Widow in White

Chapter Twenty-Five: A Dirty Matter

Elizabeth had made up her mind not to interfere in her brother's entanglement. It was a dirty matter and she preferred to keep her hands clean. But as the weeks passed in his house, no matter how much she attempted to avoid them both, she could not help but become aware of how very peculiar their situation was.

She had expected to find her brother fully at the command and persuasion of his mistress. That was the natural order of things where Richard was concerned. It was in his character to see himself as second-best. There was a humbleness there that had often irritated Elizabeth, though she had never been irritated enough to wish to correct it by kind encouragement. However, to her critical and unpleased eye, it appeared to be quite the opposite: there was a submissiveness in Laura that Elizabeth could neither understand nor like, a tendency to look to Richard for judgement, a desire to please him. Elizabeth, who had never submitted to any man, never looked to any man for judgement, and never sought to please anyone but herself, was made more uncomfortable by this behaviour than she was by the occasional kisses she witnessed or endearments she caught whispered between them. She was naturally irritated that Richard would sully the respectability of their family name by his attachment, but it was Laura who truly disappointed her. Once, Elizabeth had approved of Laura for her independence and spirit. Now it appeared that spirit wished to be tamed.

There was also in Elizabeth a strong preference for the well-being of her own sex. She would not have called herself a radical, but she had spent the first seventeen years of her life in fear of her father, and the next seventeen in contempt of her husband, and between them both she had come to believe that all men were either brutes or fools. What started as disdainful curiosity into her brother's affair became then surprised interest and at last a righteous concern. Laura admired Richard too much. She was in his power. It was a dangerous position for a woman to be.

For some weeks yet, Elizabeth managed to control her desire to correct this strange course of events. But the country bored her, and at last she persuaded herself that it was her duty as the older and the wiser of the two to guide Laura to a better path.

With that in mind, she waited for a morning when Richard was out of the way in the far reaches of the estate with his steward and hunted Laura down in the library, where she was lounging on the couch with a novel Elizabeth shut the door behind her and waited for Laura to look up, but Laura only turned another page of her book placidly as though she hadn't heard her come in.

Elizabeth was not one for meaningful coughs. She sat directly down upon a hard-backed chair near Laura and said her name. Laura sighed, let her book drop to the floor, and reluctantly sat up.

"What is it?"

The insolence, which demanded to be corrected, must yet be faintly approved of. There was spirit in Laura still, and spirit might save her from being entirely Richard's captive.

"There's no need for impertinence, my lady. I merely came to have a little chat with you."

"Did you?" Laura raised her eyebrows. "Goodness. Whatever could this be about?"

"It's about you and Richard," Elizabeth said directly, because she never saw the point prevaricating with a woman.

Laura rolled her eyes, in a manner annoyingly reminiscent of Elizabeth's eldest daughter. "I really don't think you've anything to say upon the subject that I want to hear."

"Yes, but we don't always want what we need." Elizabeth straightened her posture. "I insist you listen, my lady. I have decided I must give you warning. You are getting too fond of Richard."

Laura opened her mouth and frowned in confusion. "I'm sorry. In my position, should I not be? Ah. But perhaps you are worried I will marry him. You need not worry. I won't."