After a while, when they had left the others a little distance behind, he said quietly, “You must have wondered greatly at our leaving London so abruptly last month, and without so much as a word of explanation, too.”
Winnie hardly knew how to answer him, for she knew perfectly why he had left, but the lack of any note or letter of explanation was worthy of comment. “We were concerned for you and Mrs Lomax,” she said. “We feared an accident, or a severe illness.”
“Indeed there was an illness, but not in my mother or myself, I am happy to report. A cousin of ours, to whom my mother is greatly attached, almost a sister, suffered an apoplexy, and Mother was in such agitation that she must needs depart at once, instantly, with not a moment to lose. Naturally, I could not object, and we left in such great haste that there was not even time for me to write to let you know what had occurred. I told myself that I should write the instant I reached Oxfordshire, but then I remembered that you would already be on your way back to Yorkshire and would not receive the letter for some days. And there was the awkwardness of writing to you when I have no right to do so. You may imagine the quandary in which I found myself. And then, of course, I found the very idea of a letter became unnecessary, for I had the happy idea of coming myself to surprise you.”
It was all a lie, a complete fabrication, and not even a very good one, and at first she was shocked. Then she was angry. Why did he think it necessary to deceive her? He could have created some vague excuse… urgent business at home, that was the usual way.
When she could command her voice, she said, “Your coming was certainly a surprise, sir.”
“I hope a pleasant one?” he said, and for the first time there was a note of uncertainty in his voice.
“Indeed it is,” she said, for whatever his excuses for abandoning her, or his reason for changing his mind, she was very glad to see him. No woman could be displeased by a man who travels two hundred and fifty miles to see her. “I hope she is much recovered?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“The cousin who suffered the apoplexy.”
“Oh… oh, yes, well on the way to a full recovery, happily. It is often the way, is it not, that these events are not so bad as one fears when one first hears the news. This is a very pretty garden, Miss Strong. It is all Lady Strong’s work, I understand?”
“She is never happier than when she is on her knees with her hands in the soil.”
He stopped. “Shall we turn back now? It is too hot to spend too long in the sun, I feel, even with a parasol to shade you. I am so happy to be in your company again that I scarcely notice the time passing, but I do not wish to exhaust you.”
She denied any exhaustion, but he was adamant, so they returned to the terrace. His carriage was ordered, he made punctilious farewells to the ladies, and even remembered many of the names. Winnie and her mother escorted him to the front door, trailed by Lily and Hebe, and even Papa emerged from the book room to see him off. An invitation to dinner that eveningwas issued and accepted, his carriage arrived, he kissed Winnie’s hands again, and then he was gone.
“Winnie, a word in my book room, if you please,” Papa said. “No, not you, Kitty, I want to talk to Winnie alone.”
“Very well, Sir Hubert,” Mama said with dignity. “Come along, Lily. Come along, Hebe. We have guests to attend to.”
When Winnie followed her father into the book room, he poured two glasses of Madeira and sat her down opposite him on a chair beside the window, from which vantage point the dust cloud from Mr Lomax’s carriage was still visible on the drive.
“Well, Winnie, so that is the famous Mr Lomax. I am disposed to like him, despite the excessive number of fobs he wears, since his attachment to you shows commendable good sense.”
Winnie laughed, but said nothing, merely sipping her Madeira.
“He has not said anything formal to me, but I think we may assume that he has not come all this way merely to enquire after your health. It would certainly be a good match for you, if you choose to accept him. Four thousand a year, I understand from your uncle. However, you do not have to rush into a decision. You will want to be reassured of the strength of his attachment, I imagine, and for myself, I should like to know that there is more to him than the fashionable appearance.”
“I believe you will like him when you get to know him better, Papa.”
He smiled at her, setting down his own glass and steepling his hands. “I believe so, too. The reports I have had from your Uncle Alfred, and also from the Blackwoods, reassure me that his mind is well informed, and by no means as frivolous as his appearance. As you consider your future, there is something I think you should know. You are aware that Walter was the cause of Mr Lomax leaving London in such haste. When Walterrealised that the rumours he had passed on were completely untrue, he wrote to Lomax to tell him so. It is for this reason, I believe, that Lomax has changed his mind and sought you out again.”
“Walter wrote to him?” That was a surprise!
“He did. It was a very proper and honourable action, and I think the better of him for it. When he first returned here, his first action was to come to me and make a full confession of all that he had done. Most of it I knew, of course, but he withheld nothing, and expressed himself very well. He is very remorseful, Winnie, for he never meant you the least harm, and would be delighted to see you well settled. He has been very thoughtless, perhaps, but he has seen his mistake, and is determined to do better. He is working hard to learn under Alfred’s tutelage, and I truly believe he will make something of himself yet. It may indeed prove that losing his inheritance is the best thing that could have happened to him, for it has made him address his own weaknesses and become a better man. Possibly his first reward for that improvement is to see you happily married to Lomax. If so, he will have earned our gratitude. Winnie, you are very quiet. You are pleased that Lomax has come, I take it?”
“I am, but… Papa, he lied to me! He told me some fanciful story about a cousin being taken ill, and that was why he left town so hastily, but it is not true! He left because of what Walter told him.”
“Well, perhaps there was illness as well, and he chose to use that as an excuse.”
“No, for he said it was an apoplexy and his mother was too agitated to stay and wanted to leave instantly, and there was no time even to write a note to tell us, and that cannot be true. There is always time for a brief note! Even if he did not wish to write anything, he could have said to the butler as they were leaving,‘Run round to Park Street and tell Mr and MrsBlackwood that I have had to go out of town.’He could have done that while he was putting on his gloves, for you are not going to tell me that he ran out of the house without his gloves on! He would never do so.”
Her father laughed, but said, “Winnie, do but consider. He cannot possibly tell you the real reason, and he probably imagines you know nothing of that. So he tells a little lie to cover it.”
“A lie is still a lie, Papa, large or small. One should always tell the truth, is that not what Mama says? One does not need to tell the entire truth, that is all. When a lady asks if one likes her hideous new gown, one says that it is a beautiful fabric or a striking colour or the sleeves are very pretty. One need not actually say that it is hideous. So Mr Lomax could have said, quite truthfully, that he had doubts as to the wisdom of the step he was about to take, and needed a period of reflection. He could have said that everything was moving too swiftly. He could even have said that he panicked. I would have respected him a great deal more if he had only been honest with me. Or said nothing about it at all. He did not need to explain himself to me, after all.”
“No, but he needed to explain himself to your uncle, to whom he applied for permission to pay his addresses. When permission is granted, it is customary for those addresses to be paid. He had declared himself, even if only to your uncle, and therefore created the expectation. He must have known that you were awaiting his proposal of marriage, and that he was therefore giving you a severe disappointment. I should not have mentioned the matter myself, but since you have raised the subject, I do not think he has acted as a gentleman should. If he now intends to pay those addresses, then he will redeem himself somewhat in my eyes, but I can tell you now, that if he comes tome for my permission to speak to you, I shall ask him outright for an assurance that he will not run away this time.”
“Oh, Papa! I am sure he has not come all this way just to turn tail and slink away again. He will make the offer, but in his own time, and without the pressure of time that weighed on us in London, when he knew we were about to leave. He felt rushed, I think, and when Walter said… those things to him, he panicked. He did not know what to do, so he did nothing. It is a momentous decision for a man to take.”
