With that, the young lady’s spirits were evidently revived, for she met his gaze with a resolve in her own. “Oui, monsieur. I will do whatsoever you advise to aid Esmeralda.”
“Because he does notdance?”Aunt Fanny sounded more like an angry hen than her usual self. Her voice rose to a pitch that made Helena wince. “Truly, you have become capricious beyond expectation. Why would you decline an eligible offer over such triviality?”
“It is not trivial,” Helena argued. “And it is not the sum of my reason. We simply would not suit each other. He has little inclination to smile or laugh. He…”
“Is practical, handsome, responsible and younger than many eligible bachelors.” Aunt Fanny sighed. “He is even tall, with a good chin! And doubtless he has an income of some measure, besides. Though I have yet to discover the precise amount, that house could not be kept on pennies, never mind a house in London—in Cavendish Square no less!—as well.”
“He has twenty-five thousand pounds,” Helena supplied, looking out the window as she braced herself for the inevitable reaction.
Aunt Fanny was so furious she nearly rocked the carriage. “Twenty-five thousand! What has seized your wits, girl? You could live in one house and he in the other for that annual sum.”
“Oh!” Helena had not considered the possibility of being a wife alone in London while the viscount occupied himself with his country estate. “I thought couples lived in the same house.” And truly, she had no desire for such an arrangement. She wanted a passionate marriage, one in which neither partner could consider being without the other.
The very prospect made her yearn to meet a man who would capture her heart.
Meanwhile, Aunt was fuming. “While first wed, certainly, but after you give him sons, I am certain he would indulge your whim.”
Sons. That would take at least several years, if not more. Truly, Helena might not bear sons ever. Such a condition certainly did not guarantee its eventual success—and her freedom. Helena shuddered, knowing it was better she had declined.
“How many such offers do you anticipate you will receive?” Aunt Fanny continued with outrage. “You are no longer in London, Helena, with opportunity at every dance.”
“Lady Haynesdale is hosting a ball.”
“And just yesterday, she complained to me of the paucity of young gentlemen in the vicinity. Do you imagine they will fail to hear that you have declined the most eligible of them all?” Aunt Fanny pinched the bridge of her nose as she grimaced. “Less than a week in Nottinghamshire and you will be known far and wide as a young lady too proud to see reason.”
“Am I not entitled to choose the man with whom I will spend my life?”
“No, you are not!” Aunt Fanny fairly shouted. “I will invite Nicholas to dinner that he might talk sense into you. Perhaps, if you are sufficiently contrite and charming, the viscount might be convinced to renew his addresses.”
Helena folded her arms across her chest and glared out the window. Fortunately, they approached Bramble Cottage. “I do not want him to renew his addresses,” she said with heat. “We will not suit each other.”
“Hebelieves you will suit each other!”
“He does not know me. He sees only a lady young enough to give him sons and pretty enough to grace his table. He sees alogicalmatch.” She spat the hateful word. “His objectives are not the sole detail of interest, Aunt!”
“But, of course, they are. Have I taught you nothing at all?”
Helena was spared more of Aunt Fanny’s diatribe by the coach’s halt on the drive before Bramble Cottage. A footman swept open the door, his expression hinting that their conversation had been overheard. Helena flushed but did not care what he thought. As soon as her aunt descended, she followed and hastened into the house.
She did not linger, though. She remained only long enough to collect her coat and a bonnet better suited to walking. The wind was rising and clouds gathered in the western sky, but she would not sit obediently to be berated for making the only possible choice.
“I am going for a walk,” she informed her aunt, who was sufficiently astonished that she could not immediately summon a protest. By the time Lady Dalhousie had found her tongue, Helena intended to be beyond shouting distance.
She was not one to actively seek the opportunity for even such exercise as a walk, but this day would be the exception. Where would she go?
Helena halted beyond the hedge of shrubbery—her aunt had assured her that the rhododendrons would be magnificent in May—and considered her choices once she was out of view of the cottage. The road to the right led to Southpoint, but she could wait until dinner for her brother to add his voice to the criticism.Doubtless his wife would recite many dire prospects for young ladies who declined suitable offers, based upon her previous experiences as the wife of a vicar.
Helena grimaced. From Southpoint, she could proceed to Haynesdale House in one direction, and Haynesdale Hollow beyond, or toward Colsterworth in the other. She had no intention of walking so far.
The road to the left returned ultimately to Addersley and she could see the viscount’s coach disappearing into the distance. This was a smaller curving road, one that ambled through the forested hills in a most inviting manner. There was little traffic upon it, which suited her well on this day. Addersley’s village was beyond the manor but Helena could see some kind of structure in the forest between cottage and manor. It seemed that its roof shone, which was most unusual. She would make it her destination this day and learn something more of the countryside surrounding her prison.
Even walking was better than listening to Aunt Fanny all afternoon. Helena knew she had made the right choice, but she also knew her aunt would not be convinced of that soon. She dared not risk returning to the house for her boots, for she might be detained.
It seemed she would have to learn how to mend her slippers and soon.
Helena tied her bonnet securely and began to walk.
The truthof the matter was that Joshuacoulddance.
