He was not, he confessed, always quite the thing in society. Didn’t know what to say to the ladies. Indeed, sometimes he felt it necessary to quite shut himself away. Like a hermit of old – don’t y’know.
And he talked on until I began to fear that all the hopes and accomplishments of the Misses Harris would come to nothing if I did not oblige him with a reassuring fortune.
So I have agreed that I will soon look into his palm to see what I may of his future – though I do not quite know when this will be achieved since the colonel is as anxious as I am that we have no audience for the performance and I do not know how we are to gain a tête-à-tête without arousing the jealousy of the Misses Harris. However, I am determined that when it does take place I shall use the opportunity to discover a little more about him. I most particularly wish to know why he has so recently broken his resolution against marriage – has something occurred in his private life to incline him towards matrimony – or perhaps to free him for an advantageous match?
For, you see, a very intriguing thought came to me when the colonel spoke of sometimes shutting himself away. Eliza, you write in your letter that Mr Blacklock might be Mr Lomax, and I have wondered whether he is Mr Montague. But could he not also be Colonel Walborough – or indeed Mr Harris, or Sir Edgar, or Tom? Gentlemen are so free to move about in the world; they are not fixed in one place as women are.
I have contrived to send a message to the bobbing maid by Jenny the housemaid, whose home, you will remember (if you have been paying my letters the very close attention which they deserve) is at Hopton Cresswell and who, I am glad to find, is due to take her monthly day off again very soon. I have asked whether it is possible to discover from Mrs Potter’s Kate what Mr Blacklock’s appearance may be.
Unfortunately, before I can hope to receive any reply to this enquiry, I must go to Lyme. It is all quite settled. We are to travel there tomorrow and spend the night at an inn in the town. It is, as Catherine says, to be a regular exploring party, comprising myself and Catherine and the Misses Harris, escorted by the colonel and Tom Lomax. Sir Edgar condescendingly hopes that a little excursion will cheer the ladies and take our minds off the unpleasantness of late events and regrets that his public duties prevent him from availing himself of the honour of accompanying us, etc etc. Her ladyship is not to be of the party; she is indisposed. (I very much fear that she has procured a replacement for the physic which I poured away.) Mrs Harris stays behind to bear her ladyship company, and Margaret remains here too – because she wishes that she had been the chosen companion and, no doubt, hopes to prove herself better suited to the office.
Catherine is quite wild to go. She is very certain that she will find Mr Montague at Lyme, upon which she plans to throw herself into his arms, declare that she cares not whether they have bread to eat or not, so long as they can be together, and so live out the rest of her days in blissful poverty.
Oh, Eliza, I wish I too could believe that it will all be so easily settled!
Chapter Fourteen
Lyme was as beautiful as everyone had promised, and, afterwards, Dido very much regretted that she had not been in a state of mind to do justice to its views. The hours that she spent there were too crowded with incident and surprise to leave her memory with more than an indistinct impression of waves sparkling in autumn sunshine, a steep hill leading down to the curve of the bay, pretty little old houses tumbling almost into the sea and, of course, the great stone bulk of the famous Cobb, stretching out into the water like a sleeping monster.
She was enjoying this prospect about two hours after their arrival. She had walked out onto the Cobb, leaving her companions gathered around Miss Harris, who was attempting to capture the scene upon her easel. Dido rather doubted her success, for she seemed to have so poor a grasp of perspective that a lopsided sheep grazing upon the low cliffs looked almost large enough to devour the town; it was partly to conceal her laughter that she had separated herself.
It was exhilarating to be alone on the exposed stone walk with the wind driving the white-crested waves about her and snapping at her bonnet ribbons, and she was not pleased to see Colonel Walborough walking intently towards her, red-faced, head bowed against the wind, hands clasped behind his back.
‘Ah, Miss Kent, I wondered whether this might be an opportunity…’ he began and was then forced to pause from lack of breath. ‘My fortune, don’t you know,’ he reminded her and held out a large, plump hand. ‘You were so kind as to say that you would read my palm.’
‘Oh yes.’ Dido looked down at the hand and wondered what she ought to do with it. The rage for palmistry had not yet arrived at Badleigh and she had never witnessed the science. But she bent her head over the proffered hand and endeavoured to look wise.
The sunlight showed up calluses on the palm – no doubt caused by weapons and the reigns of horses. The lines crisscrossing the hard skin were unremarkable. What struck her most forcibly was the childish shortness of the big, square nails, which were bitten down almost to the quick.
‘Ah, yes,’ she said slowly with a shake of her head, which she hoped suggested profound musing. ‘I see that you are very worried about something, Colonel Walborough. Something is troubling you a great deal.’
‘You are right, m’dear. That is quite remarkable! Can you see that in my hand?’
‘Oh yes,’ Dido assured him. ‘It is all here to be read in your hand.’ She smiled and held aside the unruly ribbons of her bonnet, which were flapping about her face. ‘Now, let me see,’ she said, thinking much more of how she might discover information than reveal it. ‘There is something very strange here in these lines. Very strange indeed.’
She looked up and saw his eyes fixed intently upon her and his broad cheeks glowing in the wind. She could almost fancy that he was holding his breath. ‘Colonel, I see that you have lately undergone a change of heart. That you have taken a decision to alter the course of your life.’
‘Miss Kent, you are quite remarkable!’
‘Thank you, Colonel Walborough. You recognise what I am talking about?’
‘Oh yes.’ He looked anxiously about him. Their companions were still gathered about the easel. Miss Sophia’s earnest chatter was borne to them on the wind, followed by an extravagant laugh from Tom Lomax. ‘What I wish you would tell me, m’dear,’ he continued in a low, hurried voice, ‘is whether I am right in making that change. It is so damned hard to be sure. Will it answer? Will it bring me all that I hope it will? Don’t you see? That’s what I need to know.’
Dido bent lower over the plump hand that was still held out expectantly and made a pretence of studying it. The waves slapped upon the wall of the Cobb; a seagull shrieked and laughed as it fought its way up the wind. The hand before her began to shake a little. She gave a long sigh. ‘I am sorry, Colonel, it is very difficult to decipher… Perhaps if you could explain a little to me about the nature of this change in your life – and why you have made it. Then I might be better able to understand…’
He took a step closer to her and lowered his voice to a whisper that was all but torn away on the breeze. ‘Well, the fact of the matter is, m’dear, that I’ve made up my mind to…enrol my name in the lists of Hymen, as they say. In short, I plan to marry, Miss Kent, and it ain’t something I ever thought to do.’
‘Yes, indeed, I see,’ said Dido, nodding sagely over his palm. ‘Yes, that would explain this great change in your future, which is written so clearly here.’ She pondered again for the space of time that it took for three waves to break on the Cobb wall. ‘Mmm, I cannot quite make out still whether your decision will increase your happiness… Perhaps if I knew why you had decided to break through your resolution of not marrying…’
‘Well, you see, Miss Kent,’ he whispered, ‘this is the way it is. And this is quite in confidence, don’t y’know?’
‘Oh yes, I will be very discreet.’
‘Well, this is the way it is. There’s this uncle of mine; old fellow and pretty sick too, likely to pop off any day now. And he’s got a monstrous big estate and I’m the only kin he has in this world. So, you see the way the land lies, don’t you?’
‘Oh quite! Naturally you look forward to inheriting and I am sure it is a great comfort to your uncle to know that his property will pass into such good hands.’
‘Ah, yes. But the devil of the business is, m’dear, that he ain’t that comfortable about it. You see, he’s heard rumours about me.’ He gave a spluttering cough. ‘Ill-natured gossip that I won’t trouble a lady with… But the old fellow has taken against me and he won’t put his name to the will until I “regularise my life”, as he terms it.’
‘And that regularising must take the form of matrimony?’
The colonel nodded.
‘I see.’
So, thought Dido immediately, the colonel fears only respectable ladies. He is, in fact, a libertine and a womaniser. She was sure it must be so, despite what the other men said about him, for she could think of no other irregularity in a man’s life for which marriage might be considered a cure…
She stood in thoughtful contemplation of the hand for several moments longer. His reply had presented her with a dilemma. Should she advise him to marry or not? The trick she had undertaken for her own ends had given her a power which she did not want.
His motives for marriage were selfish and his character, apparently, doubtful. But how eager to be married was Miss Harris? How acutely did she feel the approach of three and twenty? And, in a prudential light, it would be a fine match for her…
Well, these were questions which the lady must decide for herself.
‘Ah! I understand now,’ she said raising her eyes to his red, anxious face. ‘This was why I found your hand so difficult to read. You see, Colonel, your future happiness depends entirely upon how you act now. It is written here that you will find true contentment only with a woman who exactly understands the demands of your uncle. You must explain to any lady you ask to marry you the reason why you have broken through your lifetime’s resolution of remaining single.’