Chapter 16

Chapter 16

While it seemed like hours, it was only a short while before a carriage and a curricle came driving up. Lady Temple, sensitive to the social atmosphere around her, sent Lenora, Iris Blanche, and Mr Hooper back to Aldham Park. “See to it that Miss Blanche goes home with you,” she hissed in her daughter’s ear. On no account should either of you be alone with Mr Hooper. I’ve asked the coachman to drop him off at Clare Court.”

As they pulled away, Mr Hooper declared, “Well, today has certainly been dramatic.

“That’s one word for it,” Iris said, with an edge of sarcasm in her voice.

“I believe I have done quite enough research now,” Mr Hooper declared. “I think I shall return to London. It has been so pleasant here that I’ve put my writing aside to focus on other pleasures.”

He fixed his gaze on Iris, who glared back at him.

Lenora felt the need to keep things civil, wedged as she was between them. “I know that you are friends with Dorian. Will he be going back to London with you?”

“Perhaps,” Mr Hooper said. “I know things have not gone here as he had hoped. But he might decide to stay and make the best of it.”

“How is it that you know him?” she asked.

“We ran into each other at a party,” Mr Hooper said easily. “We got to talking, one artist to another. We hit it off so well that we became fast friends almost immediately.”

“Is that so?” Iris commented. “I would be willing to bet the two of you will be up to no good when you return to the city.”

“I think there is no danger of that,” Lenora said, “since Dorian is already betrothed.”

Charles got a wicked glint in his eye, whipped out his notebook, and began scribbling in it with a stub of pencil. Lenora, realizing her error, grabbed the notebook and threw it out of the curricle.

However, they had arrived at Clare Court. The carriage pulled up right behind them, and Dorian hopped out, hurrying up to see what was going on. On the way, he scooped up the journal. When he approached the curricle, he handed it back to Mr Hooper.

Mr Hooper grinned at him. “Lenora says that you are engaged to be married,” he said with a wicked twinkle in his eye.

Dorian glared at Lenora but said, steadily enough, “Yes, to Miss Holt. It is an engagement of long standing. We have simply not publicized it, and I would thank you both to keep it to yourselves. Lenora, the coachman has let me know that Reuben is here with Uncle Jonathan and that he would like to speak to you if you are not too angry to allow him that grace.”

“I would be glad to,” Lenora said as great relief spread through her. “I do hope he is feeling better.”

“A footman will take you to him,” Dorian said.

Lenora hurried after the footman, paying little heed to Miss Tunstall, who had attached herself to them and was trailing along behind.

Lord Whitchurch was in the drawing room, lying back on a sofa. He was much bolstered about with cushions, helping him stay in a comfortable position.

“I am so sorry . . .” They both began to say at the same time.

Lenora laughed. “You first. You are in much too desperate a position to compete with me.”

“Thank you,” Lord Whitchurch said. “I am so sorry I lashed out at you. I take constant medication for my pain. When it runs out, I cannot bear for anyone to touch me in any way. I know you were only trying to help.”

“No need to apologize at all,” Lenora said. “It is very difficult to be civil when one is not feeling well. I quite understand. You seem to be feeling better now.”

“I keep a supply of the medication in my room,” Lord Whitchurch said. “It is particularly valuable, so I do not carry it about with me. I simply did not realize how long we would be gone. I do hope you will forgive me.”

He held out his hand to Lenora, and she took it gently in both of hers. “There is nothing to forgive,” she said gently.

“Between the medication and the fear that someone might brush against one of the areas that cause me pain . . . well, I simply try to keep my distance from everyone.”

“I shall be very careful of you in the future,” Lenora said, feeling more warmth towards Lord Whitchurch than she had all day. “And you may call on me at any time when you need a shield. I . . .”

“There you are,” Mr Holt said, entering the room. “What is this I hear about you going junketing about in the ruins? It is a miracle you are not in worse shape. What have I told you about long walks?”

He frowned ferociously at both Lenora and Lord Whitchurch. “Thank you for sitting with him, Miss Temple. Your presence is no longer needed. You may go now.”

Humiliated and angry, Lenora left the room without arguing.

Miss Tunstall waited for her in the hall. “We’d best get you home,” she said. “All of the carriages have gone off, so we will have to walk.”

“I’m sorry,” Lenora sighed, reflecting that she was doing a great deal more apologizing on this day than she normally did in a week or even a month.

“So you should be,” Miss Tunstall scolded. “If I had not followed you, you would have been near an incapacitated gentleman without a chaperone.”

“Since he is incapacitated, I hardly see how it signifies,” Lenora said crossly. “He was scarcely likely to leap off the couch and attack me.”

“Your reputation . . .” Miss Tunstall scolded.

“Bother my reputation,” Lenora snapped. “I’m sick of my reputation hampering me at every turn. Gentlemen do not seem to have this bothersome problem of reputation, nor do scullery girls.

“You should be glad of your position,” Miss Tunstall continued to lecture Lenora. “Scullery girls are scarcely in an enviable position. They can be pursued by unscrupulous gentlemen to whom they cannot say no for fear of being turned off.”

“I do not think such things go on in my household,” Lenora returned. “Mother would certainly not allow it.”

“Your mother would take a dim view of such behaviour, certainly,” Miss Tunstall said. “But the lady of the house is not always privy to everything that goes on within it.”

“Are you accusing my father or brother of loose morals? And my mother of turning a blind eye?” Lenora felt her temper rise, her voice sharpened by the stress of the day.

“I have said no such thing,” Miss Tunstall said. “But it has been known to happen, even in the better households.”

“I do not appreciate your tone,” Lenora snarled. “You should have a care lest I report your behaviour to my mother.”

Miss Tunstall sighed. “Your mother is very much a woman of the world. I think that if you discuss these things with her, she will tell you much the same as I.”

“Well, I am heartily tired of it all,” Lenora said as they approached Aldham Park. “I am going up to my room. You need not accompany me at all. I need some time alone.”

Lenora slammed the front door, nearly running over the butler, and stomped up the stairs to her room. Once there, she took off her hat and struggled out of her walking dress.

She shrugged into her shabby old wrapper and curled up in the chair beside the cold hearth. She could not precisely say why she felt so irritated or why she felt as if she might burst into tears.

Lenora rubbed one hand across her forehead and tried to order her thoughts. She ran over the events of the day in her mind. She had felt extremely hurt when Lord Whitchurch had refused her help. And she was embarrassed that she had broken her promise to Dorian to keep his engagement secret. These were certainly both upsetting sorts of things.

But she had done stupid things before. Usually, only a sincere apology was needed to set things a-right. And she had done that with Lord Whitchurch. She’d had no chance to apologize to Dorian. Perhaps that was why she felt so completely out of sorts.

Upon reflection, that did not seem quite right either. She was almost glad she had blurted out the news that Dorian was engaged. Perhaps it would divert her mother from pestering her to consider Dorian as a possible suitor.

The thought of Dorian marrying somehow filled her with a sense of melancholy, as if the world of her childhood was fast slipping away from her. His marriage to Emma would change everything. She was sure of it.

People married all the time and still retained the same circle of friends, didn’t they? Was there a chance that her thoughtless revelation would keep Dorian from being her friend?

She drew her feet up into the chair, cuddling in the old wrapper, then using both arms to hug her knees. They had been friends for so long. She could scarcely imagine not being friends with Dorian.

That was what was troubling her, she decided. The thought of not being friends with Dorian seemed altogether wrong, somehow. Marriage should not become a barrier between them.

Her mind made up, she rang the bell for the maid. “I need a fire,” she told the girl. “And I would like some tea and toasted bread. Perhaps with a little jam. This has been a frustrating day, and I need warmth and sustenance.”

“I’ll see to it at once,” the maid said.

When the girl hurried away, Lenora stared into the cold fireplace. Was the potential loss of Dorian’s regard truly what was troubling her? Should not making an emotional connection with Lord Whitchurch assuage any such longings?

It was all so very frustrating. “Life was easier when all I had to worry about was getting dry before I arrived home,” she told the blackened bricks of the fireplace. “Why does everything have to be so complicated?”

The maid returning with her tray interrupted her reverie. She was a slight little thing, scarcely more than a child. Abruptly, Lenora asked, “Do you walk out with anyone on Sunday afternoons?”

The maid gaped at her. “Whatever do you mean, Miss Temple?”

“Is there someone special in your life?” Lenora probed.

The little maid blushed. “No, miss. This is my first position, and I want to make a good impression. Miss Tunstall is teaching me my letters. If that doesn’t keep me busy, I’ve always got stockings to mend.”

“What do you do for fun?” Lenora asked.

“Fun?” the maid looked at her blankly. “I’m a good girl, Miss Temple. I like working here. Is there anything else?”

“No, no,” Lenora said. “You are dismissed.”

The girl quickly left, closing the door behind her. What was it about having fun that had disturbed the maid so much? Truly, the world did not make any sense at all today. Lenora buried her face in her knees. Could it be that a focus on having fun was what always got her in trouble? Or was it trying to do something that she knew would not be any fun at all in the long run?