“I just hope Jule is happy at the end of it,” Lesley said, frowning again.“I like Jule.”
Stella caught up to her brother as he was trying to slip out of the drawing room without anyone noticing him. Shelinked her arm through his and smiled up at him. She saidnothing as he led the way aimlessly along a corridor in thedirection of the ballroom.
“The devil,” he said at last.“This is the very devil.”
“I thought you might be dismayed,” she said, squeezing his arm. “Are you running from Mama and Papa? But youknow they won’t push you into anything you do not wantMalcolm.”
“They don’t need to.” He grimaced. “Sometimes, Stella, there’s nothing worse than kind and understanding parents.”
“I know what you mean,” she said. “They offered Jule a home before the will was read. I am sure the offer will remain open so that she will have an alternative to the choiceUncle has given her.”
“That makes it worse,” he said.“It just makes it worse, Stella. The burden on my shoulders will be intolerable. Andyou know that Mama and Papa have got me to agree sincemy thirtieth birthday that I will start thinking about marriage. They will expect me to go for this one. They’ll expect me to offer for Julia.”
“Would it be so bad?” she asked, gazing earnestly up at him. “She is one of my dearest friends, Malcolm.”
He grimaced. “And she has beauty and vitality and—oh, the devil, Stella. She has everything,” he said.
“Malcolm,” she said, “you are not ugly. And you have intelligence and learning and good sense. There is no foundation for your dreadful shyness. It is just that—shyness.There is nothing inferior about you. Jule would be fortunateindeed to have you for a husband.”
He frowned at her. “Did Mama and Papa send you?” he asked.
“No.” She punched his arm. “But I want you to be happy, Malcolm. I am very much afraid that your shynesswill keep you single for the rest of your life. And I don’tthink bachelorhood will suit you. You need a wife. Andchildren.” She smiled impishly. “I need a sister-in-law. Andnieces and nephews. Will you try? Will you at least try totalk with Jule? She will not bite your head off.”
He sighed.
“Think of the alternatives,” she said, “Daniel and Jule have never liked each other. Freddie is—well, Gussie sayshe is a rake, and I believe it for all his good looks andcharm. Or perhaps because of them. Les is—well, Les isLes. And Gussie is too young. You are the perfect choice,Malcolm. You could have a wife within the month andwould no longer have to worry yourself into a declinethinking about how you are going to find one.”
“I wish Uncle were still alive,” he said. “I would rather like to throttle him, Stella. Mama and Papa are going tostart in on me as soon as they find me. They will use farless direct persuasion than you are using, but they will beten times more persuasive for all that. And how am I goingto refuse? If all of us refuse, poor Julia will be without a decent home at the end of the month. She doesn’t like her father’s relatives, does she?”
“They don’t want her,” Stella said. “Her father was the black sheep, I believe. You will marry her, then, Malcolm?If she will have you?”
“The devil,” he said. “I won’t have much choice by the time Mama and Papa have finished with me. Though Idon’t think I’ll be able to do it, Stella. I just won’t.”
She laid her head briefly against his shoulder. “I love you, Malcolm,” she said. “I just love you.”
“Sometimes,” he said, “one could wish one did not have such a loving family. It would be so much easier just toplease oneself.” He drew a deep breath and expelled itslowly. “What man in his right mind would have made awill like that one?”
* * *
“I think it quite outrageous,” Aunt Sarah said, seating herself on the pianoforte bench after leading her son awayfrom the other groups still gathered in the drawing room.“That man—your poor dear papa’s brother, Daniel!—should not have been allowed to get away with such behavior.”
“There is nothing illegal about the will, Mama,” the Earl of Beaconswood said. “And Uncle was careful enough toleave something for everyone, even the least of the servants.”
“You know very well that I am thinking only of that one ridiculous clause,” she said. “It is criminal, Daniel. Youmust contest it. Primrose Park should have been left to youalong with everything else. The properties should not be divided up. The aristocracy of England is only weakenedwhen such a thing happens.”
“Primrose Park is unentailed, Mama,” he said. “It was Uncle’s personal possession, to be disposed of as hechose.”
“It is yours,” she said. “It is rightfully yours. But now you are going to have to marry Julia in order to get it. Notthat I have anything against Julia, of course. But her fatherwas not a frugal man and very little is known of hermother. And she herself has been known to be rather wildin her ways. Your uncle was altogether too indulgent withher. You are going to have to take her in hand, Daniel. Iwill help you, of course.”
“Mama,” he said, “I will not be marrying Julia.”
“Not—?” She looked at him sharply. “Your reluctance does you credit, Daniel. But to my knowledge there is nothing vicious about the girl. She merely needs taming. And Isuppose it is only right that after being an adopted memberof this family for so many years she finally become a member in reality. She is pretty enough when she dresses well.”
“One of the others will marry her, Mama,” he said. “She will be as much a member of the family married to one ofthem. She will not be married to me.”
“But Primrose Park—” she began.
“I don't need it,” he said. “I already have more property and wealth than one man needs in this life.”
