Lois Menzel (7 page)

Within a few days of her arrival at Tenton Castle, Arelia began turning the rooms inside out. She had planned a house party for some twenty guests, invited to Tenton to escape the heat of the city in summer. When the maids started bustling and the dust began to fly, the children fled the Castle and Anne soon followed. Tom’s friend, Will Carey, was often in their company, but he was so shy and quiet that Anne could almost forget he was there. The children took Anne to the lake and showed her their prized possession: a sturdy rowing boat painted bright yellow.

“I chose the color,” Belinda claimed proudly. “Tom and Will painted it.”

“Which was a big mistake,” Tom added. “Even on the darkest night the thing can be seen for a mile. Makes stealth impossible.”

Anne could only wonder why the boys would not wish to be seen at night. She decided not to ask. It was probably better if she didn’t know.

The children took her to their favorite climbing trees, which she declined to ascend with them, even though they generously offered to help her.

Of all their confidences, Anne was most pleased when they shared with her their secret swimming place—a wide spot in the stream that was virtually inaccessible to the uninitiated. They assured her there was only a single path, which only the family knew.

“Uncle Nate wanted to clear all the brambles away, but Uncle Jack would not let him do it,” Belinda supplied. “Uncle Jack says this was my papa’s favorite place, and we should leave it just as it is.”

Tom immediately changed the subject, as Anne noticed he had done several times when his sister mentioned their father.

“Where is your Uncle Jack?” Anne asked, remembering the warm smile and friendly good humor of the young man she had met so briefly in Lord Tenbury’s study.

“He followed the Prince to Brighton,” Tom said. “He says the country bores him, which I can’t understand at all. But he did say he would come down soon. He has been teaching me to hunt on his sixteen-hand roan. I am doing well.”

“That’s true,” Will spoke up in a rare moment. “He only fell off twice the last time.”

When Tom smiled at this revelation, Anne smiled too, realizing that a lesson with only two falls must have been great progress from the one that came before.

Anne spent the early afternoon with the children. Then, as the sun grew ever hotter overhead, she made her way back to the Castle and through the cool, dark hallways to the library. All was quiet and orderly, the cleaning finished, the first guests due to arrive in a few days. The library doors stood open, while light flooded the room from a long row of western-facing casements.

Anne had discovered that Lady Tenbury loved books but had poor eyesight, which made reading difficult. She moved to the shelves and began searching for the comedies of Shakespeare, knowing he was one of her ladyship’s favorites.

“Good afternoon.”

Tenbury had been sitting in an armchair near the windows where Anne had not noticed him. She returned his greeting as he stood.

“May I help you find something?” he offered.

“Shakespeare. I thought perhaps
As You Like It.”

He moved to a spot several feet from where she stood and, after a moment’s search, produced the volume.

“Here you are. My mother tells me you have been reading to her. It is kind of you.”

“Not at all. I daresay I enjoy it as much or more than she.” When Anne noticed he was regarding her strangely, she asked, “What is it, my lord?”

“Nothing. It’s only that you look different somehow.”

“Oh,” she replied, immediately self-conscious, smoothing the front of her skirt with her free hand. “It must be this dress Mrs. Saunders bought for me. She insisted, and I could not—”

“You need not explain. I know what it is to lose an argument with Arelia. The dress is most becoming. I think, too, that your hair is altered.”

Although Anne retained her
chignon
, Mrs. Saunders had encouraged her to fix it loosely, allowing the hair to remain fuller. Several wisps even now curled softly near her face. When she didn’t answer, he changed the subject.

“Your things arrived this afternoon from Mr. Boone. I had the books carried to your room. I believe the shelves there and in the schoolroom will hold them. The horse is in the east wing of the main stables, sixth stall from the end.”

“The horse?”

“Yes. I should say
your
horse.” When she continued to stare blankly at him he asked, “Did you not leave a gelding with Mr. Boone?”

“Yes, but I cannot believe he would send him here. Surely you told him to send only my books?”

“I told him nothing. I simply ordered a servant to fetch from Mr. Boone all those possessions you had left in his care. He returned with several trunks and one gelding.”

“Oh, dear.”

“Why, ‘Oh, dear’?”

“I cannot keep him here. I cannot afford—”

“I would not expect you to pay for his keep. You will need a horse while you are here. You may as well have him as any other. Belinda needs a companion when she rides, and I daresay Arelia would be glad of your company. She detests riding out with a groom at her heels.”

He paused, giving her an opportunity to respond. When she said nothing, he continued. “That is settled, then.”

A few moments later he departed, and Anne was left to wonder how it was that Lord Tenbury with regularity took seemingly awkward situations and in a matter of moments resolved them logically and reasonably. He spoke, and things were settled. It never occurred to her that she had any right to object.

Chapter 6

Jack Saunders descended on Tenton Castle the following afternoon. He declared that Brighton had been frightfully boring and dreadfully hot, then announced his intention to repair to the private swimming spot to wash off the thick dust of his journey with a cool swim. The boys clamored to go along and he feigned reluctant permission.

While Jack, Tom, and Will hurried off toward the secluded spot, Arelia set a leisurely pace calculated to allow her brother-in-law ample privacy for his swim. Jack avoided the shallows where the children often played and headed for the deeper water on the far side. In a matter of seconds he pulled off his boots then stripped off his shirt. Dressed only in his breeches, he plunged in without bothering to test the water.

This early in the season the stream was cold, and Jack soon had enough. When he heard the ladies and Belinda approaching, he swam to the bank. He quickly scooped up his shirt, pulled it over his head, and was decent again before they made their way along the narrow path through the thicket.

The women sat beside him on the grassy bank. Anne watched the boys in the deep pool, gliding swiftly through the water. Soon their antics tempted Arelia and she waded in with bare feet.

“Do you swim?” she asked Anne.

“No. But I think it must be wonderful.”

“My father subscribed to a swimming bath in London and considered it excellent exercise,” Jack said. “He taught Tenbury and Henry and me to swim when we were quite young. We came here often in the summer.”

“After Henry and I were married, I made him teach me,” Arelia added. “I could teach you, Miss Waverly, if you like,” she offered.

Anne only smiled, trying to envision herself paddling about as Tom and Will were. Arelia soon wandered off to play with Belinda, while the boys splashed water at each other.

“Are you enjoying your position here, Miss Waverly?” Jack Saunders asked.

“Very much. The work is
easy—hardly like work at all.”

“How is Tom getting on with his new tutor?”

“Mr. Pearce only started earlier this week, but so far things seem to be going well. He does not appear to be a man who will settle for any nonsense from Tom, and I believe Tom respects him.”

“It is just like Tenbury to employ a cleric,” Jack complained. “Can you imagine having him about the place all summer? I shall have to guard my tongue night and day.”

“I think Lord Tenbury was interested in finding the best man for the position. I doubt if Mr. Pearce’s profession influenced him unduly.”

Jack smiled. “You have taken Tenbury’s measure quickly enough, have you not, ma’am?”

“I know he is a master of expedience,” she replied. “The remedy for most any problem seems to be written on the inside of his eyelids. He need only blink, and the solution is forthcoming.”

Jack laughed aloud, but Anne soon had a more serious question for him. “I have wanted to know, but hesitated to ask Mrs. Saunders. Was Tom always a troublesome boy, or did the problems start after his father died?”

“You are much deeper than at first you seemed, Miss Waverly. The problems started just after his father died, but in the last year or so have worsened. We know he has not handled the loss well, and we have done what we can to help. We are hoping that in time, the bitterness will pass.”

“Is that what you think it is? Bitterness?”

“Tom told me that he thought Henry had wasted his life—that war is a senseless endeavor. When I tried to explain that the continued freedom of the country depends on the dedication of the men in our army and navy, he insisted that the outcome of the battle would have been the same whether his father had been there or not.”

* * * *

During the next two days there seemed an almost continuous stream of carriages making its way through the main gates of Tenton Park and down the long drive to the Castle. Anne learned that some of those invited were old family friends, others were acquaintances only. There were married couples, parents with daughters in tow, several widows, and a few unattached gentlemen.

“God, how I detest these little country gatherings of Arelia’s,” Jack complained as he and Anne stood together at twilight, watching yet another lantern-lit coach move slowly up the drive.

“Does she have them often?”

“At least once a year. She never gives up hope that one day she will invite someone who will take Tenbury’s fancy. During the Season she keeps her eyes and ears open for the slightest comment he might make about a particular woman. I swear she takes notes. Then she invites a collection of people with those ladies included, hoping that the country air and relaxed setting will spur Tenbury into some action, preferably a proposal.”

“Are you serious?”

“Absolutely. The sad thing is that one of these days Tenbury just might fall into parson’s mousetrap, then I fear Arelia will continue the tradition to catch me a wife. How I dread the thought!”

“Does he know what she is doing?”

“Certainly he knows, and I am sure he does not care. The summers here are less boring with people about, and not many men eschew the company of beautiful, wealthy women.”

“Are they always beautiful and wealthy?”

“Most of the time. This year they certainly are. There are three here already who are surely on Arelia’s list of possibilities. For one—”

“Wait,” Anne interrupted. “Let me guess. Lady Mason. She is beautiful.”

“And wealthy. Her late husband owned a respectable portion of Cumberland, and from what they say, he left her a most impressive  legacy. A widow ripe for the plucking.”

“Number two would be the daughter of the Earl of Haverham,” Anne supplied. “I cannot remember her name.”

“Right again. Her name is Lady Constance Naismith. She is about twenty-five, still unmarried. They say she is mighty difficult to please, but Arelia must believe Tenbury could win her, otherwise she would not have been invited.”

“That makes only two,” Anne finished. “I can think of no one else.”

“Ah, you are forgetting Miss Pauline Redditch.”

“But she is only a child!”

“She is eighteen. Old enough and pretty enough to tempt any man.”

Anne found it hard to imagine Lord Tenbury married to any of these ladies, yet she suspected Mrs. Saunders would not waste time inviting women he did not admire.

Within a few days the guests at Tenton Castle fell into a loose routine. Most of the gentlemen rose by mid morning and spent a leisurely breakfast, after which some went riding while others retired to the billiards room to talk or read the London papers.

The ladies rose later, seldom putting in any appearance until luncheon. Then they descended in their soft, nearly transparent muslins of saffron, pink, and turquoise to dot the Castle and the grounds with spots of bright color. During the afternoons they chatted in the salons or strolled about the broad lawns. Some made up riding parties with the gentlemen.

In the late afternoon the ladies disappeared to dress for dinner, a process that occupied several hours. Dinner was a long, formal affair involving many courses, carefully orchestrated by Lord Tenbury’s excellent cook and overseen by Mrs. Saunders. After dinner there was congenial conversation in the drawing room, with several tables of cards. If the gentlemen preferred, they could escape female company in the billiards room, where they enjoyed that game, engaged in smoking, and relaxed with the best offerings of his lordship’s finely stocked wine cellar.

Anne’s days during this time also fell into a pattern, though hers was much simpler. She had breakfast with Belinda and Tom in the schoolroom. She then spent the entire morning with Belinda while Tom studied with Mr. Pearce.

Tom applied himself so well during the morning that he often had several hours free in the afternoon. Anne was relieved to see Mr. Pearce showing such good sense. Held too rigidly to a schedule, Tom would more than likely rebel again.

Often in the afternoons Anne accompanied the children on their adventures. Occasionally she rode with them, or she took them on long walks about the estate. On warm days she went with them to the stream and read in the shade while they swam. Jack sometimes rode or walked with them, saying he had little in common with “Arelia’s set.”

Other days Anne stayed in the schoolroom planning Belinda’s lessons. She went often to the library, a room seldom visited by Lord Tenbury’s guests. There she would read or write letters to her old housekeeper, Mrs. Nesbitt, or her cousins’ governess, Ruth Marsh. Lady Tenbury sometimes joined her, and they passed pleasant hours together, reading and talking. Anne ate her evening meal with the children and was usually in bed before ten o’clock, while the guests below were still at dinner.