Lady Maple was sitting up in bed, pillows piled at her back, a frilly cap on her head, and wire-rimmed spectacles halfway down her nose. She was reading a book, though she did set it aside when her door opened and peered at Maria over the top of her glasses.
“You missed a great deal of excitement at breakfast,” Maria told her as she set down the tray on the table beside the bed and poured a cup of chocolate.
“I do not believe anything could excite me at breakfast,” her great-aunt said.
“Brandon...Justinproposed marriage to Estelle this morning,” Maria said, “and she accepted. They are going to marry here in October, and everyone is invited to come back for the wedding. All of Estelle’s family will be invited too. It was announced at breakfast.”
“And this isnews?” Lady Maple asked, removing her spectacles and taking the cup and saucer after Maria had stirred the chocolate. Apparently she always drank one cup before eating a biscuit.
Maria smiled at her. “If you had told me two weeks ago that I would be happy about it,” she said, “I would have called you mad.”
“And it would have been a great impertinence,” Lady Maple said. “One ought always to speak to one’s elders with courtesy, you know—or some such nonsense.”
“I am really dreadfully sorry for what I said to you that one morning,” Maria said.
“The fault was mine, child,” her great-aunt said. “I ought not to have opened my mouth on that topic even though I did not realize you were within earshot. A girl should be left alone with her memories of her mother.”
“Not when they are false memories,” Maria said. “Not when they cause her to treat living people unjustly. Mama’s jewels were never stolen. They were in the safe in Papa’s room all the time. Papa sent Justin away because there was something between Justin and Mama. I am no longer so naïve that I cannot work that out for myself. And much as I loved Mama—much as Iloveher and always will—I cannot believe that the fault was with Justin. He adored Papa and he adored me. He would not— Well,hewould not. I am not going to stand in judgment upon Mama, though. The only thing for which I really blame her is the lie she told me. She might have just remained silent on the subject, as Papa always did. She lied instead.”
“Put the cup back on the tray,” Lady Maple said. “My hands are not quite steady this morning. You are a good girl, Maria, and always have been, I suspect. Now you have your brother back and will soon have a sister who is already your friend. You have a larger family to love you too. Even the Sharpes have taken you to their bosom. I am glad. And perhaps at last I will forgive myself.”
“Oh, Great-aunt Bertha,” Maria said. “It was not your fault, what happened.”
“There is no point in dwelling upon it anyway,” LadyMaple said. “Ring the bell for my maid, please. It is time I got dressed.”
“Great-aunt Bertha.” Maria did not move for the moment, and Lady Maple looked up at her. “Justin and Estelle will be newly wed and wishing to be alone together at least some of the time each day. I have had several invitations, all of which would involve some traveling alone—apart from all the servants Justin would undoubtedly send with me. I was wondering...”
“Well, out with it, girl,” her great-aunt said. “Or I will be missing luncheon in addition to breakfast.”
“I was wondering,” Maria said, “if you might wish to come and live here. Oh, not necessarily for always. I know you have your home in London and your friends and your social life there. I do not suppose it would be terribly exciting for you to spend your days with a... a girl. But... Justin has said I may ask, and Estelle thinks it is a good idea. I asked her before I came up here. So... I thought I would ask.”
Lady Maple blinked a few times, remembered that her book was still open across her lap, and busied herself putting a folded handkerchief between the pages to mark her spot before closing it.
“Well,” she said at last. “I suppose I could come back here for the wedding and then stay for a while. And you will certainly need company if those relatives of yours in Cornwall persuade you to go there or if the family in Yorkshire wants you to go there for a while. You will need a chaperon when you go to London next spring, and you cannot expect that Lady Estelle will always be either able or willing to accompany you. It would not be fair either to her or to Brandon.Willyou ring my bell, girl, or must I do it myself?”
“I will do it,” Maria said, smiling at her. It had not really occurred to her until Justin spoke to her just after breakfast that perhaps Great-aunt Bertha was lonely and had been for a long time. It was bad of her not to have noticed. She really must cultivate a greater sensitivity to other people. Like her brother had.
Twenty-four
They arrived at Redcliffe Court in the middle of a wet afternoon. They had traveled in a carriage together, the three of them, though two other carriages came behind them—Justin’s, in which the two valets and Estelle’s maid were riding at their leisure, and Bertrand and Estelle’s baggage coach, which was empty apart from their bags.
The two men got along well together, Estelle was pleased to discover. They had both studied the classics at Oxford. Both had been on a rowing team there. Both had an interest in politics and religion and philosophy. Both were also sensitive to the fact that they were not alone together. Their conversation always included Estelle, except occasionally when she had been settled for a nap in her corner of the seat facing the horses, though she had not always been asleep. And it was not as though they felt obliged to discuss the newest fashions in bonnets or the weather or other mere frivolities when she was not asleep. She too was interested in the topics they favored, with the possibleexception of the ancient classics. She had views and opinions of her own to express.
Justin was planning to spend a few days at Redcliffe—unless your father tosses me out on my ear after taking one look at me,he had told Estelle. Then he was going to go to Gloucestershire to attend Wesley Mort’s wedding to Hilda, and to persuade them to move to Everleigh if they were wavering. He wanted it too much himself to be confident of success, Estelle suspected. Ricky had known of the possibility before they left Everleigh. Apparently the blacksmith had inadvertently talked about it in his hearing. By the time he came to say goodbye to everyone, Ricky had been moving rather as though he had springs beneath the soles of his boots and was so excited about coming back and living in that house up in the village, where he would have a room all of his own that was not even up in the attic, that his words fell all over one another and were barely coherent.
Justin was going back home after Wesley’s wedding in order to prepare for his own. Though he predicted that he would have little say in the matter. After drawing up endless lists the day before their departure and consulting both Mr.and Mrs.Phelps and the head gardener and even the vicar in a brief visit to the vicarage, Lady Crowther had announced during the evening that she was staying.
“I cannot possibly organize everything from Cornwall, Justin,” she had declared, as though he had asked her to do just that. “And we cannot expect the Marchioness of Dorchester, Lady Estelle’s stepmother, to come here in person to organize the wedding. Maria has no experience in planning anything on such a grand scale, besides which she is going to spend a few weeks with Rosie, which is an excellent idea as the past few years have been very gloomy and stressful for her. I know Everleigh. I even know manyof the people here. I am staying. So is Felicity. Everyone else will go home, as planned, and return for the wedding.”
And when Lady Crowther, Justin’s aunt Augusta, decided something, Estelle had realized, no one argued. It must have felt strange to Justin when he left Everleigh with Estelle and Bertrand to be waved off by two of his guests. He had even apologized to his aunts for abandoning them.
“But of course you must go to Redcliffe, Justin,” Lady Felicity Ormsbury had assured him. “It is only right that you apply formally for Lady Estelle’s hand to the Marquess of Dorchester. Besides, we do not need you here. There is nothing for you to do.”
They had laughed about it in the carriage, the three of them.
“Relatives,”Justin had said, shaking his head as the carriage rumbled over the Palladian bridge before tackling the climb out of the valley.
“Are they not wonderful?” Estelle had said. “I am so glad you did not fight your aunts on the issue, Justin, and order them to leave your house. They will enjoy themselves enormously in the coming weeks. And they will organize a really magnificent wedding, with a great deal of help from your servants and your secretary. You will surely find that there really is nothing for you to do.”
