“You have an orderly mind that looks for patterns, I think,” Georgie said, shifting one foot further from the fire, and stretching out the other for its share of the warmth. “But have you found any yet? I have to confess that I can’t see a connection between the three. The reason for Rowena is obvious — she’s the very image of the duke’s first wife. But Mr Payne and Mr Chamberlain… no, Lady Juliet Payne and Mr Chamberlain. That was how the letters were directed, wasn’t it?”
“It was, and Lady Juliet’s mother is a very clear black sheep — she was divorced. Mrs Richard’s grandmother was another, with an illegitimate child. But as for Mr Chamberlain, I can find nothing in his history of a disreputable nature, so I am directing my attention on his valet, Pendleton. I have written to a friend in Florence, but I shall not have a reply for weeks, so I must contain my impatience. Ah, it looks like our baths are ready,” he added, as a maid crept into the room and bobbed a curtsy. “Excellent! We shall meet again later for dinner, Mrs Hastings.”
10: A Rehearsal And A Kiss
Jamie felt unaccountably nervous. He had, in truth, been increasingly out of sorts the whole way from Staineybank. A good fire and an excellent claret had mellowed him somewhat, and a bath and a change of clothes had made him more comfortable, yet he was still nervous. Terrified, if the truth were told.
At first, dinner went well, for the hotel cooks were excellent and the wine cellar even better. Jamie served and Georgie talked and they both ate and drank, and he thought perhaps his silence would pass unnoticed.
But then Georgie said, “You’re very subdued, Jamie. Having second thoughts about this marriage?”
“No! Oh, no, not in the slightest, no. But… this is the point of no return,” he said, trying to will himself to calmness and not quite succeeding. “Tomorrow we will arrive at Oxford, and must present ourselves in a state of… exhilaration, shall we say, sufficient to account for wanting to rush out and obtain a licenceto marry immediately. I… well, it seems to me that we should prepare ourselves.”
“I am prepared,” she said with a gentle smile. “Aren’t you?”
“Yes! Of course… in mind, certainly, but what I mean is, I think perhaps we ought to rehearse what we will say.”
“I see. I suppose we will say that we discovered a mutual affection and so we decided to marry,” she said, tilting her head to one side. “Is that the sort of thing you mean?”
“Not exactly. It seems to me… I hope this will not seem presumptuous, but… I feel… Oh dear, this is so awkward.”
She chuckled. “Oh, Jamie! Surely we have passed the point of awkwardness? Aren’t we friends?”
“Oh yes, I hope so.”
“Then tell me what troubles you.”
He sighed. “I think we should say and do exactly those things we would have said and done if our story were true. Then, if either of us is asked how it all came about, we will have a ready answer and we will both have the same answer. If you understand me.”
“You mean that you should declare your secret passion for me? And then I declare mine for you?”
“Yes. The exact words, so that if the Merrington ladies should say to you,‘How did he declare himself?’, you will be able to answer without hesitation. Nothing could be more ticklish than to be obliged to invent something on the spot, and there is the risk that we will be asked separately and—”
“Yes, yes, I see just what you mean,” she said. “Very well. You’d better go first, then.”
He coughed self-consciously. “I am… not terribly good at speeches, so I wrote something down. Do you mind?”
“Not at all. I am all admiration for your forethought. Very well. Let us suppose that we have eaten well and you have drunka little too well, and are buoyed up by good claret and finding yourself alone with me. What then will you say?”
He pulled out the half sheet of paper, and, clearing his throat, began to read.‘Mrs Hastings… Georgie… I can be silent no longer. You must allow me to tell you that these last few weeks have brought me to the greatest admiration for your ladylike manners, your sterling character and your most attractive person. I have—”
“I think I should make some response at this point, don’t you? Something to the effect of‘La, Mr Hammond, this is most unexpected.’Although perhaps I shouldn’t say‘La’.That sounds affected, doesn’t it?”
Jamie felt laughter bubbling up. “A little. Let us agree that you express surprise. I shall continue, then.‘I have come to appreciate your many good qualities, and to think of you as the one person who embodies all my ideals of womanhood.’That is quite felicitously worded, is it not?”
“Oh, very much so. I think I would be silent with astonishment at this point.”
“Is it so astonishing?” he said, surprised.
“That anyone sees me as an ideal of anything? It is positively astounding.”
“I think you underestimate yourself,” he said, amused. “If I were asked to choose one woman to marry from all the ladies at Staineybank, you would be my first choice every time.”
“Really? When Lily and Rowena are diamonds of the first water, Lady Juliet is an aristocrat and the Merrington sisters are such entertaining characters? I am such a drab, ordinary and downright uninteresting person by comparison.”
He removed his spectacles, frowning as he pondered how to explain it. “Ordinary… yes, you are that, in a way, but also quite extraordinary. There are women like you the length and breadth of England, sensible, hard-working, unpretentious, justgetting on with life. Celebrating with quiet restraint when things go well, and not complaining when they go wrong. As constant and steady as the evening star, and just as reliable. What could be better suited to a man like me, who epitomises ordinariness himself?”
“Well!” she said, her eyes round. “You have now made me a prettier speech than the one you wrote… although that was indeed felicitously worded, but I think I like the second one better.‘Steady as the evening star’…I like that. It is better than mere beauty, I think, which fades with time.”
