It was tiring work trying to extract information from a girl who clearly found conversation a labour, so Izzy set herself to entertain. Since Marion enjoyed country life, it was outdoor escapades which rose to her mind. She described the rides with humiliating tumbles, the picnics spoilt by rain, the fishing expeditions where someone fell in and the carriage drives where one or other dashing curricle driver had ended in a ditch. She soon had Marion giggling. Since some of these tales featured Sydney, and since half the table stopped talking to listen, he was soon the focus of much good-natured raillery.
“If you go on in this way much longer, Lady Farramont,” he called from across the table, “you will have Miss Marion Plowman believing that I am an incompetent buffoon.” He smiled as he spoke, but there was an air of affront in his tone.
“Very well, sir, I shall embarrass you no further,” Izzy said. “Let your experiences stand as an awful warning to young men who think to impress young ladies with their daring exploits, that they should practise assiduously first.”
“Let them stand also as a warning to young ladies,” he shot back, “not to encourage young men to attempt such daring exploits.”
“Oh, but I won handsomely by your failures, for I got excessively good odds,” Izzy said demurely, raising a ripple of laughter around the table. “Besides, what are we here for but to provide amusement for our fellows?”
“You are provoking me to amuse the company with some ofyourexploits, Izzy,” he said archly. “That would pay you back in your own coin, would it not?”
“Indeed it would, and I could have no complaint to make in having the tables turned on me so comprehensively, but I do not think we should try the patience of the company by talking across the table any longer. It is abominably rude, and for my part I apologise profusely.”
He laughed. “Very clever, Izzy, but I shall have my revenge later, you may be sure. Yes, Mother, I am done. Pray forgive me.”
With more laughter, the company returned to more general conversation, and Izzy found herself the focus now of the aunt’s attention, drawing her away from Marion Plowman, who sat through the rest of the meal in silence.
Once again, Izzy was dispatched to the instrument when the ladies retired. Tonight the card tables were deployed early, so as the gentlemen returned in twos and threes, they were scooped up and steered to tables before any of them could launch into a song.
She understood it well. A wife cut loose from her moorings was a clear threat to any men of amorous tendencies, in the eyes of their wives. She had not the remotest interest in any of them, not even Sydney any longer, except as a foil for her to exercise her own conversational powers, but there was no convincing the women of that. In the circles where she normally moved, her liveliness was valued — indeed, she was invited everywhere because of it. But the Davenports were in many ways disagreeably provincial. Such behaviour only served to convince her the more that Sydney would never have suited her.
After a while, she noticed that Ruth Plowman was sitting quietly nearby, listening to the music thoughtfully. When she came to the end of the present piece, Izzy rose and went to sit beside her.
“Not playing cards, Miss Plowman?”
“Not tonight. I’d like a walk on the terrace, I think. Do you want to come?”
“That would be pleasant.”
They fetched shawls against the wind, and then found the one corner of the terrace that offered some shelter. There they sat on a marble bench.
“What is on your mind?” Izzy said gently.
“This wedding,” Ruth said bluntly. “I don’t want it at all. I never did, but Pa persuaded me, and… well, he’s used to having his way, and it’s not as if Sydney’s old or ugly. I can’t object to him as a man. But he only wants me for that wretched field—”
“Two fields and some trees,” Izzy said.
Ruth laughed. “Aye! And now that you’ve made me see how demeaning that is, I don’t want him at all. But Pa says if I don’t have him, he’ll make Marion take him, and she doesn’t have the strength to stand up to Pa, so she’ll end up doing what he wants and hating it.”
“Would she hate it?” Izzy said thoughtfully. “I can see that she might be wary of marriage in general, but there are worse fates in life than to be married to Sydney Davenport. I almost married him myself, so I cannot quite see that it would be any sort of punishment. Sydney has the ability to make any woman happy, it seems to me.”
“It’s not that side of it that bothers her. It’s the rest of it — running a house like this, managing the servants, entertaining… It’s daunting.”
“Is it?”
Ruth chuckled. “It’s all very well for the likes of you who were born to it, and I’ll have a go at anything and not mind if I get into a muddle just at first, but Marion’s not like that. She’s awful shy, my lady, and she’s had problems talking all her life. Not just knowing what to talk about, but actually getting the words outat all. She’s not stupid, but she’s not suited to being the wife of a proper gentleman like Sydney. But come Friday, one or other of us is going to have to marry him.”
“But the banns have been read foryou,” Izzy said. “No one can simply change one bride for another. If you refuse to marry Sydney, the banns will have to be read all over again for your sister.”
She shook her head. “Pa’s thought of that. He’s got a licence for Marion. He went to Carlisle for it, weeks ago, when I had a wobbly moment.”
“Well, he is a very determined man, but a lady can be determined, too. No one can force you to marry against your will.”
“Easy for you to say,” Ruth said ruefully. “I suppose no one ever made you do anything against your will. I could stand up to him, but Marion can’t, and I don’t know what to do about it. I suppose I’ll marry him myself, in the end.”
“Well, it seems foolish to me,” Izzy said impatiently. “Marriage is too important to be left to other people to decide. But if you truly want to avoid this marriage, then you have only three options. Firstly, you can stiffen your sister’s spine so that you stand united in refusing to wed.”
Ruth shook her head sadly.
