“How could I have been such a fool?” she whispered.
Georgie put an arm around her cousin, holding her tight.
“I am sorry, Ursula. I knew how much it would hurt you, but I could not hold it back any longer.”
“He doesn’t love me. He never did.”
Georgie tutted sympathetically. “Men are like that, you know. They are flighty creatures.
“Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more. Men were deceivers ever, one foot in sea, and one on shore, to one thing constant never.”Ursula mumbled under her breath. “Shakespeare tried to warn us, did he not?Sing no more ditties, sing no more of dumps so dull and heavy. The fraud of men was ever so since summer first was leafy.”
Georgie, who did not much like poetry, pulled a face. “Yes, quite. I am surprised your mamma did not warn you. Aunt Cynthia is generally so sharp.”
“I believe Mama did try to warn me, in her way,” Ursula responded, dropping her face into her hands. “Oh, heavens, Georgie, I’ve been the greatest fool. Here I have been imagining that he loves me, when really, the dowager was right all along. I mistook ordinary marital duty forlove, and a merely kind man for a doting husband. Oh, I cannot stay a moment longer.”
Something danced in Georgie’s eyes, hastily hidden away.
“What do you mean, Ursula? What do you mean, you cannot stay?”
Ursula crossed to the bell pull in the corner and heaved on it. There was a moment or two of silence, and she used this time to reflect.
He does not love me,she thought, and the idea had a painful flatness to it. In time, Ursula was sure that she would accept the idea. Many husbands and wives lived miserable, separate lives. Perhaps Graham would be able to seek out his true love. That would leave two out of the three of them happy, at least.
Her idea to leave came quickly on the heels of that realisation. Ursula did not want to live the life of her mother, full of anger and resentment, with the knowledge she could not leave even if she wanted to. She did not want to live the sort of life Margaret had led, at the mercy of a man who despised her.
The only choice, then, was to leave.
Running footsteps sounded in the hallway outside, and the door opened. To Ursula’s relief, she saw Ruthie.
“Pack my things,” she ordered. “I am leaving this house within the hour.”
Ruthie’s eyes bulged. “Leaving, your ladyship?”
“Yes, Ruthie. “I am sorry to take my leave, and I regret having to depart from you."
Ruthie breathed in, steeling herself. “Well, if you are leaving, your ladyship, I had better come with you, too.”
Ursula shot her a smile. “You’re a lovely girl, Ruthie. I should never insist upon you doing that.”
“No, I… I wish to. I’m your lady’s maid, after all. I go where my lady goes, do I not?” Ruthie flashed a quick, brave smile. “I’ll go and see about your things, now.”
She disappeared at once, leaving the door swinging open.
“You really are leaving, then,” Georgie murmured, getting to her feet and coming to stand beside her cousin. “Where will you go? Back to your Mama’s?”
“No, Mama would not take me,” Ursula responded crisply. “I’ll go to Charlotte. No, wait, I cannot. Charlotte’s parents would not allow it. Oh, heavens, Georgie, I don’t know where I shall go. Perhaps I shall have to stay after all.”
“No, don’t do that,” Georgie said, a trifle too quickly. “You can come and stay with me, cousin.”
***
Jonathan, as always, had been perfectly frank.
“If you love her,” he’d said, in his pragmatic, no-nonsense way, then you must tell her. For heaven’s sake, the two of you arealready husband and wife. What more are you waiting for?”
He was right, of course. Graham had a spring in his step as he walked home. He had been attending to one of the upper fields in his remit, and Jonathan had arrived to walk with him. It had seemed most natural to walk home. He was glad of the exercise, and it was most refreshing.
I will be perfectly honest,he thought, cresting the last hill and pausing at the summit, peering down at his house far below.I will tell her how much she means to me. I will suggest that we begin acourtship. Wenever had a courtship … and build a new relationship, brick by brick. I will tell her that I can imagine no finer woman by my side, and no better viscountess. Mother should have begun her preparations to leave by now, and so we will be alone. Just the two of us.
