Page 74 of Confounding Oaths
In Mr. Caesar’s heart, a new impulse towards openness warred with old habits and lost. “Perhaps he likes her for her temperament.”
“Her temperament is vile,” Miss Anne insisted. “And besides, men may pretend to value temperament, but I am sure they do not. Madeleine Worthing is as sweet-natured a lady as can be but nobody ever wishes to dance with her.”
“And Miss Bickle,” added Miss Caesar, “is the flightiest creature on God’s earth, but gentlemen line up for her favours.”
Sliding easily into old patterns, Mr. Caesar smiled. “Now, now, that isn’t just because she’s pretty. She’s also extremely rich.”
“Not helping, John,” warned Lady Mary. “And I hope you don’t think that you’ve avoided our asking why you look like you recently lost a fight with a lake.”
With an instinctive protectiveness, Captain James set down his coffee cup. “Because we did,” he said. “Only it was the Thames, and we won.”
The elder Mr. Caesar raised an eyebrow. “You won a fight with the Thames?”
“With four men,” clarified Mr. Caesar the younger, “on the banks of the Thames. And when Orestes sayswewon he’s doing me a kindness. He rescued me.”
“Again?” asked Lady Mary, a little archly. “He seems to be making a habit of it.”
“It worked out well enough for Cousin Maelys,” pointed out Miss Anne.
Mr. Caesar looked uncomfortable. “If it’s all the same to those present, I think I’d rather avoid following Maelys’s example.”
Calmly, the elder Mr. Caesar turned to Captain James. “Maelys was the victim of a mysterious curse last year,” he explained, “and Lady Georgiana Landrake saved her life a number of times. They are now … good friends.”
“They’re fucking,” Mr. Caesar clarified. “Believe me, Papa, he knows how these things work and we needn’t be coy around him.”
Lady Mary half smiled across the breakfast parlour. “In my experience, good friends are far more important than lovers and one is not necessarily the other.”
Almost playful, the captain shot Mr. Caesar a sidelong glance. “So why don’t you want to follow her example?”
“She nearly died of leprosy,” Mr. Caesar told him. “And she now lives half the year in Yorkshire, which is a fate I would find frankly intolerable.”
The elder Mr. Caesar had finished a single slice of toast and cup of coffee and was now fixing his son with a steady gaze. “You might also remember that you were extremely suspicious of mysterious rescuers when Maelys encountered one.”
Mr. Caesar squirmed uncomfortably. “Well, I learned my lesson. And besides, Orestes is a British officer.”
“Not,” Captain James said, “that you should ever trust an officer.” He turned to the elder Mr. Caesar and Lady Mary. “The four men were soldiers. Bloodworth was with them.”
Setting her coffee down with an unsteadyclink,Lady Mary blanched. “John, this is becoming serious and I am beginning to mislike it.”
“Then I shall be sure to write the major a letter asking him to kindly stop trying to kill me,” replied Mr. Caesar coolly.
This went over poorly with the whole of the rest of the family, but especially with Miss Caesar who folded her glass arms across her chest and said, “There now, he interferes in my life and can barely take care of his own. You would be a better brother if you attended first to your own difficulties.”
Miss Anne, who would never agree with Mary unless it was in criticism of some third party, was about to voice her concurrence when Captain James interrupted.
“It’s not my place to say,” he offered, “but as I see it, a brother who puts your needs above his own is a fine one to have.”
Mr. Caesar shot him a look of profound gratitude, though privately he did not think it had turned out very finely for his sisters so far.
“You’re right,” Miss Anne replied, “it’s not your place to say.”
With a deliberate grace, the elder Mr. Caesar brought his hands to rest on the table in front of him. “Children.” He seldom called his childrenchildren,partly because John had attained legal majority some while ago and partly because no child likes to be called a child. “I will have no more of this. We are under attack, and if we do not stand with one another, who else will stand with us?”
“Everybody would be standing with us,” insisted Miss Anne, “if John had not made such—”
Now it was Lady Mary’s turn. “No, Anne. They would not. At best they would stand against us more politely.”
The Misses Caesar were not quite willing to formally concede the point, but their parents took their silence for at least the beginnings of understanding, and the conversation was soon interrupted by Nancy, who appeared bearing Mr. Bygrave’s card.
