Page 34 of The Marriage Debt
When she looked out of the window the carriage was bowling through parkland. A herd of fallow deer browsed under the spreading branches of a coppice of sweet chestnuts and raised their heads to watch the passing carriage with soft, incurious eyes.
‘Miss Katherine…’ Jenny began, then stopped abruptly as Katherine’s hand closed tight on her wrist. As one they turned and stared at Theo.
He was not watching them. Instead, his face unreadable, he was gazing out of the carriage window as the acres of parkland unrolled before them. His eyes were wide, dark and bright with unshed tears.
Katherine caught her breath, yearning to lean forward and touch him, terrified of disturbing his fragile control.This, this great estate must be home.
Theories and questions tumbled one after another. What were they doing apparently driving up to the mansion of the Duke of – what did Theo say? Marlowe? Was his father the steward to the duke? Or perhaps, as he was the greatest landowner hereabouts, Theo felt he must call on the duke first?
The questions trembled on her tongue but the look in Theo’s shadowed eyes warned her to keep silent. Inside the cold knot of apprehension grew.
Then the house appeared reflected in its lake like a mirage and all the questions disappeared. ‘Oh, how beautiful.’
‘I have always thought that from this point it seems more like a dream than a real building.’ Theo cleared his throat and spoke dispassionately, only his right hand balled into a fist on the ledge of the window betrayed emotions he would not display. Katherine glanced at his face but his eyes were dry again.
Cold greyish-white stone, turrets and towers, a shifting pattern of roofs as the carriage moved – it was like a fairy tale castle at one moment, a palace the next.
‘It is vast.’ Katherine heard the shake in her own voice and stiffened her spine. It seemed that this was their destination and that Theo must be some connection with the family who inhabited this awe-inspiring dwelling. Not a younger son, that she knew. She turned to him. ‘Theo, why are we here?’
‘Because this is where I live,’ he said simply as the carriage drew to a halt at the foot of a great double sweep of steps. They rose gracefully to a balustraded platform in front of the doors.
Theo got up and threw open the door before John could climb down. Katherine found herself handed out, a gaping Jenny at her heels. ‘Follow the drive round to the side, you will see the stable block,’ he called up to John, then took Katherine’s arm and began to climb the right-hand branch of the steps.
Stunned into silence she let him guide her. The hand under her elbow was steady and, glancing up, she saw his face was calm, severe and quite unreadable. With a sudden flash of insight she realised this was the face he must have shown to the mob at the hanging. They arrived on the wide stone platform and, as if at a signal, the doors swung open.
Katherine did not know quite what to expect. This seemed to be a dream so fantastical that if the great Chan of China or the Prince Regent had emerged she would not have been surprised. The reality was more prosaic. Firstly a liveried footman and then, stepping primly in his wake, a thin, elderly man in dark clothing, unmistakeably the butler.
‘Good day, sir, madam, I regret that His Grace is not…’ He broke off and stared. ‘Mr Theo. My lord!’ His face turned white. For a moment Katherine thought he would faint, then Theo had him by the shoulders and the colour ebbed back as he slowly shook his head in wonderment. ‘Heavens be praised, my lord, we thought you must be dead for sure. Six years…’ His voice shook.
‘Heron, if you break down it will quite unman me,’ Theo said roughly. Katherine could hear the affection in his voice and recognise the shake of emotion he was trying so hard to suppress. ‘I was relying on you to maintain a little decorum and restraint at the return of the prodigal son. Now, do not let me down.’
‘No, my lord, of course not. It is merely a little breezy out here, it must be making my eyes water.’ He rubbed at them and was once more the impassive butler. ‘We must not detain the lady out here, my lord, if I may say so.’
They passed into the hall, the footman closed the doors behind them and Katherine found herself gaping like a tourist at an exhibition. The room was a double cube of white marble, the ceiling was high above them. Blue watered silk covered the walls which were hung with massive paintings.
A tall man was coming down the stairs. He stopped at the sight of the new arrivals, then with a cry of, ‘Theo!’ flung himself down the remaining flight.
There was no mistaking who he was. Younger by perhaps five years, brown-haired where Theo verged on the raven, lanky where his equally tall brother was hard with muscle, he was still unmistakeably Robert who Theo had spoken of with such affection.
‘Robert!’ Katherine drew back as the two men embraced, a torrent of questions and half-completed sentences tumbling from the younger man’s lips.
‘I beg your pardon, madam.’ It was the butler. Hernshaw? No, Heron, that was it. ‘I am afraid their lordships will be somewhat preoccupied for a few minutes. Have you luggage, madam? This will be your abigail, I assume?’
She pulled herself together. Few things in any house of rank were as important as to make a good impression on the upper servants and she was not going to let Theo down, however much she trembled inwardly at the shocking surprise he had sprung upon her.
‘Thank you, Heron. Yes, this is Pilgrim. My man has taken the carriage with the luggage round to the stables.’ She drew a deep breath, then said, ‘I collect that my husband’s message did not arrive to warn of our coming?’
The poor man had received more shocks that morning than were fair to inflict upon an elderly family retainer and she admired the manner in which he kept all traces of his reaction from his face. Only his eyes widened. ‘My lady. Welcome toSeaton Mandeville. I deeply regret that we could not assemble the full staff as is only fitting to receive the new marchioness.’
There, he had said it, the thing that she had been refusing to think ever since the dreadful certainty of who Theo was had come to her on the steps. She was, it seemed, a marchioness. Atemporarymarchioness. Somehow she must keep this bizarre conversation going until Theo was able to rescue her.
‘Under the circumstances that is quite understandable. I shall look forward to meeting them all later.’ Could the butler see the terror in her eyes? How many staff could this palace possibly require? Hundreds, probably. Around them other servants were gathering, ostensibly to assist the new arrivals, but clearly agog at the unexpected return of the heir of the house.
Mercifully Theo turned, his arm still across his brother’s shoulders. ‘Robert, I have the honour to present you to my wife. Katherine, my brother Lord Robert Lydgate.’
She kept her eyes from Theo’s face, knowing it was unlikely she could hide the mingled reproach and fear in them. Instead she curtsied to his brother. ‘My lord. I have heard so much about you from Theo.’
‘Robert, please, and I hope I may call you Katherine.’ He strode forward, suddenly so like Theo that her breath caught in her throat. ‘And I trust I may kiss my new sister?’
