Page 78 of The Secrets of Ashmore Castle (Ashmore Castle #1)

‘All I care about is that you want to apply it to me,’ Richard said.

‘Your fractures were severe,’ Dangerfield said, ‘and you are an impatient patient. I want to be sure they’ve healed before I let you loose. The alternative,’ he added casually, ‘is to lock you up for a few more months to stop you using your arm and foot.’

‘You don’t deceive me for an instant,’ Richard said. ‘You’re just hell-bent on using this new thing-a-ma-jig.’

Dangerfield grinned. ‘I am. It’s a beauty. Well – don’t you want to make medical history?’

‘You mean I’d be the first person to use it?’ Richard asked, half excited, half appalled.

‘Well, no – they’ve had it since ’ninety-six,’ Dangerfield admitted. ‘But you’d be the first of my patients,’ he added temptingly.

The result of this disagreeable experience was that Dangerfield dismissed him as ‘healed, as near as dammit’.

His arm and his foot were usable now, ‘though the muscles will need to be built up again’.

The shoulder fracture had healed, but Richard found it stiff, and if he lifted his arm too high, or rotated it too far, it hurt.

Dangerfield told him he might never have a full range of movement with it.

‘However, gentle exercise will improve it to an extent. The more you use it, the better, but don’t strain it.

And,’ he added wisely, ‘I advise you not to break it again. Try to keep out of accidents, especially those involving the high impact of your body with immovable objects.’

‘Such sage advice,’ Richard said. ‘How much am I paying you for it?’

Giles rarely came in to breakfast, eating earlier than the females of the house and getting straight to work.

So Kitty had to seek him out in the library, much as she disliked disturbing him.

But she found him looking more cheerful than usual, and before she could speak he said, ‘Come in! Adeane has suggested it’s time I went about the estate and looked at some of the things he’s proposing.

He was for going in the dog-cart, but I haven’t been astride a horse for so long, I decided to ride. Would you like to come too?’

Her heart lifted – he wanted her company! ‘Oh, yes – yes, please,’ she said. ‘Is there a horse for me to ride?’

‘You can have Queen Bee – my mother’s mare. I checked and she isn’t riding today. Can you be ready in half an hour?’

‘Oh, yes – but, Giles, there is something I wanted to ask you.’

‘Fire away, then.’

‘I ought to pay a visit to my parents. I haven’t called on them since we got back.

And I thought, if you agree to it, I could take the girls too.

Not so much to see my parents – I shan’t stay long there – but for a day in London, to give them a change of scene.

We could look at the shops, and have luncheon somewhere – now I’m a married woman,’ she parenthesised shyly, ‘I can chaperone them, so it would be quite respectable.’ He smiled at the thought of her, a chaperone.

In her eagerness she looked no older than Alice.

‘And they’re so much confined here, I think it would do them good. What do you think?’

‘You should ask—’ he began.

The shine went out of her eyes. ‘You’re going to say I must ask your mother. And she’s sure to say no.’

‘I don’t think so. She doesn’t mind much what the girls do, as long as they’re kept away from young men. But, if you like, I’ll mention it to her myself today. You may go ahead and make your plans. It will be all right.’

‘Oh, thank you!’

He gave her a quizzical look. ‘Is their company such a treat for you?’

‘I like them very much,’ she said, not understanding his point.

He waved it away. ‘I was going to suggest that while you’re in London, you should call on Aunt Caroline. The girls will like to see her, and she was very helpful in bringing us together. We both owe her a debt.’

‘I’ll do that, gladly,’ Kitty said. ‘I’ll go and tell the girls. And Rose – she’ll have to help Daisy find them something to wear.’ She paused, looking at him doubtfully. ‘They ought to have a new dress each. While we were looking at the shops, do you think … ?’

He anticipated. ‘Yes, of course, buy them whatever you want. Set up accounts at the shops and they’ll send the bills here.

’ He didn’t add, ‘It’s your money, after all,’ but he puzzled to himself as to how she could still be so humble about spending it.

And then, remembering Lady Bayfield, puzzled no more.

Nina was silent at luncheon, and after one or two attempts to start a conversation, Aunt Schofield gave it up and retreated into her own thoughts, where she was always comfortable. But when they rose from the table she said, ‘You seem out of sorts, Nina. Do you feel well?’

Nina wasn’t ready to talk yet. She said, ‘Quite well, thank you. I’ve been indoors too long, that’s all. If you don’t need me this afternoon, I think I’ll go for a walk.’

She walked down to the Embankment, and then along the river under the turning trees, watching the laden boats coming up with the tide on the grey-brown river.

She walked until her feet were sore and the streetlamps started to be lit, then took an omnibus home, choosing one with strong, fresh-looking horses, a habit of hers – silly, as if adding her weight to the load could make any difference!

The shops were beginning to be lit up in the dusk, which always made her think of Christmas.

Christmas, in a home of her own – she had always wanted a Christmas tree, but Aunt Schofield would never have one.

And she could decorate the house too, in any way she liked.

It was a small, unimportant thing, but it made her realise that she had actually made up her mind. The walk had done its job.

They were dining out that evening, with academic friends of Aunt Schofield’s at a house in Bedford Square, so she would have to speak to her as soon as she got home, before they went up to dress. And suddenly her mouth was dry.

‘There’s something I must talk to you about, Auntie.’

Aunt Schofield looked up from her letters. ‘Yes, I thought there was. Is anything wrong?’

‘No, not wrong.’ Nina frowned. There was nothing for it but to come straight out with it. ‘Mr Cowling was here this morning.’

‘Yes, Haydock mentioned it. What did he want?’

‘He asked me to marry him.’

Aunt Schofield was silent, absorbing the news. She would never be precipitate in her reactions. ‘And what did you say?’ she asked at last – though she knew it could not have been a refusal, or Nina would have said so. And so, what then?

‘I said I would think about it. And that I must speak to you, of course. He said – he said that asking me before speaking to you wasn’t disrespect, but to prove to me that it wasn’t …

a business transaction, I think he said.

That he loves me.’ She was watching her aunt’s face, and there was no trace of a smile at that point, of which she was glad.

She found herself more anxious all the time that he should not be ridiculed.

‘Very well,’ said Aunt Schofield. ‘I have no need to ask if you have been thinking, because you have been out walking the soles from your shoes. So what have you concluded?’

Nina swallowed. ‘I want to accept.’

Aunt Schofield put aside the letters, sat up straight and folded her hands in her lap. ‘You have my full attention. Let me understand your reasoning.’

Nina met her gaze, but she said, ‘Do I have to have reasoning? When a girl is asked by a man to marry him—’

‘An older man, of a different class, whom I have no reason to believe she loves.’

Nina gave a shaky smile. ‘You have always poured scorn on love,’ she reminded her aunt.

‘Not on love, on “falling in love”. You are thinking that I married an older man, and that I was not “in love” with him. But I loved the professor’s mind, Nina. Do you love Mr Cowling’s mind?’

‘He loves my mind – he tells me so,’ she answered. Her aunt waited implacably. ‘He is a kind, generous, honest man, and I believe he cares for me. He will give me a good home, an establishment. I shall never want.’

‘You are marrying him for his money, then?’

Nina was stung, as Aunt Schofield had meant her to be.

‘Isn’t that always what marriage is about – any marriage you would approve of, at any rate?

I know you wouldn’t approve of two young people without means marrying just because they were “in love”.

A man offers a girl a home and a fortune.

Except,’ she remembered Kitty, ‘when it’s the other way round. ’

Aunt Schofield nodded calmly. ‘And you believe that this is your best chance of happiness? You are very young, and you have met very few people. This is an irrevocable step to take so soon.’

Nina’s eyes narrowed. ‘If I said I was in love with him, would you think differently?’ Aunt Schofield didn’t answer. ‘Is it just his age you object to?’

‘I haven’t said I objected. I wish to understand your train of reasoning, to be sure you have thought fully about the implications. Mr Cowling is not so very old. You may have twenty or thirty years of marriage with him. Have you considered what that means?’

‘I have considered that I must do something, and that I really don’t want to be a teacher.

’ There, the secret was out. She felt shaky, and gripped her hands tightly together.

‘I’m sorry, but I’ve realised I have no vocation for it.

And teaching or marriage, those are my choices, aren’t they?

Because I know I’m putting a strain on your household.

I’ve seen you worrying over your accounts.

My Season cost you a great deal. And however frugal I might be in the future, you can’t afford to keep me here. ’

Aunt Schofield looked uncomfortable. ‘You were not supposed to worry about my financial position. At all events, you must not think that I would ever begrudge you a home with me. Better we both live frugally than that you rush into an unwise marriage.’