"The earbobs she's wearing, they're exactly like my pendant.''
"Yes," Lady Regina answered without elaborating. She sighed heavily, thinking it was time for Elyse to know certain things about this family she was marrying into. Of course, she'd known that must be done one day, but she'd put it off. Now it seemed her dear friend Felicia had somehow brought it about.
"You may as well know, you'll hear bits and pieces of it anyway, once you're married and live here."
"Know what? Gossip, rumors, things people have no better sense to say."
"I'm afraid it's a great deal more than that, my dear." Regina looked up at the painting.
"Her parents were friends of your grandfather's, and she was only a few years younger than your father." She paused, then continued. "Your father went off to America and met your mother. Felicia met and fell in love with Alexander Barrington."
"Alexander...?" Elyse's gaze fastened on the portrait. "There were two sons?"
"Yes. Alex was Lord Clayton's son by his first marriage. He remarried after his wife's death. Young Alex must have been about four or five at the time."
"I didn't know," Elyse's dark eyes were troubled.
"It never seemed to matter," Lady Regina continued. "It all happened so long ago. It was all so dreadful and sad, something best forgotten. But when I saw Charles' reaction seeing you in that gown..." Lady Regina came closer to stand before the portrait.
"I never knew much about the two boys’ childhood. I supposed it was like those of others. But as they grew older, there were rumors of problems. Alex was the firstborn, heir to Lord Clayton's title, lands, everything. Charles as the second son would inherit also, but to a much lesser extent."
"Alex grew to be a handsome young man," she continued. It was easy to see how Felicia fell in love with him, and he with her. This portrait was painted to celebrate their engagement."
It was warm in the room. Nevertheless, she felt as if something cold had brushed against her, and she shivered.
"She was engaged to Charles’ brother," she whispered incredulously. "But how...?”
"It was such a sad thing, all of it." Lady Regina slowly shook her head. "The wedding was to have taken place just before Christmas of that same year. To this day, I don't think anyone knows exactly how it all began."
"Tell me!" Elyse insisted. But even as she said it, somewhere deep in her soul, she already knew.
"There was a violent quarrel. There were conflicting stories on how it began. When it was over, Clayton Barrington was dead. Alex was found standing over him, an andiron in his hand. The evidence was damning. Alex was brought before the magistrate on charges of murder. There was a dreadful scandal.
"Your mother and father had just married, and I had gone to New York for the wedding and a long visit. It was all over when I returned. Alex was found guilty of murder on the testimony of a servant girl who claimed to have found him standing over Lord Clayton. He denied everything, but it didn't matter."
"What happened then?" Elyse's voice was faint whisper as she stood before the portrait of Felicia Barrington.
"He would have been hanged, but Charles pleaded for the court's mercy. In the end, Alex was given a sentence and exiled."
Elyse's fingers tightened. "Exiled? Where?"
"He was sent to the convict colony at New South Wales and forbidden to ever return to England. Felicia was devastated. I hardly recognized her when I returned from New York. It was as if she had suffered everything with him. I've never seen two people more in love, or two lives more shattered."
Elyse looked up, her eyes filled with tears. "She tried to go with him."
"Yes, but he wouldn't allow it," Lady Regina replied.
"He asked her to wait for him," Elyse whispered. "He said he would come back."
Lady Regina stared at her. "For two years she lived with that hope."
"Two years," Elyse murmured.
"And then without anyone knowing of it, without any plans or announcement, she married Charles Barrington." Lady Regina shook her head. "I never understood it. When I spoke to her once about it, she refused to say anything, only that what was done, was done. A few years after that, word finally came to the family that Alex had died in New South Wales. It was as if she died too. I think it was then she finally gave up all hope that he would return. She had Jerrold within a year after that, but she was never really well again."
Elyse stared at the portrait. She thought she could almost see something alive in Felicia Barrington's eyes, something that wasn't in any of the other portraits at Fair View. If she reached out, would she feel warmth in those elegant fingers wrapped around the Remembrance Rose?
"She was so beautiful," Elyse sadly said. "And Lord Charles must have loved her."
