This remark put Frederica very near tears. “I do not like Mr. deCourcy to think that my cousin and I are to be married. What are we to do?”

“You and Wilson go down. Tell your cousin that I will join you directly. Your aunt is with the children, and I must inform her of what will be regarded as a most unwelcome imposition.”

Lady Vernon knew that Catherine did not like any variation in her narrow routine, but she was always weak on the side of vanity. Lady Vernon, therefore, addressed this side when she said, “My cousin’s unexpected visit requires some apology to you, my dear sister. I can only account for it by supposing that he means to join the Parkers’ large party at Billingshurst and could not come into the neighborhood without waiting upon you and my brother.”

“Billingshurst is ten miles off,” remarked Catherine, who could not imagine going so far to pay her compliments to anyone.

“Sir James possesses the sort of affability and easy confidence that rejects the notion that such a visit might be unwelcome or that it might be an imposition upon the hospitality of equals, particularly when we are on such excellent terms.”

For her own part, Catherine could only hope that the terms did not comprehend Lady Vernon hereafter becoming Reginald’s wife, and though Catherine would not have gone a great distance to meet Sir James Martin, as he had come to Churchill, she was curious to see him.

“Cousin!” cried Sir James when the ladies entered the room, and he stepped forward to meet Lady Vernon. His merry glance met her cross one with equanimity.

Lady Vernon made the introductions, and Catherine bade them all sit down together.

“I take a great liberty in coming to Churchill,” Sir James addressed Catherine. “I hope you will forgive it—I know you shall, for my cousin has written to me that your kindness and affection are very great, so great that it must extend to her kin.”

“And how does my Aunt Martin fare now that she is left alone?” Lady Vernon inquired of her cousin.

“Very well, I trust. When I was with her last, she did complain of some trifling ailment or other, but she seemed to improve as my departure drew near, and now that I am gone I have no doubt but that she is entirely well.”

“Then you are settled in town for the season?” Catherine asked.

“I am as settled as any poor bachelor ever is.” Sir James laughed. “We settle ourselves wherever we are invited to stay. I hope that I do not take too great a liberty to impose myself upon your hospitality, Mrs. Vernon. If I do, you must take it to be the liberty of a relation.”

Catherine was obliged to proffer an invitation for him to stay at Churchill for the present, “as you have no place else to go.”

Sir James thanked her with a warmth that nearly provoked a laugh from Lady Vernon. “I called at Edward Street three evenings ago, and Mrs. Johnson urges me to tell you how happy she will be to have you in London once more and to convey to you both her very best love. I did protest that she could not possess better love for you than your nearest relation.”

Frederica ventured to speak. “And Mr. Johnson? Is he well?”

“He commissioned me to bring you something from his library,” Sir James replied as he took a packet from his coat. “And this is what I chose. A Collection of Passion-Flowers from Nature. I hope that you approve, cousin.”

Frederica blushed and murmured her thanks, avoiding Reginald’s gaze. He observed this exchange in perfect silence but with a heightened color that suggested that he was not pleased to have Sir James at Churchill Manor.

“I cannot think that Mr. Johnson knows anything of passionflowers,” Lady Vernon remarked.

“Perhaps that is why he is willing to part with it,” Sir James replied. “And I am quite certain that Mrs. Johnson will not feel the loss of it. I must offer my congratulations to you, madam,” he addressed Catherine, “and to Mr. deCourcy on the marriage of your cousin Miss Lucy Hamilton to Mr. Charles Smith. I hope that they are very happy.”

Reginald’s expression assumed a greater shade of hauteur, but the remark induced him to speak at last. “I have no reason to believe that they are not.”

“Nor have I. Smith has a frank and open disposition, and Miss Lucy Hamilton has never possessed the convenient talent of affecting sensations foreign to her heart. With nothing like artifice in her nature nor reserve in his, I think they have as fair a chance at happiness as those whose unions were a sacrifice to policy or ambition.”

“Your opinion of marriage does not sound entirely favorable, sir,” Reginald deCourcy observed.

“I am always influenced by what is before me. Now that I am at Churchill, I think there can be no better state.”

“If you are so easily swayed, your opinion may reverse when you go away again,” Reginald observed.

“I hope that when I do go, it will be with an even happier view of matrimony than when I came.”

“Unfortunately, Mr. deCourcy will not be able to witness your change of sentiment,” Lady Vernon remarked. “He is to leave Churchill before the end of the week.”

“But not leave Sussex, I trust,” Sir James said with a smile, “as I understand that some of your relations will be at Billingshurst.”

“I go directly to London and then on to Parklands.”

“How regrettable! But Mrs. Vernon will have the pleasure of seeing them, I have no doubt.”

Catherine was somewhat distressed at this assertion. If any of her relations were to come as far as Billingshurst, she would indeed be obliged to do something, though she did not know what. She could not expect them to come ten miles to drink tea. They would have to be asked to dine. Would she be obliged to invite Miss Maria Manwaring as well? She was a particular friend of Miss Vernon’s, but of late Charles had spoken of Manwaring with something like aversion. Catherine sighed and wished that they were all back at Parklands, where the matter of what was due to anybody had been left in her mother’s capable hands.

“It has been a long time since I have seen anything of this part of the country and nothing suits me so well as a brisk walk after being confined to a carriage for many miles. We will excuse Mr. deCourcy, as he must have something better to attend to, but I think I can coax my cousins into a little walking party. And you will join us, will you not, Mrs. Vernon?”

Catherine was obliged to excuse herself, saying that she never walked and that she ought to return to the nursery. Sir James laughed and said that he hoped to be introduced to the little Vernons ere long, and what a wonderful thing it was to have such a family.

Sir James’s cheerfulness seemed to provoke Reginald, who declared that he had no pressing matters to attend to and that he would indeed like to be one of the party, and Sir James, with his natural sense of mischief, offered his arm to Frederica and left Reginald to attend Lady Vernon.

The four of them set out across the front lawns and down the avenue, walking in the direction of the village.

“I am very happy to see you looking so well, Freddie,” Sir James began. “Your ordeal in London cannot have been pleasant, but I was never persuaded that you ought to have been sent to school, and yet I do not like to see you back here at Churchill. I would much rather have had you remain in town, as your mother wished.”

“I am sure that Mama would wish you there as well.”

Sir James laughed. “I cannot recall a more chilly welcome than I have received just now! Is Mrs. Vernon generally so unequal to hospitality?”

“I have not had the opportunity to know her well. I think that she is very much a creature of routine, but so are we all in some manner or other.”

“And what sort of person is Mr. deCourcy? Is he the same sort of creature as his sister?”

“He is intelligent and amiable.”

“In other words, nothing like her. And yet there is nothing amiable in the stare that I feel directed at my back. He has heard that we are very near to being engaged and he does not like it. What shall we do? Are you still of the opinion that it is wrong to encourage discord? Will we turn back and undeceive him at once, or shall we have some fun at his expense?”

“I don’t know what you mean, cousin!”

“Do you not? And yet you are a young lady of such extraordinary discernment. It is clear to me that Mr. deCourcy admires you and regards me as a rival. What will the Vernons say? Mrs. Vernon continues to hope that her brother will marry Miss Hamilton, and Mr. Vernon—”

Frederica drew her arm back and replied sharply, “I do not care what my uncle hopes for! His hopes cannot be accomplished unless someone else’s are ruined!”

Sir James was startled at such an outburst from one whose temper was always so mild. He attempted something like an apology and she immediately begged his pardon and took her cousin’s arm once more. The two continued on, and though Sir James endeavored to divert her, Frederica remained subdued, replying to his remarks with no more than a monosyllable or a nod.

Reginald, who walked with Lady Vernon many paces behind the pair, could not hear their exchange, but he observed enough to see that Sir James had said something to upset Frederica. He began to tally—with greater attention than the subject had ever produced heretofore—the many ills that might arise when a young woman was compelled to subordinate her happiness to a duty to marry well. By the time they had returned to the house, he had enumerated many arguments in favor of preference and was resolved to address them to Lady Vernon before he left Churchill.