‘Oh—but I was about to retire to change my gown. It became sadly muddied during my walk....’
‘Well, the major has already seen it and Nicky will not notice.’ Maria laughed aside her objections. ‘I must go and relieve Nurse—little Reginald will be waking up soon and demanding to be fed.’ She turned to smile at the major. ‘I shall say good-day to you now, sir, and look forward to seeing you here for dinner next week.’
Silently Zelah led the major away. The slight hesitation in his step had returned, but whether it was due to the exercise or the awkwardness of meeting his hostess she did not know and would not ask. Nicky’s face lit up when the major walked in.
‘I knew you would come!’ Nicky greeted him enthusiastically.
‘Did you doubt it, after you wrote me such a very polite letter?’
‘It was Zelah’s idea. She helped me write it.’
‘But the sentiments were all Nicky’s,’ she said quickly.
The major turned towards her, amusement warming his hard eyes.
‘Including the invitation to call? I am quite cast down.’
Zelah flushed scarlet, but she was saved from finding a response by her nephew, who had spotted a packet protruding from the major’s coat pocket.
‘Is that a present for me, Major?’
‘It is, sir. It is the travel backgammon set from Rooks Tower. Hannah told me how much you enjoyed using it so I thought you might like to have it. She sends you her best wishes, by the bye.’
Nicky gave a little crow of delight and immediately challenged the major to a game.
‘Oh now, Nicky, I am sure Major Coale is far too busy—’
‘Major Coale has a little time to spare,’ Dominic interrupted her. ‘And my honour is at stake here—I cannot refuse a challenge!’ He nodded at her. ‘You may safely leave the boy with me for an hour, Miss Pentewan, if you wish to go and change your gown.’
‘...and he stayed for a full two hours playing backgammon with Nicky. It was most good-natured of him. It left me free to look after baby and Zelah went off to write her letters.’
The family were at dinner and Maria was telling her husband about Major Coale’s visit.
‘Yes, I must say he struck me as very gentlemanly when I passed him on the road,’ said Reginald. ‘Quite a change from when I first made his acquaintance. Then he was looking very wild, but he is very much altered.’ He cast an amused glance at Zelah. ‘Having you in the house was a civilising influence, my dear.’
‘Not that civilising,’ she responded. ‘I told him about your opposition to Sir Oswald’s plans for Prickett Wood and he was not at all interested in supporting you.’
Maria was inclined to be sympathetic.
‘One can hardly blame him, poor man. He is so hideously disfigured it must be a trial for him to go into society at all.’
Reginald paused, considering.
‘Do you really think him so repulsive, my love? I can’t say I really noticed his scar the last time I saw him.’
This response earned him a warm smile from his sister-in-law.
‘Well, of course, it was the first time I had seen him,’ said Maria. ‘But his manners are so polished and he is the son of a viscount. Once he has been to dinner and I have seen him a little more, I am sure I shall grow accustomed.’
A week went by and Zelah waited hopefully each day for a response to her advertisement for a position as governess. She had written it out in her best copperplate and sent it to the newspaper offices in Barnstaple and Taunton, but no replies were forthcoming.
‘Oh, my dear, perhaps it is not meant to be,’ said Maria, when Zelah explained this to her. ‘Can you not content yourself with living here? You know we are very happy to keep you with us.’
‘Thank you, Maria, and I love being here as a guest, but it was never my intention to become your pensioner.’
Maria cried out at that, protesting that she would always be a guest, never a burden, but Zelah had seen Reginald poring over his accounts, she had heard him discussing with Maria the possibility of selling off some of their land to pay for Nicky to attend Mr Netherby’s school. Zelah did not mention it, merely saying cheerfully, ‘I do not despair—tomorrow I shall write another notice and send it off to the newspapers in Bristol and Bath. I am sure someone there must require a governess.’
‘I am sure they do, love, but for now let us forget this plan of yours and look forward to this evening. Major Coale is coming to dinner, had you forgotten?’
Zelah had not forgotten, but for some reason she did not want to admit it and she was glad when her sister continued.
‘What will you wear, Zelah, the green robe you had made up last summer?’
‘I thought I might put on my grey gown.’
‘What?’ Maria sat up, scandalised. ‘That gown has done service for several years now and is very severe. You should save it to wear when you are interviewed by a prospective employer. No,’ she said decisively, ‘you will wear the green and I shall fetch out my Norwich shawl for you to drape over your arms, should the evening turn chilly.’ Maria sighed loudly. ‘There is certainly no reason for you to save your best silk any longer. If you are set upon finding work, then it is not at all suitable for a governess.’
Zelah hugged her.
‘Pray do not be sad for me, dearest sister. I think it is quite exciting, and if I find the children are just too abominable, I shall give it all up and come running home to you!’
When the dinner hour approached, Zelah ran lightly down to the drawing room, her silk skirts whispering as she moved. She had to admit there was something very uplifting about putting on a pretty dress. Maria had even sent her own maid to put up Zelah’s hair, restraining it by a matching green bandeau and leaving just a few loose curls tumbling artlessly to her shoulders. To complete the picture Zelah threaded a small jade cross on a green ribbon and tied it around her neck.
‘There,’ she told her reflection, ‘a picture of simple elegance. What does one need with diamonds and emeralds?’
The approving looks of her sister and brother-in-law raised her spirits even more and when Major Coale arrived she turned towards the door, her eyes sparkling and a smile of genuine welcome parting her lips.
Dominic entered the room ready to bow and say all that duty required, but when his eyes alighted upon Zelah Pentewan he stopped, his brain refusing to function. In a matter of seconds he regained his composure, bowing to his host and greeting Mrs Buckland with the usual polite phrases, but all the time his brain was in turmoil.
He had not been looking forward to the evening. He remembered his first meeting with his hostess, recalled her hesitation and the way her eyes travelled everywhere save to his face. He hoped she would soon recover from the habit, but it did not surprise him. It was always thus with a new acquaintance.
Except Zelah, who had never shown any reluctance to look at him, save when he teased her or paid her compliments and made her blush. Gazing at her now, he wanted to shower her with compliments, for she looked quite charming. Her gown, which was the colour of new leaves, brought out the green flecks in those expressive eyes that now met his own and a delicate flush mantled her cheeks. She looked genuinely pleased to see him and for a moment his spirits soared.
It had been a long time since any young woman had smiled at him in quite such a welcoming way, save those he had paid on rare occasions to spend the evening with him in a vain attempt to relieve his loneliness. Dominic quickly damped down his pleasure. Her smiles were nothing more than natural friendliness. No woman could ever be attracted to him now.
So he retreated into the safety of his perfect society manners and quelled the impulse to hold her fingers an instant longer than was required, or even—as he really wanted—to kiss her hand.