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Mother moaned softly, a handkerchief to her eyes, and Letitia muttered, “Really, James! Have some compassion for Mama’s nerves. She is quite overset this morning.”
“James has not the least sensibility, you should know that by now, Letty,” Michael said. “He never enters into anyone’s feelings, no matter how deeply distraught they may be.”
“One distraught person at a time is quite enough, one might have supposed,” James said.
“You have not even the heart to be upset on your own account, when you had to suffer the awkwardness of attending Miss Julia Fletcher. Such a graceless girl, yet you showed not the least awareness of it. You feel nothing, nothing at all.”
“You wound me deeply, brother,” James said. “I was very cut up when my favourite hunter fell and broke his leg.”
Michael huffed in exasperation, but Uncle Morgan chuckled. “Serves you right for stuffing him at that wall instead of taking the hedge, like everyone else. You were showing off, and got what you deserved by it.”
“Not entirely true,” James said. “It should have beenmyfate to hit the wall, but somehow I sailed right over it and Legend took the brunt of it, instead. Rather fortunate for me.”
“Or ill fortune for the rest of us,” Letitia said waspishly. “It is a pity you did not break your head and spare us all your inanity.”
“Ah, such sisterly affection. You would miss me if I were dead and buried,” James said.
“Not in the least, I do assure you.”
They would probably have continued in a similar vein for some time, for James was of a mind to be amused and Letitia was all too easy to tease, but just at that moment the clock struck the hour and Sir Owen strode into the room. The gentlemen all rose to their feet, sitting down again only when Sir Owen had taken his own seat at the foot of the table. The servants sprang into action, and for a while nothing was said except for polite requests for this or that dish.
When the servants had withdrawn, Sir Owen set down his coffee cup and looked around the table at his assembled family. “Now that we have seen the Fletcher family properly for the first time, I trust you will all agree with me that they are a respectable, sensible family, not such as any person of good breeding need be ashamed to acknowledge as an acquaintance. I have already discussed this with Lady Plummer, but now I say it to all of you. Weshallacknowledge the Fletchers, all of us. Here in Hertfordshire we will offer them every courtesy, we will invite them to this house, and accept such invitations to Chadwell Park as they offer to us. London is another matter. I have explained to Fletcher that Lady Plummer cannot be expected to sponsor his daughters in society, nor shall I propose his sons for White’s. They must make their own way in the world. Fletcher will not go into society in London, that will be left to Mrs Fletcher and the young people, but they have some connections, seemingly. If we encounter them, we will acknowledge them, just as we do here, but there is no need to go beyond that if we do not wish it, and they do not expect it. Michael, what did you think of Miss Fletcher?”
“She is… pleasant,” he said tentatively.
“I thought her a very well-mannered young lady,” his father said. “Even Lady Plummer could not fault her behaviour.”
“But the rest of them, Sir Owen!” his wife said, lifting her damp handkerchief from her eyes. “The middle girl is a veritable hoyden, and the youngest looks as if butter would not melt in her mouth, but I am certain it was she who hid the salt.”
“She moved my wine glass, too,” Charles said. “I took a mouthful of water by mistake. Dreadful child.”
“They are every bit as coarse as I had feared,” she said. “No breeding at all, and to think that we are expected to deal with them almost as if they were our equals! It is too bad, too bad altogether. We have quite enough to contend with, crammed in here as we are and all the economies we have to make.”
“Is it not pleasant to have the family under one roof?” Sir Owen said, in gentle tones. “And, as I have explained, my dear, the need for economy is removed now that we no longer have the burden of the Park. I concede that the Fletchers have not your good taste, but then few people do.”
“I thought they were amusing,” James said, and perhaps he spoke rather more loudly than usual, for they all turned to stare at him.
“Amusing?” Letitia said in tones of astonishment. “You are impossible, James! How any person of refinement could consider such vulgar people amusing is beyond comprehension.”
“Now that is too much, Letitia,” Sir Owen said repressively. “I saw nothing vulgar about the Fletchers. Fletcher himself may not speak quite as we do, but his opinions are sound, and there is little to fault in the rest of the family. They may not possess the innate good breeding that Lady Plummer displays, but their manners were by no means displeasing. Charles, what do you think your brother the marquess would make of them?”
“Nothing at all, Sir Owen,” Charles sniffed, “for I sincerely hope he will never be obliged to meet such people. They would certainly never be invited to Barrowsworth.”
Sir Owen sighed. “Patricia?”
“They were polite,” she said in her soft voice.
“Morgan?”
“That Miss Paton is a termagant, but the rest of them are tolerable, I dare say, if one has no better company. The men played a good hand of whist, I will say that for them. The father and younger son took twenty pounds from me.”
“They took twenty pounds from Papa, you mean,” Letitia said acidly, but Morgan only laughed. He had been sponging off his brother for so long that he no longer even pretended to feel guilty about it.
Sir Owen ignored the interruption. “Michael, having seen the young lady for myself, I can tell you that I would have no objection to Miss Rose Fletcher as a daughter-in-law, and her fifty thousand pounds would give you a very comfortable independence. You have my authority to pursue the matter, if you wish. As for the others, you may find that they improve upon closer acquaintance, but I will not disdain their company. Patricia, ring the bell for more coffee, will you?”
And thus was the Fletcher family disposed of.
~~~~~
