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“Hathor! His choices are none of your concern,” I snapped at her. “Forgive her, Mr. Parwens. She is rather blunt.”
“Yes, I have noticed. But do not worry. It is why I felt inclined to tell her. She is not wrong,” he said in reply. “Also, please just call me Henry.”
Hathor nodded. “Well, Henry, have you not picked a path?”
I wished to reach over and smack her arm. But I quickly looked at him. “You need not answer her.”
“He cannot just give us part of the story,” Hathor replied.
“He need not give us any story,” I muttered back. Talking about it might very well be painful for him…as I was currently undergoing the same ordeal.
“The answer you seek is simple. I cannot make such a choice on my own. For both parties must be in agreement on such matters.”
“She is not in agreement? Why?” Hathor asked.
Did she not see she was basically demanding he bare his soul to her?
“It is complicated.” He sighed heavily. “Everything about love is complicated, ladies. For it brings out the worst and best in us. One moment you are joyful, as if nothing in the world could injure you, and the next you are left covered in nothing but wounds.”
“That sounds rather exhausting.” Hathor exhaled as if she were already tired from listening. I wondered how she would get the love she craved when she seemed so hostile to it.
He laughed. “Believe me, it is. But we cannot choose whom we desire. Right now, she seems satisfied by watching from afar. How she or Theodore manages to do that is beyond me.”
“Theodore?” I asked, surprised.
His eyes widened, and a look of guilt shot across his face. “Ladies, please forget I said that—”
“Impossible. What of Dr. Darrington?” I asked, my tone surprising even me.
He sighed. “Should this become gossip, I shall know it has come from you both—”
“Oh, out with it, what of him?” Hathor pressed.
He glanced over his shoulder as though he feared the man in question would appear behind me. “Apparently, he is rather smitten with a lady of the ton.”
“Who?” Hathor gasped while once more my heart was shaken.
“I know not, for he shall not tell. But it is the first time I have seen him like this in all my years of knowing him.”
“And he cannot say anything because he is the inappropriate one.” Hathor nodded, understanding.
“There is nothing unsuitable about him,” Henry said defensively.
“I do not mean his character. I mean his background,” Hathor replied softly. “If she is a lady of the ton as you say, who shall allow their daughter to marry a…”
“Bastard,” I finished for her.
Henry frowned, clearly upset. “It is a great injustice that a good man’s life is derailed and stunted by the choices of his father. Had he been born with a title, all of London would be at his feet. He would not need to forcibly humble himself before every person he meets.”
“Humble himself? What do you mean?” I asked.
“Whenever he receives attention, whether now or back in school, he shrinks from it. Why? Because he fears people will think he is devious in some manner. That he wishes to plot a way into our society.”
“Why would anyone’s first thought be that he is calculating and not intelligent as he proves himself to be?” I frowned, now feeling rather angry myself.
“In school, when the other boys mocked him behind his back, I knew it was clearly jealousy. After all, their fathers looked upon him and wished that he were their son so they could boast about him, of course. Though Darrington and I were not classmates, he is so near to us in age that it was hard for us to see him as an educator. As we grew older, I thought others would behave with more maturity, but they did not. Instead, I find that those who stand out in any manner are ridiculed much more harshly.”
“As was the case with my sister,” Hathor replied, frowning. “The great beauty of London, yet she was forced to leave for some time to avoid their talk of her.”
“At the very least, your sister had the protection of her family in society,” Henry replied. “Theodore has none, nor can he hide. He must have some sort of occupation, so he does his best to dampen his own greatness.”
“That is incredibly…infuriating,” I muttered, gripping my reins tightly.
“That it is.”
I glanced back over my shoulder, as if I could still see him from this distance, but I could not. Nor should I have been so distracted, for one moment my horse was steady, and the next, I found it bolting forward.
“Verity!”
Theodore
“Any headaches? Do you find yourself short of breath in any way?” I asked Lady Clementina as we rode toward where her family was by the pond.
“None whatsoever. I truly feel much better,” she answered with a smile. They all did this—ladies of their upbringing—always smiled despite their thoughts, feelings, or condition. Verity also said she was fine when I could clearly see she was not.
