Page 84 of Henrietta

‘I wish you would stop saying that!’ Trixie said irritably. ‘It’s doing no one any good.’

Arthur refrained from directing a recriminatory frown towards Hetty. His decision to follow her advice was one he was already regretting.

‘We are not ruined,’ Arthur said, trying for calm. ‘We were in a bad way, but I have regained control of the situation. Our creditors are paid off, and the sale of the deer park is going to allow Belcourt to survive.’

‘The deer park!’ Trixie was appalled. ‘Oh, no, Arthur you didn’t – what if they tear the whole thing up to – to build some awful wool factory?’

‘I do not think rural Kent is a desirable location for any sort of factory, Trix.’

Trixie looked wholly unconvinced. ‘Do you know that for certain?’

‘Wish you’d told me this earlier,’ Timothy put in. ‘I wouldn’t have ordered that new waistcoat. That would have saved us a few shillings.’

Arthur thanked him for this great, if hypothetical, sacrifice. ‘Perhaps I ought to have told you sooner,’ he admitted.

Hetty could not help but let out a murmur of assent to this. Hearing it, Arthur went to shoot her a playful glare, but almost as soon as their eyes met, his skittered away again. Hetty felt her smile slip from her face. It had seemed, for a moment, as if the duel would restore their friendship, but it had not: their anger towards each other might have eased somewhat, but there still existed a great deal of constraint betwixt them. Indeed, in some ways this had worsened, at least on Arthur’s side, for now he seemed to struggle even to look at her.

‘Where we can, without shame, do so, we must still practise economy,’ he was now telling his siblings, who both nodded their heads obediently.

‘Perhaps I ought to move out of Duke Street, and return home,’ Timothy suggested.

Arthur briefly considered the tumult of having Trixie and Timothy once again under the same roof, and shuddered. Still, the offer was rather touching, and it would be a significant saving. ‘A fine idea.’

Trixie did not seem to agree. ‘That’s hardly going to help! I think the easiest thing would be for one of us to marry someone with a fortune at once. Arthur, perhaps it would be better if you did – things get awfully complicated with dowries and whatnot.’ She paused for a moment, considering, before asking: ‘Have you considered marrying Hetty?’

Arthur could have quite happily throttled her. Hetty turned flame red.

‘It seems to me that would be a solution,’ Trixie went on. ‘Though I know it would be a shame about the Marquis.’

‘Trixie!’

But Trixie was not finished. ‘If you cannot bear the thought of Arthur,’ she reasoned, ‘then you could have Timothy instead.’

‘No she couldn’t!’ Timothy was outraged. ‘Not that I ain’t fond of you, Hetty, but that’s coming it a bit too strong!’

Trixie ignored him. ‘Then we could be together, always,’ she said, taking Hetty’s hand and squeezing it.

‘That – that would be nice,’ Hetty agreed rather croakily. She could not have looked at Arthur, in that moment, for all the money in the world. ‘But no – dear Trixie, I’d liefer not be married for my fortune.’ She rose to her feet a little jerkily, saying, ‘I have some errands to run,’ and quietly left the room.

Arthur rounded on Trixie just as soon as the door had closed behind her. ‘You must never suggest such a thing again!’

‘I was only trying to help! It seems to me it would be a neat solution to our—’

‘Hetty is not a solution,’ Arthur snapped. ‘To even countenance using her in such a way would be absolutely reprehensible, Trixie.’

So fierce was his voice that Trixie actually held up her hands in supplication. ‘I will not raise the subject again!’

‘Perhaps I could join some kind of profession!’ Timothy, who had not been attending, declared to the room, and the idea of Timothy in a profession was so novel that Arthur’s mind was temporarily diverted.

‘Do you … have something in mind?’

‘Don’t know that there are all that many options.’ Timothy considered the matter. ‘It’s lawyers and vicars mostly, isn’t it, for the gentry – aside from the military, which I think would be stepping on your toes, rather. Lawyers seemed to involve a great deal more schooling – not my strong suit.’

Arthur wished Hetty were still here to witness this. He could picture exactly how her lips would press together, in the way that meant she wanted to laugh but could not bear to hurt someone’s feelings.

Timothy took in a bracing breath. ‘Can’t say I think much of the Church, but I’d give it a good crack.’

Preserving his calm with a great deal of self-control, Arthur asked: ‘I thought you thought God to be a – what was the phrase – dashed loose screw?’