He watched carefully as Mrs. Gunn took Miss Upton under the breaking water and they stumbled out of it. Her fine-boned ankles showed from under her sea bathing costume, which he should not be looking at but was looking at.
The duchess went under the break herself and Mrs. Gunn helped her up the stony beach.
He began to feel ridiculous, swimming in his clothes and noticing ankles. He also began to feel exhausted.
At least the beach was empty and nobody would have witnessed this debacle. He was both furious and relieved. He really had thought Miss Upton was on the verge of drowning. In that moment, he was seized by the idea that she could not be allowed to drown.
She was vexing and impulsive and trouble wafted round her like an ill-omened shawl. But she could not be allowed to drown.
*
Bemmy had rushedinto the bathing machine looking white-faced. “Was you drowning?” she whispered into Caroline’s ear.
“Do not bother attempting a whisper in a bathing machine, Bemmy,” the duchess said. “We can hear you quite clearly and Miss Upton was certainly not drowning.”
Bemmy breathed a long sigh and said, “I thought Miss Upton waved to me and I waved back but then Lord Bertridge said I was wrong and she was in distress. My heart nearly pounded out of my chest.”
Caroline did not answer, but her heart had nearly pounded out of her chest too. What a shock to hear his voice out there, and then there he was.
What had he been doing at the beach? Had he come to be certain they were all right?
And then to attempt such a daring rescue! It would take enormous strength to swim while being weighed down so heavily by a full set of clothes.
It was very touching that he’d tried it, though she had not in fact needed rescuing.
Of course, she must not flatter herself. He might just as well have wished to save her from drowning to prevent any trouble to his aunt.
He’d been so forceful, ordering them all out of the water as he did. While swimming in high swells had been exhilarating, it had perhaps not been the most sensible thing in the world.
She peeked out the small window of the bathing machine and saw him storming toward the road. She could not imagine what he would say upon entering the house soaked in seawater.
“I fear Lord Bertridge was not approving of our plan,” the duchess said. “Poor fellow, he is so little approving of anything.”
While that was true, Caroline had a great wish to defend the lord. “It was very gallant though,” she said, “to rush to the rescue as he did.”
“Oh yes, Bertridge is no physical coward,” the duchess said. “It’s his mind, you see. He’s wound tighter than the clocks he and Clara are so fond of. I suppose he’ll mellow with age. At least, one hopes.”
Caroline had often thought the same, though she found it somehow uncomfortable to hear the duchess say it.
“He was a right Sir Galahad, coming to a lady’s rescue,” Bemmy said boldly. “P’raps it softens some opinions I might’a formed.”
The duchess looked askance at Bemmy, clearly unused to hearing that a lady’s maid went about forming opinions.
“And here I was,” Mrs. Gunn said chuckling, “thinking he was doing away with himself. It would be the day for it—a man gambles away his fortune and wakes to a storm, it’s been done like that before.”
Caroline shivered at the notion.
“If one thing can be said for Lord Bertridge,” the duchess said, “it is that he will never find himself in such dire financial straits. He is careful with his estate and the people who work on it. His wife, whoever she may turn out to be, may not wake to jokes and hilarity every morning, but she will wake secure.”
Caroline, though she knew that fact perfectly well about Lord Bertridge, suddenly felt the full force of it. The duchess was right. He might steam and bluster about this or that thing, but he was careful and anybody dependent on him would be safe.
He was very like her father in that way. Baron Dunn did not have the same means, or in any way a like temperament, but he always ensured that his wife and children never felt the pinch when a horse race did not go his way. He would take the pinch himself and he would protect the family always.
She could not say why, but she very much felt like crying at that moment.
*
Richard had notbeen able to slip into the house unnoticed. Bramley, as always, was lurking within range. The butler appeared startled to find him dripping wet and Richard had muttered something about taking a walk. Let Bramley believe he dripped with rainwater, though he’d told the truth to Kingston as he had no idea what saltwater would do to his clothes or what the remedy might be.
