“So, I’ve arranged for your father’s agent to call this afternoon. He will then set up meetings for you with your family lawyer and a representative from the bank, which holds the majority of the Arnold investments,” Edmund said.
“The bank…” Percy blinked.
“Yes, the bank, Coutts. They should be able to establish you as a proxy on your father’s account with the requisite medical opinion which I’m sure Dr. Hughs can provide. Jacob and I have been through the papers that were on the desk and marked the ones you should read now, those that require action, and those that should be passed on to others.”
“I can’t thank you enough,” Percy said, looking at his two friends gratefully.
“You can thank us by sitting down at this desk and beginning your reading,” Edmund said with a touch of sternness in his smile. “Then, you can ask each of us any questions you may have about the Arnold estate or how we each deal with the same issues on our respective estates.”
Percy sat down awkwardly and pulled a pile of papers towards him, his face instantly wrinkling in alarm at what he saw.
“But this is all numbers! And there’s so many of them… Do I need to add them up? Would the agent not do that for me?”
Jacob stifled a snort of laughter and shared an amused glance with Edmund.
“Those are your family’s recent laundry bills, Percy. I suspect that if you pass them to Mrs. Bridge, she can tell you if they’ve already been dealt with.”
“Thank God for that! I thought a cravat might also be a type of sheep, although they grow wool rather than silk don’t they?”
Now Jacob could not contain his mirth.
“Dear Percy! How you ever managed to graduate from university and stay alive until the grand old age of five and twenty remains a wonderful mystery to all your friends. But I’m glad you’ve achieved it if only for the endless amusement you provide.”
Both Edmund and Percy now joined in Jacob’s laughter.
“I am such a fool, aren’t I?” Percy sighed after they’d quietened down. “It feels like I do everything wrong sometimes and, I’ve been feeling rotten all morning after our conversation with Aunt Henrietta last night.”
“What was it all about?” Jacob asked. “Is there anything we can help with?”
“If it was an increasingly tearful plea for you to face up to your responsibilities,” Edmund said, “the best way to put a stop to that is to take up your obligations and do it well. That will give you the courage to face down a whole army of well-meaning aunts.”
“And their smelly dogs,” Jacob added, wrinkling his nose at the memory of Fluffles last night. At least, Lady Birks had not joined them for breakfast. Nor had Diana.
Percy shook his head.
“No, Aunt Henrietta wants to bring forward Diana’s marriage to her son, Andrew, and have the wedding as soon as possible. She had agreed on it all with Father just before he fell ill, and it seems that Mother is relying on our aunt to see it all through.”
“What did you say?” Edmund asked, conscious that his friend’s words had just made his heart start to beat faster as a feeling of displeasure crept into his blood. He’d heard vaguely about this arrangement in the past, but it had been something both distant and impersonal. Now it was imminent and no longer felt as impersonal as it once had.
“Well, I agreed. I had to since it was our father’s last wish. Aunt Henrietta is delighted about the whole thing, or she would be if she weren’t so grieved about Father. The way she explained everything made great sense, too. I think it was a shock to poor Diana though. She was looking forward to her first Season in London, and now, that will all be cancelled.”
“I had wondered why she wasn’t at breakfast. Do you mean to say that she doesn’t want to marry this cousin?” Jacob asked curiously.
“Well, she’s never objected to the idea before. Our parents arranged it all so long ago, and she was used to hearing it mentioned in passing, I suppose. But coming right now, bringing the wedding forward has hit her hard.”
“If it was arranged so long ago, I doubt she ever understood,” Edmund said rather stiffly. “Arranged marriages are all very well when both parties go in with their eyes open. But from what you say, it doesn’t sound like something Diana would have chosen for herself."
He spoke more bluntly and with more feeling than he intended. But his words still reflected only a fraction of the resentment he actually felt at the idea of this sweet, dutiful and competent – but still barely formed – young woman being coerced into an unwanted marriage with the man who was so lauded by his own mother at dinner the previous night.
The situation put him in mind of someone catching a beautiful butterfly and pinning it to a page while it struggled hopelessly to escape.
“I feel guilty enough, Ed,” Percy said dejectedly. “But what can I do? Our parents agreed to it all, and they said it ties up a lot of legal strings for our families. As long as Diana cooperates, then it has to go ahead. She might have been miserable last night, but she’s always been the dutiful one in the family, and I can’t imagine she’ll want to let our parents down.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Edmund said as neutrally as he could. He certainly understood family responsibilities, and he reminded himself that this marriage was none of his business, especially if Diana herself were willing to go along with the family’s plans for her.
Still, the idea rankled with him, and he had to admit to himself that it had more than a little to do with how attractive he found his friend’s newly grown sister.
ChapterFive