Read Online The Lady Next Door by Laura Matthews - Free Book Online

going his own way whether it accorded with her sense of propriety or not. He had, three times during the year of mourning, slipped off to London with never a word to her. When she had expostulated each time on his return, he had smiled lazily and said, “I had matters to attend to, Mother. Pray excuse me; I should like to change.”
    Eyeing the earl’s calm countenance now, William had a sudden inspiration, produced, perhaps, by the faintest of twitches to the lips betraying a secret amusement in his employer. Cautiously, he voiced an inner certainty. “If you marry, your mother will probably move to the dower house.”
    The earl sighed. “Perhaps even to the estate in Dorset. I would make it very comfortable for her there, and she has often complained of the Yorkshire weather.”
    “I dare say the change in climate would do her a world of good, sir.
    “Yes, she’s been . . . out of sorts since my father died. Her companion—Madame Lefevre, is it?—would doubtless welcome the change of scene, too. I think Harry and Louisa are a strain on her nerves.”
    William lifted his glass to hide the grin which refused to be squelched. “Apparently there are any number of advantages to your lordship’s marrying.”
    “I believe there are.” The earl sipped the last of his claret, set the glass on the table and rose. “Shall we go? I have a mind to call on several of the neighborhood families after our business is finished with Hardwick.”
    * * * *
    Few sounds penetrated to the sick room in the black hours of the night, but neither aunt nor niece slept, the one struggling for breath, and the other gently wiping the damp forehead. One candle burned on the bedside table and by its light, Miss Effington studied Marianne’s watchful countenance. She spoke in a voice hardly louder than a whisper. “What will you do if I die?”
    “You aren’t going to die, Aunt Effie.”
    “You can’t possibly know that,” the old woman said fretfully, her fingers reaching out to clamp onto Marianne’s wrist. “What will you do?”
    “Honestly, Aunt Effie, I haven’t given the matter any thought.”
    “You should, my girl. You can’t stay here unchaperoned. For all you think yourself so advanced in years, your character would be in shreds if you lived here with two lodgers.”
    “I wouldn’t do that.” Understanding that her aunt was tormented by the thought of leaving her abandoned, Marianne said calmly, “I would find a companion, I suppose, until I could sell the house. Then I would move somewhere—to a village, perhaps, where I would keep chickens and a cow and maybe a few pigs. With my spare money I would invest in Mr. Geddes’s inventions.”
    “This is not a jesting matter! Marianne, you should marry.”
    “My love,” she laughed, “how can you say so? Have you not convinced me that a woman’s true freedom lies in the single state?”
    Much to her surprise, a tear escaped the old lady’s eye and glinted in the candlelight as it slid unheeded down the pale cheek. “You are clever enough to know I spoke so only because of your situation, Marianne. Here in York you needn’t pay the least heed to the London gossip.”
    “With Lady Latteridge expected any time?”
    “Lady Latteridge can influence only the quality.” The words hung in the air as though written there in burning letters, and Miss Effington shivered despite the fire on the hearth, and the blankets piled about her. “Do you set much store in position? The finest man I ever knew was a gentleman-farmer. Look about you. The doctor, the inventor, the attorney—all minor gentry. What counts is not the orders they can pin on their coats, but the goodness in their hearts. Not that I would have you marry Mr. Oldham. Promise me you won’t marry him!"
    “I promise,” Marianne said firmly, pressing her aunt’s frantic hand.
    “Of course not. You have a great deal of sense, my dear, and you know it would be disastrous to ally yourself with such a prosy