She laughed.
•••
Emilywas relieved to find when she left her room that Anna had not gone riding with Luke and the children. It was unusual for her not to do so. But her reason for staying at home was soon obvious, though she did not state it. She merely said that she wished to walk to the village and wanted Emily to accompany her.
Of course. Ashley had gone out alone, probably on some estate business, and the children had been eager for their usual morning outing with their parents. But Anna had decided—or had been appointed—to stay to watch over Emily. They all knew that something had frightened her yesterday.
Emily was relieved, even though she had never before feared solitude. And a walk, she thought, would be just the thing. She was tired, and part of her would have liked nothing better than to stay in her room or to find a secluded corner somewhere so that she could relive the events of the night—the repeated and glorious lovemakings interspersed with periods of relaxation and even sleep. Part of her wanted to consider the meaning of what had happened and its implications for the future. She was not sure if last night had changed everything or nothing. But part of her did not want to have to confront the issues—or to be afraid of what, or who, might be lurking behind her. The exercise and air and the company of her sister would help to clear out her head.
But it was not to be as pleasant a morning as she had hoped for. As she and Anna were preparing to leave the house, Major Cunningham came upon them, discovered their purpose and destination, and offered his escort. Anna smiled warmly and agreed. And so, when they set out on their walk, the major stepped between them and offered an arm to each.
In addition to everything else, Emily thought, taking his arm though she inwardly cringed, he had seen her and Ashley this morning, and it would have been evident even to an imbecile that they had been returning from a night spent together. Ashley had still been wearing his rather crumpled evening clothes. And his arm had been about her waist. She could feel power in the major’s arm and sense it in his military bearing. He frightened her even as he smiled and conversed pleasantly with Anna, even as he turned to her occasionally with some polished gallantry that needed no verbal reply.
Eric Smith was swinging on the gate outside the cottage, apparently a favorite activity with him. He waved and started prattling as soon as they came within earshot. He wanted to know where James and George were. Emily did not see Anna’s reply.
“I am going to have a dog,” he announced. “Uncle Henry and Aunt Barbara said I might have one of the puppies if Mama and Grandfer would say yes. Uncle Henry took Mama into the garden last night when he brought me home, and when she came back, she said yes.”
Uncle Henry and Aunt Barbara must be Sir Henry Verney and his sister, Emily thought, taking the opportunity to disengage her arm from the major’s in order to step forward to ruffle Eric’s hair and to bend and kiss him on the cheek. They must have come home from London, then. Her stomach fluttered when she remembered what Ashley had said about Sir Henry at Lady Bryant’s ball. She hoped the two men would not come face-to-face any time soon.
Katherine Smith had come outside. She smiled fleetingly at Emily, but she was looking very pale and tense. Anna presented Major Cunningham. Mrs. Smith curtsied slightly, but she barely looked at him. She did, however, invite them inside for a cup of tea. Mr. Binchley met them at the door and ushered them into the sitting room.
The visit was rather longer than it might have been. Soon after Mrs. Smith had returned from the kitchen with the tea tray, Major Cunningham remarked on the beauty of the garden behind the house, visible through the window, and asked her if she would be so good as to show it to him. She rose silently and led the way without inviting either Anna or Emily to join them.
Anna was telling Mr. Binchley about Bowden Abbey. Emily watched their conversation, though she used Anna’s presence as an excuse to allow her attention to wander. She also watched the two in the garden. She hoped Major Cunningham had not taken a fancy to Katherine Smith, that he did not imagine that because she lived here with her father in genteel poverty she was therefore fair game for seduction. The man made her flesh crawl.
“—did not dream you would come here,” Katherine Smith was saying. “And to Penshurst instead of here.” The sun was on her face, making it very easy, despite the distance, to read her lips.
The major had his back to Emily.
“How can you be his friend?” Mrs. Smith asked. Her face was still pale. Her eyes watched him intently. “Does he know?”
Major Cunningham made a gesture about the garden with one arm.
“They cannot hear,” she said. “The window is closed.” But she turned her head away and they strolled together about the carefully plotted flower beds.
Emily watched, the sitting room and its occupants forgotten. Katherine Smith and Major Cunningham knew each other. How peculiar that they had allowed Anna to present them to each other as strangers. And then the major was facing toward the window.
“’Twere better that you asked no questions,” he said. “’Twere better that you know nothing. They died acc—” He turned his head away.
Accidentally? Who had died accidentally? They moved out of sight and at the same moment Anna got to her feet and was taking her leave of Mr. Binchley. Emily did likewise, and within a very few minutes they were continuing on their way toward the village. Anna had promised Eric, after asking Mrs. Smith’s permission, that on their return journey they would call for him and he might come to Penshurst to play with the children.
Emily watched Major Cunningham comment to Anna on the charm of the cottage and the hospitality of its occupants, but she did not try to follow the conversation.
Mrs. Smith had asked him why he had come to Penshurst instead of to the cottage.How can you be his friend?His? Ashley’s?Does he know?Know what? And who had died accidentally? Why was it better for Mrs. Smith to know nothing? Major Cunningham had been in India and had become Ashley’s friend there. He had been there presumably when Ashley’s wife and son died. They had died accidentally. What was it that Ashley might or might not know? That his friend also knew Katherine Smith?
But if they knew each other, why had they been careful not to acknowledge the acquaintance to her and Anna?
Emily’s mind puzzled over the questions for the next hour, while they looked around the church and the churchyard, talked with the rector and his wife, who came out to the gate of the rectory to bid them a good morning, and purchased a few items from the village shop.
It was a relief to Emily finally to be on their way back home. When they reached the cottage and Eric came tripping out to meet them, Emily walked with him, holding his hand while he talked without pause, and allowed Major Cunningham to walk on ahead with Anna.
•••
“Thankyou.” Ashley held out his right hand to Major Cunningham. “You are a true friend, Rod. I know that a stroll to the village and a call at a neighbor’s cottage is not the way you might have expected to spend your first full morning here. But ’tis a relief to me to know that she had the company this morning not only of my sister-in-law, but also of a man well able to defend them both from any danger that might have presented itself.”
The major shook his hand, and they both stood looking out of the library window at Emily, who was patiently throwing a ball alternately to George and Eric and watching them catch it perhaps twice out of every ten attempts.
“’Twas my pleasure,” the major said. “I had a lovely lady on each arm. What more could any man ask of life?”
