Victor came with a servant who was bearing some tea. The servant handed a cup to Lydia while Victor sank into the chair next to her. The servant then left them in peace.
“Could you not sleep?” Lydia asked.
“I thought I ought to check on John. I didn’t realize you were sitting in with him through the night.”
“I didn’t intend to,” Lydia said with soft laughter. “Falling asleep just happened.”
“The balls can be draining.”
“Yes, they can especially when we are seeking to avoid scandal.”
Victor nodded slowly. “It does become something of a game, doesn’t it? Having to watch one’s movements and words, listening to everything that is being said around you, noticing people’s stares…”
“It sounds as though you have experienced this before. I thought you avoided scandal with Lord Harry.”
Victor pursed his lips and exhaled deeply as he stared into the fire. “I did with Harry. Not with my father.”
“Your father? What happened?”
“Nothing actually happened, but of course, thetonfound a way to manufacture scandal as they are wont to leap to conclusions without knowing all the facts. It is almost laughable how history repeats itself all these years later.”
“So your father did not do anything wrong, yet the members of thetoncensured him?”
Victor turned his gaze towards her. There was an intensity in his eyes that bordered on terrifying, such was the way the flames illuminated them.
“The only thing my father did wrong was try to help someone who needed it. He visited a married woman who needed help. It was a private matter, but someone saw him leaving her house when her husband happened to be away. It was entirely coincidental, but did anyone believe him when he spoke the truth? They believed what they wanted to believe, and that is always the most salacious thing. They have no dignity or grace at all,” he said, almost spitting the words.
“I had no idea. I’m sorry.”
“I learned then that there could be no hint of scandal because thetonlikes to tear people down. Their treatment took a toll on my father. He couldn’t believe that people would smear his character like that, and the effect on his heart was fatal. I was left to become master of the estate when I was just two-and-twenty, and I swore that I would never let anything like that happen again.”
A rueful look came upon his eyes, and his tone softened.
“Harry was younger. Perhaps he did not see how it affected our father. If he had, perhaps he would understand…” Victor trailed away.
“All we can do is try to endure it. My parents used to tell me that sometimes storms come along, and we can do nothing about them. They are a part of life, and the best we can do is prepare for them and hope that we have the strength to endure them. They were botanists, and they showed me that sometimes you could give a plant exactly what it needed and place it in the right environment, but even then, it may not grow properly. There is an unpredictable element to the universe.”
“And it’s called theton,” Victor said.
Lydia laughed. The sound burst out of her quite unexpectedly, for she had not anticipated him being so wry given the nature of the conversation. He sipped his tea and looked amused.
“Edmund told me a little about your parents. They seem to have made a fine impression on you all. I regret that it is not possible to meet them.”
“As I do with yours,” Lydia said. “I’ll never forget them, and the way they were together. They loved each other deeply, and they always showed affection to each other. They faced every challenge together, and I always hoped I would have a love like that,” she said, blushing a little after she said this because she feared Victor might take offence.
If this was the case, he did not show any sign of it.
“My parents were more… traditional. They did not make a great display of their affection although they must have loved eachother deeply as my father never remarried after Mother passed away.”
“How did she pass?” Lydia asked.
“Giving birth to Harry. It was horrible of me, but I used to blame him for the fact that she was not around any longer. I am ashamed of my behavior now.”
“You were only a child. I resented my parents for a long time after they died. I couldn’t understand why they had to go away. If they had just stayed with us, then they would have survived. They used to promise that they would always be with us, but they broke that promise when they died.”
“There is more of that unpredictability.”
Lydia nodded. “And we have both suffered from that. We have both endured it.”
