“No,” she said.
“He will be happy here,” he said. “There are no memories, bad or otherwise, to spoil it for him. He is a stranger here. He does not know this part of the country or anyone in it except me. This will be the best way, Emmy, believe me.”
“No.” She frowned. No, that was not true. She remembered the visit she had paid to Mr. Binchley’s cottage with Anna and the major. She remembered watching Major Cunningham and Mrs. Smith through the window as they walked in the garden. How could she say it? And why was it even important that it be said? But she did not want Ashley to sell Penshurst. Especially not to the major.
“He knows Mrs. Smith,” she said very slowly. She was never sure when she spoke that sound came out. But he had evidently heard something.
“Who does?” he asked. “Rod?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Impossible,” he said. “He has never been here before. Unless he met her when she lived elsewhere with her husband, of course. But ’twould be strange that he has said nothing. Are you sure?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Strange,” he said. “I must ask him about it.”
But she remembered that Major Cunningham and Katherine Smith had not openly acknowledged their acquaintance. They had gone out into the garden, like hostess and guest, and talked there. The window had been closed. No one in the house would have heard their conversation. But she had seen it. For some reason those two did not want it known that they were acquainted. Emily felt a wave of the now almost familiar dread and panic.
“No,” she said, clutching the wide cuff of Ashley’s coat. She shook her head firmly. “No. No. Do not ahsk.”
He lowered his head and looked closely into her face. “Emmy,” he said, and now there was a frown on his face too, “you do not like Rod. Why?”
She dropped her hand and deliberately made her face expressionless. She shook her head.
“I will say nothing, then,” he said. “I must take you back to Anna and Luke. Sir Henry Verney wishes to speak with me. I would take you with me, Emmy, to visit Lady Verney and Miss Verney—you like them, do you not?—but Verney particularly requested that I come alone. I will be as quick as I can so that we can have a long afternoon outing. You look as if you need fresh air.”
She smiled.
He leaned his head down again and kissed her warmly on the lips. He spoke carefully with his hands and his face as well as with his voice. “Emmy,” he said, “you are the most precious treasure of my life. You have been since the day I met you, but I have not fully realized until recently how all-encompassing is your influence on my life and your importance to my happiness. How blind one can be! And how foolish!”
He gave her no chance to reply. He got to his feet, took her hand, and drew it through his arm. Then he took her back to the nursery, where Luke was holding Harry above his head and making him laugh while Anna read a story to the other three.
•••
Theysat in Sir Henry Verney’s library, one on either side of the fireplace, like two old friends exchanging news and views and gossip. But Sir Henry had done most of the talking. And finally they sat in silence.
“I mean to marry Katherine,” Sir Henry said at last. “I mean to give her son my name. I mean to call out Major Roderick Cunningham for the guilt and the terror he has forced into her life.”
“Then you will have to wait your turn,” Ashley said, breaking his long silence.
“Yes,” Sir Henry said. “I guessed that I might. I seem to have been nothing but the bearer of disturbing news in the past few days. I am sorry.”
Ashley looked steadily at him. “I owe you so many apologies,” he said, “that I scarce know where to begin. But they must be said now lest after today I am forever prevented from saying them.”
“We will take them as spoken and accepted,” Sir Henry said. “Under similar circumstances I would perhaps have behaved with less restraint and courtesy than you have shown. ’Tis altogether possible that we will be neighbors for many years to come. Is it possible we can also be friends?”
Ashley got to his feet and held out his right hand. Sir Henry stood up too and took it. Despite the fact that they clasped hands quite firmly, there was some awkwardness between them. But there was the will on both sides to put the past behind them and to begin their acquaintance anew.
Ashley took his leave without further conversation. For the moment there was nothing else to say. Both knew that they might never meet again.
27
EMILYhad gone to her room to rest for a while before the picnic. At least, that was the reason she had indicated to Anna. She had also signaled her that she did not need company. It was broad daylight. There could be no danger. Anna, dubious though she had looked, had allowed her sister to be alone.
But it was not rest Emily had needed. She needed to be alone so that she could think. She had become a prisoner to fear. She had become dependent for safety on Anna and Luke, and on Ashley. They had taken charge of her life. She was to return to Bowden—because she was afraid to stay at Penshurst. Ashley was going to sell Penshurst because—well, because he was going to offer for her again, and because he believed he could not have both Penshurst and her.
She hated the fear. She hated the dependence. And she hated the thought of Ashley’s selling Penshurst. Somehow, she felt, he needed to stay here, to make it his home, to find his peace here. And she loved it too, despite everything.
