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“Oh, I’m very well aware of it.” Mr Marwick raised an eyebrow at Katherine and stroked his plush moustache. “A tragedy his untimely death precluded that though, of course, I’m delighted, otherwise I’d not be squiring your lovely granddaughter about.”
“She is lovely, isn’t she?” Lady Brightwell’s assessing gaze travelled from Katherine’s burning cheeks to Mr Marwick’s smug confidence. She gave Katherine’s arm a squeeze. “You enjoy yourself, my dear. I’m sure Mr Marwick will take very good care of you.”
Katherine was relieved to be deposited back with her mother and aunt, and even more relieved when it was proposed that they should leave early in case the weather grew worse.
Pleading exhaustion when they arrived home, she went straight to her bedchamber and sat on the bed, staring into the dancing flames of the small fire her maid had stoked up in anticipation of her return.
With every passing moment, Jack was going further from her. She’d thought she was big enough and noble enough to be happy for him, but the truth was that she longed to be away from here. She’d suffer any privation to be with Jack, she decided.
Balls and fine clothes were all very well, but the real substance of life was sharing adventures with a kindred spirit.
Half an hour later when she was about to undress for bed, Mary entered the room bearing an envelope with Katherine’s name on it.
“It were handed in at the kitchen, miss, wiv directions it come straight to ye,” the girl said. “I’m sure it ain’t proper, but I won’t say anyfink if yer don’t want me ter.”
Katherine grinned and handed her sixpence. “There you are, Mary. That’s for your silence. I’m sure there’s nothing improper about it at all. No doubt one of the gentlemen I met tonight wishes to go walking with me tomorrow.”
In this genuinely sanguine mood, she dismissed Mary after she’d helped her off with her ballgown and into her night clothes. Taking a seat at her writing desk, she slit the envelope and pulled out the elegant piece of paper with its hastily scrawled message. And her heartbeat grew more rapid as her eyes scanned the following lines:
“Dearest Katherine,
You said you loved adventure, and so I’m proposing the greatest adventure of both our lives.
Run away with me! Tonight, when it’s possible, and I have a carriage awaiting! Let spontaneity and whatever is in your heart right now dictate your actions, for if you sleep on the idea, a more composed view of your future will ensure that you behave with a propriety that may be at odds with the future happiness of both of us.
If you look outside your window, you’ll see a post-chaise. It’ll be there for the next three hours. Three hours to enable you to prepare; to take what you need to take, or as a potent symbol of possibility if it takes longer to persuade you of the merits of my proposal.
Tonight, as I stared into the dark night and listened to the storm, my heart was full of—”
She broke off reading as the door opened and her mother entered the room, her night attire covered by a beautiful, blue-and-gold silk dressing gown. “Katherine, my love. I thought you’d be in bed by now.”
Katherine tried to regulate the pounding of her heart. “I couldn’t sleep, Mama,” she lied, clasping her hands behind her back to hide the letter.
“In that case, now would be a good time to have a little chat.” Her mother looked distracted as she moved forward, presumably to sit on the bed.
“About what, Mama?”
“About Mr Marwick.” Her mother held out her hand to take Katherine’s. Katherine crumpled the letter in h
er palm, but when she saw her mother was about to take that very hand, she unfurled it, letting the letter drop. A gust of wind through the partly open window rustled the several letters on Katherine’s writing desk, lifting one and sending it across the short distance towards the fireplace.
“Quick! Catch it!” said her mother, taking a step towards Katherine, about to bend down, but not as quickly as Katherine who whisked up the letter she’d been writing to a school friend just as she saw flames lick the corner of the note she’d just received.
“Katherine, there’s another one. Quickly!” Her mother reached across her to seize Jack’s note, but Katherine stayed her hand. “It was a discarded draft,” she said, looking at the crumpled parchment. She’d read all that was necessary, and so it was better that it be reduced to cinders.
If Jack wanted Katherine to elope with him, Katherine didn’t need three hours to make up her mind. No, Katherine was prepared to cross stormy oceans to be with him because she loved him. Loved him too much to be a burden if he needed to do his adventuring alone, but enough to cross oceans to join him if that’s what he wanted.
“Katherine, I’ve heard talk surrounding Mr Marwick that I think you should know.”
“Please, Mama, I’m very tired.” Katherine sat heavily on the bed and rubbed her eyes. “Can we talk about this in the morning?”
Lady Fenton looked troubled, then sighed. “I’m sure it can, my dear.” She wrapped her dressing gown more closely about her, rose, and walked to the door.
“Mama…” Katherine hesitated, unsure how to progress but bolstered by her mother’s sympathetic and enquiring look when she turned. “How did you know you were in love with Papa? I mean, you surely had other suitors who were just as eligible.”
Lady Fenton put her hand to her heart. “How did I know? I just did. Just as I knew no one else would do, now that I’d met him. Don’t worry, my dear. You have plenty of time. Be patient, and the same will happen to you.”
Tentatively, Katherine asked, “Would you have crossed oceans to be with Papa? Even if he hadn’t been rich?”
