And why should not the son of an earl marry a mill owner’s daughter? And he could, for his father was complacent about it. As long as they were to live at Corland Castle, they would be financed indefinitely. Not only would they be fed and clothed and provided with every comfort, but their children would be educated and raised to be ladies and gentlemen, like their Atherton relations.
And I shall never be able to leave, he thought despondently. Never be an engineer, never go to the foundry in Birmingham, never see a real beam engine in majestic action — or hear it, or evenfeelit, as Katherine had so vividly described. He would never defy his father so far as to take up a career as an engineer, but he badly wanted to know more of those wonderful machines and what they could do. Even better, he wanted to know what they might do in the future, with clever men developing them and finding new ways to use them. For now, they might be pumping water from mines and driving spinning machines, but who knew what they might be capable of in the years to come?
Instead, he would stay in Yorkshire, on the land his family had owned for centuries, watching farmers pursuing the traditional methods as if nothing had changed since the middle ages.
He was still in the deepest gloom when they arrived at Westwick Heights, but Lucas having a mind to see the new hunters recently acquired at Corland, Emily alone was deposited at her home, while the carriage rumbled on with Lucas and Kent. Lucas took advantage of the increased space to stretch out his legs and lean back against the squabs.
“So, cousin, are you going to marry her?” he said with a sly grin.
Kent did not pretend to misunderstand. “I cannot say. It is… difficult.”
“It always is, for younger sons. Neither of you has two shillings to rub together, not of your own, and you cannot expect Uncle Charles to fund you. Looks like the army for you, then. Or no, the church! She is a pious soul, always praying, so a little country parsonage would suit her very well. She will not mind waiting until you can be ordained, I am sure.”
“Actually, my father has offered to house us at Corland Castle.”
Lucas shot upright. “No! Then you have already discussed it with him.”
“In a hypothetical way,” Kent said. “Not in an‘I plan to do this’sort of way, more a case of‘If it should happen to come about, what would you think?’sort of way. He was very positive about it, but only if we live at Corland. He does not want me to leave home.”
“Well, there you go, then. You can propose as soon as you like, you lucky dog. You will have a wife of your own. Everyone is getting married, except me.”
“Do you want to? Are you thinking about it?”
“Of course I am thinking about it!” Luke said, with a laugh. “I think about it every single night when I retire, alone, to my cold and empty bed. I have been thinking about it since I was… well, for a number of years, let us say.”
Kent laughed, and shook his head. “There is more to marriage than that! And you need not even marry if all you want is a woman in your bed. Ask Eustace if you want advice.”
“I would never dare take a mistress. Lord, all that fuss over Walter’s little woman, and Mother was as distraught as if it had been one of us. I thought she was going to have an apoplexy over it. No, it is not worth it, but I should like to marry, and sooner rather than later.”
“Have you anyone in mind?”
“No, because I plan to follow Father’s example and marry an heiress, and there are none around here that I could stomach.”
“Not even Bea Franklyn?” Kent said, amused.
“Especially not Bea Franklyn. The woman is a leech, and just because my brother thinks the sun shines out of her does not improve my opinion of her in the slightest. Scheming hussy! No, I shall go to town next spring and look about me. Izzy will take me around and introduce me to a few people. If nothing comes of that, Mother has a list of possible girls. She is a great one for match-making, as your father is finding out. I sincerely hope he marries again and sires a string of legitimate sons to cut Bertram out of the succession, because if Bea Franklyn becomes Countess of Rennington after all her devious scheming, it will be a travesty of justice.”
The carriage arrived at the castle just then, and the two cousins went off to the stables to talk about horses for a pleasant hour or so, and Kent was able to push his dilemma to the back of his mind again for a while. It was not until late that evening, when he retired‘alone, to his cold and lonely bed’as Lucas had it, that he thought about Katherine again and wondered what it would be like to find her waiting for him there, smiling up at him in that glowing way she had that made him feel like a king.
Then he wondered just what it was that attracted him to her so strongly. Was it simply because, of all his acquaintances, she was the only one who would talk to him about beam engines? Or was it Katherine herself, with her quiet ways and her modestly downturned eyes and her soft voice?
He could not honestly say.
***
Katherinehadlittleopportunityto try out Kent’s advice on making conversation, for Mrs Ryker and her friends were all themselves great talkers and left no openings for her to tentatively ask a question or two. But when she had been in Helmsley for three weeks, an opportunity arose, for Mrs Ryker’s nephew came to stay.
Since the drawing room window seat had become her favourite vantage point, with its views across to the church and a little way into the endlessly fascinating market square, she was the first to see the post chaise draw up outside the house.
“Are you expecting a visitor, ma’am? For a gentleman has just arrived in a post chaise, with luggage.”
Mrs Ryker rushed to the window. “Goodness, ’tis William! And not a bit of beef in the house today. But there, he does like to surprise me, so he must take his pot luck for today, at least. Well, how glad I am that you will meet him so soon, for I’d thought he might be busy until Christmas, so popular as he is. Come now, my dear, come and meet my nephew.”
Mr William Ryker was twenty-eight years of age, and a fine, handsome young man, as he was very well aware. He made his aunt a florid bow, and then turned his gaze on Katherine as they were introduced with the sort of practised eye which bordered on rudeness, surveying her swiftly from head to toe before sweeping her hand to his full lips. She was relieved that he restrained himself from pressing those lips upon her flesh, and withdrew her hand as soon as she was able, but Mrs Ryker chuckled.
“Well, you’ve made quite an impression, my dear, that I can see. But come inside, William, do. Let’s not be standing around in this damp air.”
They left the kitchen boy and Mr Ryker’s valet to deal with the luggage, Mrs Ryker sweeping them all back into the house and up the stairs to the drawing room. With Mrs Ryker in the first flush of excited chattering over her nephew, he was not required to say very much apart from‘Yes, ma’am’and‘No, ma’am’and occasionally‘That is so, ma’am’.He had written quite recently, so there was little in the way of news to impart, but Mrs Ryker rattled on anyway.
