It was not clear whether this latter comment was aimed solely at Aveline, or whether it encompassed Aunt Cathcart too, but she looked dismayed and turned to more general subjects while they ate. But when the servants had withdrawn, Uncle Cathcart resurrected the matter himself.
“I am sorry that you should not be able to accompany us on Friday, niece,” he said, with a gentle smile in Katherine’s direction. “It would do you good to mingle more with our neighbours, but I suppose we must not insist on overthrowing all their plans at this late stage.”
Surprisingly, it was James who came to Katherine’s defence. “Well, I do not see why she should not go, if she wishes it,” he said stoutly. “The Athertons are not fussy about numbers — the earl likes to invite as many people as can be squeezed in, so one more is neither here nor there.”
“But I have already sent Katherine’s refusal,” Aunt Cathcart said.
“You could write to ask if Cousin Kate can be accommodated at this late stage,” James said. “With suitable apologies, naturally.”
“You do not appreciate how abominably rude it is to expect others to bend to every passing whim,” Aunt Cathcart said.
“It is not an expectation if one asks politely,” James said robustly. “Lady Alice can say no if she wishes, but she might say yes.”
“Really, James, must you argue with me on every point?” Aunt Cathcart said. “You must take my word for it that such behaviour is simply not done. Whatever would people think of us if we change our minds every time the wind blows?”
“But Cousin Kate was riding today with Emily, Lucas and Kent Atherton, and no doubt they expect to see her there, and look forward to her company, so friendly as they all are now.”
“Is that so, Katherine?” Uncle Cathcart said gently.
Speech was entirely beyond her, but she was able to nod her head, for James was not so far out in his supposition.
Aunt Cathcart glowered at him, and would have rebutted his point at once, but Uncle Cathcart held up one hand.
“Even so, I believe we must accept your mother’s greater experience in such matters, James,” he said. “No more of this, if you please.”
Katherine bowed her head and said nothing, glad when Aunt Cathcart rose to lead the ladies to the saloon and she was able to retreat into her music until the gentlemen joined them. James, Alex and Neil drew her into a game of whist after that, and kept up a light patter of amusing anecdotes until she was able to retreat to her room and the solitude that brought only anguished thoughts. Her prayers that night were impassioned, and it was many hours before she was composed enough to sleep at last.
The morning, however, brought a new perspective, for not long after noon, a carriage emblazoned with the earl’s coat of arms arrived bearing the Lady Olivia Atherton.
“I am come to beg for Miss Parish to favour us with her company on Friday,” she said as soon as she had sat down. “Kent tells me that there was some discussion on the subject yesterday, and Miss Parish expressed a desire to attend, but now I find that there is a refusal set against her name on Aunt Alice’s list. I hope, therefore, that you will change your mind, Miss Parish, for I assure you, I am quite determined that you should come, and no answer will satisfy me but a positive one. What do you say? Will you honour us with your company?”
Katherine threw a desperate glance at Aunt Cathcart, but was astonished to find her smiling broadly.
“Of course Katherine will come! She would be delighted, will you not, dear?”
“Yes, I—”
“Some confusion arose, but it is a relief to have the matter cleared up. Yes, we shall all be there on Friday. Should you care for some tea, Lady Olivia? And perhaps a slice of cake?”
“How very kind! I might just manage a little something.”
Katherine said nothing, but exhilaration bubbled up inside her. She was to go after all! How kind of Lady Olivia to visit, specifically to reissue the invitation. And yet… surely it must be Mr Kent’s doing? He would have asked Lady Olivia to call, knowing that such an appeal could not be refused. Even Aunt Cathcart could not stop Katherine from attending when the earl’s daughter herself insisted on it.
The first matter to be settled was what she should wear. Aveline’s gown had already been settled — she was to wear pink with a spangled net overgown and heavy trimming on bodice and hem. Katherine determined at once that she would go in a different direction. Her new gowns, chosen for her by Aunt Cathcart, were very much in the same style, but her Branton gowns, most of them still languishing in their travel box in a corner of her room, were plainer and more in keeping with her more reticent character.
She drew out two that appealed to her, a pale green silk with elegant sleeves and a delicately embroidered bodice, and a pretty cream satin with a net overskirt embroidered with tiny rosebuds in palest pink.
“What do you think, Daisy?” she said, when the maid came to dress her for dinner, holding both against her. “Which one for Corland Castle on Friday?”
“The green,” the girl said at once. “It picks up something in your eyes.”
“Does it? But my eyes are brown!”
“No, there’s green in them, too, miss, and that gown’s so clever — the way it’s all folded over round the— well, at the top there.”
“The bodice,” Katherine said. “That part is the bodice. Very well, the green it is. You know how to press silk?”
“I’ll ask Miss Rathbone. She’s a bit sniffy about the likes of me pretending to be a lady’s maid but she’ll explain things if I ask nice. She’s taught me ever so much.”
