Page 6 of An Heiress and An Astronomer (Gentleman Scholars #3)
T he woman at his side couldn’t seem to stay in the category he wanted to place her. It was most disconcerting. For the most part, she struck Pierce as a rather dour, overly serious, sourpuss. But then she would laugh in such a carefree sounding manner yet with such a look of surprise upon her face that told him she was unused to doing so. It was oddly endearing.
“Have you known the Northcotts for long?” the woman asked after a brief silence.
“I’ve known Roderick since we were boys at Eton together. That was when he started collecting the members of his institute. We were all oddities in various ways. He was our hero.”
She looked at him with her head cocked to the side and a frown creasing her delicately arched eyebrows. “I cannot imagine you ever being an oddity. Whatever do you mean?”
He couldn’t help the pleased grin that followed her words, but he tried to explain himself without preening. “Despite what you might think, most of the boys weren’t terribly keen on studying while at school and didn’t take to kindly to those of us who wanted to do so.”
An expression of sympathy crossed her face briefly. “Were there bullies?” she asked with a catch in her voice that somehow soothed some of his memories.
“There were. Boys can be beasts,” he said with a light laugh, not wanting to make her feel too badly for him. “But Roderick, despite his own penchant for learning, was able to keep most of the monsters at bay. I think it comes from being the youngest of so many brothers. He knew how to navigate such waters better than the rest of us.”
“And you’ve been a band of brothers ever since, as Shakespeare would say?”
“That we have,” he agreed with a satisfied grin. “We’ve collected a few more along the way, especially at Oxford, but a few of us have been together since we were about ten or twelve.”
“That must have been, and still must be, I dare say, quite lovely,” she said, a note of envy in her tone that surprised him.
“Which part are you wishing you had experienced, Miss Billingsley? The time away at school far from home and family or the dreadful treatment from boys bigger than us by a stone or more?”
Again, when he would have least expected it, her laugh seemed to surprise its way out of her. “When you word it like that, I am far less envious,” she said with a wide smile. “But being an only child who never got to go to even a day school, nor even associate much with children nearby my home, I can say that finding a band of friends with much in common is a delightful rarity.”
“Yes, now that we can all hold our own and also, since Roderick and Lucy are sponsoring the lot of us, it is much more comfortable.”
She wrinkled her forehead in an inquisitive manner, appearing as though she wasn’t certain she should ask what he meant by his statement. Pierce laughed. He suspected she would think it impolite to ask any questions which might be considered personal.
“It’s written all over your face that you want to ask something, but you think it rude. I beg of you not to stand on such a ceremony with me.”
The hot colour that now covered her face including her forehead and even her ears told him he had embarrassed her far more than he could have expected. He ought to apologize, he supposed, but it was foolishness to his mind.
Before he could muster up the appropriate words, though, she broke her silence.
“It seems too personal to ask but since you brought it up and now you’ve prompted me to speak my mind, I shall tell you,” she began, despite her colour remaining high. Pierce had to admire her spirit even though she was obviously uncomfortable. “What do you mean by saying Roderick and Lucy are sponsoring you? It cannot possibly be the same as for a debutante making her curtsy to Society needing a sponsor to introduce her in the Queen’s Drawing Room.”
Her question surprised a guffaw out of him. “No, you are quite correct, it is nothing like that.”
Pierce paused for a moment to gather his thoughts as he saw that his laughter had deepened her embarrassment if that were at all possible. “On the other hand, it could be argued that there are similarities. As you said, a debutante’s sponsor introduces her, in effect opening the way for her, is that correct?”
“Yes,” she answered in a tight, stilted voice.
“So, then there is a similarity. But a scientist’s sponsor opens the way in that he makes it possible, through financial contributions, for the scientist to continue his pursuits,” Pierce began his explanation.
When Pierce saw Miss Billingsley’s frown of concentration, as though she were trying valiantly to understand what he was on about, he tried to explain it further with an example.
“Most of the fellows are untitled and ordinary. Their families have merely tolerated their pursuits, but it is rare that they are fully supportive. School requires money. Remaining housed and fed requires money. If you haven’t managed to produce anything lucrative with your science, you could eventually find yourself in debtor’s prison.”
“Never say so,” she gasped, causing Pierce to experience a strange warmth in his chest. It felt as though he were being understood for the first time in his life, which was a ridiculous sensation to be sure. He ignored it and carried on.
“This is where a sponsor comes in. Someone who will back you financially to support your pursuit.” When she continued to frown but nod as though she were following him but not fully understanding or accepting his words, Pierce continued. “Are you familiar with Mr. Sean Smythe?”
“The gentleman who wed Lady Evangeline toward the end of last Season?” Greta asked.
“The very one,” Pierce said with a grin. “He loves mathematics. But no one would sponsor him for such. So, he went into engineering and had a jolly sponsor for a time. Unfortunately, he couldn’t produce what Old Charlie wanted from him, so the codger dropped him. That was when Roderick determined to buy an estate and make his institute. He sets very reasonable terms and, for the most part, allows everyone to pursue whatever they want.”
“Who was your sponsor before that?” she asked him with a curious tilt to her head.
“Oh, my grandfather has been kindly generous to me all my life. I haven’t needed another sponsor. But then the family started grumbling about my wasting the old man’s ready, so I joined Roddie and the others for the independence of it all.
“I’m sorry, that must have felt bad.”
Pierce was so used to laughing off his every concern that he was unused to sympathy. He felt a catch somewhere in the region of his throat and for a brief, unguarded second, he thought he might burst into tears like a toddler. It was a disconcerting sensation that he rid himself of immediately, but it left him wondering if he could bear to continue walking with the woman if she was going to bring out such unacceptable feelings in him.
“They weren’t wrong,” he said, ignoring how defensive his tone was.
“Were you wasting your grandfather’s blunt, then?” Her eyebrow was elevated in a challenging manner, and he couldn’t help but admire the way she didn’t allow him to withdraw as he wished.
When he didn’t answer immediately, she continued in a quiet but firm tone, “You don’t strike me as a fribble. From what you were telling me of your studies, they sound more important than frivolous. While I’m sure most could live without being able to count the stars, I personally think they are significant and shouldn’t be ignored. You shouldn’t discount your studies just because your family doesn’t see their importance.”
“Thank you, Miss Billingsley, I do appreciate your expression of confidence. I suppose I agree with you since I haven’t discarded my studies altogether. I merely ceased accepting my grandfather’s allowance.”
“How does he feel about that?”
Pierce blinked. What sort of woman was this who asked such probing questions even though she thought it rude? He knew from the colour of her cheeks she wasn’t comfortable questioning him. So why was she doing so? Were they not supposed to be discussing the weather or the next ball or rout she was to attend?
He tried not to squirm, but he did increase his pace in order to deposit her at her home as quickly as possible.
“How do you think he might feel?” he countered her question with one of his own.
“I would think you might have hurt his feelings. Was he handing you over a king’s ransom? Is there some fear that he is going to leave his heirs destitute? Or is it possible your relations are merely jealous that your grandfather is taking an interest in your pursuits? Jealousy is a ridiculous and insidious thing that taints too many relationships.”
Miss Billingsley kept pace with him and even increased her own pace as though her feelings were making themselves expressed in her steps. “While I admire your attempt at independence and, as a man, you likely don’t wish to be beholden to your family for your support any longer, your grandfather might be wishing to live vicariously through your pursuits.”
She abruptly stopped talking and turned to him with an expression of contrition plastered on her fine features. “I beg your pardon, Mr. Darby. It really isn’t my place to speak on this matter, at all, is it? I do let my tongue carry itself away at times when I’ve fallen into a subject I feel deeply on. Do forgive me. What you do with your time and with your relations is none of my business to form an opinion over. But I do thank you for telling me about your lenses. I would very much like to see the sky at Billingsgate through them one day.”
“There is nothing to forgive, I appreciate your viewpoint. I will think on it some more. And I will happily allow you the use of my lenses once they have been refined a bit more.”
“We have arrived,” she said with relief clearly evident in her voice a moment later.
Pierce suspected she would have run up the stairs as quickly as possible if she hadn’t clamped a will of iron upon her control. Why he was so curious about her he couldn’t explain. But he felt a keen desire to examine her under one of his lenses to understand how she functioned.
He certainly looked forward to seeing her again.
With the minimum niceties she took her leave of him with barely a backward glance, leaving Pierce to stare at the firmly closed door in her wake.