“Bring it!” Henry barked, and Bales hurried out of the room.
“I need you focused and present, not asleep or with your mind in Kubla Khan.”
“It’s for the throbbing in my head. I won’t be much use to you without it.”
Bastin poured a cup of tea and handed it to Henry. “Drink up.Thiswill make you feel better.”
In Henry’s unsteady hand, the cup rattled in the saucer. But he managed to get it to his lips and took a sip to satisfy Bastin, who loomed over him.
“Look, Hudsyn,” Bastin said, turning away to pour himself his own cup of tea, “we both know I’m here for Ottilie’s sake. I don’t care if you want to waste your talent and drink yourself to death, but my wife does, and if you care for her at all, you will pull yourself together.” He sat down opposite Henry and sipped his tea.
Henry said nothing as his friend eyed him over the rim of his teacup.
“Are you in love with her?” Bastin finally said.
“Who?” Henry frowned, genuinely puzzled by Bastin’s question.
“Ottilie,” Bastin said bluntly.
“Ottilie?” Henry plunked his teacup onto the table, spilling half the contents into the saucer. He stood up and ran his hand over his chin. “Yourwife? Mycousin? Ottilie?”
“Do you know of another?”
Henry shook his head. “Are you mad?”
Bastin stood and placed his teacup down. “Look, Hudsyn, I won’t fault you if that’s what’s been troubling you. Ottilie’s a beautiful woman and—”
“Stop!” Henry lunged forward and grabbed Bastin’s shirt.
Bastin pushed him off. “Get a hold of yourself and sit down! I have something to say to you.”
“I’m not going to sit here and listen to your mad theories!” He strode to the door and opened it. “Get out of my house, or I’ll have you thrown out.”
Just then, Bales appeared in the doorway, carrying a tray with the bottle of laudanum. Henry snatched it and said, “Go now!” He’d directed the words at Bastin, but the frightened butler scurried away.
“What do you expect me to think? Your melancholy began when I asked Ottilie to marry me two years ago in Margate. From that time on, you seemed determined to drink yourself to death and let your inheritance and reputation fall to ruin.”
Henry blinked. Bastin didn’t know. Ottilie had never divulged his secret. She’d kept the truth from her husband out of loyalty to him.
“She’s with child again,” Bastin said, “and healthy as she is, I fear the stress of worrying about you might be too much for her.”
Henry dropped his hand from the doorknob.
“It’s early, but the doctor has confirmed she is with child.” Bastin clutched the back of his neck. “And she insists on teaching until the pregnancy becomes visible. She says it is bad to teach the girls that a woman becomes useless the minute she’s with child. You know her; she’s stubborn and independent and being married hasn’t changed that about her.”
A wave of shame washed over Henry. He’d put his cousin in an unimaginably cruel position; by forcing her to keep this secret from Bastin—in effect—she was made to lie to her husband. He closed the study door.It’s time Bastin knew the truth.
“Sit, and I’ll explain everything.” He slipped the laudanum bottle into his pocket, stumbled to the settee, and sat down, but Bastin remained standing.
“Well,” he said, crossing his arms.
“First, you must promise to forgive Ottilie for not telling you herself.”
“Not telling me herself?” Bastin sunk onto his chair like a ship slowly going down with the storm, then. “Are you saying my wife is hiding something from me?”
Henry pressed his palms together. “Yes, but it’s not her secret; it’s mine.”
Jack narrowed his eyes and frowned before saying, “Go on.”
