Chương 5
“He is beginning to trust the routine.”
“Then he can take the routine with him.”
“Rooms and furniture are not the routine.”
Lady Agnes lifted the cup. “You would accompany him.”
Clara did not answer.
“The position would include a salary increase,” Lady Agnes said. “Private rooms. Assistance from two trained nurses. You would remain until he was settled.”
“How long?”
“As long as necessary.”
“And Mr. Harcourt?”
“My son has an estate to manage.”
Clara thought of Edmund standing at the edge of the ivory rug, telling Oliver about an offended swan.
“Has he agreed?”
Lady Agnes drank her coffee.
That was answer enough.
On Friday, Marianne Ellwood arrived in a dark green car carrying two leather cases, a hamper of gifts, and the brittle energy of someone who had rehearsed every possible argument during the drive from London.
She resembled her sister enough to change the faces of the people who saw her. Mrs. Finch became formal. Lady Agnes became gracious. Edmund left luncheon after ten minutes and did not return.
Marianne came to the nursery during the afternoon feeding.
Clara had been warned of the visit and had placed a second chair near the wall, well away from Oliver’s line of sight. Marianne ignored it. She stood behind Clara, smelling of cold air and expensive perfume.
“He is smaller than he looked in the photographs,” she said.
Clara felt Oliver’s body tense. “Would you sit where he can see you?”
“I am his aunt.”
“Yes.”
Marianne moved to the chair but remained standing beside it. “Does he know photographs are being taken?”
Clara glanced at her. “I beg your pardon?”
“Agnes sends one every Sunday. He always appears asleep.”
“He sleeps often.”
“He is underfed.”
“He is gaining.”
“So the doctor says.”
Oliver stopped sucking.
Clara lowered the bottle and waited.
Marianne watched the baby’s face. Her own expression shifted, losing some of its sharpness. “Eleanor hated that portrait.”
Clara followed her gaze to the ancestral painting above the cradle.
“Mr. Harcourt’s great-grandmother,” Marianne said. “Eleanor said she looked as if she could smell dishonesty.”
“She has a severe nose.”
Marianne laughed before she could stop herself. The sound was brief and startled.
Oliver opened his eyes.
Marianne sat down.
For the rest of the feeding, she asked no questions. When Oliver finished, Clara held him upright. Marianne reached out, then withdrew her hand before touching him.
“May I hold him?”
“After he settles.”
“I have held babies.”
“I am sure you have.”
Marianne’s eyes narrowed. “Agnes said you were direct.”
“Lady Agnes has been generous.”
“That means no.”
“It means she used another word.”
Despite herself, Marianne smiled.
Oliver burped softly.
Clara transferred him with care, one hand remaining beneath his head until Marianne had him securely. His face tightened at the unfamiliar position. Marianne’s confidence vanished.
“What do I do?”
“Nothing yet.”
“He is going to cry.”
“He may.”
“I do not want him to.”
“He does not know that.”
Marianne looked down at her nephew. “Hello, Ollie.”
Oliver began to cry.
The name affected Edmund, who had entered without either woman noticing. He stood beneath the doorway with one hand on the walnut frame.
Marianne looked up.
The siblings-by-marriage stared at one another across the nursery.
“Eleanor called him that,” Marianne said.
“I know.”
“You never do.”
“No.”
Oliver’s crying grew louder. Marianne rose too quickly.
Clara stood with her. “Keep him against your chest.”
“He dislikes me.”
“He does not know you.”
“I am not a stranger.”
“To him, you are.”
Marianne flinched.
Edmund stepped into the room. Not toward the baby, but far enough that the doorway no longer held him.
“Give him to Miss Vale,” he said.
Marianne’s face changed. “Of course.”
“I meant because he is distressed.”
“I understood you.”
She passed Oliver back with rigid care. Clara settled him against her shoulder. The crying did not stop immediately, which seemed to wound Marianne and relieve her at the same time.
“You have agreed to Richmond,” Marianne said to Edmund.
He looked at Clara.
Clara had not expected the confirmation to hurt. Employment was not partnership. A master did not owe his governess consultation. Still, something cold settled beneath her ribs.
“It is under consideration,” Edmund said.
“You signed the preliminary papers.”
“The papers are not binding.”
“No. Only necessary if there is a place available Monday.”
Clara kept her attention on Oliver.
Marianne took a breath. “You cannot continue like this, Edmund. The entire house is arranged around your refusal to enter one room.”
“I am in the room.”
“Because she brought you in.”
Clara felt both of them look at her.
Marianne lowered her voice. “A stranger is teaching your son your voice.”
Edmund went pale.
“That is enough,” Clara said.
Marianne blinked.
Clara adjusted Oliver against her shoulder. “He is calming. Do not make the room loud because you are angry elsewhere.”
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then Edmund said, “Leave us, Marianne.”
“This is precisely what you do. You remove anyone who says the unbearable thing.”
“Leave.”
Marianne’s mouth trembled. She looked at Oliver, then at the framed portrait, then back at Edmund.
“I buried my sister too,” she said.
She walked out.
Edmund remained near the ivory rug. His hands hung at his sides.
Clara sat again. “You should go after her.”
“She did not come for me.”
“No. She came for him.”
“She came to take him.”
“She came because she thinks you have already left.”
Edmund’s eyes moved to Clara. “And what do you think?”
“I think you stand very still and call it staying.”
His expression closed.
Clara expected anger. Instead he looked down at the rug and said, “The car is booked for Monday.”
Oliver’s breathing quieted against her.
“You intend to send him?”
“I intend to give him care I have failed to provide.”
“Will you go with him?”
“No.”
May you like
“Then you are not giving him care. You are moving the failure.”
Edmund crossed the room so suddenly that Clara tightened her hold on Oliver. He stopped several feet away, still careful not to come too near.
