Page 34 of His Lordship's True Lady
They worked in companionable silence until all the horses had been given their snacks. The effort, small though it was, resolved a question for Hessian.
“If I’m considering courting Miss Ferguson, learning as much as I can about her situation strikes me as prudent.”
“Stealing a few kisses would be prudent too.” Worth propped both pitchforks beside the barn door. “The wedding night is rather too late to discover that your bride likes your title better than your intimate company.”
“You needn’t instruct me on that point.”
A pause ensued, a trifle righteous on Hessian’s part—only a trifle—and doubtless awkward for Worth.
“Sorry.” Worth stood in the beam of sunshine angling through the barn doors, his gaze on the rain-wet garden. “About Leggett?”
“I’d like to know more where he’s concerned, if you’re comfortable gathering that information. Some of the wealth he’s managing is not his own, but rather, Lily Ferguson’s. What has he done with her money?”
Hessian would rather have lingered in the stables, with the beasts and the good smells and honest labor, but he was promised to a card party come evening—a gathering of earls, of all things, courtesy of his recent acquaintance with Lord Rosecroft—and Daisy might be in need of a nap.
“Most settlement money is simply kept in the cent per cents,” Worth said.
“And most young ladies of good breeding and ample fortune are married off within a year or two of their come out. Lily Ferguson is comely, intelligent, very well-dowered, and as far as I can tell, in every way a woman worthy of esteem.”
“And yet, we heard her insulted at my very club.”
“Precisely. Most doting uncles would be anxious to see a niece well settled in her own household, a devoted husband at her side. If that were Leggett’s aim, he’s had years to achieve it.”
“And those Sapphic tendencies?”
“An exaggeration at best, a ridiculous fabrication more likely.”
Worth was silent while swallows flitted in and out of the barn and horsesmunched an unlooked-for treat. “Do you recall Vicar Huxley?”
“To my sorrow.” The ordained man of Christ had beat his wife and children, while preaching love, tolerance, and turning the other cheek.
“You deduced what was afoot long before anybody else did,” Worth said. “Does Miss Ferguson’s situation strike you as similar?”
When week after week a woman was too stiff to rise from her church pew unaided and her children were perfectly behaved regardless of all provocation, even a gormless lad knew something was amiss.
“I am not an expert on abused women, but Miss Ferguson moves with a deal of bodily confidence. Her caution seems to be more of words and emotions than deeds, so I’d say no. Gentlemen are to protect the ladies and ensure their well-being though. That can easily shade into stifling a woman’s freedom and disrespecting her independence. I’m sure a female of spirit and wit would be hurt by such insults.”
“Lannie taught you that.”
Doubtless, Jacaranda, Avery, and Worth’s infant daughter were teaching him the same lesson. “You’ll see what you can learn regarding Leggett?”
“He’s trying to curry my favor, so a few polite inquiries from me will flatter his ambitions. Shall we storm the nursery?”
Yes, please.“Daisy and I are walking in the park with Miss Ferguson and her young friend on Wednesday at eleven. Perhaps Avery would like to join us?”
Worth crossed to the garden and held the gate open. “How will you get to steal any kisses with an infantry square of small children underfoot?”
Hessian sauntered through the gate. “The children occupy one another, leaving many an opportunity for a stolen kiss between the adults. It isn’t complicated, Worth.”
Worth should have burst forth in whoops of fraternal disrespect, should have punched Hessian on the shoulder, should have quipped that Jacaranda had stumbled upon that strategy months ago.
Instead, Worth walked to the house without another word, suggesting to Hessian that the family financial genius could learn a thing or two from his dull stick of an older brother.
* * *
Tippy was aging, and the realization both saddened and unnerved Lily.
Miss Ephrata Tipton hadn’t been young when Lily had met her more than twenty years ago, and she was the closest thing Lily had to an ally. She was a slight woman, with intelligent brown eyes and graying brown hair. She’d doubtless been pretty when Lily had been too young and frightened to notice.
