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‘Friend?’ Toby said savagely. ‘Is that what I’m supposed to call a man who seduces my sister? Did you seriously imagine I’d give my blessing to anything so grotesque? For God’s sake, you’re a Feynsham, not some East End barmaid spreading her legs?—’
Aaron lunged. Ella and Hugo both grabbed him; a chair tumbled backwards as Toby sprang to his feet. Nicky caught it. ‘For God’s sake, Toby. Stop.’
‘I will not permit this,’ Toby panted. ‘I won’t have my sister deflowered by some bloody savage, still less married to one.’
‘Ah, British friendship,’ Aaron snarled. ‘Tolerance as long as everyone knows his place; but God forbid your subjects should declare themselves your equals.’
‘You can’t seriously think yourself my equal,’ Toby said.
‘No.’ Ella’s voice was coldly vicious. ‘He’s a scholar, a Blue, and a gentleman, whereas you’ll be lucky to get a Third after three years of drink and self-pity, you greedy whining child. We’re going.’
‘I will stop this,’ Toby said, teeth set. ‘I will not allow it. You’ll ruin everything. Isn’t it bad enough Uncle Crenshaw marrying that whore? I will not have you make our family an object of contempt and ridicule as well. Iwillnot have it.’
‘You have no say in the matter. None.’
‘That’s what you think!’ Toby shouted. ‘I can deal with him for good, and I will!’
Ella inhaled sharply. ‘Stop it,’ Hugo said before she could speak. ‘Stop. Wait. Ella…’
‘What?’ she snapped.
He straightened up, handsome face serious. ‘As your friend, I must tell you, this isn’t the way. I mean no insult to Aaron, and God knows if things were otherwise I should wish you well, but they are not otherwise. An Englishwoman of your family—it simply isn’t done. You’d be a pariah. Consider your children, the hardship they’d face. Please, Ella, think.’
‘You know, Hugo, I really do fail to see how this is your business,’ Nicky remarked.
Hugo shot him a look of intense dislike. ‘Because, unlike some, I care for my friends. I cannot stand by and observe this—Ella, marry me.’
Prue gave a shrill gasp. Ella said, ‘What?’
‘Forget this,’ Hugo said. ‘We’ll all keep it quiet. I can give you what you want, support your studies, without making you the object of ridicule or contempt. My name?—’
‘You’re proposing to my fiancée,’ Aaron said, anger roiling underneath the incredulity. ‘You are proposing to my fiancée in front of myface?’
‘She’s not your fiancée,’ Toby said.
Ella shook her head. ‘I’m leaving.We’releaving, and every one of you may go to the devil.’ She turned on her heel, ignoring Toby’s angry shout. Prue stared after her as she and Aaron left, mouth open as though she might weep, then stood and stumbled after them without a word.
‘Jesus,’ Nicky said into the silence.
Toby slammed his hands on the table. Hugo said, ‘Well, I tried, Toby. I can’t help it if she won’t come to her senses.’ His eyes darted over Jem, with Nicky next to him; he shook his head slightly and went without another word.
Jem pushed the chair back. He levered himself upright, and put on his coat, fumbling at the sleeves as he walked out of the room. He didn’t speak to Nicky and Toby as they sat in silence; he didn’t look at their faces. He simply left, with just one aim in mind: that he would not let either of them see him cry.
ELEVEN
That dreadful night cemented that he’d been a fool. Toby meant more to Nicky than all Jem’s hopeless pining ever could. Toby would always be the sun to Nicky’s star, and Jem a mere earthbound clod. He’d known it from the beginning; that night branded the message on his soul.
It had felt like the end of everything, and then the next day Toby was dead, and everything did, in fact, end.
Jem stared at the blank wall, trying to breathe through the remembered tightness in his chest, to make himself think about it.
That was the problem. The night in the Mitre had been so excruciating his mind still flinched from the memory. None of the others had discussed it later. And none of them had told the police about it either.
Jem hadn’t precisely set out to conceal information. Probably he’d have made himself answer if they’d asked him directly. But he couldn’t have offered the information, not at gunpoint.Toby told everyone that Nicholas Rook and I…
He’d prayed that his friends wouldn’t betray him, wouldn’t turn Toby’s death into some sordid illegal love triangle, and, in that hope, he hadn’t offered the police any other details of what had been said.We were all drunk. Pointless bickering. Toby was upset about his inheritance.They had all kept quiet, and he hadn’t realised until far too late that their mutual silence had allowed Toby’s killer to walk free.
‘Think it through,’ he told himself aloud.
