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“Ashbrooke, if we are the cause of this folly, and I believe we are, please accept our apologies. We never meant to come between you and the lady.” Lord Edward put in.
“Not sporting of us at all.” Weston agreed.
“I accept your apologies,” John said. “But perhaps it is all for the best. It has stopped me from committing a horrible act of betrayal against love itself, and it has caused me to see how selfish I have been for a good many years.”
“What’s this then?” Henderson asked. The group of gentlemen were collectively confused.
“It hardly matters now.” Sir John replied, dejectedly.
“Of course, it matters,” Henderson said. “We are your friends.”
“Yes,” added Lord Edward. “What may we do to help?”
John considered for a moment. He did not think they could do anything to fix the rift that had occurred between him and Lady Charlotte, but if Lord Keegain was right, there was another secret that needed to be told. If they were his friends, they would understand, and if not…Well, it hardly mattered. He would no longer run in their circles anyway. He would not be able to afford it.
Sir John spoke in a steady and strong voice. “There is another of my secrets, one which I had thought to keep from everyone for quite some time, but I do not have the heart to be keeping secrets or to pretend any longer.”
“What secret?” asked Lord Blakely.
“My mother is French. It was foolish of me to conceal it. I was always tormented as a boy for the fact, and as an adult I resolved to keep that information as secret as possible. It is not pleasant to be viewed with suspicion, but I feel now that that was a selfish and ungentlemanly decision. You are my friends. I should trust you with the secret of my past and the knowledge of what has most recently occurred.”
“What knowledge is that?” Lord Edward asked.
“My late uncle was once in service to Napoleon. I was young when it happened. I suppose, he changed his colors to save his head, but that is no excuse for his treason. Recently, my cousin came to visit me. He attempted to embroil me in a most nefarious plot. I rightly refused him. If we are friends, I must trust you to believe that I have never been anything but loyal to England. If any of you feel that I am reprehensible for concealing such connections, then so be it.”
The gentlemen were silent for a beat.
Lord Edward spoke first. “I am sure that none of us could have ever thought less of you, Ashbrooke.”
“Your relations actions are not your own,” Lord Henderson said.
John shrugged, not fully believing his friends acceptance. “I was wrong to be ashamed of my mother. She is a wonderful woman who has never done anything to deserve such a betrayal from her own son, and worse, I fear I am not the man my father expected me to be.”
“We all fall short of our father’s expectations,” Blakely said taking a long sip of his drink.
“Here, here,” Weston said in agreement. “You are a better man than I Ashbrooke.”
Sir John shook his head. “It was wrong to enter into such a callous and calculated wager involving Lady Charlotte. It is no excuse to say that I was betting against something I did not believe existed. Even if there was no such thing as love it would still be inexcusable to view any person as worthwhile only as they could benefit me financially.”
His friends, all of whom had understood the necessity of marrying for money shifted uncomfortably at Sir John’s words. Several looked quite stricken.
“Come now, though, you have won the wager fairly. We agreed at the beginning that there was to be no sabotage and that has clearly occurred,” Lord Weston put in. “I admit I did not think it quite sporting when you asked to call it off some weeks ago, but I am more than happy to pay up in this situation.”
“No, I will not accept any winnings,” Ashbrooke said firmly. “I would feel that it was blood money. It is I, who has been proven wrong. I have fallen most deeply and profoundly in love with Lady Charlotte, and I would deserve her even less than I already do if I were to profit from her pain. I shall pay you all what I owe and that is my last word on the matter.”
“Is there no way to change the lady’s mind? Youaretruly no longer engaged?” asked Lord Blakely.
“No, she quite rightly cast me away upon the revelation of the wager. It makes no difference to my sentiment. I will love her and her only for the rest of my life, even if I am never able to convince her of the fact. If a life of devoted contrition is not enough to earn her forgiveness, then it will still be the most worthwhile way to spend my days.”
“I say, Ashbrooke!” Lord Weston exclaimed. ”Is it truly as bad as all that?”
Sir John nodded solemnly. “It is, and I cannot even claim that my ignorance and misunderstanding of the importance of love as an excuse. It is not a weakness for women to believe in love and romance. The weakness was mine, in disparaging the fairer sex in general for their passions. Love is a wondrous emotion, without which the human condition would be greatly diminished. It is a thing of strength, not of weakness; as I once assumed. I do not attempt to convince anyone here to think as I do, I am merely explaining my own altered feelings on the subject. I have been proven wrong. So, I shall pay what I owe each of you, and we may consider the matter of the wager ended once and for all.”
“John,” Lord Henderson objected. “You cannot afford this.”
“I can. If I could not afford the wager, I most certainly would not have made it, but I shall not remain in Town. I shall retire to the country. Even now, I am looking for simpler accommodations.”
“You cannot simply quit Town. You truly mean to say you shall not look for another heiress?” Lord Blakely asked.
