Elizabeth Mansfield (12 page)

“No special reason, exactly,” Brandon said quickly. “It’s only that it occurred to me today that he is the only Roman who knew anything about real love.”

“You mean because he fell into it
per caputque pedesque
?” Roger asked with a small smile.

“Well, yes, for one thing. After all, ‘head over heels’ is the only way real love comes about, don’t you think? Not casual and practiced, like Horace or Ovid,” Brandon asked earnestly.

“I suppose, at your age, it is usual to think so,” Roger answered thoughtfully. “Does it strike you that Miss Glendenning is especially interested in love poetry?”

Brandon seemed nonplussed by the question. “I thought
all
young ladies were interested in love poetry. Aren’t they? Are you suggesting that you think she might not care for Catullus? I mean to read only the most proper and heartfelt of the poems, of course.”

“No, I didn’t mean to suggest anything at all,” Roger assured him. “I’m sure she will enjoy the poems enormously. But I mustn’t keep my horse standing any longer. Why don’t you drop in to see me later on? I have a new translation of Horace that might interest you.”

Brandon stammered an acceptance with obvious pleasure. He watched as Lord Denham mounted his horse, waved briskly, and rode off. Brandon then walked back to his lodgings feeling more cheerful than he’d felt all day. How lucky he was to have found someone with whom he could talk!

To Brandon’s surprise, his mother greeted him at the door, obviously in a flurry. She seemed quite overset by the fact that Brandon had received a note from Miss Glendenning. She handed it to him with a hand that shook with agitation. “What does Miss Glendenning want with
you,
my dear?” she inquired urgently.

Brandon stared at the note, feeling a little agitated himself. “I’m sure I couldn’t say, Mama,” he answered, unwilling to open it in front of her. “Did the messenger say which Miss Glendenning had sent it?”

“
Which
Miss Glendenning? Why, I never thought to ask. Are you on terms of such intimacy with
both
of them?”

“Intimacy?” Brandon said, looking at his mother with annoyance. “Of course not. Not with either of them. What sort of question is
that
?”

“Well, I’m sure that when
I
was a girl, I would never have been so forward as to send a note to a young man with whom I was barely acquainted,” Mrs. Peake said with a scornful sniff.

“Never mind, Mama. I’m sure that it’s nothing of importance. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go to my room,” Brandon said impatiently.

“Very well, I’m sure it’s none of my business if young ladies choose to write to you. I only hope you realize that a connection with the Glendennings is not what I’d hoped for you. I have it on very good authority that poor Lady Glendenning has been left without a feather to fly with.”

Brandon groaned under his breath and made a hasty escape. As soon as he’d closed his door, he opened the missive and read it eagerly. It was a briefly worded but urgent request that he pay a call at their house on the North Parade that afternoon at three. It was signed L.G.

Promptly at the appointed hour, Brandon reached for the door knocker at Lady Upsham’s house on
the North Parade. Before he could knock, however, the door was opened by Letty herself. “I’ve been watching for you,” she said in a whisper. “Come in quickly. I don’t want anyone to know you’re here.” Taking his hand, she led him to a small sitting room near the stairs and closed the door behind them. “There. We shall be safe now. Aunt Millicent and Prue have gone out, so we shan’t be disturbed.”

“By your leave, Letty, if you’ve asked me here to scold me about what I said to your sister yesterday,” Brandon said quickly, “you needn’t have gone to all this trouble. I’ve scolded myself enough already.”

Letty looked at him in bewilderment. “What? I don’t know what you’re talking about. Did you say something dreadful to my sister?”

“Didn’t she tell you?”

“No, not a word. Although, now you mention it, she did say something this morning about hoping you’d break a leg.”

Brandon reddened. “Break a—?”

Letty laughed. “You mustn’t take offense. That’s just Prue’s way. She doesn’t really mean it, you know.”

“Oh, she meant it,” Brandon insisted glumly. “She’s furious with me for criticizing her behavior in the Pump Room yesterday.”

“Is that all? Well, I shouldn’t give the matter a second thought, if I were you. She probably deserved it, anyway. Please, Brandon, I must speak to you about a matter of much greater importance.”

“But Letty, she didn’t deserve it. I mean, I had no right at all to comment on your sister’s conduct.”

“Brandon, you make a mountain of a molehill. Prue’s temper can be volatile, I know, but she cools quickly. She’s probably forgotten the whole incident by this time.”

“Forgotten it? I can’t believe—”

“But I’m sure of it. Don’t let it worry you anymore. Come, sit down here. I have something to ask you of the utmost urgency.” And she gently pulled him down on the sofa beside her.

Brandon, putting aside the subject of Prue with the greatest reluctance, looked at Letty dubiously. Something about the intensity of her manner made him distinctly uneasy. “Urgency?” he asked timidly.

“Yes. To me it is a matter of … of … my entire future. Brandon, will you do me the greatest favor?”

All Brandon’s instincts set up loud warnings, but he hadn’t the courage to be rude. “Well, if I can … of course. What is it you want of me?” he asked diffidently.

“I want you to be my … my betrothed … for just a little while.”

“I don’t understand, Letty. Your—?”

“My betrothed. My husband-to-be,” she said distinctly, twisting her fingers in her lap nervously.

Brandon blinked at her in alarm. “Me? But … You don’t … You can’t mean that you—? I mean, by your leave, we are not so well acquainted that … I mean, do you think you know me well enough to … ?”

Letty smiled wanly. “Oh, Brandon, I don’t mean it to be a
real
engagement! How can you think so? I could scarcely be the one to make such a proposal if I seriously wanted to marry you.”

Brandon nodded thoughtfully. “Oh, I see what you mean. The gentleman is supposed to do the asking, I suppose. But if you
don’t
want to marry me, then what
are
you asking?”

“Only that you
pretend
that we are promised. It would be very simple, really. We would pretend to have a secret understanding—secret because our families object to the match. We need tell no one at all about it, except—”

“Except?”

“Except … one person. In other words, we would go on exactly as before. Nothing at all would be changed, except that … if this person should ask you … you would say that I am indeed your betrothed, that we have had an understanding for several weeks, and that we hope to make the news public as soon as we win our families’ approval.”

“Letty, I hope you will forgive me for being quite dense, but I don’t understand any of this.”

Letty sighed. “I’m not explaining it at all well, I’m afraid. It’s a rather complicated story. You see, before I came to Bath, a … gentleman of my acquaintance asked me to marry him. He had the support of my family but I … I cannot like the match. I could not accept him, as I told him. But he’s come to Bath and has given me … er … signs that he doesn’t believe my refusal is final.”

“You mean that he persists in bothering you after you’ve refused him?” Brandon asked, shaking his head in outrage. “He sounds like the greatest of coxcombs! I don’t blame you at all for refusing such a fellow.”

“No, you mustn’t be misled. He is not a coxcomb. He is a very … personable gentleman. That’s what makes the matter so difficult. No one can understand why I don’t think he’d make a suitable husband.”

“But
I
understand,” Brandon insisted loyally. “Any man who would thrust his attentions on a woman who doesn’t want him must not be the right sort at all!”

“As to that, Brandon, I must be fair. My manner with him has not been…. Oh, how can I explain? … has not been as … er … discouraging as it should have been. I really cannot completely blame Lord Denham for—”

“Lord Denham!” Brandon gasped in astonishment. “
He
cannot be the one you mean!”

Letty raised an eyebrow. “No? And why not, pray?”

“But Letty, I’ve met him. Why, he’s the kindest, the most considerate, the
finest
man I’ve ever met!”

Letty frowned at him in annoyance. “What has that to say to anything?”

Brandon was completely at a loss. “But … but … I can’t believe any young lady would … That is, are you
sure
you don’t wish to marry him?”

“There! You see?” Letty burst out. “Even
you
won’t accept my right to refuse him!”

“Well, I wouldn’t say
that,
exactly. It’s only that I don’t understand—”

“But why
should
you understand? Why should
anyone
have to understand?
I
understand, and that should be enough!” she cried in desperation. Then, realizing that she was losing control of herself, she clenched her hands and blinked back the tears that she feared were about to make an appearance. “Oh, Brandon,” she whispered helplessly, “if I’m forced to marry him, I think I’ll die!”

Brandon looked at her miserably. “But, Letty, I still don’t see what I can do …”

Letty looked up eagerly. “But you
can,
Brandon, don’t you see? If he believes that I’m truly in love with someone else, he will surely go away and not trouble me again.”

“Oh, I see. Yes, I suppose he will.”

Brandon hesitated. He liked Lord Denham. He had intended to pay him a call that very afternoon. But how could he face him if he knew that sooner or later he would have to lie to him? Besides, what if the lie should be spread about and his mother should hear of it? How could he explain? “By your leave, Letty,” he asked worriedly, “have you given any thought to what would happen if word got out that you and I were betrothed? You might
have
to marry me! And I very much fear, my dear, that such an occurrence might turn out to be, as the great Sophocles said, ‘a remedy too strong for the disease.’”

Letty laughed. “Oh, Brandon, as if I would do such a thing to you! No, have no fear on that score. If word should leak out—which I very much doubt—I would simply cry off. I assure you that I have no
wish to be married—to
anybody.
”

“I don’t know,” Brandon said, still reluctant, “it seems a very shaky plan to me.”

“On the contrary,” Letty insisted, “I’m sure it will work. If Lord Denham decides to give up his suit—which he might at any time, you know—we shall never have to use the plan at all. But if he persists, I’ll simply tell him that my heart is otherwise engaged, and I’ll name a man in whose company I’ve often been seen—
you
—and he’ll be bound to believe me. If he goes to you, you’ll support my story, leaving him no choice but to accept it. Then he’ll go away, and we can forget all about it.”

Brandon was silent for a moment. Finally he spoke up. “I cannot like it, Letty. Dishonesty makes me very uneasy.”

“I know,” Letty said, shamefacedly. “If I were not driven to desperate measures, I should never suggest such a thing. But what else am I to do?”

“Are you sure you cannot find it in your heart to like Lord Denham? I spoke to him just this morning and learned, to my surprise, that he is a classics scholar, in addition to his other accomplishments.”

“If I wanted to marry a classics scholar,” Letty said with asperity, “I would sooner marry
you
!”

Brandon, who had no answer to that, hung his head.

“Oh, Brandon, forgive me,” Letty said contritely. “I’m so upset that I don’t know what I’m saying. It’s such a strain. Everyone thinks Lord Denham is such a paragon, it makes me want to scream in vexation.”

“There’s nothing to forgive,” Brandon assured her, patting her hand comfortingly. “But should you not sleep on it tonight? Euripides tells us that second thoughts are ever wisest.”

“I have slept on it, Brandon. My mind is quite made up. But if you wish to think it over, I must certainly allow you to do so. I just wish to point out to you that you once told me that Socrates said, ‘Heaven ne’er helps the man who will not act.’”

Brandon could not help smiling at her proudly. “That’s true! How clever of you to remember that. I would be a poor sort of man to refuse a favor to my most apt pupil.”

“Then you’ll do it?” Letty squealed in delight. “Oh, Brandon,” she sighed in relief and threw her arms around his neck, “I don’t know how to thank you!”

Brandon, blushing with pleasure at the feeling of self-satisfaction derived from the knowledge that he’d made a noble—indeed a knightly—sacrifice for a lady fair, permitted himself to be led to the door. His goodbyes were said with a sincerely happy smile. His pleasure lasted until he reached the corner of the North Parade. There his sense of uneasiness assailed him again. Good God, what if his mother learned of this? What of his budding friendship with Denham? And what of Prue? What would
she
feel if she believed him to be in love with her sister? He didn’t understand why the thought of Prue depressed his spirits, but he returned home filled with misgivings. Into what other difficulties, he wondered, would this devil’s pact with Letty lead him?

The weather continued fine
,
luring the high-spirited youths of Bath to seek activities out of doors. Letty and Prue, often in the company of Brandon, the Rabbit, Osbert, and the others, strolled the circuses, crescents, and squares of Bath until the city was as familiar to them as to the natives. They explored the parks that liberally surrounded the town center, and they made special expeditions to the Sydney Gardens, where they blundered through the well-known labyrinth, laughing and shrieking until they had found their way out again. They even climbed up the high streets to a point above Lansdown Crescent where, high over the lower city, they could make out through the trees the graceful curves of the city streets below.