Rachel looked at her son with doting but strict eyes.
“Go find your nanny, darling,” she said. “After breakfast, you and I can take a walk in the gardens, if you like.”
Henry’s face brightened and he nodded.
“Yay,” he said, wincing as he glanced at Albert. “I mean, that would be lovely, Mother.”
Albert had to bite back a laugh, seeing as his friends were trying to correct their son. But his exuberance and his high energy were as amusing to Albert as they were envied. When the boy left, he hid his smile behind his napkin, while Neil and Rachel exchanged glances of patient, exaggerated frustration.
“When will he learn some grace and manners?” Rachel lamented, but with nothing other than love and affection in her voice.
Albert smirked at his friend, indeed feeling better from the food and the liquor from the flask.
“If he’s anything like his father, it’ll be around age thirty-five,” he said.
Neil gaped at Albert, putting a hand over his chest in horror.
“You lying scoundrel,” he said. “I don’t plan on finding any such grace or manners by that age.”
The trio laughed.
As the servants cleared away the remains of breakfast, Albert smiled at his friends.
“Thank you both for your ever gracious hospitality,” he said. “I truly am grateful for both of you.”
Rachel returned his smile, reaching out to pat his arm.
“It’s a pleasure,” she said. “You’re a delight to have around. Now, do excuse me. I have a garden walk to take with a certain young man.”
She took her leave, and Neil turned to Albert and nodded.
“I think it’s safe to say that I speak for myself, and for Rachel, as well, when I say that you are welcome to call on us any time,” he said.
Albert gave his friend another sheepish smile.
“Even when I don’t realise I’m still calling on you, too, it seems,” he said.
Neil laughed.
“Yes, even then,” he said. “And speaking of, would you like to continue calling to join me for drinks in my study?”
Albert glanced at the clock, noting that it was past ten a.m.
“That’s very kind of you,” he said. “But I think I shall call in on Miss Elwood now. Get it over with, and all.”
Neil gave him a knowing look.
“Get it out of the way?” he asked. “Or get it in the way?”
Albert rolled his eyes, fuzzy bits of the conversation from the night before flashing in his mind.
“I assure you, I still believe she and I have no business being married,” he said.
But as Neil walked him to the door, he couldn’t help thinking about what Neil had said. He knew his friend was just trying to make him feel better about the situation. Neil hadn’t even met her, after all. And yet, he couldn’t stop thinking about the passion they both seemed to have for art. Cordelia had professed to love his sketches. But beyond that, she had never had any real interest in art museums or paintings. It was refreshing to speak to a lady about art, and see that she was enjoying the conversation.
Still, he refused to entertain any such notions as the carriage left the Smith townhouse and headed toward Elwood Manor. He had decided to make sure Miss Elwood never wanted to marry him, and that was exactly what he intended to do. That didn’t mean they couldn’t enjoy the conversations they had between now and then. But he knew he would never change his mind on the matter.
Along the way, Albert spotted an elderly woman with a big basket on her arms, out of which poked several kinds of wildflowers. He ordered his driver to stop, purchasing an entire bouquet of them before boarding the carriage once more and carrying on toward Miss Elwood’s family home. He did it mostly to help the elderly woman.
