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‘I will bring the travelling carriage here at nine o’clock tomorrow morning, if that is convenient, Jane, and if you think Isabel is strong enough for a long ride. Otherwise we could start later and go slower. It would mean spending two nights on the road instead of one, but I do not mind that.’
‘I shall ask her, of course, but I think Isabel is strong enough and we will not need to prolong the journey. I am anxious to be home again as I am sure you are. We will be ready.’
He left and she went to join Bessie, who had gone up to her room to begin packing. Jane had not brought a great many clothes with her and it was soon folded neatly into the trunk she and Isabel shared. ‘I will do Miss Isabel’s this afternoon,’ Bessie said. ‘But I do not know how we shall get it all in, she has bought a great many new clothes.’
‘I expect Lady Cartrose will lend her another trunk.’
* * *
Lady Cartrose, Isabel and Drew returned soon after this. Drew did not stop, saying he was sorry he had missed Mark because he needed to speak to him before they all left for Hadlea. ‘I will go and seek him out,’ he said. He bowed to her ladyship, then to Jane and finally Isabel, who looked woebegone. ‘Goodbye, Miss Isabel,’ he said. ‘Have a safe journey and my felicitations on your forthcoming nuptials.’ Then he was gone.
‘That was a strange thing to say,’ Jane said. ‘It sounded as if he were not going to be at the wedding.’
‘He isn’t.’ Isabel was openly crying. ‘He is going away. I am never to see him again. He said it was for the best.’
Jane was inclined to agree with that, but refrained from saying so in view of Isabel’s distress, but she realised her fears had been justified: Isabel imagined herself in love with Andrew Ashton. How deep and how lasting it was, she did not know. The sooner they were home the better. ‘Mark is coming for us at nine in the morning,’ she said, turning to more practical matters. ‘I have done my packing. Bessie is planning to do yours this afternoon, Issie. Aunt, do you think you can lend Isabel a trunk? She has bought so many new clothes they will not all go into the small trunk we brought with us.’
‘I am sure there is one in the attic,’ her aunt said and went off to ask a footman to fetch it down.
‘I don’t want to go home,’ Isabel burst out, amid her tears.
‘Why ever not?’
‘Because everyone will be talking about the wedding and I cannot bear it.’
‘How can that be? Less than a month ago you were talking of nothing else and looking forward to your big day.’
‘Yes, and I collect you saying that a wedding was not the be-all and end-all of a marriage and you were right. I see that now. I just wanted to be a bride and Mark is so handsome and rich, but it was a mistake to say I would marry him.’
‘But you did and I am very sorry if anything I said made you have second thoughts. I only meant that the wedding itself was only the beginning and played only a small part in a marriage.’
‘I know what you meant, but it set me thinking about being bound to Mark for the rest of our lives and I simply cannot see it. And please do not say it is nerves, for I know it is not. I cannot marry Mark. He is not the love of my life.’
Her sister’s words were hurting Jane more than she could bear. Her sister could not envisage a life with Mark whereas she could hardly envisage life without him. ‘Issie,’ she said slowly. ‘Is there anyone else?’
Isabel lifted eyes full of misery to Jane’s. ‘You have guessed?’
‘Is it Mr Ashton?’
‘Yes. I have fallen in love with him, Jane. I think about him all the time. My heart lifts when he enters the room and drops again when he leaves it. The touch of his hand sets my body on fire and I want to cling to him and never let him go.’
Jane knew that feeling and felt herself sympathising with her sister, but for Isabel to fling off one suitor in favour of another when the announcement had already been made would cause the most terrible scandal. ‘Does Mr Ashton share your feelings, Issie? Has he spoken of them?’
‘Not directly, but I know he does. I know by the way he looks at me, the way he speaks. But he is too careful of his friendship with Mark to betray him, he told me that. That is why he is going away. I am so miserable, Jane. If I have to marry Mark, there will be three very unhappy people because I could never make him happy.’
Jane reflected there would be four, but that was her secret. ‘I do not know what to say, Issie. Perhaps once we are home again and back into our usual routine, you will forget Mr Ashton and remember why you accepted Mark in the first place.’
