Thea placed a hand on Cecily’s. ‘You can’t know that, Cecily.’
Cecily looked up at her. ‘Oh, but I do. When it became clear that I couldn’t have them with Neville – I lost four of them early, you see,’ she glanced up at Thea who saw in her eyes the pain those four had carved within her, ‘so then Neville sent me to his brother’s to see if there would be more success there and that didn’t work either.’
Thea squeezed her eyes shut for a second. There was always so much to take in when Cecily spoke. ‘Cecily, are you telling me that Neville sent you to his brother’s house to…’ she wasn’t sure how to put it.
‘For him to impregnate me,’ said Cecily, so matter-of-factly that Thea’s insides squeezed.
‘Good Lord,’ she said, ‘Cecily, that is not acceptable.’
Cecily gave a wry laugh. ‘You and I both know that Neville can do what he likes. After I lost the last, only a couple of months ago, he said he would bring in Doctor Speckle. He came the night before you all arrived.’
‘And examined you?’ asked Thea gently.
‘Yes, most respectfully,’ said Cecily with surprise in her eyes. ‘And he confirmed it. I am not built correctly to carry a child.’
‘He said that?’ asked Thea.
‘No, that’s how Neville put it,’ said Cecily, ‘after the diagnosis from Doctor Speckle.’
‘Oh Cecily,’ said Thea, squeezing her hand and a little lost for words. ‘I am so sorry. How do you feel about it?’
‘A little sad,’ said Cecily, clearly thinking. ‘But it is difficult to hear that you cannot fulfil your duty as a wife. I suppose that is another thing that is wrong with me.’
Thea shook her head vigorously. ‘There’s nothing wrong with you, Cecily.’ They sat for a while, until Cecily felt she wanted to speak again.
‘In any case,’ said her friend. ‘Neville was cross and blamed me, of course, but I am hopeful that it will at least stop the constant visits to the bedroom and the strange things he has us do to conceive. He has asked everyone about it.’
‘I am sure he has,’ said Thea, slumping back in her own seat. ‘At least there is a conclusion from Doctor Speckle now.’ They were empty words, but what else could you say to someone stuck in a marriage with a domineering husband who cared not a fig for his wife’s wellbeing? Cecily gave her a small smile and nodded, but they both knew that there was nothing to be done with an errant husband.
‘Go with them today and shoot the fucking lot of them,’ said Harriet, making them both jump. ‘It is no more than they deserve.’
Chapter 28
‘We will have to pay the medical bills,’ said Thea, fury once again raging inside her as she sat in a juddering carriage with her husband.
He now waved his hand dismissively. ‘Speckle patched him up for free. Handy that Knatchbull invited him really. All sorted.’
‘George,’ said Thea, taking a breath and trying to stay calm. ‘You shot a ranger.’
‘Only in the leg.’
‘Because you were drunk with a shotgun.’
He leaned forward from the opposite carriage bench, and she could smell the liquor on his breath. It was only half past eleven in the morning. ‘I am the head of this household and am permitted to be drunk at any time I like. Also, who wouldn’t be drunk being married to you? What a pitiful outburst that was at dinner.’
She had been waiting for it. But at least that and him shooting the ranger seemed to have distracted him from her earlier indiscretion. ‘It is all done now. I have made things up with Mrs Fairclough.’ She hadn’t, but he didn’t need to know that.
George guffawed. ‘As if she matters. You were an embarrassment, but I have charmed Knatchbull, and he has his plants from Lady Foxmore and so once again I fix the mess you made.’
‘How grateful I am,’ she said, fed up with his vitriol, but wondered if she could change the subject and gather some information while he was drunk.
‘You will be pleased, I am sure, that Knatchbull has taken the glory,’ she tried. ‘I understand he has germinated the proteafor the queen?’
‘Oh, is that what it was?’ said George. ‘Good. At least one thing you can’t mess up for us.’
‘I am sure,’ said Thea. ‘But did Knatchbull tell you how?’
‘Why would he?’ asked George.
