Mrs. Johnson’s emotions were indeed thrown into turmoil by the announcement—Miss Vernon engaged to Reginald deCourcy! How could he have proposed to the daughter when everybody had him all but married to the mother? And yet how much more exciting to have Miss Vernon, rather than her mother, as Reginald deCourcy’s object. Lady Vernon was not quite eight months a widow—if she were to marry now, everything must be delayed and done in a very modest fashion, but Miss Vernon’s engagement must entail a great deal of shopping and visiting. And what a round of parties and balls and receptions there would be!
Mrs. Johnson was well into a reverie that had her looking through pattern books and overseeing the selection of laces and veils when she was struck with another thought. What of Sir James Martin now that Miss Vernon was not to marry Sir James! The notion that he was unattached roused her to action—she must immediately call upon Lady Hamilton and Lady Millbanke and Mrs. Carr and tell them that Sir James Martin was eligible once more, and leaving the two girls to the company of Mr. Johnson—which was to leave him alone in his library and the girls to a happy tête-à-tête in the sitting room—she hurried out the door.
chapter sixty
As Miss Manwaring and Miss Vernon were arranging their dress for dinner, a note was handed up to the latter.
LADY M ARTIN TO M ISS V ERNON
Portland Place
My dear girl,
I send this with another note to Mrs. Johnson asking her to excuse your mother and me from dining tonight. I have said only that your mother is not well—it is many, many hours before anything more in the way of explanation will be required. I would not have you stay to dine at Edward Street if you would rather be at home, but you can do nothing here, while there you may keep up such appearances as will prevent James from hurrying to Portland Place and making a nuisance of himself. It is a part that will require some presence of mind, but I have every confidence in your abilities and assure you that Wilson’s and mine are equal to the present state of affairs.
Yours, etc.,
E. Martin
Mrs. Johnson was excessively displeased by her letter. “Why, it was to have been very evenly laid out—six ladies and six gentlemen!” she expostulated to Eliza Manwaring. “If I had been given more notice, I might have invited somebody else. I do not think that Miss Hamilton and Miss Claudia would have come, as they must be very angry at their cousin, but I owe something in the way of a dinner to Mrs. Younge, who might have brought her niece.”
“At least it will not be an odd party,” consoled Eliza. She was all contentment, for she was to dine in the company of Sir Reginald deCourcy and his son, which was a mark of distinction she had never enjoyed when at Langford.
Sir James was more displeased than Mrs. Johnson at the absence of his mother and cousin. He was inclined to excuse himself at once and go directly to Portland Place, but Frederica’s presence reassured him that she would not stay to dine if her mother were ill.
The remainder of the party arrived and Frederica was quite surprised to see the change in her Uncle Vernon. His countenance was wan and tense, and when he congratulated the young ladies upon their good fortune, he did not know where to look. Toward Frederica he was particularly ill at ease, and he retreated to the company of gentlemen, though he seemed to have little to say to any of them. At dinner, he was seated between Mrs. Johnson and Eliza, where he was principally occupied in repeating to one the remarks the other had not heard.
During a change in the courses, there was just such a lull in the conversation that allowed Sir James to address the entire party. “My young cousin’s engagement compels me to think of my obligation as her nearest male relation—from her mother’s branch of the family,” he added with a nod in Vernon’s direction. “I have decided upon my wedding present, which I know will please Freddie and I hope will please you, deCourcy.”
“If it pleases Frederica, then it will please me,” said Reginald with a smile.
“But you must tell us what it is,” urged Mrs. Johnson.
“It is a garden—indeed, several gardens—laid out in some of the finest property in Staffordshire.”
“Staffordshire!”
“Yes, what a wonderful opportunity your engagement presents, for I may get Vernon Castle off my hands at last.”
“Sir, I must protest,” declared Reginald.
“Yes, indeed you must.” Sir James laughed. “You must protest that you have asked nothing to take Freddie off our hands—I would think less of you if you did not. But it was always to have been Freddie’s property, and I have never intended it for any other purpose than to be settled on her. You must be on my side, Sir Reginald. Surely you see no impropriety in my offer.”
“None at all. Certainly Miss Vernon is deserving of no less.”
“Indeed, she deserves much more. Do you not agree, Vernon?”
Charles Vernon started. Sir James’s announcement had left him speechless; to have Vernon Castle given away in such an offhand fashion—the property he had once coveted and got so close to possessing!
Sir James repeated his question, and Vernon, not knowing what to say, muttered something like assent.
“I am delighted to hear it, for we must be together in this. I will settle the property and I will leave the dowry to you—whatever Sir Frederick confided to you that he meant to give her—there will be no occasion for anything more.” He then turned the subject aside to Vernon Castle, and in describing the countryside, for the gentlemen’s benefit, and the appointment of the rooms, for the ladies’, he entertained them until the ladies withdrew.
Frederica was not insensible of the philanthropy of Sir James’s gift, though she also recognized the practicality of it—she and Reginald must live somewhere when they married, and she neither wished for Parklands to come to them in the near future nor to be in an everyday proximity to Lady deCourcy.
Alicia Johnson and Eliza Manwaring thought the gesture a very handsome one—extraordinarily handsome—and Eliza, in particular, addressed Frederica with a greater desire to make herself agreeable than she ever had before. Her resentment of Lady Vernon, the misery occasioned by her husband’s conduct at Langford, must be set aside if the privilege of being invited to Vernon Castle was to be cultivated, for though she had visited innumerable manors and parks and halls and lodges, she had yet to enjoy the distinction of being asked to a castle.
Maria’s selfishness was very moderate by comparison—she was only sorry that she and Frederica would be settled so far from each other. “It is more than a hundred miles,” she lamented.
Eliza protested, “A hundred miles is only a great distance when the conditions of travel are inferior, but that is not the case here. Your husbands possess such handsome carriages, and they will always have the best horses that you may travel with such ease and comfort—I daresay you would not think yourselves far at twice the distance!”
The gentlemen stayed somewhat longer than usual in the dining room, and when they appeared, Frederica noticed Vernon’s ashen face and silent manner. He took some coffee from Mrs. Johnson solely, it seemed, to have something to do with his hands, and he sat because it seemed that his legs would not support him.
Sir James took a chair beside his cousin and smiled. “I know that your uncle has made you unhappy—how far, and from what cause, you have not chosen to confide—but I think that I have gotten satisfaction.”
“I am sorry that you have found me reserved, cousin, but I will not be sparing in my thanks.”