“Julia.” Camilla had joined them unnoticed. She smiled with quiet sympathy. “That was very naughty of UncleHumphrey. He has put you in a dreadfully embarrassing situation. I am so sorry.”
“Sorry?” Viola’s voice rose an octave. “Sorry, Camilla? When Jule has five beaux, including Daniel and Freddie? Iwish you could be sorry for me for the same reason.”
Aunt Millie caught Julia’s eye from across the room and smiled and nodded as she had before. It looked as if shemight leave her group at any moment and come to offer hercongratulations too.
Julia felt sick. Mortified and sick and unaccustomedly tongue-tied. It was easy to see already what the month’s favorite sport was to be. It would be a wonder if the men didnot start up a betting book like the ones they were reputedto have at the gentlemen’s clubs. Whom would the bettingmost favor? Daniel? Freddie? Gussie perhaps? Malcolmand Les would doubtless be long shots.
It was going to be a very entertaining month at least. Grandpapa was going to have his wish on that. Entertaining, that was, for everyone but her.
“Excuse me,” she said, flashing a smile about on the group of her cousins. “I have to go somewhere.” And shepushed past them toward the mercifully uncluttered doorway and beyond. She hurried onward, looking for a hidingplace.
3
“Ibelieve,” Frederick said after summoning his brotherover to the pianoforte with a lazy but steady lookand a lift of the eyebrows, “our wisest course at present,Les, would be to hoof it out of here before Mama thinks tolook about her for her two sons.”
“Uncle made a very fair will,” Lesley said, falling into step beside his brother, whose pace was much faster thanhis leisurely stride might appear to be. “Everyone gotsomething. You can pay your debts, Freddie. That will be arelief to you.”
Frederick chuckled as he led the way downstairs and out through the front doors. “With five hundred pounds?” hesaid. “It would be rather like trying to douse the fire engulfing a large mansion with a thimbleful of water. Besides,Les, how unimaginative it would be to use the gift of fivehundred pounds to pay off debts. How are you planning tospend your money?” He clapped a friendly hand on hisbrother’s shoulder.
“I need some new coats,” Lesley said. “Mama says mine are threadbare at the seams because I keep forgetting to getnew ones. I should go to Weston, do you think, Freddie?He is the best?”
“They don’t come any better,” Frederick said. “That’s the boy, Les. You are learning fast. So what do you think ofJule’s legacy, eh?”
“Very kind of Uncle,” Les said. “Making sure she stays here where she belongs. I’m glad for her. I like Jule.”
“We all do,” Frederick said. “The point is, my boy,which of us is she going to marry? One can never tell with Jule. She does not always do the obvious.”
“Dan,” Lesley said. “He will be the one, Freddie. He has everything else. He might as well have Primrose Park too.And Jule. She’ll be a countess. I’ll be glad for her. I likeJule.”
“You don’t think Dan has altogether too much as it is?” Frederick asked. “Besides, he never much liked her. And hehas been paying determined court to the Morriston chit allspring. I think I might have a shot at Jule myself, Les. Ihave never failed to charm any woman I fancied into mybed. It would be strange if I couldn’t charm Jule into matrimony.”
“You don’t want to marry, though,” Les said. “Said so just the other day, Freddie.”
“That was before I knew that Primrose Park could be mine with the small inconvenience of a bride,” Fredericksaid. “Quite an inducement, isn’t it, Les?”
“It would all be gone in no time at all, though,” Lesley said. “Money goes through your fingers like water, Freddie.You always say so. Not fair to Jule. She wouldn’t like losing Primrose Park.”
“And still being saddled with me after it was gone,” Frederick said. “She might reform me, Les. A very strong-minded woman is Jule. And not a bad looker either. It’shard to remember that she was as straight as a pole just afew years ago, isn’t it now?”
“She’s pretty,” Lesley agreed. “I like her.”
“Then you must try for her too,” Frederick said, giving his brother’s shoulder an amiable pat. “That was Uncle’swill, after all. The five of us were to compete for her hand.She can award it—and Primrose Park—to whomever shechooses. I like it, Les. I like the odds. It won’t be nearly asinteresting if there is only me. But Gussie will probablyhave a try and Malcolm will be talked into it. And Dan willprobably try despite everything. He will probably thinkPrimrose Park is his due even if he must take Jule with it.Yes, I like it very well. But you must be in it too.”
“Jule wouldn’t have me,” Les said. “I’m not as clever as Malcolm or as easy with the women as you or as handsomeas Dan or as funny as Gussie. She wouldn’t have me, Freddie.”
“Don’t count on it,” his brother said. “She may choose sweetness and good humor, Les. You’ll give it a try?”
Lesley looked doubtful.
“Just imagine,” Frederick said. “If she marries Dan, she will as like as not be spirited away to one of his other properties and may never live again in the house she loves. Ifshe marries Malcolm, she may live a dull life and neverlure him outside his library. If she marries Gussie, she mayfind that after a few years he will be sorry for marrying soyoung and will want to sow his wild oats. If she marriesme, she might lose Primrose Park altogether and she mighthave to share me with other women. What can you offer tosave her from any of those four fates, Les?”
Lesley thought, his expression grave. “I would let her stay here,” he said, “and do what she wants. I would let hermanage the estate herself if she wished. She could do a better job than I could, I daresay. She is cleverer. Or I wouldlet her choose a good steward. I wouldn’t get in her way atall. I would just look after her.”
Frederick threw back his head and laughed. “It might work with her too, by Jove,” he said. “Good old Les. Soyou are going to do it. We are arch-rivals from this momenton. Will it come to pistols at dawn, do you suppose?”
“I could never hurt you, Freddie,” Lesley said gravely. “Or Dan or Malcolm or Gussie. Besides, Jule wouldn’t likeit, you know.”
Frederick laughed again. “Not unless she was wielding one of the weapons,” he said. “I like the look of this summer more and more, Les. I must admit I was less than enamored at the prospect of having to put in an appearancehere. And I might not have come at all if I had known wewere to be here for a month. But after all it promises to bean entertaining few weeks. Most diverting.”
