Chapter 41
It was an hour or so later, when Jane was having tea in bed, that her aunt Sarah knocked on the door and entered the room. Jane paused when she saw the pale look on her aunt's face as she slowly pressed back against the door and shut it quietly, walking towards Jane in the bed.
“What is it, Aunt?” she asked her. “If you are here to tell me about the scandal sheets, then there is no need, for I already know. Edward has come to explain everything to me.”
“I see,” her aunt said, sitting down in the chair that Edward had occupied only an hour before.
In the past hour, Jane had not come to any sort of decision about Edward’s proposal. In her heart of heart, she did not want to marry Edward, but as was so often in life and in the world she occupied, she likely would not get to think of her heart's desire, but rather logic and good sense and reputation.
Jane put down her teacup onto the saucer, and she frowned at her aunt. “What is it, then, that you've come to see me about?”
She was tired of feeling so full of dread and ill at ease, but she supposed a bit more bad news would not change anything. It would not help her in her current state, nor could it hinder her.How could things possibly get worse? Her aunt pulled out her handkerchief and began to cry.
In the past day, her aunt had seemed to age. Something weighed upon her, and Jane thought it was her injury and the words in the scandal sheet that were taking their toll. But now she wondered if there was more.
“You have had such a difficult life, Jane, and here I am to add to it with some terrible news.”
Jane's stomach twinged. “What is the terrible news, Aunt Sarah?” she asked, trying to sound as patient as possible.
“Edward is staying with us, at my request or my offer, really. He was so concerned about your injury that I told him he could stay to make sure that you were well and could check on you at any time. He had been so very gallant to the ball, and I thought that the worries I had about him were gone. He seemed so eager to have a family once again, and I did not wish to take that from him.”
Her aunt didn't look at her through this long speech, and Jane continued to frown. “Yes, I know all of this. But you seem as though something has changed.
Aunt Sarah cleared her throat, and this time, she looked at Jane directly, but her fingers were twisting the handkerchief in her hands.
“I'm so sorry, Jane, that I am such a bad judge of character. It seems I'm plagued with it.” She swallowed and pointed a thumb towards Jane's door. “Edward invited a friend to the house after he spoke to you upstairs. I had told him he must feel at home and do whatever he pleases, so that is not strange to me. However, what is strange is that I passed by the room, and I heard him say something terrible.”
“What was it?” Jane asked, her eyes widening a little.
Her Aunt Sarah licked her lips. “He mentioned that he proposed to you, but he also mentioned so much more. Apparently, he is the one who told the scandal sheets about Lord Balwood. It isn't that it isn't true, for he did overhear Lord Balwood at White’s discussing it with his friend. He also used Lady Delilah's help to get her and Lord Balwood in a compromising position.
He wanted Lord Balwood to be taken away so that you would consider only him as a potential husband. It seems that he too is after the money and doesn't wish you to marry anyone else. That is why he’s made you an offer now.”
Jane leaned back, making things on her tea tray clink together. Her aunt took the tray and placed it on the side of the bed, and she reached for Jane's hand and held it in both of hers. It was a strange feeling to learn the truth of someone. Even if one had a sneaking suspicion about a person, it always hurt more whenthe truth came into the light. As her aunt held her hand, she continued to cry bitterly.
“I cannot let you marry him. Jane. Please say you will not agree to his proposal. I know that it all seems rather dire now, but we can weather this scandal. You do not need another person here grasping for your wealth. I’m so sorry that I encouraged him, but it seems that all I had heard and was suspicious about was true.
I had known deep down something was lurking under that charm of his. I'm sorry that you were so exposed to such people as this because of the wealth you'd been given or will be given upon your marriage.”
Jane put a hand over her mouth, afraid that a scream would come out. Was there no one for her to trust in the world? As she thought of what an even worse state she was in than before, tears began to fall down her cheeks.
“No, I do not wish to marry Edward, Aunt Sarah. But I do not understand. How could the world be so cruel?”
“The world is a dark place, I'm afraid,” her aunt told her. “But you are good, Jane. You are a bright spot in it.”
Jane shook her head and began to cry more. Her aunt reached out to brush some of Jane's tears away with her handkerchief.
“No, I am not good, Aunt Sarah. I have done a terrible thing, and now it might put me in a terrible situation, something untenable. That is why Edward’s proposal could be the only way out of this.”
“What is it, Jane? You can tell me. I cannot understand that you could have done something so terrible. I'm sure you are only thinking that, and that it is something minor.”
Jane leaned forward into her aunt's arms and cried like she hadn't done since she was a child. It made her miss her mother dearly.
“Oh, but I have, Aunt Sarah. It is only by sheer good luck that it has not been mentioned in these scandal sheets, for Edward is not certain about it. Or perhaps he wished to save my reputation so that he could wed me without too much scandal in our wake.”
“What is it?” her aunt said, pulling back to look Jane in the eyes.
“At the ball at Lord Balwood’s country estate,” Jane began, and then she swallowed, looking down, so ashamed of what had happened. She felt like such a lovesick fool, a lovesick child, for she was certainly not mature enough to not have done such a thing.
