“Well, he did. Lomax was concerned, you see, that there should be no blemish against your name, so he asked your uncle, who told him you were as innocent as a newborn babe. Well, it would be dishonourable to let that stand, so I told him about Seymour.”
Whatever Winnie had been expecting, that threw her into total confusion. “Mr Seymour? What does he have to do with any of this?”
“You have to admit, Winnie, that was not your finest hour.”
Her head was spinning. Mr Seymour? A blemish against her name? Her uncle lying? “Walter, I understand none of this. Whatever you said to Mr Lomax drove him away, so please will you tell me exactly what passed between you.”
“I have told you already — I told him about what happened with Seymour, and that got rid of him for you.”
Fury rose up inside her. The nerve of the man, to speak to Mr Lomax about her at all! And now to hedge and prevaricate, and to boast —boast!— that he had got rid of Mr Lomax for her! The man who had wanted to marry her, driven away by something Walter had said, and how insufferably pleased he looked with himself.
Slamming her wine glass down on the table so that a little splash of red marred the table, she marched round to Walter’s chair and poked him angrily in the chest.
“How dare you!” Poke. “By what right do you interfere? Who are you to decide who proposes to me and who does not?” Poke, poke, poke.
“Steady on, Winnie! I am only looking out for your best interests, you know.”
“What did you tell him?”
“Calm down, for heaven’s sake! I only told him about the Seymour business.”
“Precisely, Walter.”
“Precisely. Very well. I told him that you met Seymour in York during your second season there, he was on the brink of a proposal and then you behaved badly and he took off.”
“Behaved badly?What is that supposed to mean?”
“Something no innocent girl should do, Winnie. You… allowed him to take liberties. I am sorry to drag it all up again, but Lomax raised the subject and he needed to know the truth.”
“But it is not true! I have never done anything of the kind.”
“Winnie, there is no need to pretend, not with me.Ido not think any the worse of you for—”
“It is not true!”Hot tears stung her cheeks. How could he betray her so?
“Hush, Winnie, for goodness sake! Look, Seymour told his father, and he told mine, so I know—”
“Mr Seymour offered for me and I rejected him.”
“What! No, that cannot be right.”
“It is the truth, Walter. Aunt Minna will tell you, for she was outside the parlour for the two minutes it took, and that was the only time I was ever alone with him in the whole of our acquaintance, so whatever he told his father was a foul lie. Why would anyone do a thing like that, when he professed toloveme.” She could barely catch her breath for crying. “Oh, what have youdone, Walter? What have you done?”
“I am very sorry if I have been misled, but I only acted in your best interests, Winnie. At least now you will not have to put up with that travesty of a man.”
“IlikedMr Lomax! He was going to propose, and now you have ruined it, and I will never get another offer.”
“But… you would not have wanted to marry him… would you?”
“OfcourseI would!”
“But why? He is a coxcomb, Mouse.”
“Stop calling me Mouse! I hate it!”
“Do you? But you cannot truly want to marry a man like that. For God’s sake tell me you are not serious.”
“He is a respectable and educated man of independent means, who has never shown me anything but kindness. Any sensible woman would take him in an instant, but especially so when she is twenty-four years old, with no other prospect in view but a lifetime of racing from one sister or brother to the next. Dependable Aunt Winnie, always ready to help out with other people’s children.Of courseI wanted to marry him, and have my own house and my own children, and be the centre of a family instead of always being on the margins. And now you have spoilt it and I shall never get another offer. I will die an old maid and it is all your fault, Walter Atherton.”
