Emily hugged her, and Mrs Ryker wiped a tear from her eye, murmuring, “Such bravery!”
Fortunately, Etta came in just then with tea and cakes, and there was a scramble to find suitable wine for the men, not to mention glasses of sufficient quality to touch the lips of the son and nephew of an earl, so nothing more was said of money. It was only later, when Mrs Ryker had shooed them outside for a while — “Do go and show your friends the garden, Katherine dear. I am sure they will be pleased with my hazelnut tree, and the arbour beneath it.” — that Emily raised the subject again.
“May I ask… if it does not distress you… your father’s income… I mean, one should not talk about such things but—”
“But everyone does,” Lucas put in. “What she means to say, Miss Parish, is that your father’s income once exceeded Mr Cathcart’s. I wonder whether he is aware of that.”
“I do not think he suspects,” Katherine said with a little smile. “My aunt and uncle know very little about me, or my father. They are ashamed of what he did, and so they never speak of it.”
“That is why Aunt Alice knew nothing of it until that evening when we all danced the reel, do you remember?” Kent said. As if she could forget! “Lady Esther Franklyn asked Mrs Cathcart about you, and about your father, so she was obliged to confess that he was a mill owner and not a gentleman. Poor Aunt Alice was rather shocked, and saw fit to warn me against keeping such low company. I put her straight on the matter, you may be sure, for whatever your father was, you are a lady through and through, Miss Parish.”
She blushed deeply at the compliment, and when she dared to look at him again, he was gazing at her with the intimate smile that she loved. Oh, if only it were just for her! But he was the same friendly man with everyone, she knew that.
Still, his closeness was unnerving, rendering her unable to do more than shake her head.
The garden being small and its secrets soon exhausted, they made their way to the ruins of Helmsley Castle, and strolled about, Emily and Lucas racing ahead, just as they did on horseback, while Katherine was left to walk beside Kent.
At first, he talked about the castle, for he knew more of its history than she did, but after a while he said in a low voice, “And are you truly content in your new home, Miss Parish? For I know well that you are not one to complain about inconveniences or slights, but I cannot be easy in my mind until I know the truth. Your departure was so abrupt that I was sure there must have been some breach with the Cathcarts, and coming, as it did so soon after the evening at Corland, I should be very sorry indeed if anything that happened that night had caused trouble between you.”
He meant the reel, of course, but she thought it was not that at all. Now that she knew that Aunt Cathcart had been forced to disclose Katherine’s origins, and that Lady Alice had been shocked to discover it, she understood it very well. She remembered now that Aunt Cathcart had seemed out of sorts on the way home that evening. No doubt Lady Alice had impressed upon her that a match between Kent and Katherine would be highly unsuitable, and Aunt Cathcart had taken steps to see them separated. As if Katherine had ever had any hopes in that direction! She had as soon wish for the moon. But she could not say that to Kent.
“Oh, no, nothing like that,” Katherine cried, quite horrified that he should seek to take some blame for her situation. “I do not think it was anything that was done, only that Mrs Ryker wrote to Aunt Cathcart of her need for a companion, and my aunt thought it would suit me very well. Which it does.”
“Truly?” he said, looking at her with a quizzical expression. “She is not the social equal of the Cathcarts.”
“But nor am I!” Katherine said, with a low chuckle. “Mrs Ryker is not quite as vulgar as Mrs Vance, but she is cut from the same cloth. Her husband was a wool merchant, and I assure you, I feel far more at ease in her company than ever I did with my aunt and uncle, kind though they always were to me.”
“You would have grown accustomed in time to their different ways,” he said, and he frowned, as if he disapproved of her answer. “Miss Parish, I would not have you under the illusion that you cannot mingle with those of higher rank, just because your father was a mill owner.”
“Yet it is true,” she said sadly. “I do not mean that I am forbidden from doing so, for that is obvious nonsense. There is no rule of law that prohibits the mixing of high and low ranks, so long as the initiation comes from the higher rank. I mean only to say that I myself find it difficult. It is not that I cannot speak at all or hold a conversation, for I can do so well enough if I have a subject within my sphere of experience upon which to talk. But if I do not know my companion very well, when everyone is a stranger, and especially when the disparity of rank is large, then there are no common points on which to converse. When I sat beside your father, for instance, I had not the least idea what to say to him, or how to find a topic of interest to him, and he had the same difficulty with me. We contrived, after a fashion, but it was not easy. Whereas with you, sir, you talk about matters on which I can speak with some authority. There is never any difficulty talking toyou.”
“No, indeed, I was astonished to discover the depth of your knowledge on certain subjects. But you are a woman of great good sense and intelligence, and if you can learn to play that piece from Handel that you performed at Corland, I have no doubt that you can learn other skills, to aid you in society. I believe if you applied yourself to the problem, you could easily discover topics of interest to my father.”
“The countess… he grew animated when I enquired after the countess, and the Dowager Countess, too.”
“Yes, his family is always in his heart. He can talk endlessly on that subject.”
“But what about Lady Esther Franklyn? What on earth might I say to her?”
“Oh, that is easy, and the answer is the same — ask her about her family. She might tell you about her two sons, but I suspect it will be her father, the Duke of Camberley, or her brother, the Marquess of Ramsey, and the endless array of Bucknells who infest the duke’s principal seat at Marshfields. She will tell you about Marshfields itself, too, with very little prodding.”
“So all I have to do is find one subject of compelling interest. With you, that is easy — mills and beam engines and such like. What about your brothers?”
“Walter is typical of many gentlemen, so you may ask about his horses, his guns and his various sporting endeavours, although just now I suspect he would prefer to talk about his future wife, Winnie Strong. Eustace…” He frowned. “Ancient weaponry and armour, I suppose. He has a great collection at Welwood, and knows all about the Corland collection, but do not ask unless you wish to be bored for some considerable time.”
“And your sister?”
“Olivia? Cake! That is what interests her most. And gowns, of course. Always a reliable subject with a young lady. But do not mention balls or Almack’s or the Queen’s drawing rooms or anything to do with the season, for she will begin to rant and probably end by weeping on your shoulder, having missed her first season this year. You see, it is quite easy really, Miss Parish.”
“Oh yes. What a pity it is that I shall not be able to try out these stratagems in earnest, for I shall not see any of these people again, I expect. But I shall try to apply the same principles to my new friends in Helmsley, and see if I get on better. I believe we have been walking for long enough, sir. Mrs Ryker may need me, and I must not neglect my employer for my own pleasure.”
“Then let us return to the house,” he said quietly.
13: Of Wives
Kentwasunutterablydepressedafter this visit. He had been so pleased with himself, discovering that the music cabinet was still in place at Cathcart House, and proposing to Emily and Lucas that perhaps Miss Parish would like to have her music with her, and even though they had not been permitted to take the cabinet itself, he had been excited to see Katherine’s face when she received some of her music. Excited to seeher, he admitted to himself. And now he was thrown into gloom.
All the way home in the carriage, as Emily and Lucas chatted easily, he was silent, mulling over Katherine’s words. All this time, ever since he had first come to know her better, he had looked forward to raising her up a little in society, so that she was less terrified to mingle with the nobility, or even the lower levels of the gentry, like the Cathcarts. And now he found that she had happily sunk down to her previous merchant class, relieved that she was back where she felt she belonged. If only she could see that she was just as good as anyone else — better than many, in fact. Why should she not meet on equal terms with the earl, or even Lady Esther, who for all her haughtiness and her ducal relations, was married to a former attorney? Why should the daughter of a mill owner not marry the son of an earl, if she chose to?
