“Then ask me questions,” Drake proposed, “and I shall tell you anything you want to know. And I shall ask you questions, so I can get to know you. I promise you that you can say anything to me, Miss Wintergreen. I shall not think less of you, and shall not repeat it to others.”
“A question for a question,” Cilla said. “I like it. Very well, you have my promise, also. What we disclose will be held in confidence. My first question is, what do you and your brother do? For a living, I mean.”
An interesting first question. How many other girls entering upper class society would ask it? “Bane and I are investors. When our sister Larkspur married, our father gave us each the same amount that he’d allocated to Larkspur for her dowry. We set out to grow it, and we are doing quite well. The interest onthe original money pays enough for our rooms and our food, and the rest is in a number of different ventures.”
“Such as?” Cilla asked. “No. We don’t have time, for my cousins are nearly out of bread. I should like to hear more when we have the opportunity. For now, sir, please ask your question.”
Drake had been thinking about it. “What do you look for in a husband?” Her answer to that should be revealing.
She was silent for a moment as she considered her answer. “In the best marriages I have seen, the husband and wife are partners and friends. I want that, Mr. Sanderson. I want a husband I can respect and who will respect me. I want to work with my husband for common goals. I want a father for my children who will take an interest in them—in the daughters as well as the son.”
No mention, Drake noted, of titles or wealth. “I like that,” he said. “I have not been privileged to observe that kind of marriage at close hand, but it sounds ideal. And yet, I think, achievable if both husband and wife work to the same end.”
“And that is the last of it,” Ruby said. “No, you horrid bird, I do not have any more. Mr. Sanderson, it is chasing me!”
Bane broke off his conversation with Livy to chase the most persistent of the ducks back into the water, and in moments, the rest of the group joined Drake and Cilla. Their interlude of private conversation was over.
*
Bane
For Bane, ithad been an unexpectedly successful afternoon. First, he and Drake had had lunch with Lord Andrew and his investor club. They had expected a group of noble dilettantes who were dabbling in investment to amuse themselves. Andsome of the group were aristocrats, it was true. Lord Andrew himself, who was the fourth son of a duke, a couple of other younger sons, a baron, a viscount. But there were also two lawyers, a man who bought old houses and renovated them for resale, a bookkeeper for a brothel, a gambling den operator, and others whose background didn’t come out in conversation and who were harder to place in the social strata.
What brought them together was information. They shared ideas and news that helped them to decide where to invest, either as individuals or jointly. Lord Andrew—he said to call him “Drew”—usually partnered with White, the bookkeeper, and Fullerton, a barrister. They had roomed together at Oxford, Drew told the Sanderson brothers.
He and Drake were asked to explain their successes and failures with stocks, and how their broker had contributed, which led to talking about their other investments, and then to being invited to become part of the group, which met once a week at this time.
Cautious, they had reserved their decision, but Bane thought they’d probably do it, for being part of the group committed them only to sharing information, not to any particular investment.
After the meeting, they had taken the Wintergreen and Marple cousins for the promised walk. Bane had given up hope of having Livy to himself when Lady Marple inserted her own daughters into the outing, but the Marple sisters were easily distracted with bread and ducks, and Bane and Drake were each able to cut their own quarry from the flock.
It was then that Bane faced the question most people asked, sooner or later. Usually, though, he refused to answer it, and nursed his distress at the memories for the rest of the day. Hearing the question from Livy had not upset him though.Despite his pessimism about his chances with the lady, she had a right to know the truth.
So, when she had said, “How did you become scarred, Mr. Sanderson?” he had answered her.
“My mother went mad. She became convinced that the spite and scorn of her neighbors was because of the birthmark on my cheek and my mismatched eyes, so she decided to cut them out. Fortunately, my father stopped her before she could take the eye.”
She gaped at him for a moment, and he was disappointed. He had believed her strong enough to hear the hard truths of his existence. He waited for her to change the subject or even to turn away from a boy so damaged that even his own mother hated him.
At least, that was the opinion of those few who knew the truth of his scarring—that his mother hated him. He had heard both his stepmother and his father wax eloquent on the concept, and Colin had tormented him with it for years.
It was not true. She had loved him. Mostly. When she was not drunk or totally focused on Father. She had gone insane, that was all. She had truly believed them both to be in danger and had attempted her surgery out of a misguided desire to protect him from the mob.
“Mr. Sanderson, I am so sorry,” said Livy. At least she was being polite. He waited for her to demand that he leave, or perhaps that he return her and the other ladies to Lady Marple’s and make no further attempt to see her.
But she had something else in mind. She touched him on the hand and said, “How awful for you, and how dreadful your mother must have felt when she returned to her own mind. I must say, sir, knowing your story makes me admire you even more.”
He could feel the smile spread across his face without any effort or thought on his part. Livy admired him! “Sadly, I do not know if my mother ever knew—really knew—what she had done. When I asked after her, while I was recovering, Father said he had sent her somewhere to be cared for. An asylum for the insane, I found out later. She died there a few months later, while I was still an invalid.”
Again, she surprised him. “I cannot say I approve of your father having a mistress and a wife, both at the same time, and I am quite cross with him for treating you and Drake so differently to the way he treated Mr. Colin Sanderson, but he wins my respect for saving you and bringing you home with him. Yes, and giving you an education, too, for you are clearly as well-educated as your brother Drake. I am glad. Thank you for sharing your story with me. I cannot imagine you tell just anybody.”
“I have never told anyone,” he admitted, somewhat surprised at himself. “Except Drake, that is, when we were boys. My father knew, of course, and he told my stepmother who told Colin. Others have learned of it from them, but never from me.”
“I am honored,” said Livy, her voice soft and warm.
Turning the conversation in a different direction, Bane requested a dance at the debut ball. It didn’t quite work out as he expected. Livy’s lovely eyes sparkled with the light of mischief as she announced the request to her cousins.
“Girls, Mr. Bane Sanderson wishes to request a dance from each of us at our ball.”
