Read Online The Heiress Companion by Madeleine E. Robins - Free Book Online Page B

Miss Jane ,
that is. Is she going to be all right? She don’t give a fig for me, but I — I
used to be, well, rather fond of her. Like a brother, you know. Still am. She’ll
recover?” However unremarkable this speech might have sounded to an
inexperienced ear, both Mr. Bradwell and Miss Cherwood were aware that coming
from Lord Bradwell it was practically a declaration. His face turned a fiery
red, while his brother’s mouth twitched wildly and Miss Cherwood fought a smile
which threatened to enlarge into quite unbecoming laughter.
    “Certainly she will, my lord,” she reassured him. “But — ?’
    “But?” he prompted.
    “Well, when she awakens, we must all of us strive to keep
her, and my cousin, well amused. It’s very important to the healing process,
you know. If you and Jane shared some common interests — horses perhaps? — it
would be a kindness in you to chat with her now and again to keep her spirits
up. As a brother might.”
    “O, yes, well,” Lord Bradwell stammered blankly. Then, after
a moment’s consideration, “Why, yes, I s’pose I could do something of the sort.
Good idea, Miss Rowena. Very good idea.”
    “I’m glad you find it so, my lord. Now, if you gentlemen
will excuse me, I have promised your mamma that I would lie down for a while
myself. I trust I shall see you at dinner.”
    Miss Cherwood sailed from the room, her spirits a little
lightened. She did not see Mr. Lyndon Bradwell raise his glass to her departing
form with an appreciative smile on his lips.
    o0o
    To say that Ulysses Ambercot became a frequent visitor at
Broak is to do him an injustice. From the morning following the accident Mr.
Ambercot became so frequent a visitor that once, meeting him in the hall, Lord
Bradwell was heard to observe that they had as well set up a cot in the pantry
if Ambercot meant to keep cheering the sickroom party this way. In fact,
Ulysses’ visits to his sister, while most dutiful, were also remarkably brief.
While he was determined to stay and amuse her, Jane was likely to cast him out
after half an hour, saying that his fidgeting would drive her to distraction.
He then would remove to Margaret Cherwood’s room. Meggy was in considerable
pain still, and relied greatly upon the doctor’s laudanum draught to ease her
discomfort. Still, she smiled sweetly on Mr. Ambercot no matter when he
appeared, and told him when he left that he had made her forget her woes for a
while. She did not seem to find his fidgeting unbearable, and with such
encouragement it is hardly extraordinary that Mr. Ambercot would find greater
and greater pleasure in her company. Often Rowena would chase him out with
ridiculous threats, to Margaret’s amusement. Ulysses was unaware that Miss
Cherwood would be sternly upbraided by her young cousin for treating the
visitor in such a fashion once he was out of earshot.
    “If you can complain at the way I treat Lully Ambercot, you
must be mending,” was all Rowena would say to the matter.
    “But Renna, he is your friend,” Margaret insisted.
    “And your admirer, goose. But Meg, love, if you expect to
heal in time to catch him, you must rest sometime. And you don’t want Lully to
become too ennuyé with your company, do
you?”
    Margaret protested weakly, but her heart was plainly not in
the denial. “Do you mind, Rowena? I mean, he is your friend.”
    “He was my playmate ten years ago, Meg. And if he was to
offer for you and you accept him, I would wish you both very happy, and that’s
the end to it. Had you been imagining some unrequited romance between the two
of us? Faugh. Aside from which, think how delighted you will make me if Aunt
Dorothea reacts the way I expect her to, should you betroth yourself without
her explicit consent.”
    “I couldn’t do that!” Margaret said in tones of shock.
    “If Lully applied to Uncle Cherwood and he gave his consent?”
Rowena suggested. “Only what then would your mamma do with her precious