Kent huffed a breath. “You speak in riddles, sir. Please tell me in plain terms what it is you are trying to say, for I cannot tell whether your concern is for me or for her.”
“Why, both, sir! Both. I should like to prevent my niece from disappointed dreams, and I should like to prevent you from stepping unwittingly into a marriage which you might regard as beneath you. Her father… well… difficult business, so the child has only a thousand pounds, at my discretion, and I can do no more for her. With your connections, you could do much better than that, so I would advise you to step with the greatest care around Katherine.”
“So you think, do you,” Kent said haughtily, “that if I occasionally ride with my cousins and Miss Parish, accompanied by two grooms, and if I should happen to have some conversation with her on these occasions, that she will insist on calling the banns? Is that it?”
“No, no! You misunderstand me, sir. Katherine herself would never… she is not a girl who would… but she might begin to have ideas, and to pin all her hopes of future happiness on you, and then you might feel obliged… you know how these things work. You could end up… and you might not wish… although of course, if you did wish, we should be delighted, naturally, although your father… Well, you understand me, I am sure.” He chuckled. “Just a friendly word of warning, that is all, to tread carefully, Atherton.”
Kent swallowed his ire, and smiled and bowed and thanked Cathcart with as much sincerity as he could muster. He hardly needed to be warned to take care in his dealings with Miss Parish. But was it true that she had a liking for him? How interesting! As he drove home, Kent wondered for the first time what it would be like to be married to a woman like that.
8: Ladies And Gentlemen
Cathcart’swarning,well-meantasit was, had exactly the opposite effect from his intention. The suggestion that Katherine had developed atendrefor Kent was an intriguing one. He was used to young ladies eyeing him speculatively, and even flirting with him, but he had always suspected it was his status as the son of an earl which made him attractive to them.
Was it possible that Katherine genuinely liked him for himself… perhapslovedhim? She blushed so dramatically in company that it was impossible to imagine that she preferred any one person above any other. But when he went riding with her… yes, she blushed, of course, and lowered her head in that sweetly shy way she had, but there were smiles, too. And such smiles! Eyes sparkling, she beamed at him so widely that he could not mistake her pleasure in his company.
For himself, he liked her, that much he would admit. Now that he had found a topic on which she was well-informed and interested, she was articulate and even blushed less readily. They had ridden together often enough that she was no longer shy with him, although he had not encountered her in formal society for some time. Perhaps at dinner engagements she would retreat into her shell again.
Was there anything beyond liking? He could not say. As for marriage, he had never thought much about it. Was love an essential prerequisite? His parents had always seemed to have the most casual affection, but now that their marriage was rendered invalid, Mother had gone away without a second thought, while Father quietly fell apart without her. His affection must be more deep-rooted than hers.
The other example at the castle, that of his Aunt Alice and the deceased Mr Nicholson, had been very different. Theirs was an abiding love which wrapped them so tightly in its embrace that they had little to spare, even for their own daughter. But then Aunt Alice had been blind since childhood, so her need for a supportive helpmeet was greater than usual.
Other married couples that came to his mind displayed little sign of any great affection beyond a friendly accommodation. Uncle George and Aunt Jane, Sir Hubert and Lady Strong and especially Lady Esther and Mr Franklyn were always polite to each other, and seemed to rub along pretty well, but was that love? Impossible to say.
Of Kent’s own brothers and sisters, only Josie had had the glow of love in her eyes when she married Woodridge. Izzy’s only glow had been for Farramont’s title and position in society, and Walter had been downright neglectful of Bea Franklyn when he was betrothed to her. To be fair, Walter was certainly in a glow now over Winnie Strong, which was odd when they had known each other forever, and even Izzy looked more settled with Farramont after rampaging all over the country to escape him.
But these thoughts led him to one inescapable conclusion — that love was not an essential requirement before marriage might be considered. In which case, why should he not marry Katherine Parish, if he were so minded?
So, by slow degrees, he began to wonder how his life might be improved if he had a gentle wife like Katherine, and children, in time, and a life that was not drifting away in idleness. Had his father not already proposed it?
He found his father in his study one day, standing by the window gazing unseeingly at the rain-heavy clouds, the trees tossed about with the first taste of autumn winds. The earl turned as he came in, and Kent was shocked at the bleakness in his father’s face. It was beyond sorrow, verging on despair.
But as his eyes fell on Kent, his expression lightened into a smile. “Ah, Kent! Come in, come in, my boy! Pour yourself a drink, and you can top up my glass, too, if you would be so kind. Have you come about the brandy? Our stocks are somewhat depleted.”
“We should have more in the next few days, and I will see that you get yours first. Father, I have been thinking about what you said to me once… that I should think about marrying.”
His father’s face lifted even more. “Excellent, excellent! It would be the making of you, you know, and you need not worry about money. You can bring your bride here. The guest suite could be made over to you, so she would have the tower room as a sitting room… a boudoir, as the ladies like to call it. And the nursery can soon be made ready for the little ones. How lovely that would be, to have children at the castle again.” He sighed heavily, twirling his brandy glass in his hand.
“I suppose there would be no possibility of a separate establishment… Langley Villa, perhaps, since Walter will not need it now?”
The earl raised his brows. “That would be expensive, and of course that house was intended for Walter and the Franklyn girl, with her forty thousand pounds. One can employ a great many housemaids and footmen with money like that. Whereas I… I am not sure that I can afford the expense of another house. Nicholson squirrelled away a great deal of money that should properly have been mine, and now no one can find it, so… You see how it is, my boy? But plenty of room for you and your bride here. Have you settled on the lady? One of your Cambridge friends has a sister you admired when you visited, as I recall.”
“I was thinking of Miss Parish.”
“Miss Parish?” The earl sounded as incredulous as if he had named one of the rector’s pudding-faced daughters, or Miss Prinkley, the village milliner. “Miss Parish, the girl who turns into a beetroot if anyone should happen to look at her and has not a word to say for herself? Miss Parish, who has not a penny to her name, and even the clothes on her back were paid for by her uncle? Is that the Miss Parish you mean? Not but what she is perfectly respectable, but I would have thought you might prefer someone more lively. She would be a shade too docile for my taste.”
Kent only laughed. “She is shy of strangers, it is true, but she is perfectly conversable when one gets to know her.”
“Is she, indeed,” the earl said, sounding unconvinced. “Perfectly conversable… well, I have seen not the least sign of it, and if she expects to marry intothisfamily, she will need to stop being shy of strangers pretty quickly, that is all I have to say about it. But if you have already spoken, then I suppose we must make the best of it.”
“I am very far from having spoken, Father. Indeed, I have said not a word to her beyond the impersonal. The idea is in my mind, that is all, and so I mention it to you, but if you disapprove—”
“Do you like her?” the earl said, gazing intently at Kent.
An easy question to answer. “I do like her, yes.”
“Do you like her enough to spend the rest of your life with her? Do you love her?”
Much more difficult questions. “That is what I should like to find out.”
