Fragile Mask (33 page)

Unice was daunted for a moment, but she rallied. ‘Not
strangers, Denzell. They would be her parents-in-law.’

‘
You are forgetting, Unice,’ Denzell said, ‘that I have
first to overcome Verena’s reluctance even to consider the question
of marriage—let alone allowing her mother to become the pensioner
of myself or my parents. She has a great deal of pride.’

‘
Yes, false pride. I declare, I am very much of a mind to
talk to her myself.’

‘
I doubt it would do any good.’

‘
I agree with Hawk,’ chimed in Osmond. ‘If he can’t persuade
her—given that she does care for him—then I don’t see her paying
any mind to you, my love.’

‘
And before that, I must persuade her also there are men who
do not demonstrate their love by beating their wives.’

‘
Well, if she won’t accept even that, then there’s nothing
for it, Hawk. You’ll have to do as she asks.’

‘
I have already given my word that I will.’

‘
There you are then. Forget the girl, dash it.’

‘
That,’ said Denzell flatly, ‘is impossible.’

‘
Pooh! It is only because you can’t have her that you want
her so badly. Mark my words. Within a month or two, you’ll be
mooning over some other wench.’

‘
Osmond Ruishton! I don’t know how you can be so blind to
your best friend’s deepest feelings.’

‘
Well, but—’

A commotion at the rear door interrupted them. There was a
hubbub of raised voices within the room behind. Mayberry came
through the open door, and was rudely shoved aside. Verena herself
pushed past him, and stood glancing frantically about the
garden.

Hatless, out of breath, and plainly distraught, she cast
about until she spied the trio around the chestnut tree.

‘
Denzell!’
she cried, and, lifting her muslin skirts, began to run
towards him.

Denzell, for a moment blank with surprise, no sooner took
in her distressed condition, than he leapt to his feet,
disregarding the instant twinge to his head the sudden movement
caused him. He took two strides before she reached him, and had
only time to seize the hands she was holding out before words
started tumbling from her mouth.

‘
Denzell, help me! Oh, pray help me! What am I to
do? He has prevailed and it is all in vain. Mama has
gone!’

Chapter
Eleven

Shock held all three silent for a moment, staring at the
newcomer. For both Unice and Osmond had also risen, flanking
Denzell. Not a trace of the mask remained in the lovely face, for
Verena was looking up at the countenance above her as if her life
depended upon his ability to handle this hideous turn of
events.

Nor did Denzell fail her. His ailments were shrugged
aside.

‘
Of course I will help you,’ he said, collecting his wits
and drawing her towards the chair lately vacated by Unice. ‘Sit
down a moment.’

Verena held back. ‘No, no, I cannot. There is no time. I
must—’

‘
You must be calm, Verena. Nothing will be resolved with
panic.’

‘
Denzell is right, Verena,’ said Unice. ‘We will all help
you, never fear.’

‘
Come, sit,’ Denzell urged.

He pushed her into the chair, and made to release her and
turn to the others hovering behind him. But Verena’s hand clung to
his fingers.

‘
Don’t leave me!’

‘
I won’t,’ he assured her. His head turned to Osmond
nevertheless. ‘Fetch some brandy, Ossie.’

‘
No, no, I want nothing.’

‘
You are in shock, Verena,’ said Unice, leaning over her on
the other side and laying a comforting hand on her shoulder. She
called out to her husband, who was already on the move. ‘Harts
horn, Osmond! I think harts horn would be better,
Denzell.’

‘
Brandy,’ Denzell said, and reached out to pull one of the
other chairs closer that he might sit beside Verena. When he turned
back to her, he saw not only that her bosom under the wrap-over
bodice of the white gown palpitated with her uneven breath, but her
lips were quivering and he could feel the trembling of her fingers
within his grasp. Unable to help himself, he lifted the hand to his
lips and kissed it.

Verena stared at him. She was unable to think beyond what
had happened, but she felt a little of her panic dying away, and
wondered at the power he seemed to have to calm her.

‘
How do you do it?’ she asked involuntarily.

‘
Do what?’

‘
Make me believe all is not as bad as it seemed only moments
ago.’

He smiled. ‘It’s no special magic, Verena.’

‘
Yes, it is,’ chimed in Unice. She patted Verena’s shoulder.
‘It is the magic of love.’

Verena did not look round at her, but continued to stare at
Denzell’s face. Her fingers moved within his grasp, turning so
that, without meaning to, they laced with his.

‘
Is it?’ she asked of the smoky blue eyes.

‘
Yes,’ he responded simply.

For a moment longer the look held between them. Then a
sound, half-sob, half-sigh, broke from Verena, and she blinked as
her trouble came back to her.

‘
Mama,’ she murmured, and her gaze moved away from
him.

But by this time Osmond was returning, a glass of brandy in
his hand. Denzell took it from him, curled Verena’s fingers about
it, and made her drink.

Verena sipped at the liquid, and choked on the fiery
sensation as it caught in her throat. She tried to push the glass
away.

‘
No more.’

‘
Yes—another sip or two,’ Denzell insisted, obliging her to
put the glass to her lips again.

She was in no condition to resist him. This time the liquid
ran down more easily, and she felt a burning in her chest. And
indeed it was having a calming effect. The sensation of panic began
to subside.

‘
That’s better,’ Denzell said, removing the glass. He tossed
off what remained himself and handed the empty vessel back to
Osmond. His head was the clearer for it, and he felt ready to deal
with this emergency.

‘
Now, Verena, tell us the whole. From the
beginning.’

Verena shivered, and without knowing that she did so,
groped for his hand again. She was aware only of the gathering
despair in her breast as the events of the morning crowded into her
memory. But they did not have quite the same power to overset her,
for the burden of settling the business no longer seemed to lie
wholly on her own shoulders. She spoke when she felt again the
comfort of Denzell’s hand closing about her own. At first she
addressed herself almost exclusively to him.

‘
I thought all was well after last night. When Mama saw how
you conducted yourself, she appeared to be convinced she had been
mistaken in your sentiments—as we agreed she should be made to
believe.’

‘
She said something then?’ Denzell asked.

A faint smile flitted across Verena’s face. ‘She said that
if there is one thing worse than abuse, it is the pain caused by
philandering husbands. And Mrs Felpham was quick to come up and
gloat that you had fallen into your old ways—’

‘
She would,’ cut in Osmond.

‘
Hush!’ Unice uttered. She had herself taken a seat on one
of the other chairs, seeing how easily Denzell seemed able to
attend to Verena’s immediate needs without any help from his
hostess. ‘Let Verena tell her tale.’

‘
Go on, Verena,’ Denzell said, grinning. ‘I take it you did
not disabuse Mrs Felpham, any more than your mama.’

‘
No—’ casting him a deprecating glance ‘—I was too busy
trying to disabuse myself.’

The picture leapt back into her mind. So carefree he had
seemed, laughing and casting sheep’s eyes all over the room. Oh,
the pain of watching it! And despite the fact that she had wanted
him—had, indeed, demanded of him—to create that impression of
disinterest in herself, she had begun to believe it was
true.

She saw him start to speak, and shook her head. ‘Don’t
scold. I know—oh, I know. But to see you flirting with other
females...’

‘
Ha!’ came from Osmond under his breath.

Unice frowned him down, but she need not have worried.
Verena had eyes and ears only for Denzell as he murmured his
reassurance.

‘
You would not have concerned yourself for an instant had
you seen me at a later time. I have even now been suffering the
most devilish head.’

The tiniest of laughs lightened her features for an
instant. ‘So that is why you finished my brandy for me. Are you
well again?’

He grinned. ‘No, but let that pass. I am the more troubled
for you.’

Her features clouded again. ‘Oh, but she fooled me very
successfully. Mama, I mean. We were discussing the matter at some
length, and when I saw she had abandoned the notion of my marrying
you, I begged her also to abandon any thought of this foolish
determination to return with Nathaniel.’

‘
Did she agree that she would abandon it?’

‘
She said so, but adding the proviso that she might tell him
she would ever be ready to go home should I fall in
love.’

‘
To which you replied—what?’ Denzell asked, with a brief
resurgence of his headache as the heaviness that had so beset him
earlier returned in some small measure.

‘
That I never would.’ She looked away, muttering in a low
voice, ‘I did not add my thoughts.’

‘
What thoughts?’

She shook her head. There could be no admission of that.
She could not tell him how she had tried to push away such
thoughts—as could never be pushed away. How could she fall in love
at some future date, when her heart was already given?

‘
Suffice to say,’ she said, ‘that Mama believed me, as I
thought. But this morning—’ drawing a breath against a renewed rise
of the panic in her breast ‘—I was obliged to go out, leaving Mama
alone with Betsey. Had I had the slightest inkling of what she
intended, I should never have gone. But it is no use in saying
that. I went only to make a purchase at Mr Sprange’s shop. I was
gone some while, but I never dreamt…’

‘
Verena,’ Unice put in, ‘you cannot blame yourself. How
could you have expected that your mother would deceive
you?’

‘
Never mind that, Unice. Go on with your story, Verena,’
Denzell said.

She drew a breath, and continued. ‘When I arrived home, I
discovered Mama had gone. Betsey said that a note arrived, and the
next thing she knew, Mama had quietly put on her cloak and bonnet
and walked out of the house. It had not even occurred to Betsey to
try to stop her!’

‘
Perhaps she thought she was going for a walk,’ suggested
Unice.

Verena shrugged. ‘I don’t know what she thought. She does
not have my imagination, and she must have supposed—as I had—that
there was nothing to be concerned about as regards
Nathaniel.’

‘
What did you do then?’ Denzell asked, keeping her to the
point.

‘
I ran straight to the New Inn, of course. Adam was putting
up there, and I knew he had taken Nathaniel with him to secure a
room there also.’ She pressed her free hand to her cheek. ‘You
m-may imagine my feelings when I discovered that both he and Adam
had packed up and gone that very morning!’

Suddenly she wrenched her fingers out of Denzell’s hold,
and threw both hands over her face, shaking her head in a frenzy of
distress. Her words came muffled, but the despairing anger could be
heard within them.

‘
I will never forgive him, never! He
knew—he
knew
how I felt.’ The agitated hands
returned to her lap, gripped together, as she glanced at the
surrounding faces, disbelief in both feature and voice. ‘How could
he do it? How could he
connive
against me,
knowing to what Mama must be subjected?’

Osmond and Unice looked at each other in some puzzlement,
but Denzell understood.

‘
You are speaking of Adam. But you do not know for certain,
Verena, that he has done any such thing. Did you make any enquiries
at the New Inn? Had your mama come there, someone must have seen
her.’

The once more ravaged features turned back in his
direction, but it was obvious that she was too lost in the dread of
the meaning of these events to take his meaning.

‘
I did ask,’ she uttered in a frustrated tone,
‘but do you suppose those fools in that place could tell me
anything? One ostler had seen Nathaniel leave. But he could not say
whether he had seen anyone with him, and no one observed a woman
come to him.’ She struck her hands together. ‘But it
must
be so. What else could have occurred? They planned this
behind my back, and they have all gone together!’

‘
But you do not know that, Verena,’ objected
Osmond.