A Season for Honour

Chapter 21

It was not until late morning when Octavia eventually knocked on the library door at Sommerville House. She had spent most of the morning in her room, waiting for Freddie's return. He usually breakfasted at White's when he was in town and this morning he had not deviated from his typical routine.

'Come in,' he commanded in response to her knock.

She turned the handle slowly and poked her head around the door. 'May I have a word with you?' she managed to say. She was so nervous that her mouth was dry, and she could feel her heart pounding in her chest. It had not helped that she had been waiting to talk to him for several hours.

'Of course,' he said as he stood up from the chair he was sitting in. 'Please come in and sit down. I do hope that there is nothing amiss with Charles.'

'Oh no,' she said as she walked across the room to sit in the chair opposite him, 'there is nothing wrong. I just wanted to talk to you.'

There was an uncomfortable silence in the room, and Octavia was not sure how she should broach the subject at the forefront of her mind. She sat, staring at the fire and twisting her hands nervously in her lap, searching her mind for the right words to say.

'I'm glad you came to see me,' he said, his voice cutting into the awkward silence, 'for there is something I wish to discuss with you. But, firstly, did you enjoy yourself at the Tyne's last night?'

'Yes,' Octavia replied, 'I enjoyed myself immensely.'

'And, apart from the duke and duchess, was there anyone there you knew?' Octavia was unsettled by Freddie's question, but she tried not to let it show in her manner. She just stared at Freddie and said nothing.

'I am asking you because I heard a disturbing rumour this morning at White's,' he said as he sat forward and threaded his fingers together.

Octavia looked at him with a steady gaze. She had a suspicion she knew the subject of the rumour he had heard, and she did not want Freddie to be aware of how much this had taken her by surprise.

'I discovered, from a very reliable source, that the Duke of Tyne's secretary is no other than Captain Fallbrook,' he said looking over at her. Octavia guessed that he was gauging her reaction to the news. 'And, that he was there at the dinner party last night.'

In her room, earlier that morning when she had been waiting for him to return, she had not envisaged the conversation taking this path. There was no point denying it. Alex was coming to Sommerville House, later that afternoon, to pick her up, so it would only be a matter of time before he found out that she had met him. Anyway, why should she be ashamed of meeting Alex again? 'Yes,' she said as she nodded her head, 'he was there.'

'And, I also heard that you spoke with him at some length,' Freddie replied accusatively.

'Yes, I did speak to him,' Octavia said, now feeling defensive.

'I wish that you had not,' he said authoritatively.

Octavia looked at him incredulously. 'Without being exceptionally rude, how could I avoid contact with Captain Fallbrook? I could hardly give him the cut direct when I was a guest in the house of the man who employs him.'

'I knew that you were besotted with him,' he replied. Octavia could not fail to notice the sharp edge to his voice. 'In your eyes, he could never do any wrong. I do not want you to see him again, and I certainly do not want Katie anywhere near him,' he commanded.

'Freddie,' Octavia said firmly, 'I do not wish to be rude. Over the years, you have been exceptionally kind to my family and me, but you are not my guardian, and you cannot tell me who I can see and cannot see. If I choose to spend time with Captain Fallbrook, that is my own affair.' She straightened her spine and looked at Freddie. She knew that she had to veer the conversation away from Alex. Now was not the time to tell him that she was going to spend part of the afternoon in Alex's company. 'And, as for Katie,' she said looking at him directly, 'I need to talk to you about her. That is the reason why I came to see you.'