Page 41 of Impetuous

“But, Sir Philip, you cannot have thought—I—well, there simply will not be enough room in the carriage for so many people,” Aunt Ardis argued gamely. “Six of us, and children are so restless and noisy. My nerves could not bear it.”

“Of course not,” he replied soothingly. “I would not put you out for the world, madam. You and Miss Moulton shall have your carriage to yourselves. I have my carriage with me, and the Verreres may travel in it. I, of course, shall ride.”

Aunt Ardis gazed at him, flummoxed.

“Very good, then. It is all arranged,” he concluded breezily, taking her silence for consent. “When shall we leave, ladies? Tomorrow morning?”

“Tomorrow!” Aunt Ardis squawked. “We cannot possibly— Oh, I see. You are teasing us poor women.” She tittered and coquettishly waggled her finger at him. “What a naughty thing to do. You know we cannot possibly be ready for three days at least.”

Cassandra ground her teeth. It was bad enough that her aunt had wormed her way into coming with her on this trip and bringing Joanna, too, but to delay the trip when Cassandra was impatient to start was simply too much for her.

“Oh, no, aunt, it won’t take so long. Not if I help you and Cousin Joanna.” She knew that she would have to perform all the practical chores necessary to get the two women on the road anyway. Joanna and her aunt would do little but impede matters by changing their minds about what clothes and shoes to take. “I am sure that we can leave by day after tomorrow.”

“Excellent!” Sir Philip beamed at her aunt. “I shall look forward to it. Now, ladies, if you will excuse me, I have preparations of my own to make.” He did not add that his primary preparation would be to dash off a quick message to his mother to expect the imminent arrival of six complete strangers for an indefinite stay—and to inform his grandmother that she had acquired a past friend whose grandchildren she wished to meet.

Sir Philip was barely out the door before Joanna pounced on Cassandra. “Why did he invite you! What did you do? How did you make him invite you?”

“I didn’t make him,” Cassandra responded mildly. “It had nothing to do with me. As you heard, it is all because of my grandmother knowing his.”

“I never heard that,” Aunt Ardis mused suspiciously. “Whoever heard of a Neville being friends with a Verrere? Everyone knows they don’t associate—why, I cannot imagine, except that the Verreres were always such odd ducks.”

Cassandra, ignoring the slight to her family, said airily, “That was all so long ago that I am sure it does not matter anymore. Besides, I believe my grandmother must have known Lady Neville before she married into the Verreres. That is probably why the woman is so eager to see us. She probably lost contact with Grandmama after the two of them married, and she wants to hear about her life.”

Aunt Ardis narrowed her eyes, looking unconvinced. “Why did you never tell me about this friendship?”

“Truthfully, Aunt, I did not know about it until Sir Philip told me this afternoon.” And, Cassandra added to herself, she truly wished that Sir Philip had told her what lie he intended to tell before he did it. “I had no idea that Grandmama was friends with a Neville—but then, of course, it is not something she would have talked about in our family.”

“It sounds very fishy to me.”

“Why would Sir Philip make up such a story?” Cassandra asked innocently. “I cannot imagine any other reason for him to invite my family to Haverly House.”

“That is true.” However, her aunt’s expression was still uneasy.

Cassandra decided to make her exit as quickly as she could before her aunt asked any more difficult questions. With a smile and a polite “Excuse me,” she left the room and hurried upstairs to break the news to her family.

* * *

CASSANDRA FOLDED THE last of her dresses and laid it in the trunk, closing the lid with a tired sigh. After talking to her siblings—who had been predictably excited about the discovery of the long-sought-after letter and almost equally thrilled at the prospect of taking a trip to Sir Philip’s home—she had spent the rest of the day preparing like mad for the trip. As well as her own packing, she had had to supervise Olivia’s and the twins’ packing, especially the boys, for they were as likely as not to include cricket bats and butterfly collections and leave out such mundane things as underclothes. She also had to leave instructions regarding the household chores while they were gone and oversee the servants’ packing of her aunt’s and cousin’s things, a task that was made extremely difficult by Joanna’s tendency to change her mind every few minutes about which dresses she should take. Each change of gown, of course, necessitated a complete change of shoes and accessories, as well, and, as always, Joanna could not bear to leave any of her darling hats behind. It took subtlety, patience and a certain ruthlessness to cut the number of hatboxes down to three.

Even though Cassandra had now finished her own packing, she had a few other tasks to complete before she went to bed. First of all, she had to make copies of the old map they had found today. She was afraid not only of losing the precious document, but of the fragile paper falling apart at the creases, as it was already showing signs of doing. It would destroy the map to continue to fold and unfold it as she was sure they would do as they tried to make sense of it. So she intended to lay a thin sheet of paper over the ancient map and trace the information on it.

Just as she started across the room to lock her door, however, she was started by a sharp rap on it. The next moment the door was opened without waiting for her to respond, and her aunt strode in.

Aunt Ardis was an imposing sight. Wrapped around by a quilted satin robe, she looked even wider than usual, reminding Cassandra of a rather large blue pigeon. Her face was covered with a cream that gave it a greasy shine, and her hair was done up in curling rags all over, so that with every movement of her head, ragged ribbons danced all about her face. The crowning touch was a long cotton scarf, which she had run under her jaw and tied at the top of her head. It was a remedy for a double chin which she had heard about from one of her friends, and it had the result of making it difficult for her to move her jaw, so that she seemed to be talking through clenched teeth the whole time.

“Aunt Ardis.” Cassandra was surprised to see her aunt up this late. “Can I help you?”

“No, my dear,” Aunt Ardis replied, lockjawed and nasal. “I have come to help you.”

“To help me?” Cassandra gazed at the older woman in some amazement. “In what way?”

“You are like a daughter to me, Cassandra. I am sure you realize that.”

Cassandra gave a noncommittal murmur as she led her aunt toward the single chair in her room. Cassandra dragged the stool from her vanity table over beside the chair and sat down upon it.

“Now, I have only your best interests at heart, my dear,” Aunt Ardis began.

Cassandra’s heart sank. Was her aunt going to forbid her to go to Haverly House after all?