“Something that makes an effect on the world.”
Sir Charles wanted to be dashing and expensive, and being a member of Parliament would satisfy all of his needs for attention and influence. Philip was about to speak his mind, as he had wanted to before Eleanor had silenced him with a look last night, but when he looked properly at Sir Charles, he did not think that the man was taunting him. His tone of voice was more pleasant than it was yesterday.
Philip covered his weariness by taking a sip of tea. He ought not to hint that he was jealous of Sir Charles, that he hated him, or that he loved Eleanor. It could do no good, after all.
“You can contribute to society in your own way,” Philip said evenly, “and I shall do so in mine. My contributions in mathematics have their value and do make an effect.”
“I hope this project shall not set back your calculations or arithmetic or what-have-you.”
Sir Charles must be trying to make up for provoking him last night, and Philip wondered if Dryden had said something to him privately about not being so goading.Or he is ashamed at having been caught trying to take a flyer with Eleanor against a crumbling wall.Either way, for the sake of everyone’s ease this morning, Philip gave him a sincere answer.
“I am more interested in the mathematically characterised, experiment-driven mechanical French philosophy, called la physique, than arithmetic.”
“I distrust foreigners,” Sir Charles muttered, pulling a face, “particularly the French.”
“Say what you will about their revolution, I think mathematics in England in the last hundred years has fallen behind French and Swiss advances. This should not be a study limited to natural philosophers, but focused on serious mathematical and mechanical principles by those dedicated to it.”
“But is a singular study enough to satisfy a man? You might be happier if you had a gentlemanly profession to engage your time, to increase your income, and give an interest to your plans and actions.”
“Ihavean interest,” Philip insisted, “and a talent that I can put to use to aid others, and to the pursuit of knowledge at large. But for those such as yourself who are interested in more tangible results, the scientific training and mathematics I pursue have a place in military education, particularly for the artillery.” He enjoyed the study for its own sake, but that was something Sir Charles would never understand.
Despite his efforts to be amiable, Philip had no patience for further talk with Sir Charles, and purposefully took up a newspaper he did not read. After a moment, Dryden asked, “I suppose you shall finish your work at home this spring? Vaughan mentioned something about your wanting to finish questions in time forThe Ladies’ Diarypublication.”
He nodded behind the newspaper, and the talk then shifted to Gloucestershire, Belleville’s village, and Vaughan’s visit to Kent, and Philip ignored them all. He would take Eleanor back to her father and part ways with her. She would secure a proposal—before or after she entirely submitted herself to Sir Charles—and he would return to Belleville and forget her. All the ride back to Welland, he thought of what an insult to her self-respect it was to aim to be the wife of such a man as Sir Charles Sudbury.
They returned in what Philip thought was excellent time, but when the party gathered in the drawing room to be greeted by Lord Longtown and General Tilney, he learnt that was not the case as far as Eleanor’s father was concerned.
“I thought you would have left by half past ten, and been here by quarter past two,” General Tilney said, with a long look at his pocket watch. “It is nearly gone four. Lady Longtown might have had to push back dinner, and Brampton will be wanting to rest before he must get up in the morning and return to Belleville.”
“We did not leave until after eleven, sir,” Eleanor said, settling into a chair next to Lady Alice.
“Indeed,” added Sir Charles, “we set a good pace.”
“I have no doubt you did, and I know what my team is capable of,” General Tilney said, “but you ought not to have left so late as eleven. Eleanor, you were not behind in readying to leave, were you? It is unlike you to cause your friends to be so late in leaving.”
“I am always ready to accede to the wishes of others, sir,” Eleanor said softly, “and no one was in a hurry to leave.”
As the general talked, Philip felt a headache, as well as a stiffness in his jaw and shoulders that had nothing to do with the time on horseback. General Tilney observed the strictest punctuality, and since he had it in his mind the party would have left by ten-thirty, he could not credit that they had chosen to leave later than that. In his mind, it must have been Eleanor’s fault. While the gentlemen talked of miles per hour and the speed of their horses, Philip ignored them all and sat silently until General Tilney decided they must all dress for dinner.
One more evening at Welland before I can finally go home.It would be quiet this time of year in the village, especially since Vaughan was in Kent, but Philip was ready for a little peace. He would have to recover from his disappointment over Eleanor before he was able to be in much company. What wounded him more: that she would debase herself and choose such a man just to have relief from home, or that Philip could not marry her himself?
While the others discussed their horses, a footman entered and, with a slight bow, gave a letter to Lady Alice, who opened it and read a little before saying, “Oh, it is for you,” and handed it to Eleanor.
“Eleanor!” the general cried in a strident tone. “From whom is that letter?”
How often had Philip been at Northanger and heard “Eleanor!” called out, in his loudest tone, resounding through the building, and only for General Tilney to have some trivial task for his daughter, to answer a note or change the dinner that was to be put on the table, to criticise some choice she had made?
Lady Alice paled and tried to take it back. “I was mistaken—”
“No, it is for me,” Eleanor said in a voice that was scarcely above a whisper.
“I asked you who wrote it,” her father said.
Philip watched Eleanor’s eyes flinch and her fingers grip the edges of the paper. “It is from Miss Morland.”
The general took two quick steps forward. “I expressly forbade you from having any communication with that girl.”
Eleanor swallowed loudly enough for Philip to hear. “She was recently our guest, and after the way she so suddenly left us, I had to be certain she arrived—”
