The Fifth Kiss (24 page)

But Olivia was determined to make Elspeth take her place in the family, and since Charles was planning to return to London in a day or two, Olivia hoped to prevail upon Elspeth to join the family at dinner before Charles' departure. She didn't think she could succeed unless Mr. Clapham would also be invited to dine, and
that
was the difficult nut to crack. How could she convince Lord Strickland to invite Mr. Clapham to
dine
with them if she couldn't even convince him to
re-hire
him?

But circumstances soon took the matter entirely out of her hands. The fact that Charles and Strickland were getting on famously set off a chain of events that were to have unexpected repercussions in the pattern of life at Langley.

Charles presence was good for Strickland. In the three days of Charles' visit, the two men rode together in the mornings, played chess in the afternoons and had long talks about the happenings in London and abroad in the evenings. It had been a long while since Strickland had paid attention to political events, and it was Charles who rekindled his interest in the outside world. For the first time since his wife's death, Strickland began to think about returning to his political activities. The talks brought the brothers-in-law to a closer affection for each other than either of them had had before. In the warmth of that closeness, Charles revealed to Strickland his anxiety concerning his young sister. “She's almost twenty-one, you know,” he said, shaking his head in perplexity. “I know it's hard to realize that she's a full-grown woman already, but there it is.”

“Yes, but why does that concern you?” Strickland asked with interest.

“It's her lack of attention to her future that worries me,” Charles admitted, puffing away at his pipe. “She has made no serious attachments to any man in all these years, and I'm convinced that the fault lies in the way of life I've permitted her to follow. In London, she does not go about a great deal in society, you know. And now …” He hesitated, not certain if he should go on.

“And now she has buried herself here at Langley in order to take care of a pair of children not her own, is that what you were going to say?”

Charles gnawed at his pipe stem unhappily. “Well, yes, I suppose it is. I can't help wondering when she will set about to plan for her
own
future.”

As both men lapsed into silence, Charles felt impelled to reveal that he'd taken a giant step to alter
his
future, which was why the subject of Olivia's had begun to trouble him. “I'm about to be married, you see,” he admitted.

“Married? Are you indeed?” Strickland responded heartily. “So that explains it.”

“Explains it?” Charles echoed.

“The glances I've seen cast between you and Miss Elspeth. It
is
she whom you intend to wed, is it not?”

“Yes, but …” Charles let his pipe fall from his mouth in amazement. “How can you possibly have
guessed
?”

“It was not difficult. I've seen you run up to the nursery. And I've noticed you gazing at her when she comes down to tea with the children. And Miss Elspeth herself has never been in better looks. Smelling of April and May, the pair of you. I suspected that something was brewing between you. It took only your statement about marrying to make everything fall into place. But tell me, old fellow, why on earth do you keep your good news
secret
?”

Charles repeated Elspeth's reasons, but Strickland found them silly indeed. The logic of his comments struck Charles as sound, and shortly thereafter he went looking for his betrothed to urge her to consider making the announcement public.

Strickland, meanwhile, found himself quite troubled by the conversation. He wondered guiltily how long he could continue to accept Olivia's help with his children. Charles had been quite right to be concerned about her—she was indeed putting aside her own life in her devotion to her sister's children. The girl really ought to be pursuing her own goals—she had a right to children of her own.

But he couldn't encourage her to leave … at least, not now. In the first place, the children were still recovering from the loss of their mother. In addition, the tutor was about to go, and Miss Elspeth would soon follow when she married. With all these losses, the children should not be asked to endure the loss of their beloved Aunt Olivia as well.

He sighed in chagrin, wondering why life was becoming so oppressively difficult of late. If he had a more generous nature, he supposed, he would urge Olivia to leave Langley and return to London to pursue her own life. But he could not deal such a cruel blow to his children at this time. Besides, Olivia herself would resist such a suggestion—she was too attached to the little ones to consider leaving them now.

He consoled himself with the thought that Olivia was still very young and unusually innocent for her age. She had many years ahead of her to concentrate on her own life. In the meantime, she could spare some time for the well-being of his motherless babes. He thrust his feelings of guilt from his consciousness and concentrated his thoughts on his more pressing problems. One of them was the situation of the tutor. Olivia had been very persuasive in her reasons for wishing him to reconsider the discharge. Perhaps the girl was right. The tutor's crime had not been so very heinous, after all. He'd encouraged Perry in his tendency to daydreaming and imaginary wanderings, but the fellow had been satisfactory in other respects. Strickland would go up to the schoolroom at his next opportunity and tell the fellow he'd changed his mind. As much as he disliked dealing with these petty problems of household management, he would take care of it. His children's welfare had become, since his wife's passing, his most pressing responsibility, and he had no intention of shirking it.

The following day was a significant one on the calendar of events at Langley Park. It was Charles' last day before leaving for London and, as far as Mr. Clapham knew, the last day the tutor would spend on the estate. In the minds of both men was a determination to use the last day to accomplish a desired goal; for Charles, it was to convince Elspeth to announce their betrothal to the family before the day ended; for Mr. Clapham, it was to say a farewell to Miss Olivia with such fervor that she would remember him always.

Fortunately for them both, the day was unusually mild for winter, and Lord Strickland sent word up to the third floor that he would ride with both the children that afternoon. This left Miss Elspeth free to spend some time with Charles—to walk arm in arm with him over the snow-edge paths through the winter-faded gardens. Mr. Clapham was also free to act on
his
plans to arrange a last encounter with Miss Olivia, if only he could find a way to lure her to the third floor before Perry returned from his ride.

Before Strickland left for the stables, he met Olivia on the stairs. He told her briefly that he'd decided to keep Mr. Clapham on. Olivia was so delighted with the news that she refrained from giving Strickland her usual warning about Perry's sensitivity to his father's criticism of his riding prowess. (It had been she who'd encouraged Strickland to ride with the boy, convincing him that Perry's lack of skill in horsemanship could be overcome by a bit of parental approval. Each time he took the children out to ride, Olivia found the opportunity to remind him that Amy's talented horsemanship should not be overly praised or used to shame her less-gifted brother.) Strickland, relieved to have been spared the oft-repeated lecture, clattered hurriedly down the stairs, while Olivia turned upward, wishing to be the first to break the news to Mr. Clapham that his position was saved.

She had not gone up more than a flight, however, when she was confronted by a red-faced, infuriated Eugenia. “
There
you are, Olivia,” she declared, her bosom quivering with agitation. “I have been looking for you this past age. Do you know what your demented cousin has told me? She wants my
bedroom
! Did you ever hear of such brazen effrontery?
My
bedroom! She says that hers is too drafty, as are all the others on the north side, and no other room will do for her but
mine
. You must
speak
to her, Olivia, for she has pushed me beyond my patience!”

It took Olivia the better part of an hour to settle the squabble. She showed her pursed-mouthed cousin every available bedroom in the house, but Hattie found fault with each one of them. It was not until Olivia hit on the happy idea of offering her the room Charles was about to vacate that the crisis was averted. “
That
room,” Hattie acknowledged in sour satisfaction, “is at least possessed of a sufficiently large fireplace. But you mustn't tell that Cardew woman it is larger than hers, or she'll try to have it from me!”

That matter settled, Olivia made her way to the schoolroom. Mr. Clapham was pacing back and forth in frustration, having already given up all hope of seeing her alone. When he discovered that it was indeed
she
who stood smiling in the doorway, he gave her such a glad greeting that Olivia was startled. “I don't see why you are in such high spirits, Mr. Clapham,” she remarked, “for you do not yet know my
news.
”

“My spirits have nothing to do with your news, ma'am,” he said, a bit breathlessly. “It's
you
, yourself, who's cheered my spirits.”

“Oh? Why is that?”

“I have been wishing to see you … to say something to you before I … that is, on this, my last day.”

“But it
isn't
—” she began.

“Please let me say it while I have the courage,” he begged in nervous eagerness. He took a step toward her and grasped both her hands.

“Mr. Clapham, what
are
you doing?” She tried to pull her hands free.

“Do you remember that day you fell off your horse?” he asked, looking intently into her eyes.

“I would rather
not
remember,” she said with asperity, struggling to free herself. “And I hope, Mr. Clapham, that you don't intend to do anything so foolish as—”

He winced. Her tone was not encouraging, but a kind of hysteria drove him on. “I know it's foolish, but I can't help it. Don't you know … haven't you ever realized how much you … how often I've dreamed of …?”

“Please, Mr. Clapham, release my hands at once. If you persist in this idiotic behavior, you'll ruin
everything
!”

“Everything I care about is ruined anyway! Nothing, after today, will mean anything to me. It was only the promise of a glimpse of you that gave my days their color. It was only the dreams of you that gave my nights their balm. Oh, Miss Olivia, I …” Carried away on the crest of his romantic longings, he swept her into his arms. “Let me have one moment more to remember!” Shaking with excitement, he pulled her against him and kissed her passionately.

She pushed against his chest with the flat of her hands with all her strength, but he was like a man possessed. She was so tightly enveloped that she couldn't move or breathe. She wanted to scream in vexation. She'd tried so hard to keep his post for him, and now he was creating a situation in which it would be impossible to keep him in their employ. Despite her annoyance, however, she was aware of his rapidly beating heart and trembling arms and couldn't help but feel a sense of power to have been able to cause a man so completely to lose control of himself. He must have found her as beautiful as Charles had found Elspeth. For a fleeting moment, the thought pleased her.

But this behavior was really the outside of enough! His grip was becoming quite painful, and if she couldn't take a deep breath very soon, she was very much afraid she would burst. Wasn't there anything she could do to make him break his hold? Her arms were pinned quite helplessly against his chest, but she could move her foot. Perhaps if she kicked him …

But before she was able to translate thought to action, he loosed her abruptly. She saw that he was gaping at the doorway, aghast. She turned quickly and found herself staring into Strickland's stunned and darkly furious eyes.

“My l-lord, I …” Mr. Clapham stammered.

“I beg your pardon,” Strickland said, his voice rasping and icy. “I had no idea the schoolroom was being used as a meeting place for lovers. If I had, I would have approached with a louder clatter.”

“
Miles
!” Olivia exclaimed, outraged.

His eyes, which had been fixed on the tutor's whitened face, traveled slowly to hers. She felt herself flushing hotly under his frozen scrutiny. “So
this
is why you pleaded his cause with such fervor,” he said nastily, his hands clenched tightly, as if he were trying to hold himself back from some rash act of violence. “Why didn't you tell me the truth, ma'am? I would have been perfectly willing to advance the cause of true love.”

“Oh, Miles, don't be idiotic,” Olivia snapped. “Mr. Clapham only—”

“There's no need to explain anything to me, my dear. I am not your guardian.”

“You don't understand, my lord,” Mr. Clapham said bravely. “What you s-saw … was entirely my f-fault. I … I completely lost m-my head—”

“Yes,” Strickland said in his most sardonic style, “and quite understandable, too. Miss Matthews is the sort of young lady who seems to
encourage
men to do so, isn't that right, ma'am? I seem to remember a time when I
myself
… but that is quite beside the point. Am I to wish you well, ma'am? Is a betrothal in the offing?”

“Really, Miles, must you persist in this taunting? Mr. Clapham has
explained
that there is nothing between us,” she said angrily.

“Oh,
has
he? That is not what I heard him say. And that is certainly not what I
saw
. If my eyes did not deceive me, I would say that there was a
great deal
between you.”

“Your
eyes
may not have deceived you, sir,” she said, embarrassed and infuriated, “but your
brain
seems to have done so. This … incident … has been nothing but a horrible mischance—”