Page 53 of A Gentleman's Reckoning
This piece of news silenced Margery for a pregnant moment, and she stared at Geny with her mouth ajar.
“Six months? What an odd thing to say. Why does he think that would change anything?”
Geny could only shrug. “It is what I have been asking myself. I don’t understand why he would not just take his chances if I told him I did not need my father’s approval and that I did not consider our social distance to be an issue. To tell the truth, I am utterly at a loss.”
Margery sat, her cakes forgotten as she reflected on this. “I do not have an answer for you. There are no possible circumstances which can make me hazard a guess as to why he would propose such a thing. But if the man has any sense, he will take action well before six months have gone by. And if he doesn’t”—she lifted an eyebrow—“perhaps he is not the man for you.”
Geny was reluctant to agree with her friend, even thoughwhat she had said made perfect sense. It was just difficult to see clearly when love was involved.
“Perhaps.” With every ounce of will, she decided to direct the conversation elsewhere. “Now, I hope we can turn to other, more cheerful topics. Tell me what outings Mr. Thompson has escorted you to.”
Margery smoothly evaded the question by bringing up all the people she was forced to dance with at last night’s rout. With someone else, Geny might feel that the confidences were unbalanced, but she knew that her friend would end up confiding in her. It just took her a little longer to do so.
“Well, Mr. Thompson is coming for dinner tomorrow night, for one thing,” Margery finally confessed in the end. “So I shall be obliged to endure his courtship under the gaze of my five siblings and my two parents.” She smiled mischievously. “But then, if he is a worthy adversary, he will rise to the challenge.”
“Indeed,” Geny said laughing as she pictured the scene. Then she sobered and looked at her friend wistfully.
“You are very lucky though. Tomorrow night I shall also have someone over to dine, but it is not a man whose company I enjoy. It is to be none other than Lord Amherst.”
At this, Margery picked up another cake from the platter and set it on Geny’s plate. “I heartily sympathize with you. You had better take a bite of cake. I think you are going to need some sweetness to offset your bitter trial.”
Geny laughed as she obeyed. Bitter trial indeed.
The next day,Geny arranged the seating at the table as her father would expect. She had included Miss Purcell in the party, hoping that somehow Lord Amherst would be attracted to her fortune enough to leave off pursuing Geny. She wasthinking of this when Matthew came to see her in the dining room.
“I’m glad I’m not old enough to have to attend the dinner, for I can think of nothing more tiresome than to sit with adults and talk about boring topics.”
“You are fortunate to be spared,” she agreed. “But remember your words when eventually you must endure one of these dinners. I charge you to carry on an interesting conversation with your female partners on both sides, so they do not regret the dinner or your company.”
“I cannot try too hard, or they might fall in love with me. And that would be worse than anything.” Matthew went over and twitched the curtain to look out on their narrow garden behind the house. “It is a fine day. Can you sit outside with me for a little while?”
Geny nodded and put down the list of all that needed to be prepared before that evening. Everything at the table was in order, and she knew her brother was lonely. She understood that feeling all too well and, as far as she was able, wished to be there for him.
When they sat on the stone bench that overlooked a fragrant climbing rosebush, Matthew drew circles in the dirt with a stick.
“Mr. Rowles has been teaching Gabriel and Timothy calculations. Gabriel likes it more than Timothy.”
She looked at him curiously. “When have you had a chance to speak to them about it?”
“Father took me to the asylum yesterday in his curricle. He said he wished to meet the new steward, but Mr. Rowles was not there. Father also wished to see that Gabriel had recovered. We found him in the steward’s office, and he was working at writing a row of sums with his left hand.”
Geny’s breath hitched when she thought of her father meeting Mr. Rowles. Would he see at first glance how noble,how worthy he was? Of course he would not think of him in any particular way, but only as an inconsequential steward working at a foundling asylum he did not care very much about. But still, the idea that John might meet her father eventually caused her heart rate to speed up.
She also wondered at her father’s interest in the orphan, that it was enough to pay him a visit. He could truly be considerate when he chose to. “Is Gabriel doing better, then?”
“Yes, better now that he is out of his bed, I should say. I asked Father if he is going to return to the orphanage so he might meet Mr. Rowles, and he said he supposed so at some point.” It did not sound very imminent.
“And you?” she could not help but to ask. “What do you think of Mr. Rowles?” Fortunately, Matthew did not read anything into her question.
“I like him. He seems to be a good steward and handled Gabriel’s injury well. Besides, he does not talk up to me as though he were afraid just because I am a peer.”
“Yes, he is a fine steward.”
This was all she would allow herself to say on the matter to a brother who was only ten. Besides, apart from Margery, she must not lay her heart bare to anyone else when her feelings had not been unequivocally reciprocated by the man himself.
Dinner that night was tolerable, but she quite thought her little brother had the right of it. Her father was a good host and made everyone feel welcome. Geny did her part as the hostess, little though she wished for the post. Of course, Lord Amherst must be seated at her right, but it was not very onerous. For the first three courses, it required little effort to converse with him, as he was principally involved with the fine cuts of meat on his plate.
She listened to Miss Purcell speaking to the marquess’s friend, Mr. Milton, although she sent surreptitious glances toward Lord Amherst. Geny could not understand what shesaw in him, unless it was the desire to one day become a duchess.
