“And who says I don’t love Connie?” Sidney asked. “I could have eaten her all up when I saw her downstairs. I’ve always loved her, Jon. Look, I’ve come home in time for her birthday, have I not? I would have been here yesterday if it had not been for that damned wheel. And this evening I’ll talk with Sir Howard and the announcement will be made and all will be settled once and for all. I’ll be a happy man.”
“You love her, then,” the viscount said, his tone flat. “You really love her, Sid.”
It was not a question. But his brother looked up at him anyway, a little startled, his hands falling still on the towel.
“I love her,” he said after a silent pause, during which the two brothers eyed each other intently.
“Well, then,” Lord Whitley said, “Constance will have her very special day after all. She has had thoughts for no one but you all summer, Sid. This morning I found her in the deepest dejection, though she put a brave face on it.”
“I’ll soon cheer her up,” Sidney said, tossing the towel from him and reaching for the clean clothes his valet had laid out for him. “I have a mint of stories to tell her about Brighton.”
“I think she has already cheered up,” Lord Whitley said, “just seeing you. You will be with her during the treasure hunt, then, Sid? And you will be opening the dance with her this evening? I’ll fade into the background, then, and let you youngsters enjoy yourselves.”
“Youngsters.” Sidney chuckled. “But it was jolly decent of you to suggest Esdale for the party, Jon, and to give up a morning to help Connie. I appreciate it.”
His brother made a sound that might have been a laugh before letting himself out of the room.
Sidney vaulted into the carriage after Constance. He looked very fashionable in his green superfine coat and pantaloons and shining Hessians, she thought. He even looked handsome to her biased eyes. She reached out her hands to him, and he took them and squeezed them and kissed her briefly and smackingly on the lips.
“You look as pretty as a picture, Con,” he said. “Green suits you.”
She smiled at him. She had felt pretty when she had twirled before her looking glass earlier. Pretty and happy, and unhappy and bewildered.
“I have so much to tell you,” he said. “You would not believe all I saw and did in Brighton, Con.”
“And I have so much to tell you,” she said, her eyes shining. She let him draw her arm through his and rested her shoulder against his and was thoroughly comfortable. “Jonathan revived the Esdale picnic, Sidney, and it was wonderful. He took me out in one of the boats and managed to row in a straight line.” She turned her head to laugh up at him. “And we walked home at sunset and the sky and the water were indescribable colors. And there was a dance in the assembly rooms last week, and it was wonderful. Jonathan waltzed with me twice, and he did not once tread on my toes. You see?” She laughed again. “I am not the clumsy one after all. And we walked along the street when it was all over while everyone gossiped as they always do, and the air was wonderfully cool.”
“Well,” he said, “it sounds as if you have been having as good a time as I had in Brighton, Con.”
“And today,” she said, “when I saw the rain, I thought we were going to be doomed to playing charades all afternoon. But then Jonathan came and suggested that Esdale be used for the treasure hunt. We sat for two hours in the library, thinking up clues and laughing at all the silly ideas we had. But it is going to take all the guests at least an hour to solve all the clues, Jonathan says.”
He patted her hand. “I am glad he has been looking after you,” he said.
“He has been very kind.” There was a short pause in their conversation, and she set her cheek briefly against his shoulder. “I am so happy you have come home, Sidney. This morning I really believed you were not coming. And I think Jonathan did too. He has kept saying to me, ‘Well, if he does not come . . . ’ He offered to help with the treasure hunt if you did not come. He was going to lead me into the opening set tonight if you did not come. He has been very kind.” She set her cheek back against his shoulder.
“Well, I came,” he said. “I couldn’t stay away, Con. I kept thinking of you and missing you.” She heard him draw breath. “I’ll talk with your papa this evening, then, and have him make the announcement if he approves my suit?”
“Oh,” she said. “Yes. I suppose. If you are sure, Sidney.”
“It is what we have been planning for a year,” he said.
“Yes.”
“We will do it, then,” he said. “I’ll wait until the dancing has started, and then I’ll ask for a private word with him. I don’t think he will have any objection, will he, Con?”
“Oh, no,” she said. “I am quite sure he will not.”
“Well, then,” he said, “it will all be settled.”
“Yes.”
They drove the rest of the distance to Esdale in silence, both determinedly happy, both determinedly smiling whenever they turned their heads to look at each other.
He stayed in the background, as he had promised Sid he would. But as the owner of Esdale he felt that he must at least be visible. So he was there in the great hall to greet Constance and his brother when they arrived and to welcome each of her guests when they came a little later.
He remained in the hall when Constance divided her guests by lot into fifteen couples and provided each couple with the first clue that would set them off on the treasure hunt. Everyone stood in the hall puzzling over the clue before darting off in various directions.
Lord Whitley smiled at Constance and she smiled triumphantly back. But he was standing outside the library door, his hands clasped behind his back, and she was in the very middle of the great hall, Sidney beside her. She looked very happy, the viscount thought, and prettier than he had ever seen her, in her spring green muslin dress, with a matching ribbon threaded through her curls.
