The thought amused rather than annoyed Nathaniel. He had never stolen even a sweet from another boy as a child, and the idea of his fellow club members wondering if he had turned to petty crime was quite entertaining.
“If you mean your dignity and self-respect, I certainly didn’t steal those, Holt,” he replied nonchalantly. “You threw them away yourself a long time ago, if I’m not very much mistaken. Ah, Simkins, please escort Lord Holt downstairs. I think I’ll go out for lunch.”
* * *
“You all went to London without me.” Lilian pouted as Cecily tucked her into bed after brushing and plaiting her hair, something that was fast becoming their little bedtime ritual. “It isn’t fair.”
“You had Miss Osborne and Mrs. Barnes and Buster,” Cecily pointed out, smiling as she sat down on the bed. “In any case, you would have been bored, and my grandmother isn’t very good with children. She gets angry when they talk or move. She doesn’t like animals either, and she certainly wouldn’t have been kind to Buster.”
“Did you and Mary have to stay still and be quiet all the time when you were little?”
“Well, Grandmother would have preferred it if we had,” Cecily answered, always cautious about telling Lilian too much of her unfortunate childhood since the little girl had too many shadows on her own already.
“I could have gone with Papa,” Lilian suggested.
“To a gentlemen’s club?” Cecily laughed. “Ladies are not allowed in a gentlemen’s club, and I don’t think little girls are welcome either.”
“Not even for luncheon?” Lilian asked, incredulous at the workings of the strange adult world.
“Not even for luncheon.”
“Then Papa could have taken me out for luncheon after he’d been to his club,” Lilian insisted, still not giving up. “That’s what all the gentlemen must do with their ladies if they can’t have luncheon inside.”
“We shall plan another trip to London, and we will go to all the places you want to visit,” Cecily proposed.
Her offer had the desired effect, and soon she found she had promised enough promenades, ices, and sweets to fill three days in London, but at least Lilian was half-asleep on her pillow.
Going downstairs after she had kissed the little girl goodnight, Cecily found Nathaniel, Mary, and Patrick in the drawing room, sipping sherry before dinner and discussing their day in London.
“General Rycroft says they’ll have me gladly. They lost two captains last month and are in need of good men and good horses,” Patrick told them when she entered.
“Lost them?” Mary exclaimed, her face turning pale. “Is there not a less dangerous regiment?”
“Lost one to gout and another to marriage,” Patrick clarified promptly, coaxing laughter from both Nathaniel and Cecily,while Mary stuck her nose in the air and tried to pretend she had never been worried about him at all.
“How was your club?” Cecily asked her husband conversationally, still not able to dislodge the doubt that Lady Holt had planted in her mind earlier that day.
It struck her that he had been unusually well-dressed when he left the house that morning. Likely, his valet had made a special effort, bearing in mind the dress standards of the club. It was hard to imagine Nathaniel caring about this, unless he had some particular purpose.
“My club was just what it always is: stuffy, boozy, and filled with people I don’t really want to talk to,” he replied.
“Then why do you go there?” Patrick asked. “If it’s such a trial to you, why remain a member?”
“Sometimes you have to meet people you don’t want to talk to, and it’s better to meet them there than bring them into your house,” Nathaniel replied without elaborating.
“My ever-sociable brother!” Patrick laughed.
“Did you eat at your club?” Cecily asked, drawing a curious glance from her husband.
“No, I ate at White’s,” he answered, seeming amused by her interest. “Do you want to know what they serve on Tuesdays?”
“Whatever they served, I dare say it wasn’t as good as the roast beef I had with General Rycroft,” Patrick interjected. “My word, if they eat like that every day in the regiment, I might as well get my uniform made several inches larger.”
They all laughed, and Cecily asked no further questions about Nathaniel’s visit to his club that afternoon. He had supported her that day in keeping Mary safe while maintaining some sort of connection with their aged grandmother. How he had occupied himself in London in the meantime was his own business, and likely entirely innocent and dull.
If only it were as easy to accept such good sense in one’s heart as to think it.
* * *
