Eleanor glared, but the woman met her eyes.It was Eleanor who gave in.She sniffed back tears and thought back to that scene.She had run through it so often in her mind, trying to make it fit the facts, trying to bend the facts to fit the scene.
“Controlled and discreet,” she quoted at last.
Miss Hurstman stared.“What was that supposed to mean?He was throttling you and telling you to be controlled and discreet?Didn’t he even say farewell?”
Eleanor stood abruptly.“Get out of my house, madam!”
“No need to shout,” said the woman, making no attempt to move.“I’m Lord Middlethorpe’s Aunt Arabella, by the way.‘Controlled and discreet,’ eh?Well, you are not doing as he said, are you?You look a mess, and if you’re not careful, you’ll lose the child.At the stage you’re at it will be just as arduous as having it at term.Might as well carry it a while longer, I would have thought.”
She had struck a nerve.Eleanor was aware she was not doing her best for her baby.
“Might be an inconvenience, though,” mused Miss Hurstman, “when you wish to marry again.If you’re a widow, that is.Perhaps you should lose it after all.”
“You horrible old woman!”gasped Eleanor.“Go!Get out!I want this child!”Eleanor instinctively placed her hands over her bulging womb.
Miss Hurstman was unmoved by her anger.“Then you had best mend your ways.”
She walked briskly to the bell pull and summoned Hollygirt.When he entered two voices clashed!Eleanor’s ordering him to show the older woman out and Miss Hurstman’s asking for a light and nourishing luncheon.
Hollygirt chose to obey the latter.
Miss Hurstman met Eleanor’s glare with a thin-lipped smile.“You hate me, do you?That’s good.It is at least something.”She picked another book from the shelves and chuckled.“Do you read Italian?”
“No,” said Eleanor sulkily.
“I thought not, or your husband wouldn’t have left this around.It’s most improper.”
“He let me read what I wished,” said Eleanor proudly.
“That’s a refreshing change.Mind, I met him once or twice and he seemed a sensible young man.He wasn’t afraid of me, and he could beat me at chess.”
“Don’t speak of him in the past tense!”
“You did,” Miss Hurstman pointed out.“It’s quite legitimate in my case.I haven’t seen him in over two years.I hope when I see him again he’ll not have lost his skill.I’d enjoy a good game.”
“He’s probably dead.”
“Make your mind up, girl!Can’t stand indecisiveness.No one’s found his body, have they?I suppose that woman kidnapped him.He was probably too good in bed for his own good.”
Eleanor felt herself turn red.What kind of woman was this?“But surely she couldn’t…”
“Couldn’t what?Kidnap him?Nothing easier.Make him bed her?Awkward, I would think.But if she made a bargain with him, who knows?Certainly not a poor old maiden lady such as I.But I do know that if he comes back, no matter what he’s been up to, and finds you on your deathbed, he’s going to feel jolly, ain’t he?Idiot like him would probably go out and shoot himself.”
Eleanor was horrified by this all-too-likely prophesy.
“Think about it, you widgeon.Don’t know about the state of your marriage, but he was feeling badly about the way he’d treated you.And so I should think, silly boy!Then you admit your last meeting to have been unpleasant.If he comes back and finds you and the child in less than perfect health and happiness he’ll take all the blame onto his own shoulders.Men do damned stupid things in such situations.”
Eleanor had successfully avoided thinking about practical matters for days, but this irritating woman was forcing her to use her brain again.She really didn’t know how she felt about Nicholas except that, against all logic, she still loved him.
“He has treated me badly, and that last scene was horrid.If he breezes back full of smiles as if nothing ever happened, I will doubtless shoot him myself!”Thought of such a scene caused a ghost of wistful amusement.At that moment Hollygirt came to announce luncheon had been laid out in the breakfast room.
“Excellent,” said Miss Hurstman, “I’m famished.Well, Mrs.Delaney?”
Battered by a will that was for the moment stronger than her own, Eleanor preceded the woman to the breakfast room and sat at the table.Still, she could not summon up an appetite.
Miss Hurstman served her a plate of egg custard.“Funny sort of luncheon, but in your state … Eat it up, girl.When you have your strength back we’ll go into the country.”
Mechanically, Eleanor ate a spoonful.“You are a hateful, domineering woman,” she said without heat.
