Page 44 of The Labours of Lord Perry Cavendish

Jasper chuckled. “It's within your power to come and see me."

“He's right," Sam said as he pulled Jonny towards him with his right arm and kissed the top of his head. "Go and find your boy. Tell him you’re sorry and you want him to go to Italy with you.”

Jonny sighed. He didn’t really expect them to understand how he felt about this. How even the thought of Perry growing tired of him, or treating him with barely concealed irritation, made something inside him want to shrivel up and die.

When they finished their farewells, Jonny lit a chamberstick and headed slowly upstairs. He found himself hoping that Perry would be asleep already so he wouldn't have to face him yet, but when he arrived to find that the bedchamber was indeed in full darkness and the door to the room-off was firmly closed, with Perry behind it, he couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

He really was a contrary fellow.

Jonny quietly got undressed, blew out the candle, and got into the big, empty bed.

He lay there for a long time before sleep finally claimed him.

* * *

Jonny was awoken early the next morning by the sound of someone moving around. He forced his heavy eyelids open to find Perry already fully dressed and fastening his valise.

“Peregrine?” he said sleepily.

Perry looked over his shoulder at him. He smiled, but it was a tight, awkward grimace of a smile, and as soon as Jonny saw it, the events of the previous evening came rushing back to him.

“I couldn’t possibly ask you to do that, Peregrine. It would be an unforgivable imposition.”

“Sorry for waking you,” Perry said. “I thought I’d clear out and give you some quiet. I want to check on the horses anyway.”

Jonny sat up. “I’ll just get dressed,” he said. “See you in the parlour for breakfast?”

“No need to rush,” Perry said and left the bedchamber, his valise in hand.

Jonny dressed and packed in a hurry, but by the time he got downstairs, Perry had almost finished his breakfast.

“I presume you know your friends have already gone,” Perry informed Jonny politely as he settled into the chair opposite.

“Yes, they did say they would be leaving early,” Jonny replied.

He opened his mouth to say something more—something about how much Jasper and Sam had liked Perry, but the maidservant arrived then and began reciting a list of dishes as long as her arm for Jonny to choose from. He waited till she was done, then smiled his thanks and asked for warm rolls with butter and coffee.

Once she’d left, he glanced at Perry again. He was half-expecting a comment about how inadequate his breakfast would be for the long journey ahead of them, but Perry didn’t say anything, just applied himself to finishing the food on his plate.

He didn’t even look up, and Jonny wasn’t sure how to broach the silence with him being so withdrawn.

By the time Jonny’s breakfast arrived, Perry was done. He gulped down the rest of his tea, then got to his feet. “We may as well get an early start ourselves, since we're both up and dressed,” he said. “Shall I see you in the courtyard in twenty minutes? Will that give you enough time to eat?”

Jonny wanted to ask him to sit down for another cup of tea so they could talk, but the sad truth was he still wasn’t sure what he wanted to say. Other than to apologise. So all he said in the end was, “Yes, that’s fine.”

Once Perry was gone, Jonny cursed himself for his cowardice. He should have apologised for his ungracious behaviour as soon as he woke up this morning, but instead, he'd dithered, and now it was getting harder with every passing moment, especially with Perry giving the clear impression that the last thing he wanted to do was revisit the previous evening.

Perry was waiting for him in the curricle when he got outside. Their luggage was strapped in place, and the little maidservant was handing up their lunch basket to Perry. Presumably the kitchen had refilled it for their journey back to Edgeley Park.

Jonny watched Perry thank the maid and give her a coin; then he tucked the basket into the front seat at his feet. When he looked up again, he spotted Jonny and gave him a nod. Jonny crossed the courtyard and climbed up into the curricle, settling himself on the bench beside Perry.

Yesterday’s journey had gone by remarkably quickly, but the return journey was very different. Perry was largely silent, only speaking when absolutely necessary and otherwise behaving quite as though he had no wish to converse. And so, they mostly sat in silence, neither one of them speaking. To make matters worse, the roads that had been near empty on the way to Reading were suddenly clogged with farmer’s carts and coaches, so that their pace was substantially slowed. At times it seemed they were scarcely moving at all.

Jonny steeled himself to break the silence numerous times, but on the few occasions he worked up the courage to attempt to start a conversation, Perry replied with little more than a grunt, and Jonny lost his nerve and gave up.

And so it was that they ended up travelling for almost the whole day with scarcely a word between them.

At half past one, Jonny asked Perry if he was hungry.