All through the rest of that day, Kent pondered Bertram’s words.Why not simply pack up and go? You must have money enough for it.It was a good point.
That night, Kent unlocked the bottom drawer of the small desk in his room where he kept his money. From the day he left for Harrow, his father had given him an allowance suitable for his position in life. He had returned from his first term with a sum still unspent, and the purse had been tossed into this drawer. Every quarter day since, another purse had joined it, the amounts within increasing as he grew to adulthood. Then there had been his winnings from cards to add to the collection, and a few IOUs which he had never bothered to redeem. He had dipped into the drawer whenever he found himself in need of funds, but he had never bothered to count up the total to see what his accumulated worth might be.
Now, he took the drawer out of the desk, and tipped the contents onto the bed. He was astonished at what he saw. How had he managed to build such a hoard? His father had always been generous, he supposed, and he himself had never had expensive tastes. His wardrobe was modest, he rode whatever he could find in his father’s stable, and he had never gambled to excess or kept a mistress. Whenever he travelled, his father always gave him extra money to pay for post horses and rooms at inns. His tailor’s bills and his valet’s salary were his only regular expenses.
Three thousand two hundred and forty seven pounds, that was how much he was worth. There were IOUs worth another four hundred pounds from Eustace and Walter, but he was hardly likely to dun his own brothers, so they went in the fire. Several more long-forgotten IOUs from his Cambridge days, but they went on the fire, too. Two rings that Izzy had pledged once instead of an IOU. He would have to return them to her, of course.
Right at the back of the drawer he found two bundles of letters. One bundle was from the man who had made the wonderful telescope at the tower. Those he would keep. The other was from a young lady he had met briefly in town, who had fancied herself to be violently in love, and had written him increasingly impassioned letters declaring her undying affection. Since she was no more than thirteen at the time, and he barely fourteen, the affair had speedily reached its inevitable conclusion, but those letters had warmed him for a long time. He had kept them to prove to himself that whatever happened to him, whether he ever married or not, he would always have the knowledge that one person in the world had loved him passionately. He supposed she was happily married now and had long since forgotten him, as he had forgotten her until that moment. She would certainly not thank him for keeping her most improper letters, so they, too, were consigned to the fire.
Three thousand pounds! Enough to pay his way to Birmingham or wherever he wanted to go. He could stay there for a while, find lodgings, eat at chop houses or cheap inns. Or with so much money at his disposal, he could buy a share in a mill, and be at least a partial owner of one of those wonderful machines. It would be an investment, and his father could not object to that.
***
Katherinefoundherselfreceivingan unexpected degree of attention from Aunt Cathcart before the proposed dinner to celebrate her return. Her aunt’s own lady’s maid was to dress her hair, and there had been a lengthy discussion on her choice of gown, although in the end, Katherine’s wishes had prevailed.
When Rathbone had been dismissed, Aunt Cathcart sat down beside Katherine and took her hand.
“You think me a fussy old woman, I suppose, for becoming a little excited about this evening, but I truly believe you have a wonderful opportunity before you.”
“If you mean Mr Kent Atherton, ma’am, then—”
“I know, you have no expectations, he is just being kind to you, I fully appreciate that. I thought so myself, and Lady Alice certainly tried her best to hint me away from any thought of it… Well, I supposed nothing would ever come of it. But you see, Katherine, his kindness is… somewhat extensive. All that riding you do together, and you cannot be talking about mills and such like the whole time, not to mention his determination to see you dance. And then… well, I will tell you something that I have not divulged to a single soul, but there was an additional reason why I wanted to send you to Helmsley for a while. I wondered, you see, if a man who had fallen into a habit of companionship with you might find, when you were not there, that he missed you more than he thought, and that therefore… well, I hoped he might go down to Helmsley to see you, and hedid, Katherine, he did! And no sooner are you returned to us than there he is on the doorstep again, the very picture of an anxious friend.”
“Aunt, I do not think—”
“I know, dear,” she said, patting Katherine’s hand gently. “You do not want to get your hopes up. But still, this evening is an opportunity to… well, to see how the land lies, so to speak. You need do nothing special, and indeed, I do not think you have any tricks in your arsenal, so innocent as you are. You need only be yourself, my dear, and we shall see what happens tonight, and of course, his rank is so much higher than yours, despite the recent turn in events, that perhaps it is a little ambitious still. But you would be so well suited, with his interest in mills and other subjects that most gentlemen would not at all wish to speak of. Indeed, most gentlemen would be repelled by your background, I make no bones in saying to you. But not Mr Kent Atherton, and if you could secure him, it would be such a triumph, would it not? The son of an earl! It is more than I aspire to for my own girls, as you know. So I want to give him every opportunity to become closer to you, and then we shall see, shall we not?”
This conversation terrified Katherine. She had so looked forward to the evening, and now she discovered that her aunt was expecting her to‘secure’Kent — somehow, for she had no‘tricks in her arsenal’, as she put it. She could not flirt, still less could she dissemble. She had grown comfortable enough with Kent that she no longer blushed furiously when he was nearby, but if she thought there was the slightest possibility that he could return her regard, even in the smallest degree, she would be reduced to incoherent stammering again. She wished her aunt had said nothing at all.
But in the event, the evening passed off without the least discomfort. She was the focus of everyone’s attention, naturally, since the purpose of the dinner was to celebrate her return from Helmsley, but after everyone had congratulated her formally as they arrived, there was no undue attention. She was not quite allowed to melt into the background, as she might have wished, for there was always someone at her side. Yet she did not feel awkward at all, for these were all her friends, and apart from her aunt and uncle, all her own age. They teased her gently about bolsters and pretended they were now terrified to get on the wrong side of her, and she found she did not mind a bit.
At dinner, through some fairly transparent manoeuvring by her aunt, she found Kent sitting beside her, to guarantee her pleasure in the meal. Afterwards, all the young people played a boisterous round game of cards, Kent keeping everyone in a ripple of laughter. He was so much fun! Always teasing and joking, and in the kindest way, raising everyone’s spirits. No one could be downhearted when he was in the room. He smiled at everyone, but was it just her imagination that saw some additional warmth in his eyes when he looked at her? She was almost sure of it, and for the first time she allowed herself just a sliver of hope.
It was altogether the happiest occasion she could remember since Papa had died. For the first time since she had left Branton, she felt as if she belonged.
16: The Tower
Theridingexcursionsresumed,and by some artful arrangement of Aunt Cathcart’s, Katherine was permitted to ride a more spirited steed, borrowed from Emily’s family. No longer was she restricted to just the environs of Corland, but whenever Kent or Lucas were of the party, the group might venture as far as they pleased.
“I trust the two gentlemen to look after you and Emily,” Aunt Cathcart said. “They will not lead you astray, but you must take the groom with you too.”
“Is that necessary, aunt? If we have two gentlemen with us, we are surely prepared for any eventuality.”
“A groom may tend the horses if you dismount and walk for a while, as you may wish to do on a longer ride.”
Katherine could not object to so pleasing a proposal. It was wonderful, she found, to have the freedom of the moors for her rides. The Athertons, having grown up there, knew every inch of the land, and took her to places she would never have found on her own.
One place she had already seen on a carriage ride with her aunt in the summer, for it was visible from the road north of Corland. On one of their riding expeditions, they came over a low rise and there it was, away in the distance.
“What is that tower over there?” Katherine asked. “I have often wondered.”
“It was built by the man who first built Welwood-on-the-Hill, my brother Eustace’s house,” Kent said. “Sinclair was a bookbinder by trade, but when he sold his business and retired, he bought a parcel of land here from the 9th Earl of Rennington.”
“Your grandfather?”
“Great-grandfather. My father is the 11th Earl. Sinclair was interested in the heavens and the movements of the stars, and finding the smoke from the house too often obscured his view, he built the tower. His telescope is still there. Would you like to see it?”
“Very much.”
