AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER9
“How are things with your lady?” Lord Watson asked, fiddling with his mustache. A week had passed since the debacle with the pheasants and all Henry really wanted to do was put the incident out of his mind. He felt humiliated by his own error in judgment and while he didn’t begrudge Eleanor her horrified reaction, he did think the whole thing could have been handled better.
“Not so splendid as I would have hoped,” Henry mumbled, straightening a stack of papers that were laying haphazardly near the corner of his desk.
Lord Watson looked surprised. “Really? Why not?”
Henry slouched in his chair, reluctant to retell what he had come to refer to, at least in his own mind, as the folly with the pheasants. “She didn’t like the present I gave her.”
Lord Watson’s eyebrows contracted in concern. “What was wrong with it?”
Henry grumbled incoherently and then he drew himself up to a proper sitting position. It was best to admit his fault. “After you and I spoke last week, I felt like I needed to win Eleanor over by bringing her a gift. That day, you may remember, I shot down two very handsome birds, and so when I came back to the house…”
“You didn’t,” Lord Watson interrupted.
Henry hung his head in shame. “I’m sorry to admit that I did.”
“But even I know your lady better than that,” Lord Watson replied, the reproach apparent in his tone. “Everyone in thetonknows Lady Eleanor’s affinity for animals, especially birds. Didn’t you tell me that’s how you first met her? She was feeding the ducks in Hyde Park?”
Henry stood and began pacing about his study. “Yes, yes,” he sighed deeply, “Eleanor does love her animals.”
Lord Watson’s eyes followed Henry as he moved swiftly back and forth about the room. “Then why would you think she would appreciate a gift of pheasants?”
“My grandmother and Lady Clay seemed to like them,” Henry answered childishly.
“Then perhaps you should have married one of them,” Lord Watson responded in a clipped tone. Henry knew he was trying to be funny, but the comment made him scowl all the same. He liked Eleanor. From that first moment he saw her in Hyde Park, he appreciated the way she nurtured animals. It was foolish, beyond foolish, it was sheer idiocy that had made him think she would like the pheasants.
“I heartily regret my actions. I have wished a hundred times since then I could undo them.” Henry stopped pacing and he looked at Lord Watson with pleading eyes. “I fear she will never forgive me.”
Lord Watson’s cynical stare softened. He gave Henry a warm smile. “Have you spoken to your wife about any of this? Have you told her you realized at once that you made a wretched mistake and that you are very sorry for any grief it might have caused her?”
Henry furrowed his brow. That was the trouble. He’d tried to apologize to Eleanor. Well…a little. That day, in the drawing room, he had tried to own his error and remedy it, but somehow his grandmother had turned the discussion into one about Henry’s sporting habits. The whole situation had unfolded miserably, and it had resulted in Eleanor shunning Henry for the last seven nights.
“We’re still…” Henry paused. He had been about to tell Lord Watson that he and Eleanor were working through their issues, but that was untrue. “No, with you, I cannot be false. Eleanor and I have not spoken two words together since. I do believe she may never forgive me.”
Lord Watson tipped his head to the side, as if he were examining Henry very closely. “I must say, I think she’ll come around.”
Henry felt a thrill of hope spring into his chest, and he stopped his pacing. He returned to his seat and sat forward eagerly with his elbows now resting on the blotter on top of the desk. “Really? What makes you think that? You don’t know, Eleanor, do you?”
“Not at all,” Lord Watson replied, waving his hand through the air dismissively. “I only know what I have been told about your wife, but I knowyou.” He stopped and gave Henry an appraising look. “I’ve known you since you were a boy and I do believe I’ve never seen you quite so enamored of anyone or anything.”
Henry stammered, “Enamored… I…well.”
Lord Watson chuckled good-naturedly, “That sort of response only goes to prove my point. You may not have been in love with your wife when you married, but you have very strong feelings for her now.”
“But she won’t even speak to me,” Henry replied dejectedly.
“Yes, but somehow your admiration and affections towards her have continued to grow,” Lord Watson observed. He laced his hands over his stomach and adjusted his weight to sit more comfortably in his chair.
“I don’t understand,” Henry mumbled, but even as he did, he had a feeling that Lord Watson was right. The guilt he felt over making Eleanor so unhappy rankled inside him. Everyday, he watched her from a distance, thinking somehow, he would be able to go up to her, say something charming, and win her over. But, every day, as he watched her stroll about the park or sit on a divan with one of her beloved cats, he felt her slipping further and further away from him.
“Love has that effect on people,” Lord Watson said. “It turns otherwise sensible human beings into completely wretched versions of themselves, unable to comprehend why they do something, even as they are in the thick of it.” Henry knew in that instant that his friend must be correct.
I must be falling in love with Eleanor.
“What am I to do?” Henry asked, running a hand through his hair.
Lord Watson chuckled in his avuncular fashion again. “There are worse things than falling in love with one’s wife,” he chided playfully.
