Web of Love

anew.

“I have not had a chance to express my sympathies,” Lord Eden said. “I do so now, Miss Simpson. Your father was a fine man.”

“Yes.” She smiled briefly up at him and stooped at the same time as Walter, to pick up one of his parcels.

“I shall hope to see you and your stepmother tomorrow, then,” Lord Eden said. “Perhaps you would care to join me for a walk in the park?”

“Thank you, that would be pleasant.” The slight breathlessness was back in her voice.

As Lord Eden gave his horse the signal to move on, Anna was linking her arm in Jennifer’s. “Where is your carriage?” she was saying. “We will walk you to it, since your companions have left you behind. Won’t we, Walter? You must not worry about my brother’s having to carry so many parcels, Miss Simpson. They are all as light as a feather.”

Anna was laughing merrily as Lord Eden rode away.

So she was at home. She had refused to see him.

Miss Simpson was very pretty. It was sad to see her in black, and to know that she wore it for Charlie. Lord Eden recalled the very last time he had seen the girl. She had begged him to keep himself safe. And he had asked if he might call upon her in England. He had had every intention at that time of falling in love with her, of courting her as his bride when he came home.

He hoped she had not realized that. He hoped that by planning to call upon her the next day and even take her walking, he was not about to get himself into some nasty tangle.

Would Ellen refuse to see him the next day too?

JENNIFER’S FACE WAS GLOWING with color and her eyes sparkling when she returned from her shopping trip with the Misses Emery, Ellen was happy to see. It seemed a long time since the girl had looked on life with her characteristic eagerness.

“Did you have a nice time?” Ellen asked. “And did you buy anything?”

“I bought a comb that matches exactly the tortoiseshell brush Papa bought me in Brussels,” Jennifer said. “Nothing else, Ellen. I won’t need anything else until next summer, will I?”

No, they would not need anything new until the following summer. They had quite enough black outfits.

“You will never guess whom I met.” Jennifer caught at Ellen’s hands, the color in her cheeks heightened.

“Who?” Ellen smiled at her.

“Lord Eden!” The girl paused for effect. “Looking quite, quite gorgeous, Ellen, even though he was not in uniform. But he said he had called here and we were both out. Did you go somewhere?”

“I was here,” Ellen said. “I am afraid I turned craven, Jennifer. I could not face meeting him.”

“Of course,” the girl said, squeezing Ellen’s hands and looking at her with sympathy. “I am being insensitive, am I not? It will bring back so many painful memories for you to meet him again, won’t it?”

“But he is coming back tomorrow,” Ellen said. “I will pluck up the courage then. We will meet him together, shall we, Jennifer?”

“He wants to take me walking,” the girl said. She smiled. “You too, Ellen, probably. You always came with us in Brussels, did you not? Will you come tomorrow too? He presented me to two of his cousins. Anna Carrington is very lovely, Ellen. She made her come-out during the spring. She told me that she is going to marry Lord Eden, but her brother just laughed at her and told me that that is her idea, and she has had it since she was ten years old. I like them, Ellen. I don’t think they take life too seriously. They laugh a lot. They both said that they hope to meet me again, and I think they meant it.”

“I am sure they do,” Ellen said. “And I hope you do meet them again, Jennifer. It is time you started enjoying yourself again just a little, though of course you may not go to any formal party or anything like that for a long time.”

“And have no wish to do so,” Jennifer assured her. “Oh, Ellen, I wish Papa were here. He could come with us tomorrow, and the two of you would be able to walk ahead of Lord Eden and me in the park, and I would be able to watch you talking and laughing together. Oh, I do wish Papa were still here…But I am sorry. I should not say such things any longer, should I, for it only makes you feel sad. Forgive me, Ellen. I am so self-indulgent. I won’t say such things again, I swear I won’t.”

Ellen smiled and kissed her and asked to see the tortoiseshell comb.

Chapter 14

LORD EDEN DID NOT AFTER ALL CALL AT Bedford Square the following day. He sent a note excusing himself after his mother received a hastily scrawled letter from Dover to say that Madeline expected to be home sometime that day.

She arrived late in the afternoon in a carriage belonging to Mr. Septimus Foster, the cousin with whom Lieutenant Penworth was to stay in London. She was looking tired but incredibly happy.

“Mama!” she cried, hurling herself into her mother’s arms. “It seems like forever. Oh, how good it is to be home. And Edmund and Alexandra have come too. But not the children?” She hugged both of them hard and turned to her twin. “Dom. Oh, you horrid man. You look quite as healthy as you have ever looked. And when I think of the fright you gave me in Brussels!”

She was in his arms then, and he was rocking her against him. “You are looking pretty good yourself,” he said. “I have been expecting to see you a mere wraith of your former self after months of playing nurse. But you look as if you are in the middle of a very successful Season.”

“Allan and I are betrothed,” she said. “It was all decided before we left for home. The official announcements are to be made as soon as he has spoken with you and Edmund, Mama. He does not have to do so, of course, because I reached my majority long ages ago, but he is going to do so anyway. Wish me happy?” She smiled brightly and a little uncertainly around the room.

Lord Amberley got to his feet again and put an arm about her shoulders. “You look quite happy enough already, dear,” he said. “And of course I have never wanted anything else but your happiness. If you have decided upon Penworth, then he is a fortunate man.”

“I could not have said it better myself,” the dowager said, beaming at her daughter.

“Where is he?” Lady Amberley asked. “When are we to meet him? If I had only known back in the spring that he was to be your husband, Madeline, I would have taken far more notice. I can picture only a very young man in scarlet regimentals.”

Madeline glanced at her twin, and he smiled and stretched out a hand to her.

“The journey was a great ordeal for him,” she said. “I don’t think I stopped talking for a single moment all the way from Dover. I was trying to keep his mind from his own discomfort and pain. We went straight to Mr. Foster’s, and then I came here. It feels strange to be without him after so many months.” She looked again at her brother, rather uncertainly, and took his hand.

“If you are happy, Mad,” he said, “then I am too. Are you satisfied now?”

She nodded.

“Well,” the Earl of Amberley said, seating himself next to his wife, “we might as well enjoy this unusual interlude of brother-and-sister amity, Alex. I am sure the two of them will be at each other’s throats before another day has passed, and we will know that all is back to normal.”

The dowager rang the bell to summon the tea tray.

“Now,” Madeline said brightly, “I want everyone to tell me everything that has happened since I saw you last. Everything. Have the children grown, Alexandra? And will Caroline smile yet for anyone but Edmund?”

“She was very uncertain when he came home from Brussels after such a long absence,” the countess said with a smile. “But seeing Christopher launch himself onto Edmund’s back and me clinging to one of his arms must have reassured her. She gave him the smile I had not seen for weeks. It really is not fair, is it? Who feeds the child, after all?”

“It is just that she recognizes a handsome man when she sees one,” the earl said.