His mouth tipped at one corner in a sardonic curve. “Terribly eager to get rid of your new guardian, I see. Well, I can’t say I blame you.”
“Get rid of you?” she echoed, bewildered. “Hardly, since I’m coming with you.”
He stared at her as if she was crazy. “That’s not possible.”
“But...” She paused, suddenly uneasy. “I don’t understand. When Mr. Jessop said you were coming, I thought it was to take me with you to London.”
He sighed. “It’s clear we’ve both been laboring under some misapprehensions. I am only in London for a brief visit with my sisters, then I must go to South Africa.”
“South Africa?” Marjorie couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Your trust fund has a great deal of money in South African investments, and there’s talk of war breaking out between the British and the Boers before the end of the year. If that happens, those investments could become worthless. I must investigate the situation and decide what to do with those investments before that happens.”
Marjorie refused to have a perfect plan spoiled by international squabbles. England was just the place for girls like her, girls who had heaps of money but no position or place. And she knew he had sisters with aristocratic connections. Mrs. Forsyte had told her so. Surely, they could be prevailed upon to help her enter British society. The fact that her guardian himself would be on another continent was, to her mind, the icing on the cake.
“Well, if you want to go to Africa while I’m in London,” she said, giving him her most charming smile, “I won’t object.”
“As I said, it’s not possible for you to accompany me. You must remain here for the time being.”
“Here?” She sobered at once. “You’re joking. You must be.”
“I’m afraid not. An unmarried man and a young, unmarried woman cannot travel alone together, and since my ship sails tonight, I’ve no time to find a suitable chaperone for you. Speaking of time—”
He broke off, pulled his watch out of his waistcoat pocket, and flipped it open. “I must go, if I’m to catch my train.”
“You’re leaving?” This could not be happening. “Already?”
“I must,” he answered, his relief at the fact painfully obvious as he tucked his watch back in his pocket. “I have to meet with Mr. Jessop about your estate before my ship sails. I’ve brought your father’s belongings to you. He didn’t have much in the way of personal effects, but—”
“I don’t want his things.” She could hear the sharp edge to her voice as she spoke, and so could he, for he frowned a little. Whether he was puzzled by her response or disapproving of it, she didn’t care. “I’ve no use for them.”
“Very well, but I will leave them here, in case you change your mind.”
She wouldn’t, but she was too preoccupied with the real problem to argue about trivialities. She’d never considered that his purpose in coming could be anything other than to take her away from here, and she was at a loss for what to do next.
“I will write, of course,” he went on as she considered her options, “but if there’s anything you need while I’m away, contact Mr. Jessop. And don’t worry. We will make proper arrangements for you when I return. It’s been delightful meeting you, Miss McGann.”
“Wait,” she cried as he bowed and stepped around her to depart. “You can’t just leave me here.”
“I’m afraid I must. But it’s only temporary,” he added over his shoulder as he paused by the coat tree to retrieve his hat. “This afternoon, Mr. Jessop and I will discuss what’s to be done for the best, and I will inform you of the details of our discussions in my first letter.”
“But I already know what’s best for me,” she replied, starting toward him as he donned his hat and turned to face her. “Just because you arrived here thinking I was a child, it isn’t necessary for you to treat me like one.”
“Forgive me,” he said somberly, then immediately spoiled his apology by qualifying it. “But I didn’t even know of your existence until a month ago, and from what your father told me at that point, I assumed you were a schoolgirl. The fact that you are instead a woman grown makes things much more complicated. Different arrangements will now have to be made for you, and that will take time.”
Marjorie didn’t have much experience dealing with the opposite sex, but she had enough experience with the evasions of children to recognize when a grown man was doing it. “How lovely to know I’m so important that you could spare me half an hour on your way from one side of the globe to the other. Since you intend to just leave me here, I wonder that you bothered to come at all. You could have shipped my father’s things and sent me a letter. Wouldn’t that have sufficed?”
“It certainly would have been more convenient,” he said dryly, ignoring her sarcasm. “But that would not have been commensurate with my responsibilities.”
“That’s rich,” she muttered. “You, talking of responsibilities as you walk away from them.”
Her words seemed to hit a nerve, for he stiffened. “It can’t be helped. As I said, I thought you were a child still in school. My reason for coming was simply to meet you, make the acquaintance of the headmistress, and reassure myself that you are well situated for the time being.”
“But I’m not.”
“No? Are you neglected here? Abused? Mistreated?”
Marjorie stared at him helplessly, a sick knot forming in her stomach as she realized there was no answer he’d accept. A guardian wouldn’t consider that she lived like a cloistered nun any sort of mistreatment. Quite the opposite.
