Mother went at once to Aunt Alice, the earl’s blind sister, who sat beside the countess, her back rigidly straight.
“How are you, dear?” Mother said, in the special voice she reserved for the sick or newly bereaved. “Bearing up bravely, I am sure. I hope you are taking a little beef tea every day. It is just the thing to stop you falling into a melancholy.”
As they talked, Bertram was struck by Lady Rennington’s face. His aunt was normally the most imperturbable person, but today her face was grey. This was serious, then.
Bertram and his father gravitated to the other side of the room, where Bertram’s cousin Olivia sat.
“Olivia? Are you well, dear?” Mr Atherton said gently.
Olivia was dark haired with a rounded figure which suited her striking beauty admirably. She was given to bursts of histrionics, however, and although she was nothing like so bad as her older sister Izzy, she was still trying company and Bertram avoided her as much as possible.
Today she had decided to be lachrymose, a handkerchief pressed to her face. “How can I be well, Uncle, with this… thisthinghanging over me?”
“What thing is that?” he said kindly.
“Whatever it is Papa wishes to tell us. It is bound to be horrid, and if it means that my come-out has to be put offagain, well… life will be insupportable. I want to beout,Uncle.”
“You are already out, are you not? You attend the assemblies at York and Harrogate and —”
“That is notout!”she said scornfully. “Out is Almack’s and being presented at court and everyone knowing who one is.”
“We are called in,” Bertram said, nodding towards the door of the study, which now stood open.
The others moved forward, but Bertram hung back, waiting for Tess, the daughter of Lady Alice and the murdered chaplain. She was a dark, slight creature, always hiding in shadowy corners as if she did not want to be observed, but Bertram could not help feeling sorry for the girl.
“How are you, cousin?” he said gently.
“Quite well, thank you,” she said in her soft voice, as if surprised he had asked. Without another word, she followed the others into the room.
The study was crowded, for it was not a large room, being situated in one of the circular tower rooms that sat at each corner of the castle. Chairs were found for the ladies and for a few minutes, as they settled themselves, all seemed perfectly normal. Just another family meeting. Only the grey faces of the earl and countess suggested something unusual. And had the countess been crying? That was a bad sign.
Bertram looked at his cousin Walter, Lord Birtwell, the heir to the earldom, and then he knew something terrible was afoot. Walter looked dazed… shocked, as if he had suffered a great loss. It must surely be another death, for what else could grieve the family so? Izzy, perhaps, or the eldest of the girls, Josie. One of the Lochmaben family, maybe. Or something of import to the nation — the King or Queen? The Prince of Wales? An invasion by the upstart Corsican?
“No Eustace?” the earl said, frowning. “Where is that boy?”
“Charles, must we wait for him?” the countess said fretfully. “Can we not just get this over with?”
The earl would not start without Eustace, however, so they waited until, a full twenty minutes after the designated hour, Eustace strolled in. Then at last they all turned to the earl in trepidation.
He licked his lips nervously, gazing around at their expectant faces. “Something terrible has occurred… has been discovered. Nicholson…” He took a deep breath, fixed his gaze on a point on the opposite wall and then rushed on. “Nicholson was never ordained as a clergyman, so the marriages he conducted are not valid. The countess and I are not legally married, and all our children are illegitimate. Birtwell… Walter cannot inherit.None of my sons can inherit. George, you are my heir now, and Bertram after you.”
Bertram felt as if someone had punched him in the stomach. Birtwell disinherited? The title, the estates…everything, passing to his own father, and then to him? He would be the Earl of Rennington one day!
And in that moment, his placid future of books and ancient kingdoms and long-dead warriors vanished like smoke. Even his home, lovely Westwick, would be lost to him, and he would have to live in this mausoleum of a castle. His life would be filled with stewards and attorneys and land management and government bills and the wretched Season every year, he would have to marry suitably and there would be no peace to be found anywhere.
Nothing would ever be the same again.
2: Expectations
Bertram’s mother burst into tears. He exchanged a look with his father, seeing the same disbelief written there as he felt himself. This could not be true!
“Is it certain, my lord?” Bertram said. “Is there no possibility of a mistake… a misunderstanding?”
The earl shook his head. “None. I have discussed the matter with the Archbishop of York, and he is quite sure of it. Nicholson was not ordained, and a marriage is only valid if conducted by a Church of England clergyman, that is absolute.”
“Then Izzy…?” someone said. “Nicholson married her and Farramont.”
“Yes, Izzy’s marriage is invalid, too, and her two daughters rendered illegitimate. Thank God she has no sons to be disinherited, as Birtwell… Walter has been.”
