Page 73 of Sense and Suitability
She glanced at Thomas, who had taken to massaging his temples.
“But if I’d known!” Aunt Bean burst out, her indignation bubbling over. “If I’d known he’d become a wealthy naval captain, I might have mustered a great deal more interest!”
The table fell silent. Even the servants at the sideboards seemed to pause.
Aunt Bean surveyed the room, her indignation faltering in the oppressive quiet. Finally, as if the silence itself challenged her, she declared, “John, I forbid you to allow Emmeline any further association with that family. Their lineage is riddled with villainy! From the late Lord Ravenscross’s excesses to the current Lord Ravenscross’s fickleness, they are nothing but a blight on society.”
“Bina, you are letting ancient grievances cloud your judgment,” Father said, which, coming from him, was practically a rebuke.
Had Aunt Bean once fancied Mrs. Thornbury’s husband? And regretted slighting him now?
“Mark my words, Emmeline.” Aunt Bean’s gaze bore into her. “Any continued involvement with that family will ruin yourreputation—and when it does, I will not vouch for your matrimonial or social future.”
Emme sat in bed later that evening, absorbed in Maria Edgeworth’sThe Absentee. The tale offered more than a commentary on one woman’s relentless pursuit of status and its ruinous effects on her weak husband’s finances; it also provided a poignant exploration of estate management and a charming glimpse into the lives of ordinary Irish folk.
It was another quiet encouragement for Emme’s current novel-writing endeavor.
A soft rap at the door pulled her from the page. Before she could respond, Aster slipped in, her hair wound into cloths for curling. She crossed the room with soundless steps and perched on the end of Emme’s bed, her expression pensive. “Do you think Aunt Bean could still be in love with Captain Thornbury?”
Emme placed her book on the bedside table, a grin pulling at her lips. “I think Aunt Bean may still be in love with the status and money Captain Thornbury would have brought to her, not necessarily Captain Thornbury himself.”
“It is rather difficult to imagine Aunt Bean in a swoon from love.” Her smile flared for a moment before she leaned in. “I asked Father more about the story after Thomas and Aunt Bean left. Evidently, Captain Thornbury—though not yet a captain at the time—was merely a merchant’s son with his looks and charm as his chief assets. Aunt Bean, as you know, was a gentleman’s daughter, though not an especially wealthy one.”
“Ah, the requisite disparity in rank,” Emme said dryly, though she felt the words to her heart.
“Precisely. Aunt Bean, of course, refused his attentions. He eventually turned them toward someone more amenable.”
“Agatha Bennett,” Emme supplied, trying to imagine a younger Mrs. Thornbury. She must have been a great beauty—she still retained a certain elegance despite her stern demeanor.
“Exactly. Mrs. Thornbury spoke of him with such fondness today. It’s clear she adored him, and from all accounts, the feeling was mutual. With no children to occupy them, they seemed to have poured their affections entirely into each other. It was quite moving, really.” Aster’s face softened. “If Captain Thornbury once harbored feelings for Aunt Bean, it only proves love can happen more than once in a lifetime.”
Emme studied her sister. What had drawn Aster to her room at this hour? Was she trying to comfort her? To remind her that, despite Simon’s absence from her future, love was not an impossibility with someone else?
“I’m sure it can, though not all novels are inclined to admit it.”
Aster’s gaze drifted to the window, where the moonlight painted the panes in silver. Emme knew that look well—a quiet longing for something far beyond the edges of St. Groves. Her sister’s dreams often strayed to exotic lands and distant adventures, not the parlors and polite dances where eligible matches were expected to be made.
She turned back to Emme and took her hand. “There is someone out there for you, Emme. A man who could hold your heart with the same devotion.”
Ah. So Emme had guessed correctly about her sister’s motives. “And I do hope to find him one day.” She forced a lightness into her response she did not entirely feel.
For it was true, wasn’t it? Love could happen more than once in a lifetime.
“But there is no doubt in my mind Lord Ravenscross still harborsfeelings for you.” Aster leaned forward, her eyes aglow in candlelight. “Yesterday, as he walked you to the door—”
“Aster.” Emme’s face splashed with a sudden warmth. “He is a friend. That is all.” She forced meaning into her stare. “That’s all it can be. Put those thoughts from your mind for my sake, if not your own.”
Aster sighed and stood from the end of the bed, walking slowly toward the door. “I know we, as women, especially as women of smaller means, have little choice in making our fortunes match our hearts, but I do wish money didn’t play such a large factor in everything.” She leaned her head against the spine of the door as she lost her thoughts in a distant look again. “How I would love to see the world.”
With Father so devoted to his land and still mourning their mother’s loss, Aster’s world had been a small one, apart from her traveling through books and maps.
Emme offered a gentle smile. “Perhaps you will find a husband who wishes to see the world too.”
One of Aster’s brows tipped northward. “Not from our current options. Not one of them is touched by wanderlust.”
“For this season, but you are not even seventeen. There is still time for you.”
Aster held Emme’s gaze, brow perching high. “There is time for you too, Emme. Twenty does not make you an old maid.” Her frown deepened, and she added hesitantly, “And... perhaps your heart is not so broken that you couldn’t find love with someone other than Lord Ravenscross.”
