Yesterday's Promise (45 page)

It was time to make amends. “And very wisely too, Lady Elosia. You are much respected in the village for all you have done.”

She looked slightly mollified. “I did not know about any such loan
from Rogan or that he would deign to involve himself in your private matters, Evy. If I had known, I would have discouraged it at once. There is already too much chatter in London about his wandering ways. But thank goodness he's about to arrive and silence the doubters, where our dear and darling Patricia Bancroft is concerned.” She drew a lace handkerchief from her cuff and dabbed pointedly at her nose, as though tried beyond endurance.

“A marriage,” Lady Elosia continued with a dignified tone, “is soon to come. By September is my hope. Patricia is here, of course, and—”

“Were you speaking of me?” came Patricia's voice.

Evy and Lady Elosia looked across the parlor. Lady Patricia had entered through a side door and stood elegantly, the picture-perfect future lady of Rookswood who would one day assume Lady Elosia's position, overseeing all the social affairs of the ancestral Chantry estate. Her auburn hair was arranged elaborately, and her lips formed a rosebud smile.

“Oh, Patricia dear, I was just telling Evy about your upcoming marriage to Rogan.”

Patricia walked over to the tea table and looked Evy over with obvious concern. “I've heard you'll never walk again? I am so sorry for you, my dear. It must be horrid.” She reached down and picked up a chocolate Florentine and bit into it with her white teeth.

“I am walking quite well enough. Thank you for your concern.”

The auburn brows arched. “I can't imagine myself hobbling about on crutches for the rest of my life. You must be brave, Evy. I don't think I could
endure
it.”

Lady Elosia cleared her throat and glanced from Evy to Patricia. “Dear, Evy and I are in a business discussion. Perhaps it would be best if you joined us later?”

Patricia smiled sweetly at Lady Elosia and then Evy. “Will you be staying for dinner tonight, Evy? Rogan should be here by then. He arrived in London a few days ago and is on his way to Rookswood this
very moment to see me. I'm sure he'll be pleased to see the little girl who lived at the rectory.”

Did Patricia know she was now a diamond heiress? Evy didn't think so. Lady Elosia changed the subject quickly, as though she feared Evy would announce her new family position. Evy forced herself to keep silent. She was fuming inwardly at Patricia's overbearing manner, but she did not want to strike back. God would not approve of a vindictive tongue. She already felt a bit guilty for honestly stating her views earlier to Lady Elosia.

As Patricia strolled confidently from the parlor, Lady Elosia sighed. For once that Evy could recall, she actually appeared ashamed.

“You must overlook Patricia. Please do. She has gone through such emotional turmoil of late over Rogan. The scoundrel left her high and dry and sailed off to Capetown, and she's been upset ever since. Society can produce such nasty little gossips, you know.”

“Yes, I
know
, “Evy said with emphasis.

Lady Elosia looked at her quickly and then changed the subject again.

“Arcilla is expecting a child. She's with Peter at Fort Salisbury. A bleak, forsaken place, so Arcilla writes. Peter's been sick with numerous ailments since he arrived a year ago. She's not about to leave him now, of course. She couldn't if she wanted to, but Peter wants her with him, as is only right.”

Evy felt herself smile genuinely for the first time. “Arcilla's going to have a baby? Oh, I'm so happy for her. When is it due, if I may ask?”

“Five months or so. She's in an absolute tizzy. She won't hear of
any
nanny coming to be with her. She has requested that you consider going to help her at this time.”

Evy lifted her brows. “I'd love to see Arcilla, but I don't plan on becoming a nanny—”

“No, naturally not. It was merely a term she used. She desires you as a companion, just as she was also very close to Patricia while they were growing up in London.”

Evy knew that, as well as how Arcilla had wanted to marry Charles, Patricia's brother. All that was old history.

“Arcilla is looking for a good English nanny, and I promised her I'd have one sent out to the Cape.”

“Then she's living at Fort Salisbury? Lord Brewster had hinted the Rhodes colony was coming along quite successfully.”

“Arcilla has no plans to leave Peter until after the baby is old enough to travel that difficult route back to Capetown.”

Lady Elosia studied Evy now with some curiosity.

“Arcilla is hoping you'll come, perhaps traveling back with Rogan and Patricia after their wedding. Patricia would then go on with Rogan to Fort Salisbury when he returns to his work. From what I'm told, the gold operation is proceeding well.”

Evy was dismayed and not just a little nettled, but then she understood that Lady Elosia could not possibly have known about her feelings for Rogan. Evy wisely refrained from saying anything in haste and formed her expression into noncommittal interest.

“Arcilla made it clear to Sir Julien that it was you she wanted with her.”

And what might Sir Julien's response have been, she wanted to know, not that she anticipated going through with this. And there was still Heyden's invitation to return with him to the Transvaal to meet the van Burens. If anything, meeting her mother's relatives held more interest than going to Fort Salisbury to see Arcilla. She would not mention this to Lady Elosia just yet.

Lady Elosia set her china cup aside, and Evy noticed an exquisite bracelet of small black diamonds and wondered where she had gotten them. It seemed frivolous to Evy that she would even wear such a bracelet for afternoon tea, especially after the unhappiness, scandal, and even death surrounding the disappearance of the Kimberly Black. At the very least, it was an ostentatious display.

Lady Elosia saw her looking at the bracelet. A lively pleasure showed for the first time in her expression. At least there was
something
that
appeared to excite Lady Elosia: diamonds, black ones at that. Evy more thoughtfully considered the woman.

“Lovely, are they not? A gift of Sir Julien many years ago.”

Julien! “Are they of the quality of the Kimberly Black Diamond?”

Evy saw her tense, or did she imagine it?

“I would hardly know that, since the Black Diamond disappeared a generation ago. But getting back to Arcilla, I understand she has always thought well of you.”

Evy covered a smile. Hardly
always
. Their friendship did not get off to a good start, as she recalled Arcilla's demanding ways when she first came to Rookswood, but it had strengthened as they grew into their girlhood, and later at school in London.

“I've missed her,” Evy said sincerely.

Again, that troubled look flickered in Elosia's eyes. “You might as well know that she and Peter are having marital difficulties over living in South Africa, especially over the Zambezi area—Fort Salisbury.”

The news did not really surprise Evy. She had suspected trouble when Arcilla stopped writing to her from Capetown. Arcilla was not an easy person to live with, but Evy suspected that neither was Peter Bartley. When Evy met him, he had seemed totally dedicated to the British cause in South Africa.

“Arcilla would like to come home, but of course, Peter can't support that. His position as assistant commissioner of the new colony demands his presence. Dear Arcilla has interests of her own, some of which the family, Julien in particular, disapproves, but you know our Arcilla. She has always cultivated her dabbling in this little preoccupation or that.” She smiled, showing her teeth for the first time.

Evy could smile wryly about “our Arcilla,” who was indeed known to have her little preoccupations. But Arcilla had known about Peter's responsibilities in the British South Africa Company before she married him. Sir Julien and Peter had made those clear.

Evy now worried about what new “preoccupations” Arcilla could be cultivating at gold-and-diamond-rich Capetown.

“Peter sympathizes with her, but there is nothing he can do. Sir Julien insists she remain with her husband.”

Evy could envision Arcilla throwing one of her tantrums and, as usual, getting her own way. Evy wondered again what manner of man Peter might be.

“Since you are without close family, we are all the more hopeful that you will find this arrangement agreeable. Arcilla is most anxious that you come and stay with her. I promised her I would do my best to encourage you to do so. The only question is whether your health will permit such rigorous travel at this time.”

She lifted a letter from the divan. “From Arcilla. It's personal. I am certain she's done her best to talk you into going to Capetown. You may read it at your leisure. If you decide to accept, you could voyage back with Patricia and Rogan.”

Evy accepted the sealed envelope, recognizing Arcilla's showy handwriting that was so much like her personality.

Lady Eloisa stood, and Evy gathered that their little tea party was concluded. Evy was anxious to make her departure. Bidding her hostess good-bye and promising to let her know her decision about Capetown, she left Rookswood as unobtrusively as she had entered.

As Mr. Bixby drove the coach through the Rookswood gate with its gargoyles poised for action, she leaned back against the seat and removed Arcilla's letter from the handbag. Voyage to the Cape with Rogan and Patricia? Not even a team of a dozen horses could get her to do such a thing!

Evy smiled. So very like Arcilla.

As the horse's hooves clomped down the road back toward the rectory, she sighed over her dilemma. She was beginning to think her future might point in another direction. This realization brought both excitement and some anxious dread.

The steps of a good man are ordered by the L
ORD
…

The divine promise brought comfort. Where would His hand lead and guide her? For what purpose was she to take this new road? Faith said it was enough that He knew. If trouble waited, as it had already awaited her in the past, then she must continue to go forward, believing that God had only good plans for her, even through trials. Evy believed there just might be a divine reason for the restlessness that urged her onward to Cape House.

Suddenly, she longed to meet Cousin Jakob van Buren. She wanted to go to his medical mission station and help him in some way. But if this was not to be, at least she could contact relatives on her mother's side—maybe even her father's?

Nothing will stop me. Not now
.

“I'll go,” she said aloud and lifted her chin.

The answers to many of her questions awaited her in South Africa.

The envelope… What had Henry written to Uncle Edmund so many years ago? And why did someone think it important enough at this late date to come looking for it? Evy studied it as though the handwriting itself would tell her what she wanted to know. She shook her head, frustrated with the impasse. She stood from the chair in her rectory room and, snatching her wrap and a hat, made up her mind quickly. She would return to the cottage to search through those trunks and the desk for herself. It wasn't likely she'd find anything after all this time, but she'd have a look anyway. She wished ardently that she had not let her feelings of loss keep her from doing so earlier.

She would need Mrs. Croft for the visit to the cottage, but before she set out, she wanted to visit the cemetery and Aunt Grace's and Uncle Edmund's graves. This was a time for her to be alone, so she managed to avoid Vicar and Mrs. Osgood as she slipped into the big country kitchen. Mrs. Croft had not yet arrived, and Evy quickly wrapped her breakfast, a leftover scone with jam, and went out through the back door.

She had left a note on the kitchen sideboard for Martha and Mrs. Croft to find, informing them she was on a spiritual pilgrimage of sorts to the cemetery, and that she desired solitude. She would be borrowing the jingle for the morning but would return by luncheon.