“There was no objection to the lady’s character?”
“None at all. She was unexceptionable in every regard.”
After a few moments, Sir James continued with a smile, “The result is that I have made myself the fodder of the gossipmongers and the matchmakers. The rumors of an engagement to my young cousin came out of it, and will not end until she comes to London and engages the attention of some young man or other. Not all young men can be the fool that I was, nor can every father be so ambitious. A young lady of Frederica’s beauty and accomplishment, of such excellent disposition and character, will not be disregarded for a want of fortune.”
Reginald could say no more than “Indeed, no.”
As Reginald was only to stay in London until the following morning, Sir James invited him to pass the night at his house in town, and Reginald accepted with pleasure. The journey gave Reginald an opportunity to understand that Sir James was very different from what gossip had pronounced him to be; he had been said to be thoughtless and giddy, and yet every expression had shown him to be civil, intelligent, and amiable.
They decided to stop at Portland Place in order to turn over Lady Vernon’s portrait to her housekeeper. The door was answered by this woman, who greeted Sir James with genuine warmth and commissioned the footman to take charge of the parcel.
Then, to their very great surprise, the housekeeper declared, “Lady Martin has been awaiting you in the front parlor. She would have you join her.”
“Mother!” Sir James cried, throwing open the door to the parlor. Lady Martin was sitting beside the fire, needlework on her lap and two plump cats at her feet.
“Well, you have got here! You may kiss me—I cannot get up. Do not tease Kit! You are Mr. deCourcy,” she addressed Reginald. “There, the bother of deciding which of us must request an introduction is done with. I have some slight acquaintance with your father and mother, sir, and I hope that they were in health when you saw them last.”
Reginald was surprised, but not displeased, with the lady’s address, which despite her easy manner retained an air of elegance.
“My father has not been as strong as I would like, but Miss Vernon was kind enough to send a few receipts, which I hope will give him some improvement.”
“Excellent! She is an excellent girl—but a superior mother will invariably produce a superior daughter. If I had a daughter, she should have been a very superior girl, and nothing at all like this reprobate whose company you have been compelled to suffer all the way from Sussex. Sit down—why do you stand there? I will give you some tea. Do you stop at my son’s house?”
“Yes, ma’am, Sir James has been kind enough to ask me to stay for the night. Tomorrow I proceed to Parklands.”
“Well, one night in his company can do you no harm.”
“I am very surprised to see you here, Mother,” said Sir James. “I cannot account for it.”
“Why may I not come to town if I like?”
“But you do not like it—you haven’t come to town for ten years.”
“But I meant to come,” she maintained, and addressed Reginald once more. “But for her father’s accident, Frederica would have been presented. Sir Frederick would have been so delighted, the proudest father who ever lived. A very great loss to her. There are some who will say that a father is never of great consequence to a daughter, that so long as she has been left comfortably off, it is of no matter whether he is present or absent, as they have no interests in common, but that was not true of Sir Frederick and my niece. He would not have wished her away for a son.”
“But you do not say why you come to London, ma’am.”
“To stand up with Frederica if she likes to go out and keep the nuisances from imposing upon Susan when she likes to stay at home. I do not mean to suggest that you are among the nuisances, sir.” She addressed Reginald. “You may call as often as you like when you are in town.”
Reginald thanked her.
“Such an accomplished girl. She plays and sings so charmingly, and as for her drawing! Look at those watercolors upon the wall—that is a crocus border she put in at Vernon Castle, and there, too, is the laurel hedge round the lodge. Do you not think they are very nicely done?”
Reginald walked over to examine the sketches. “Yes, they are very well done.”
“It is a great pity she was obliged to leave Vernon Castle. Ah, here is our tea! You must be very tired after your journey.”
When they had drunk their tea and Lady Martin had asked their opinion of whether the portrait ought to be hung in the sitting room or the library, and then deciding the matter for herself, she invited Reginald to dine at Portland Place upon his return to London.
The gentlemen left shortly afterward, and although Sir James felt obliged to beg for some small allowance of his mother’s outspoken manner, Reginald assured him that he had found Lady Martin to be delightful.
chapter forty-three
Two days after Reginald’s departure, Mr. Lewis deCourcy called at Churchill Manor, bringing Miss Manwaring with him. “Manwaring left for town this morning, but Miss Manwaring and I are to remain a few days longer, and then I escort her to London. The Parkers have expressed a desire to meet Miss Vernon. May we not bring her to Billingshurst with us until Lady Vernon is ready to quit Churchill?”
“I think that Frederica will be delighted to know the Parkers,” declared Lady Vernon. “Indeed, it is a scheme that will suit everyone. Mrs. Vernon has long desired to go to Parklands, and now that her brother is gone, I will not suspend her pleasure by prolonging my visit. Frederica may go with you, and I will make my own preparations for town, which can be accomplished in two days’ time.”
“Oh, no!” protested Charles, who had no desire to have his wife get to Parklands before Reginald had left it. If Reginald did mean to ask his parents’ consent to a marriage with Lady Vernon, he might well withstand a confrontation with Lady deCourcy, but Catherine and her mother together could wear him down. “Lady Vernon was to be with us another week at least and I am certain that Catherine and the children cannot be ready to travel with only two days to prepare.”
“Indeed, I can,” cried Catherine with more feeling than civility.
“I will write to Mrs. Forrester at once, and I invite you, my dear sister, to stop the night at Portland Place before going on to Kent—it is a very modest return for all of the hospitality you have shown me.”
“If Frederica is to leave us, and travels with my uncle to London,” said Catherine to Lady Vernon, “I will take this opportunity of asking now what I meant to ask upon her departure. I hope that I may persuade you to allow Frederica to accompany me to Parklands. You may spare her for a few weeks, I think, and her presence will recompense the children for their father’s absence, as Charles will be obliged to spend many weeks in town.”
Lady Vernon did not remark that Charles spent so little time with the children and took so little interest in their concerns as to make it of no consequence to them whether he was in London or Kent, and she suspected that Catherine’s invitation was given solely to have someone at hand who was so useful in managing the children and so accommodating to her. The opportunity to let her daughter become known to the deCourcys, however, was one that Lady Vernon could not refuse—Frederica might easily be spared for a few weeks before she would be wanted at her mother’s side in London.