Holiday in Bath (31 page)
“Oh, Clare! Is that why you have told me everything? Because I said I wouldn’t marry Cranford for the way he had treated you?” Trelenny gazed horror-struck at her friend.
“Yes, my dear. He wanted my permission to explain to you and I thought it best if I came myself to tell you.”
“But I only used that as an excuse!” Trelenny wailed.
“Don’t you want to marry him?”
“Well, I can’t!”
“Whyever not?”
“Because he’s in love with Lady Jane!”
“Lady Jane Reedness?” Clare gave a gush of laughter. “Whatever gave you that idea?”
Indignantly Trelenny retorted, “It was obvious, Clare. He took her everywhere and was very attentive, and they are perfectly suited. Mama thought so, too, though it ruined all her hopes.”
"Has Cranford never explained Lady Jane’s situation to you, then?”
Trelenny had the sinking feeling that reality was escaping her. “No.”
“Well, I suppose he wouldn’t. Either it would not occur to him or he might not think she wanted it bruited about. I have known for years and I think she’s the most courageous lady I ever met. Trelenny, she has loved her cousin forever, and he her, but he has spells or something and is quite dangerous during those periods. They always know when they’re coming on because of the headaches he suffers, so there is time to confine him. Lady Jane couldn’t marry him because of that, but he lives on her father’s estate, and they are together a great deal of the time. The Earl takes her away to Bath or London when he’s confined, and she never lets on. Cranford has known for years, of course.”
“That wouldn’t necessarily keep him from falling in love with her.”
“He offered for you, didn’t he?” Clare asked with asperity.
“Yes, but he had to because he had approached Papa before we went to Bath.”
Clare rose and stomped to the door. “I wash my hands of the both of you. If he is too stupid to tell you, and you are too blind to see, that he loves you, you both deserve to be miserable!” On her exit she slammed the door.
Trelenny remained frozen in her seat and Clare joined the group in the drawing room, where every eye swung to her on her entrance. She lowered an exasperated look on Cranford and said shortly, “She thinks you love Lady Jane.”
Now every eye swung to Cranford, but he did not gratify them by making any comment. Instead he rose and left them without even an apology, a certain sign of his inner turmoil. Trelenny was still sitting where Clare had left her, a glazed look in her eyes, when he came abruptly into the room and closed the door.
"What's this nonsense Clare talks about Lady Jane?”
“I…It seemed to Mama and me,” Trelenny tried to point out in a reasonable voice, that you had formed an attachment for her while we were in Bath.”
“Well, I didn’t. For God’s sake, Trelenny, I told you that Jane and I had been friends for years.”
“Even friends of long standing can fall in love, Cranford.”
His gaze softened. “Yes, I know.”
“She seemed the perfect wife for you. I tried very hard to be happy about it.”
“Did you? But, Trelenny, when I offered for you…”
She lowered her eyes from his searching gaze. “I had made a fool of myself, letting you know how I felt. You never said you cared for me. I thought you were just honoring your word to my father.”
“I didn’t tell you? It’s hard for me to express how I feel, Trelenny. Too many times I have had to swallow any emotions I might have had because of my father. Do you really think I am like him?”
“No. I’m proud of what you did for Clare.”
“I’m relieved that everything has worked out so well.” He crossed the short distance which separated them and took her in his arms. “I do love you, Trelenny. You will have to teach me how to express myself.” And he bent to kiss her.
Sometime later she said, “You express yourself very well, Cranford.”
Laura Matthews is the author of nineteen Regency romances and two Regency Christmas novellas. Writing as Elizabeth Neff Walker, she has also written numerous contemporary romances and women's fiction titles.
Ms. Matthews lives in San Francisco with her architect husband Paul and their two small dogs. She actively pursues her research interests (the Regency period and medical sociology) by membership in her local Jane Austen Society and by volunteering at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center.
More information about Ms. Matthews is available on the Belgrave House website:
Copyright © 1981 by Elizabeth Rotter (Laura Matthews)
Originally published by Warner Books
Electronically published in 2001 by Belgrave House
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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This is a work of fiction. All names in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to any person living or dead is coincidental.