There was too much for her to do for her to give way to such overwrought displays of sensibility.
“Mama?” she called.
“Go away.”
“Mama, I must speak with you.”
“You can have nothing pleasant to say.”
“That is no excuse not to hear it.” Biting back her impatience, Louisa pushed open the door and strode to the curtains, yanking them open. From the bed, her mother hissed. “It is midday, Mama. You must rise.”
“What for? To wear black and listen to all those insufferable people telling me that they’re sorry? What use are their apologies?” She looked at Louisa with that shrewd, hard gaze of hers, unadorned by grief. “Has that boy arrived yet?”
“My cousin Joseph? He is not much younger than you, Mama.”
“No doubt he is threatening to turn us out of the house at the first possible opportunity, before your father is cold in his grave.”
“I suspect Father is most definitely cold,” Louisa said dryly. “And it will not matter if you refuse to go, because he will haveways and means of forcing us out, and it is best that we find something sooner than later. Angelica has offered to help us, and we can want nothing thatshehas found, I can guarantee it.”
Her mother flung an arm over her eyes. “Then there is only one thing for it. You must marry.”
“Marry?” Louisa reared back. “Now?”
“There must be a rich gentleman who will have you. Surely that pretty face cannot be for nothing.”
“Mama, we are in mourning.”
She sat up, greying hair falling from its braid. “Is there no end to your selfishness? We are desperate, girl. I know how much they expect us to live on, and it cannot be done.”
“To be sure it can, and others have lived on less, I daresay,” Louisa retorted. “Dress, and then we shall give a thought to our next house.”
“It must be a quiet wedding, of course, but it will save us.”
Louisa yanked on the bellpull for her mother’s maid, and a bell jangled. “I am not marrying, Mama.”
Her mother’s expression tightened as though she had been slapped. “That is your role. A young lady must know her place in the world or she is setting herself up for disappointment. You think a society ruled by men will bow to you because you have some talent with oils and no money? The only way you can ever have a comfortable life is if you marry and marry well. And now we are being cast out with nothing, the sooner you accept your fate, the better.”
Louisa’s hands curled into fists. “No doubt that is whatyoudid.”
“Naturally. I did my duty, and your father provided for us.”
“And did that make you happy?”
“I would be happier if you knew your duty, Louisa. Your father had no right dying when he did, before you were settled. And he had no right letting you get all sorts of inflated ideas in yourhead. How will you marry well now? You have dissuaded every young gentleman who has shown you interest.”
“Noteveryyoung gentleman.”
Her lip curled. “No, not every one. Are you still pining after that Eynsham boy? He won’t have you when it comes down to it. He needs to marry well too, my dear. And marry rich. The Shrewsbury estates are mortgaged to the hilt and decaying—they are one mistake from going under, mark my words.”
Henry had never once hidden this from her, but he had also made it plain that once he had an independence, he would marry her, and they would contrive, for better or worse.
Things had changed now—her mother expected some kind of allowance, for one—but not enough for his intentions to falter. She had to believe that; he would not be false to her.
He loved her.
“You must rise, Mama,” she said coldly as the lady’s maid entered the room. “And find somewhere else to go before we are thrown out entirely.”
Downstairs, Angelica was receiving a tour of the kitchens and her cousin was flirting amicably with the maid who had brought him tea. Louisa found she could bear to be with neither of them, but the butler caught her attention.
