A Rational Proposal (Furze House Irregulars Book 1)(35)

“Yes, but will Charles come just for that?”

“Oh yes. Do you not know your brother is a crusader? It is one of the things I admire him for. I daresay he will be knocking on the door as soon as he has read the letter.” Verity managed a smile. “Your mama will think he has lost all his money, so often as he is turning up to dine in Grosvenor Street.”

Julia didn’t smile. “I have remembered something else,” she said. She met Verity’s eyes, looking as if her stomach too had turned. “On the morning Mr North left, one of the maids was found to have disappeared. She was a simple girl, but good-natured and trusting. What if she went with him? And if she did, where is she now?”

Charles listened to what Verity and Julia had to say, his intent, intelligent face growing grimmer with each sentence.

“He is a blackguard. A man who preys on ladies’ hearts to bolster his own sense of self and to feed his gaming habit. What if there are no young heiresses? It worries me that when in difficulties he may hold people’s lives as cheaply as he does their emotions.”

“He did not hurt Mary Cattson physically, Charles,” said Julia. Further up the table, Mrs Congreve tutted to hear her daughter even speak of such possibilities.

“No, but he frequents a lawless milieu and Mrs Eastwick intimated he is dangerous. If he thinks he is likely to be unmasked, there is no telling what form his self-preservation might take. I would have you back in Newmarket, Verity, and Julia with you. He knows of you both now. He may think there are pickings to be had here.”

“Not without Kitty,” said Verity, throwing him a challenging look. “I won’t leave her with him.”

“Not before I have set Peter Crisp’s feet on a straighter path,” said Julia. “It may not seem much to you, brother, but I promised Sukie.”

“Not before I have Ann,” said Mrs Bowman, entering the conversation, an unfamiliar martial light in her eye. “Kitty is my stepdaughter and not of my blood, but I was her mother as soon as ever I set eyes on her, and I will not fail her child. Would that I had had the strength of will to prevent her running away seven years ago.”

Charles threw up his hands. “Lord preserve me from an army of women,” he said. “Where is my father when I need him?”

“At the House, dear,” said Mrs Congreve helpfully.

“Thank you, Mama. Very well, if we can prevail on Mrs Eastwick and her daughter to grant you the pleasure of their company on a visit, will you all return to Kennet End until I can arrange for you to take up the lease of Furze House?”

“By the time we have persuaded Kitty to come with us, you will have arranged the lease three times over,” said Verity. “She is near as obstinate as me.”

“Will she prevaricate even when she hears about Mary Cattson?” asked Julia.

“That is not the problem,” said Verity. “She does not love Captain Eastwick any more or feel any loyalty to him. She is afraid of what he might do. By her account, he likes having power over people.”

“That is interesting,” remarked Mrs Bowman. “The first time he came into Suffolk, we were all very pleased with his engaging address and pleasant manners. Even Mr Bowman was not against him. But a sennight later he came back from where they had all been out shooting, violent with rage. He said Captain Eastwick was an insufferable snake.”

Verity looked at her mother, startled. “I do not remember that, Mama.”

Her mother frowned. “I am trying to recall the details. I daresay you were not by. He moderated his anger quite soon, I think, but held on to his dislike for the man, and suddenly announced that Kitty was to marry Mr Prout.”

“I remember that,” said Verity. “Kitty was beside herself with rage. She said she wouldn’t and no one could make her.”

“And she did not, of course. She eloped with Captain Eastwick.”

“But Mr Bowman did not pursue her,” said Charles. There was a thoughtful cast to his voice that made Verity look quickly at him.

He sees something, she thought, and a strange thrill ran through her. “Charles?” she asked. “May we help?”

He sighed ruefully. “This is my words coming back to haunt me. I was saying to Fitz only yesterday that you ladies are better at chasing out domestic details than any of my agents put together. I believe you can help in one respect, but I do not like it. What we require in order that your sister may be safe from Captain Eastwick is proof of his misleading these women. Is Miss Cattson in town, Julia? Can you enquire as to whether the maid ever returned? I could also bear to know how much her father paid ‘Mr North’, but I doubt you can find that out in conversation.”

“Yes I can,” said Julia, serenely confident.

“Then I apologise for misjudging you. Is your sister to call again, Verity? Can you ask how much money her husband came home with from Shropshire? If indeed he told her he was going to Shropshire.”

“I can ask, but she may not know.”

“Meanwhile, I shall call on Bowman’s attorney as Mr Tweedie suggested and attempt to extract a sum of money from him in recompense for Mrs Bowman giving up all claim to the dower house.”

“You are persuaded I am spending my time rationally, then?” Verity could not resist twinkling at him.

“If it is the only way to get you back to Newmarket, yes I am. I will, however, still need some sort of written record once you are home again in order to satisfy the Harringtons.”