Sedgeworthhelped his sister from the carriage and turned back to take Honor's hand. Somehow it was Fairfax who helped Jane to the ground. He was smiling, looking far happier and more relaxed than she had seen him look in London.
"I am so pleased to see you safely arrived," he said, his eyes smiling warmly into Jane's though he spoke generally to the whole group of travelers.
He turned away almost immediately to take Lady Dart's arm and lead her into the house. The others followed, Lord Dart turning to see that his children were being taken care of. They had been traveling in a separate carriage with their governess.
In the high tiled hallway beyond the great doors Fairfax presented his housekeeper, Mrs. Pringle, and his butler to his guests and had the ladies shown to their rooms so that they might freshen up before gathering in the drawing room for tea.
"Will you mind very much if my daughters come for tea too?" Fairfax asked before they left. "They are very eager to meet my guests. Of course, at the moment they have all the excitement of greeting three other children."
"Oh, I would just love to meet the little dears," Honor cried.
"I will not mind at all," Lady Dart said placidly. "Wallace and I are used to children around us. But our own must not be allowed down. They are always impossibly quarrelsome and irritable after traveling."
Jane said nothing.
The children were brought into the room by their nurse when they were all about to start their tea. They had evidently been dressed up for the occasion. Both were wearing frilled white dresses and spotless shoes. The elder girl had dark shining ringlets. She was not a pretty child, Jane decided, though she had strong features that suggested she would be handsome as she grew older. She was very much like her father. The younger child was just as much her mother's image. Her head was haloed by short, soft blond curls. She had a very pretty face with large hazel eyes.
"Ah," Fairfax said. "We have been waiting for you,poppets. Come and make your curtsies to our guests." He crossed the room to take a hand of each. The nurse quietly left the room.
Jane watched them, a strange leaden feeling in her stomach. Here was his past. These were the two children he had had with Susan. How could any other woman ever expect to have a part in his life? These two children must ever remind him of the great love he had lost. She was suddenly glad again that she had not agreed to become the second Lady Fairfax. She could not have borne to be so irrevocably in second place.
Fairfax brought his children to her andSedgeworthlast. "Now, here is someone who is not a stranger to you," he said. "Who is this, Claire?"
The younger child stared atSedgeworth, smiled broadly, stuck a thumb into her mouth, and turned to hide her face against her father's leg. "Uncle Joe," she said through the double obstruction, and giggled.
"Are you going to sit on my knee today?"Sedgeworthasked. "Amy will, will you not, Amy?"
The older child walked closer and climbed gravely onto his knee.
"No," Claire said, wrapping her arms around Fairfax's leg.
He rested his hand gently on her soft curls. "This lady is going to marry Uncle Joe soon," he said. "Are you going to say good day to Miss Matthews, poppet?"
Claire peeped out from the safety of his leg and smiled around her thumb at Jane. Jane did not gush and coo at the child as the other two ladies had done. She kept her expression grave and quite slowly and deliberately winked at the child. Claire continued to smile.
"If I am Uncle Joe and Miss Matthews is to be my wife,"Sedgeworthsaid, "she had better be Aunt Jane. Do you think I have made a good choice, Amy, love?"
Dark blue eyes regarded her seriously. Jane looked back as gravely. "Yes," the child said.
"And if you do not have the courage to sit on my knee, Claire,"Sedgeworthsaid, "will you sit with Aunt Jane?"
The child continued to smile and cling to her father for a few seconds longer and then she let go and walked up to Jane's chair. She held her arms above her head. "Up," she said.
Jane leanedfowardand lifted the tiny child onto her lap. She was really just a baby, she thought. She smelled of soap and powder. She sat looking up at Jane for a while, and her thumb crept back into her mouth. She seemed to be reassured by what she saw. She wriggled herself into a more comfortable position and laid her head against Jane.
Jane's arm went around the child and she looked up to surprise a strange expression on Fairfax' face. He smiled and turned abruptly away to ask Lady Dart if she cared to pour the tea.
Chapter Ten
Fairfax slowed his horse to a walk when he reached the long lake that stretched in a wide crescent a mile to the east of his house. Why did water always look so much more beautiful in the early morning and early evening than at any other time? There was a glassy calm about it, its pale blue reflecting also the pink flush of dawn.
He was always an early riser in the country, especially in summer. It seemed to him that one who slept well past dawn missed the loveliest part of the day. This morning, though, he had been up even earlier than usual. Darkness had barely lifted when his restlessness drove him from bed and out to the stables for an early ride. He had ridden hard for a few miles and was now on his way home. However, it was still very early. There was little danger that he would be neglecting any of his guests if he lingered awhile longer. Most of them would probably not stir for another few hours.
Fairfax slid from his horse's back and tethered it loosely to the low branch of a tree. He wandered to the bank of the lake and looked out across it. It was quite erroneous to believe that nature was ever silent. Birds were singing far more loudly than they would later in the day. There was the faint stirring of the trees behind him. And even the water was making an almost imperceptible rushing sound, calm as it was. He breathed deeply of the cool air.
It felt strange to have houseguests again. Susan had frequently invited friends and relatives.Since her death—indeed, since the start of her final pregnancy—there had been no one except his mother for one month, andSedgeworth.He thought he would rather enjoy entertaining. The Darts were easy to please. Their children seemed good-natured, if a little boisterous. Certainly his girls were excited by the presence of three playmates staying at the house. The only children they saw with any regularity were theBeasleys, children of the vicar, and the youngest of those was eight.
Then, of course, there was Sedge. Somehow he did not think of his friend as a guest. He was more like a brother. Fairfax was glad that they had not drifted apart during his marriage. Although they had not seen each other during those years, they had written regularly. And there were the two ladies. He believed he might find Miss Jamieson's presence amusing if he could just guard against giving the impression that he was her suitor. She had kept them all laughing with her chatter at dinner the evening before, and she had single-handedly organized a game of charades during the evening, though most of them had felt tired from the journey.
