Page 36 of Lady in Ruby
“You got the rubies back for me,” she said. “Thank you.”
“It was a pleasure, Miss Garland.”
“Oh, goodness, Caroline!” Estelle flung herself at her friend and embraced her fiercely. “I was so scared. You can’t leave the house again for the rest of winter, do you hear?”
“A fine idea,” Mrs Garland said. “And now, we should all get back to the house. Mr Foster can spend the rest of the evening locked in the root cellar, and in the morning a magistrate can be called.”
“Tomorrow is Christmas,” Mr Garland reminded her. “No magistrate will come.”
“I’ll arrange for someone to take him off your hands,” Snowdon said. “But let’s get Caroline where it’s warm.” Snowdon lifted her onto his horse and mounted up behind her. He put his arms close around her shoulders, and she felt the cold ebbing away.
She cast a look back at the saint’s fountain, the water bubbling up from the rock, and the clouds of mist clinging to the surface of the water, until further away from the spring’s warmth, it turned to frost and then dripping icicles. The whole scene was eerie in the moonlight, more like a dream than anything, elusive and soon to be forgotten when the dreamer woke.
But Caroline was wide awake now, and she’d never forget what happened.
Chapter 14
It was a very strange Christmas morning at Hollydell Manor. One man was a prisoner in the root cellar, jailed alongside the perfectly innocent potatoes and onions. Another rose early to carry a message to a posting inn, a message addressed to someone named Chattan, a message that couldn’t wait until after Christmas.
Caroline and Estelle woke together in Caroline’s bed, with Mittens stretched across both of them, luxuriating in the heat of two bodies. (Estelle had been adamant that Caroline could not be left alone.)
“Happy Christmas,” Estelle said, sitting up. “I think.”
“We’ll make it a happy Christmas, and after all, what’s left to make us unhappy?” Caroline replied, moving the protesting feline to the foot of the bed.
Estelle said she wanted to write a letter to her mother before breakfast, and that the best light would be in the east parlor. She dressed and went down, bringing paper and pen with her.
Caroline got up as well, still feeling as if she were in a bit of a dream. She put on a soft ivory day dress over her shift, and tied a green ribbon at the high waist. She then walked softly down the stairs. At the threshold of the east parlor, she halted, hearing two voices within.
“Miss Estelle,” Timothy Stockan was saying, “I’ve no right to presume, but I have to tell you that I am most profoundly affected by your charm and your beauty.”
“Please don’t flatter me, sir,” Estelle said, sounding flustered.
“But I want to flatter you. I assure you, you are most enchanting, all the more because your charm is not common.”
“Sir, you must stop. This talk is far too familiar. If anyone overheard it, they would think you were courting me.”
“That is exactly what I wish to do, Miss Estelle.”
“I would like that…but you ought not to! In truth, I have nothing except my name.”
“Does that bother you, that I should bring the bulk of our income?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Miss Estelle, I have an income of several thousand dollars a year. I don’t know quite how much that would be in pounds, but I assure you it would be sufficient to keep a wife and children in comfort. I’m due to inherit my father’s farm as well, which is a thousand acres.”
Caroline’s eyebrows shot up as she heard this from her hidden spot. Evidently, Estelle was equally stunned, since she did not respond.
“Yes,” he said. “I chose not to air it about, but the fact is that I am quite well off. And I do not care a pin that a wife should bring a dowry, so long as she brings her whole heart to me, for that is far more valuable, and much more rare. Please, Miss Estelle. Say you will marry me.”
“And…you will take me to America?” she asked.
“I dearly hope so. There’s little point in finding the perfect wife and then leaving her behind. I’m not rushing back though. I still have a lot to learn while I’m here. That should give us plenty of time to make arrangements.”
The next few sounds suggested that the matter was being settled to the satisfaction of both parties.
Caroline tactfully moved to the breakfast room. Her parents were already there, along with Snowdon.
