Percival had seenTattleton and the rest of the Bennington household off on their way back to Somerset. He’d convinced the butler to give him a key to the back garden gate and then brought his own gardener to Town to rectify what Lord Darling had put asunder.
After that, he’d waited impatiently for three days for Hamill to return from racing his carriage somewhere or other. The fellow was forever racing his carriage!
Finally, Hamill had turned up and Percival had acquainted him with his ideas. Their work was to be redoubled. They would go at it night and day.
“You see what I say,” Percival said as Hamill sat on his sofa, looking bemused. “I’ll do whatever you ask—we’ll run round in our bare feet all day long, we could even swim the Serpentine, I’ll box until I’m unconscious on the ground. Nothing is out of bounds!”
“For you, maybe,” Hamill said, laughing. “By the by, Darden wrote to me—Lady Van Doren’s child has recovered.”
Percival sank into a chair. “Has she? That is good, very good. Now, I wonder, does the family return to Town now that the danger has passed?”
“No, they do not,” Hamill said. “Apparently, moving the Bennington household from one place to the next is a bit of a palaver.”
“Yes, I can see how it would be,” Percival said thoughtfully.
“Darden says the duke and Baderston have arrived to Somerset with their wives in tow and will stay for some months. They are a rather united group, I think.”
Yes, they were united. It was part of their charm.
If he were lucky, and turned himself into a credible Corinthian, he might find himself a part of it all.
It was strange to think about. He did not himself have much of an extended family. He was an only child, as was his mother. His father had a brother, but he’d died before marrying. Percival did of course have more distant cousins. It was England, everybody had those. But they were the sort one exchanged Christmas greetings with, little more.
A darker thought occurred to him. “Um, what sort of gentlemen are lurking round that neighborhood in Somerset? Do you happen to know?”
The idea of some fop riding over to her house every day was, well it was not to be borne.
“I do not happen to know, though Darden has never mentioned anybody in particular.”
“Well now, good news all round. As to our plan, we’d best get started mapping out a schedule,” Percival said. “A tight schedule, mind you.”
Hamill had roared with laughter over the idea. “My friend,” he said when he could catch his breath, “you are coming at this like you are writing a paper for the Royal Society. The thing with various sports is, it is supposed to be fun, not work.”
“Fun?” Percival said, entirely unsuccessful at keeping the incredulity from his voice. There had been nothing fun about his outings with Hamill.
“Yes. Fun. Amusement. Enjoyment of competition. A diversion,” Hamill said.
The last thing he would have called running round the park was diverting.
“What do you advise then?” Percival asked. “As I cannot claim to yet see the fun in any of it.”
“Relax. That’s what I advise. Tomorrow morning, we will box until we drop. Other days, we will do other things. In a month, you can come home with me and continue on at my estate. My mother and father are jolly as anything, we have a bowling green, tennis green, loads of trails to ride out on, hiking, billiards, and we even have a lake and one-man sailboats. Then, of course, the shooting.”
“Well, I do not know, I would not like to be an imposition to the duke and duchess.”
“They won’t see you as an imposition. Of course, my sister might, but Theodora has always got her nose in a book and is complaining about the noise.”
Hamill paused. “I suppose the two of you will have a lot to talk about, she considers herself quite the intellectual. We do not encourage her at it, though. It makes for tedious dinner conversation. Do any of us wish to know the reproductive habits of frogs? No, Theodora, we do not.”
Percival laughed at the idea, though he also found himself a bit embarrassed over it too. He did know the reproductive habits of frogs, it had been a Royal Society paper, and he would not mind discussing it.
He had bigger things to do though. By next season, he must be a seasoned sportsman. The frogs could manage themselves.
“I’d have to make arrangements with my steward,” he said quietly, “though he is a reliable fellow—”
“It’s settled then,” Hamill said.
*
