“Lord Carlton…” he bowed. “Forgive me, I did not see you there.” Beside him, his wife curtsied and he noted at once the unease which took ahold of both of them. Their visages were evident and caused him to stiffen at once.
“Good day,” he said. It was clear from the way the couple responded, that his presence there was more alarming than anything else. Indeed, they looked as though they wanted nothing more than to turn and rush away at once. Penelope, on the other hand, seemed to not really grasp their sudden discomfort, though it was all too clear to him.
“I hope you have recovered, Mrs. Turvis. Mr. Percival alerted us to your recent illness.” She addressed the woman in the same cheerful tone she’d used before.
The woman looked at Penelope but still seemed to keep an eye on Daniel at the same time.
“I have. And I thank you for sending the apothecary round to tend to me. It was very kind of you.” There was a haste in her voice as though she wanted to conclude this conversation and return to the sanctuary of her modest home.
Penny was about to engage in further civil whiskers when the man suddenly took his wife by the arm. “I am sorry, Lady Penelope, but we must tend to the fields now. It is late and we shan’t have much time, with the Harvest Festival almost upon us.”
They turned and walked away, leaving Penelope and Daniel to stand on the porch, looking at one another in vexation.
Daniel shrugged and turned, making his way back to the road where Penelope caught up to him.
“That was rather peculiar behavior. And a little rude, I must say,” she commented.
He shook his head. “It is the name, Penny. Lord Carlton, the mere title fills all of Darton with dread at the memory of my father’s actions. It is the same whenever I am in town. I am stared at and talked about behind my back wherever I go, even among my own staff. Do you really blame me now for turning my back on it all, having seen for yourself?”
He noticed she swallowed hard as they walked on. “I do not. However, I never treated you as such and neither did Papa.”
He sighed. “It cannot be helped now, Penny. And the longer I am here, the clearer it becomes to me that I will never escape the curse of my father. Not here. Not anywhere in Oxfordshire.”
She nodded. “You may be right. It is a blessing that Bridget is not one who minds moving about as she has done so frequently in her youth. Nor does she mind your history, for I am sure by now she has heard it all.”
“I take it she is not easily scared, then.”
Penny laughed. “Not at all, not at all. Not that there is anything to be scared of when it comes to you. You are nothing like your father. You are kind and good and she sees it in you. As I did.”
“Do you still?” He asked her with reservation in his tone. While it seemed that seeing for herself the consequences that he lived with all of his life had softened her to him somewhat, he could not be sure just how much.
“I do. And if you are to be successful in courting my friend, then we must perhaps let the past be the past. And move forward.”
He nodded at that. “I agree. How much is left in your basket?”
She looked startled for a moment at the sudden change in subject but then lifted the cloth that covered the baked goods. “Only two loaves. Shall we return toward the tavern and collect Alistair? Do you think he might be ready to return?”
Daniel smiled. “I should think him sufficiently bosky by now, yes. I can only hope not too bosky to call on Miss Hughes and her father.”
Penelope flinched at the mention of her friend, but nodded her head and pressed on. “I should hope so.”
As they passed the last couple of homes and delivered the tidings, Daniel could not help but dread their next stop. They would call on Bridget and her father. The man who, should Daniel’s plan succeed, would be his father-in-law. The thought did not fill him with joy at all, but rather with dread. He knew he had to marry, and the less romantic he felt about the woman the better for him and his fragile mental state.
And yet, in his heart of hearts, he knew the woman he truly wanted. The one that his heart most desired but never could have was standing right beside him, and there was nothing he could do.
Chapter 17
As they made their way back towards the tavern, Penelope could not help but glance at Daniel again and again. The odd encounter at the Turvis home had shaken her. While she had always known there were people who talked about him behind his back and said all manner of unkind things about his father, she’d not realized he knew or cared. Nor had she expected such a reaction to him from people she knew to be generally kind and level-headed. They had seemed genuinely frightened of him, or rather his name and what it stood for.
Is this how it is has always been for him? Whenever he came back into town? Is this why he stayed away? Did he worry that his ill reputation, undeserving as it might be, would reflect badly upon Father and myself?
She shook her head. If this was the case, she only wished that he had known better, for no matter what the townspeople thought of him, she and her father would always have welcomed him and would have ensured it was known he was not one bit like his father. She was sure she and her father were of one mind when it came to this matter.
Following the encounter, she did her best to keep the mood between them from slipping into further darkness as he seemed already greatly vexed. Together, they proceeded to hand out the remaining two loaves and then turned toward the tavern to collect Mr. Mavis for their next part of the journey toward Bridget’s home.
When they arrived at the tavern Penelope found they were already expected.
“It seems Mr. Mavis has concluded his business at the tavern,” she commented, upon spotting the man in question seated before the building.
