Vernon was astonished and disbelieving—Lady Vernon and Reginald had scarcely a fortnight’s acquaintance. He imagined the effect that such a rumor would have upon Lady deCourcy and would almost have been willing to return to Parklands if he might have the pleasure of hearing the first vehement expression of her disapprobation.
And yet … The thirty miles from London to Churchill Manor were just enough to allow Vernon to consider what might be the advantage to him if such a rumor were true.
A new and very rich husband would surely divert Lady Vernon from any contemplation of what was due from the former one. The acquisition of Parklands for his line would be more secure than if Reginald married Lavinia Hamilton, as Lady Vernon had brought only one daughter into a union of sixteen years.
By the time he alighted from the carriage, Charles Vernon had decided that it would be an excellent scheme to have Reginald marry Lady Vernon, and he began his campaign to promote it upon his first evening home. Though it was Christmas Eve, Catherine had invited nobody to dine and so Vernon was able to address Reginald as soon as the ladies withdrew. He began by remarking that nobody had been in town—“Nobody at all!”—and set it down to the mildness of the weather, which kept everyone in the country. He urged Reginald to think of extending his visit into January and to send to Kent for his horses and hunters so that they might try for foxes when the pheasants gave out. “Catherine and the children will be very happy to have you prolong your stay, and my sister is in such better looks than when she first came that I must think your company does her a great deal of good.”
This invitation was accepted with an alacrity that Charles attributed to Reginald’s desire to further his acquaintance with Lady Vernon. When they entered the drawing room, Vernon announced, “My love, I have asked Reginald to continue with us a few more weeks. You and the children have been so happy to have him here that I know you will plead his case when you next write to your mother.”
Mrs. Vernon’s countenance hovered between a smile and a frown. She was very gratified that her husband wished to keep Reginald at Churchill Manor, as she supposed that it was done entirely to please her, but she had, in her husband’s absence, seen such marks of a growing intimacy between her brother and Lady Vernon that she was willing to forgo the pleasure of having him remain at Churchill Manor to prevent him from becoming another object of Lady Vernon’s idle flirtation. When she next wrote to her mother, therefore, she appealed to Lady deCourcy to hurry Reginald’s departure rather than give him leave to stay.
Mrs. Vernon to Lady deCourcy
Churchill Manor, Sussex
My dear Mother,
It is with great reluctance that I communicate anything that might depress my father’s health and spirits, madam, but unless something is done to prevent it, you will be deprived of Reginald for more than a holiday season. Charles has invited my brother to prolong his visit, and while I am confident that my husband thinks of nothing but my pleasure, I grow uneasy in witnessing the very rapid increase of Lady Vernon’s influence over Reginald. I always regarded her coming with some uneasiness, but very far was it from originating in any anxiety for Reginald—I could not imagine that my brother would be in the smallest danger of being captivated by her after hearing Mr. Smith’s account of her proceedings at Langford.
I did not wonder at his being struck with the gentleness and delicacy of her manners, and she is altogether so attractive that I should not wonder at his being delighted with her, had he known nothing of her previous conduct. But now her powers have so offset the accounts of Mr. Smith that Reginald is persuaded that they were all scandalous invention. Only yesterday he actually said that her loveliness and abilities were such that he could almost excuse Mr. Manwaring’s feeling the effect of them.
I can hardly suppose that Lady Vernon’s desires extend to marriage. She must know that though no formal engagement exists between my brother and my cousin, both families look forward to their union. I am convinced that her object is that of any hardened coquette, namely, the assurance that she is universally loved and admired. But Reginald is young and of such a warm nature that he may not understand that she regards him only as an instrument of her vanity.
I wish you could get Reginald home again under any pretense. I believe that a few hints of my father’s precarious state of health, and of Reginald’s duty to be at Parklands when the Hamiltons are there, must come from you.
How sincerely do I grieve that she ever entered this house! I wish she would leave us, but Mr. Vernon will not send his brother’s widow away. Therefore, if you can get Reginald back to Parklands, it would be for the best.
Your affectionate daughter,
Catherine Vernon
chapter twenty-six
The next week passed in a series of quiet dinners and subdued family gatherings. The Chapmans were invited to dine along with another couple or two from the neighborhood, the children sang carols in the servants’ hall, the servants assembled to toast the health of their master and mistress, and the mince pies were distributed, but these were the highlights of the season’s festivities. Lady Vernon supposed that Charles and Catherine kept the occasion quiet out of respect for Sir Frederick’s memory, but Reginald gave her to understand that the Vernons’ holiday was quite in keeping with what had been usual at Parklands, and all of his experience with Bullet Pudding and Hunt-the-Slipper had come about when he spent a Christmas season with one or another of his friends. Much to her dismay, Catherine Vernon realized that, in the wake of Christmas Day, she was obliged to undertake a role for which she had been ill prepared and toward which she was disinclined. She must visit the tenants, and distribute gifts and assistance to the poor, and pay calls to her neighbors and receive them in return, and assure them all that she and Mr. Vernon wished them health and happiness in the coming year. She had never accompanied her mother on such rounds when at Parklands, and all that she had gathered from Lady deCourcy was that one ought not to dispense too much in the way of shillings and sympathy and hot soup as it would only encourage idleness and ill health. When Catherine asked Lady Vernon to accompany her, therefore, it was not only to keep her from Reginald as much as possible but also to catch some hint as to how she was to conduct herself as mistress of the Vernon estate.
Though Catherine did not know how much ought to be given, she had no doubt of getting a warm and grateful reception. She had, for so long, been the beneficiary of flattery and approbation that she had come to expect it as her due. It distressed her, therefore, to see her tenants’ smiles bestowed upon Lady Vernon, to hear them inquire after Miss Frederica Vernon before they extended the best wishes of the season to Mrs. Vernon’s household, and in the end, she was sorry that she had not left Lady Vernon at home.
On the third day of visiting, Lady Vernon returned to her apartments to find a letter from Sir James. His anger at her going to Churchill was all forgotten—he was all good cheer and gossip.