Once the ladies had withdrawn and the serious card players had settled down with brandy to hand and steely determination in their eyes, Bertram and his friends drifted away, first to the courtyard to get some air and then to their room for a final brandy before bed.
Fielding turned on Medhurst almost before they were through the door. “What was amiss with Miss Franklyn, Medhurst? She looked so down-pin tonight, I could hardly bear it. No bad news from home, I trust?”
“Nothing like that,” Medhurst said, ripping off his cravat with a sigh of relief and accepting a glass from Bertram. “Lady Esther forbids her from learning Latin, that is all.”
“That is all?That is all?The heroine of Sunday night, who recited Horace as well as anyone could… well, almost… only one or two minor mistakes… but that she should beforbiddenfrom progressing with the language! Why? What is so bad about Latin, which every schoolboy learns?”
“It is not ladylike,” Bertram said, with a wry smile. “A lady is supposed to sit about with her needlework, apparently.”
The others burst into laughter. “I cannot see her being happy withthat,”Medhurst said. “It seems an unwarranted interference. Who is Lady Esther to be so high-handed?”
“She is Bea’s mama,” Bertram said testily. “Until she marries, a girl must do as her mother bids her.”
“Then she must marry at once,” Fielding said, “if only to save her from the wretchedness of a future without Latin. Such a waste! Oh, the delight of finding a woman who can understand one’s interests, and discuss them rationally. So many husbands and wives might as well be in different countries for all the commonality they share. I shall approach her again and assure her of my unchanged regard, while pointing out the advantage to her of marrying a man already fluent in Latin. Who better to teach her than a devoted husband?”
“You have already had your chance with her,” Bertram said, seriously alarmed by this sudden turn, for Bea might be sufficiently cast down to accept Fielding this time. “She refused you, remember?”
“I took her by surprise,” Fielding said. “I was too precipitate, perhaps… forgot to prepare the ground in advance. Now that she has had time to consider the matter, she might feel differently.”
“She will never marry a clergyman,” Bertram said hotly.
“Has she told you that?”
“Yes. She wants a title. That was why she jilted my cousin, because he is no longer the heir.”
“Truly?” Fielding said, deflating at once. “Oh. Of course, she deserves it.”
Brockscombe glowered at Bertram. “Is this true? She threw him over because of a title?”
“And an income of eight thousand or more, Corland Castle, a house in London and half a dozen other properties,” Bertram said. “Walter is merely the illegitimate son of an earl now, with no expectations at all. Everything is entailed.”
There was a sigh as they grasped the implications. “Eight thousand a year!” Medhurst said, shaking his head sorrowfully. “And the castle, of course, and a multitude of other properties.The world is very unfair sometimes. And he would have had Miss Franklyn’s forty thousand, on top of all that,” he added meditatively. “Another two thousand a year.”
“I quite see why she dropped him,” Brockscombe said, “but I would have thought you were the natural successor to your cousin, Atherton. You are the heir now, after your father.”
Bertram hardly knew how to answer him. He had backed himself into a corner, for if he admitted that Bea had indeed set her sights on him but he had turned her away, he could hardly admit that marrying her was now exactly what he wished to do.
It was Fielding who intervened. “Oh, I see it now! That is why you brought her here and sang her praises up and down, so that Brockscombe or Medhurst would take her up.” He laughed. “So that was why you sounded as if you liked her yourself.”
“Idolike her!” Bertram cried, stung. “She is a darling, and she did think about me, it is true, but… but I thought she ought to have a wider field,” he went on, improvising hastily.
“No, you said you did not want her,” Brockscombe said. “You did not want anyone, in point of fact. I remember it distinctly.‘Take my advice and steer clear of the wedded state.’Those were your words.”
Bertram cursed Brockscombe’s excellent memory. “Well, perhaps I have changed my mind. Better she should marry me and learn Horace and Virgil than end up in a parsonage with Fielding, who would have her head filled with battles and troop movements and all sorts of nonsense.”
“There is nothing wrong with the Caesars in general, and Julius in particular,” Fielding said at once, “and I think it most unfair of you, Atherton, to try to cut me out at this point.”
“It is Miss Franklyn who has cut you out,” Brockscombe said, “but I agree that Atherton should stay out of this. He has renounced all claim to her hand, so—”
“I have done nothing of the sort!” Bertram said hotly. “I stood aside to give you two a chance —notFielding, since she wants a title — but neither of you has offered for her.”
“It is a momentous decision to make,” Brockscombe said. “It requires a lot of thought.”
“I cannot see that you have thought about it at all,” Bertram said. “Allyouhave done, Brockscombe, is steal a kiss and a hairpin, so be satisfied with your trophies and leave her alone.”
“I shall not!” Brockscombe began.
“Now see here,” Medhurst said. “Iam the one most in need of her forty thousand pounds.”
