“Thank you, Mr. Hodge.” His comment set her stomach aflutter.
Ever since his set-down the other day, she could not seem to extract him from her mind. She did not know why a gardener’s son should affect her so. He was nothing to her! Certainly, the clerical living which would soon be his was not a poor one, but five-hundred pounds a year would hardly make him a suitable candidate to even glance at. No, certainly, her sister would never hear of her marrying so low, even with her own fortune of twenty-thousand pounds added to his. Still, she found herself ruminating on his blue eyes, deep like the sea, and his strong physique as he worked in the orchards.
Banishing one of such thoughts from her mind, she turned her back on Mr. Hodge and directed her attention to Lord Connally.
“Have you brought something with which we might measure out the length and width of the field? No? Then let us measure out the length by walking it, so we can form our calculations for the carpenters.”
On the journey home, Louisa remarked,“I have been thinking, sister, perhaps we will not go to Town this year after all,” Louisa said. “I feel you are on the verge of catching Lord Connally,” she whispered.
Caroline held back a laugh. “You speak as though he were a cold or fever.”
“More like a prize-winning fish! At any rate,” Louisa continued, “If we were to leave once the fair has ended, Miss Greenbough might gain the upper hand. She is to be here all summer. Lord Connally may forget about you, if solely in her company without you there to remind him of your superiority to her.”
“If his attraction is so fleeting, then it is hardly worth holding onto,” Caroline said. “I, for one, would not wish for such a fickle man to be my husband!”
“Men, in general, are apt to be fickle. It is a fact of life. Attraction fades almost as soon as the wedding night is over. The important thing is to secure one’s future while the attraction is in full force.”
Judging by how little attraction appeared to exist between Louisa and Mr. Hurst after only three years of marriage, Caroline supposed there must be some truth to her sister’s words.
Chapter 10
Over the next several weeks, Caroline saw Lord Connally and his party frequently. Lord Connally took them on a tour of Scarborough Castle. Caroline found the castle, currently in use as a garrison in case Napoleon’s forces were to attack, to be fascinating. She envisioned the castle in its heyday, serving the kings of old during the middle ages. They also visited the lighthouse and the harbor, and walked along the sandy beaches which fronted the town of Scarborough.
Caroline tried to imagine what life with Lord Connally might be like, but the more she knew of him, the less she liked him. He was shallow, vain, and stupid, even worse than some of the men she had known during her London seasons. He could not pass his reflection without gazing into it. During their excursion, she caught him staring at himself three times; once in the water surrounding the pier, and twice in the windows of the shops they passed by. Another time, the barest threat of rain had set him fretting about getting his clothes wet, and he whipped out his umbrella while it was only sprinkling. He dashed under the nearest awning as soon as it rained harder and was offended when a passing cart splashed mud onto his new boots.
Still, she had no other prospects, and having already been out for three seasons, she knew it would only be a matter of time before she would be considered “on the shelf.” The sooner she could make a good match, the better off she would be.
Louisa’s biggest concern was Miss Greenbough. She viewed her as Caroline’s rival, and urged Caroline not to let Miss Greenbough get the upper hand.
Caroline no longer made condescending remarks behind Miss Greenbough’s back. The next time she saw her, while on their stroll through Scarborough with Lord Connally, she deliberately complimented Miss Greenbough’s bonnet. On another occasion, when Louisa made a remark about Miss Greenbough’s playing in front of Lord Connally, Caroline was so bold as to contradict her sister and say how she thought Miss Greenbough played Beethoven skillfully. It was difficult to tell who Lord Connally favored. He appeared to be courting Caroline, as his calls and outings with her were frequent. Yet whenever Miss Greenbough was present, his whole demeanor changed. She seemed unusually comfortable in his company as well, furthering Caroline’s belief that there was some undisclosed former connection between them. In the past, she might have reacted out of jealousy and spite, but she found that such feelings did not exist where Lord Connally and Miss Greenbough were concerned.
Meanwhile, plans for the fair continued to progress. Construction was well underway for the stage, the tented dance area, and the stalls. Farmers and craftsmen from all over had pledged to sell their wares, and a number of women were to sell their handicrafts as well. A band of musicians were to perform, as well as jugglers, acrobats, and mimes. The event drew attention far and wide. Many people had grown tired of the Seamer Fair– including some who remembered the Scarborough fair from its prior years or who had heard the songs and legends from its heyday during the Norman days– and were excited when they heard about the revival. People from far and wide made plans to travel to Scarborough for the fair. News of it even reached as far as London, when a journalist with family in Scarborough caught wind of the story and put it to print in one of the big newspapers.
“I think your fair is going to be a monumental success, Lord Connally,” Caroline commended one afternoon when they met again at the fairgrounds to go over the details for the schedule of entertainment.
“It is no longer my fair anymore, Miss Bingley. It is everyone’s fair. The whole town has come together over this event.”
“Your modesty does you credit, Your Lordship,” Louisa said. “But I am sure this community looks to you as the mastermind and orchestrator of the fair. Why, I even heard the Lord Mayor comment upon it the other day!” The Lord Mayor of Scarborough had been asked to serve as the Master of Ceremonies during the fair.
“If anyone can take credit for its success, it should be Miss Bingley and Mr. Hodge. They have done most of the planning,” Lord Connally declared.
“Thank you, Your Lordship,” Caroline said. She had worked closely with Mr. Hodge to oversee the construction and the decoration. She saw he had a level head and an eye for details, and despite being one of the organizers with many tasks to complete, he was never too busy to lend a hand with the actual labor. She admired his strength as he worked with hammer and nail alongside the carpenters. And when the women who had sewn the colorful bunting required someone to hang it, he was the first to volunteer to climb on the ladder to do it.
They walked past the center of the field, where the white tent was being erected. Caroline caught a glimpse of Mr. Hodge, helping the other men to raise the poles, and a feeling of warmth rushed to her heart. She looked over to where Lord Connally was now inspecting the corrals which would soon be filled with horses and livestock, to see if she felt anything similar, but she felt nothing.
S
Caroline had never been an early riser, but since coming to Fairclough, she had been waking before dawn. Perhaps the fresh sea air allowed her a more restful sleep. Perhaps the sounds of the waves and the seagulls outside her windows were responsible for waking her. Or perhaps there was something about the ocean itself which compelled her to rise each morning. Whatever the reason, every morning since that first morning, Caroline went down to the beach to watch the sun rise up over the ocean. There was something truly magical about that time of day, when the world seemed calm and undisturbed, and there were no signs of humanity, save for perhaps a passing fisherman’s boat.
She had learnt her lesson to be wary of the tides. By discreetly borrowing the almanac page of the daily newspaper, she knew when the next high tide would be. On days when the tide was high near sunrise, she stayed on the cliffs and watched the sunrise from there. But on days when she knew the tide had already come, or would not come for a long time yet, she climbed down to the sandy shore and walked along the water’s edge for a while. Sometimes her wandering took a northerly route, until she could glimpse the fishing village across Robin Hood’s Bay and watch the boats as they made their way out to sea to begin the day’s catch. But more often, her path went in the other direction, towards Raven’s Cliff. Sometimes she made it as far as the end of the point, where the staircase leading to Raven’s Cliff began.
One morning, as she was on this southerly path, she chanced to see Mr. Hodge, walking along the beach in her direction. He was dressed much as he had been the first time she saw him, in plain brown breeches and a white shirt. The neck was undone, exposing a portion of his chest. The loose fitting material of his shirt was tucked into tight breeches which hugged his muscular legs. Caroline drew in a breath, forcing herself not to stare at his figure.
“Miss Bingley, I did not expect to see you here. I would have thought your near misadventure would have scared you away from the ocean.”
“I have since learnt to consult the almanac before venturing, so that I will not be caught unawares.”
“A wise decision.”
