Intolerable Civility

Chapter Twenty-Three: Salt in the Wound

Now that Cate knew about Mr Wynn, she found herself looking very differently at Laurie. She was sure that Sarah had got some of the story wrong. But if the story was in any way right, then perhaps it explained why Laurie was sometimes almost sympathetic to Cate. She knew what it was to be played for a fool by a cruel man.

Cate could not quite believe the story of David's revenge either. Some of it, yes. He would have protected his sister, and that would have entailed more than simply making sure Wynn went abroad. But he would not have risked killing him. He was not a murderer.

David returned home one damp afternoon a week later when Cate and Sarah were trying to play cribbage together in her sitting room. Trying, because Luke, sitting on Cate's lap, kept trying to take the cards from her and revealing her hand. This was distracting enough that when David opened the door, it was Sarah who noticed him first.

"David! Welcome home!" she said, putting her cards down. "We'll call it a draw, Catherine."

Cate wrested the seven of hearts from Luke and turned to see David in the doorway. Her heart skidded and skipped. She opened her mouth to say 'welcome home' and then, realizing Sarah had already said it, shut it again.

"Thank you, Sarah," David said after a few moments. "Can I come in, Cate?"

She realized now that he was waiting patiently in the doorway.

"Of course, please."

It was not the reunion Cate had dreamt of. In silence, David shrugged off his greatcoat and draped it over a chair, removed his hat and propped it on top. Cate tried to think of something to say, but all she could think of was that the last time she had seen David he had kissed her goodbye. It had seemed possible that the reunion following that would also include a kiss, but now here they were, reunited, and David was more preoccupied with fluffing his flattened hair in the mirror over the fireplace than greeting Cate. She was too disconcerted to speak.

"Was it a pleasant journey?" Sarah asked.

"Not bad." David finished rearranging his hair, turned, and held out his arms for Luke. "Let me have the boy, Cate. I missed him."

Cate handed him over, and David kissed him and bundled him onto one arm. Luke squealed with delight to be reunited. David bounced him up and down and looked vaguely at Sarah.

"I thought you would be back in London by now."

"I have been enjoying myself greatly here," Sarah said. "The delights of Town do not call to me yet."

Cate latched onto the thread of conversation the way a drowning man clings to a life buoy. "She's going bucolic. That's the word she keeps using."

"What does it mean?" David said. "To you, Sarah. I know it means to me. Cows."

"I am merely enjoying country pleasures," Sarah said primly. "I would like to stay on a little longer, unless that displeases you?"

"Why should it? It makes no difference to me."

Sarah looked disappointed. Perhaps she had been hoping for a more definite invitation.

"It's been very pleasant, actually, having you here while David was away," Cate said by way of consolation.

Still, Sarah could not smile. "Why don't we have tea?" she suggested flatly. "You must be tired, David."

David shook his head. "I don't have time for tea. I must go and see Baxter in a minute. I just wanted to talk to you about something first, Cate." His eyes flicked to Sarah. "Do you mind stepping out, Sarah? It is a private matter."