Page 23 of A Sense of Misgiving
‘Too late. The invitation to Mary’s party has been issued and accepted. Mrs Arnold and her brother will be here. There’s no escaping that.’
‘What does Flora suggest we do about it?’ A faint smile touched Luke’s lips. ‘I cannot persuade myself that she didn’t express an opinion.’
‘She wants you to see Mary and Redfern together on Saturday so that you can make up your own mind.’ Paul finished brushing down Luke’s coat and hung it in the closet. ‘She doesn’t feel she has the authority to make an arbitrary decision about something so important, even though Mary has expressed private doubts to her about Redfern’s real reason for noticing her.’
Luke felt both relieved and frustrated. ‘I am glad Mary’s not lost all sense of reason. Well then, you and I will watch the two of them on Saturday and then decide whether to warn Mary off him.’ Luke finished his ablutions and slipped between the sheets, still naked, yawning. ‘Thanks, Paul. Hold the fort tomorrow while I’m in Salisbury. Hopefully, I won’t be gone all day.’
‘When don’t I?’ Paul responded as he extinguished the light. ‘Good night.’
Luke left Beranger Court early the following morning, driven to the railway station by his coachman. He installed himself in a first class carriage that would take him into Salisbury with just one change, and hid himself behind the morning edition ofthe Timesto avoid conversation with his fellow travellers. He reflected with wry amusement that his brother Charlie had visited the offices of his now wife’s attorneys when he suspected that her assets had been embezzled by her father’s second wife. There were similarities in that both he and Charlie were determined to protect women who were being manipulated. Sadly though, there was little possibility of Luke making Flora his countess.
Did he actually want to? The possibility almost caused him to drop his newspaper. He liked and admired Flora. She was endlessly entertaining, and failed miserably to behave deferentially in his company, which was a refreshing change. She was witty, intelligent, pragmatic and always challenging. As the daughter of a senior cleric, she was also respectable. But she was not of his class, and therein lay his difficulty. His father had been a stickler for maintaining the distinction that separated the aristocracy from the hoi polloi.
‘We have a duty to maintain standards, boy,’ he could hear his father’s booming voice in his imagination. ‘Give me your word that you will only marry a lady of quality who will enhance our family’s standing!’
Luke had been fifteen at the time and had given his word without a second thought. What did a fifteen-year-old care about a future that seemed years away? Times had changed since then and his father was dead, but even so, a promise was a promise. With a heavy sigh, he returned his attention to his newspaper and the latest political infighting.
He arrived at Farthingale’s offices just after they had opened for the day. Unsure of Farthingale’s true allegiance, Luke had not sent prior notice of his intended call. For all he knew, the man could handle Latimer’s personal affairs as well as those of his late mother, or have dealings with the wealthy Church of England to protect. However, upon giving his card to a senior clerk, a man of his stature was not kept waiting and was conducted immediately into the senior partner’s office.
‘Lord Swindon, this is indeed an unexpected pleasure.’ A bespectacled man with a wide girth and a halo of white hair stood up from behind an ugly mahogany desk and scrutinised Luke’s person. ‘Please to take a seat and tell me how I can be of service to you.’
‘I shall not take up a great deal of your time,’ Luke replied, taking the offered chair and reaching into his inside pocket, where Flora’s authority lay nestled. He extracted it and handed it to Farthingale without a word. The solicitor read it quickly and elevated both bushy brows.
‘You consult me on Miss Flora Latimer’s behalf? I confess to being surprised.’
‘You were not aware that Miss Latimer has been in my employ for the past six months?’
‘I was not, my lord. May I ask in what capacity? You may choose not to answer me if you wish. It is simply a matter of curiosity. Latimer is not the sort of man who would approve of any of his daughters taking paid employment.’
‘You do not approve of the man?’
‘It is not my place to approve or disapprove.’ Farthingale folded his hands on the surface of his ugly desk and waggled them from side to side. Then he surprised Luke by chuckling. ‘But if I had been told that one of them had found the courage to rebel against such a strict parental regime, I would immediately think of the eldest Miss Latimer. She is the only daughter whom I have had any contact with, just the once when she was much younger, but I have never forgotten the occasion.’ A fond expression touched the older man’s eyes, implying that Flora had charmed him, too. ‘She came here with her grandmother when that lady put her affairs in order. I dare say she has forgotten about it, but I still recall those flashing eyes and her stark determination to help her grandmother to exert her free will. They giggled together like a pair of children—which Miss Flora still was at the time, of course. She held her grandmother in great affection, and it showed.’
‘She now serves a similar purpose for my own grandmother, acting as her companion. They are as thick as thieves, too.’
‘I am very pleased to hear it, my lord. Miss Flora is a remarkable young woman, but if I may speak freely, her spirit was in danger of being crushed in that austere household.’ Farthingale leaned back in his chair, fixing Luke with a speculative expression. ‘It must have taken courage for her to rebel against her father, but I rather imagine that courage is a commodity she possesses in spades.’
‘Latimer is very anxious to have his daughter back.’
‘That doesn’t surprise me. He harbours ambitions to rise up within the hierarchy of the church, and I suspect that Miss Flora’s outspokenness could hold him back, much as his own mother’s threatened to. That lady did not have a high opinion of the church and wasn’t afraid to say so. Her eldest granddaughter has inherited her independent spirit.’
Luke drew comparisons with his own grandmother’s beliefs. ‘So Flora tells me.’
‘Quite. However, we have yet to establish the reasons for your visit.’
‘Miss Latimer reaches her majority in a few weeks.’
‘I am aware of that. And even if I had forgotten, you can be sure that her father has reminded me on several occasions, ordering me to address all correspondence regarding his mother’s bequests to Cathedral Close. That is why I am surprised to learn that Miss Flora no longer resides there.’
‘She is her grandmother’s sole beneficiary?’
‘She is.’
Luke frowned. ‘Is she aware of the fact?’
‘She should be. I wrote and told her after her grandmother’s death.’
‘Latimer presumably intercepted the letter.’
