“One of the workers said it looked as if he’d been pulled or pushed by unseen hands. What do you make of that?”
“I’m quite sure of what I saw, darling.” Malcolm’s jaw clenched. Tension swelled between them. “At any rate, it’s pleasant to have a conversation with you, despite the unfortunate circumstances. I have sorely missed your company.” His eyes remained fixed on a spot on the far wall, his voice hollow. “Won’t you join me for dinner tonight?”
Eliza worried the buttons on her gloves. “I suppose I’d better.”
Malcolm laughed, a harsh sound in the cavernous room. “You make it sound like a trip to the gallows. Am I truly that monstrous?”
“Sometimes.”
“Look. I am wretched over what happened between us, Eliza. I saw the shadow of my father in the way I behaved that day in my study. I hated myself for it.”
Eliza’s heart caught at his earnestness. She reached out and took his hand. “I shall join you for dinner, on one condition.”
He lifted her hand to his lips. “Anything.”
“Promise me you’ll allow me fully into your world and your heart. You’re still hiding so much from me, Malcolm—ever pulling out of my reach when I only long to be close to you. If we’re to have a happy marriage, youmustlearn to trust me. With everything.”
He smiled sadly. “I’ll admit it’s not in my nature to be free with my feelings, but I will at least endeavor to be less of a prig, darling.” He pressed a kiss to her brow. “I’m going to head back to the manor to close up the south wing. Will you come with me, or would you rather stay on to visit with your sister?”
“I believe I’ve lost Lydia to the wonders of modern medicine. She’s much too busy with her patients for a chat. I think I’ll walk home. I’ve been needing some exercise, and it’s such a fine day, at least as far as weather.”
They parted at the curb, Malcolm folding her into a stiff embrace before he climbed back into the carriage. Eliza turned to the west—choosing the long way home, through the pastures, where their tenants were threshing the last of the summer wheat. The air was crisp as a harvest apple, giving clarity to her mood and thoughts.
Malcolm had promised better days, but Eliza was no less troubled than she’d been hours before. Their marriage seemed to be unraveling almost as quickly as it had begun, and no matter how desperately she grasped at the threads of their affection, her weaving was proving to be an exercise in frustration. For every kiss he lavished upon her, there soon followed a harsh word. For each night spent in passion, there was a day spent in awkward silence. It brought back painful memories of her parents’ unhappy marriage and the chilly indifference they’d eventually shown to one another. Chasing Malcolm’s affections was like trying to hold water in a sieve.
She was lost in her thoughts when a motorcar came rattling past her, then pulled to a stop along the verge. Sarah leaned out, her face beaming beneath the brim of her hat. “Ho there, if it isn’t my long-lost Lady Havenwood!”
Eliza jogged to catch up. “How fortunate! I was just thinking about you.”
“And I think about you far too often for my own good,” Sarah teased. “I’ve just attended my first suffragist meeting in Basingstoke. Lots of womanly shouting and high passions. I daresay it won’t be my last. What news from town?”
“I’ve just come from the hospital.”
“Oh? Is everything all right?”
“There’s an Irish boy named Freddie there. He was injured at our place today. I thought you and I, and perhaps Polly, could pay him a visit soon. His family is in Dublin and your kind of merriment is just what he needs.”
“Goodness! I hope he’ll be all right.”
“Clarence seems to think he’ll come through it.”
“If anyone can bring him back to health, it’s our fastidious young doctor. Say, when are you going to have a party and invite us to that fresh new home of yours? I’ve been watching the work being done. What a fine slate roof you’ve got! I told Dickie we should scallop our roof just the same. In different colors, of course.”
Eliza squinted up at Sarah. “The roof is about the only thing done, I’m afraid. All of our workers have quit. It seems they think this boy’s fall was no accident.”
“How curious,” Sarah said. “But I’m sure you can find more men. Perhaps in Dorset. Heaven knows there’s nothing to do down that way when the watercress goes dormant. Or Essex.” Sarah stuck out the pink tip of her tongue and shook her head. “Dreadfully boring and wet, Essex. That’s where Dickie’s from. Full of doddering aunties asking when we’re going to set a baby loose.”
Eliza grinned. She’d certainly missed Sarah’s merry wit. “I’m not sure Malcolm will want to be doing anything with winter coming on so soon, but at least the weather will be kept out with a proper roof on. He’s been so glum lately. It has me in a state.”
“He was born glum! Hop in,” Sarah said, patting the seat next to her. “You look like you could do with some cheering yourself, and I’d love to have your company on such a fine afternoon. But do hang on, because I like to go fast.”
While “fast” was relative concerning automobiles, most of which any farm nag could outpace, Sarah made true on her word. No sooner had Eliza settled into the leather seat than they were off, the Duryea’s narrow tires flying over the rutted lane. Eliza gripped the edge of theseat with one hand and held her hat to her head with the other. Once they were out over the moors, the way became smoother and Sarah slowed to a puttering idle.
“My, that was just what my spirits needed,” Eliza said.
“I’m chuffed, then! Have you really been so low?”
Eliza paused for a moment. “My marriage isn’t quite what I anticipated. That’s all.”
