Hope fluttered in Mary, and she looked at the earl, trying to read his impassive face. Was he saying what she thought he was? She glanced at Royce, who smiled at her. “What does that mean?” She turned back to the earl. “Are you saying that you believe me?”
He made a slight bow toward her. “Welcome to the family, cousins.”
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Chapter 6
“Thank you, sir.” Mary’s heart leapt, but she struggled to appear calm, as if she had expected his approval all along. “We are honored.”
“I have never … um … been in this position before,” Stewkesbury admitted. “I am not quite certain how to proceed. But clearly you must stay here, at least for the time being. I shall send someone for your things.”
He walked over and tugged at the tasseled cord beside the door. A moment later, the magisterial butler to whom Mary had spoken this morning glided into the room. His eyes slid over to her, and there was a spasm of astonishment on his face, quickly suppressed. Mary pressed her lips hard together to hide her little smile of satisfaction.
“Yes, my lord?” the butler asked, his tone betraying not even a hint of curiosity.
“These young ladies will be staying with us, Hooper. They are my cousins.”
There was the slightest pause before the butler replied, “Indeed, sir. I shall have rooms made up immediately.”
“Very good. In the meantime, I think tea might be in order. Oh, and send the coach around to fetch their things.”
Sir Royce told him the name and location of the inn, and Hooper bowed out of the room. As soon as he had gone, Mary turned to the earl.
“It is very good of you, sir. Thank you. We do not for the world wish to be a burden on you… .” She trailed off. There was something about the earl’s polite gaze that she found extremely inhibiting. It was difficult to tell what he was thinking. He hardly seemed welcoming, but she supposed that no one could wish to have four young women dropped in one’s lap.
“Nonsense. Think nothing further of it. You are my aunt’s children, after all.” The earl tucked her mother’s letter into an inside pocket of his jacket and sat down.
A long moment of awkward silence ensued. Finally Sir Royce broke it by saying, “I am afraid that I do not remember Flora, Stewkesbury.”
“I believe she was my father’s youngest sister. She was away at school when you and your mother came to Willowmere,” the earl told him. “After that, she was in London, making her debut. Then she disappeared. I never heard her spoken of again. I remember asking Aunt Phyllida once where she was, and she looked horrified and hushed me up. It was only years later that I understood that Aunt Flora and Grandfather had quarreled and she had left the house. Of course, we rarely saw much of the aunts anyway, stuck up there in the nursery as we were.”
“I remember Euphronia well enough from those days,” Royce commented dryly.
“Good Gad, who could not?” Stewkesbury paused and looked thoughtful. “I suppose we ought to introduce you young ladies to your other relatives. I shall invite the aunts to dinner this evening. Royce, you must come as well.”
Royce looked at the earl askance. “I? Why must I come?”
“Family dinner,” Oliver replied. Mary did not know the earl well enough to be certain, but she thought she detected a hint of laughter lurking in the man’s imperturbable gaze.
“Not my family,” Sir Royce pointed out.
“I am sure Fitz will be there.”
“I can see Fitz anytime I want.”
“But what about your duty to these young women?” Stewkesbury went on. Mary was certain now that there was contained mirth in his voice. “You cannot mean to desert them so soon.”
“Oh, yes,” Lily piped up, turning a pleading look on Sir Royce. “Please stay.”
Mary would not have admitted it as freely as her sister, but she too wished that Sir Royce would stay for the meal. She dreaded the thought of meeting more unfamiliar family members, but it would not seem as bad with him there.#p#分页标题#e#
“Of course, if you ask me,” Sir Royce told Lily gallantly, though he shot his stepbrother a hard look.
The butler carried in a large tray containing a tea service and cups, followed by another servant with a tray bearing a variety of cakes and biscuits. There ensued the formality of serving the tea and cakes, as well as a smattering of stilted conversation. Mary could think of nothing to say, and though Royce tried, he could not get much of a conversation going. The earl asked a few questions about their trip and their home, but Mary could not decide if he was expressing a polite interest or trying to find out information about them. She had the uneasy feeling that he was not entirely certain that they were really his cousins.