“You read Horace?” Bertram said, diverted.
“Why should I not? He is very funny sometimes. But that is nothing to the point. Lucas will not do, for he will not become the Earl of Rennington — not unless you die, of course, and I should not like that.”
“Neither should I,” he said, with the faintest quiver in his voice.
“Quite so. It must be you, and in all honesty, Bertram, what could be more sensible? We are old friends, after all, and I have forty thousand pounds, which is a great sum for you to bring into the estate, and if you marry me, it saves you all the bother of trying to find a wife for yourself. Men make such a great fuss about the business, and dither and dawdle over it, and you would not enjoy the season, I am sure. This way, you will have a wife without the least trouble, and think how convenient that will be. I shall not rush you to the altar, you may be sure. The autumn, perhaps, or even next spring if you should prefer it, but we should become betrothed before you go away to… wherever it is.”
“Landerby Manor, in Lincolnshire.”
“Who lives there?”
“It is one of the homes of the Duke and Duchess of Wedhampton, but they will not be present. One of his brothers, Lord Thomas Medhurst, hosts a gathering of friends from Cambridge every summer, who sit about and discuss long-dead poets. It is great fun, and I look forward to it all year.”
“Heavens! You have a curious idea of fun. Are they all as clever as you are?”
“Now how am I to answer that?” he said, amused. “Whether I say yes they are, or no they are not, I sound abominably conceited. Let me say only that we all have a great interest in the Latin poets, and some are cleverer than others.”
“And are there ladies in the company?”
He frowned, for it was something of a sore point. “The original intention was to keep it entirely a male gathering, the better to focus on our subject of interest. However, there were those right from the start who proposed that female company would provide an agreeable diversion from intellectual pursuits, and several of our number have now married and wish their wives to accompany them. Last year, several unmarried ladies attended, too — sisters and cousins and such like. Such a mingling of the sexes does indeed change the atmosphere of our gatherings, but not all would agree that the change is for the better.”
“Do the ladies discuss Latin poets with the gentlemen?”
“I never came across one who did so. Very few ladies know Latin, I fear. Mostly they keep to their feminine pursuits during the day, leaving the men to their Latin, and the sexes mingle again in the evening.”
“And is there music in the evenings? Dancing? Theatrical performances?”
“No theatrical performances, but the ladies like to perform on their various instruments, and sing for us, and there are cards, naturally. Last year, three of the ladies created a tableau of a scene from Julius Caesar, which they thought would amuse the gentlemen. Unfortunately, they based their work on Shakespeare, and several of our members took issue with the details. Mr Shakespeare may have been a brilliant dramatist, but his grasp of history was shaky at times. Oh… are you leaving?”
Lady Esther had risen, and was making her refined farewells around the room. Bea jumped to her feet too, and curtsied demurely to Bertram. “Good day to you, Bertram. We shall meet again very soon, no doubt.” Then, leaning forward, she whispered in his ear, “Since I have only two weeks.”
5: Schemes And Gossip
“You did very well, Beatrice,” Lady Esther said complacently, smoothing her gloves, as the carriage wended its way homewards. “He is by no means so easy a target as Walter was, but I am not unhopeful. You kept him well enough entertained today that he did not run away, and that is a very good sign. He will come to our little evening party, I trust?”
“He did not say he would not, but—”
“Excellent. You will have ample opportunity to advance your campaign.”
“But Mama, he still says he will not marry me, and he is going away in two weeks, for a whole month!”
Lady Esther turned sharply. “A month? That is very bad… oh, I recall now, he does so every year. Some gentlemen’s affair. And by the time he returns, we shall be beginning our autumn round of visits, by November we shall be snowed up and he will not go to town in the spring. This is very bad, Beatrice. It means wemust move rather more precipitately in the two weeks allowed us. We cannot afford to delay.”
“I can win him round in time, Mama,” Bea said. “I managed it with Walter, after all. It is merely a matter of persistence.”
“Walter was a far easier fish to catch. You had him on your hook early, and could take your time in reeling him in. Bertram is set against you from the start, and will be far more of a challenge. Perhaps we should give up the idea altogether, and concentrate on Marshfields… or Brandlebury. What do you say to Lord Hector, perhaps? He seemed interested and you would be Lady Hector immediately, instead of Lady Rennington at some time in the distant future. Does the idea appeal to you?”
“Not really. Lord Hector is so…cold,somehow.Bertram is not so imposing a figure as Walter, it is true, but there is something rather sweet about him. Besides, I know him well and he is not starchy, like some of the nobility. They look down on me because my father was only an attorney.”
“And the fortune from iron foundries,” Lady Esther said slowly. “It is true that you have not been received into my circle with the enthusiasm that one might have hoped for, and that will only be worse now. The problem is, Beatrice, that everyone now knows that your primary interest is a title. With Walter your single-minded approach was easily mistaken for love, but that fiction can no longer be sustained. Nor have you the advantages of great beauty or breeding that would naturally attract suitors. I have done my best with you, as you know — your accent is perfectly acceptable, most of the time, and your deportment and manners are… adequate. But there is that forwardness in your behaviour that deters some men. It will stand you in very good stead when you are married, but it does make it a touch more difficult to attain that state. Besides that, you are one and twenty already, and perilously close to being on the shelf. One does not wish to appear desperate.” She was silent for some time, lost inthought, but then she rallied. “So I believe we cannot wait, and must resort to a degree of subterfuge.”
“Mama, I do not want totrapBertram into marriage if he is set against it,” Bea said unhappily. “It would be quite horrid if he resents me afterwards.”
“Nonsense!” her stepmother said robustly. “Men never know what they want until they have it. Once you are safely married, you will be able to ensure that your husband is completely happy. I shall teach you how to achieve that. Your papa is happy, is he not?”
“But you did not trap him into it,” Bea said. “He was already thinking of marrying again before he met you.”
“So he was, but I had to put myself in his way to ensure that those thoughts became focused on me. A lady has many weapons in her arsenal with which to ensure the correct outcome.”
