“Good day, Lord Tarvin. I trust your journey was satisfactory.” She made him an ironic little curtsy although it was doubtful if he had the capacity to recognise irony.
“No, it was not satisfactory,” he thundered. “It was, as all journeys are, uncomfortable and tedious. Nor should it have been necessary. It is most inconvenient for me to leave town just now, but something must be done to put a stop to your nonsense. You cannot marry Ulric.”
“Why not?” she said sweetly.
“It should be obvious, even to you, why not. I shall not permit it.”
“What are you going to do, forbid the banns?” she said, with a spurt of laughter. “Try not to make a cake of yourself, sir. Ulric is of age, and may marry whenever and whomsoever he pleases.”
He crossed the drive in three paces, and stood not a foot away from her. “Not if I have anything to do with it,” he hissed. “You will pack your bags and return to the Priory with me.”
“I am here as Mrs Harfield’s guest, to help with the children.”
“She will have to manage without you.”
Tess looked at Mrs Harfield, and saw at once that there was no help to be had there. “Do you wish me to leave, ma’am?” she said, but she already knew the answer.
“Best to do as Edward says, my dear.”
There was no point in fighting it. “Very well. I shall have to change, as well. I am not sure how long—”
“You have an hour,” he said uncompromisingly. “Is Ulric at Myercroft? Very well, I shall walk over there to see him. When I return, I shall expect you to be ready to leave. You have a maid to accompany you?”
“I do, and a footman.”
“The maid will sit inside the carriage with you, and the footman will sit on the box with Timothy Coachman. Timothy, bait the horses and be ready to leave again in an hour.”
And he strode off without another word.
Tess hurried inside, a little dismayed by this setback, but not yet ready to surrender the point.
“I am so sorry, my dear,” Mrs Harfield said, rushing after her, “but there is never any point in arguing with Edward, you know. He has very fixed ideas, and besides… he is… kind when there is a problem. Oh, he grumbles, naturally, and rings a peal over me, but he always bails me out when things get difficult.”
“He pays your debts, you mean? Yes, I can see why you would not take up arms against him. Nevertheless, I do not mean to let him hinder my plans. I shall find a way to get back here, and then I must tie Ulric up in a betrothal, a proper one that he understands, so you must explain to him what he must do.”
“What must he do?” she said, wide-eyed.
“Why, propose to me, of course. Make it clear to him that if he marries me, he will get Myercroft and as many horses as he wants. New, bigger stables, if he chooses, because all his income will be in his control. Well… yours and mine, but he will think he is in control, and that is what matters.”
“Oh, my dear, you are so brave!”
“Nonsense! Bullies like Lord Tarvin do not frighten me. But I must get out of this habit and into dry clothes, and Betty must pack. Send her up to me, will you? It seems we are going back to the Priory.”
***
Edward’s talk to Ulric was frustrating in the extreme. No matter how much Edward pointed out the advantages of living at Holly Cottage, Ulric would reply that he would like tolive at Myercroft with his horses and his mama, always listed in that order. Then he would frown and say it was a pity that Sir Ernest and Lady Peterson would leave because they always had good dinners.
“Ulric, we talked about this last year, if you remember, and it was agreed that you and your mama would stay at Holly Cottage.”
“Mama wanted to live at Myercroft,” Ulric said.
“And it was agreed in the end that it would be best to keep things as they are.”
“Mama had no right. A wife would have the right.”
“You cannot marry, Ulric.”
“Yes, I can. Grown men can marry, and I’m a grown man. Cousin Tess said so. I like Cousin Tess.”
