“Oh, you. I can see Dauntry thinking that way.”
“So can I. Choosing the piece to play. All life is a chessboard to him. I can see that already. And I can tolerate it, as long as I’m the queen.”
“With him the powerless king?”
“Oh no. As I said, he’s the chess player.”
“He’s simply a beleaguered man, Kitty.”
They took up their work again, but it left time to think. Kitty had met beleaguered men, and Dauntry was beleaguered in much the same way as Wellington at Waterloo. He was planning for victory, no matter what the cost.
She’d know better what that might cost her after a week of encounters.
***
The next day she received a note from Dauntry and rushed off to find Ruth, who was scattering seed for the chickens. “He’s gone to Town!”
“What?” Ruth turned to her. “Why?”
“He doesn’t say. Of course. Merely that he’s obliged to go up to Town for a few days, but will return by Wednesday.” Kitty shook the letter. “He’s avoiding me. What doesn’t he want me to learn? And he’s avoiding taking me to the Abbey. What is it? Bowshamp or Beecham?”
Ruth looked bewildered. “Bowshamp. He probably does have important matters in London. He’s traveled there a time or two.”
“Is his mistress so irresistible?”
“What mistress?”
“What else takes him to Town?”
“I don’t know, but you always knew London was part of the bargain.”
“Your reasonableness is unreasonable! He was to go to Townafterthe marriage. I was depending on this week to learn more about him.” A hen pecked at Kitty’s shoe, and she jumped backward. “Stop that!”
Ruth continued to feed the demanding poultry. Kitty kept watch on the beady-eyed birds. “I could visit the Abbey without him.”
“I wouldn’t.”
“Why not? Are you too trying to hide something?”
“Of course not. But it would start your time there on the wrong foot. He must formally introduce you to his family and household.”
Ruth was right, but Kitty didn’t like it. “This is extremely frustrating.”
Ruth shook out the last of the grain and turned back toward the house. “Would anything you learned there change your mind?”
“I assume he doesn’t turn into a monster at night.”
“And how would you discover that before the wedding?”
“Anticipate the wedding. After all, I’m not a virgin.”
“Kitty!” But Ruth was laughing. “I wonder if Dauntry knows what he’s getting.”
“As well as I know what I’m getting in him. That makes me think. Marriage settlements.”
“What?”
“We never spoke of them, but I’ll have them, providing plenty of pin money, so I’ll have some independence. Isn’t there a solicitor in the village?”
