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Elise slowed her pace along the gravel path as she glimpsed her sister and Dr Burnett just ahead. Immediately she recalled her father’s odd hint that Beatrice had already formed an infatuation for the doctor. Elise had thought her papa joking in view of her sister’s obsession with finding a mate, but the scene in front of her was cosy and made her feel rather intrusive.
The couple were kneeling on the grass by a raised bed of herbs, absorbed in each other’s company. Bea was teasingly dangling what looked like a frond of bronze fennel in front of Colin’s smiling face. Elise had never known her sister show any interest in horticulture before, yet she appeared now to be digging out a plant by the root with her bare fingers. They complemented each other rather well, Elise realised: Beatrice with her fragile fair loveliness and the doctor with his capable sturdy body.
Snapping out of her dreamy daze, Elise stepped closer. ‘Papa said you were looking for feverfew and borage.’
Colin Burnett sprung to his feet, clutching a wilted stalk of greenery. Her sister got up more slowly, rubbing together her palms to remove soil.
‘We have found some borage.’ Beatrice smiled at her sister, squinting against the sunlight. Unusually she had come outside without a hat. Beatrice was normally very conscious of her clear pale complexion being darkened by the sun.
‘You have forgotten your bonnet,’ Elise said as the three of them fell into awkward quiet.
‘Oh...Dr Burnett says that rays from the sun benefit us.’
‘When not too hot,’ the doctor modified his advice with a finger wag. ‘Late afternoon such as this is ideal, or early morning. It is best to avoid the midday heat and a lengthy exposure. But I’m certain that sunlight cures a multitude of ills.’
‘As does feverfew and borage,’ Beatrice piped up with her new knowledge. ‘Colin...Dr Burnett,’ she hastily corrected herself with a blush at the familiarity, ‘says that chewing feverfew leaves cures a bad head.’
‘But not too many or a sore mouth is the result.’ He smiled at his pupil.
Elise glanced at the collection of herbs arranged neatly on the lawn. She couldn’t spot a daisy-like plant among them. ‘I think there might be a small clump of feverfew up by our bonfire site. Oh...and we have another guest,’ she continued casually, as they strolled together towards the rear boundary. ‘Alex Blackthorne has arrived.’
That did make Beatrice stop and stare. ‘Really? What a surprise!’ She quite naturally slipped her hand through Colin’s arm as he offered it, his other elbow extending for Elise to take. ‘He is the important fellow I was telling you about who gave us a ride in Hyde Park in his landau.’ Bea’s eyes widened in emphasis. ‘He is a viscount and very distinguished.’ She brushed more soil off her stained fingers, sweeping the debris from the doctor’s sleeve. ‘We had a good time, in town, didn’t we, Elise? But it is nice to be back home.’
Moments earlier Elise had been wondering how to break the disappointing news to her sister that Alex Blackthorne had arrived, alone, without even a message from Hugh. Now she was not sure that Beatrice would mind much at all, or even remember to ask after him. Bea had known the doctor for just hours, yet she seemed completely at ease with him. Elise slowed her pace to let them walk ahead, arm in arm, as the cinder path narrowed close to the bonfire site.
Chapter Seventeen
‘I’ll not pretend ignorance of my uncle’s debts, sir, or the other wrongs he did you. I intend to do whatever I can to put matters right.’
Having made his opening gambit, Alex settled back in his wing chair with his glass of port resting on a knee. He gazed at the shrunken, elderly man dwarfed by the huge oak desk. As he noticed a suspicious gleam reddening his host’s pale eyes Alex felt a surge of anger at Thomas Venner. He’d always liked his uncle, but at that moment he would have choked the life from him had he been present.
Walter drew out a handkerchief and made a show of polishing his glasses, giving inconspicuous dabs at his eyes now and then. ‘I didn’t imagine you would toe that scoundrel’s line. I certainly didn’t expect you to come in person to deal with the matter. I’m afraid you have made a wasted journey.’
‘You knew of my uncle’s plan to pass on to me his debts?’ Alex asked, softly incredulous.
‘My wife told me. It was the last conversation we had, shortly before she passed away. She thought it grossly impertinent of Venner to impose on you like that. It was odd for us to be in agreement upon something.’ Walter gave a hollow chuckle. ‘By then her infatuation with him had withered and Lord Reeves was her gallant of choice. But Arabella never could cut all ties with your uncle.’ Walter swivelled his creaking chair so he might gaze out of the window and blink rapidly.
