“Dirt,” Sir Charles said, coming near and holding out his arm for Eleanor to take. “We shall find dirt and more dirt. Come, Miss Tilney, let us walk it rather than stand about looking at it.”
Sir Charles led away Eleanor to walk around the ramparts, and Lady Alice and Dryden fell in behind them. Philip looked at the keep first and avoided the others. He would have liked to have walked the ruins with Eleanor, to hear her conjectures as to what might have happened here, who would have lived here, and what had led to its destruction.
I would have liked to find hidden corners to move Eleanor out of sight and kiss her senseless.
He had to stop thinking of what places would be good for that sort of activity. Philip wondered if Eleanor ever thought the same thing whenever she saw a secluded grove, a darkened alcove, or the lobby above an empty staircase. It did him no good, he knew, to imagine all manner of places that would give them an opportunity to be alone. If she thought of such possibilities, it would now be with Sir Charles in mind, not him.
They wandered the remains for over an hour, with Philip spending more time thinking about how much he hated both Sir Charles and General Tilney than he did admiring the ruined castle. Although his love for Eleanor could never diminish, to be in her company would be a constant source of pain. It would be easier, he supposed, to let his friendship with Eleanor sink once she married because he could not tolerate to be around her husband.
He returned to the carriage and found Lady Alice and Lord Dryden arguing over what path to take to the mountains. Hearing an argument troubled him nearly as much as being in one himself. After Philip listened to them for a few minutes, he supposed they were only bickering the way siblings must. He did not have any of his own, of course, but he had grown up close enough to Vaughan to see the signs of affectionate goading.
“Come now, George, that is enough,” Lady Alice said. “You will give Mr Brampton the impression that you cannot conduct yourself as a gentleman.”
“He has knownyoulong enough not to mistake you for a lady.”
Lady Alice looked as though she might box her brother’s ears if only she could easily reach them. When he saw her actually take a step toward him, Philip said, “So, we are on the eastern slopes of the Black Mountains? Is it near enough to walk?”
“Yes,” Dryden said quickly, glaring at his sister. “The Hatterralls are hills, accurately, and it is about four miles to Llanthony Abbey.”
“It is still steep. I say it again: we shall not make it that far and back!” Lady Alice cried.
“Then we shall walk until we are tired and simply turn round!”
“Shall I find Miss Tilney and Sir Charles and ask if they are ready to proceed with the rest of the excursion?” Philip asked, eager to distance himself from their quarrelling.
Lady Alice put out a hand to stop him. “Oh, no, Mr Brampton, they will come along any moment, I am sure.”
“What makes you say that?” Dryden asked, stepping away a little and craning his neck to look. “I cannot even see where they are from here.”
Alice ground her jaw. “They are perfectly well, wherever they are.”
“If we are ready to leave, we ought to tell them,” Dryden said, sounding more frustrated. “They have no idea we want to go.”
“And they will come back to the carriage when they are ready!”
Not willing to involve himself in sibling bickering, Philip simply left them to retrieve Eleanor and Sir Charles.
ChapterNine
The remains of the castle enchanted Eleanor. Not as much for its own sake, for no one would argue that it was not small and ruined, but rather because it had once been something grand and meaningful, that it had an untold history.
“I have a great curiosity over what might have happened here,” she said to Sir Charles as they explored the keep. The sturdy, three-storey round structure had a full-height breach in its walls. She looked up at it, and from the shape and openings on its side, she supposed it must have had turrets at one point in its history.
“It was probably a defence against the Welsh. I dislike all foreigners,” he had muttered.
Despite the current war with France, Eleanor frowned to herself to hear such talk. “Maybe it was occupied by the Welsh who were hostile to the Normans?”
He threw her a disapproving look before climbing the hill to get closer, and Eleanor silently followed.
Sir Charles was not as interested in hearing her talk about history as Philip might have been. Philip had a curious mind, even if he had no partiality for history or philosophy himself. She supposed a fondness for her and her interests was what led him to always ask her thoughts, to encourage her to share her opinion. It was the same reason she asked about his mathematical questions, even though she rarely understood his answers.
It does me no good to compare the man I am trying to convince to marry me with the one I dearly wish I were allowed to marry.
“Sir Charles,” she called, climbing after him. “Did you fear that I was going to talk on about history all afternoon? That is no reason to leave me all on my own.” She said this emphatically, but with a smile she hoped would warm him to her.
As she expected, he held out his arm for her to take again. “I would rather spend the afternoon at your side. Only I am not prepared to talk of the great civil war or whatever. My interests are on more current events.”
They looked at the keep and then walked the perimeter of the inner bailey, while Sir Charles talked of his own concerns and Eleanor asked about his home. She tried to hint that she could be the attentive directress of his household, the endeared companion of his hours at home, and the graceful sharer of his hours in public life. Every so often, when he talked of himself and she need only look attentive, she thought about Longtown Castle, about its past owners, their relationships, its conflicts, and the events it might have seen, but she kept her silence on these topics.
