AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Huh.” He consumed most of a slice of roast beef in one bite, and silence reigned while he chewed. “Ferrington’s procured the license,” he said then. “So that’s all right and tight.”
“Oh,” said Charlotte. “Is the earl… You have heard from him?”
“That’s what I said.”
Charlotte and Sarah turned to look at Harriet. She concentrated on her dinner.
Naturally, they pounced on her as soon as the meal was over, congregating around the pianoforte in the drawing room again to put their heads together. Fortunately her grandfather had not joined them this evening.
“Tell,” demanded Charlotte in a sibilant whisper.
“You saw Ferrington on your walk, didn’t you?” asked Sarah.
“And you didn’t break it off,” said Charlotte.
“No. We decided we…may as well marry.”
“May as well?” Sarah’s voice rang out.
“What is it?” asked Harriet’s mother from the sofa across the room.
“Nothing, Mama,” said Harriet. “We are looking for music to play.”
“May as well?” muttered Sarah.
“As we are so much in love,” Harriet answered with a radiant smile.
“Oh, Harriet.” Sarah hugged her.
“And that is what you want,” said Charlotte.
“With all my heart.”
“Then I’m happy for you.”
“Harriet?” said her mother, clearly sensing more was going on than she was being told.
“Yes, Mama.” Harriet handed Charlotte a sheet of music and went to sit beside her mother. “I wanted to speak to you,” she told her.
“Is something wrong?”
This was always her mother’s first assumption, Harriet thought sadly. “No. It is just a new idea. Or a possibility really. For you to consider.”
“Me?”
Was she asked so seldom to choose? That should not be. “I was talking to Ferrington today, and he told me of your conversation about Tunbridge Wells.”
Her mother blinked. Had she been anxious all Harriet’s life? Perhaps so, but not to this extent.
“He said… He got the idea you were quite happy living there. After I’d gone off to school.”
“I missed you very much, of course,” replied her mother, as if this had been an accusation.
She’d had little reason to miss such an oblivious daughter, Harriet thought. Well, she would not be that way anymore. “And he thought…wondered if you might like to return. Our old house is…available. And he would be glad to procure it for you.” She did not say he had already done so. They’d agreed that arrangements were to be all up to her mother. If she didn’t want the house, it could be let. She was to be where she wished to be.
“Tunbridge Wells?” she said.
To Harriet’s horror, Mama’s eyes filled with tears. “You are most welcome at Ferrington Hall, of course. Indeed, we want you there. Absolutely. Both of us. Ferrington only thought…”
