Page 32 of The Book of Lost Stories
‘No, I thank you. Bella is rather jealous of my grandfather’s taking an interest in me, which I suppose is only natural, since she has been such a pet of his these several years. And Nat …’
She paused, and he glanced at her enquiringly.
‘Although he is infinitely better to look at than my cousin James Basset, with whom I grew up, yet his conversation is just as uninteresting. I suspect he only spends so much time in my company because Grandfather has told him to.’
Rayven burst out laughing, to her astonishment, his face both softened and transformed by amusement.
‘Miss Weston, I never know quite what outrageous thing you will say next! But would it not be sensible to promote a match between you? He is heir to the property and you could then be well provided for.’
‘But I am not a piece of property to be disposed of, and even if I were in agreement with such a scheme, I am sure Nat’s taste in a wife would run to someone younger, richer, better born and much more malleable.’
‘I am sure you are quite right, as usual, Miss Weston. And indeed, we all hope for those very qualities in our wives.’
Alys glared at him. ‘Then, since we seem to be in perfect accord, I would be very glad if you ceased interfering in my life and took me back home immediately.’
*
While Rayven did not tell Mr Titus Hartwood Alys’s secret, he did inform him that he knew what it was, and that he hoped to persuade her to tell him herself before long. ‘And I dare say you will find it amusing, rather than reprehensible, as I do.’
‘I will, will I?’ He directed his formidable stare at the younger man. ‘I take it, it will create a scandal?’
‘A little, perhaps … but nothing to what your nephew’s involvement with the Brethren will bring, if he does not cease to associate with them. There are rumours circulating of an inner circle that perform dark and unsavoury acts, even violence.’
‘I, too, have been warned of this recently by old friends, so what you say does not come as a complete surprise to me,’ Titus Hartwood said heavily. ‘Nat is too easily led, I admit, but never vicious. If there is such an inner circle, then I am very sure he is not part of it.’
Lord Rayven said nothing, and after a moment Mr Hartwood added, ‘If I were not sure that his character was, though weak, basically good, then I would not for a moment contemplate his marrying Alys.’
Rayven, who had been standing with one arm resting on the mantelpiece, gazing into the fire, turned his head and said intently, ‘You have good reason to think, then, that such a match will take place?’
‘Why should it not, when it would be of such advantage to both of them? Nat will see the sense of it, and as to Alys – well, even if she does not, then she would have to be an unusual girl to resist my nephew’s courtship!’
*
The upshot of all this was that Titus immediately sent for his heir and took him severely to task.
‘I know you feel loyalty to your friends, Nat, but I believe it is misplaced and your good nature has led you astray. I cannot cut you out of inheriting the estate, but you will have precious little to live on if you do not reform your ways and sever those connections which will only do you harm.’
‘I do not know what you have heard, Uncle, but I assure you—’ blustered Nat Hartwood.
‘The only assurance I want from you is that you will do what I say. Let me tell you that I intend remaking my will so that, should you marry Alys, not only will I settle your debts but you will get two-thirds of my fortune after I am gone and my little Bella will have the rest.’
Nat said sullenly, ‘And if I do not marry Alys? What then? She shows more preference for Lord Rayven’s company than mine!’
‘I do not think it, and in any case, I am sure you have sufficient address to win her, if you exert yourself. But if you do not reform your ways and win her hand, then she and Bella will each have half my fortune instead – tied up securely, of course, for women are not to be trusted with money.’
White-lipped, Nat walked up and down the room, struggling to conceal his rage.
‘Of course, I like my cousin very well and desire nothing more than to make her my wife,’ he said after a few moments, with a tolerable assumption of his usual manner.
‘And, if you wish it so much, I will cease to be a member of the Brethren, although I assure you it is perfectly harmless, whatever you have heard to the contrary.’
‘Lord Chase is half mad and half foolish. That connection can do you no good.’
‘As you wish, sir.’ Nat Hartwood bowed and left the room, almost stumbling over Bella outside, who had been slower than usual to remove her ear from the keyhole. She seized her brother and dragged him into an antechamber.
‘Did I hear aright: if you marry Alys you are to get two-thirds of uncle’s money, and I only one?’
‘Yes, but that will still buy you a good husband, Bella, while I must leg-shackle myself to an acidulated, opinionated spinster, or lose all!’ he snapped.
‘But perhaps she will not marry you, for she seems very thick with Lord Rayven, by all accounts. And if she does not, Alys and I will share Uncle’s fortune and you will be quite cut out, Nat.’
‘Of course she will marry me, if I ask her,’ he said confidently. ‘But I’ve also been paying court to old Malfont’s daughter, for though she smells of the shop, my debts are so pressing that marriage to an heiress now would be of more use to me than the promise of a legacy in the future.’
‘It is a great pity Alys turned up at all, for everything was perfect before she did so,’ Bella said. ‘I thought you were going to try and discredit her, or get rid of her by some means?’
‘Oh, I have tried, believe me, and still have one or two ideas up my sleeve.’
Bella sighed. ‘I wish she would just vanish, so that everything could be as it was before.’
So did Nat, for with a wealthy and biddable wife like Miss Malfont, and a show of outward compliance to please his uncle and reinstate himself in his good opinion, he could have continued his life the way he wanted it.
No, he would rather be rid of Alys than marry her, but for the present it would seem prudent to hedge his bets and try both ways …