rest of their journey and watched the countryside while the carriage took them
to Chatham. They arrived there after dark, and Elham immediately dispatched a
messenger to request Elham's friend, Captain Lawrence, to join them at the
posting-house. It had been a stroke of luck that Lawrence was in England at the
moment and due to sail to Demerara so soon, Elham thought. Lawrence was a
respectable, married man and unlikely to fall for Chloe's lures. That she would
try to charm the captain or one of his officers into taking her back to England
was only to be expected, but Elham knew her attempts would be destined to fail
with Lawrence, who was so devoted to his wife that no other woman raised his
interest any more than a piece of furniture did.
Upon his arrival, Captain
Lawrence told Elham that he would start his voyage the next morning, and
advised Miss Watson to board the ship that night.
"Am I supposed to travel
without my maid?" Chloe demanded.
"I am afraid so,"
Elham said. "Your maid refused to accompany you."
"Ungrateful bitch,"
Chloe muttered.
"And there I thought you
might be able to pass yourself off as a lady," Elham said with a grin.
"No lady travels without
her maid," Chloe said. "Very well, I shall have to rough it. You may
be certain I'll never forget the bad turn you've served me, Elham."
"Those feelings are entirely
reciprocated," Elham merely said. "Good bye, Chloe."
Then he turned to Captain
Lawrence and wished him a safe journey. "Take good care of yourself,"
he advised the captain with a sidelong glance at Chloe.
Captain Lawrence laughed.
"I shall," he said.
Elham spent the night in Chatham
and watched Captain Lawrence's ship go out of port the next morning. Chloe was
nowhere on deck, as far as Elham could see, but she was unlikely to have
escaped. Captain Lawrence would have sent him a message if anything of that
sort had occurred.
With a sigh, Elham walked back
to the posting-house, where his carriage was waiting to take him to London.
Until now, his anger with Chloe had kept him going - he had thought of little
else than his revenge. Now that Chloe was gone, Elham realised that his heart
was still aching for Emilia. It would be some time before he could forget her,
but he would have to make an effort. He was not going to beg her to come back.
It had been Emilia who had ruined everything, so it was up to her to seek
reconciliation. It did not look as if she had any intention to do so, however,
and so he'd better get used to the idea of having to live his life without her.
The sooner he came to terms with this, the better it was.
Two weeks after Emilia had left
London, Tilda returned to Little Compton. Mr. Ingleton accompanied his fiancée
and was invited to stay for a couple of days before going back to Town. Emilia
found their first encounter rather awkward - she felt immensely guilty for the
way she had treated Lord Elham, and knew that Mr. Ingleton had never liked her
above half and would resent her behaviour. But contrary to Emilia's fears Mr.
Ingleton did not allude to what had passed between her and his brother. He was
reserved, but not unkind. Emilia supposed that Tilda had asked him not to touch
the subject, and was thankful that he did not.
It was Tilda and not Mr.
Ingleton who, after dinner, asked her how she was.
"Miserable," Emilia
said with a sigh. "I have made a terrible mistake."
"You certainly have, I'm
afraid," Tilda said. "Why didn't you tell me about that woman? You
could have asked for my advice - I would have been happy to help."
"I just couldn't,"
Emilia said quietly. "I was -- I was devastated, and I only wanted to get
away and be alone. Can you understand what I mean?"
Tilda shook her head. "I
cannot," she said. "If anyone had told me such a story about Gerry, I
would not have believed it without hearing his point of view. But then I often
cannot understand your motives, so I am not going to judge you."
"How is Elham?" Emilia
asked after a few minutes of silence.
"I do not know," Tilda
said hesitantly. "I have not met him very often of late, and when I did we
did not talk about you. He did not look well, however. I had the impression
that he has grown thinner and ... He seemed less cheerful than he used to
be." Tilda saw the tears in Emilia's eyes and stopped.
"Is he very unhappy?"
Emilia asked quietly. Tilda did not answer.
"Tilda ... is he ... does he
suffer much?" Emilia insisted. "I need to know. Tell me."
"What difference does it
make to you?" Tilda asked. "The way I see it, you feel wretched
enough as it is."
"Please, Tilda. What did he
tell you?"
"You do not think Lord
Elham would confide in me!" Tilda said.
"No, but he might confide
in his brother, and being betrothed to you Mr. Ingleton might tell you a thing
or two."
"And betray his brother's
confidence? Certainly not," Tilda said indignantly. "No doubt Lord
Elham confides in Gerry -- in fact, I know he does. But Gerry has never told me
anything about the things he said. He might also keep it from me because I am
your sister. He knows I am obliged to take your side, just as he is obliged to
take Lord Elham's. The only thing I can tell you is that whenever I met Lord
Elham he made an effort to appear unaffected -- and failed completely. One
reason why I left London was because I was certain my continued presence in his
grandmother's house reminded him of you, and added to his unhappiness. Gerry
says it does not, but then Lord Elham is unlikely to tell my betrothed that the
sight of me makes him miserable."
"I don't know what can have
possessed me," Emilia said unhappily. "I've made a complete mess of
things. Tilda, what can I do?"
"I have no idea,"
Tilda said. "But an apology would be a good start, don't you think?"
"Indeed it would,"
Emilia said. "I mean to apologise, only ... Tilda, do you think Lord Elham
will come here so I can tell him how sorry I am?"
"To be honest, no, I do not
think he will," Tilda said. "He did come after you, and you sent him
away. Somehow I cannot see him fall at your feet, Emilia, not after the things
that have passed between you."
"I am not going to fall at
his either," Emilia said angrily. "I'll say I am sorry, but I shan't
grovel before him."
"I do not think he wants
you to," Tilda said pensively.
"Do you think I have still
got a chance?" Emilia asked meekly.
"To be honest, I have no
idea," Tilda said. "Really, I haven't. I cannot read Lord Elham's
mind, and even if I could I'm afraid I wouldn't be any wiser. I believe he
doesn't know what he will do if you apologise any more than you do."
Oliver Brentwood and Gerald
Ingleton were discussing the same matter while they were sitting in the dining
room with their glass of port.
"How is your brother?"
Oliver asked, pouring his guest a glass of port.
"Miserable," Gerry
merely said. "I have never seen him like this."
"He did look rather
dejected when he left us that night," Oliver agreed. "My sister is a
fool to let him go. I could tell he's uncommonly fond of her, and he seemed
like a decent fellow to me."
"Despite the things Chloe
Watson said about him?" Gerry asked bitterly.
"I did not know about the
things Chloe Watson had said until after he'd left us," Oliver said,
"and then my sister told me she should not have believed them in the first
place."
"That realisation comes a
bit late," Gerry said bitterly. "I admit Des was never a saint, and
he never said he was. But he is basically decent. If he were not ... " Gerry
broke off, not wishing to betray Emilia, even though in his opinion she would
have deserved every bit of the troubles it would cause her.
"If he was not, he wouldn't
have treated Emilia the way he did," Oliver finished his sentence.
"You needn't mind your tongue around me, Ingleton. Emilia told me
everything. -- She does care a great deal about your brother, by the way, no
matter what your opinion may be."
"Then why did she treat him
the way she did?" Gerry demanded. "I cannot believe she cares for Des
-- I've seen what she's done to him. The man is pretty well done for."
Oliver shrugged. "I don't
know why she treated him like this," he said. "Love makes fools of us
all, I guess."
Despite himself, Gerry had to
laugh. "What do you know about it?" he wanted to know.
"Don't tell me you have ever been in love."
"I won't, because I never
was," Oliver admitted and added, with a grin, "That's why I can be
wise about it, I suppose."
Gerry laughed. "So, what
are we going to do about those star-crossed lovers of ours?" he asked.
"Des says he doesn't want to see your sister again, but he's lying. I know
he expects her to take the next step though, and if she doesn't take it soon
I'll have to put him out of his misery and shoot him."
"Seriously?" Oliver
asked, taken aback.
"Well, not shoot him, but I
need to do something about it," Gerry said. "Do you think there's any
chance of Emilia going to London -- to see him?"
"None," Oliver said.
"She says she doesn't want to see Elham ever again. She's about as
truthful about it as Elham seems to be about not wishing to see her."
"There's nothing else for
it then but for me and Tilda to get married sooner than we'd planned."
Gerry said. "They cannot avoid each other at the wedding."
"And you are only going to
do this for your brother's sake, I expect," Oliver said with a grin.
"I admit there are some selfish motives too," Gerry said. "But, in earnest, I think it would be a good opportunity for them to meet. Neither will lose face -- none of them came after the other; they are both here because Tilda and I want them to. And if they do not make the best of that opportunity, I'll wash my hands of them."
Although Tilda and Mr. Ingleton
-- like Emilia and Lord Elham -- had agreed to wait with their wedding until Sir
Harry Brentwood had returned to England, Mr. Ingleton did not find it very
difficult to persuade her to marry sooner. Once he had explained his motives to
Tilda, she too could not wait until they married, and decided their wedding
should take place in a month.
"We cannot possibly prepare a
decent wedding in less than a month," she argued when Mr. Ingleton said he
preferred an even earlier date. "And my mother does not want me to have a
shabby wedding. Besides, you know hasty marriages cause unwanted comment."
Being fully aware of that, and
not wishing to throw a bad light on his fiancée, Mr. Ingleton complied and went
back to London to start his own wedding preparations. He invited Tilda to come
to London and bring her sister along with her, but when Tilda suggested to
Emilia that they were to go to London to buy Tilda's bride-clothes, Emilia
flatly refused to accompany her, especially when she heard that they were to
stay with Lady Elham again.
"I don't think I can ever look
in Lady Elham's face again," Emilia said by way of an explanation.
"You know you will have to,
sooner or later," Tilda said mercilessly. "You cannot expect her to stay away
from her grandson's nuptials."
"But I won't have to see her
until then," Emilia insisted. "I am sorry, Tilda. I cannot come with you. Ask
Mrs. Morton."
So it was Mrs. Morton who took
Tilda to London, while Emilia stayed in Little Compton with her mother and
brother. Lady Brentwood, who had watched Emilia with growing unease ever since
she had returned home, finally decided to have a word with her on the evening
after Tilda had left for London once more. She did not rest until Emilia had
told her the entire truth, and although the thought that a daughter of hers
could sink so low as to invent an engagement just to get rid of a suitor grieved
her, she did not say much on that subject. There was no way to undo what had
been done, and she was not one to dwell on past grievances. But she took Emilia
severely to task for not confiding in her, as well as for causing Lady Elham a
great deal of trouble and hurting Lord Elham.
"For he quite dotes on you," she
said. "Everyone can see that, and he would have made you an excellent husband
too."
"I know," Emilia said forlornly.
"But I do not think he still wants to marry me. Not after all that has happened."
"I cannot say I blame him," Lady
Brentwood said sharply. "Put yourself in his shoes for a moment. There is this
girl who claims to be engaged to you -- and although you could not care less for
what happens to her, you agree to help her out of her scrape and stand by that
supposed engagement. You find yourself falling in love with her, and doing
everything to please her -- only to find out that she thinks you are a ... a
libertine of the worst kind. What would you do in his place, Emilia? Tell me
that!"
"Mama, I know I have treated him
badly," Emilia said. "If there was any way for me to make amends for it, I
would do it, but I cannot think of one. Can you?"
"Unfortunately not," Lady
Brentwood said. "There is only one person in the world who knows what you can
do to make amends -- and that is Lord Elham himself. You will have to talk to
him about it."
"I cannot possibly go to London
to see him," Emilia protested. "And I cannot write to him either. How is he to
know I am sincere if I only write to him? Anything can be written down on a
piece of paper!"
"As to that, Emilia, you can
talk to him at Matilda's wedding," Lady Brentwood said soothingly. "This gives
you another three and a half weeks to think of what you are going to say to
him. Think carefully."
Emilia did not believe it would
take her much thinking to decide on what she was to say. It would take much
more courage and resolve to actually say the things she wanted him to
know. There was one more thing she was not sure about -- did he actually want to
hear her apologies? Or would he just turn away from her and refuse to listen?
She was not certain whether she could endure that humiliation, but she would
have to risk it nevertheless.
Lord Elham was, at first,
incredulous when his brother told him how soon his wedding was going to be.
"I thought you were going to
wait until Sir Harry came back from India," he said, looking at his brother and
wondering why Gerry was grinning so smugly.
"Oh, I had a word with Tilda and
we decided we did not want to wait that long," Gerry said. "So, once Lady
Brentwood had assured us that Sir Harry would certainly not mind if we married
sooner, and Oliver Brentwood had told me he was to act for his father in
business matters while he was away, we felt that there was nothing we had to
wait for."
"Oliver Brentwood said he was to
act in his father's place?"
"He is of age, Des. So why
should he not take his father's place while he is abroad? After all, he is to
take Sir Harry's place one day. This gives him some practice."
"Still he was in Oxford most of
the time, not in Hampshire."
"One cannot expect him to
neglect his studies just because his father is gone," Gerry said.
"I am wondering though -- he must
take a rather lenient view on his sisters' reputation," Elham said. "He did not
find it necessary to make inquiries when the announcement of Emilia's
engagement to me was made."
"Ten to one Lady Brentwood had
already told him about it," Gerry said. "So why should he inquire? Certainly he
could trust his mother to take care of his sisters?"
"Well, probably. -- So you are
going to be married in a month?"
"Less than that, by now," Gerry
said. "It'll take me the better part of that month to get my house ready for
Tilda, though she said she did not require many changes."
"That's because she hasn't seen
your house," Elham said dryly.
"Come, Des, my house is not a
ruin. Tilda will like it, I know. She'll enjoy renovating and refurnishing it.
The only thing I will need to do is see to it that there are enough servants to
do her bidding." Gerry laughed, and Elham could not help but think, enviously,
that he had not seen his brother so happy ever before. At least one of them had
gained happiness from his encounter with Emilia Brentwood, he thought gloomily.
"Matilda is going to come back
to London next week," Gerry said. "She needs to buy her bride-clothes."
Elham's face lit up. "Is she
going to take her sister with her?" he asked, hating himself for showing how
much Emilia still meant to him. Like a puppy that had received nothing but
kicks from its master and still kept running after him, he thought
despondently.
"I don't know," Gerry said. "But
I am certain Tilda will ask her to accompany her, so if Emilia does not come,
it will not be Tilda's fault."
Elham spent the entire week
until Matilda Brentwood returned to London imagining what his first meeting
with Emilia would be like. He would not make things too easy for her, he
decided, but not too difficult either. He would show her that he was willing to
forgive her, if she really wanted him to. He'd be reserved at first, but would
indicate that he was not averse to talking to her. Still, he would certainly
try not to appear too eager. Emilia should not get the impression that, no
matter what she did and how much she had hurt him, she could come back to him
and everything would be fine again. She had to learn that there were things no
one was allowed to do to him -- not even Emilia.
When Matilda arrived in London,
not with Emilia but with Mrs. Morton accompanying her, Elham felt as if all his
hopes had suddenly been dashed. Emilia had not come -- she did not want to see
him. Her message was clear -- she would not seek him out, and would not admit
that she had been at fault. Matilda told him that Emilia's refusal to come to
London had not had anything to do with him, but he did not believe her. True,
it would be awkward for Emilia to meet his grandmother again, but that could
not be the real reason. He knew what the real reason was -- she did not want to
see him.
This did not make him look
forward to his brother's wedding with much enthusiasm. There was no way for him
to avoid being there -- Gerry would never forgive him if he refused to attend
his wedding, just because he had quarrelled with Gerry's future sister-in-law.
It was simply not to be thought of, and besides Elham wanted to be with
his brother when he married.
He'd get that ordeal done with
somehow, Elham thought. It was only for one or two days after all, and once
Gerry and his young wife had left the wedding reception, he could quit Little
Compton as well. Perhaps, he thought, he should spend the summer with his
friends -- he had been invited to several house-parties, so he would not lack
amusement. On the other hand he had neglected his estate lately -- thanks to
Emilia. Perhaps it would be better if he went there and tried to catch up with
all that work he had left aside for her sake. Work might make him forget -- it
was worth a try.
One of the first questions
Emilia asked her sister when she came home to Little Compton with trunks full
of exquisite clothes she had bought under Lady Elham's aegis, was whether she
had met Lord Elham. Tilda's news -- that she had met Lord Elham and that he had
seemed severely disappointed about Emilia not accompanying her -- made her hopeful.
He had been disappointed not to see her -- this could only mean that he still wanted
to see her. Not all was lost then. She therefore began to prepare for her
sister's wedding in her own way, carefully planning what she was going to wear
for which occasion, and wondering whether Lord Elham would like the
bridesmaids' dress Tilda had chosen for her. She kept imagining the situation
when she would ask for his forgiveness, and wondered how he would react.
Three days before the wedding
ceremony, the Ladies Elham and Gilmorton arrived. The bridegroom travelled with
his mother and grandmother, but Lord Elham was not with them. Emilia did not
quite manage to hide her disappointment when she greeted the guests, and Lady
Elham was sharp-witted enough to notice it. After dinner, she took Emilia aside
and asked her what was wrong with her.
"Nothing," Emilia said, not
wishing to admit how much she missed Lord Elham.
"My dear girl," Lady Elham said
with a chuckle, "you can try to fool me, but you won't succeed. It irks you
that Elham has not come with us, doesn't it?"
"Well ... I did expect to see him
today," Emilia said quietly.
"And he did not oblige you,"
Lady Elham said dryly. "You will see him the day after tomorrow, my dear. He
had some business he could not delay, so he stayed behind in London, but he has
promised to be here in time for the wedding -- the night before, to be precise.
Are you looking forward to seeing him?"
"I am," Emilia said.
"Do you miss him?"
"Very much."
"He misses you too," Lady Elham
said. "He does not say so, but I've got eyes. If you are clever, Emilia, you
will try to get him back, though I do not think he will offer you much
resistance. He's been too miserable without you to miss out on a chance for
reconciliation."
Emilia smiled faintly. "Thank
you, Lady Elham. You are so good to me -- much kinder than I have ever deserved,
in fact."
Lady Elham laughed. "I knew
right from the beginning that something had to be wrong with that engagement of
yours," she said. "But it amused me to see how Elham defended you, and by the
time I had seen you I knew you were the right girl for him. He has not looked
at any other female since he met you. Well, looked at them maybe, for
men will never get rid of that habit, but he certainly did not go any further
than that. -- I believe Elham is like his grandfather in many ways. My husband
had quite a reputation for being a terrible rake -- truly, I sometimes think
that had it not been for Elham's wealth my father would not have given his
consent to our marriage. But still, in all those years that we were married --
more than fifty years, mind you -- he never gave me a reason for complaint. No
matter how wild he was when he was young and single, from the moment we were
married he became the kind of husband many women could only wish to marry. And
his grandson, I am sure, will be just like that if you give him the chance."
"Well, I cannot propose marriage
to him," Emilia said, smilingly.
"Why not?" Lady Elham asked.
"You did not ask him whether he wanted to be engaged to you, did you."
Emilia blushed. "My behaviour
has been inexcusable," she said. "I shall be lucky if he ever looks at me
again, let alone speaks to me."
"Your behaviour was not really proper,"
Lady Elham agreed. "But I do not think this has done you much damage in his
eyes. Those prim and proper society ladies bore him -- and their hypocrisy
appalls him. There is something refreshingly different about you."
"But one day nothing about me
will be new to him if we are married," Emilia said. "What then?"
"I cannot answer that question,"
Lady Elham said. "If you really care for him, you will take that risk. If not
..." Lady Elham shrugged, indicating that it was not really her business. Still
she looked far from indifferent. "Do something about him," she finally said
gruffly. "I can't have my grandson moping forever. It wears my spirits down."
Elham arrived in Little Compton
in the late afternoon of the day before his brothers wedding ceremony. He had
suggested taking a room in the local inn -- which, as he remembered, was
comfortable enough to provide him with what he needed -- but neither Gerry nor
Lady Brentwood had wanted to hear of it. He was to stay in the Manor House as
her guest, Lady Brentwood insisted, and not wishing to insult her Elham had
accepted the invitation. Secretly, he was planning to leave Little Compton only
moments after his brother and sister-in-law had done so. He would not stay
anywhere near Emilia for long if he could help it.
Dinner at the Manor House was an
awkward affair. Lady Brentwood had seated him between herself and Emilia, and
so he was obliged to converse politely with both. To his relief Lady Brentwood
kept him occupied most of the time, and so he did not have to do more than
direct the occasional courteous remark at Emilia. She looked lovely, he
thought, just as he had remembered her, but she showed no inclination to talk
to him any more than civility required. Before dinner was over, Elham began to
count the minutes he would have to spend in Little Compton until he could leave
without giving offence. He realised he had been looking forward to meeting
Emilia -- but seeing her like this, like a mere acquaintance, was
something he could not bear.
It was a hot summer evening, and
by the time Emilia had left the dinner table she was feeling extremely hot and
flustered. She excused herself and went outside, trying to get some fresh air
and regain her composure. Despite the things his grandmother had said, Lord
Elham had looked so forbidding that Emilia had not dared approach him. Now she
despised herself for being so cowardly, for not asking Lord Elham for a private
meeting the moment she had seen him. What if they did not get a chance to
speak? What if he left before she had had a chance to tell him how sorry she
was and how much she had missed him? She knew she would not have the courage to
follow him -- or to write to him. Not after today's encounter when he had looked
so cold and distant.
She walked past the dining-room
window and looked inside, watching her brother and uncle handing around the
decanter of port. Lord Elham was not with them, and Emilia wondered where he
could be. Had he already joined the ladies in the drawing-room, hoping to meet
her there? Should she go back inside?
Emilia decided to walk as far as
the bowling-green and then back to the house. A short walk, she hoped, would
calm her nerves. She would certainly need some nerve when she encountered Lord
Elham.
Emilia did encounter him sooner than she had thought she would -- he was coming
towards her from the bowling-green when she approached it.
"You are outside?" he asked her,
giving her a wary look as if he wanted to indicate she had been following him.
"Yes, I had to go out of doors,"
she replied, trying to sound calm. "It is so oppressive in there ... I needed
some fresh air."
"Well, I won't disturb you, Miss
Emilia," he said and, with a curt nod, turned towards the house.
"Don't go, please," Emilia heard
herself say before she could think of what she would do if he really stayed.
Lord Elham stopped, but seemed to avoid looking at her.
"I know I have said terrible
things to you, and I am fully aware that I have hurt you badly," Emilia said
hurriedly, afraid that he would not hear her out. "You do not know how sorry I
am for having said them, and how much I wish all this had never happened. But
if you go away now I'll never again have the courage to speak to you, and I
will never be able to tell you how much I have missed you and ... how much I care
for you. I'll never be able to ask you to forgive me."
She broke off and stood there,
watching him and waiting for his reply, but when he did not say a word she
began to feel embarrassed. She had probably made a fool of herself for nothing
- he did not love her any more, if he had ever loved her at all, and now he
only wanted to be rid of her. She had thrown herself at him, and he was
uncertain how to reject her without humiliating her too much. Emilia decided
she would not put him through that trouble.
"Well," she said, trying to hold
back her tears, "I'll leave you alone now ... I didn't want to make a scene ... I
didn't want to make you feel obliged to ... anyway, this was what I wanted you to
know, and now you do know. I think I had better get back inside the house or my
mother will be worried."
She hastily turned around to
walk away with as much dignity as she could muster, but did not get far.
"Where do you think you are
going?" Elham asked her.
"Back to the house," Emilia
said, swallowing a sob. "I told you my mother will be worried."
"You have the nerve to leave me
standing here all by myself after all those things you said to me?" he asked.
"They did not seem to mean much
to you," Emilia said quietly.
"Turn around and look at me,
Emilia," he said.
Hesitantly, Emilia did as she
had been told. When she looked up into his face, she saw his smile, and felt
infinite relief.
"What you just said meant the
world to me," he said, taking her into his arms. "I love you dearly, Emilia -- I
still do, whatever your opinion on the subject may be."
"Then you have forgiven me?"
Emilia asked, not able to believe her luck.
"I have," Elham said
reassuringly. "But what about you? Do you still love me, or have Chloe's
accusations made it impossible for you to even tolerate me?"
"No ... not even Miss Watson
managed that," Emilia said quietly. "I thought so at first, but then I realised
it was not so. I missed you terribly -- and by the time you left the inn the
other night I knew I had made a terrible mistake. It won't ever happen again, I
promise."
"I won't let it happen ever again,"
Elham said with a smile, pulling her closer and placing a kiss on her forehead.
"So, are you going to marry me?"
Emilia laughed. "To the point,
are we?"
"Certainly. I am not going to
give you another chance to get rid of me," he said.
"Then I do not really have a
choice," Emilia said laughingly. "But yes, I will marry you."
"When?"
"I am afraid we will have to
wait until Tilda and your brother will return from their honeymoon," Emilia
said. "After all the trouble they have taken to get us back together it is the
least thing we can do."
"I will ask Gerry to cut his
honeymoon short," Elham said with a grin.
"You will do no such thing!"
Emilia exclaimed indignantly. "Besides, I do not think he would do it, not even
for you."
"You are right, he would not,"
Elham said smilingly. "And I cannot blame him -- there are limits to the things
one does for one's brother." He kissed Emilia, and for a while she completely
forgot about her surroundings.
"Perhaps we had better go back
to the house," Elham finally said, loosening his hold. "By now your mother will
have noticed that we are both missing, and that will worry her. Besides
I need to see my brother to ask him how long he means to be away."
As they walked back to the house
holding each other's hand, Emilia felt perfectly content for the first time in
weeks. Never again, she promised herself, would she let anything come between
her and Elham.
By the time Emilia Brentwood got
married to the Earl of Elham in the parish church of Little Compton, her father
had returned from India and had given his wholehearted consent to their
marriage.
Lord Elham's sister, Lady
Minton, who had been confined shortly after Tilda and Gerry's marriage, had
given birth to a son and was able to travel to Hampshire to attend her eldest
brother's wedding. Mrs. Sulgrave and her husband came as well, although rumour
had it that she, too, was in a delicate state -- a rumour neither of the
Sulgraves denied.
It was also said that Sir George
Harbury had fallen in love with a young heiress from Yorkshire and was expected
to announce his engagement any moment. His quarrel with Lord Elham seemed at an
end, at any rate -- he had even promised to honour Lord Elham with his presence
at the wedding ceremony, a sure sign that he no longer held any grudge.
Mr. Brentwood and his daughters
came to the wedding too, but Mrs. Brentwood had excused herself -- she was
feeling a trifle out of sorts and did not think travelling would do her any
good at the moment. Neither bride nor bridegroom believed her excuse, but they
did not resent her staying away. On the contrary, they preferred things that
way. Emilia had not forgotten the spiteful things her aunt had said about her,
and was glad to see that Mrs. Brentwood had at least the decency to stay away.
Emilia was in her bedroom,
getting dressed for the wedding ceremony when Lady Elham entered the room.
"Let me look at you, my dear,"
she said and, when Emilia had turned around to face her, smiled. "You are going
to continue the family tradition," she said contentedly. "The Lady Elham has
always been a beauty."
"Always?" Emilia asked with a
shy smile.
"You can have a look at their
portraits in our gallery if you find the time to do so," Lady Elham said with a
chuckle. "Though I am afraid you will not find the time very soon. -- I have
brought you something to wear at the wedding."
She gave Emilia a parcel and
told her to open it. In the parcel there was a set of spectacular jewels -- more
beautiful than any Emilia had seen.
"A family heirloom," Lady Elham
explained. "Whenever an Earl of Elham marries, his bride wears these jewels. I
got them from my mother-in-law, and you will pass them on to your son's bride
one day."
"They are lovely," Emilia said
quietly. "Are you quite sure you want to part with them, Lady Elham?" she
asked, when she saw the tears in Lady Elham's eyes. It was the first time she
had ever seen that formidable old lady lose her poise.
"Of course," Lady Elham said
resolutely. "Do you think I haven't got enough trinkets as it is? I won't miss these
-- it is just that they reminded me of my own wedding day. It will pass, I am
sure. Now hurry up. You don't want to keep your bridegroom waiting, do you?"
Emilia laughed. "What do you
think he is going to do?" she asked. "Start the ceremony without me?"
"No, but I wouldn't put it past
him to come here and fetch you to the church in person," Lady Elham said. "I
told you he is very much like his grandfather, and this is the thing he
would have done."
Tilda helped Emilia put on the
jewels Lady Elham had given her and, with a last glance into the mirror, Emilia
pronounced herself satisfied with the picture she presented.
"Then let us go to church before the bridegroom gets impatient," she said with a smile. "I am ready when you are, Lady Elham."
The End
©2005, 2006 Copyright held by
the author.