Page 40 of The Trials of Alaric
Bea had beenpaired with Ambrose Howard for the tenant visits. Probably just as well, for Mr. Howard just stood around exuding arrogance and superiority, and said nothing. That left Bea to talk to the tenants, which suited her. Howard was useful for carrying the basket and little else, she decided.
And then, on the third visit, she discovered Mr. Howard’s outward appearance was merely a mask, behind which he hidthat he was completely out of his depth talking to farm laborers and their wives.
This household comprised three generations—the couple, their seven children, and the husband’s parents. Howard, as usual, carried the basket into the house, demanded to know where he could put it down, then retreated to stand by the fireplace and glower at the room.
Perhaps the littlest of the tenants, a wee girl not yet walking, did not notice his expression. Certainly, it was far, far above her head height, and focused on the room at large, rather than her in particular. The tassels on his boots were much closer to her level. They were rather grand—lush bunches of gold and silver thread, hung from gold cord so they swung briskly when Mr. Howard walked.
The baby shuffled forward on her bottom, closer and closer. Bea watched from the corner of her eye, ready to intervene if Mr. Howard frightened the little girl. He didn’t seem to notice. She settled perhaps two feet away, gazing at the tassels. Mr. Howard stamped his heel and the tassels swung. The little girl smiled.
The first time, Bea thought it was a coincidence, but then he moved again, both heels, one after the other. The little girl giggled. Mr. Howard didn’t appear to be paying her any attention, but a smile played at the corner of his lips, and he set up a little jiggle with both heels.
Ambrose Howard is a fraud.How much of the behavior she had abhorred in him came from awkwardness with people?
The little girl shuffled closer, one inch at a time, and Mr. Howard continued to swing his tassels for her delight. When she was close enough, she put out a hand and one pointed finger touched the nearest tassel. She snatched her hand back and giggled again.
Mr. Howard momentarily lost control of his smile. It spread across his face until he was able to impose control over it again and force his lips to—almost—straighten.
The baby’s mother noticed what her child was doing and said, “Marlo, leave the gentleman be.”
“She is not bothering me, ma’am,” Mr. Howard intoned, his voice cold and lofty. The father, though, swept the little girl up into his arms, and she wailed a protest.
Bea was sorry to see it, and Mr. Howard remained mute for the remainder of the visit, but when they were leaving, the father put his daughter down, and Mr. Howard caught her eye and then shook a leg at her.
“You haven’t done this sort of thing before,” Bea stated, as they headed to the next house. “Tenant visits, I mean.”
“I don’t know what to say,” Mr. Howard blurted. “One talks about one’s horses and one’s tailor. Or a hunt or… What does one say to a farm laborer? Or his wife!”
Mr. Howard’s horror at the mere idea could not have been worse if he found himself visiting a village full of cannibals on a tropical island.
“The weather is a universal topic,” Bea suggested. “Or the wellbeing of the children, perhaps?”
“Hmmm,” said Mr. Howard.
At the next two houses he made an effort. Stilted and awkward, but even so, an effort. She was feeling much more kindly toward the man by the time they arrived back at the castle. Especially since he didn’t bother her with the insincere—or perhaps awkward—flattery of the sort he’d tried in the early stages of the house party.
Actually, he had bothered her very little in the past week. Was he more comfortable with her, or had he lost interest? Perhaps the answer lay in the way he hurried to help her cousin Dorrie when they arrived back at the stable yard at the sametime as Dorrie and Mr. Meadowsweet. If he had transferred his interest to Dorrie, it would certainly suit Bea!
She washed and dressed for dinner, and came down to the drawing room, where she chatted with Christina, who had been out with Mr. Fairweather. Mr. Howard, when he appeared a few minutes later, made a beeline for the Hetherington sisters.
The other houseguests gathered, one by one, joining the conversation as they waited for dinner to be announced. Not Alaric. Nor Reina, either. They had not arrived by the time dinner was announced. Indeed, it was halfway through the first setting before Reina finally appeared, stopping at the foot of the table for a quick word with Mama, who waved her to her place a few seats along the table next to Mr. Maddrell.
Alaric slipped into the room quite ten minutes later, also stopping to talk to Mama. He shot a quick grin at Bea as he seated himself opposite her, and applied himself to the serving dishes nearest to him.
He was just in time, for the footmen—after a moment’s hesitation resolved by an instruction from Mama—began replacing the first setting with the second. They must have wondered if they should wait for the late guest to eat what was on his plate.
Bea was burning with curiosity. What made him late? Him and Reina? Mama would not tolerate speaking across the table, and the ladies either side of him—Dorrie Hetherington on one side and Sarah Howard on the other—did not ask him.
She had only to wait until the end of dinner. She was able to speak to Reina as soon as they were together in the drawing room. “What happened to you and Mr. Redhaven? Problems?”
“Gorry,” Reina replied. “He was beating Mrs. Gorry. We arrived just as Padeen tried to stop him, and Gorry broke the boy’s arm.”
“Oh dear.” Bea had had her own altercations with Gorry. He was mean when he was drunk, and he was always drunk. “I hope Mrs. Gorry has finally had enough.”
“I think so. Now he has started beating the children. Apparently, he hit Cissolt, too, a few days ago. Your Mr. Redhaven stopped Gorry and held him so he could do no further harm. And he sent for my father and the constable. He was wonderful, actually. Mrs. Gorry says the earl threatened to exile Gorry for his next offense?”
“Yes. I hope Mrs. Gorry won’t want to go with him,” Bea said.
“I told her you and I would visit tomorrow, to help her make a plan. I think if she knows she will have work, and the children will be safe and cared for, she will stay on Claddach and let Gorry go where he will.”
