“Have you been forced into this against your will?” he asked, frowning.
“Have you?” she said. “The question seems hardly relevant, your grace. You must marry someone of my rank, and it is an excellent match for me to marry someone of yours.”Somehow it had not struck him that perhaps the girl wasactively reluctant to marry him, though when he thoughtabout it he realized that only vanity could have led him tothe assumption that any girl must be delighted at the chanceto become his duchess.
“Is there someone else?” he asked gently.
“I believe the question is impertinent, your grace,” she said. “I have accepted your offer. You will find that I knowmy duty and will perform it.”
Like his grandmother? Would duty become the guiding principle of Phyllis’s life, all love snuffed out because shehad had the misfortune to be born too nobly?
He raised her hand to his lips. “I shall do my best,” he said, “to ease you in the performance of your duty, to ensure that you will not regret your answer to me today.”
There was some warmth in her eyes for a moment “Howcould I regret it,” she said, “when I will be the envy of theton?You have been the biggest prize on the matrimonialmart for many years, your grace.”
The girl had spirit and a direct manner of speaking that he liked. Perhaps it would not be a total disaster, this marriage, he thought. Though it would never be that, of course.They would both know how to be civil for the rest of theirlives, despite personal feelings.
Yet he could feel no gladness in knowing that his bride was apparently a sensible woman. His heart was aching. Hehad now reached and passed the final stage. He had just engaged this girl to marry him. He had just made her apledge. And yet already he was breaking it. Already he waslonging to be free. Already he was living for next Thursdayafternoon. Already he was scheming of ways to convinceHarriet to prolong their affair beyond the end of the Season.Already he knew that he could not willingly face living without her.
And yet already too he knew that conscience was not dead in him. That being unfaithful to a wife was going tobe no light or easy matter.
Harriet!
He smiled at Lady Phyllis and resumed his walk with her. “There,” he said. “The moment we have both knownwas coming has come and is safely in the past. The rest, Isuppose, can be left in the hands of your mother and mygrandmother. Let us talk, shall we? Become a little lessthan strangers to each other? Tell me about yourself.”
“Oh,” she said. “Let me see. I was born in May twenty years ago. Have I started far enough back?”
They looked at each other and both laughed.
Chapter 14
No announcement was made. But it was perfectly obvious that one was imminent. The duke led Lady Phyllis in todinner on Saturday evening and turned the pages of hermusic in the drawing room afterward. They traveled in thesame barouche to church on Sunday morning and sat nextto each other in the earl’s padded pew. They walked out together, unchaperoned and unaccompanied, in the afternoonand partnered each other at cards during the evening. Theyrode together on Monday morning.
Oh, yes, it was perfectly obvious. There was to be a dinner for guests and neighbors on Monday evening and dancing afterward. The countess, the duchess, numerous maids and footmen, hurried to and fro all day long, busy withpreparations. During the afternoon armfuls of flowers werecarried into both the dining room and the small ballroom.Obviously it was no ordinary occasion that was being prepared for.
Harriet devoted all her time to Lady Sophia, who seemed unusually pensive during those days and often sat merelypatting Harriet’s hand. She was doing so on Monday afternoon as they sat out in the formal gardens. She waswrapped about warmly with a shawl and had a blanket overher knees.
“I did not think it would come to this quite so fast, child,” she said after gazing and nodding silently at theflowers for several minutes. “I forget how relentless Sadiecan be when she has her mind set on something.”
Harriet did not pretend to misunderstand. “It is a good match for both of them, ma’am,” she said.
“Fiddle!” The old lady rapped her hand almost sharply.“If they like each other, that is quite as far as their feelings go. They are foolishly sacrificing themselves on the altar offamily expectations.”
Harriet said nothing.
“And he lovesyou,my pet,” Lady Sophia said sadly.
“Oh, no.” Harriet pulled her hand away, abruptly. “You must not say so, ma’am. It is not true.”
“Never say he has not told you?” the old lady said. “Ah, young bucks are not what they used to be in my time. Orperhaps you have never developed the wiles to draw thetruth from him. You are too sweet for your own good,child.”
“What would be the point of making him say it?” Harriet said, bowing her head.
The old lady’s gnarled hand touched the bright hair at the back of her head. “I did not hear you, my pet,” she said.“But I have upset you. There, there, I should have left youat home with your little one, where you wanted to be. I ama selfish old woman and foolishly thought I could workmiracles just because I am aged and have acquired somesmall measure of wisdom during my life.”
Harriet looked up and smiled determinedly. “I am not sorry I came,” she lied. “Have I made your days a littlehappier than they would otherwise have been? Everyoneseems too busy to sit and talk.”
“My days always have a little more sunshine when you are in them, child,” Lady Sophia said. “You will help meinside now. I feel chilly.”
The announcement was made by the Earl of Barthorpe at the end of dinner before the ladies retired. There weretwenty neighboring guests in addition to those staying atthe house. No one was surprised, of course, but the announcement was followed by loud exclamations of astonishment and pleasure. The dining room was loud with thenoise of congratulations to the newly betrothed couple.Toasts followed.
