Miss Mayton peered out the window. “Goodness,” she said, “let us walk over and find out.”
This was, quite naturally, hailed as an excellent plan. As it was mild weather at that moment, they did not even stop for their cloaks.
Walking across the road at a clip, they reached the other side just as Van Doren was coming out of the house again.
“That carriage must be fully padded against any jostling,” he shouted to his butler.
“My lord,” Genroy said, “we must still leave room for two people.”
“Yes, of course, people!” Van Doren said, running a hand through his hair.
“Van Doren,” Juliet said, “what on earth are you doing?”
The viscount spun around, seeming to have no idea where they’d come from.
“What am Idoing? I have no time to explain what I’m doing!”
Beatrice walked out of the house and laid a hand on her husband’s arm. “You really must calm yourself, my darling.” To her sisters and Miss Mayton, she said, “I have told him the news.”
“Are you going back to Somerset, then?” Viola asked.
Beatrice nodded. “I’m afraid my lord does not believe in the efficacy of London air,” she said laughing.
Juliet peered at the pillows in the carriage. “But what is all this? Are you planning on sleeping all the way there?”
Van Doren stared at her as if she’d lost her wits. “My God, does nobody have any sense around here? It’s for the jostling. Lady Van Doren must not be jostled.”
“It’s a baby, not a porcelain cup,” Cordelia said.
“Very true,” Viola said. “Mrs. Ranford rode her horse right up to her confinement.”
“Then Mrs. Ranford is a madwoman,” Van Doren said.
“You ought to talk to Mrs. Ranford about her experience with madness, then,” Juliet said, “maybe she can give you some tips now that you are slipping into your own lunacy.”
“I am a busy man, Juliet!”
Beatrice patted her husband’s arm and said, “Genroy, please take Lord Van Doren inside while the other carriage is being packed. Give him a cup of tea…or a brandy if that seems better.”
“But you will be all right out here? In the out of doors?” Van Doren asked Beatrice. “Is there a chill? I am so distracted that I cannot even tell.”
“I will be quite fine and must say goodbye to my sisters. You know perfectly well that would only aggravate you further. Juliet might call you scoldy-breeches or recite you an ode.”
Van Doren narrowed his eyes at Juliet. “Wouldn’t she just.”
Genroy led the very shaken viscount back into the house.
Beatrice turned back to her sisters and Miss Mayton. “Goodness, I knew he would be a bit cautious upon being apprised of my condition, but I hadn’t thought I’d be riding on pillows all the way home.”
“Must you really go though, Bea?” Viola asked.
“I’m afraid so. You see what sort of state he’s in, and that’s the calmafterI agreed to return home. No matter though, for all his blustering, he is right. I find my mood has changed and I am very much looking forward to doing a bit of nesting.”
“Making things all cozy in the nursery,” Juliet said.
“Precisely,” Beatrice said. “One of the lures he used to convince me we ought to go home is that there is no limit on what I might spend to make the nursery everything I wish for. Well, once I got to thinking about it, there are no end of things I would wish to change. He will no doubt live to regret that offer.”
“I’ll write an ode about nesting in the nursery,” Juliet said.
