“I am not a child,” Terry interjected, a little the worse for wine.
“I never said you were,” his brother answered.
“Who were you referring to then?”
“Judith and Angel.”
“But Judith has got to be all of twenty-four.”
“Really? Why isn’t she married then?” Evan asked, wondering how such a treasure could have been passed over.
“No fortune,” Terry said.
“I shall provide for the girl,” Lord Mountjoy stated. “A very proper young lady she is, and the greatest help to me.”
Evan stared at his father, for now that he thought of it, one of their long-ago mealtime arguments had been over his father’s philandering. He couldn’t recall the memory so much as he could recite the conversation—his own condemnation and his father’s gruff and unconvincing defense.
“How is she a help to you?” Evan asked pointedly.
“Keeps my library in order, helps me write—damn you, boy, you have a nasty mind,” his father said as he caught Evan’s meaning. “How did you think she helped me?”
“I didn’t know. That’s why I asked.”
“I feel as though she is my daughter. She is too good, almost, for this household.”
“That I can belie—Pardon me,” Evan said, breaking off abruptly. “I was determined to be polite to you, since you invited me in. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t strain yourself. I am not used to any consideration from you.”
Evan fell silent again. Terry, who had been glancing from one to the other, took his turn at conversation. “So you were in a great many battles?”
“It has all blurred together for me, I’m afraid. I was always knee-deep in mud, working on siege parallels, or up to my waist in freezing water trying to shore up a bridge.”
“Didn’t you see any real action?”
“Enough to suit me.”
“Terry, he doesn’t want to talk about it,” their father said.
“Oh, you only had to say so.” Terry drained his glass.
“You are going to have a head tomorrow,” Evan observed.
“Sorry, it isn’t everyday one is displaced. I think I shall go straight to bed.” Terry rose valiantly, but wove his way out of the room.
“Whatever did he mean, and does he make a habit of that?”
“He is not such an aesthete as you promised to be, but no, he does not in general drink his meals.”
“I was wanting to ask about Gram. How did she die, I mean?”
“Who is to say what gives out? The heart, I expect, is what—”
“I know she was old. You don’t have to remind me of that. Was she…alone—lonely?”
“God’s death! Do you think I have no proper feelings, even for a mother-in-law? Of course she wasn’t alone. I was there, and Judith. If you want to know what she said, speak to Judith. She stayed with her more than anyone.”
“Thank you. I didn’t mean to accuse you of neglecting—”
“You have no right to accuse me of anything!”
A slight flush rose to Evan’s face, but he looked his father squarely in the eye—and read resentment and anger there. No surprise; it was what he expected. Evan saw disappointment, too. That also was no surprise. He had always disappointed his father, he thought. He simply could not remember all the details.
Lord Mountjoy got to his feet and walked steadily toward the door, leaving Evan brooding at the table. “Are you coming or not?”
Evan twitched at the summons and stood stiffly, to follow his father back to the library, where candles had been set out on the broad table to light the ladies’ embroidery and hemming. Their pale dresses and colorful shawls looked oddly out of place against the dark leather furniture. Evan could remember when the library had been a man’s haven and wondered that his father permitted this invasion of his sanctuary. He sat where he could watch Judith, and she gave him a sympathetic smile. He desperately wanted to ask after Gram, but only in private. He would wait.
The conversation was desultory, perhaps owing to Angel’s having taken a pout. She tsked over her embroidery. Judith, hemming seam after seam, appeared to be making a shirt. And Lady Mountjoy was doing delicate work on a garment so small it could only have been intended for… Evan’s eyes flew to her waist. Of course. She was in the early months of pregnancy. That accounted for his father’s solicitude, perhaps also for her irrational behavior toward him. He would have found out soon enough that Lord Mountjoy lived. Evan vowed not to make her uneasy during his stay. All he needed was to be accused of causing her to miscarry.
Judith was watching him, and now blushed a little, as though she could read his thoughts. Evan supposed her situation might be hard. It would be easy enough for them to turn such an amiable girl into a drudge. If she had been nursing Gram, perhaps they already had. Something must be done about that.
On the other hand he must remember that he had no say in anything. There was his grandmother’s bequest, though. Perhaps he could—
“I asked if those horses of yours are Andalusians,” Lord Mountjoy shouted. “Are you deaf?”
Evan twitched. “A little, from the shelling. Two of them are from Andalusia. The gelding I bought in Portugal. Bose is riding the horse he took with him from England. Odd that he should have survived when…”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“I only got a quick look at them,” Judith said. “What are they like?”
“Lovely when they are better fed. You can ride my mare when they are rested.”
“I don’t ride.”
“Would you like to?”
“No, I don’t care to,” Judith said softly.
Evan did not know how he knew it, but this was a lie. And there did not seem to be a good reason for it. She was blushing and looked tearful. He felt so bad about causing her any kind of pain that he excused himself and went to bed.
Bose had been waiting for him.
“So when’s the wedding?” Evan asked.
“Well, that rather depends on you,” Bose said, helping him off with his dress uniform.
“Me?”
“If we mean to stay, she’ll marry me on the spot. But if we are to be off junketing again, she isn’t sure.”
“Bose, this is impossible. You can’t link your future to mine. I have no idea what I’m going to do.”
“I was thinking we would give it a few days, see what the old gent means to do by you. He was always fair with me.”
“He was?”
“He paid my wages the whole time I waited on you at Cambridge, and sent us money in Spain.”
“I didn’t know that. So that’s why I always had something to eat even when no one had been paid for months.”
“It strikes me you don’t know your father very well. He seems such an amiable man.”
“With everyone but me. Yes, I agree, he can be quite charming.”
“Perhaps if you didn’t argue with him so much…”
“But