The Victory by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles Page A

even though it incon veniences me a little from time to time. But I will not cast any shadow on his inheritance by divorce, or by allowing this new child to come publicly into the world.’
    Weston's hands clenched in fury. 'This is intolerable! I tell you I won't stand aside and do nothing, while you —’
    Aylesbury's expression hardened. 'Oh yes, you will, Captain. I have been lenient with you so far, for Lucy's sake, but you had better not try my patience. Good God, sir, you talk as if you had some rights in this matter! I will tell you now exactly what will happen. Lucy will go to the country to have the baby privately; the baby will be sent away to foster parents; and you will accept your new commission, which I was at such pains to get for you.'
    ‘You?' Weston said in astonishment.
    ‘Oh yes. I am not without influence, you know. There was some question of a staff appointment at the Admiralty, but that would not have suited my purposes. It is necessary that you should be out of the country for the next few months. If you return, you may see Lucy again, and I hope you will both try to be a little more careful in future.'
    ‘And if I refuse to co-operate with your plans?'
    ‘ You would be wise not to resist them. I can break you, Captain. You see by the way I have already influenced your career that this is no idle threat. You may also like to consider that, for all your protests about love, you are no more than a common adulterer. I could bring a suit against you for Criminal Conversation, which there is no doubt in the world I would win. Considering my rank, the damages which would be awarded against you would be of such an order that you would be faced with the choice of debtor's prison or flight abroad. You should ask yourself, perhaps, how Lucy would like that.’
    The earl stood up, and Weston saw the heaviness of his movements and the terrible weariness in his face. 'Now I'm afraid I must ask you to leave,' he said politely. 'It is past my usual hour of dining. You will forgive me, Captain, if I hope that we never meet again.’

    *
    Lucy wept, and Weston, who had never seen her tears before, did everything he could think of to console her, but in vain.
    ‘ I wish I hadn't told you,' she sobbed. 'It was better as it was. I can't bear to think of you both unhappy! Oh, poor Chetwyn!'
    ‘Lucy, my darling —'
    ‘ He has always been good to me. What other husband would let us alone like this?'
    ‘ Yes, I know, I know,' Weston said grimly. 'But now he means to make up for it. Oh, Lucy, why didn't you tell me about Roland? I just don't understand.'
    ‘ Don't you?' she said, lifting her tear-smudged face from her hands for a moment. 'But — that was why we married, to get an heir. It would have meant it was all for nothing, and he was my husband after all. I owed him that much. But now with this child, we've been apart too long.'
    ‘ You mean,' Weston asked slowly, 'that you wouldn't have told me if you and he —?’
    Lucy searched in vain for a dry portion of her handkerchief on which to blow her nose, and Weston pulled his out auto matically and pushed it at her.
    ‘ Of course not, only everybody knows he and I never see each other, so nobody would have believed it was his.' She blew her nose forcefully, and then, seeing Weston's expres sion, her eyes filled irresistibly with tears again. 'Oh, Weston, don't mind it! I'm not romantic like you — you've always known that. And I ought to behave properly by Chetwyn. But I do — I do care for you!' The tears welled over again, and she buried her face in his handkerchief. 'I'm sorry,' she sobbed unevenly. 'I don't know why I'm like this. It must be my con-condition!’
    Weston took her in his arms and let her cry on his shoulder until his coat was wet and warm. He was worn out with emotion, sick with frustration and helplessness. He felt as though he were in a trap; and twist and turn as he might, he could see no way out but to do what Aylesbury told him,