She moved to the other side of the bridge, gazing down into the clear water as it leapt over the stones. On this side, there was no nascent orangery visible, no pilings in the river, no men with buckets and ladders and lengths of wood moving about. There was only the river as it must have looked for centuries, the ancient woodlands along the banks shading it with their mid-summer greenery.
“When we came here two years ago,” she said, her voice soft now, the anger dissipated, “we increased the size of the household vastly. Everything was different, the duke’s quiet life blown away by the Merringtons — and Rowena and Georgie, too. So much more to be done every day, every season, every year. Cousin Hester… she is very good, but there is no housekeeper, and the burden fell on her shoulders. So we set out to help. Well, not all of us, to be sure, but Mama and I, and Georgie. We did what we could. But Mama would always rather be arranging flowers, or moving fire screens from one room to another, or repairing footstools. Tedious jobs like counting the linens after a great wash, or checking the still room ingredients — that was not her strongest suit. And Georgie was and is very willing, but shehas never been used to an establishment of any size, so she waits for direction.”
“So it fell to you,” he said quietly. “But I can take you away from all that. There is no need for—”
“No, no!” she cried eagerly. “You do not understand! I love it — being in charge of a house of this size. I followed Cousin Hester about avidly, learning everything I could from her and now that she is ill, I run the house on my own. Oh, I tell her what I am doing, and bring her the menus to approve, and ask her advice about the woodworm in one of the bedrooms, all of that. But she keeps to her room most of the time now, so I get to do everything, and it is glorious, Lance. You cannot imagine how much I love running Staineybank.”
“So this is why you want to stay at Staineybank?”
“Yes! And it was not until you started talking about your London house that I realised that I could lose all of this.” She waved a hand towards the house, glowing slightly in the afternoon sun. “Instead of managing Staineybank, I should be living in a much smaller house, with three or four servants and a string of children, and obliged to go wherever you go… or else stay behind on my own. Whereas here, I have Mama and Richard and my sisters, and a useful occupation that I love. Do you see?”
“Are you giving me mycongé, Lottie… Charlotte?” he said, with a wry grimace. “How humiliating after such a short betrothal.”
“You need not give me any flummery about breaking your heart,” she said, laughing merrily. “Have we not established that there is no love in the case? You wanted a replacement for Lady Patience and I simply wanted a husband… until I thought about it a little more. Are youverycross with me for accepting you so thoughtlessly?”
“How could I ever be cross with you? We have always been good friends, and nothing that has happened in these past days need affect that situation in the slightest.”
“You will find a replacement for Lady Patience, will you not?”
“I shall… in time. I think perhaps it was a mistake to rush into this. It would be better to wait until just the right lady comes along. A lady to fall in love with.”
“You are bound to meet someone before too long,” Charlotte said happily. “Will you shake hands with me, Lance? To show that you have forgiven me.”
“There is nothing at all to forgive,” he said, with sincerity. “We both made a mistake.”
His heart was as light as a feather as they walked arm in arm back to the house, in perfect charity with each other.
28: Endings And Beginnings
Having barely caught her breath from the announcement of the engagement, Georgie was astonished to hear that Charlotte and Mr Chamberlain had brought it to an end.
“I could not bear to leave Staineybank,” Charlotte said brightly, “and Lance is generous enough to set me free again.”
“How can I compete against the charms of Staineybank?” Mr Chamberlain said, with a wide smile. “If I had been supplanted in Charlotte’s affections by another man, I should naturally have been a raging ball of jealousy, and there would have been swords at dawn and a great deal of unpleasantness, but against a house… I must gracefully withdraw all claims, and wish Charlotte a long and happy life with her feather duster.”
The company had gathered in the White Drawing Room before dinner, but Georgie and Jamie stood a little apart, as they so often did, neither servants nor family. Georgie was comfortable with that. She could never have married into the nobility, as Rowena had, moving now serenely about the room, very much the future mistress of Staineybank.
The present mistress of it, however, also stood somewhat apart, her face pale. Lily watched Charlotte and Mr Chamberlain, surrounded now by excited Merrington ladies, but made no move to speak to them. Georgie could understand that. What does one say in such cases? Condolences would be excessive and one could hardly offer congratulations. Better, perhaps, to say nothing.
“He is happy about it,” Jamie murmured into Georgie’s ear. “He rushed into it, and now, seeing his error, he has asked her to release him, and she, good creature that she is, allows it.”
Georgie hesitated, knowing the truth of the matter but unsure whether it was permissible to speak of it. While she debated within herself, the duchess moved nearer.
“You malign Mr Chamberlain if you imagine he would ever break his promised word like that,” she said, in a low tone but with some heat. “He is too honourable to do so. He made the offer because he believed Charlotte was sincerely attached to him, and this change could only have come about by her wish, not his.”
“Yes, of course. I did not mean—” Jamie began, but Lily had already crossed the room to stand beside the duke, to whom she spoke in an urgent manner.
“Well!” Jamie said, eyebrows raised. “That was unexpected, but she is quite right, of course. Chamberlain is a gentleman and would never go back on his word, but why he imagined— Did you think Charlotte was attached to him?”
“I never saw any sign that she was, any more than her sisters. Hester thinks he’s unreliable, and wouldn’t make a good husband.”
He lowered his voice and whispered, “That is because she is a dried up old spinster to whom he never paid more than common civility.”
“Hush!” she said, but she laughed all the same. “That’s unkind, although it’s true that she has a low opinion of men.”
Dinner brought another surprise, for after the servants had withdrawn, the duke made an announcement.
“This is a day for changing minds, it seems. My very dear duchess has had second thoughts about departing for Cheshire. She too, it seems, is attached to this house, and wishes me to relinquish Winchcote House, despite its convenient location adjacent to her father’s estate. I am not minded to do so, however. Lily, my dear, I shall not always be on this earth, and when Richard is master here, you may find it useful to have another house ready for you to move into. There will never be a better location than Winchcote’s, so I intend to buy it in your name. You may then amuse yourself by making whatever improvements you wish, in order to make it a suitable home for a dowager duchess in the future.”
