His eyes held hers, intent and searching, before he broke them away. “I cannot accept Will’s offer.”
Caroline swallowed her disappointment. “I understand. And, even if I did give them to you, with this fifth vote, Oswald has what he needs to win.”
“I thought there were ten votes, not counting the absentee fellow,” Mrs. Ashby said. “That would make it a tie.”
“In that case,” Lady Radcliffe said, “the returning officer would cast the final vote. Oswald has gone out of his way to become friendly with Hannaford. I imagine he anticipated he might come to need his support.”
It was quiet as everyone reflected upon the impossibility of the situation.
For her own part, Caroline was coming to a realization that made her stomach swim. She could not vote for Oswald, and because there were no alternative candidates, there was only one choice: she could not vote at all.
All her best intentions to utilize her power for the good of Trelowen would come to naught in the end, then. But the only other option was to cast her votes for someone she could not in good conscience support.
“I am sorry you made the journey all the way here for this,” Frederick said to his brother and aunt with a rueful smile.
“Nonsense.” Mrs. Ashby looked at Caroline with a twinkle in her eye. “I came for the society.”
Caroline gave a small laugh, but it was short-lived.
“I shall attend the election as planned,” Mrs. Ashby said. “As will you, Frederick.”
Frederick shook his head.
“You would leave me to brave the wilds of a Cornish by-election without a male chaperone? Do not be ridiculous! You came here for an election, and you shan’t hide from it merely because you cannot win it. You are a Yorke.” She jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow, and he jolted upward. “Stand tall. If this Oswald fellow means to swindle his way into a parliamentary seat, force him to look you in the eye as he does it.”
Frederick listened with a hand rubbing his ribs and a growing, reluctant smile on his face. “Very well. I shall accompany you.” His gaze moved to Caroline and warmed.
She reached for his hand again.
This election would not be what either of them had hoped, but she took solace in the fact that she had him, at least, for Frederick Yorke was something beyond even her dreams.
24
FREDERICK
“It appears you could not have avoided the election even if you had wished to,” William commented to Frederick as they pushed their way out of the door of The Silver Pilchard the following morning.
The area in front of the inn was teeming with people—adults, children, and merchants hawking meat pies and cider. It reminded Frederick of the party on the beach when he had announced his candidacy.
The thought elicited a small sigh.
Mrs. Tonkin and Jory had set up the same trestle table outside the inn and were offering fairings and ale.
“Just a moment,” Frederick said, and he shouldered his way over to them. Mrs. Tonkin’s gaze fixed upon him, and they regarded one another for a moment. Since Will and Aunt Eugenia’s arrival, she had alternated between warmth and aloofness, no doubt torn between Oswald’s threats and a desire to please her guests.
“Three fairings, please.”Frederick handed the coins to Jory and smiled at Mrs. Tonkin as she handed him the biscuits.
“My compliments to His Grace and Mrs. Ashby,” she said.
“And to me?” Frederick suggested with a teasing light in his eye.
Mrs. Tonkin merelyhmph’d at this, but there was a twitch at the corner of her mouth despite it.
He took his spoils and made his way back to Will and Aunt Eugenia, looking with no success for any sign of Caroline.
“Good luck, Mr. Yorke!” Ruan slapped him on the back, and the other nearby fishermen seconded this.
Frederick opened his mouth to explain that no amount of luck would be sufficient as he was not even a candidate anymore, but a woman and her four children bumped into him, and it was all he could do to keep the fairings in his hand.
