“Sofia never steps out without Percival, Kitty,” Uncle Alfred said. “The footman, if you remember. He is a great, tall fellow, who amuses himself now and then by a little prize fighting, which he usually wins. And if we venture out at night, Winnie will have three gentlemen to protect her. She will be perfectly safe, you may be sure.”
“You seem to have an answer for every possible concern,” Mama said grudgingly. “Very well, you may go off and enjoy yourself, Winnie.”
“Thank you, Mama,” Winnie said demurely, but inside her heart was so full she felt she would burst. She would go to London! With Walter! She could scarcely believe her luck.
15: Journey To London
The evening passed off much as usual, Winnie supposed. The young female cousins giggled and whispered together. Their male counterparts insulted each other loudly and ate enormous amounts of food. The adults talked about the events of the day in well-modulated voices, interspersed with reproving comments to the children. Only two people were largely silent, both Walter and Winnie frequently lost in their own thoughts, although for entirely different reasons.
Winnie could not begin to imagine how Walter must be feeling. She wondered how she would feel, to discover that she were suddenly illegitimate, but it could not be the same. She had no great title and vast estates to lose, no high position in society from which to plummet, no engagement to be broken. She would not lose very much at all, for her parents would hardly throw her out, so she would go on exactly as always. Whereas for Walter, every facet of his life would now be different. But he was very capable, when he set his mind to it, so he would forge a new path for himself.
At the end of the evening, the four men settled down to whist and brandy, and much as Winnie wished she could stay, Mama’s “Shall we retire, ladies?” was spoken in a tone which admitted of only one possible response. So Winnie went to her room, clutching the newspaper under her arm, to read while she waited for Martha. But it was not Martha who knocked on her door a few minutes later.
“May I come in?”
“Of course, Mama. Have I done something wrong? If you do not wish me to go to London—”
“No, dear, no, it is not that. Well, not solely that.”
“I should not wish to do anything you dislike, or to cause you any anxiety on my account. I am quite ready to give it up if—”
“No. Your father has approved it, and I am satisfied that you will be well looked after. You are a good girl, Winnie. You work hard, you are obedient and dutiful, and you deserve a little pleasure in your life. But I do have a concern regarding London, all the same. Or rather, regarding Walter.”
“Mama, you need not worry about that. I have no expectations there, and in fact, I am quite at odds with him today. He does not always think as he ought.”
“That is true. I like him well enough, but he has not always the proper degree of… of rectitude,” she said with distaste, startling Winnie into silence. “But it is not his behaviour of which I must speak, or yours either, for I trust you without reservation on that score. But Winnie, Ifearfor you. On this journey to London, you and Walter will be very much thrown together. Several days on the road then two, perhaps three, weeks in town, and however strong your resolve, the heart can be a great deceiver. It would be very easy, in such constant proximity, to come by degrees to think that he feels more for you than is the case. Dearest, I do not want you to be disappointed, and so you must not allow your hopes to be raised.”
“Mama—”
“No, let me finish, dear. I am going to tell you something now that I have never told you before because… well, you didnotneed to hear such things. But now I think it best you know. When you came home after your second season in York, after you refused Mr Seymour and explained to me why you had done so… it seemed to me that we might look about us for a match closer to home, and nowhere is closer than Corland, is it?”
Winnie sat up straighter. “You tried to arrange a match for me… withWalter?”
“Naturally, I did not tell anyone of yourtendrefor Walter, but it seemed like such an obvious thing to do,” her mother said, with a slight lift of one shoulder. “Such close neighbours, and the two of you had been friends for years. It is not as if you were wildly ineligible, after all, as the daughter of a baronet, and five thousand is not a trivial dowry. Perhaps your father could have done something more for you, if it had come off. And the earl was not unresponsive at first.”
At first?Winnie trembled all over — she had come so close to achieving her heart’s desire, yet had known nothing of it!
“He thought Walter was too young to marry, that was the only sticking point initially. He would think about it, he said. But then, a few months later, when your father raised the matter with him again, it was a different story. It was out of the question, he said, because you were not a fit person to marry into his family. Your propriety was in question.”
“What? But what have I ever done wrong that would preclude me marrying an Atherton… or anyone?”
“That he did not say, or nothing specific, anyway. But you see, Winnie, this is what comes of barging into drawing rooms without so much as removing your bonnet. I was quite ashamed of you this afternoon, and as for courtesy towards a guest, that is best achieved by presenting yourself in your best light.”
“Mama, do you seriously mean to suggest that Lord Rennington rejected me as a possible bride—” A bride! For an instant, her self-command almost deserted her. “—a possiblematchfor Walter because I sometimes look a bit dishevelled and dirty?”
“It is more than that, Winnie. You are not and never have been ladylike, and anyone marrying into an earl’s family has to be a lady at all times, to grace the dignity of her position.”
Winnie laughed suddenly. “Did you not hear Bea Franklyn talking about her great friend Charity? A lady who spills things and bumps into things and trips over things and says whatever stray thought wanders into her head, and she is married to a marquess and will be a duchess one day. It sounds like a put-off, to me. Lord Rennington obviously thought he could do better for Walter than the mere daughter of a baronet.”
“With Bea Franklyn?” her mother said, raising her eyebrows. “The way she set her cap at Walter was not at all ladylike.”
“Aunt Sofia said she was a devious, scheming little minx, as I recall.”
“Hush, child! You must not repeat such things. But even though that is all off, I want to be sure you understand that Walter is not for you. Even if this trip to London seems to be bringing you closer together, his father will not countenance the match.”
“I understand, Mama. I will be sensible.”
“Good girl.”
