“How far away did you leave him?” I finally asked.
“Somewhere over here.” And then I saw him. He’d been joined by a heavyset gentleman in a blue uniform coat and a big hat, with a weather-beaten face and a blond ponytail. Henry saw us and raised a hand; the naval officer bowed, shook Henry’s hand, and was off.
“Did you find them in the park, Jane? How enterprising of you!” Henry was cheerful, but I thought he looked tired.
He stood up, and we made our way, more slowly, south toward Sloane Street and Hans Place. We began four across, but Jane and Liam, heads together and talking earnestly, were faster; Henry and I fell behind.
“Were you ready for an outing of this duration?” I asked. “We could stop and rest. Look, here is a bench.”
“Miss Ravenswood, I fear you must think me a confirmed invalid.”
“I am only too accustomed to saying what I think, without studying how it might appear. You must think me a savage.”
“Not in the least.” He smiled down at me. “I admire an open, warm, ardent temperament. A person too cautious ever to risk putting a foot wrong—I have no use for such a character.”
“You are charity itself to put such an interpretation on my lack of tact.”
“I wish to correct your impression, though, as to my health. I am daily improving, and expect to be fully restored to myself within weeks.”
“I give you joy of that.”
Ahead of us, Liam and Jane, too far away to be overheard, broke stride for a moment, turning toward each other and back to look at us. They both had the same cool, assessing gaze of people trying to make up their minds. Then they turned and went on.
“But if I may speak frankly, as a friend—”
He took my gloved hand and pressed it to his heart, which made my own heart give a lurch. “I would not have you speak any other way.”
“I would urge you to be temperate in both eating and drinking. Not that I am suggesting you are, now, not—but the liver has suffered an insult. It will be a weak point for you always. Take fatty meats, spirits of every kind, and wine, in strictest moderation.”
I glanced sideways to see how he was taking this. But I might as well have told him to tie a string around his big toe, or to drink a potion of crushed pearls and snails; my medical advice surely seemed just as random, particularly since I was female and by definition could not know anything. I wished there was something I could do that would actually help him. He gave me the impression of a man walking cheerfully at the edge of a cliff, and I felt again that mix of compassion and desire that had puzzled me the evening I had saved Fanny from choking.
He gave me a mischievous smile. “What about tea?”
“Harmless. Beneficial.”
“That means I can in good conscience invite you and your brother to join us in drinking some on Tuesday. Cassandra is going into Hampshire with Edward that morning, so the sad little remnant of our party will need cheering.”
I WAS GLAD OF THE INVITATION, BUT ITS EXCUSE SEEMED PARTICULARLY flimsy once we arrived: No one at Hans Place lacked cheer. Jane and Fanny were sillier and more animated than I had ever seen them, sitting on either side of Mr. Haden with Liam across from them, and conversing in low tones, breaking into laughter, leaning over and nearly touching their noses together like ponies before galloping off into some fresh conversational extravagance. I overheard only scraps, but suspected they were talking about Mr. Clarke, and Carlton House; Jane had finally made the promised visit there.
I was wedged in a corner, Fanny’s rented harp on one side, Henry on the other. We’d landed on the subject of the fabulous party at Burlington House, thrown by White’s club to celebrate the end of the war with France. In 1814, a year early, as it turned out. That Henry had been there I knew already from Jane Austen’s letters.
“I read in a newspaper that it cost ten thousand pounds. Is that true?”
“Oh! I have no idea; I am grieved that the account focused on such a vulgar aspect.”
I thought it odd that a banker would consider the price of anything a vulgar question, rather than an interesting one. Maybe this explained some of his business problems.
“What I remember was, I had never seen so many happy people in one place at one time.”
“Rightly so. To defeat Buonaparte, it was the work of a generation, was it not? Yours.”
“I can claim but little credit; it is my two brothers who are sea captains.”
“I hope I can meet them and thank them for their services to king and country.”
“You will meet Frank; he is at Chawton. You will have a wait for Charles.” He paused. “Would it sound ungracious to say I miss him already?”
“Your brother Charles?”
“Buonaparte.”
“Not ungracious. Perhaps unpatriotic.”
“But I would never wish him back—escaped from exile, once more at the head of an army—oh, no.”
“Not even the French could stand more of such excitement.”
“Yet Frank and Charles are already longing for a new war; there are so few opportunities to advance in peacetime, even fewer to take a prize.”
“People ahead of them on the lists do not die quickly enough in peacetime?”
He laughed. “Miss Ravenswood! You are worse than Jane!”
“I could only wish to have half her wit.”
“She is one of a kind.” He glanced over at her. “But you are correct. The secret of advancement there lies in surviving what kills others. And luck, to be sure, especially with one’s patrons.” He looked around the room; his bright eyes came back to rest on my face. “And it is equally true in civilian life, in less dramatic form. One does not come home with bullet holes and cutlass wounds. At least, not the visible kind.” He fell silent again, glancing around once more; it did not take great insight to speculate that he was thinking about his bank.
“Indeed. A peace so longed-for; yet adjusting is not easy. If you consider what has happened to the price of wheat—” I stopped. Ladies probably did not talk about commodity prices.
He gave a sigh. “My affairs are quite involved.” His affairs? Why would he discuss his finances with me? Was this leading up to a request for a loan? But surely that was something he would ask Liam. “The situation looks grave right now, but I am confident there can still be a good outcome.”