Page 43 of The Book of Lost Stories
‘Oh, do let us, we can all get to know one another,’ Bella said. ‘How much we will have to talk about, to be sure!’
And so it was arranged, although once away from her uncle’s presence Bella, sitting bodkin between them, fell silent and it was left to Nat to entertain Alys.
This he did in so lively and entertaining a manner that the time passed in a flash and she could not afterwards remember where they had driven. She had not been so entirely dazzled, however, as not to notice that he drove in a rather neck-or-nothing way that seemed ill-suited to the London streets.
*
‘Well, you appear mightily taken with our new cousin,’ Bella snapped, as her brother returned her home.
‘Of course, for the old man seemed as determined on acknowledging her back into the family as he was before to cut her dead, and neither of us can afford to get his back up.’
‘So you were not really taken with her?’
‘Not I,’ he said, ‘but we must move carefully, for our cousin could well cut us both out of the unentailed property if she gains her grandfather’s favour.’
Behind his handsome face he was thinking furiously, for he had long assumed that he and Bella would inherit their uncle’s wealth. Indeed, he had borrowed on the expectation, and oflate his debts were becoming so pressing that he had begun to wonder about making a show of settling down, preferably with some biddable heiress, which would both please his uncle and revive his finances.
But now Miss Alys Weston had come into the equation, Titus’s very own granddaughter, and it was clear to Nat that he had taken to the girl. He had not smiled at her indulgently, as he did at Bella, but instead had eyed her with a great deal of respect and interest.
‘We must be careful, Bella. If she worms her way into his affections, there goes your dowry, and how could I keep up the estates without any money? No, we must be as nice as pie to our new cousin, but watch for means to discredit her in our uncle’s eyes, or to frighten her away.’
‘Oh, Nat, can it be done? You know I will do anything I can to help.’
‘Keep your ears open. After all, if you had not overheard a few words of his conversation with Lord Rayven, you would not have known that Miss Weston was coming to visit today, and sent me word in advance, would you?’
‘No. Nat, you did not think her pretty, did you?’ she asked jealously.
‘What, afraid she will steal all your beaux as well as your fortune?’ he teased with brotherly cruelty.
‘Not in the least, for she must be quite on the shelf at three or four and twenty!’
‘True. Clearly she is at her last prayers.’
‘Yes, and she has such odd ideas that she must be a bluestocking, which the gentlemen hate. Do you know, she told me that she amused herself by rising early and taking her pug for a walk, and then setting off to seemonuments.’
‘Does she? Well, that is just the kind of thing I need to know, Bella. We will soon send her to the right-about,’ he said confidently.
*
Titus Hartwood sat alone penning a letter to Serle Rayven, who had proved to be right in saying that Titus would find his granddaughter quite out of the common way.
She appeared to be a young woman of dignity, composure and some originality of mind, and while he could not condone her wilful, unfeminine independence, yet he could admire her spirit and intelligence. In fact, it was a great pity that she was not a man, for she possessed many of the qualities that he had long sought in his heir.
She and Nat had seemed pleased with one another and he wondered if Alys might have backbone enough for the two of them? It could be a solution. He had long intended Bella to be heiress to half of the unentailed property, but there was no reason why it could not be divided between the three of them.
If he let fall a hint or two, he had a shrewd notion that Nat would quickly see which way the wind was blowing and pay court to his cousin … and as for Alys, he did not believe all her talk of staying single could hold against Nat’s charm.
But first, he must know what she was hiding, for the source of her mysterious income might be some shameful secret he could hardly guess at.
17
Concealed Passages
‘My loyalties are divided,’ said Simon, ‘for she is my kinswoman. But if you will consent to be my bride, my allegiance will be sworn to you.’
‘Can you not do what is right without such a promise? What of your knightly oaths – do they mean nothing?’ Cicely said scornfully, yet she felt herself tremble under his dark and unswerving gaze.
Ravish’d by Cruel FatebyORLANDO BROWNE
