“It is a pity that Mr. Bird was not given the living outright, and only made to hold it for Hodge’s son.”
“Mr. Hodge was always a favorite with old Lord Connally.”
Caroline grew impatient to hear more of the new Lord Connally, and not this gardener’s son. “If Lord Connally is indeed in residence, then I would be delighted to make his acquaintance.”
“The sooner, the better,” Louisa added, nodding her head vigorously. “We are quite available today, in fact.”
“Oh!” Mrs. Bird exclaimed. “Well, I had not planned on calling there today. I am expecting my niece on the afternoon stage and Mr. Bird has gone into Scarborough to fetch her.” Seeing their downcast expressions, she relented. “But, I suppose I have time enough for a brief call before Elise is due to arrive, and given that Lord Connally is an old acquaintance whom I knew as a boy, it would be acceptable for me to make the introductions without Mr. Bird to accompany us.”
Caroline and Louisa’s faces brightened again.
“No one could doubt the propriety of it, Mrs. Bird,” Mrs. Hurst supplied.
“Indeed,” Mrs. Bird nodded. “I am a clergyman’s wife, after all. I shall take you there directly, for it is on my way to the parsonage.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Bird,” Mrs. Hurst said on behalf of her guests. “I would go myself, but as you know, I never stir, unless it is to go to the baths. And I do not suppose we should find Lord Conallythere, though his father did occasionally go.” Turning to Caroline, Mrs. Hurst beamed. “I know, Miss Bingley, that you were disappointed to be missing the Season in order to care for an old widow.” Her spirited comment made Caroline’s cheeks pink. “But I think you will find you have come to the right place. Mark my words, there is a catch to be had next door at Raven’s Cliff!”
Caroline was pleased. Perhaps her stay at Fairclough would not be so terrible after all.
S
Theo tried to concentrate on pruning the remainder of the pear trees, but his mind felt inexorably drawn to the lady who had passed through.Was she, in fact, Miss Bingley?He found it intriguing that a young lady might be walking alone without a maid at so early an hour.Then again, married ladies are never awake at this hour.He concluded that she could not have been a maid, either. Her gown, though wet and dirty from her brush with the tides, was of too fine a quality to belong to a servant, and too fashionable of a cut.
If this is the fortune-hunting social climber that Beaujean warned me about, she is not what I expected.There was pride in her eyes. But also independence and determination. She had been walking the beach alone. A bold move for one who was unfamiliar with the area. He supposed she was lucky to have reached the staircase at the cliffs in time. If she had not, she would not have been the first unlucky person to be swept away by the tide.
His companions noticed his distraction, but they attributed it to his desire to finish the work. Oliver assisted in the orchard for a few hours after breakfast, until Beaujean, bored and desirous of seeing his lady-love, but discontent with making the trip to The King Richard alone, asked his friends to accompany him. Oliver agreed to go, but Theo declined, insisting there was yet too much work to be done. He would not hear of Oliver remaining, however. Jack and Bill were present, and must do their jobs if they were to keep their place, Theo said. Theo put them to work on the last rows of the orchard, while he continued working on the row he had begun that morning.
For the second time that day, Theo found his work interrupted. Voices, female, more than one.
“Yes, I am positively certain he is at home. Mr. Hodge all but confirmed it when he indicated that the master was out in the orchards. He must be surveying the work to be done, so he knows how to direct his gardeners. Goodness knows there is a lot of it.”
A second voice added, “But if such is the case, then he is not ‘at home’ to visitors, just as the butler told us when we rang the bell.” Theo glanced down from his perch atop the ladder. The second voice came from the redheaded beauty he had seen earlier. Walking with her was Mrs. Bird, and another woman, whose features resembled the redhead’s albeit slightly older.
The third woman spoke next. “Honestly, Caroline, we cannot afford to stand upon ceremony when we have abaronto meet.” She said the word ‘baron’ with such emphasis that it made Theo’s stomach turn.This must be what Beaujean meant when he said the Bingley sisters were social climbers.
He had seen his share of social climbers and fortune hunters in the brief Season he experienced the year he graduated Oxford and before he fled to Ireland. The notion of a man being hunted for his position in society or his wealth disgusted him. The fact that Theo possessed both a title of nobility and a vast fortune made him a prime target; more than one young lady attempted to foist themselves on him despite his repeated attempts to avoid paying court to any of them. One woman had even attempted to compromise him, locking him into the library with her, but as the library was on the ground floor, he opened the window and escaped before anyone could find them alone together.
The redhead spoke. “I suppose if he is as good a creature as Mrs. Bird has described knowing in his youth, he will not mind our intrusion.”
“Precisely,” the woman whom he presumed was her sister nodded.
“I am sure that if we go this way, we shall find him,” Mrs. Bird assured them.
Theo came down from his ladder to face them.
The redhead recognized him. “Hello, sir. Could you tell us where your master is? We are looking for him.”
“I am afraid the master is not at home today,” Theo carefully worded. “Perhaps the butler neglected to inform you of this?”
“Oh!” Mrs. Bird tittered. “He said something to that effect, yes, but his head gardener practically assured me that Lord Connally was indeed on the property, and told us where we might find him. If you would be so kind as to direct us to his whereabouts.”
Theo crossed his arms resolutely. “If His Lordship has directed the butler to say that he is not at home, then I am certain he will be disinclined to receive you, whatever Mr. Hodge might have said. You shall have to return another day, ladies.”
Mrs. Bird and the other lady turned back, disappointed, but the redhead lingered behind.
Dropping her voice, she said to him, “I would like to thank you, sir, for your assistance earlier this morning. And, for not exposing me in front of my sister. Were it known to her that I had gone for a walk alone, and at such a dangerous time of day as high tide–”
Theo put his hand up. “Say no more, madam. Your secret is safe with me.” A small smile escaped his lips.
