Page 49 of A Marriage is Arranged

Louise was still in bed when her husband returned. After drinking her tea she had fallen into an exhausted sleep from which he roused her saying her name loudly but not fondly. She woke with a start and looked up into his unsmiling face.

“Here,” he said, tossing the bracelet onto the embroidered coverlet. “We’re engaged at the Westovers’ tonight. You will wear it, and continue to wear it often. There should be no need for any explanation but if necessary, you will say the clasp was loose. You handed it to Barnstable to see if he could tighten it. He could not, so you put it in your reticule.”

He paused, then continued. “I do you the credit of believing that had Barnstable not deliberately made you drunk, you would not have acted as you did. You are too trusting, Louise. You think yourself awake on all counts, but you are not. Women may have more qualities than society gives them credit for, but you still need a man to protect you.”

Without waiting for a response, he turned and left her.

Drunk? Louise looked at his departing back with astonishment. Barnstable had made her drunk? Of course! She had started feeling peculiar after he brought her that first glass. And she had drunk that even bigger glass after the second hand! What a fool she was! Gareth was right. She looked at the bracelet with loathing. She never wanted to wear it again. She had forgotten about the Westovers and longed to send regrets, but the tone in her husband’s voice didn’t admit of any refusal.

Her demeanor at the party that night would never have led anyone to believe that every moment was torture to her. She willingly joined in the silly games the hostess had arranged for her guests’ amusement. The bracelet sparkled on her arm and though more than one person nudged another with a look of enquiry, nothing was said about it. The Earl was as attentive to his wife as a newlywed might be expected to be, and while they would hardly have been described as love’s young dream, they both seemed perfectly happy.

The next two weeks continued in the same way. At home the couple was rarely together and their discourse was polite but distant. In the evenings at their friends’ they were always together, her ladyship cool and elegant, the Earl no more than his usual scowling self.

The only person who noticed anything amiss was the Dowager. She began arriving without invitation just before lunch or tea and would crumble a tiny portion of whatever was being served, pretending to eat, while narrowly observing the newlyweds.

“It was a good idea to take your meals in here,” she observed one day at lunch. “The view over the garden is delightful. It’s a pity the weather has been so changeable. I’ve never seen so much rain at this time of the year.”

Louise looked at the garden and shuddered visibly. She was glad it was too wet to sit outside. She hated the garden now and never went out there.

“I shall be glad to get to Overshott,” said the Earl. “I wonder how the wheat is doing. It’ll be no good if it’s waterlogged. But I think perhaps Louise will stay here. There can be nothing to do in the country if it’s too wet to go outside.”

Louise looked at him in surprise. This was the first she had heard of staying in London without him. The Dowager had caught her shudder at the mention of the garden and now saw the look. She had heard about the bracelet, of course. The network of women’s intelligence was better than a newspaper. But as far as she knew the rumor had been proven false. Now she wondered what the truth of the matter was. She was sorry, for she genuinely liked Louise and thought her a good wife for her difficult grandson.

Before she left she therefore said in an off-hand way, “Oh, by the way, Gareth, I need you to come and see me tomorrow some time. It doesn’t matter when. I have some papers I’d like your advice about.”

“Papers? What papers? I know nothing about it.”

“Do you imagine you know everything about my private business? My dear boy, a woman must have some secrets. But we can’t talk about it now. We need the thing in front of us.”

“Have you a secret lover, Gran, who’s threatening to expose you? Is that it?”

“Certainly not, and if I had, I shouldn’t keep it a secret. I’d be proud of it!”

The Earl kissed his grandmother’s cheek lovingly. “I expect you would! And I should have to pay him off to prevent him publishing scandalous stories about you in the papers.”

She tapped him on the chest with her fan. “Yes. And then forgive me without recrimination. That is another of the responsibilities of being the head of the family.”

He looked at her closely. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said.