A Reason to Rebel (21 page)

“Do either of you know why your father is so keen to welcome Cowper as a member of the family?” Alex asked. “After all, he can do little to raise the family’s standing in society, which, unless I mistake the matter, has always been his primary objective.”

“Indeed it has,” said Estelle. “And the question of Cowper has bothered me for some time. What does he have that my father wants so badly, he is prepared to force one of us to marry him in order to obtain it?”

“I think I know.”

All faces turned expectantly towards Matthew.

Chapter Thirteen

Alex could sense his presence was intimidating Porter, in spite of his efforts to put him at his ease. He had already satisfied himself that the young man was of good character, hard working and conscientious. Only his very obvious adoration for Estelle’s sister had caused him to act in a rash manner and aid her escape from her tyrannical father. He shot defensive sideways glances in Alex’s direction as he explained why he felt compelled to behave as he had. He addressed his comments to Estelle but it was evident he was equally anxious to gain Alex’s approbation. But that was hardly to be wondered at. Porter must be aware that he could use his authority as a peer to remove Marianne from his care. Either that or report his interference to Nesbit, who would be compelled to dismiss him before he completed his articles.

By contributing little to the discussion, Alex hoped that Porter would become accustomed to his presence. He applauded his scruples and understood he had acted out of a sense of duty and honour.

Matthew was altogether another matter. He was not cowed by Alex’s social standing and frequently scowled in his direction. He was still weak from the remnants of an illness, the cause of which he had yet to disclosed. But his mind was not affected and he made no attempt to conceal the doubts he harboured about Alex’s intentions towards his sister.

Recalling their activities of the previous evening, Alex conceded that Matthew had every right to be suspicious, and bore his scrutiny with forbearance.

Everyone exclaimed when Matthew voiced his belief that he knew what Cowper’s hold over his father might be. They were now all talking at once, clamouring for an explanation, which it would be impossible to hear over the din.

“Do enlighten us, Matthew,” said Estelle. “The question has been plaguing my mind since Father’s visit.”

“All in good time,” said Alex. His tone caused everyone to look in his direction. “I think that first you ought to explain to your sister where you have been these three years and relieve her worries. We would also be glad to learn what has kept you confined to bed.”

“Well, really, m’lord.” Matthew sat a little straighter, bridling at the implied criticism. “I really do not see what authority—”

“Matthew, please.” Estelle touched her brother’s hand. “You have my assurance that you can trust Lord Crawley implicitly and say anything in front of him that you would say to me in private.”

“That’s as may be, Estelle, but this is family business.”

“If it were not for Lord Crawley, Father would have found a way to extract me from Crawley Hall. I would by now be back in Hampshire, confined to my room until I agreed to marry Mr. Cowper. And the three of us would not have been reunited.”

“Ah yes, well, since you put it like that, I suppose it can’t do any harm.” Matthew swallowed, not wholly satisfied, but when he looked at Alex again his expression was a little less severe. “I don’t know how much my sister has told you about our family life, Lord Crawley, but she seems to have placed a vast amount of confidence in you.” He lifted his shoulders. “I suppose there is little point trying to save face now.”

“You can depend upon my discretion.”

“Maybe so, but that don’t make this any easier. Still, there’s no getting away from it and the truth is that I ran away from my responsibilities because I wasn’t man enough to face up to them.” His features, as handsome as those of his sisters, were twisted in self-disgust.

Alex admired his courage, only able to guess at what it must have cost him to make such an admission.

“We do not blame you in the least,” said Estelle. “Your situation was insupportable.”

“I ran away too,” Marianne reminded him.

“Thank you, girls, but I won’t let you try to protect me. It ought to have been the other way round, and I regret leaving you to fend for yourselves more than you will ever know. I knew Father would bully you both worse than ever the moment I was gone. And Mother is no help. She thinks of no one but herself. So no matter how impossible Father’s demands, I should have stayed to fight instead of bailing out and leaving you two at his mercy. Won’t ever forgive myself for that.”

“Why not simply tell us where you went and why?” suggested Alex patiently.

“I was getting to that.” Matthew shifted his position in the bed and Estelle stood to plump the pillows behind his head until he appeared comfortable again. “You see, all I’ve ever wanted to do was work on the land. I wanted to obtain a position on a big estate somewhere, working beneath an experienced steward, learning my trade and coming up with modern ideas.”

“An admirable ambition,” said Alex with feeling, thinking of the outmoded plan for irrigating his lower pastures his steward had recently bored him with.

“But Father dismissed the notion out of hand. He wouldn’t even let me explain my feelings, because he had other plans for me—to study art at university. He prides himself on being a connoisseur of the arts, don’t you know, which is the biggest clanker imaginable. The only painting Father knows anything about is the sort that gets applied to buildings.”

“And so you went to university?”

“Yes, and when I left college Father had me attending all his salons. He expected me to pass judgment on the men clamouring for his support.”

“The responsibility must have weighed heavily.”

“You don’t know the half of it. It was only when he tried to marry me off without a thought for my own wishes that I decided I had had enough. It was finally time to be a man and stand up for myself—something I should have done long before.”

“And so you went to Jamaica, I collect.”

“Yes, a friend was on his way to his family’s plantation and thought to find me a position there.” Matthew shrugged. “It seemed like a godsend at the time. Even if it was hardly the type of work I had envisaged, at least it was a foolproof way to escape my father’s domination.”

“What happened to bring you home again in such a state of poor health?” asked Estelle. Her eyes lingered anxiously on her brother’s emancipated body.

“Well, can’t say as I exactly took to the life out there. Oh, it wasn’t just the unforgiving climate.” He sighed. “That unrelenting sun, you have no idea how it wears a body down. But I would have got used to that—everyone else seemed to. No, it was the sad state of the natives that I found hard to stomach. The wretched conditions they were compelled to live in are beyond description in feminine company. I was never more shocked. I never would have gone out there before abolition of the slave trade, you see, but now that the people were their own masters, I thought they would have a better lot.”

“But you did not find it to be so?” Alex suggested.

“No, the plantations were still full of slaves, which I found quite unnerving. It wasn’t what I expected at all. Had I properly understood the situation I never would have gone there. It was pretty confusing. The younger natives were keen for their freedom but the older workers seemed content with the status quo.” Matthew paused. “You can have no idea how barbarically some of them were treated, and ours was considered to be one of the more compassionate overseers. Their living conditions were appalling.”

“It is iniquitous!” Estelle cried passionately. “They deserve compassion. I daresay you would not treat your tenants with such scant respect, Alex.”

“Certainly not.” Alex’s calm response gave no indication that he would have preferred it if she had not addressed him informally. He knew she had only done so because she was so impassioned by her brother’s tale of injustice and temporarily forgot herself. Matthew had noticed the slip, as had Marianne. They exchanged a speaking look, their expressions speculative as they returned their attention to their sister.

“That is what I thought too,” Matthew said. “It was very difficult watching the pathetic attempts of some of them to work when they were obviously afflicted with illness. But they had no choice. If they didn’t work they knew the punishment would be brutal.”

“Is that why you came home?” Alex asked.

“|Not exactly. You see, there was one family I felt particular sympathy for. The father died of disease and left his wife and a whole string of children, none of whom were strong enough to work. I went to them one night under the cover of darkness and gave them some of my own supplies, hoping it would do something to restore their strength. What I discovered later, to my cost, is that the disease that had killed their father lived on in their hut, in the water which I stupidly sipped whilst there.”

“Oh, Matthew, you could have died too!” Estelle was horrified.

“And I most likely would have done, had it not been for Porter here.”

“Winthrop’s letter saying he had returned to England reached Marianne just at the time she felt compelled to flee Hampshire,” Porter said. “She so wanted to see him that I could not find it in my heart to deny her. We made our way to Dover and tracked him down at a boarding house. But he was delirious with fever and did not even recognize Marianne.”

“I was never so frightened in my entire life,” Marianne said. “But Benjamin was wonderful. He arranged everything. A doctor saw Matthew and said he was suffering from dysentery. Most people die of it, of course,” she added, blithely unaware of her sister’s ghostly pallor as she described in detail the wretched condition they had found Matthew in and continued to sing her fiancé’s praises. “The doctor said Matthew only survived because he was young and well nourished. But had we not got to him when we did, I do not care to think about the consequences.”

“We brought him back here as soon as he was well enough to travel and he has remained with us ever since. Every day he regains a little more strength.” Benjamin spoke with becoming modesty but Alex knew he must have gone to a vast amount of trouble, and expense, to manage things so smoothly.

“That is because I have been nursing him back to health,” said Marianne, unaware of Matthew pulling a face at her misguided efforts to make him comfortable. “He is allowed to get out of bed for a few hours every day now. However, he is still very weak and must not overexert himself.”

“You have been through a lot, Winthrop,” said Alex. “But now, if you are not too fatigued, perhaps you will explain to us why you consider Cowper to be of such importance to your father’s schemes.”

“He’s the son of one of Father’s earliest protégées who died in stricken circumstances, leaving the child with no one to care for him. Father took the child under his wing, hoping he would inherit his father’s talent, but that did not prove to be the case. We still lived in the north at the time but moved to Hampshire shortly thereafter. Cowper remained in Leeds. Father arranged for him to live with one of his building managers and to be educated there. When he finished school, Father made him learn about every aspect of his building projects and he soon took over a managerial role in that respect.”

“Yes, I had ascertained that much from Mrs. Travis, but it does not explain why he is so anxious for Cowper to marry one of his daughters.”

“I have been thinking about that,” Matthew said. “Being confined to bed all day, a man gets a deal of time to think. Cowper is very useful to Father and completely loyal to him. He is not without wits either.” He appeared fatigued by talking so much and paused to drink some water. “Father is wealthy, but has laid out vast amounts on young artists who have failed to live up to their promise.”

“He is short of blunt?” Alex’s brows shot upwards.

“That is my guess. Before I went away he was not averse to visiting the Patents Office if he chanced upon something which was not his but which might keep the coffers topped up.”

“He steals other peoples’ ideas?” Alex sat forward in his chair, sensing that they were finally getting to the crux of the matter.

“Exactly so. Or, to be more precise, Cowper does so on his behalf. He not only has access to all the inner circles in the building projects in Leeds, where great innovations are being made and fortunes established, but he also takes responsibility for Father’s timber warehouse in Wapping. I daresay he picks up a lot of useful information from that source too, especially since he ends every day in a tavern. He is not without charm, when it suits him to display it. He is also a good listener and people tend to confide in him, especially when they are in drink.”