“He wanted to marry me. He was younger than Papa, not quite forty, but of course to me at the time that seemed quite old. He’d asked me before, and I’d refused every time.”
Cal gave her a sharp glance. “He asked more than once?”
“Oh, yes.” She gave a humorless laugh. “Easily a dozen times. But I wasn’t interested. He didn’t love me. I don’t even think he liked me, really. He just pretended he did, flattering me and protesting undying love until it became quite irritating.”
“You’re sure he didn’t love you?”
She shook her head. “No, though at the time I took him at his word and tried to be kind but firm. Afterward Irealized he wanted my inheritance. I was Papa’s only child, you see, and the estate is not entailed, so I was something of an heiress.”
“So what changed? Why would he think spreading vile and untrue gossip about you would entice you to marry him?”
“I suspect he was desperate for money. As for why he spread the rumors, I think his plan was to force me into marriage to save my reputation. It’s what he urged Papa and me to do when the scandal broke, nobly offering to save me, saying that I would be able to hold my head up in church again once we were married and under his protection.”
Cal swore under his breath.
“I refused, of course—but I expected Papa to, to...”
“To believe you?”
She nodded, close to tears again. “But he didn’t. Because of Sam, you see. Nobody else knew about Sam, but I think Papa must have told Mr. Irwin at some stage, and that’s what gave him the idea. And so Papa had a precedent for believing in my bad behavior.”
They walked on a little. “It was when he asked the vicar about it, and the vicar confirmed he too had heard the rumors—I think that’s what tipped the balance. In the end Papa gave me an ultimatum—marry Mr. Irwin or leave his house.”
“So you left.”
She nodded. “I don’t think Papa expected that of me at all, but I don’t take kindly to being bullied and I certainly wasn’t going to be bullied into marrying a man I disliked because of something I didn’t do.”
“And so your father disowned you.”
She nodded. “And then he died, and it was too late to mend things with him. It’s the thing I most regret, not being able to explain, to have him understand that I did nothing wrong, not since Sam.” Tears clustered on her eyelashes. She blinked them away.
“Is this Irwin fellow still around?” Cal asked in a voice that boded nothing good for the man.
“No, he married a rich widow from Manchester and went to live in the north. Strangely, he was the one who told me Papa had died and left me nothing. He was visiting Bath onhis honeymoon with his new wife, and we bumped into each other in the street by accident. He had no idea I was living there, of course.”
She pondered the memory for a moment. “I think it pleased him to tell me that. He was quite vindictive in the manner of telling me, as if it served me right for not marrying him.” She shuddered. “A vile man.”
“A complete villain,” Cal said quietly. “He tried to destroy your life.”
She lifted her head and said resolutely, “But he didn’t succeed then, and I won’t let it ruin my life again.” She saw Rose waving in the distance. “Come on, race you to where the girls are.” And she took off on her lovely Arab mare.
***
The gossip was spreading. When, later that day, Emm and the girls met Lady Peplowe and her daughter Penelope for tea and ices at Gunters—George had never eaten an ice before—Lady Peplowe drew her aside, saying, “I don’t know if you’ve heard, my dear, but there is a nasty tale circulating about you.” She gave Emm a clear look and added, “I don’t believe a word of it, of course. Anyone who has met you can see that—but it’s quite nasty and I thought I should warn you.”
For a moment Emm was so surprised and touched she couldn’t say a thing.
Lady Peplowe laid a gloved hand on Emm’s arm. “I’m sorry, I’ve shocked you. Perhaps I shouldn’t have—”
“No, you did exactly right.” Emm smiled at the older woman. “Very few people would have had the courage to tell me to my face, and I’m very grateful—more than grateful, in fact. Especially for your belief in me. You could not know the gossip was untrue.”
“Of course I could, don’t be silly.”
It seemed she had found a friend. Emm blinked away incipient tears. She was becoming a veritable watering pot. She straightened her spine and set herself to explain. “They were lies, deliberately spread to discredit me and force me into— Oh, it is a long story.”
Lady Peplowe glanced at the table where, despite the coldweather, the four girls were spooning up ice cream and nattering nonstop. “They’re happily occupied and we can be quite private. Now, my dear, tell me what happened and let us see what we can do to scotch these vicious rumors.”
***
