backward glance and parting word for Edmund.
Edmund, on the other hand, hadn’t stopped talking since leaving Havenworth. He wasn’t tensely quiet the way he always had been after an encounter with Mr. Bentford. That boded well for his afternoon at Havenworth. It seemed, at the very least, he hadn’t been mistreated. Clara felt immense and immediate relief at that.
“Did you know a pony isn’t just a baby horse?” Edmund said. “It is different from a horse. It’s smaller and has shorter legs and doesn’t get bigger when it grows up.”
“Is that so?” She’d never heard Edmund talk so much at once.
He slipped his hand inside hers. “And you can brush harder than you think, Aunt Clara. It doesn’t hurt them.”
“You seem to have learned a great deal.”
“I didn’t get to ride yet. Mr. Jonquil says I need to be comfortable with horses first. He knows everything about horses.”
“Did you spend very much time with Mr. Jonquil?” Clara asked, surprised to hear that Havenworth’s owner had been involved in Edmund’s chores. If he disapproved of a nonentity of a widow, he would certainly not lower himself to spend time with her ward.
“The whole afternoon. He showed me the stables. They’re big as our whole house. There are more than twenty horses. More than thirty, maybe. He knows all of their names. And there are boys in the stable who are only a little older than me. Mr. Jonquil says he started working in the stables when he was too young to even remember. And he says a gentleman can raise horses.”
“He is correct about that.” Clara loved Edmund’s sudden chattiness. She couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so cheerful.
“I am to go back on Monday,” Edmund continued. “But he said I cannot come to the stables unless I have finished all my lessons and only if you say I have finished my chores at home.”
“Did he?” That was thoughtful, at least.
“And he said if I sneak there without permission or don’t finish everything at home, I won’t be allowed to come for a few days until I learn that a gentleman never neglects his home or his family.”
Clara actually stopped in the middle of the lane and stared at Edmund in astonishment. “He said that?” It had always been her experience that the only thing a man never neglected was his own comfort and pleasure.
But Edmund nodded, confirming his tale. The warning didn’t seem to have frightened him. Mr. Jonquil must not have taken a threatening or overpowering approach to laying down the rules. Odd, that.
“Is he correct?” Edmund asked, apparently noticing the confusion on her face. “About a gentleman taking care of his family?”
She fumbled for only a moment. “Yes. He is.” Whether or not true gentlemen actually did take that approach was irrelevant. She fully meant to raise Edmund so that when he was grown, he would treat his family that way.
“I thought so,” Edmund said.
They continued their walk, Edmund’s tongue never slowing. Clara only half listened. What was Mr. Jonquil about? He obviously didn’t think highly of her. She, he had made clear enough through his actions and pointed silences, was beneath his notice. But he’d given Edmund some very sound advice and had shown him around the stables, watching out for the boy.
What was his motive? She’d known enough men in her life to know there was always an ulterior motive.
She sent Edmund up to his bedchamber to wash up and settled herself at her small writing desk in the sitting room. Suzie had returned from Grompton with a letter in the moments before Clara had been obligated to go fetch Edmund. The letter had come from London, and she hadn’t opened it before she left. She had but one correspondent in Town, the man of business she’d secured in the days before fleeing Sussex.
Clara held the unopened letter between her hands now. A heaviness settled in her stomach at the memory of that desperate flight. She’d tried so hard to appear calm
Edmund, on the other hand, hadn’t stopped talking since leaving Havenworth. He wasn’t tensely quiet the way he always had been after an encounter with Mr. Bentford. That boded well for his afternoon at Havenworth. It seemed, at the very least, he hadn’t been mistreated. Clara felt immense and immediate relief at that.
“Did you know a pony isn’t just a baby horse?” Edmund said. “It is different from a horse. It’s smaller and has shorter legs and doesn’t get bigger when it grows up.”
“Is that so?” She’d never heard Edmund talk so much at once.
He slipped his hand inside hers. “And you can brush harder than you think, Aunt Clara. It doesn’t hurt them.”
“You seem to have learned a great deal.”
“I didn’t get to ride yet. Mr. Jonquil says I need to be comfortable with horses first. He knows everything about horses.”
“Did you spend very much time with Mr. Jonquil?” Clara asked, surprised to hear that Havenworth’s owner had been involved in Edmund’s chores. If he disapproved of a nonentity of a widow, he would certainly not lower himself to spend time with her ward.
“The whole afternoon. He showed me the stables. They’re big as our whole house. There are more than twenty horses. More than thirty, maybe. He knows all of their names. And there are boys in the stable who are only a little older than me. Mr. Jonquil says he started working in the stables when he was too young to even remember. And he says a gentleman can raise horses.”
“He is correct about that.” Clara loved Edmund’s sudden chattiness. She couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so cheerful.
“I am to go back on Monday,” Edmund continued. “But he said I cannot come to the stables unless I have finished all my lessons and only if you say I have finished my chores at home.”
“Did he?” That was thoughtful, at least.
“And he said if I sneak there without permission or don’t finish everything at home, I won’t be allowed to come for a few days until I learn that a gentleman never neglects his home or his family.”
Clara actually stopped in the middle of the lane and stared at Edmund in astonishment. “He said that?” It had always been her experience that the only thing a man never neglected was his own comfort and pleasure.
But Edmund nodded, confirming his tale. The warning didn’t seem to have frightened him. Mr. Jonquil must not have taken a threatening or overpowering approach to laying down the rules. Odd, that.
“Is he correct?” Edmund asked, apparently noticing the confusion on her face. “About a gentleman taking care of his family?”
She fumbled for only a moment. “Yes. He is.” Whether or not true gentlemen actually did take that approach was irrelevant. She fully meant to raise Edmund so that when he was grown, he would treat his family that way.
“I thought so,” Edmund said.
They continued their walk, Edmund’s tongue never slowing. Clara only half listened. What was Mr. Jonquil about? He obviously didn’t think highly of her. She, he had made clear enough through his actions and pointed silences, was beneath his notice. But he’d given Edmund some very sound advice and had shown him around the stables, watching out for the boy.
What was his motive? She’d known enough men in her life to know there was always an ulterior motive.
She sent Edmund up to his bedchamber to wash up and settled herself at her small writing desk in the sitting room. Suzie had returned from Grompton with a letter in the moments before Clara had been obligated to go fetch Edmund. The letter had come from London, and she hadn’t opened it before she left. She had but one correspondent in Town, the man of business she’d secured in the days before fleeing Sussex.
Clara held the unopened letter between her hands now. A heaviness settled in her stomach at the memory of that desperate flight. She’d tried so hard to appear calm
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