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She lowered her gaze, willing her heart to stop its futile patter at his praise.
A visit to the doctor was deemed less essential, especially when Mama explained that the doctor was likely to call in to see the general in the next day or so, and a servant could be sent to Mannering to fetch the captain, if he so wished. The captain assented, then spoke of his determination to look over the Mannering estate and delve into what ledgers and accounts remained on the property to have some idea of what the meeting with Mr. Cleever might involve, and soon made his adieu.
“Oh, Uncle, might I please come back with you?” Becky asked. “Just for a quick visit? I have scarcely returned to Mannering since”—she swallowed—“since Mother died, and I would like to see how Janet and Ian are getting on.”
He shot Theo a quick glance.
Theo leaned forward in her chair. “That would be a very good idea. I am sure your uncle will appreciate your showing him various matters around the house and gardens.”
“I’ll just get my pelisse then.” Becky hurried from the room.
“I’m sorry if I was presumptuous,” Theo said in a lowered voice, “but I do feel it would be best for her to return, as she’s been quite unwilling to visit Mannering until now.”
“Of course. It is her home, after all. Well, it was,” he added uncertainly.
“I’m sure it will help.”
He sighed. “I don’t mind admitting that I hope she can see some of the decay and the like, and perhaps realize that living elsewhere will prove to be of benefit rather than a disappointment.”
“Mannering has been in sad decline ever since your poor sister’s husband inherited,” Mama said. “I remember the days long before poor Clara and Francis came, when balls and parties were held there and the gardens were so lovely. It’s always puzzled me how one generation can hold such differing personalities to the next. Francis’s parents were such kind and generous souls.”
“Qualities my brother-in-law was not known for,” the captain muttered.
“Quite so.” Mama clasped her hands on the table. “It is such a shame to know things are rundown as they are. And I can’t help but think his parents would have been so disappointed that it must be sold.”
The captain’s lips compressed.
“And yet such things must be done. Or so you must see what the solicitor says.” Theo pushed to her feet. “Please excuse me, sir. It seems I have some invitations to pen.”
“Thank you.” Warmth radiated from his words. “I appear to forever be in your debt.”
“Nonsense,” she said, though his kind words elicited a glow in her chest. “Now, please excuse me.”
“Of course.” He bowed.
She nodded and escaped to find paper and pen. And to tamp vain imaginings from taking hold.
The visit from the solicitor to Mannering the subsequent day confirmed what he’d suspected. As the last male of the Mannering line, and according to his last will and testament, Francis Mannering wished for the place to be sold after the death of his wife, with the proceeds supporting his only child, Rebecca Clara Mannering.
“It behooves you, sir, to ensure that such a place is brought into a condition that will enable a most profitable sale,” advised Mr. Cleever.
“I have no wish to remain beyond this week,” Daniel admitted to the solicitor. “I rather hoped we might come to a quick sale that would permit Miss Mannering to begin her life anew in London.”
“You must forgive the question, sir, but do you have a house of your own in which you wish to see Miss Mannering established?”
“My parents are dead,” he said quietly, “and my time has been spent abroad. I have had little need for an abode here in England. I have a cottage in Melksham, not far from Bath, which I have rented out this many a year.”
“You have no wish to live there yourself?”
“No. It is a pretty market town, but I have no use for it, not with my commitments so often taking me elsewhere. I had thought to set up my father’s sister as a chaperone for my niece in a rented house in London, but now I wonder at the wisdom of that.”
“And … ahem, are you not in the way of seeing connubial bliss yourself?” The solicitor smiled. “It seems from all I’ve read you need not scruple to find a willing young lady.”
Daniel scoffed. “I have no intention of marrying simply to create a home for my niece. I plan to continue with my military career once the matter of my niece is sorted.”
“Ah. I see.”
Daniel hoped he did. Perhaps, if the solicitor ended up being not as closemouthed as everyone believed him to be and this was to trickle out, it might save Daniel from some of the more obvious local lures and invitations.
