Eleanor nodded through tears of joy. “Yes. I love you. I have always wanted to be Mrs Brampton.”
Philip looked at her fondly, and then his expression faded and Eleanor realised why. “We can finally be together, but I am in despair, Eleanor. Vaughan is gone and—” He blew out a breath. “He is gone, and I am his heir, and I would trade it all to have him back.”
“I know,” she whispered.
“Well, your father will have no grounds to object to me now,” he said, striving to smile.
“You are a viscount,” she whispered, knowing it to be true but struggling to comprehend all that would mean.
Philip sighed and tucked her hand under his arm to lead them to the house. “Eleanor, you cannot know what a comfort it is to be secure in the knowledge that you would have happily lived in my village on five hundred a year and been called Mrs Brampton.”
ChapterSixteen
With his engagement to Eleanor, Philip felt as near to delighted as he was capable of feeling less than a week from his cousin’s death. Eleanor understood his grief, and would never ridicule it or force him into cheerfulness before he was ready. They were both joyful, of course—all their hopes were about to be realised—but neither of them would forget that it came at a cost.
This evening at Northanger, he had to see all of the servants who previously inclined their head to Mr Brampton now bow or curtsey deeply and address him as “My lord.” When the housekeeper showed him to his room, she had called him “Lord Vaughan” and he had kept walking down the corridor. It was an awkward moment for them both, and he suspected it would be the first of many.
As he readied for bed, he thought about what Eleanor had been willing to do today. He had before had too fine a sense of honour to elope with Eleanor. He had been too proud to ask when the general was certain to refuse. If he was honest, he was also fearful of crossing General Tilney. But when she had no lasting hope of happiness and peace, Eleanor had gathered a change of clothes and enough money for the coach and walked out the door.
She truly is the bravest person I know.
He ought to have taken her from this place years ago, but this evening at dinner Eleanor had ordered him to stop apologising. She was more concerned for his feelings of regret rather than for all the years of suffering she experienced at the Abbey.
Eleanor somehow had an uncommon delicacy of mind, warm affections, and ready benevolence despite years of living under a man who shouted at her, disregarded her wishes, and did not value her. Not only that, but after she had dared to tell the general whom she wanted to marry, General Tilney had taunted her in the cruellest of ways.
Philip would never forgive General Tilney for saying that Mrs Tilney would have been ashamed of Eleanor.
He was about to blow the candle out when the door opened and Eleanor entered. It was near to midnight and she had dressed for bed, with her blond hair down, and she walked the corridor without a chamber stick. It was so near to what had happened last January that he nearly laughed.
“Why are you smiling?” she asked, looking at him curiously.
Philip shook his head. “I was thinking of the last time you came to my room.”
To his surprise, she dropped her gaze. “I was not trying to seduce you at Longtown Castle, truly I was not. I only wanted you to know nothing had happened between—”
Philip rushed forward to put his arms around her. “No, no, I had not thought of that at all. I meant last January, when I was snowed in here and your father was gone.”
She looked relieved and gave him a quick kiss. “I suppose at Longtown I had also wanted some comfort from the only person who cared for me because I hated myself for what I was trying to do with Sir Charles. I am so sorry.”
“None of that. Like you said at dinner, we ought to look forward.” He sighed. “Although that is hard to do.”
She brought both hands to the sides of his face. “Our future happiness is the only good thing to come from losing Vaughan.”
“You will not call me that, will you?” he entreated. “Everyone shall. They already have begun, but you will avoid it in public as much as you can, won’t you?”
“You have always been Philip to me, and I shall call you that amongst our friends. I shall have to call you ‘my lord’ in public,” she added, frowning.
Philip pulled her a little tighter. “Why do we just not go into public life?”
“That is the sensible thing,” she said, trying to be serious. “I have no wish to be hailed as ‘Your Ladyship’ either. We shall have to do all we can to simply be Philip and Eleanor.”
Philip stroked his hands over Eleanor’s hips. “Did you come to make certain that I liked the room? To be sure that the fire was built up?”
Eleanor laughed. “Is that what I said in January?”
“I hardly remember,” he said, smiling. “I only remember being shocked that you came to my room.” As much as he had wanted it, he had always known it would only end in disappointment because they would never be allowed to marry. Still, they had been unable to resist, even knowing how it would end.
“After what had nearly happened in the library that day, it seemed the next natural step.” Her cheeks pinked again before she asked quietly, “It was not so bad, was it?”
