The Most Eligible Bride in London, page 21
Lady Turley glanced at her husband. “Gavin, has our stable master said what the weather will be?”
“He expects relatively warm and sunny days for the rest of the week.” Lord Turley’s brows furrowed as he regarded his wife. “Why?”
“Well, as there is nothing particular going on tomorrow evening, I thought a ride out to Richmond and an al fresco luncheon might be fun. If you gentlemen can take a day from the Lords, that is.” Nate joined Turley and Exeter in nodding their agreement to the plan. Then she pressed her lips together and shook her head. “It won’t do. I forgot Dorie was planning a party in her garden.”
Lady Exeter waved her hand as if to say it was no matter. “I have not seen any young ladies to invite. As I said before, I must wait until after Lady Bellamny’s soirée.”
“Very well.” Lady Turley smiled at them all. “Let us agree to meet tomorrow at eleven for a trip to Richmond. I shall send a note to Henrietta when I get home.”
Nate thought that was an excellent idea. It would give him even more time with Henrietta. Hopefully tomorrow he’d find time to be alone with her.
Henrietta.
He’d been calling her that to himself, and he should not. What if it slipped out? She had not, after all, given him permission to address her by her first name.
The other four chatted amiably the rest of the way around the carriage way, until Lady Turley turned her attention to him. “Lord Fotherby, you are being very quiet.”
A flush of warmth rose from his neck. “I suppose I am.” He shrugged. “I was thinking how long it had been since I’d visited Richmond Park.” He hadn’t done it when he’d been on the Town. “I believe the last time was when I was a child.”
“Now that I think of it, it was the same for me,” Lady Exeter said.
“I as well.” Lady Turley tilted her head. “How strange that we did not go last year.”
“I recall last Season being extremely busy.” Lady Exeter moved the angle of her parasol as they swung toward the gate.
“In that event we should all enjoy ourselves,” he said to himself. Henrietta had probably not been there at all. He wondered if there was a map of the park at home. Then it occurred to him that with riding with her in the morning and the visit to Richmond Park, he would spend most of the day with her tomorrow. Thank God for that. He’d felt at a disadvantage with Bolingbroke and St. Albans. Nate had honestly believed that once he had it out with Merton, his problems would be over. Yet that did not appear to be the case. Perhaps he had been going about this the wrong way. If he was able to attach Henrietta’s attentions, that might go a long way to being accepted by her sister and brother-in-law. He sighed softly. Even if her grandmother accepted him, and possibly her parents, he suspected her relationship with her sister was strong enough to present difficulties. Then again, what sort of man was he if he gave up before he was even challenged? Yes, he had made a serious error in judgment, but he was still an eligible gentleman. Merton hadn’t let anyone or anything get in the way of marrying the woman he wanted. It was time for Nate to stop wallowing in self-castigation.
He parted from the group when they continued to Turley House on Green Street and went home. Tomorrow, he’d change his tactics.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Henrietta grinned at Parkin as she stepped into the hall. He closed the door behind her. “Thank you for being so prompt.”
“Only doing my duty, Miss Henrietta. I thought you might need a little assistance.”
“You were right.” She removed the hat-pins in her bonnet. “Is Merton here?”
“No. He returned from the boxing salon and left again.”
At this rate she would never find out if he and Fotherby had fought and settled their differences. “My sister?”
“Her ladyship is resting.”
It seemed that was all Dotty did these days. Not for the first time, Henrietta sent up a prayer for her sister and the baby. Her sister probably would not be in Town if it was not for her requiring a second Season. She wondered if Dorie or Georgie had returned from the Park. They must have. Their carriage was before Lord Bolingbroke’s leaving the Park.
A knock came at the door, and Henrietta turned to see who it was, but Parkin blocked her view. When he turned back around he handed her a missive. “From Lady Turley.”
“Thank you.” She took the letter. “I shall be in my parlor. Please have tea sent up.”
“At once, Miss Henrietta.” The butler bowed and spoke to a young footman standing off to the side.
The note seemed to burn through her gloves to her hand, and she wanted to open it before she got to her apartments, but she made herself wait. Spyer took Henrietta’s spencer, bonnet, and gloves. The tea came, and the second the door was shut she popped open the seal.
My dearest Henrietta,
I have decided to get up a small party for an al fresco luncheon at Richmond Park. It will be just the six of us. I hope that is acceptable. Six? Who is the sixth person? Fotherby. That must be it.
We will depart at eleven o’clock and fetch you shortly thereafter.
I look forward to seeing you in the morning for our ride.
Your friend,
G. T.
Henrietta took out a piece of pressed paper and wrote her acceptance. Once she had sealed the letter she strolled into her dressing room and found her maid putting away new gowns.
“They turned out well,” Spyer commented.
For the first time Henrietta noticed that her gowns were of slightly deeper colors than last year. At least she had more choices. “They did.”
Her maid looked up from what she was doing. “Did you need something?”
“A footman to take this note to Lady Turley. But I will do it. You are already occupied.” Henrietta walked out of the dressing room, stepped into the corridor, and found a footman. “Please take this to Parkin. It must be sent straightaway to Turley House.”
“Yes, miss.”
She had just settled down with a cup of tea when a rap sounded on the door. Rather than letting her maid take it, Henrietta opened the door to find the same footman.
“This just came for you, miss.”
“Thank you.” She could tell from the paper that this missive was from her grandmother. As long as the duchess did not want her tomorrow, all would be well.
Once again she sat down at her desk and opened the message.
My dearest Henrietta,
I am pleased to invite you to dine with me. I will see you tomorrow evening at eight o’clock.
B.
Henrietta frowned at the brief missive. As always, her grandmother simply assumed she had no other plans. And at this time of year she did not. She only hoped that once the Season began Grandmamma would take a busier schedule into consideration. Actually, she would have to considering she was helping to chaperone Henrietta.
She pulled out a piece of her finest paper. There was no response needed, but it was only polite to confirm that she’d received the summons.
Dearest Grandmother,
I look forward to seeing you tomorrow at eight.
With much love,
H. S.
A few minutes later she went back to the corridor, where the same footman waited, and handed him the letter. “The Duchess of Bristol is at the Pulteney Hotel. Tell Parkin I will require a town coach tomorrow evening at twenty minutes to eight.”
The young footman dipped his head. “You can count on me, Miss Henrietta.”
“Thank you.” She really must ask someone who her personal footman would be this Season.
Tomorrow was going to be a busy day, but Henrietta looked forward to it. She especially looked forward to spending more time with Fotherby.
* * *
Nate had no sooner walked through the front door when he was handed a folded note.
“From her ladyship,” his butler said.
“Thank you. I’ll be in my study.” Strolling to the back of the house, he opened the missive.
Fotherby,
We have been invited to dine with the Duchess of Bristol tomorrow evening. I have accepted for both of us. Miss Stern will be present as well.
Mama
But not Lord and Lady Merton. Nate wondered if he was going to be tested again. After the last time he distrusted the duchess. This time he’d be prepared.
Nate reached his desk just as Chetwin, his secretary, placed a stack of letters on it. “All of these came today?”
“Most of them are invitations for the early entertainments.” Nate raised one brow. “They are all for after Easter.”
“Good. Send them to my mother. She is a much better person to work out which ones I should attend.”
“As you wish.” Chetwin removed well over half the stack and grimaced. “Better you than me.”
Nate leaned back in his chair. His secretary came from a good family. His older sisters had married well, but, as usual in the ton, the younger sons had to seek employment. “If any of your family is in the metropolis this Season, you know I will not keep you from attending their entertainments.”
“I do know that.” Chetwin gave a small smile. “Although it will be nice to see them, the truth of the matter is that I prefer quiet to balls and all those other things.”
“I can understand.” Truth to tell, Nate had not attended many large events when he’d been here before. Other than seeing Henrietta, he didn’t expect to find much enjoyment in them this year. That reminded him that his mother would select the events Henrietta was most likely to attend, and there would be dancing. He would not look forward to seeing her dance with anyone else. Yet if he failed to become betrothed to her, that was the only thing to which he could look forward.
His secretary took the cards and returned to his office. Nate glanced at his mother’s note. Was the duchess meddling? If so, he was glad of it. Whether she knew it or not, she had succeeded in insuring that he’d be able to spend most of tomorrow with Henrietta. He turned to the correspondence that had been forwarded to him. If he kept coming to Town, he’d have to engage a steward. Until then, he’d try to manage from here. He opened the first letter that turned out to be from the tutor he had hired in an attempt to start a dame school.
Dear Lord Fotherby,
I regret to inform you that for the past week none of the children have attended classes . . .
Bloody hellhounds! He’d been afraid of that.
I did go around to some of the families, but they all claimed they needed the children at home.
It is a waste of my time and your money to keep me on. Therefore, I herewith tender my resignation.
Yr. Servant,
K. Kimble.
Nate resisted the urge to crumple up the damn thing and throw the letter into the fireplace. How in God’s name was he to educate his tenants’ children when he met with such resistance? On the other hand, he’d had to personally take—it had really been more like dragging—two of his tenants to Coke’s experimental farm in Norfolk. The only thing Nate could do was try again when he returned home. But he needed ideas to make it work. His new friends might know how to start a school and make it work. They were all very forward thinking. Yet the person he should probably ask first was Henrietta. He’d be surprised if she did not have an opinion, and an excellent one at that. He set the letter aside. It was a shame he had to wait until morning to see her.
The next day he opened the window and stared up at a grayish-blue, cloudless sky. In the east, streaks of pink and yellow painted the horizon. The sun was making its first appearance. If he wanted to meet up with Henrietta and the other ladies, he had to hurry. Nate opened the door to the corridor just in time to see one of the maids. “Please tell Hulatt that I need my horse in ten minutes.”
Putting down her bucket and cloths, she bobbed a curtsey and dashed toward the hall. He cleaned his teeth, dressed, and called for Padraig, who was still sleeping at the foot of Nate’s bed. “Come, boy. We’re going out.” Never an early riser, the Wolfhound stretched before standing on the bed on his hind legs and putting his front paws on the floor to stretch again. “I’m going to have to start waking you earlier.”
The dog yawned when he opened the door. For a second he thought the Wolfhound would go back to bed, but Padraig wagged his tail and followed Nate out the door. They reached the pavement as Darragh was brought around. Unlike his dog, the horse was ready for exercise. He passed Grosvenor Square but didn’t see the ladies. Looking toward the Park, he spied them a street away. Keeping his horse to a trot, he reached the small group just before they went through the gate.
“Good morning.” He lifted his hat to them.
“Good morning,” Lady Turley said from her carriage.
“Good morning.” Lady Exeter tilted her face up toward the sky. “It promises to be a lovely day.”
He glanced at Henrietta, and her smile made him slightly dizzy. “Good morning. I wondered if you would join us.”
Little did she know he always wanted to be where she was. She looked particularly beautiful this morning in a deep, rose-colored habit. Nate glanced at Padraig. “Some of us are harder to awaken than others.”
The Wolfhound yawned again, and she laughed. “I can see that.”
They’d reached the Park, and the three of them who were riding gave their horses their heads as they raced down the carriage way. They slowed as they reached Lady Turley.
Nate was only a little surprised when she and Lady Exeter dropped back, giving him a chance to speak with Henrietta alone.
Now was a good time to ask for her help. He took a breath. “I wondered if you could assist me with a problem I’m having at my main estate.”
Letting her mare amble, she kept her gaze on him. What would it be like to have him be her focus all the time? “Of course, if I am able to.”
“I decided last year to start a school for the children of my tenants and the village. I had imagined something like a dame school. Unfortunately, the teacher I hired wrote to inform me that the children stopped attending and that he was resigning. Apparently, their parents don’t see the value in the school.”
Her rosy lips curved into a small smile. “That has been a problem for other landowners. But there are solutions.” She tilted her head. “However, are you certain you want to have a dame school? Their goal is to teach only very basic reading, writing, and arithmetic.”
He hadn’t actually thought about it. “Is that not sufficient?”
She shrugged. “It depends on what you wish to accomplish in the long term. Many of my father’s tenants have large families, and it is not feasible for all the boys to remain at home. Of course, they expect the girls will marry. Yet, even so, they can still benefit from a better education.”
“You’re right. If the boys can’t remain, they will need apprenticeships or something else. And not all girls wed. They too could benefit from apprenticeships.”
“That is certainly part of it.” Henrietta gave him a look of approval. And for some reason he wanted to puff out his chest. “We have discovered that very intelligent people can be found at all levels of society. Giving them the opportunity to study more advanced subjects separates the cream, so to speak. My father has sponsored several boys and some girls by sending them to other schools or universities. One of the girls became a teacher. Another opened her own business. As for the boys, there are solicitors, doctors, accountants.” She gave him a rueful grin. “I could go on, but I am sure you understand.”
She had told Nate her father was a Radical, and here was the proof. “I do understand, and I agree. No one should be held back by their status in society.” His father was probably rolling over in his grave. “However, I still have to get them to school.”
“What have you tried thus far?”
Not much at all. “I naively thought that offering the school would be enough.”
Her lips twitched. “I think everyone’s first attempt is the same.” Henrietta chuckled lightly. “Unfortunately, it can be difficult to convince people to change their way of thinking.”
That was the truth. “I’ve found that out. What do you suggest I try next?”
Her lips formed a moue, making him want to kiss her. “Well, if their parents are very recalcitrant, you might have to be more high-handed, but in a way that gives the parents a clear benefit.” Her black brows furrowed. “Lord Littleton not only pays a stipend to the parents equal to what the child’s benefit to the family is for the time the child is in school, he has a wagon that picks them up in the morning.”
“I assume merely offering to pay the families didn’t work.” Nate had a hard time understanding why it would not, but he had to simply accept that it did not.
“Unfortunately, no. Sending the wagon around did work. It seems to have provided the incentive that offering the school and money did not.”
“I understand.” No tenant would want to put himself up against the landowner. “I’ll try that method. Now, I just have to find another teacher.”
“I am certain I or one of my friends can help you.” Her brows furrowed again, causing a line between her eyes that he wanted to smooth away. “You might want to hold off lessons until the spring planting is finished.”
“Another good idea.” He’d started the school in January, thinking that it would be a good time to begin. And it probably was. But now was not a good time. “I can still start searching for a teacher. If I am to expand what the students are taught it will take time to put the plan in place.”
“Indeed.” Her green eyes met his. “I am happy to be of help. If you require it, that is.”
Yes, yes, yes! That would give him more time with her. “I am quite sure I will.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Henrietta wanted to laugh out loud with joy. This was exactly the type of conversation she wanted to have with whomever she married. The same type of give-and-take her parents, sister, and friends had. Something inside her had told her it would be like this with Fotherby. She would have to find out if it was the same with Lords Bolingbroke and St. Albans. Just to be fair. She had promised herself she would give them a chance. Although it might be just Lord Bolingbroke who was interested in marriage this year. Remembering what he had said about visiting charities, she grimaced to herself. On the other hand, he might not be worth considering after all.
“He expects relatively warm and sunny days for the rest of the week.” Lord Turley’s brows furrowed as he regarded his wife. “Why?”
“Well, as there is nothing particular going on tomorrow evening, I thought a ride out to Richmond and an al fresco luncheon might be fun. If you gentlemen can take a day from the Lords, that is.” Nate joined Turley and Exeter in nodding their agreement to the plan. Then she pressed her lips together and shook her head. “It won’t do. I forgot Dorie was planning a party in her garden.”
Lady Exeter waved her hand as if to say it was no matter. “I have not seen any young ladies to invite. As I said before, I must wait until after Lady Bellamny’s soirée.”
“Very well.” Lady Turley smiled at them all. “Let us agree to meet tomorrow at eleven for a trip to Richmond. I shall send a note to Henrietta when I get home.”
Nate thought that was an excellent idea. It would give him even more time with Henrietta. Hopefully tomorrow he’d find time to be alone with her.
Henrietta.
He’d been calling her that to himself, and he should not. What if it slipped out? She had not, after all, given him permission to address her by her first name.
The other four chatted amiably the rest of the way around the carriage way, until Lady Turley turned her attention to him. “Lord Fotherby, you are being very quiet.”
A flush of warmth rose from his neck. “I suppose I am.” He shrugged. “I was thinking how long it had been since I’d visited Richmond Park.” He hadn’t done it when he’d been on the Town. “I believe the last time was when I was a child.”
“Now that I think of it, it was the same for me,” Lady Exeter said.
“I as well.” Lady Turley tilted her head. “How strange that we did not go last year.”
“I recall last Season being extremely busy.” Lady Exeter moved the angle of her parasol as they swung toward the gate.
“In that event we should all enjoy ourselves,” he said to himself. Henrietta had probably not been there at all. He wondered if there was a map of the park at home. Then it occurred to him that with riding with her in the morning and the visit to Richmond Park, he would spend most of the day with her tomorrow. Thank God for that. He’d felt at a disadvantage with Bolingbroke and St. Albans. Nate had honestly believed that once he had it out with Merton, his problems would be over. Yet that did not appear to be the case. Perhaps he had been going about this the wrong way. If he was able to attach Henrietta’s attentions, that might go a long way to being accepted by her sister and brother-in-law. He sighed softly. Even if her grandmother accepted him, and possibly her parents, he suspected her relationship with her sister was strong enough to present difficulties. Then again, what sort of man was he if he gave up before he was even challenged? Yes, he had made a serious error in judgment, but he was still an eligible gentleman. Merton hadn’t let anyone or anything get in the way of marrying the woman he wanted. It was time for Nate to stop wallowing in self-castigation.
He parted from the group when they continued to Turley House on Green Street and went home. Tomorrow, he’d change his tactics.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Henrietta grinned at Parkin as she stepped into the hall. He closed the door behind her. “Thank you for being so prompt.”
“Only doing my duty, Miss Henrietta. I thought you might need a little assistance.”
“You were right.” She removed the hat-pins in her bonnet. “Is Merton here?”
“No. He returned from the boxing salon and left again.”
At this rate she would never find out if he and Fotherby had fought and settled their differences. “My sister?”
“Her ladyship is resting.”
It seemed that was all Dotty did these days. Not for the first time, Henrietta sent up a prayer for her sister and the baby. Her sister probably would not be in Town if it was not for her requiring a second Season. She wondered if Dorie or Georgie had returned from the Park. They must have. Their carriage was before Lord Bolingbroke’s leaving the Park.
A knock came at the door, and Henrietta turned to see who it was, but Parkin blocked her view. When he turned back around he handed her a missive. “From Lady Turley.”
“Thank you.” She took the letter. “I shall be in my parlor. Please have tea sent up.”
“At once, Miss Henrietta.” The butler bowed and spoke to a young footman standing off to the side.
The note seemed to burn through her gloves to her hand, and she wanted to open it before she got to her apartments, but she made herself wait. Spyer took Henrietta’s spencer, bonnet, and gloves. The tea came, and the second the door was shut she popped open the seal.
My dearest Henrietta,
I have decided to get up a small party for an al fresco luncheon at Richmond Park. It will be just the six of us. I hope that is acceptable. Six? Who is the sixth person? Fotherby. That must be it.
We will depart at eleven o’clock and fetch you shortly thereafter.
I look forward to seeing you in the morning for our ride.
Your friend,
G. T.
Henrietta took out a piece of pressed paper and wrote her acceptance. Once she had sealed the letter she strolled into her dressing room and found her maid putting away new gowns.
“They turned out well,” Spyer commented.
For the first time Henrietta noticed that her gowns were of slightly deeper colors than last year. At least she had more choices. “They did.”
Her maid looked up from what she was doing. “Did you need something?”
“A footman to take this note to Lady Turley. But I will do it. You are already occupied.” Henrietta walked out of the dressing room, stepped into the corridor, and found a footman. “Please take this to Parkin. It must be sent straightaway to Turley House.”
“Yes, miss.”
She had just settled down with a cup of tea when a rap sounded on the door. Rather than letting her maid take it, Henrietta opened the door to find the same footman.
“This just came for you, miss.”
“Thank you.” She could tell from the paper that this missive was from her grandmother. As long as the duchess did not want her tomorrow, all would be well.
Once again she sat down at her desk and opened the message.
My dearest Henrietta,
I am pleased to invite you to dine with me. I will see you tomorrow evening at eight o’clock.
B.
Henrietta frowned at the brief missive. As always, her grandmother simply assumed she had no other plans. And at this time of year she did not. She only hoped that once the Season began Grandmamma would take a busier schedule into consideration. Actually, she would have to considering she was helping to chaperone Henrietta.
She pulled out a piece of her finest paper. There was no response needed, but it was only polite to confirm that she’d received the summons.
Dearest Grandmother,
I look forward to seeing you tomorrow at eight.
With much love,
H. S.
A few minutes later she went back to the corridor, where the same footman waited, and handed him the letter. “The Duchess of Bristol is at the Pulteney Hotel. Tell Parkin I will require a town coach tomorrow evening at twenty minutes to eight.”
The young footman dipped his head. “You can count on me, Miss Henrietta.”
“Thank you.” She really must ask someone who her personal footman would be this Season.
Tomorrow was going to be a busy day, but Henrietta looked forward to it. She especially looked forward to spending more time with Fotherby.
* * *
Nate had no sooner walked through the front door when he was handed a folded note.
“From her ladyship,” his butler said.
“Thank you. I’ll be in my study.” Strolling to the back of the house, he opened the missive.
Fotherby,
We have been invited to dine with the Duchess of Bristol tomorrow evening. I have accepted for both of us. Miss Stern will be present as well.
Mama
But not Lord and Lady Merton. Nate wondered if he was going to be tested again. After the last time he distrusted the duchess. This time he’d be prepared.
Nate reached his desk just as Chetwin, his secretary, placed a stack of letters on it. “All of these came today?”
“Most of them are invitations for the early entertainments.” Nate raised one brow. “They are all for after Easter.”
“Good. Send them to my mother. She is a much better person to work out which ones I should attend.”
“As you wish.” Chetwin removed well over half the stack and grimaced. “Better you than me.”
Nate leaned back in his chair. His secretary came from a good family. His older sisters had married well, but, as usual in the ton, the younger sons had to seek employment. “If any of your family is in the metropolis this Season, you know I will not keep you from attending their entertainments.”
“I do know that.” Chetwin gave a small smile. “Although it will be nice to see them, the truth of the matter is that I prefer quiet to balls and all those other things.”
“I can understand.” Truth to tell, Nate had not attended many large events when he’d been here before. Other than seeing Henrietta, he didn’t expect to find much enjoyment in them this year. That reminded him that his mother would select the events Henrietta was most likely to attend, and there would be dancing. He would not look forward to seeing her dance with anyone else. Yet if he failed to become betrothed to her, that was the only thing to which he could look forward.
His secretary took the cards and returned to his office. Nate glanced at his mother’s note. Was the duchess meddling? If so, he was glad of it. Whether she knew it or not, she had succeeded in insuring that he’d be able to spend most of tomorrow with Henrietta. He turned to the correspondence that had been forwarded to him. If he kept coming to Town, he’d have to engage a steward. Until then, he’d try to manage from here. He opened the first letter that turned out to be from the tutor he had hired in an attempt to start a dame school.
Dear Lord Fotherby,
I regret to inform you that for the past week none of the children have attended classes . . .
Bloody hellhounds! He’d been afraid of that.
I did go around to some of the families, but they all claimed they needed the children at home.
It is a waste of my time and your money to keep me on. Therefore, I herewith tender my resignation.
Yr. Servant,
K. Kimble.
Nate resisted the urge to crumple up the damn thing and throw the letter into the fireplace. How in God’s name was he to educate his tenants’ children when he met with such resistance? On the other hand, he’d had to personally take—it had really been more like dragging—two of his tenants to Coke’s experimental farm in Norfolk. The only thing Nate could do was try again when he returned home. But he needed ideas to make it work. His new friends might know how to start a school and make it work. They were all very forward thinking. Yet the person he should probably ask first was Henrietta. He’d be surprised if she did not have an opinion, and an excellent one at that. He set the letter aside. It was a shame he had to wait until morning to see her.
The next day he opened the window and stared up at a grayish-blue, cloudless sky. In the east, streaks of pink and yellow painted the horizon. The sun was making its first appearance. If he wanted to meet up with Henrietta and the other ladies, he had to hurry. Nate opened the door to the corridor just in time to see one of the maids. “Please tell Hulatt that I need my horse in ten minutes.”
Putting down her bucket and cloths, she bobbed a curtsey and dashed toward the hall. He cleaned his teeth, dressed, and called for Padraig, who was still sleeping at the foot of Nate’s bed. “Come, boy. We’re going out.” Never an early riser, the Wolfhound stretched before standing on the bed on his hind legs and putting his front paws on the floor to stretch again. “I’m going to have to start waking you earlier.”
The dog yawned when he opened the door. For a second he thought the Wolfhound would go back to bed, but Padraig wagged his tail and followed Nate out the door. They reached the pavement as Darragh was brought around. Unlike his dog, the horse was ready for exercise. He passed Grosvenor Square but didn’t see the ladies. Looking toward the Park, he spied them a street away. Keeping his horse to a trot, he reached the small group just before they went through the gate.
“Good morning.” He lifted his hat to them.
“Good morning,” Lady Turley said from her carriage.
“Good morning.” Lady Exeter tilted her face up toward the sky. “It promises to be a lovely day.”
He glanced at Henrietta, and her smile made him slightly dizzy. “Good morning. I wondered if you would join us.”
Little did she know he always wanted to be where she was. She looked particularly beautiful this morning in a deep, rose-colored habit. Nate glanced at Padraig. “Some of us are harder to awaken than others.”
The Wolfhound yawned again, and she laughed. “I can see that.”
They’d reached the Park, and the three of them who were riding gave their horses their heads as they raced down the carriage way. They slowed as they reached Lady Turley.
Nate was only a little surprised when she and Lady Exeter dropped back, giving him a chance to speak with Henrietta alone.
Now was a good time to ask for her help. He took a breath. “I wondered if you could assist me with a problem I’m having at my main estate.”
Letting her mare amble, she kept her gaze on him. What would it be like to have him be her focus all the time? “Of course, if I am able to.”
“I decided last year to start a school for the children of my tenants and the village. I had imagined something like a dame school. Unfortunately, the teacher I hired wrote to inform me that the children stopped attending and that he was resigning. Apparently, their parents don’t see the value in the school.”
Her rosy lips curved into a small smile. “That has been a problem for other landowners. But there are solutions.” She tilted her head. “However, are you certain you want to have a dame school? Their goal is to teach only very basic reading, writing, and arithmetic.”
He hadn’t actually thought about it. “Is that not sufficient?”
She shrugged. “It depends on what you wish to accomplish in the long term. Many of my father’s tenants have large families, and it is not feasible for all the boys to remain at home. Of course, they expect the girls will marry. Yet, even so, they can still benefit from a better education.”
“You’re right. If the boys can’t remain, they will need apprenticeships or something else. And not all girls wed. They too could benefit from apprenticeships.”
“That is certainly part of it.” Henrietta gave him a look of approval. And for some reason he wanted to puff out his chest. “We have discovered that very intelligent people can be found at all levels of society. Giving them the opportunity to study more advanced subjects separates the cream, so to speak. My father has sponsored several boys and some girls by sending them to other schools or universities. One of the girls became a teacher. Another opened her own business. As for the boys, there are solicitors, doctors, accountants.” She gave him a rueful grin. “I could go on, but I am sure you understand.”
She had told Nate her father was a Radical, and here was the proof. “I do understand, and I agree. No one should be held back by their status in society.” His father was probably rolling over in his grave. “However, I still have to get them to school.”
“What have you tried thus far?”
Not much at all. “I naively thought that offering the school would be enough.”
Her lips twitched. “I think everyone’s first attempt is the same.” Henrietta chuckled lightly. “Unfortunately, it can be difficult to convince people to change their way of thinking.”
That was the truth. “I’ve found that out. What do you suggest I try next?”
Her lips formed a moue, making him want to kiss her. “Well, if their parents are very recalcitrant, you might have to be more high-handed, but in a way that gives the parents a clear benefit.” Her black brows furrowed. “Lord Littleton not only pays a stipend to the parents equal to what the child’s benefit to the family is for the time the child is in school, he has a wagon that picks them up in the morning.”
“I assume merely offering to pay the families didn’t work.” Nate had a hard time understanding why it would not, but he had to simply accept that it did not.
“Unfortunately, no. Sending the wagon around did work. It seems to have provided the incentive that offering the school and money did not.”
“I understand.” No tenant would want to put himself up against the landowner. “I’ll try that method. Now, I just have to find another teacher.”
“I am certain I or one of my friends can help you.” Her brows furrowed again, causing a line between her eyes that he wanted to smooth away. “You might want to hold off lessons until the spring planting is finished.”
“Another good idea.” He’d started the school in January, thinking that it would be a good time to begin. And it probably was. But now was not a good time. “I can still start searching for a teacher. If I am to expand what the students are taught it will take time to put the plan in place.”
“Indeed.” Her green eyes met his. “I am happy to be of help. If you require it, that is.”
Yes, yes, yes! That would give him more time with her. “I am quite sure I will.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Henrietta wanted to laugh out loud with joy. This was exactly the type of conversation she wanted to have with whomever she married. The same type of give-and-take her parents, sister, and friends had. Something inside her had told her it would be like this with Fotherby. She would have to find out if it was the same with Lords Bolingbroke and St. Albans. Just to be fair. She had promised herself she would give them a chance. Although it might be just Lord Bolingbroke who was interested in marriage this year. Remembering what he had said about visiting charities, she grimaced to herself. On the other hand, he might not be worth considering after all.
