In the Lion's Den

Last Straws

She all but shouted: "I wouldn't have married you, and if you were a part of the royal family! Now stop this nonsense of a wedding!"

Simon did not knock, instead he adjusted his stance slightly and pressed his ear against the door to hear more clearly, while his other senses were attuned to the corridor so that he would not be caught eavesdropping.

Now there was the voice of the old man, showing only a hint of irony: "My dear Lady Beatrice, let us calm down and discuss this civilly, shall I ring for tea?"

'Please don't', Simon thought, as this would force him to move his position.

"No, thank you", she all but spat back at him, "I will speak civilly when you act civilly."

"Well then, we may as well stop talking now, as whatever you have to say will not discourage me now that I am so damn near the finish line."

"I will not leave this room until you tell me why you insist on joining to people in matrimony that are clearly not wanting to be wed to one another."

"What did they tell you?"

Simon froze at that questions.

He had been clear enough with Lady Beatrice.

The old man could not find out what he told her.

He listened breathlessly, internally preparing to run towards the village if need be to be there before Sinclair could give word to Caldwell.

"Nothing of course, what should two young people tell a dry old lady like me? But I do have eyes in my head, Marcus, and I see my dear godchild pacing her room on her crutches in frustration, while your grandson this morning picked at his breakfast barely saying a word. If there ever was a couple that did not anticipate their wedding day, it's them."

Simon let out a small, silent breath.

Lady Beatrice was as good at lying as she was at seeing through them.

"I am not responsible for anyone's happiness. But I will not let the lack of a title destroy my future great-grandchildren's chances at it."

"Do you even listen to yourself? It is ridiculous. If you want happy and successful great-grandchildren, maybe you should provide them with content parents? It would not be difficult, you know. Your grandson seems sensible and handsome enough - he may even already have someone in mind..."

"The daughter of a military man, a nursing sister at that, such a filthy profession, and you think that would be becoming of his station?"

Simon almost saw Lady Beatrice's triumphant smile having brought Sinclair to admit knowing about Bess without having to say it herself.

"Are we talking about my dear Miss Crawford? She is a very fine nursing sister. They were invaluable during the war, you know. And I would rather think the daughter of a highly decorated colonel very well-matched to the grandson of a horse breeder, would you not?"

"Not if he can have a titled lady that will make him a marquess himself."

"So that is the point. You chasing after this title ever since I rejected your proposal saying it was because you had none."

"Fine, yes. But don't you think too much of yourself now. That was the straw that broke the camel's back, but certainly not the only occasion on which I felt the lack of a title very dearly."

"You do know that I would have rejected your proposal anyway, don't you? I was young and impressionable, and I did not know what to say, but I knew very well that I did not want to marry you. So I said the first thing that entered my mind. But in hindsight it had nothing to do at all with you being titled or not. If you were titled, I would have come up with something else. You cannot blame the lack of a title for every misfortune you had in your life. And you cannot give your grandson success or good luck with it."