Dearest, loveliest Alyson, my bestest friend, my gift is my story – and this one’s for you. ~ Happy Birthday

 

I have long wanted to write a continuation of Sanditon, but was never sure how to go about it. Between January 27 and March 18, 1817, Jane Austen wrote eleven chapters - 26,000 words. I did not want simply to continue from where she left off, either expecting people to have read, or run off to read, her fragment or post the entire thing myself. I have no illusions as to my writing style ever approaching her own inimitable one, and I wanted to preserve some sort of continuity. In the end I decided to condense what she had written into two chapters, totalling approximately 7000 words, more in my own style but with many of Jane’s own words and phrases, without changing the true essence of the book’s beginning. This not only will help me understand the characters better, but will also provide the continuity I am looking for. In no way do I think I am improving upon what JA already wrote.

 I am going to try to develop the story based solely on the info Jane Austen has provided and take it in my own direction according to the clues she has given. So wish me luck – starting on the third chapter I will have to wing this one entirely!

I hope I can get a few people as interested in these new, practically unknown characters as I have become. I truly believe that, had JA managed to finish this book, Sidney Parker would have been a rival to HT and even FD in the hearts of her loyal readers. I see him as a man who combines all the best from the rascals in her other books with the admirable attributes of her heroes. While Charlotte Heywood may not have the ready wit of Lizzie, she is sensible, has a lot of gumption and a very good heart. I hope you will find her endearing.

 

THE THREE BROTHERS

CHAPTER ONE

The carriage turned off the high road and up a rutted lane, more rock than sand, and very rough going. The driver would have desisted, but his master urged him on beyond a sizeable house and towards a cottage situated high on the hill and almost obscured by a stand of trees. The disrepair of the lane caused the accident, there could be no doubt, and the carriage overturned across from a hayfield.

The husband and wife riding in the carriage managed to extricate themselves unhurt, until a misstep on the uneven slope caused the gentleman to severely twist his ankle.

"I shall be all right presently dear," he said, sitting upon the bank. "What good luck this accident befell us at such a proximity to the doctor’s residence."

His wife agreed as she stood anxiously by his side, having no idea how to go on, but luckily they were joined by a number of the hay-makers from the nearby field and the middle-aged gentleman farmer who had been overseeing the work. He greeted the travellers, introducing himself as Mr Heywood, and went on to politely express his concern for their predicament and surprise at their attempting the lane, which led nowhere but a humble cottage.

"My name is Parker - Mr Parker of Sanditon, and this is my wife, Mrs. Parker. Is that not the abode of the surgeon up upon the rise? I dare say my injury is very trifling, but could I ask that a boy be dispatched to fetch him. In such cases it is for the best to have a surgeon’s opinion as quickly as may be."

"Sir, there is no surgeon at hand but I feel we shall manage quite well without one."

"If he is not available, his partner will do, to be sure. Someone should be able to fetch him in a trice."

"There is no surgeon nor partner in this parish and the cottage of which you speak is only a humble tenement housing my shepherd and three old women."

"But is this not Willingden?

"Certainly, sir."

"I have a notice from the Morning Post which I cut out myself." Here Mr Parker reached into his pocket and pulled forth a sheet of paper. "It advertises the dissolution of a partnership in the medical line, and as you can see for yourself, sir, the direction is Willingden."

"So it may be, but should it be printed in every newspaper of the land it would not persuade me. I have lived here since my birth - fifty-seven years - and there has been no medical practitioner in the district in that whole time, though if one were to situate himself atop this hill it would be no bad thing, and he should generate a tidy amount of business for himself with accidents such as your own." This was said with a friendly smile and finished off with a hearty laugh. He reached out and glanced at the paper. "I see the mistake, sir. There are two Willingdens in this country. This advertisement refers to Willingden Abbots, which is seven miles off, in the weald."

After the confusion was resolved, Mr Parker was taken up and carried to the Heywood home. His carriage was in need of repair and his ankle pained him more than he had anticipated so, though he at first had thought to return home to the fresh saline breezes of that charming seaside resort, he soon thought better of it and accepted the hospitality offered. It did not take long for Mr Heywood to discover that Mr Parker’s favourite topic of discourse was the town of Sanditon and the many benefits to be found there, both recreational and fortifying. This very journey had been an attempt to lure a doctor to that precious location to make it all the more tempting to potential visitors.

When they arrived at the house, Mr Parker was given to the care of Mrs Heywood and her eldest daughter still living at home, Miss Charlotte. Mrs Parker was afforded comfort and shown every kindness by their generous benefactors and soon found she ought not feel concern for her husband who had fortuitously landed in such good hands.

In the process of the developing friendship, the Parkers learned that the Heywoods, though prosperous, had a very large family and had no interest in leaving their own cosy hearth, but encouraged their children to go out in the world as much as possible.

Mr Parker, along with the other principal landowner in Sanditon, was involved in what he hoped would be the profitable speculation of establishing it as a fashionable beach resort. He was a man of independent means, happily married for seven years with four sweet children at home. He had two younger brothers and two sisters who were all single and independent – the eldest brother quite as well provided for as himself. He was an amiable family man with a kind heart and very fond of his family. His wife was complacent and sweet tempered, relying completely on her husband’s judgement.

There was nothing that Mr Parker desired more than to invite his new found friends to Sanditon so they could benefit from the salubrious locale, but Mr and Mrs Heywood, being set in their ways and not inclined to travel, could not be persuaded to make the journey. However, their daughter Charlotte who had been indispensable in the nursing of Mr Parker and the entertainment of Mrs Parker was to go in their stead, and so, a fortnight after the serendipitous accident, when Mr Parker was finally well enough to travel, she accompanied them on their return trip to their seaside home. There she would be encouraged to improve her already excellent health with seaside bathing, and enjoy all the pleasures Sanditon had to offer, including registering at the library and buying gloves for her sisters from the gift shop therein. Mr Heywood himself could do no more than promise Mr Parker that he would suggest to anybody who asked his advice, that Sanditon was the resort worthy of notice, and not to spend even a farthing in Brinshore where he had heard that seaweed befouled the beaches. Mr Parker found this promise very reassuring.

Whilst travelling in their carriage, Mr Parker thought the time right to give Charlotte as much information as possible on the great lady of the neighbourhood. Lady Denham began her life as Miss Brereton and was born to wealth, not education. When she was thirty she married the elderly Mr Hollis, a wealthy man with a manor and mansion house in Sanditon and considerable property in the country. At his death he left her everything. Some years later she remarried to Sir Harry Denham of Denham Park, who died before he succeeded in enriching his family with her fortune. She was much too shrewd for that. She benefited from the marriage only in the receipt of the title, which one imagines, must have been her reason for marrying him.

She was now in her seventies with three different families vying for their share of her fortune. Their constant courting gave her a little self-importance, and her naturally tight-fisted nature led her to pit them against each other for her favour. Her nephew, the present Baronet, Sir Edward and his sister Miss Denham, close at hand in Denham Park, entertained great hopes of improving their meagre inheritances with sizeable provisions from their dearest aunt. In addition, Lady Denham had a young relative, Miss Clara Brereton, living with her as a companion and completely dependent upon her. She was a general favourite because of her steady conduct and mild, gentle temper, and as she was felt worthy of trust, her loveliness could not be held against her. All this Charlotte was told, and she could easily have formed her opinion of their characters on these facts alone, but she chose to wait to meet them for herself and let her own good judgement prevail.

As they drew within two miles of the sea, Charlotte was struck by the view of a moderately sized house with well-tended gardens, orchards and meadows.

"What a very snug looking place. Why, it seems to have all the comforts of my dear home."

"Indeed," said Mr Parker. "It is my family home, where my brothers and sisters and I were born and bred – in fact where my three eldest were born. Mrs Parker and I lived there until our new house was finished. Hillier, my tenant, keeps it in smooth operation and I in return have a home in a much better situation. This old house is hidden away in this valley without air or view, so close to the ocean without receiving any of its advantages. You will not think it a bad exchange when you see Trafalgar House, I’ll wager."

"It was always a very comfortable house," said Mrs Parker with a tinge of regret. "And such an excellent garden."

"Yes my love, but it still supplies us with all we need in the way of fruits and vegetables, without the eyesore and smell of decaying vegetation in the wintertime, and if we should happen to run out we may always procure what we need at Sanditon House."

"But the garden was so nice for the children to run about in, and so shady in the summer."

"In the course of a few years when my plantation is grown we will have more than enough shade, and for now our canvas awning gives us complete comfort within doors. And the boys should be encouraged to run about in the sunshine so as to be as hardy as possible."

"And I may purchase Mary a little parasol and she will be as proud as can be, fancying herself quite a little lady. My dear, I have not the smallest doubt that we are far better off where we are right now, but this old house is like a dear friend to me. The Hilliers tell me that they felt last winter’s storms not at all while we were all rocked in our beds in the most dreadful manner."

"Yes we get all the grandeur of a storm with none of the danger – the wind simply rages and passes on. Down in this trench the inhabitants can be taken completely unawares by those dreadful currents that do more mischief in a valley." He paused for a moment and then continued in a livelier tone. "My brother Sidney jokes that I should make it into a hospital – he pretends to laugh at all my improvements, you know, Miss Heywood. He has such superior abilities and spirits and will say anything to make one laugh – so clever he is and with great powers of pleasing. His only fault is that he is so unsettled – always here, there, and everywhere. I wish we could get him to Sanditon. He is such a fine young man. With his neat equipage and fashionable air he would lend a great deal of style to the place! Many a respectable family with a careful mother and pretty daughter his presence might secure to us at the expense of Eastbourne and Hastings."

They had long since passed the house and were now approaching the church and real village of Old Sanditon, which nestled at the foot of the hill they were set to ascend. A stream ran through the valley and wound obliquely to the sea, where a small cluster of fisherman’s houses hugged the shore. The village itself was made up of little more than cottages, but even some of these had bright new shutters and were let to summer visitors. The hill that rose between village and sea was covered with the woods and enclosures of Sanditon House, and at its height ended in an open down.

Mr Parker was full of anticipation of the lodgings that would be rented out upon the health-breathing hill where New Sanditon faced the sea in all its natural splendour. Sanditon House was the last building upon the hill from the earlier days of the parish. All beyond it was modern; Prospect House, Bellevue Cottage and Denham Place were all presented to Charlotte for her praise. She viewed them all calmly with amused curiosity.

His spirits high, Mr Parker spoke of the flowing tide, the sands, the cliffs, and his own house on the most elevated point of the down. When it finally came to view, Charlotte saw that it was a light, elegant building in the middle of a small lawn with a very young plantation around it, and only one hundred yards from a steep but unprepossessing cliff. Next to it was a row of smart looking houses called the Terrace, with a broad walk in front that had become the mall of the place. In the Terrace could be found the best milliners, the library and a little detached from it, the hotel and billiard room. This point began the descent to the beach and the bathing machines and was the favoured spot for beauty and fashion.

The travellers were set down at Trafalgar house and the Parkers were joyfully reunited with their dear children. Charlotte was shown to her own apartment and amused herself standing at the spacious Venetian window, gazing out past rooftops and chimney-pots to the stretch of white sand and the dancing waters of the vast expanse of glinting sea. She breathed in the tangy salt air and smiled at the thought of Mr Parker, who would no doubt be now extolling its every benefit.

Charlotte met with her hosts in the drawing room before dinner. Mr Parker had been going through his correspondence and had a letter to share with Charlotte and his wife.

"Sidney is such an idle fellow. I had expected an answer from him on the account I sent of the accident – but nothing! Perhaps instead he will treat us with his presence. Instead I have a letter here from my sister Diana. What say you Mary? Shall we guess the state of their health? I know what Sidney would say. Miss Heywood, I’ll have you know that my brother thinks my sisters’ complaints are for the most part imaginary. Possibly it is so sometimes, but really they do suffer wretched health and always have a number of serious ailments. But they are so energetic and useful; their resourcefulness always amazes me. They have weaker constitutions and stronger minds than any two ladies you have ever met. And Arthur, my youngest brother, who is only twenty-one, is so delicate he can engage in no profession. Sidney laughs at them all, and though it is no joke, often makes me laugh despite myself."

Charlotte wondered at a brother who could laugh at the misfortune of his own siblings, but thought better to make no comment that would be thought judgmental. Mr Parker plainly held him in affection.

"If Sidney were here, he would lay odds as to which of the three would have been at the point of death within the last month!" He perused the letter for a moment and then resumed his commentary. "I don’t think there is any chance of them coming to Sanditon – Mary, you will be sorry to hear how very ill they have been. It is not a laughing matter, I assure you."

Both Charlotte and Mrs Parker looked on in some concern, and Mr Parker continued. "I hope you don’t mind my imparting the full content of the letter, Miss Heywood. I’m afraid this may be the only means of your meeting my sisters. Diana goes on to write of my accident, saying how relieved they were we fell into such good hands." Here he smiled at Charlotte. "It seems she once cured the sprained foot of a coachman by applying friction to the area – mark this! She rubbed his ankle for six hours straight. It was healed in only three days. Well, I don’t know if that would have worked in my case, but how fortunate for the coachman . . . dear me, she is suffering from spasmodic bile again and barely able to crawl from her bed. She says that they have all given up on doctors entirely so, Mary my dear, our trip in search of a physician would have been fruitless even if we had found one. The addition of a doctor would not have brought them here as we had hoped. Diana goes so far as to say she believes the sea air would be the death of her. Now that I cannot countenance - there is nothing more fortifying."

"Yes my dear, but you do know your sisters. They are very set in their beliefs."

"True. They are now undertaking their own remedies . . . Susan’s nerves are very unequal and she has been suffering headaches . . . my goodness. First she was treated with six leaches a day for ten days, and then she had three teeth drawn . . . I am happy to say she is much better now, but cannot speak above a whisper. Diana says she only fainted twice that morning and we are to take it as a good sign. Arthur has a cough and Diana fears for his liver. Poor fellow."

"But, Tom, you say yourself that it is a great pity your sisters give Arthur such a turn for being ill. I can’t believe he is as unwell as Diana would have us think."

"I wish I could but get him here. Our fresh breezes and a program of immersion would have him in fine fettle in no time. I dare say Sidney would find something most entertaining in this letter, but their sufferings appear to be immense and their goodness – just listen to this! Though they are so ill themselves, they cannot help but think of our dear Sanditon. Diana has secured two families, through letters with friends, one a rich West Indian, and the other a party from a respectable boarding school for girls. She has been quite tireless in the endeavour!"

"What a splendid thing for our town," said Mrs Parker.

"It is indeed. One family would be perfect for Prospect House and the other the end house on the Terrace. I must write to Diana immediately after dinner. Are not my sisters excellent women, Miss Heywood?"

"They appear to be very extraordinary ones!" exclaimed Charlotte. "I am astonished at the cheerful style of the letter considering their state of health. I do not know which sister’s case is the most distressing – but perhaps it is your sister Susan. Three teeth pulled!"

"Oh! They are used to every operation, and they have such fortitude."

"I dare say they know what they are about, although their methods appear somewhat extreme to me. If I were so very ill, I should prefer to consult a professional, but then I come from such a healthy family I am no judge of what the habit of self-doctoring may do."

"To own the truth," said Mrs Parker, "I think our sisters carry it a bit too far sometimes."

"I grant you that I wish they would leave themselves more alone – especially in the case of Arthur. He should be encouraged to occupation and not indisposition," answered Mr Parker. "Ah! Here is Morgan, announcing our dinner. Miss Heywood, let us make our way to the dining room."

After the meal, Mr Parker retired to write his letter so that it could be mailed that afternoon. A walk to the main points of interest at the Terrace was to be the program of the next hour or so. Mr Parker could no longer keep his guest from discovering for herself the delights that awaited her in Sanditon

CHAPTER TWO

The after dinner hour was the quietest the watering-place had to offer; Terrace and shops, cliffs and sand - all was practically deserted, save an elderly man or two obliged to walk out got their health. To the library they went, and Charlotte was able to gratify Mr Parker by signing the subscription book. That gentleman was disappointed to find the list of subscribers was less numerous than he had hoped, and without distinction. He consoled himself that July was only the start of the season, August and September being truly the busy months.

Besides books, the library offered all the useless things of the world that could not be done without. Charlotte had to restrain her purchases though there were so many pretty temptations for she felt that at two and twenty there could be no excuse for her spending all her money on her first evening, and on such fripperies. They quitted the library with the intent to take a turn on the cliff but immediately met up with Lady Denham and Miss Brereton who had just come from calling at Trafalgar House. After the introductions, Lady Denham professed the intent to go home directly, but the Parkers knew what she really wanted was to be pressed to take tea with them, therefore the stroll on the cliff was left for another day and the party turned their steps for home.

"On no account hurry your tea for me," said Lady Denham. "Miss Clara and I had no thought to take tea with you, only to make sure that you were safely come home before going back for our own tea." However she returned with them to Trafalgar House and took possession of the drawing room apparently unaware of Mrs Parker’s immediate request to a servant to bring tea directly.

Charlotte did not mind the loss of her walk for now she was able to observe for herself those very people they had talked of all morning. Lady Denham was stout, upright, and alert, with a shrewd eye and self-satisfied aspect. She was downright and abrupt but had an air of good humour and cordiality. She seemed to be full of good will. Miss Brereton struck Charlotte as being very lovely – elegant and tall, with a delicate complexion and soft blue eyes. She personified all that one could desire in a heroine of a novel – modesty, beauty, and grace - plus her situation, as a poor companion to an old lady, brought out all the ideas of modern plots: poverty and dependence joined by beauty and merit, destined to be ill-used. Charlotte, being a sober-minded young lady, amused herself for a short time with this fancy, but had to admit that observation showed the two ladies to be on comfortable terms, one displaying protective kindness, the other, grateful and affectionate respect.

They conversed on Sanditon, the present number of visitors, and the chance of a good season. Lady Denham was not as confident as Mr Parker that the popularity of the place was successful enough for their expenditures in development. Mr Parker spoke of the families his sister had organised with much optimism and Lady Denham hoped their free spending would not raise the price of merchandise for the local inhabitants, her concern mainly for herself.

"You may smile, young lady," she said to Charlotte, "but you will see that when you have a hall of servants to feed, the price of butchers’ meat will be of some importance. It is better to have fewer servants, but the good upkeep of Sanditon House I owe to poor Mr Hollis’ memory, not for my own amusement, I assure you. Mr Parker, I feel the girls from the boarding school may be in need of asses’ milk. What say you? I have two milch asses at present and could provide them readily. I do hope they have a sharp governess and mind the furniture."

She continued on, chiding Mr Parker for his accident on such a needless journey. Her opinion of doctors was no better than his sisters’. For good health all that was needed was proximity to the sea, the opportunity to walk upon the downs, and asses’ milk. She even went so far as to say her good husband Hollis would be alive today if not for the intervention of doctors whose chief interest was their fees. After partaking of a full tea, which she accepted without demur, Lady Denham and Miss Brereton took their leave.

The next morning brought more visitors. Sir Edward Denham and his sister came to pay their respects after first doing their duty at Sanditon House. Miss Denham was very fine – cold and reserved. She gave the impression of having pride in her consequence and discontent in her poverty. Sir Edward was handsome and displayed a desire to pay attention and give pleasure. He talked much to Charlotte by whom he had the good luck to be placed and she was quite pleased by his fine countenance and good voice. She thought him agreeable and was persuaded he found her equally so. He sat by her and conversed though his sister was soon desirous to say her goodbyes. It was not till he saw Lady Denham and Miss Brereton through the French windows of the drawing room that he anxiously glanced after them and shortly thereafter readily agreed to a proposal of his sister for walking on to the Terrace. This sudden change in attentions served to cure Charlotte’s half-hour fever and enabled her to be more capable of judging how agreeable he actually had been.

She was soon in his company again and given more opportunity to judge whether there was more to him to attract than his air, address, and title. Once the Parkers’ house was cleared of morning visitors their first object was the Terrace where, seated on one of two green benches by the gravel walk, they came upon the entire Denham party. To Charlotte’s eye, Sir Edward gave the impression of a lover, but Clara did not seem to appear all that favourable of sitting as they were, apart from Lady Denham and her other niece. Miss Denham, for her part, was evidently doing her penance, listening and smiling to her aunt with solicitous eagerness.

Sir Edward surprised Charlotte by quitting Clara’s side immediately and joining her to walk along the promenade. He began to speak of the sea and the shore with great taste and feeling, praising their sublimity and the indescribable emotions they were wont to evoke in language as florid as it was fluent. He quoted poetry to back his impressions in a conversation that Charlotte soon discovered showed much sentiment and feeling but said little about his powers of thought or the depth of his knowledge. When there was a proposition to go to the library, she gladly accepted Lady Denham’s invitation to remain with her on the Terrace, having had quite enough of Sir Edward for one morning.

Lady Denham immediately took Charlotte’s arm and led her off and, like a true great lady, talked only of her own concerns while Charlotte listened, amused at the contrast of her two companions. Here was no doubtful sentiment, no phrase difficult to interpret. "Miss Esther is doing her best to entice me to invite her brother and herself for a week at Sanditon House as I did last summer, but I am not taken in by all her praise. An invitation will not be forthcoming,"

"Sir Edward and Miss Denham?" asked Charlotte, unsure how to respond to such directness.

"Yes, my young folks, as I like to call them. They are very good young people – I would not have them about if they were not deserving of my notice, but I will not be manipulated. I do not only notice them for my poor dear Sir Harry’s sake. We did live happily together. When he died I gave Sir Edward his gold watch. It was not a bequest, mind. He only told me but once he should like his nephew to have it, and there was nothing in his will. It need not have been binding had I not chosen to do it."

Charlotte found herself in a position where she had to show admiration of such benevolence, no matter her own thoughts on the subject.

"I have been very liberal to Sir Edward. I receive nothing from the Denham estate – it is I who help him."

Charlotte, casting about for something to say, remarked that he was a fine and elegant young man, which immediately made her open to suspicion.

"Yes he is," said Lady Denham, giving her a shrewd glance, "and it is hoped a lady of large fortune will think so too. He likes to pay young ladies compliments but he knows he must marry for money."

"With such personal advantages as he has," said Charlotte, reclaiming herself, "he is sure of getting a woman of fortune if he so chooses."

"Very sensibly said," cried Lady Denham. "We need to attract an heiress to Sanditon. With all the people coming and going we have not had one yet – they are most scarce. If only one would be sent here for her health – I could supply her with asses’ milk and as soon as she became well, have her fall in love with Sir Edward."

Charlotte agreed that this eventuality would be most fortunate.

"Miss Esther must find herself a man of fortune as well. Young ladies with no money are much to be pitied – but still I will not invite her to stay at Sanditon House – I have Miss Clara with me now. I have no fancy for my house to be as full as a hotel and give my housemaids so much more work – next they would be wanting higher wages."

Charlotte said nothing as she could not affect sympathy for objections such as these.

"Besides, my dear, I will not fill my house up when there are lodgings to be had in Sanditon. When next Miss Esther complains of the damp at Denham Park, and the good sea bathing does her, I will suggest they take lodgings for a fortnight. Does not that sound fair? Charity begins at home."

Charlotte kept her countenance but was overcome with both amusement and indignation. She stayed silent but could listen no longer.

‘She is very mean – I can see no good in her,’ Charlotte thought as Lady Denham continued talking in the same vein. ‘Mr Parker’s good nature misleads him. Poor Miss Brereton to have to suffer catering to her, and poor Sir Edward and his sister, obliged to be mean themselves in their servility to her. And I am mean too, for I have given my attention and the appearance of coinciding with her. This is the effect when rich people are sordid.’

They were then again joined by the others as they issued from the library. Sir Edward immediately approached Charlotte. "As you perceive our time has been spent selecting reading for our leisure hours. I hold the mere trash of the common circulating library in contempt and read no novels whose puerile emanations detail discordant principles or those vapid tissues of ordinary occurrences which have no relevance. You understand my meaning, no doubt?"

"I am not sure. Perhaps if to tell me which sort of novels you do approve, I may have a clearer idea."

"I would be most willing. They ought to display human nature with grandeur, show sublimities of intense feeling, exhibit progress of strong passion, leaving me full of generous emotion with my heart paralysed – such works I read with delight."

"If I understand you correctly," said Charlotte, "our tastes in novels are quite dissimilar."

The truth was, Sir Edward read more sentimental novels than agreed with him. He owed many of his ideas to this sort of reading, but he also collected eloquent words from the more popular essays of the day and involved sentences from the style of the most approved writers. His great object in life was to be seductive. He knew he had the necessary personal advantages to attract, and talents it was only his duty to utilise. He even felt his very name held a degree of fascination. He made it a point to be gallant and assiduous to the fair, but it was only upon Clara that he had serious designs. He was quite determined to seduce her – her situation called for it – lovely and dependent as she was.

Clara could read his intentions very well and had no desire to be seduced, but bore with him patiently – indeed a greater degree of discouragement would not have deflected his purpose. If she could not be won by affection, he had already determined he would carry her off and was wishful of discovering some solitary house which would suit his purpose. It was only the expense of such a romantic act that obliged him to take a quieter and slower course to the ruin and disgrace of the object of his affections.

A few days later, Charlotte was just ascending from the sands to the Terrace, when she spied a gentleman’s carriage standing newly arrived by the hotel door, a quantity of luggage in the process of being unloaded. Delighted to have such news for Mr Parker, she hurried to Trafalgar House, but was soon aware of being followed by a lady walking very nimbly behind her at quite a fast pace. The lady arrived on the step as the door was opened and greeted the butler by name. At that moment Mr Parker entered the hall and Charlotte was soon introduced to none other than his sister, Miss Diana Parker. The Parkers were both surprised and delighted to see her. She had come with her brother and sister and they had every intention of taking lodgings.

Miss Diana Parker was four and thirty, of average height, and rather than sickly in appearance was slender and delicate with an abundance of nervous energy. "We have all come – it was quite unavoidable, though Susan has not slept a wink and I have a thousand fears for her. I am happy to report she has kept up well. Indeed, she had no hysterics until we entered poor old Sanditon, and these were over by the time we reached the hotel. When I left her she was directing the disposal of the luggage. She has sent her regrets and Arthur too for, though he wanted to pay his respects, could not come out in the wind for fear of lumbago. Miss Heywood must have seen our carriage – I knew it was she the moment I saw her ahead of me on the down. But Tom dear, how is your ankle? It looks to be all right and tight."

"It does very well, sister. I am more than pleased to have you all in Sanditon, but how came you to change your minds?"

"It is this business with the two families. The West Indians prove to be a Mrs Griffiths and her family whom I came to hear of through Miss Capper, a particular friend of my dear Fanny Noice, and she is intimate with Mrs Darling who corresponds with Mrs Griffiths herself. The said lady meant to go to sea for her young people’s health and had decided upon Sussex and through a chain of letters between the lot of us I was able to make her the recommendation of Sanditon, but I have lately learned that she is hesitating because she has no connections in this place and no means of ascertaining that she should have good accommodations upon arriving here. She is particularly scrupulous on account of a young lady in her care. Miss Lambe is her name. She has quite a fortune and very delicate health. It is quite obvious that Mrs Griffiths is one of those women who have been made helpless and indolent by wealth and a hot climate. For me the decision was clear – I could have put it in your or Mrs Whitby’s hands, but I hate to employ others when I can act myself. Here was a family of helpless individuals it was in my power to serve. Susan was of the same mind and Arthur readily agreed so we were off yesterday morning at six, left Chichester at the same hour this morning, and here we are."

"Diana, you are unequalled in serving your friends – I know nobody like you – is she not a wonderful creature, Mary my love? What house do you plan to engage for them? What is the size of their family?"

"I have not the least idea," replied his sister, "not having heard the particulars, but I am certain the largest house in Sanditon cannot be too large. I shall undertake to hire them a house for a week. Miss Heywood, I see by your looks you know not what to make of me. You are not used to such quick measures."

The words ‘unaccountable officiousness’ and ‘activity run mad’ had just gone through Charlotte’s mind, but she was able to answer civilly. "I am surprised at such exertions because I know what great invalids you and your sister are."

"Indeed, we are three of the worst invalids in England, Miss Heywood, but we are put upon this world to be of use, and strength of mind overcomes weakness of body. It is the duty of those who can to act and let no opportunity of being useful escape them. My sister’s complaints and my own do not threaten our existence immediately, and I am convinced that in helping others, the mental benefits we receive assuage our physical ailments. While I have been travelling with this object in view, I have been perfectly well."

Mr Parker then thought to ask after the other family his sister had recommended to visit Sanditon.

"The Camberwell Seminary party is certain to come," said Diana. "Three days ago I had a letter saying all was arranged from Mrs Dupuis, who lives next door to a lady who has a relation newly settled in Clapham who actually gives lessons at the seminary. I provided that man with a hare, which I got from a friend of Sidney, and he recommended Sanditon to the headmistress. That lady, not being so wealthy and independent as Mrs. Griffiths, is capable of travelling and choosing her accommodations herself."

Shortly after, Diana Parker, resisting all offers of assistance from her brother, went off to scour the area for a suitable home for the Griffiths family, and hoped to settle the matter before dinner at six, giving her a full hour and a half for her search. She could not answer for seeing them again in the evening because she had little confidence in Arthur’s ability to procure their own lodgings and expected to be busy in that regard all evening, in the hopes of being able to move from the hotel after breakfast.

Charlotte marvelled at Miss Diana Parker. Less than a week ago she had been certain that the sea air would be the death of her and now she was intending on a long stay in Sanditon, without the slightest recollection of her prior misgivings. Charlotte could only suppose that all the disorders and recoveries were due to the amusement of eager minds in want of employment rather than actual afflictions and cures. She surmised that the Parkers were a family of imagination and quick feelings – Mr Parker finding his outlet in the development and promotion of Sanditon while his sisters were driven to dissipate theirs in odd complaints and a zeal for being useful. Either they were very busy about someone else’s business, or they were extremely ill themselves. Though they had charitable hearts and many amiable feelings, there appeared to be a vanity in all they did as well as all they endured.

Mr and Mrs Parker spent most of the evening at the hotel but Charlotte stayed back and had only two or three views of Miss Diana posting all over the down after a house for a lady who had not employed her. The following evening Charlotte finally made the acquaintance of the other two Parkers when she joined Mr and Mrs Parker in visiting them for tea at the Terrace house they had hired. The dining room was small and neat and would have had a beautiful view of the sea had they but opened the curtains. There was a brisk fire going in the hearth and the entire set up of the room was established around it.

Miss Susan was quite like her sister in person and manner but a trifle more thin and worn, and more relaxed. Her voice was more subdued, but she talked as incessantly as Diana. Though she held salts in her hand, took drops two or three times out of the various vials that surrounded her, and made a great many odd faces and contortions, Charlotte was unable to observe any symptoms which she herself would not have undertaken to cure by putting out the fire, opening the window, and disposing of the drops and salts.

In Mr Arthur Parker, Charlotte had expected to discover a puny, delicate looking young man, but instead he was quite as tall as his brother and a good deal stouter. The only thing that gave him the look of an invalid was his sodden complexion.

Diana was the most active and industrious and alert of the three. She had been about Mrs Griffiths’ business all morning; Susan had superintended the removal from the hotel, and Arthur had found the air so cold he had merely walked as quickly as he could from the hotel to the lodgings and employed himself in building up the fire and roasting himself before it.

Diana had spent seven hours on her feet, by her own estimation, and had not only secured the perfect house for Mrs Griffiths at seven guineas a week, she had also interviewed any number of prospective servants and even bathing women. Upon conclusion of her efforts she had written a few lines to the lady herself to inform her that all was in place. She had no doubt that all her efforts would be greatly appreciated.

On their way to the Terrace lodgings, Charlotte and her companions had seen two post chaises roll into town and they were now all speculation as to just whom it could be. The general opinion was that the party from the seminary would employ at least three chaises so it had to be another family entirely, a thought which pleased Mr Parker enormously as he had visions of there soon being nothing available to let in all Sanditon.

When they seated themselves for tea, Charlotte was placed beside Arthur, after politely refusing his own chair, much to his satisfaction. She was happy to have him as a shield from the heat of the fire and was thankful that he had turned out to be so much larger than she had expected him to be. Although Arthur was sleepy eyed, he was not indisposed to talk to an attractive young woman, and his brother, who often belied his want of motivation for action, looked on with pleasure. The influence of Charlotte’s youth and bloom was so great he even began a sort of apology for his fire.

"I would not normally have a fire at this time, but the damp affects me so very much and there is nothing quite so damp as the sea air."

""I never notice whether air is damp or dry," said Charlotte pleasantly, "for either way I always find it wholesome and invigorating."

"I have a great fondness for air," responded Arthur. "There is nothing finer than standing in an open window when there is no wind, but damp air gives me rheumatism. You do not suffer from it, I suppose?"

"Not at all."

"What a blessing! But are you nervous?"

"I have never had any indication of it."

"Nerves are my greatest complaint. My sisters think me bilious, though I doubt it."

"I would encourage you to doubt it for as long as you can."

"If I were bilious, wine would disagree with me, but it always does me good. I am at my best in the evening after a glass of wine."

Charlotte kept her countenance and said, "I believe air and exercise are the best remedies for nervous complaints. I would recommend more than you are probably in the habit of taking."

"I am very fond of exercise and mean to walk a great deal. If the weather is mild I shall be out before breakfast every day taking a turn upon the Terrace and even call at Trafalgar house."

"I would not call that much exercise."

"But the hill is so steep! I would be in a bath of perspiration once I arrived – my nervous condition makes me very subject to perspiration."

Charlotte was glad at this point in the conversation to be interrupted by the serving of tea. Arthur’s attention was taken up by his cocoa. There were also various sorts of herbal teas for the Parker sisters. Arthur busied himself with toasting bread upon the fire.

"Would you not like some cocoa and toast?" he asked Charlotte when he was done, quite unaware that she was already drinking tea. "I take a large dish of weak cocoa every evening, but if you prefer tea . . ."

"I do." Charlotte noticed that the cocoa appeared quite fine and dark, and his sisters became aware of it as well and immediately began to scold him.

"’Tis rather stronger than it should be tonight," was his only excuse, but Charlotte gathered that Arthur was not as fond of being starved as his sisters might wish.

"I hope you will take some toast," said he rather hurriedly. "I pride myself as very adept and never burn a slice. I hope you like dry toast."

"With a reasonable quantity of butter," said Charlotte, "but not otherwise."

"Yes, yes. Butter coats the stomach, making it more wholesome. I will prepare you some directly." Arthur had difficulty getting the butter from his sisters until they understood that it was for Miss Heywood. He spread her toast liberally and then, eyeing his sisters much to Charlotte’s amusement, took his own to hand, scraping off as much as he put on and then adding a large dab just before taking a bite. Charlotte was now ready to believe that his invalidism was no more than a form of indolence, and that his disorders were probably of the type that called for warm rooms and good nourishment.

After tea, a letter was delivered by hand from the hotel. It was from Mrs Dupuis, and served to introduce Mrs Griffiths with her party from Camberwell. Diana was astounded by the coincidence that both families bore the same name, until she read the description of Miss Lambe, and she had to come to the realisation that the two families she had so assiduously worked to bring to Sanditon were the one and the same. She quickly put on her shawl and rushed to the hotel to investigate the truth and offer her services.

Diana felt a trifle awkward when first obliged to admit her mistake, but the fact that she had gone to so much trouble for nothing seemed not to bother her in the least. She easily divided the blame among all the links in her chain and was seen the next morning energetically walking about after lodgings with Mrs Griffiths.

That lady had come to Sanditon with three young ladies in her charge, and of these three Miss Lambe was the most important. She was seventeen, half mulatto, and had a maid of her own. The other girls were two Miss Beauforts, of a type found anywhere in England, with tolerable complexions, showy figures, and an assured look. They were very accomplished and very ignorant, their time divided between attracting admiration and attempting to dress in a style beyond what their purses could afford. Their object was to capture a gentleman with a larger fortune than their own. They would have liked a more fashionable summer resort but Mrs Griffiths chose the quiet of Sanditon with Miss Lambe in mind. The Miss Beauforts had every intention of being the most stylish in the place, the elder with her harp, and Miss Letitia by attracting the curiosity and rapture of all who came near her while she sketched. The introduction of Mrs Griffiths to Diana Parker assured them of acquaintance with the residents of Trafalgar House and the Denhams, and they were soon very satisfied by the circle in which they moved.

Lady Denham called on Mrs Griffiths with other motives than elevation of their circle. In Miss Lambe, young sickly and rich, she had hopes for Sir Edward’s sake and also that of her milch asses. The benefit for the Baronet could not yet be counted out, but Mrs Griffiths was adamant that Miss Lambe was suffering from no symptoms that would benefit from asses’ milk.

Miss Diana Parker finally settled her new friends in the corner house on the Terrace, which opened onto the favourite meeting place of all visitors to Sanditon, the house she had previously hired being too large. The Miss Beauforts were very pleased with this location as it would provide them with just the sort of seclusion that they most desired. In fact, the frequency with which they opened and closed the blinds and arranged flowerpots on the balcony had attracted many an eye upwards. They could not go anywhere without being noticed and soon decided that a place like Sanditon had benefits that a busier locale might not have afforded them.

 

CHAPTER THREE


In her ten days at Sanditon, Charlotte had not once been to Sanditon House, as Lady Denham was always met the moment they would set out. This day there was a greater effort made to leave earlier so that the attention of calling on Lady Denham could no longer be neglected, and Charlotte would have a chance to visit the stately home that she had heard so much about. Mr Parker desired his wife, Mary, to discuss with her ladyship the idea of taking up a charitable subscription for the Mullin family which was in dire straits. Mrs Parker was not sure she could handle the task at all well, though both Mr Parker and Diana thought there was nothing easier. Miss Diana Parker even went so far as to suggest that she also present the case of a family in Worcestershire who were in need, and if Lady Denham should be in a giving mood, to also speak in the favour of the Charitable Repository in Burton on Trent and the family of a man recently hung in the assizes at York.

"My dear Diana," said Mrs Parker. "I could no more mention these things to Lady Denham than I could fly."

Diana could see no difficulty. She said that she wished she could go herself but was engaged with Mrs Griffiths to superintend Miss Lambe’s first dip in the ocean, as the poor girl was quite frightened. After that she needed to apply leeches for Susan, a treatment she expected to take three hours. "By then I dare say we shall both go to our rooms for the rest of the day."

This prompted Mary to invite Arthur to join them, but it was Diana’s opinion that Arthur was in need of a rest too, for left to himself he would eat and drink more than he should. "So you see, it is impossible for me to accompany you to Lady Denham’s."

Mr Parker then withdrew his application for his wife to take up the matter of the Mullins with Lady Denham thus Diana was not able to press her suit. Mr Parker acted not only out of a desire to relieve his wife of a duty that she found cumbersome, but also because of the ill effect all his sister’s requests would have on his claim.

Mrs Parker was delighted to be released from the duty and set off with Charlotte and little Mary in the direction of the great house. It was a misty morning and when they reached the brow of the hill they had difficulty making out whether the carriage that was coming up towards them was a gig or a phaeton. Mary finally recognised it as belonging to her Uncle Sidney.

In a moment a very neat curricle pulled up beside them and the driver jumped down, handing the reins to his groom. After bestowing a salutation and a kiss on the cheek to Mrs Parker, he turned to Mary and said, "You are so grown up now Miss Parker that I can no longer pick you up and throw you in the air as I am wont to – at least not openly in the street like this. What would the neighbours say? I can see them peeking from behind their curtains, so instead I will offer you my hand and my kindest wishes and tell you how much you have grown, and then when I visit your house later tonight we can play like children as much as we fancy and they will be none the wiser."

Mary giggled and held out her hand, which he raised to his lips, whispering, "Enchanted."

"Oh, Uncle Sidney," she said bashfully as she crept closer to her mother’s skirts, but she seemed very pleased to have been offered the distinction.

During this exchange Charlotte had time to observe him. She knew him to be seven and twenty from what Mr Parker had told her, but without that information she would have thought him younger. He was taller than his brothers were and of a lighter build, very fashionably dressed and with easy manners. His countenance was lively, his eyes bright, and his smile mischievous. When he was done sporting with his young niece, he looked over to Charlotte and then at his sister expectantly.

"Sidney, let me introduce our good friend Miss Heywood who is staying with us. Miss Heywood, this is my brother, Mr Sidney Parker, of whom you have heard us speak. Finally the two of you are able to meet." Mrs Parker looked at them both happily as Sidney made his bow.

"I have heard so much about you, Miss Heywood, and I would say now that all the reports were true if I was not aware that you must be acquainted with my family’s propensity for exaggeration. I am afraid that from all you have been told of me you are already prepared to doubt the validity of anything I have to say." He smiled down at her with a decided twinkle in his eyes.

Charlotte was amused by this very unorthodox greeting but was left wondering if the young man had it in him to ever be serious. She was also left unsure of whether to take what he said as a compliment or rather the reverse, not that she was either hoping for or expecting compliments from Mr Sidney Parker. "I have heard much about you, also, Mr Parker, and at the moment I am inclined to believe that all of it was true."

"That is a low blow indeed," he responded, laughing and then turned to his sister who was asking if he meant to stay with them at Trafalgar House.

"You did not tell us you were coming, but a room may be ready for you in a trice. Tom will be delighted to see you."

"I have just come up from Eastbourne and only plan to stay for two or three days, but I will be quite comfortable in the hotel. There is no need to go to any trouble over me - Tom should be most happy that I am bringing my custom to the hotel and increasing the prosperity of his resort. Not only that, I am to be joined by a friend or two. We will soon set the society of Sanditon on its ears with all our fancy town airs as we walk out upon the Terrace!"

After a few more common enquiries and remarks they parted with plans to meet again at Trafalgar House in a few hours. This adventure afforded agreeable discussion for some time as the ladies continued down the hill to the prestigious home of Lady Denham. Mrs Parker elaborated upon all the joy her husband would derive from this surprise visit, and exulted in the credit which Sidney’s arrival would bring to Sanditon.

The road they were walking was a broad and handsomely planned approach between fields. At the end of a quarter mile a second set of gates led them through into the grounds which, though not extensive, were made beautiful by an abundance of very fine timber.

Though Charlotte enjoyed the views of the sea and the cliffs that she beheld from her window at Trafalgar house, she missed the beauty of the countryside and being surrounded by woods and fields. Mr Parker’s plantation was too young to afford her any of the joys that beholding so much splendour engendered.

The entrance gates were at the corner of the grounds so near to one of its boundaries that the fence was almost pressing upon the road until a few bends threw them a better distance from it. This fence was a well-kept park paling with clusters of fine elms and old hawthorns following the line it carved between the properties. Here and there, however, were vacant spaces, and through one of these Charlotte caught a glimpse over the pales of a dash of white in the far field.

For some reason the image of Miss Brereton came into her head and, stepping up to the pales and glancing over, she spied her seated on the foot of the bank, distinct in spite of the still-present mist. She appeared to be composed, and to Charlotte’s surprise she was accompanied by Sir Edward Denham who was seated quite near to her. They were closely engaged in conversation, and Charlotte instantly felt that to make her presence known would be an intrusion. Privacy was certainly their object.

She stepped back and rejoined Mrs Parker and Mary but could not avoid speculating at what a rendezvous of that sort could mean. It certainly put Clara Brereton in an unfavourable light – from all she had seen of the young lady up until this point she would never have expected it of her. Still, Clara’s was not a situation to be judged with severity.

Charlotte was pleased that Mrs Parker had noticed nothing. It was her own added height that had brought Miss Brereton’s white ribbons to her observant eyes. The tête-à-tête produced many points of moralising reflection for Charlotte, one being the extreme difficulty secret lovers must have in finding a secluded spot for their stolen meetings. Perhaps they had thought themselves secure from observation – an empty field, a steep bank, and pales never crossed by the foot of man at their back, and the added benefit of the low fog - but yet they had been found out. They had been ill used by the coincidences of fate.

Lost in reflection, Charlotte did not notice the house until they were almost upon it. Sanditon House was large and handsome, built of grey stone with an imposing entranceway. Two servants in fine livery appeared to admit them, lending an air of importance to the establishment and showing Charlotte in just what high regard Lady Denham held herself.

They were shown into a sitting room of fine proportions. The furniture was all of high quality and though not of the latest fashion, extremely well kept. Lady Denham was not yet present, giving Charlotte the opportunity to look about at her surroundings much more openly than she could have in that lady’s company. A full-length portrait of a stately gentleman placed high over the mantelpiece caught her eye immediately. Mrs Parker was able to inform her that it was a picture of the late Sir Harry Denham, and that among a collection of miniatures in another part of the room the likeness of Mr Hollis could be found. Charlotte felt instant sympathy for that unfortunate gentleman, who in his own house had to yield the best place above the fire to his wife’s second husband. He had provided her with all of the wealth that afforded her lifestyle, but it was the baronet from which she derived her prestige. To Charlotte’s mind Mr Hollis was harshly used.

Lady Denham kept them waiting a full five minutes and then joined them without apology. She was eager as ever to hear if there was any news of more visitors to the town, and at the same time bemoaned all of her expenditure in its development that she was afraid would never garner the profit she had anticipated. She went on at length to list various areas in which she felt she had been short changed already and Charlotte was heartily glad that Mr Parker had withdrawn his request that Mrs Parker forward the plan for a subscription for the Mullin family. She could not imagine even someone as persuasive as Miss Diana Parker succeeding in getting a charitable donation from such a tight-fisted old lady who was only willing to use her money for her own aggrandisement.

"I am only awaiting Miss Clara and then I will order tea," said Lady Denham once she had dispensed with all her monetary concerns. "I do not know what she is about this morning."

As if on signal, Miss Brereton entered the room and politely greeted the guests. Charlotte searched her countenance for some show of embarrassment or guilt but saw nothing but her usual composed serenity.

"Where have you been, girl? We have been waiting on you this past half hour," said Lady Denham in a manner both irritated and petulant. "Order the tea at once."

Clara complied but offered neither excuse nor explanation, and when pressed admitted only to having been reading in a far corner of the library. She ordered the tea most obligingly, showing no offence at having been spoken to in such a brusque manner. Charlotte thought that she must be either a very good actress or of such a disposition that nothing could discompose her.

While they drank their tea and ate the dry fingers of toast provided with the refreshment – Lady Denham stating that sweet cakes were dangerous to the stomach that early in the day, though Charlotte had never seen her decline them at Trafalgar House – the lady of the house detailed a problem she had been having with one of her servants who she had felt impelled to let go, and the difficulty of finding someone suitable to replace her. Mrs Parker made all the correct sympathetic rejoinders leaving Charlotte free to attempt to converse with Clara Brereton. She did not have much luck as that young lady affected an interest in all that her aunt was saying. Charlotte was certain that the engrossment could not be real because undoubtedly she must have already heard the story repeatedly.

Charlotte gave up her attempt and instead gave her attention to young Mary, who was sitting quietly but beginning to swing her feet out of boredom. She had already noted more than one annoyed glance directed at the little girl by Lady Denham. Mary was quite glad of Charlotte’s notice and crept closer to her upon the settee so that she could talk quietly and not interrupt the conversation of the adults. What was uppermost in little Mary’s mind was the arrival of her uncle, whom she disclosed shyly was her favourite relative because he was so very amusing and not given to indisposition.

When Mrs Parker was finally allowed to contribute to the conversation she became aware that they had overstayed their visit by at least twenty minutes and quickly made their excuses. Lady Denham was very gracious as she accepted their thanks for the lovely tea and even went so far to say that she hoped they would find their way over again sometime when they were not so busy with their pursuits upon the Terrace. Charlotte gave the imposing figure of Sir Harry Denham one last look before she quitted the room, and then happily traded that place which had become so oppressive for the freshness and light of the open air.

Their walk back to Trafalgar House was entirely uphill, and they no longer had the refreshing coolness of the morning mist. It had completely dissipated whilst they were in Sanditon House and now, as it was closing on midday, the sun’s rays could be felt warm upon their backs. Mary unfurled her dainty parasol, happy that she had insisted on bringing it. Charlotte folded her shawl over her arm and enjoyed brightness of the sun and the clear blue of the sky. She offered to carry Mrs Parker’s shawl as well, as that good lady was quickly feeling the heat and not quite as accustomed as Charlotte to strenuous exercise. They walked slower than Charlotte would have wished and talked in a desultory manner, giving her ample time for taking in all of her surroundings: the thick green grass upon the verge, the wildflowers in the fields that skirted the road, and the birds singing high in the elms.

When they arrived back at the house they discovered that Mr Parker had already heard the exciting news and had actually walked down to the hotel to pay his respects to his brother. He could now speak of nothing else but Sidney and what his presence would mean to their quiet little resort. By the time the proposed evening visit rolled around Charlotte felt that she was heartily sick of him, for all that his appearance had made his brother inordinately happy. Tom Parker was a very good man but sometimes she found his enthusiasm for certain subjects wearing rather than amusing. She longed to hear a sentence from him which did not start with the phrase ‘my brother Sidney’.

Diana, Susan and Arthur all accompanied their brother and were in very high spirits. Diana entered the house explaining what a surprise she had had when she chanced upon her brother on her way up from supervising Miss Lambe’s outing in the bathing machines. "To be sure at first I wondered if I were seeing things as he suddenly loomed up from the mist, but no, it was Sidney sure as day. I had just been telling Miss Lambe that she should quickly repair to her rooms to sit before a brisk fire and take a cup of weak camomile. Strong camomile would never do after such exertions as she had just been through, but weak camomile is the very thing. The next thing I knew there was Sidney standing before me and laughing quite loudly at the cut of my pelisse – and a very serviceable pelisse it is too, I might add."

"Come Diana – you know I was doing no such thing. How am I ever to recommend myself to Miss Heywood if I am forever misrepresented so? I merely asked how you could be out in a thick woollen coat on such a lovely summer’s day. The fog was entirely vanished by this time, I assure you Miss Heywood," he said, glancing in her direction and giving her a beseeching smile.

Charlotte, who had become almost completely set against him, found her heart warming with his look and, knowing his sister, thought that he was the one of the two it was safer to believe in this instance.

Diana continued to ramble on about Miss Lambe’s delicate health and all the various recommendations she had made to Mrs Griffiths for the young lady’s care. At the same time Susan deposited herself by the fire and began unpacking all her vials and pill boxes and placing them on the small table by her side. She spoke throughout to Mrs Parker in low tones but her face looked more animated than Charlotte had ever seen it. Though Charlotte herself was nowhere near the fire, Arthur came to her and asked politely if the chair by her side was available. She smiled the affirmative and waited with much curiosity to see what he would have to say about his brother’s unexpected appearance.

His first comment, however, was related to his own concerns. "You will be happy to discover, Miss Heywood, that I have put much in store by your advice to me. As you see I am situating myself a good distance from the fire tonight. That is all due to your influence, and to tell the truth my nerves are now in much better shape than they have been for a twelvemonth. I will have to go closer when I prepare my cocoa and toast, but for now I can happily sit by your side without a pang. And I have been out walking a good deal more now too, as you advised me, but not in the wind or in a mist like we experienced this morning, my rheumatism could not stand that sort of draught or damp."

"I had no idea I made such an impression upon you," said Charlotte, "but I am glad of it. You are looking much less pale."

"It is such a pity that I cannot go on like my brother Sidney. He tools over in the mist from Eastbourne in an open curricle without so much as a twinge in his muscles, and then, instead of being laid up in his room, he goes out for a walk on the sand at his first convenience. And in a morning coat of the lightest of fabrics."

Charlotte gave him what she hoped to be a sympathetic smile, but all the while she was distracted by the antics of the same annoyingly hearty brother. He was now rolling upon the carpet with his three young nephews astride him while Mary looked on, her face showing how much she wished she could join them if only she weren’t so very grown up. A moment later he was up, shaking the little imps off, and the next thing Mary was twirling around the room in his arms, her face alight with laughter. The children shrieked for more while their mother and father quietly admonished Sidney for exciting them so much when it was almost their bed time – the joy and pride on their faces belying their words. After another few minutes he calmed the children, led them around the room to say their goodnights, and then, throwing the youngest upon his shoulders, escorted them upstairs to the nursery promising to read to them once they were tucked up in their beds.

"Sidney has such a way with children – I think it is because he is still so much of a child himself," said his younger brother wistfully. "I would very much like to play with the children as he does, but twirling about in that manner makes me very short of breath and before I know it I start to wheeze. Close proximity to children can also bring on a runny nose and a putrid sore throat so I must be very careful of that sort of thing."

"Indeed," said Charlotte. "I am very sad for you, to not be able to experience that pleasure as your brother can."

"Yes, Sidney is so very fortunate. He has everything – health, charm, and wit. It is difficult to compete with him."

"You do not feel the need to compete with your brothers, surely? You have your own good qualities and do not need to compare yourself to either of them." Charlotte was glad she did not have to list the qualities because at that moment she would have been hard pressed to think of one. The sight of Mr Sidney Parker playing with his niece and nephews had made her more homesick than anything else she had experienced upon this, her first extended visit from her dear home.

"Oh, Tom does not worry me – he is already married – but if ever I meet a handsome young woman and Sidney is present I have no chance that she will think of me at all."

Charlotte reached out and touched his arm in commiseration. "All females are not blinded by such charms as he possesses," she said in a tone of encouragement, little thinking what type of effect this statement might have on the impressionable young man by her side.

CHAPTER FOUR

The morning dawned bright and clear with no trace of the fog that had so plagued Sanditon the day before. From her Venetian window, Charlotte was able to see far out upon the ocean. The tide was low, leaving a great expanse of sand and Charlotte watched for a few minutes, attempting to discern whether it was at the ebb or flow. She felt a great desire to be upon the shore herself, walking as the crisp saline breeze tugged at her bonnet and loosed strands of her hair to blow about her face.

Born and bred near a small country town, she was unused to the constant barrage of society that was the norm in this seaside resort. Here walking out meant meeting others upon the Terrace and talking of what they had done the day before, what they planned to do the following day, who they had seen and what had been said. Clothes were studied minutely so it was of utmost importance what one wore. Charlotte liked to be well groomed and enjoyed a pretty dress as much as most young ladies, but fashion was not her prime interest in life and displaying herself was not her ultimate goal. The novelty of the society she now found herself in held her attention, and the quirks of her new friends amused her greatly but there were times when she longed for more rational conversation or the freedom of solitary walks which she was accustomed to indulge in at her home.

Charlotte studied the gowns that hung in her wardrobe and realised she would have to dip again into her small savings to procure some new ribbons for trimmings and possibly a second shawl, if she could discover one that was both pretty and not too dear. She had noticed the Miss Beauforts eyeing her and whispering the other day and she was certain it was because she had worn the same bonnet two days in succession. She knew that these fine young ladies encouraged her friendship only because she was a guest of the Parkers. They would probably be very much surprised to discover that Charlotte held them in less esteem than they did her. She had more interest in becoming acquainted with the shy and retiring Miss Lambe who kept mainly to her rooms due to her delicate health. Charlotte sighed and chose a soft peach gown that she had worn less often than the others, and prepared herself for breakfast.

"Our Miss Heywood is looking fresh and pretty this morning, is she not, Mary?" cried Mr Parker jovially as she joined them at the table. "I believe you cannot wait but to be out upon the Terrace and meet up with all the other young people. It is small wonder now that Sidney is here. He will keep you all well entertained. I was just now speculating which of the Miss Beauforts is most likely to catch his fancy. The elder is taller and has finer features, but Miss Letitia is the most outgoing."

Mrs Parker was not often in disagreement with her husband, but on this matter she had a decided opinion. "I think our own Charlotte will be more to his liking than either of those two young ladies."

"Of course, we have such a fondness for Miss Heywood, my dear," continued Mr Parker in the same light-hearted way, "but you know these young men – their eyes are caught by sophistication and style – and the Miss Beauforts are so very polished, you must admit. All eyes are upon them when they are on the Terrace. We shall have to spruce our protégé up if she is to compete with them."

"I have no wish to compete for anybody’s favour, especially that of your brother," said Charlotte blushing. "That is not my purpose in coming here."

"Of course not," said Mary Parker. "We would never think that."

"Forgive me," said the gentleman. "I only spoke in jest. This is Sidney’s influence upon me, for he can never be serious and his levity in almost as contagious as Diana’s spasmodic bile."

As Mr Parker laughed at his own joke, Charlotte could not help but reflect that he had such a high opinion of his brother it must be difficult for him to imagine a young lady not being attracted to the infamous Sidney Parker. But she had no intentions of being charmed by his flighty wit. Better he stick to the Miss Beauforts.

After visiting the nursery with Mrs Parker and playing upon the rug with the children for half an hour, Charlotte and her hostess set out for the Terrace. Their avowed purpose was to shop for trimmings and exchange their books at the library but Charlotte knew they would end up upon the green benches which faced the sea, drawn as usual into the social circle that whiled away their morning in that prominent location.

The first person they met was Miss Diana Parker, charging up the cobbles in search of a widow woman who lived in a far cottage. Diana was anxious to procure a variety of herbs to make a reviving posset for Miss Lambe and also a compress for Susan to drive away a nervous attack that was sending tremors through her body. She could not stop to talk, the need was so great, but she found the time to instruct Mary to guard her children well because she had heard of a case of measles in Old Sanditon, and to warn Charlotte that she should return home for a shawl because she was bound to get a chill in such a flimsy gown and thin spencer, or better yet, change altogether into something that would do more to hold off the wind she was sure was brewing. Mrs Parker was almost convinced to turn around, but Charlotte assured her that her clothing was quite warm and that in the time they would be gone the children were hardly likely to leave the nursery, and if they did, were sure to go no further than their own back garden with their nurse.

It did not take long to make their purchases. Charlotte bought ribbons in primrose yellow and periwinkle, but held fast against the dainty Spanish lace that Mrs Parker brought to her notice. After the conversation at the breakfast table she had almost changed her mind about purchasing even so much as a ribbon for fear Mr Parker would think she was making a cast for his brother. She knew her desire to trim one or two of her outfits had nothing to do with that young gentleman but rather the critical looks from the Miss Beauforts. She feared the Parkers would think otherwise.

At the library, the object of her disinterest was encountered, looking quite as debonair and appealing as he had the day before. He was accompanied by two young gentlemen and he hastened to make the introductions.

"My dear sister!" Sidney cried upon seeing them. "I was hoping to meet you and Miss Heywood somewhere about this morning and save myself the exertion of climbing your hill." He directed a glowing smile towards Charlotte after placing a fond salute upon Mary Parker’s hand.

Charlotte suspected that his comment about the hill was a direct poke at his younger brother, for she could not imagine the hale Sidney Parker balking at such a short and effortless walk. She gave him a brief nod to show him that she was not amused and then looked beyond him to his friends with much more interest. One was tall and thin and very elegantly attired, the other more compact with a fresh, open face and a casual manner about his dress; they were introduced as Mr Yardley and Captain Mittering. The one bowed and offered a languid hand; the other smiled broadly and fell in beside Charlotte with a cheerful greeting.

"I see now what brought Sidney from Eastbourne in such a hurry," he said. "He wanted to get the jump on the rest of us."

Charlotte blushed despite herself and looked up to see Sidney Parker wink at her. She quickly turned her attention back to the captain, showing more interest in his conversation than she actually felt. Captain Mittering was a bluff and friendly fellow and was soon relating the performance of his horses on the short trip from Eastbourne.

"Yardley would have it that we took our turns too tight, but my greys are prime goers and were ready for a run."

"Next time remind me to ride with Parker instead," said Mr Yardley. "He does not try to impress me with his driving prowess by having me thrown about in the box so."

By dint of having so many brothers herself, Charlotte was used to talk of horses and knew full well how men liked to tease each other about their driving abilities. She discerned from her conversation that the captain tended to be slap dash in all that he did while Mr Yardley’s affected interest in fashion made him quite meticulous in every aspect of his behaviour. Yet she could not help but think that he did it more for his own amusement than out of vanity.

She found her new acquaintances much to her liking, and did not mind at all that Sidney Parker was content to walk by his sister’s side and converse only with her. She was pleased, actually, to know that he was as little interested in her as she was in him and hoped that should stop any further speculations by her hosts.

As they passed by the corner house on the Terrace, Charlotte noticed the curtains twitching and they were no sooner seated comfortably on the green benches than the Miss Beauforts were seen walking towards them.

"My dear Miss Heywood, Mrs Parker, we had no idea anyone was out and about yet. I was just telling sister that we should find ourselves all alone upon the Terrace, but what a happy surprise to find you here before us." Miss Letitia Beaufort looked expectantly at the three gentlemen and her sister did the same.

Charlotte had to admit that there was a lot of truth in what Mr Parker had said that morning. The two young ladies most certainly outshone her. Miss Beaufort was dressed in ivory silk with stripes of deep blue and a fine merino shawl the colour of the distant sea. Her bonnet was a dainty concoction with its satin bow tied becomingly at her right ear. Miss Letitia had a double row of ruffles at her hem. The bright yellow of her gown was echoed in the frills that adorned her snow-white parasol. She wore no bonnet and had her light hair dressed in curls high upon her head and threaded with the whitest of ribbons. She was now smiling saucily from beneath lowered lashes, hoping to draw the gentlemen’s attention.

"A little overdressed, don’t you think?" said the captain to Charlotte in an undervoice as if he were an old friend.

Charlotte only smiled as Mrs Parker performed the introductions. She watched the two young ladies closely as they weighed the relative merits of the gentlemen, and then Miss Letitia, who seemed to have the upper hand in her relationship with her sister, began her siege of Sidney Parker. Mr Yardley was Miss Beaufort’s victim, and Captain Mittering heaved a sigh of relief.

"It pays not to dress up to the mark," he confided to Charlotte. "Until they are informed differently the ladies never expect that I am more flush in the pocket than those two flashy coves." He then appeared to recollect himself and looked at Charlotte apologetically. "I’m sorry. I ought not be using such cant phrases. I mean to say . . ."

Charlotte laughed. "I understand you perfectly, sir. I have four older brothers and am used to hearing all manner of things."

"That must be why I am so at my ease in your company," he said ingenuously, and then he continued to expound the comparative attributes of his pair of greys and his friend’s matched bays, a rather one-sided conversation that had been interrupted by the appearance of the young ladies.

Charlotte listened with half her mind, making sure to nod or comment in agreement when expected, and with the other attended to Miss Letitia’s progress. To her surprise Sidney Parker appeared well pleased with his companion. She had thought him more discerning than to be entertained by such superficial conversation as she knew Miss Letitia capable of. It seemed he was as susceptible to a moderately pretty face and flattering smile as any other foolish gentleman. She was glad that Captain Mittering, at least, proved to have better taste.

Their group of seven was soon enlarged to nine with the arrival of Sir Edward Denham and his sister. There was no longer room for all to be seated on the two benches, and a proposal was put forward for a stroll to the beach. They had almost established the pairings for the walk when they were hailed again and joined not only by Lady Denham and Clara Brereton, but also by Arthur Parker. Captain Mittering commented to Charlotte that for an out of the way spot, Sanditon appeared almost as crowded as London, and went on to wonder how many others were likely to join them as their party was already unwieldy. As luck would have it they were able to start on their way to the sands without anyone else accompanying them, and their number was reduced by two when Mrs Parker and Lady Denham elected to stay behind.

As there were five gentlemen and five ladies, by rights they should have been able to walk down to the beach in even pairs, but there was more than one case where two persons were not inclined to give way in their choice of partner. Miss Denham had decided that she should be escorted by Sidney Parker and stood on his right, the expression on her face showing that she felt this distinction her privilege. Miss Letitia, however, was loth to give up her spot on his left, and affecting a stumble, clung to his arm for support. He shot Charlotte an amused glance and then smiled benignly at both ladies.

Charlotte did not know how to interpret his look which seemed to imply some sort of complicity between them although they were just barely acquainted themselves, but had no time to question it further upon finding herself similarly besieged. Captain Mittering whispered to her that she was not going to be given up for any of those other, more formidable women, but Arthur Parker also attached himself to her, claiming that as she was responsible for his new-found interest in walking the least she could do was take his arm. Sir Edward sent a cursory glance in her direction and then offered his arm to Clara Brereton with a profusion of civility.

As luck would have it, the steps that led to the sands were broad and there was ample room to walk three abreast. Charlotte and her swains descended immediately behind Mr Yardley and Miss Beaufort and she was able to observe that the gentleman, though still unerringly polite, had a glazed look of boredom upon his face that surpassed the languid air he had earlier cultivated. She smiled at him sympathetically as his companion once again entered into her favourite subject – dissecting the minutest activities of the London ton.

Once everyone was rambling upon the beach the group became more homogenous as the couples intermingled. Sir Edward immediately gained Charlotte’s attention.

"I understand you have just come from the library, Miss Heywood. I was on my way to exchange some books as well, before our happy meeting. I feel the need of poetry in my life – the delectable charm of a rhyming couplet never ceases to captivate. Poems of the sea would be most apt – I am hoping you may suggest a verse to me – you have such inestimable taste."

"Thank you, Sir Edward," she said, "though I must point out that taste in poetry is a very individual thing. I hardly think we like the same styles."

"Surely no! All young ladies enjoy the finer sentiments that are displayed in the romantic meanderings of our foremost wordsmiths. You have but to look to the sea and all those glorious lines ring through your heads. Why, you could quote me a few of your favourite stanzas as we walk upon this somnolent shore and my heart would be lost to you, for poetry is the wellspring of love."

"I am sorry to disappoint you, sir, but the best I could do is quote you some nursery rhyme I learned as a child."

"There must be some poem you can relate that speaks of the burnishing waves, the spray, the spume, the boundless energy that flows from deep . . ."

"I hesitate to interrupt such a passionate speech," said Sidney Parker, his manner showing not the slightest hesitation at all, "but I believe I can help you. What say you to these lines?

It keeps eternal whisperings around
Desolate shores, and with its mighty swell
Gluts twice ten thousand caverns, till the spell
Of Hecate leaves them their old shadowy sound.
Often 'tis in such gentle temper found,
That scarcely will the very smallest shell
Be moved for days from whence it sometime fell,
When last the winds of heaven were unbound.
Oh ye! who have your eye-balls vexed and tired,
Feast them upon the wideness of the Sea;
Oh ye! whose ears are dinned with uproar rude,
Or fed too much with cloying melody, -
Sit ye near some old cavern's mouth, and brood
Until ye start, as if the sea-nymphs choired!

He quoted with an intensity of feeling that took Charlotte completely by surprise. Sir Edward watched him open-mouthed and when he was done could think of no suitable rejoinder.

Charlotte turned to Sidney and said, "That was quite beautiful."

"The words or the execution?" he asked, a gleam in his eyes.

"Both," said Charlotte, not wanting to show how much the recitation had moved her. "Who is it by? I am not at all well versed in the modern poets."

"You are entirely too cruel. You were supposed to ask if I had written it myself. Do I not strike you as a poet?"

"I should expect nothing more from you than a limerick."

Sidney laughed. "You see through me too well. To even the score I ought withhold the information that you seek, but I am too fond of my dear friend John Keats not to give him the credit that he deserves. I visited him this spring at the Isle of Wight where he penned it."

Sir Edward just then found his voice again and it was evident that his silence had stemmed from exercising his powers of thought.

"Its eternal whisperings abound
These desolate and lonely shores,

and with its mighty swelling waves . . .

How does it go again?

Ten thousand caverns in a spell

Of Hecate leaves and shadowy sound . . . when last the winds of heaven are unbound

That is exactly the essence of the sensibility to nature I was longing for. Would you tell it me again that I may order the words within my tempestuous brow?" There was an impassioned light in Sir Edward’s eyes as he placed his hand upon Sidney’s sleeve in supplication.

"My good sir, you have almost got the hang of it," said Sidney. "Do not forget the line, Oh ye! who have your eye-balls vexed and tired, I believe it is my favourite." He pulled a sheet of folded parchment from an inner pocket. "You will find the sonnet writ down here. If I were you, I would set it to memory at once."

Sir Edward thanked him profusely and then Sidney steered Charlotte to the outskirts of the crowd. "It would seem there is more to me than meets the eye," he said smugly.

"I am wondering when you took it upon yourself to memorise that poem, and how you would have fit it to the conversation if Sir Edward had not given you such a convenient opening? Or have you used it once already this morning whilst impressing Miss Letitia Beaufort?"

"Miss Letitia is impressed with much less effort," said Sidney with a grin. "I had saved that purposefully for a person of a more perspicacious nature."

"Well you have succeeded if your object was Sir Edward."

"Then we shall say that he was indeed my object for I would hate to think that after such preparation I was but a dismal failure."

Charlotte laughed.

"I am glad to see that you are no longer ignoring me," said Sidney.

"I? Ignoring you?" Charlotte looked at him in surprise. "That is a strange thing to say when this is the first time this morning that you have paid me the least bit of attention."

"You noticed!" he said with glee. "So my stratagems are working."

"You are talking a lot of nonsense, sir," retorted Charlotte with a slight blush.

"Yes I am, and I freely admit it," said Sidney. "What do you say? Should I continue to try my luck with Miss Letitia or should I instead favour her sister or the imperious Miss Denham?"

"I think it better that you play with the emotions of none of them," said Charlotte shortly.

"Why ever not? They expect it of me."

"Your vanity does you great credit."

"In flirting with any one of those three girls, I fear I would have little chance of breaking a heart," said Sidney seriously. "Their interest in me is not for myself but my status as an eligible bachelor. If I have a little fun in the process what harm is there in that?"

"Only that you will harm yourself in the eyes of those who have more sense than you apparently do," said Charlotte, turning away from him in disgust.

Sidney stared after her for a moment and then joined Mr Yardley, relieving him of the burden of Miss Beaufort’s company. He entered into an animated conversation with her. Their laughs drew many an envious glance from Miss Letitia and Miss Esther Denham, but Charlotte, who was now walking with Mr Yardley, deigned not to even turn her head.

 

CHAPTER FIVE

Charlotte had great curiosity to make Miss Lambe’s acquaintance. In all the time she had been in Sanditon, Charlotte had yet to meet her. She had seen her from a distance being scurried across the Terrace and down the steps to the bathing machines but their paths had not crossed. The girl was somewhat of a recluse. Neither of the Beaufort sisters brought her up in conversation and when pressed stated that she was very dull and sickly and had no interest in anyone. Miss Diana Parker had forged a relationship through sheer persistence but even she knew little of Miss Lambe other than her pressing ailments, and those she had discovered from determined grilling of Mrs Griffiths.

That morning Diana Parker called early at Trafalgar house bearing a concoction of herbs for little Charles whose cheeks had been flushed upon bedtime the evening previous. Charlotte silently believed it was the result of too much boisterous play with his uncle and that he would be more than well in the morning, but Diana had managed to convince the concerned mother otherwise. So Charles, rather than be allowed up to play with George and Thomas, had been kept in his bed in the morning and was now suffering the ministrations of his aunt, much to his chagrin. When Diana felt he had been coddled and mediced enough, she came downstairs and announced her intention of calling at the corner house on the Terrace to see how Miss Lambe did and try if she could convince her to sample the same beneficial herbal remedy, which had been so effectual with the young lad.

"Do you think it would be possible for me to join you?" asked Charlotte. "I have long wished for an opportunity to pay Miss Lambe a visit."

"Yes indeed," added Mary, "I feel I must stay in this morning to attend poor little Charles and I would not like to deny dear Miss Heywood the chance of an outing."

Diana, having no scruples in deciding what was best for other people, quickly agreed to the scheme saying that though Miss Lambe often was laid low in the mornings by a severe headache a dose of the herbs should enable her to undergo a visit from two such close friends.

"I do not want to impose myself upon her if she is truly ill," cried Charlotte.

"Nonsense," said Miss Parker. "I often find that nothing lifts the poor girl’s spirits more than ten minutes of my care. Truth to tell I don’t think Mrs Griffiths or the nurse really understands Miss Lambe’s constitution as I do. And I know I can trust you not to excite her overly. Afterwards you can sit in my parlour with Susan and attend the changing of her poultice thus freeing me to run to Old Sanditon where I fear there will be an epidemic of the vilest sort. I have heard reports of children all covered in spots and I mean to get to the bottom of it. I should not like any infectious malady to be transmitted to my nephews and niece."

Charlotte did not much look forward to a day spent in a hot, stuffy parlour listening to Miss Susan’s insipid and rather querulous conversation, but could do nothing but acquiesce. She thought it was very good of Miss Diana to be concerned for the village children, but also worried that her kindly interference might do more to spread the disease rather than curb it, if indeed there was a disease and it was not just the case of a child having fallen into poison ivy or having been bitten by bed bugs.

They set off almost immediately and soon were shown into a snug parlour where they were invited to wait while the maid located Mrs Griffiths. The hour was still early and Charlotte became concerned that the ladies of the house had not yet breakfasted. She was at the point of urging Diana Parker that they should leave and call back at a more opportune time when Mrs Griffiths quietly slipped into the room. When she noticed Charlotte her smile became more welcoming and she stretched her hand out to her.

"Miss Lambe will be happy to hear that you have called, Miss Heywood. She is at this moment settling back into her compartment and you may join her shortly. I trust you had no expectations to see the Miss Beauforts because I regret to say they are still abed."

"But will not such prolonged lying about make them bilious?" asked Miss Diana. "I find that a brisk walk early in the morning settles me very well – I can almost be assured of making it all the way to tea time without suffering a spasm."

"Neither of the girls have had a sick day in their lives," responded Mrs Griffiths. "I wish I could say the same for my dear sweet Miss Lambe. She slept very ill last night. I believe it would be better for her to have no more than one visitor this morning and as it is Miss Heywood’s first call I think she should be the one."

"Oh, but if she is not well enough to see me . . ." began Charlotte only to be interrupted by Diana Parker.

"Miss Heywood may visit another day but I have a distillation of herbs that I ought to administer at once. Miss Lambe would benefit from it greatly – why little Charles took only one dose this morning and was instantly restored to such a fine fettle that there was no need of a second one."

Charlotte could well believe that Charles had no desire to swallow any more of what she thought must be a bitter extract.

Mrs Griffiths smiled politely at Diana Parker but remained firm. She did not think Miss Heywood’s visit would be a strain on her young charge and she was also of the mind that if the herbs would indeed be of avail to Miss Lambe, her nurse was more than capable of dispensing them. Diana could do no more than graciously back down and comfort herself that she could use the time wisely by laying all her expertise at Mrs Griffith’s feet should she be in need of any remedies for the ailments she indubitably must me suffering. It was impossible that all the rest of the household could be as bursting with good health as the Beaufort sisters.

Charlotte was ushered into Miss Lambe’s private salon and had her first glimpse of the young lady up close. She was small and slight and appeared even younger than her seventeen years. Her complexion, which should have been a warm caramel if she were healthy, was sallow and pale. There were dark circles under her eyes and a pinched expression about her mouth, but her face transformed with the smile she gave Charlotte. Her teeth were very white and straight and her eyes, nut brown, showed lively intelligence. Her hair was dark and thick and dressed in fat braids coiled at the nape of her neck. She wore a simple high-necked gown, neither of the first stare of fashion nor outdated, made of a fabric that showed its quality rather than style. When she spoke her voice was quiet and well modulated without the trace of an accent.

"I’m pleased to finally meet you, Miss Heywood," she said, holding out her hand. "I apologise for not standing – I hope you will excuse me."

"There is no need to apologise," said Charlotte. "It is I, rather, who should do so, after having disturbed you so early and when you are so unwell too."

Miss Lambe glanced towards the door and then said softly, "I am feeling quite well, but sometimes use my indisposition to my own advantage."

"That reminds me that I have a herbal remedy here than Miss Parker has been so kind to send you." Charlotte placed the package on a low table between her chair and the divan Miss Lambe was reposed upon.

"Thank her very much for me," said the girl.

"You have a very lovely view here," said Charlotte indicating the window which she was gratified to find slightly open.

"Yes, I am very pleased with the situation of my rooms." Miss Lambe hesitated and then confided to Charlotte in a low voice. "I am quite in love with the sea. My home was on an island and I saw the sea every day. The sand here is not as golden nor is the sea such a vivid blue but . . . it helps me from being too homesick."

Charlotte was at once struck that she had never even considered Miss Lambe missing her home in the West Indies, but yet she could sympathise immediately because though she was enjoying her stay at Sanditon immensely and had no wish to return home before her few months were up, she missed the rolling meadows and shady woods of her own Willingden. "How long have you been in England?"

"I came here when I was only twelve. My father wanted me to have the same education as a true English lady. His home was in Worcester and that is where my English relatives reside."

"Do you see much of them?"

"I think they find me an embarrassment," she answered in her quiet way. "But I am well taken care of by Mrs Griffiths."

Charlotte’s heart went out to the girl who must number loneliness amongst her other burdens of ill heath and homesickness. From what she saw of the Miss Beauforts she doubted they extended much in the way of friendship. "If you like, I could visit you most days," she offered and was rewarded again with one of Miss Lambe’s rare smiles.

"I should like that very much."

Charlotte indicated the wall of shelves filled with books and the little pile of volumes upon the table. "You must enjoy reading."

"Yes – it is one of the few things I am able to do without overly exerting myself. I am not too fond of essays and works of a more serious nature, but I read many novels. My favourite of all, though, is poetry."

"I heard a most lovely poem recited just the other day," said Charlotte. "It was about the sea, but I cannot recall enough to repeat it with any degree of faithfulness. When next I see Mr Sidney Parker I shall ask if he can put it down on paper for you."

"Would you?" Miss Lambe’s expression was so eager that Charlotte fervently hoped she would not forget the promise. She knew Mr Sidney Parker would gladly undertake the task – not only did he enjoy showing off his accomplishments but she believed he would consider it a kindness and he appeared to lack nothing in generosity.

They were then disturbed by Mrs Griffiths who popped her head in the door to say that it was time for Miss Heywood to take her leave. Charlotte felt a wave of disappointment for she had been enjoying getting to know the young girl. She felt more interest in gaining Miss Lambe’s friendship than she had done with any of the other young ladies she had met. They quickly made arrangements for Charlotte to pay a longer visit on the morrow and then she regretfully said goodbye.

Diana Parker was anxious to return to her own lodgings where she quickly prepared the poultice for her sister and left minute instructions with both Susan and Charlotte as to the exact amount of time it was to be left on, the most efficacious method of removing it, and the various possible outcomes if it was either taken off too soon or left on for too long. Charlotte resigned herself to spending the rest of the morning listening to the histories of Susan’s various ailments and how they were affecting her desire to follow her sister’s example of doing good within the community. Providentially, Arthur Parker joined them not long after they had diligently dealt with the poultice exactly as instructed. He was more than pleased to discover they had a visitor, especially as he had been intending on calling at Trafalgar House himself in the hopes of seeing her.

"Now that I have been denied my walk, you must join me in some exercise, Miss Heywood," he said as he pulled his chair as close as the placement of other furniture would allow. "I now cannot go a day without walking out upon the sand at least once, and I must say that I feel much better for it."

"I have great fears of Arthur growing quite thin," interposed Susan. "Exercise is all very well when one has a strong constitution, but Arthur has a weak chest."

Her brother gave her a fulminating glance and corrected his posture so that his more elevated upper body proved that the supposed weakness of his chest had nothing to do with its physical structure. Charlotte could not observe any discernible thinning of his form but she did notice that his complexion was more robust. "I am happy to hear that you are getting out more and would welcome a walk on the shore if your sister can spare me," she said with a smile. Arthur’s cheeks flushed with pleasure.

"I am often as not on my own for the greater part of the day," said Susan with a touch of petulance. "It will make no difference to me if you take my visitor, Arthur, just be sure not to tire her out with your excesses. I would not forgive you if Miss Heywood should suddenly be taken ill because of your unnatural desire to be forever gallivanting like Sidney."

Charlotte immediately assured Susan that she had no intentions of leaving her alone just yet, and resigned herself to another half-hour in the stuffy, overheated apartment. She felt a little guilty at the obvious pleasure that Susan showed this decision, which for her was more of a penance than anything else. She attempted to make light conversation that didn’t touch on the topics of health or cures but given her companions it was no easy task. She soon relented and allowed herself to be entertained by the number of leeches used in the course of a sennight to cure a particularly malignant fever. When she was finally out of doors and walking across the Terrace with Arthur, she relished in the feel of the sun upon her back and the sharp breeze upon her cheeks.

"Should we not return indoors and out of all this wind?" asked Arthur solicitously.

"Wind?" asked Charlotte. "This is but a light breeze and most invigorating."

"You do not think it will affect my lumbago?"

"Not at all – you are very snugly dressed," she said, eyeing his thick woollen coat.

"Be sure to keep your shawl firmly wrapped about you," he said as he took her arm to lead her down the steps.

Charlotte saw no need of her shawl and as soon as they had reached the sand she folded it over her arm, much to Arthur’s horror.

"What if you were to become ill? Susan would have my hide."

"My dear Mr Parker," answered Charlotte, "I am not such a delicate creature that I would catch a chill on such a fine day. Look at the sea – is it not lively how it dances and crashes upon the shore?"

Arthur looked at her with undisguised admiration but she was watching the waves as they eddied and furled, tossing little shimmering white caps to and fro. He longed to think of something brilliant to say, as he knew Sidney would, but he was afraid instead he would sound a fool. "You think that dancing? To me it is quite wild. I fear we are in for a tempest."

"Mr Parker, there surely is no danger of that. It is not the season for storms. This is the weather a sailor loves – a breeze to furl his sails and a sky that is bright blue to the horizon."

Arthur began to relax and enjoy his walk. His companion he found to be more charming than ever, and when Sir Edward, Captain Mittering, and the two Miss Beauforts eventually joined them, he was understandably put out. Captain Mittering especially annoyed him with the cordial greeting he gave Miss Heywood as if they were friends of long standing. Sir Edward made an interminable speech of which he barely understood one third so he had no idea whether to resent his intrusion or not. He was also hampered in his conversation with Miss Heywood by Miss Letitia who kept directing intrusive questions at him, seemingly intent to divide him from the rest of the party. It would have been much more flattering if all the questions had not to do with his brother Sidney. And then, if he had not problems enough, the gentleman himself joined them. Luckily the initial result of Sidney’s meeting up with them was that Miss Letitia and Miss Beaufort both assailed him and left Arthur free to talk to Miss Heywood. Unfortunately he did not have her undivided attention as Captain Mittering and Sir Edward both were attempting to monopolise her.

Captain Mittering employed himself in drawing Charlotte’s attention to small craft that were bobbing far out upon the waves and they both were trying to decide whether they were fishing vessels or pleasure barques. Sir Edward was waxing long about the diligence of sailors and how they put their lives at peril day in and day out while their womenfolk suffered untold distress, worrying about their return. Arthur was determinedly asking if Miss Heywood was tiring and would like to return to his sister’s parlour, meanwhile advising her to wrap up well in her shawl instead of dangling it over her arm. Sidney was balancing questions from both the persistent sisters and at the same time casting humour filled glances towards Charlotte whenever he could catch her eye, until somehow, with the utmost dexterity, he was by her side and had her attention, though no one else could swear exactly how it happened.

"How have you been enjoying the attentions of your three beaux?" he asked with a twinkle of mischief.

"I may well ask the same of you and the Miss Beauforts," she answered tartly, her patience wearing thin. Why should the first remark he made to her be something so entirely facetious?

"You are quite right to put me in my place," he answered good-naturedly. "But I must say that my friend and my brother are smitten with you. Sir Edward, I’m afraid, is smitten with every young lady he comes across. I hope you are not too severely disappointed."

"I do not care for Sir Edward’s flatteries as well you know."

"Aha! So you like the attention of the others. The captain is the richer of the two, but I must put in a word for my brother. Your influence is doing him a world of good so I really think I ought to forward that match."

"Can you never be serious?"

"Why should you think I am not? Do you think I am above a little matchmaking?"

"I hardly know what to think of you, Sir," she said severely.

"As long as you think of me, that’s all I ask," he said and gave her such a devastating smile that despite herself Charlotte was affected. The man was completely insupportable! She put all her confused feelings down to embarrassment and was happy when he changed the subject with a comment upon the ocean.

"’Tis no wonder that they often refer to cresting waves as horses heads – can you not imagine a surging troupe of the fine beasts galloping our way upon a rolling plain?"

Charlotte looked at the rushing water and could picture it perfectly. She instantly felt more in accord with him.

"I was making a new acquaintance this morning," she said. "Have you met Miss Lambe? She is most interested in poetry and loves the sea so I promised her that I would ask you for a copy of that poem your friend wrote, if it is at all possible."

"I’m sure Keats would be honoured for her to have it. I will write it down and deliver it to you as soon as possible – or should I present it to the lady herself?"

"Thank you – you are most kind. She is an invalid and does not go out in company much, so it would probably be best if you were to give it to me."

"And it would give me an excuse to visit you."

"There you are, talking nonsense again. You know that you do not need an excuse to visit your brother."

"But seeing you is quite an incentive."

"Do you really need to flirt with every girl that you meet?"

"No – did you want me to stop flirting with all the others?"

"You know exactly what I meant Mr Parker and you are only saying that to tease me."

"I am afraid you are right, but you cannot expect me to stop when you always react so sensibly. It is so refreshing to be seen through at every turn. You cannot begin to believe how very gullible some young ladies are. I know that no matter what outrageous thing I say to you, it will not turn your head."

Arthur felt that his brother had kept Miss Heywood in private conversation for much too long. He managed to break free of Miss Letitia and came up upon their other side, making a comment on the distance they had walked and the increasing strength of the wind. To his surprise Sidney relinquished her easily, and when the whole party turned back Miss Heywood remained at Arthur’s side until they again reached the stairs to the Terrace. She seemed just as interested in their conversation as she had done before the others joined them and he silently marvelled that she did not appear to mind the change of brothers in the least.

When he suggested they return to his sister’s fireside to share a pot of cocoa she politely refused saying that she had deserted Mrs Parker for much too long. Arthur valiantly offered to escort her to Trafalgar House, though he feared the climb would be the death of him after such a long walk, and when Sidney offered to go in his stead, to save his endangered health, nothing would sway his decision, though Charlotte did not feel the need of an attendant at all. In the end, both brothers performed the task and left her at her host’s doorstep with cheerful greetings for the family within and promises to visit later in the evening.

 

CHAPTER SIX

The brothers were true to their word and arrived on the doorstep of Trafalgar House at 8:00pm, escorting their sisters. Charlotte was surprised to see Susan Parker up and around for she had seemed so very ill earlier in the day. Diana appeared to have her usual energy, her cheeks well flushed and her eyes bright. True to form she was the first to speak upon the little group’s entering the parlour.

"I was certainly right about the state of affairs in the old village. There are children dropping ill left and right – why five children in all have taken to their beds, three in the same family."

"Oh dear," cried Mrs Parker in alarm, "ought you to be here tonight? What if you should be a carrier of the disease?" She called her children to her side and attempted to put her arms protectively about them all at once.

"Nonsense," said Diana. "Your children can come to no harm from contact with me – though I risked my own delicate health to administer to the sick I brought no contagion away. But should they not already be in their beds at this late hour? Especially young Charles who was so feverish this morning? If they turn up ill in the morning it would be from staying up late rather than their visiting auntie."

"I know it is late, Diana," said Mr Parker, "but Miss Heywood let slip that their uncle Sidney had promised to call and nothing would induce them to retire before he made an appearance."

"I do not want any illness in the children laid at Miss Heywood’s door," said Sidney gallantly, "nor mine, so I will take them off to the nursery immediately."

The children all rushed about him clamouring for a story, which he promised to read to them once they were tucked in bed. He threw Charles upon his shoulders and took Mary’s hand as the other two raced ahead, almost forgetting to say goodnight to the rest of the company. Mrs Parker sighed in relief.

In the meantime Susan had placed herself very near the fire, surrounded by her various medications, and Arthur had taken up a seat next to Charlotte.

"I wonder at your sister Susan coming out tonight," said Charlotte in a low voice. "Should she not have rested instead? She complained so much this morning of her throat and her great fear of contracting an inflammation of the lungs."

"You do not know my sister very well, Miss Heywood," said Arthur. "Though she may feel completely wretched nothing will keep her from paying her respects when they are due. She is as dedicated as Diana in that regard. Her own health becomes completely unimportant to her in her consideration for others. She was insisting that I remain at home with hot bricks at my feet because I complained of a little stiffness in my toes, without any concern for her own ailments."

Charlotte wondered about the wisdom of such an attitude but made no comment. From her observation she was inclined to believe that Susan’s fragile health had more to do with the cures she suffered herself to endure rather than anything else. But still, once in such a weakened state she ought to take precautions or true illness could set in.

Diana continued to try to set Mrs Parker’s fears to rest regarding the illness in the village, but the more she spoke of it the more insidious she made it seem. She intended to go and stem the tide of disease in the morning if her nerves could withstand it; in the same breath as stating that there was no danger at all, she talked of other epidemics she had been involved with which had taken the lives of more than one small child and left her suffering from untold assorted complaints.

Sidney returned to the room in time to hear the end of one of her long and terrifying speeches. He noticed how very pale Mrs Parker had become and at once sat beside her and took her hand in his. "Mary, your children are fine and healthy. They have no contact with the village so you have no need to worry." He smiled reassuringly and then continued. "I’m sure my sister has exaggerated the case immensely. I’ll go myself tomorrow and see what the real situation is. We will probably discover that five quite well and thoroughly upset children have been sent to their beds due to Diana’s zeal, and only because of her desire to protect yours from some imagined harm."

Diana opened her mouth to protest and Sidney gave her a quelling look. Tom Parker looked from one to the other and cleared his throat. "Sidney, you must not tease your sister so, though indeed you may well have the right of it. You see, Miss Heywood, it is just as I said. Sidney will make sport of us all – he has made sport of you as well, no doubt."

"Indeed he has, Mr Parker," answered Charlotte. She directed a warm smile at Sidney Parker to show him she took no offence. Quite the contrary, in fact. She was very much in charity with him for the care and concern he had shown Mrs Parker. No one else had truly sought to relieve her maternal alarms; instead they had indulged in Diana’s most morbid revelations. She was also warmed by Mr Parker’s blustering attempts to smooth the whole affair over and try to assuage Diana’s damaged feelings.

"Yes," said Sidney. "I have made attempts to tease Miss Heywood mercilessly, but she has shown her true strength of character and common-sense in not being swayed by my fatuous sallies in the least. She has become quite a challenge and I am determined to best her in the end."

He then resumed talking quietly and comfortingly to Mrs Parker while the conversation in the room became more general amongst the others, Mr Parker attempting to steer it towards discussing his various interests in the development of Sanditon and the other three finding every opening possible to mention their ailments, real or imaginary. Charlotte merely listened, intrigued by the interplay of the family members, so different it was from what she was accustomed to in her own dear home.

When tea was served, Sidney brought her a cup and took the seat Arthur had deserted in order to prepare his cocoa.

"I am quite certain that your brother intends to return," said Charlotte after thanking him for the tea.

"As am I, but he shall find his chair occupied and have to search out another."

Charlotte felt she could not reprimand him for being cruel, not after he had already proved his kindness amply already that evening, so she ignored the remark.

"Aha! You intend to chastise me with silence."

"Why should I want to chastise you?"

"Why indeed?" asked Sidney with a smile. "I see no reason for it at all. How can you support such an unfeeling action on your part?"

Charlotte let out a small burst of laughter despite herself. "You have purposefully twisted my words. Now I truly will refuse to talk to you."

"Then I shall just sit here and gaze at your loveliness." He put his chin in his hand and his elbow on his knee and proceeded to give her a most soulful stare.

Charlotte blushed. "Please stop," she said. "You are behaving quite intolerably."

"I knew I could make you speak," he said as he sat back laughing.

Charlotte glared at him but could not hide her amusement.

"Very well, I make a solemn pledge to behave," he said, holding his hands up in mock surrender. He then reached into his coat pocket and handed Charlotte a folded paper. "Here is the poem that I promised you. Blush and hide it quickly so they will all think it a love note."

"Is that your idea of behaving?" she asked as she opened the paper and proceeded to read the poem, ignoring his impertinent instructions.

"Not even the slightest reddening of the cheeks," he said, affecting disappointment. "How am I ever to pass myself off as your paramour?"

"I should hope that you will not even try," said Charlotte seriously.

"I can see that it would be a lost cause," he replied with a wistful grin and a shake of his head. "I will have to accept my fate then."

Arthur returned and gave his brother a disparaging look. "You have stolen my chair."

"I have, but to no avail."

"Well, are you not going to give it back?"

"I have promised that I would not, so I cannot go back on my word at this stage. There is quite a comfortable armchair in the corner by the fire."

"You have promised?" Arthur looked at Charlotte reproachfully.

"Do not tease your brother so, Mr Parker," said Charlotte. "Please give up his chair." She turned to Arthur. "In no way did I extract such a promise from him. He is being extremely silly this evening."

"Am I to take the chair by the fire then?" asked Sidney.

The look of appeal in his eyes almost caused Charlotte to relent, but instead she said, "Why that is most obliging of you, Mr Parker," and he was given no choice but to relinquish the chair to his brother.

When he was settled. Arthur eyed the paper in Charlotte’s hand suspiciously. "What is that you are reading?"

"Only the poem your brother has written down for me to give to Miss Lambe," said Charlotte hurriedly, folding it up and slipping it into her pocket. She looked over at Sidney and he smiled at her complacently. Despite herself she blushed before she turned away. ‘Drat the man!’ she thought, and then she turned her attention to Arthur, feigning an interest in his conversation beyond what she felt. She did not look back at Sidney Parker until the evening was over and he wished her goodnight. His manner seemed completely unaffected by her indifference.

~

Charlotte was enjoying a comfortable chat with Miss Lambe and Mrs Griffiths in the front parlour when visitors were announced. Lady Denham imposed herself into the room followed by the ever mild and aloof Miss Brereton.

"Good morning Mrs Griffiths, Miss Lambe. Miss Heywood, what a surprise it is to see you here. I expected you to be out on the Terrace with the other young people." Lady Denham then turned and addressed Mrs Griffiths directly. "My dear lady, I have been thinking long and hard about what we can do to improve your young protégé’s health. It seems a shame she is unable to join all the goings on with the others; the gentlemen especially must feel the loss of her company – I know my nephew, Sir Edward, has complained of it on more than one occasion."

Charlotte looked over to her new friend who blushed lightly.

"When she is strong enough and shows an inclination, I will have no reservations of her taking a turn upon the Terrace with the Miss Beauforts," said Mrs Griffiths, "but you have no need to be concerned that her health issues are not being well taken care of."

"Of course you are doing all in your power," said Lady Denham. "I had some idea that if not asses’ milk she would benefit from our Sanditon House eggs. No others can match them for freshness and flavour. There is nothing as wholesome as an egg, lightly poached and with a nice slice of dry toast. I have brought a dozen for Miss Lambe to try. Miss Clara, if you please?"

Clara Brereton reached into her basket and produced a bundle that she carefully handed over to Miss Griffiths, who professed her thanks as she hurried off to the kitchen with the gift.

"Thank you, Lady Denham," said Miss Lambe shyly. "You are most kind."

"My only thought is for your health. This room is very pretty. I have not been inside these houses much since they were built but I am happy to see that they are done up so nicely. I was forever inspecting them whilst they were being constructed, you understand. You can never leave the labourers unsupervised for too long or expensive materials will be disappearing to be replaced with some shoddy ones and their own cottages will end up in far better repair than the ones they are being paid to build. The foremen are just as bad. Mr Parker did not keep such a careful eye as I and rued the results, let me tell you. Vigilance is everything. And the wages they expect! It is scandalous sometimes – but nothing gets past me. I pride myself that the houses I was involved with were built much cheaper than those Mr Parker commissioned alone."

None of the young ladies had much to say to this, though Charlotte deeply resented Lady Denham’s open criticism of what she felt must most certainly be Mr Parker’s more fair and generous dealings with the builders.

"My nephew is having a cottage ornée constructed and I am foreverfinding fault with the workers. It is to be a lovely little place although I do think the designs drawn up by his architect somewhat defective - these modern ideas for columns and porticos that seem to have no relationship to the structure of the house in any way. It is very close to completion. I wish that you could see it, Miss Lambe. I am certain Sir Edward would be more than pleased to take you on a tour of it."

Lady Denham continued in the same manner for quite some time, making mention of her nephew in whatever subject she was discussing: his love of literature and the sea, his handsome bearing, his cultivated manner, his community standing. It was as if she thought she must make as many inroads as possible on his behalf with the young heiress until such time as she would finally manage to bring them together in the same room.

Clara Brereton spoke little as was her custom and though Charlotte studied her face as often as she could with discretion, she noticed no concern at the concerted effort her aunt was making to interest Miss Lambe in Sir Edward. Charlotte wondered again just what the relationship was between Miss Brereton and that gentleman. She would have believed that there was no interest on either side if she had not witnessed their clandestine meeting for herself.

Finally the visitors rose to leave. "Are you not going to accompany us, Miss Heywood?" asked Lady Denham.

"I have promised myself to Miss Lambe for the entire morning," she said, "or I would gladly join you in your walk."

"Surely you need stay no longer. You would not want to over-tire Miss Lambe. It would never do to tax her strength."

Miss Lambe protested that she was feeling quite up to Miss Heywood’s company and hoped that she would not think of shortening her visit, and Lady Denham had to be content with that.

After the ladies had gone, Miss Lambe and Charlotte retired to her private sitting room so that they would suffer no more interruptions by inquisitive visitors. Charlotte remembered the poem Sidney had given her, and she presented it to Miss Lambe.

"How kind of him for going to such trouble," she said as she settled down to read it. "And how kind of you, as well, for thinking of me." She read it through three times before she said anything more and when she looked up there were tears sparkling on her lashes. "It is most wonderful. I feel honoured to possess it. Please tell Mr Parker how pleased I am with it." She read it one more time, put it in her desk, and then turned to Charlotte. "May I ask you a favour and tell you a secret?" She looked very young and vulnerable, her eyes large in her pale face. Charlotte was deeply touched.

"Of course," she said without hesitation.

"First the favour. Could you call me by my given name? I would like that beyond everything."

"Such an easy favour to bestow, that is if you would tell me your given name."

"Julia."

"And you must call me Charlotte. Now what is the secret? I am bursting to know."

Julia laughed. "There are two, actually. The first I will tell you now. I know a back lane that leads to a little used path to the beach. I go there with my maid whenever I am well enough. I cannot bear to remain entirely closed off from the sea, and never out of doors. This is a very private part of the beach and as yet I have been able to go there unnoticed. Would you like to join me when next I go?"

Charlotte looked at the girl first with amazement and then with understanding. Here was a person who was truly ill, but did not like to continually be made a fuss of. Instead she wanted to enjoy those things that were important to her. While she was well, why waste time with the commonplaces of superficial conversations when she had deeper interests to experience? Charlotte felt very privileged to be invited to share these pursuits with her.

"I would like that very much. Would it be asking too much for you to share your second secret with me, or are you not yet prepared to do so? I will understand if you are not."

Julia looked a little bashful, and then leaned forward and said very quietly, almost in a whisper, "I write poetry."

Charlotte was unsure what she had expected to hear but that was not it. Miss Julia Lambe was continually surprising her, though she supposed, upon reflection, that Julia led such a quiet life, so prone to introversion, and had an underlying tinge of melancholy about her and such an abiding interest in poetry that she ought to have expected the girl to express her restless soul by the same means as her favourite poets.

 

CHAPTER SEVEN

When Charlotte returned home she discovered that Sidney Parker had called at Trafalgar House in her absence, and had already taken his leave. She felt a small twinge of disappointment upon hearing that she had missed his visit and a slightly larger one on hearing one of the reasons he had stopped by. His first consideration had been to set Mrs Parker’s fears to rest concerning the spread of disease in Old Sanditon.

"He informed me that one of the children had hives from eating strawberries, the other had fallen into brambles and scratched himself quite badly, and the three in one family were an ill-kempt undernourished lot that forever had runny noses and had been pulled from their beds and sent about their chores as soon as my sister departed their home. It was so kind of him to reassure me, don’t you think?"

"Indeed," said Charlotte. "I am glad to see Mr Sidney Parker can be so sensible."

"I was so sorry to hear that he had to go away," said Mrs Parker.

"Away?" said Charlotte, momentarily stunned. Upon the knowing look that Mrs Parker sent her, she recollected herself and continued, "And have his friends Mr Yardley and Captain Mittering gone as well?"

"I understand they are all off to London together," said Mrs Parker, a tinge of regret in her voice. "That is poor Sidney’s great failing. He cannot stay in one place above a few days before he is traipsing off again. I do wish he were steadier."

"When he arrived he did say it was to be for only two or three days," Charlotte reminded her.

"And he stayed longer than he had meant to, or so he told me, but Mr Parker would so love if he were to settle himself here for the summer. We had hopes . . ."

"Well, it is a good day for travel," said Charlotte in an attempt to forestall any of Mrs Parker’s musings that might include discussion of Mr Sidney Parker’s likely attraction to one or other of the young ladies currently residing in Sanditon. She neither wanted to hear suppositions concerning herself or any of the others. It surprised Charlotte to realise she especially did not want to hear that he was thought to admire the Miss Beauforts, though why that idea should affect her at all she had no idea.

That evening the family party was quite dull. Diana and Susan droned on about their complaints, Arthur Parker was overly solicitous, almost causing Charlotte to develop a headache whilst endeavouring to prevent one, and Mr Parker continually interspersed his conversation about the state of business in Sanditon with comments about the effect Sidney’s departure would have on the local society. Although Charlotte could well do without these constant observations, she had to admit that she felt the loss of Sidney Parker’s genial presence in the social circle that gathered about the family hearth.

The next morning Charlotte called upon Julia Lambe again as they had previously arranged, but she was met with the news that Julia was quite unwell and could see nobody. Mrs Griffiths explained that she was prone to these bad spells and would be better after a day or two of complete rest.

In an under-voice she added, "I would prefer it if Miss Diana Parker would not get wind of this – she is most kind in her intentions but just a little too officious. The best thing for Miss Lambe now is rest, but I fear she would attempt to inundate her with cures."

Charlotte could well believe it. With some concern she asked Mrs Griffiths to pass on her best wishes to her friend. She intended to return home at once but the Miss Beauforts made their entrance at that moment and begged her to accompany them to the Terrace. It seemed they had missed her company and could not do without her. Charlotte knew better. Now that the gentlemen were gone they were glad of anyone’s company to relieve their boredom. If they could not impress a man, a lady would have to do.

Later, she had to admit that there was a benefit to the lack of gentlemen. When Sir Edward and Arthur Parker joined them, Letitia and her sister monopolised their company and Charlotte found herself virtually alone on the bench with Miss Brereton, Miss Deneham having accompanied Lady Deneham to the library.

After exchanging polite comments about the fineness of the day, they sat together quietly without intruding on one another’s thoughts. Charlotte could not keep from thinking of Julia, and hoped that it was not her company the day before that had overtaxed her friend. But Julia never complained about her condition and Charlotte had no way of knowing what the cause of her present indisposition was. She was recalled from her unhappy reverie by Miss Clara who suddenly addressed her.

"I beg your pardon," said Charlotte in confusion. "I am afraid I was not attending."

"No you were a hundred miles away, and looked quite melancholy. I merely asked if you were homesick."

Charlotte appreciated the concern that Miss Brereton had showed her. "Of course I do miss my family, but I was thinking of something else at the moment."

"Is it the loss of a certain person’s company that you miss?"

Charlotte blushed, realising that Miss Brereton was referring to the recently departed gentlemen. "Yes, I was to visit my friend, Miss Lambe, this morning but she is feeling unwell."

"It is my turn to apologise then. My insinuation was most impolite, but I am relieved you are not suffering heartache. I had thought you a person of some sense who would not fall for a gentleman so very easily, and I am glad to see that I was correct in my estimation of you."

Charlotte was quite surprised with the intimate tone of their conversation and her interest in Miss Brereton was sparked anew. She had no intentions of speaking of gentlemen, though, departed or present, so she reverted to the earlier comment her companion had made. "Tell me, do you suffer from homesickness yourself?"

"No Miss Heywood, I do not. That may surprise you. I know my situation here is not ideal, but the one I have come from was even less so. I was orphaned quite young and have never felt at home with any of my relatives. I do not have the power to be homesick for that would mean that I once had a home worth longing for."

Charlotte knew not what to say – she was compassionate by nature but she had never heard someone express so sad a circumstance in such a matter of fact manner. She only looked at the girl who smiled in return.

"I have learned to take the good with the bad and accept them both evenly. You have no need to pity me - how can I miss something I never had?"

Charlotte found it was that one statement that reached her heart more than anything else Miss Brereton had disclosed. She thought of the warmth and happiness to be found in her own home with sudden longing – did not everyone deserve to experience that feeling of belonging in their lives? She had an urge to befriend this distant girl, to show her that there was more to life than merely accepting one’s lot. "Would you like to visit me when you have your free time?"

Miss Brereton laughed quietly. "My free time is only achieved here and there in stolen moments I am afraid, but I will be happy to sit and converse with you when visiting either Trafalgar house or the Terrace with Lady Deneham."

Charlotte was reminded once again of the secret meeting between Miss Brereton and Sir Edward and wondered why she would spend time that must be so precious to her with a gentleman she appeared to have little or no interest in. She smiled and told her that she looked forward to furthering their acquaintance. It was then that Lady Deneham returned and confidences between the two were over for the day. The lady demanded the attention of her companion and Charlotte was left to the ungracious company of Miss Deneham. If anyone was feeling the loss of the gentlemen, it was she. Her brother and Arthur Parker held no appeal for her in the least.

A promenade upon the shore was proposed. Charlotte was content to walk on her own behind the Beaufort sisters who had claimed the gentlemen as their own, though Arthur Parker continually cast apologetic glances her way. The other ladies declined the pleasure, preferring to sit upon the benches and converse.

The sand spread far out, pocketing glinting pools in its furrowed wake. In the distance the sea paused, caught between the cycle of ebb and flow. Charlotte held her face to the sun and ignored the importunate thought that lingered in the back of her mind that something was lacking – someone she could turn to and talk with about the water, sand and sun. Share something other than the Miss Beauforts’s superficial exclamations, Sir Edward’s long-winded soliloquies, or Arthur’s concerns that too much sun upon her face could surely not be a healthful thing. She decided it must be Julia whom she was wanting. It surely could be no one else.

She was determined to be in different company the next morning. Though she was interested to know more of Clara Brereton, the Miss Beauforts were worth avoiding at all cost. Two days in a row of their society was more than Charlotte would willingly endure. She found entertainment playing with the children in the small back garden while Mrs Parker sat in the shade with some needlework.

After luncheon she decided to explore the countryside, and followed a lane that led from behind Trafalgar House up and over the hill setting out a panorama of the valley beyond with Old Sanditon laid out before her, the whitewashed cottages looking more like doll’s houses at this distance. Charlotte enjoyed the solitude of walking the country lane and, leaving the distant sea behind, set off down a path she supposed would end at the village itself. The hill was sparsely treed, almost a sloping meadow, reminiscent of the rolling fields on the perimeter of her father’s own estate - the difference being that the river at the bottom wound through the dotted houses and out to meet the sea. From where she was upon the hill she could not see a hint of the ocean, but she knew if she followed the river’s curves she would be brought to just such a destination.

On this day she contented herself with going to the village and no further. She was unaccompanied and did not want to be looked at askance. What was accepted in a spinster like Diana Parker, who went everywhere in pursuit of worthy causes, was frowned upon in a young lady such as herself. She toyed with the idea of getting up a party to walk the entire distance to the fishermen’s lowly huts, but when she surveyed her options she did not see it as a viable venture. Julia could never walk so far, Arthur Parker would never undertake it, and anyone else she could think of she did not expect would be the least bit interested. Anyone else who was presently residing in Sanditon, that is.

In the evening she received a note from Miss Lambe stating that she would be pleased of her company the following morning. Charlotte was gratified, not only that her friend was better but that she would have the pleasure of her company again. It was strange, but the last two days had been the only days she had felt bored during her time at the resort. She had now been in Sanditon for three weeks complete, but she did not think this the reason for her recent ennui. She still enjoyed her environs as much as ever.

~

Besides the darkened circles beneath her eyes, Julia Lambe looked much the same as she had the last time Charlotte visited her. They were both very pleased to see each other again and spent some time talking about how they had fared the last two days. Julia’s eyes brightened at the description of the walk Charlotte had taken to the village; housebound as she was she enjoyed hearing descriptions of the countryside about them.

"All I have had for so many days is the view from my window, but I hope to be well enough tomorrow to take you to my own private little bay."

"You must not overtire yourself," said Charlotte in concern.

"On your arm, and resting often I will manage quite nicely. I believe being out of doors to be very beneficial to me. It is difficult to convince Mrs Griffiths of the fact, though. She is sometimes overly concerned with my health."

"If she will agree to the outing I will certainly enjoy accompanying you," said Charlotte who was a firm believer in the efficacy of fresh air and exercise and was also longing to visit the unfrequented stretch of beach that Julia spoke of with such delight.

"Yesterday I began a new poem," said Julia shyly. "It is an ode. I have written but one stanza though I do not think it shall be much more than two or three when I am done."

"I do not know how all the poets manage to write such very long ones," said Charlotte. "I prefer a poem that is short and feeling to one that tells an epic tale. For that I would much rather read a novel."

"I must admit," said Julia, "that I enjoy lengthy poems very much and only wish that I had the ability to sustain a long piece."

"I would very much like to read your poem."

"It is not very good. I think I have a problem with the metre, and please remember that it is not finished yet." Julia passed Charlotte a sheet of creamy paper from a stack of assorted writing materials she had by her side and then watched her nervously as she read.

Charlotte read it through once in silence, and then with a look at Julia and a beseeching "May I?" read it aloud.

"I oft walk out upon a summer’s morn
To meet this darkened sea with its shore so still and grey
And remember yet the place where I was born
With water blue that sparkled where it lay.
The sand stretched far, its colour rivalled gold
And a small child stood in the brimming tide
Eyes locked upon the distant, wavering horizon
Wishing for some storybook wonder to unfold
Only to watch wave after wave rise up and then subside
Little knowing too soon it would be gone."

"It is lovely," said Charlotte at last. "The child is you, is it not?"

"Yes," said Julia.

"I would never be able to undertake writing anything more than a letter. Your family must be very proud. From this one verse I can see that you miss your home very much."

"My family knows nothing of my writing. You are the only person I have ever shown it to. Penning poetry is not looked upon as a suitable occupation for a proper young lady."

"I am honoured that you shared it with me," said Charlotte. She could see that the poem meant much to Julia, she had glowed with the praise and was now quite flushed just speaking of it. It was no wonder because Charlotte understood that she put her very soul into it. Sharing those words was a very great step in their friendship.

After that they conversed much on poetry, who were their favourite authors and what it was about the works that appealed to them. Julia took out books and shared with Charlotte many passages that she had never before read, even pressing a volume of Cowper upon her to take home and read at her own leisure. But she admitted to a preference for the young modern poets whose works were more difficult to come by, and confided to Charlotte again how much she enjoyed the poem that Mr Sidney Parker had copied down for her.

~

The trail to the beach wound its way among a number of cottages, and then between deep banks of brambles down a gradual declivity that led without too much effort to a sheltered bay. The strip of sand before them formed a perfect crescent and on either side, rocky outcrops cut them off from the popular stretch of beach Charlotte was accustomed to and the unknown cove where the river ran into the ocean and the fishing shanties were sprinkled.

They had made their way slowly, stopping to rest numerous times. Julia used these occasions to look about herself with glowing eyes. She now sat upon a convenient log and stared out to sea, her cheeks becomingly tinged with colour from both exertion and pleasure.

"Thank you," she said. "I am not often allowed to venture so far, but I dearly love it here. I am growing accustomed to this harsh grey sea and on days like today it almost appears a brighter blue, even to my eyes."

"This is truly a wonderful spot," said Charlotte twirling around, her arms outstretched. "It is I who should be thanking you for showing it me. And here, with all this privacy, we have no need to stand on ceremony. I am about to do something I have only imagined doing before." That said, she sat on the other end of the log and removed her shoes and stockings.

"I wish that I could do that too," said Julia wistfully, "but I fear it would not be wise. I will take my pleasure vicariously by watching you. Shall you paddle in the waves?"

"For the both of us," said Charlotte, laughing as she ran to the shallows, lifting her skirts as the water ebbed and flowed about her ankles. "It feels so fresh and only a little cold!"

Then she ran back up to Julia, sand encasing her feet, and sat beside her on the log. "Did you not go down for immersion when you first arrived?"

"Yes I did. Miss Parker kindly organised it all, but I found the water cold and dismal in the little hut. On my island I was used to swim in the open in sea as warm as a tub. I was afraid of taking a chill and only repeated the procedure once. Have you ever tried it?"

"I have not. I very much like to play in the waves, but being completely in the water with my clothing hanging wet about me and surrounded by four confining walls does not appeal to me in the least. Perhaps on an open beach like this with no one there to see it would be more enjoyable."

"It is very pleasant in the warm sun," said Julia, a look of yearning in her eyes.

"I think I will have to content myself with my wading," said Charlotte, smiling warmly.

She ran back to the shore as Julia took a book of parchment from her basket. Balancing an inkpot on the log beside her she began to write, looking out occasionally at the water, her mind far away, her face intent and serious.

Charlotte returned and sat beside her watching her earnest face as her pen dipped in and out of the ink and scratched hurriedly in even strokes across the empty page. Words seemed to flow effortlessly from its point and then it would hover till a drop was almost loosed for waiting, then begin again with the same confidence as before.

Finally Julia turned and said, "I have written a new stanza for my ode," and handed the paper tentatively to Charlotte.

In a quiet voice Charlotte began to read, there in the sun, the light sea breeze ruffling the page, the words stark upon the open air.

"For life’s joys are fleeting and oftentimes
Not noticed ‘til they fall beyond one’s reach
A child fed on lullabies and nursery rhymes
Knows not the lessons lonely life can teach.
In later years, upon some far and lonely shore
With tables turned, no longer loved but outcast
She searches for a blue sea that seems forever lost
And the golden sand that is home no more
And wishes for the happiness of her distant past
To warm her heart that now is limned with frost."

When she finished it seemed the world had stilled too. The whisper of the waves faded almost to nothing. The sea birds left off from their raucous cries. She looked at Julia with tears in her eyes and could find no words to say what she was feeling in her heart.

"My mother’s father was a British Naval Captain – her mother the daughter of the most prominent man on the island. The captain did not stay long after their marriage, but my grandmother became the owner of a very large plantation. My father is a younger son of a wealthy family. He came to the islands to make his fortune in trade. He married my mother and settled out there far from his native England. He never missed it because he had mama and me and we were very happy. But mama had a lingering sadness because his family would not accept her and all but cast him off. She intended for me to grow up as a young English lady and not an island maiden so that is why I am here in this cold clime, disconnected from my home. My relatives here do not want to see me. My skin is too dark; my features too much like my mother’s. When I go out in society I am pursued by some for my fortune, the rest ignore me. Only you have welcomed me as a friend regardless of my heritage."

"There is nothing to be ashamed of in your background. You are good and sweet and kind. How could anyone not want to know you?" asked Charlotte. "You have great beauty in your person and in your soul. If your father’s family does not see that they do not deserve you."

The girls embraced and spoke softly together. Further out, upon the rocks, two gentlemen came into view. They stood still upon a massive boulder and looked about them and then one held his hand up to shield his eyes and seemed to stare in their direction. The next moment his arm came up in a wave, he turned and commented to his friend, and then they both clambered down from their high lookout and approached across the sand.

They were almost within hailing distance when Charlotte was able to make out who they were. Her initial feeling of annoyance at having their privacy interrupted was swept clear away and replaced with unaccountable elation.

 

CHAPTER EIGHT

 

"I’m glad that I allowed Yardley to drag me across those rocks," called Sidney as soon as he was close enough for conversation. "He insisted that we might find a prospect worthy of the endeavour and he has proved correct."

Yardley raised an eyebrow but made no comment. Instead he dusted at an imaginary speck upon his sleeve. Charlotte was certain that it was all Sidney Parker’s idea from the outset. She marvelled that the two men could clamber over such a rocky outcrop and look as if they had just strolled out of their dressing rooms. Their clothing was as impeccable as ever – shirt points crisp, neck-cloths with not a fold out of place, and their stylish Hessians unscuffed and still polished to a mirror finish.

"You must introduce us to your friend," said Sidney, and upon the introductions being made he addressed Julia. "I believe you are the young lady that I copied out Keats’ poem for."

"Thank you so much. Is it true that you are friends with the poet?"

"Yes, we have become quite close. There is a group of young poets that I am somewhat acquainted with, but am friendlier with him than many of the others. He is a very intense young man, but very eager and open in his dealings."

"Are you a poet as well?"

"Sadly I do not have that talent for putting my thoughts and emotions to words. As Miss Heywood would be quick to inform you, nothing more than a limerick can be expected from one such as me."

"Miss Lambe, I must warn you that Mr Parker can never be serious," said Charlotte quickly. "I once teased him with such a comment and now it appears he cannot forgive me."

"Besides," said Mr Yardley languidly, "I have heard one or two of his limericks and I can attest they are nothing for him to take such unwarranted pride in."

"Pride?" laughed Sidney. "I see I am to get support from no quarter today. I attempt modesty and am accused of pride."

He settled on the log and began to converse about poetry with Julia. Charlotte turned to Mr Yardley and smiled. "I understand you made a trip to London."

"Mittering needed to return to his regiment and I had an appointment with my tailor."

"I am pleased to see the visit was not entirely whimsical," said Charlotte.

"Which are you calling whimsical, the return of the captain to his regiment or Yardley’s meeting with his tailor?" asked Sidney Parker who Charlotte thought had not been attending to her conversation at all. "I assure you, my friend here puts more in store by his tailor than anything else."

"You may tease me all you like, Parker, but you must admit it is a very handsome coat he made me."

"I will not argue that."

"Well then possibly your errand was the whimsical one," said Charlotte, looking pointedly at Sidney.

"Very probably," said Sidney agreeably.

"Unfortunately that was not the case Miss Heywood," said Yardley. "We could not go without him – you see it was in his carriage that we travelled."

Sidney shot Charlotte a smug look and turned his attention back to Julia. Charlotte blushed slightly and then asked Mr Yardley if Captain Mittering’s duties with his regiment would prevent him from returning to Sanditon that summer. In the middle of the conversation she noticed that Sidney Parker’s eyes were travelling to the foot of her gown and back and then up to her face questioningly. He had a look of mischief she did not quite trust. She peered down and realised that not only was there a rim of sand caked on the wet edge of her skirts, her bare feet were peeking out below her hem. She pulled her toes back and quickly asked Mr Yardley a question about London in order to hide her embarrassment. The gentleman smoothly answered her without a flicker of acknowledgement at being interrupted mid sentence.

Not long after that exchange Sidney called Yardley over to verify a line he was quoting from a work of Shakespeare and then left his friend talking to Julia while he joined Charlotte where she stood.

"This is a wonderfully private strip of beach. However did you get here? While I can easily see you navigating the rocks I doubt it is something Miss Lambe would be capable of."

"I do not know that I could navigate the rocks, as you say."

"I believe you capable of anything, Miss Heywood. Did the two of you swim here then?"

Charlotte coloured, remembering her unshod feet, and looked away as she replied. "There is a path that leads from Sanditon – this cove can be got to without much difficulty, but . . . please don’t let on. Miss Lambe regards it as a sort of refuge and would not like it to become common knowledge."

"I will not tell anyone and I promise you Yardley is the soul of discretion."

"Thank you."

"Should you like us to leave at once, then?"

"Pardon me?"

"We have most impolitely disturbed your solitude."

"Oh . . . I did not mean that you . . . and Mr Yardley were not welcome," stammered Charlotte awkwardly.

"So you are pleased to see me!"

"I . . . um . . . am sure that you and your friend may go where you like. I cannot presume to tell you which beaches to frequent."

"Is that your way of saying that you missed me?"

"Mr Parker, I would prefer it if you did not flirt."

"But you look so charming when you are discomposed! Very well, I will just believe what I like and leave it at that. Tell me, how is the water? I would pull my boots off and try it myself but I am afraid I cannot remove them without the help of my valet. Now you have a valuable weapon to use against me – you can tease me relentlessly about my male vanity."

"The water was very refreshing," said Charlotte unbending a little, "but it is very uncivil of you to mention that you know I was paddling about in the water in a most unladylike manner."

"I wish I had seen you. I believe it would have been enchanting."

Charlotte thought it best to ignore the remark and instead commented that she thought Miss Lambe had been out long enough and they should return to her lodgings. Sidney readily agreed and asked if he and Mr Yardley had permission to escort them back, stating that he feared they would be unable to navigate the rocks quite so proficiently again. Charlotte thought this very unlikely but was not averse to their company. She had but one qualm.

"Sir, if you and your friend could give me a moment of privacy it would be most appreciated."

Sidney looked at her bare toes that could not help but peek out from beneath her gown, smiled and nodded. Then he turned and led Mr Yardley off to take in the view of a distant ship without so much as a teasing word. Charlotte, who had expected a facetious sally, was agreeably surprised. She collected her shoes and stockings from where she had left them and sat down beside Julia to put them on.

"I hope you do not mind if the gentlemen conduct us home," she said as she glanced towards their backs and quickly dusted the sand from her feet. Replacing her stockings was even more difficult to perform discreetly but luckily both men were much engrossed with the panorama before them.

"Not at all. I have found the conversation of both most interesting. It is not often that I am able to discuss poetry with anyone as knowledgeable as they. What it must be like to be a man and have the freedom of movement that they do – to go to the salons where the young, bright minds meet to discuss new ideas and innovations." Her quiet voice was enlivened by her enthusiasm and her eyes shone.

Charlotte was just finished buckling her second shoe when Sidney Parker called out, "Is it safe to turn around yet or shall I find myself severely chastised if I do?"

Both girls laughed.

"Have you tired of the sea so quickly, then?" asked Charlotte.

"I am in raptures about the sea but you must know that when one is not allowed to do something it soon becomes the only thing that one wants to do."

"Parker cannot abide having restrictions placed upon his movements," added Mr Yardley blithely.

"Then why do not you both turn around? We have been ready to depart these last few minutes."

"Cruel woman," said Sidney as he rejoined Charlotte. "And you accuse me of being a tease."

"I think it was well earned, Parker," said Mr Yardley. "Miss Heywood, it is time my friend was knocked down a peg or two. He is too accustomed to indulging himself."

"Leave off," said Sidney. "How am I ever to appear creditable in the young ladies’ eyes if you give me away like that?"

"You give yourself away," said Yardley with a lazy drawl, and then he offered Charlotte his arm as they reached the path.

There was not enough room to walk more than two abreast and soon Charlotte and Mr Yardley outstripped the others. At the top of the path they stood and waited in a companionable silence. Charlotte noticed that Sidney was talking in a low voice as he and Julia slowly caught up to them, and she was listening intently. It was quite apparent that he was conversing seriously and not employing the teasing humour and light flirtation that he used upon her, or the more flamboyant and assiduous attention he usually bestowed upon the likes of the Beaufort sisters. She was pleased to see that he was capable of earnest conversation but wondered why he so rarely exercised it, and rarely ever spoke so soberly with her.

When the gentlemen left them at the door, Charlotte stayed just long enough with Julia to ensure that she was not the worse for their outing, then she regretfully made her excuses and returned to Trafalgar House. From all appearances, rather than tire her friend, the walk to the beach had been highly beneficial. Charlotte did not know the full extent of Julia's illness but could not help but suspect that much of her indisposition was due in part to the homesickness and isolation that she suffered.

After luncheon, Charlotte played in the small yard with the children again. She was feeling quite restless and had to admit that though she had been pleased to see Sidney Parker, the result of their time spent together was that she had become as frustrated and aggravated with him as ever. Why could he not treat her as he treated Julia Lambe? Surely he did not think that she wanted to be teased. He evidently paid the other ladies in Sanditon the type of attentions they expected from him – he admitted as much himself – but yet even though she informed him time and again that she preferred he did not always speak so flippantly, he persisted. Eventually she vowed not to allow it to bother her – after all he was only her friends’ brother and nothing more to her than that, so what was the point of letting his behaviour unnerve her?

Tom Parker enjoyed the camaraderie of his family and was pleased that his brothers and sisters bore him company almost every evening. This night he was more than happy to have Sidney back amongst them and his spirits were higher than usual. After the children had been carted off to bed by their favourite uncle, Tom called him over to the fireside and began to question him on his trip to London and whether the society there was as fine as that to be had in Sanditon.

"I have some ideas that I think would benefit your snug resort," said Sidney.

Tom Leaned forward eagerly and encouraged him to expound. There was nothing he enjoyed talking about more than the promotion of Sanditon as a desirable place to vacation, and if his brother had ideas to make it more alluring he was all for implementing them.

"You need more entertainments," said Sidney. "The beach and bathing machines, library and billiard rooms are all very well for the more staid members of the populace, but the livelier crowd needs to be continually amused to keep their interest. After a while such activities as walking upon the Terrace begin to pall and they long for what they have left behind in London."

"But is not the whole appeal of a seaside resort the salubrious nature of the tranquil setting?"

"Assuredly, but most people are not aware of that. They crave excitement. They want a reason to dress up and go out. They long to be seen abroad in all their finery. I am only making these suggestions if you want the place to be popular. I much prefer a sleepy little hamlet as you seem to yourself."

"You? You are forever on the move bouncing from one frivolous pastime to another!"

"I admit I am not yet as sedate as you, but I am beginning to feel quite old and settled in my ways."

His brother let out a large snort of laughter, and Charlotte, who had been attending to their conversation in preference to Susan’s treatise on the health benefits of vinegar, could not but agree that Sidney Parker was in no way in danger of settling down.

"What activities do you suggest I introduce? Pony rides upon the beach?"

"That would be well for the children," said Sidney agreeably, "but I was thinking more on the lines of assemblies and concerts. Perhaps the library could open a cultural association in one of their rooms where there could be poetry reading and musical recitals. Once it became known you could attract many people away from such crowded places as Eastbourne. And, to my best knowledge Brinshore has, as yet, nothing comparable to offer but I would not be surprised if they were planning something of the sort. You would not want that resort to steal away visitors that are rightfully yours."

"No indeed! Brinshore is vile with its seaweed strewn upon the sand. The air has a distinctly sour odour – it is no way as fresh as ours. We do not want people lured there just because they provide more entertainments than we do. What is it you think they are planning?"

"Schemes for a monthly assembly are in the works, I am told."

"Then we shall have them weekly! I will go to the hotel first thing in the morning and enquire about outfitting their hall as a ballroom."

"Just the thing!" said Sidney. "And do not forget the library."

"I will talk to Mrs Whitby myself," said Diana who could not stand to see anything undertaken without her express assistance. "I need bring her the makings of a poultice. She has lost the use of one of her arms – I visited her yesterday and it was actually shrivelling before my eyes. A most disturbing case, but one I am not inexperienced in treating. Just the same malady occurred to Mrs Hemple’s neighbour’s aunt and I was able to retard the complete seizure of her muscles and almost totally restore the limb through the judicious use of a poultice of mustard, radish, and hogswort, alternating with rigorous application of friction to the entire affected area. Three weeks and she was able to set her stitches quite as neatly as ever – and this a woman who had already resolved she would be crippled for the remainder of her days, and of no use to anyone. Maybe we should not only start up a cultural association but also a historical society and a council to provide for the needy families living in those unhealthy shacks upon the . . ."

Diana had completely overtaken the conversation and Charlotte turned instead to Arthur who was offering her a piece of toast liberally spread with butter. She thanked him politely and listened while he explained eagerly the best method of getting toast just exactly golden brown without the least hint of char, and also preventing any soot from the flames to mar the flavour of the bread. She admitted it was very tasty and was about to divert the conversation, which appeared to be branching out into the most efficient methods of building a fire, when a familiar bantering tone addressed her from behind.

"I have finally escaped," said Sidney as he pulled up a chair and sat beside her, "but I must say that I was successful in my mission."

Charlotte looked at him with a smile. "If your mission was to give your sister a new cause to pursue you have succeeded admirably."

"And also if my intent was to inform the room of the best treatment for palsied limbs, which I do apologise for profusely. No, my mission was to coerce my brother into holding an assembly so that I should be able to dance with you."

"I believe your motive was not quite so selfish," she said, striving to keep the colour from rising in her cheeks.

"Not selfish at all – I was thinking only of you."

This time her cheeks flamed and she had to turn her head. Sidney Parker was smiling at her wickedly, fully appreciating her ruffled composure.

"Do not think that I am affected in any way by what you have just said. I am only annoyed by your continual disregard for my wishes. I have expressly asked you not to flirt on more than one occasion."

"So, I am only allowed to flirt on one occasion? That means I will have to be very selective."

Charlotte could not withhold a spurt of laughter. "I warn you that I will most certainly refuse to dance with you if you should ask me."

"I will find it most improper when you ask me, then," said Sidney smoothly, "but I will try not to be shocked by such forward behaviour."

"You are . . . irrepressible!"

"Thank you."

Charlotte turned to Arthur and immediately asked him what he thought of the idea of an assembly.

"I should look forward to one with great pleasure. I find that draughts do not bother me at all in the way that they used to. I imagine in the winter it will be a different story, but for now I have no sign of lumbago, not even the least little stiffening of the joints."

"You see, daily exercise and fresh air have been beneficial," said Charlotte, smiling.

"Indeed. I have so much more energy than before that I believe dancing will be no hardship. And dancing with you is something I should look forward to very much. Would you do me the honour of saving the first two for me when the event arises?"

It was not with the intention of receiving another invitation to dance that Charlotte had taken up the conversation. She mentally chastised herself and then looked from Arthur’s hopeful face to Sidney’s mirthful one. "I would be delighted," she said with more enthusiasm than she felt. She knew she would have danced with him anyway, but she was not pleased to have had to pledge herself so far in advance, and only because she wanted to put Sidney Parker in his place. She did not want any sort of meaning to be tied to it. Arthur was her friends’ brother and she did not want to hurt him by any unfulfilled expectations.

Unfortunately her declaration did not have the desired effect on her adversary. He just sat back in his chair and his smile became broader than ever. She was not sure if she understood him in the least. Had he actually goaded her on with this exact outcome in mind? The rest of the evening she paid both of them as little attention as possible, moving as soon as she could to Mary Parker’s side.

 

CHAPTER NINE

The Beaufort sisters could speak of nothing but the impending assembly and what they were to wear to it. Charlotte had little inclination for their conversation and speculations as to who should be the best dressed but she bore it with as much politeness as she could muster. As they sat together on the green benches of the Terrace she attempted, rather, to enjoy the freshness of a light breeze that eased the warmth of the sun upon her face. Her attention was called back as she was pointedly addressed.

"Have you ordered a new gown, Miss Heywood?" asked Miss Letitia with just a hint of condescension in her voice. "The local milliner cannot compare with the likes of London but she should be able to turn you out quite presentably."

"I have no need of a new gown," answered Charlotte.

"What foresight of you to have brought one," said Miss Beaufort. "What colour is it? I hear Mr Arthur Parker favours green."

The two sisters tittered. "Mr Sidney Parker told me he hoped that I would wear amethyst, to match my eyes," said Miss Letitia, preening.

Charlotte almost choked. The eyes in question were a watery blue and decidedly shrewish. She felt her annoyance at Sidney Parker rise; his propensity for leading ladies on was reprehensible and showed a definite unsteadiness of character. She resolved yet again not to let anything he should say to her affect her. She did not want to act as foolish as her two companions now appeared to her.

"That may be," said Miss Beaufort, "but you posses nothing in that shade, sister. Little becomes me better than cherry, which Mr Sidney Parker has noted in the past. How did he put it? ‘A gown to match the lustre of your lips’. I certainly was inspired when I ordered the cherry striped taffeta in town this spring."

"I will have you know my ruched silk is the palest amethyst!"

"I would describe it as an insipid mauve."

"And I would describe the stripes in your gown as . . . as claret."

"I am certain both gowns are equally pretty," said Charlotte, hoping to avoid a squabble, "and besides why cater to Mr Parker’s vanity? It will only serve to swell his feelings of self importance."

"You have much to learn in the art of pleasing a gentleman," said Miss Letitia. "If you follow our lead you may well manage to catch Mr Arthur. He is not quite so discriminating as his brother or Mr Yardley, and he has shown some small measure of interest in you. I do not think it would even do for you to set your sights on Sir Edward. He may give the impression of regard but mark my word it is money he is after, when all is said and done."

"I have no intentions of catching any one of them," said Charlotte.

"What is the point of visiting the seaside if not to cast about for a husband?" asked Miss Beaufort, giggling. "My dear, it is what a young lady of fashion is all about. Where else should our energies lie? You wouldn’t want to end up a do-gooding spinster like Miss Diana Parker, would you? My word but that would be frightful! Upon your return to the country you will be left with nothing more to choose from than bumbling gentleman farmers. You could do very much worse than Mr Arthur Parker, though he is such a bore. And really, once you are married, you need not mind your husband much at all for you will take tea with your lady friends while he is about his business, and of course spend the season in London where you can carry on any number of flirtations."

Charlotte turned away, not knowing what to reply to such a speech, and was relieved to see Sir Edward and his sister approaching. The Beaufort sisters lost no time in appropriating the gentleman’s profuse attentions. By all their leading comments about the assembly it was evident they were hoping to be petitioned to save dances for him. Charlotte had some difficulty stifling her amusement and a look over at Miss Denham confirmed that she would have no partner in her entertainment there. She reflected that if Sidney Parker had been with them she would have had trouble preventing herself from laughing out loud upon meeting his eyes, then she severely chastised herself for such a thought. Miss Denham’s expression, though, was one of barely concealed disdain.

"I suppose you, too, are in raptures about this ball," she said.

"It will be an agreeable diversion, don’t you think?"

"I do not have very high hopes of the evening. The company is not terribly select. I believe it will be open to all and sundry."

"Everyone is entitled to enjoyment, are they not?"

"I prefer a private party where I am not rubbing shoulders with tradesmen."

"I am sure no introductions would be made to anyone undesirable," said Charlotte good-naturedly.

Miss Denham merely sniffed and turned her head to look out upon the distant water. Charlotte bore her rudeness with composure. She herself preferred not to have to speak rather than take part in such supercilious conversation. Miss Esther Denham never exerted herself to please unless her aunt was nearby, or an eligible gentleman. She had long ago formed an estimation of Charlotte’s social standing and possible usefulness as an acquaintance and found her lacking. This did not trouble Charlotte in the least – she was happy not to be the recipient of such insincere overtures as Esther Denham was wont to give.

Charlotte settled back upon the bench and resolved just to enjoy the temperate weather. Mrs Parker should be joining her soon and then she could return to Trafalgar House and the preferable company of the Parker children. As she had already visited with Julia Lambe, there was no one else she really had any interest in seeing. When Mr Yardley strolled up to the group a few moments later she tried to ignore her disappointment at his being on his own. It was some minutes before he was able to speak with her, as he had to run the gauntlet of the Miss Beaufort’s enthusiastic sallies and Miss Denham’s determined addresses.

"I am charged to deliver my friend’s regrets," he said with his customary languid air. "He has taken himself off to London again, whether upon an errand of mercy or merely a whim he did not elucidate. He bid me assure you he would return in time for the assembly."

"It is really immaterial to me if he does or not," answered Charlotte quickly, "although it was upon his instigation that the assembly was planned so I should imagine he would not desire to miss it."

"Not in the least. He is looking forward to it with great pleasure, as am I."

Charlotte smiled and attempted to recover herself. There was no need for her to take her ill humour out on Mr Yardley. He was not the cause of it.

"How is your friend Miss Lambe? I have not seen her since that day on the beach."

Charlotte was grateful for his thoughtfulness in mentioning Julia. "I visited her this morning. She is tolerably well, thank you. She rarely goes out so it is no wonder that you have not seen her."

"But surely she will come to the assembly?"

"Her attendance is not at all certain."

"I had hoped to dance with both you and Miss Lambe."

"I should be happy to dance with you," said Charlotte, "and I will pass your invitation along to my friend."

He responded with a smile and a casual nod and then commented on the view of the sea from their location. His observations of the artistic merit of the composition of the scene that lay before them were overheard by Miss Letitia, who at once professed her delight in sketching. She appealed to him to advise her where to position her easel and to recommend at what time of day the light would be to her best advantage. Mr Yardley politely excused himself from Charlotte’s company and dealt with all of Letitia Beaufort’s requests with such nonchalance that Charlotte was hard pressed to decide whether or not the interruption had been as unwelcome to him as she supposed it must.

The next morning, Charlotte asked Julia if she would indeed be able to attend the assembly.

"Mr Yardley asked me to convey his wish to be able to dance with you."

"He is most kind and polite," responded Julia. "I do not doubt he requested a dance of you at the same time."

"I believe him to have been sincere," said Charlotte softly.

"I do not doubt his sincerity," responded Julia and she gazed full into Charlotte’s eyes, her voice taking on a serious note. "Both he and Mr Parker showed me such acceptance as I have not often been accorded in society. I . . . I am greatly tempted to come to the assembly, if only for a short while. Though I am what is commonly termed as out, I have never had the pleasure of attending a ball." Her eyes brightened discernibly. "When I think of the music, and the sight of everyone in their finery I am filled with childish excitement, but . . . I still fear the looks of disapprobation I will receive from many of the company."

"Is that what stops you, and not your health?"

Julia nodded.

"I will be by your side. I will not allow you to be treated with unkindness. If Mrs Griffiths permits you to be the guest of Mr and Mrs Parker and myself, would you come? I know they will issue the invitation if I ask them – they are such kindly people. You could not but be afforded respect if you attend under their escort."

"I know I will be subjected to inquisitive and scornful looks, but I suppose I cannot hide away from such iniquities forever. And your presence will give me strength."

Charlotte hoped that she was not doing her friend a disservice for she knew how cutting the likes of Miss Denham and the Miss Beauforts could be, but the wistful look in Julia’s eyes convinced her. She deserved every opportunity for happiness.

Mrs Griffiths took some convincing, but in the end she had to agree that Julia was enjoying better health than she had done in a long time and she attributed this in part to her friendship with Miss Heywood. Her permission was contingent upon the sponsorship of the Parkers, and the promise that Julia would attend for no longer than two hours and would return earlier on the slightest hint of indisposition or fatigue. All that was left was to petition Mr and Mrs Parker and choose a suitable gown from her wardrobe.

The day of the assembly, Mr Sidney Parker returned from London and paid a call at Trafalgar House on his way into Sanditon, excusing his travelling clothes with careless ease.

"I have no need to stand on ceremony with any of you," he said as he threw the youngest boy upon his shoulder. "I have even come to consider Miss Heywood as family, so she has no choice but to accept me in all my dirt." He placed a small package he was carrying upon a side table and gave his nephew a ride around the room. He let the boy down and treated the others in turn until he collapsed on a chair near Charlotte, begging exhaustion. "No more, no more, you little rapscallions! Now I know how my poor horse feels."

Charlotte smiled at him. This was the Sidney Parker she liked the best and felt the most comfortable with – almost like one of her brothers, that is until he let his tendency for flirtatious teasing get the better of him. Then feelings would arise that were unsettling and much harder to understand. He smiled back at her and winked and she felt the unease slowly mount again.

"I have brought you something," he said, getting up to retrieve the package from the table. "This was my express reason for going to London."

Charlotte felt her colour rising along with her chagrin. She glanced over to where Mrs Parker sat, but that lady was taken up with her children and not attending to their exchange.

"I cannot accept a gift from you," she said tightly, looking away as she spoke.

"It is not a gift, and not really even for you," he said laughing as he continued to hold it out. "Come, did I not just say that I consider you family? I will confess the lot, then. It is a book. My friend Keats’ book, to be exact. I know how much your friend Miss Lambe enjoys poetry and I wanted her to be able to read it, but you must see that in all propriety I could never present it to her on such short acquaintance. I am giving it to you so that you may in turn lend it to her – that should relieve your qualms about accepting a gift from me. It will barely be in your possession at all, though if you were to read it before you pass it on to your friend I should not be displeased in the least."

Charlotte knew not what to think. It appeared that the book was the reason for Sidney Parker’s trip to London – that he had gone with one thought in mind – to purchase this book for Julia Lambe. She was overwhelmed by his thoughtfulness, but also by his effrontery. Did he really think it proper to use her as a go-between to give a gift to Julia? The logic of his plan made no sense to her at all. It was manipulative deception. But on the other hand, it was a book that Julia would enjoy above all things. And he had the sensitivity to realise that, and also the awareness Julia would not be able to accept the book from him. He only wanted to ensure that she really did get the opportunity to read it. Did not that necessitate skirting the conventions of society which were sometimes uncompromising in their limitations? And then, deep down, there was another feeling that bothered her even more and needed to be repressed. It was the twinge of disappointment that the gift was not for her but for Julia. A foolish, foolish thought that needed banishing from her mind. It was the guilt she felt at this reaction that in the end led her to hold out her hand and say that she would pass the book on to her friend.

"I knew I could count on you."

He said it with such fervour that Charlotte began to wonder if the gift was inspired by some deeper emotion than that of merely desiring to share the poems of a friend with a lonely girl who loved poetry.

That evening as she prepared for the assembly Charlotte debated within herself as to whether she was acting wrongly in passing Sidney Parker’s gift on to Julia. She decided that the best recourse would be to watch the two of them at the ball and see how they reacted to one another. She refused to be a used as a pawn in some elaborate game of flirtation. She had no intentions of allowing Sidney Parker to lead her friend on – Julia was not to be hurt in any way. And if it was not flirtation, but something more, Charlotte had no idea how she ought to proceed. The only thing that would induce her to give the book to Julia was if she could ascertain beyond a shadow of a doubt that Sidney Parker was giving it with all the innocent intentions that he had professed and nothing more.

Her toilette completed, Charlotte sat upon her bed fingering the package. Finally she untied the string that bound it and folded the wrapping open to behold the slim volume that had caused her so much apprehension. It was titled simply, Poems. She turned to the first offering and read at random where her eyes touched the page.

A little noiseless noise among the leaves,
Born of the very sigh that silence heaves:
For not the faintest motion could be seen
Of all the shades that slanted o’er the green.

These were the words of someone who understood nature. Who sat long hours out of doors and absorbed his surroundings. Observed and then translated what his eyes saw, what his body felt, to rhyming lines upon a page. If these verses could speak their simple magic so easily to a practical girl such as herself, what would they do for someone with a soul fully sensitive to the nuances of poetic feeling like Julia? She finally could see to the heart of the issue and cast aside all of the social mores that stood in the way of her reasoning. Sidney Parker had probably seen through the barriers all at once, and then concocted the elaborate plan to circumvent propriety. He had a way of twisting conventions to his own will. But all of that was secondary. What was of utmost importance was that this was a book that Julia deserved to read, to explore, to experience, and she was more than willing to be the one to give it to her.

She turned the page and read a few more lines before placing the book upon the bedside table and reaching for her shawl. A last look in the mirror showed her face more relaxed than it earlier had been. She smiled a quick smile at her reflection and left the room, her anticipation of the evening’s entertainment rising as she thought of Julia and how this was truly to be her first ball.

CHAPTER TEN

As the host of the assembly, it was Mr Parker’s duty to arrive first at the ballroom that had been improvised in the large hall of the hotel. The manager of that establishment had been delighted at the prospect of opening his doors to the elite of the community. It had long been his dream to include such gatherings in his program and, in conjunction with Tom and Diana Parker, had turned the little used meeting room into a glamorous salon. The walls were festooned with red and gold hangings and elegant chairs lined perimeter of the floor. In one corner the members of the orchestra were tuning up their instruments. A connecting room held refreshments and card tables.

Julia Lambe looked about herself, eyes large and bright, an eager smile gracing her lips. In the light of the innumerable candles her face glowed a warm caramel. She drew a deep breath and turned to Charlotte.

"Thank you so much for encouraging me to come," she said.

"Let us take our seats," said Charlotte. "We have the advantage of first choice."

Julia chose an alcove in the far corner that governed a view of the entire room but at the same time afforded privacy through the fortuitous placement of some potted palms. They settled themselves and spoke quietly while watching the musicians organise their music. Mrs Parker joined them after inspecting all the arrangements with her spouse, and expressed her pleasure in how well it had all been managed in such short a space of time.

In the next half-hour the room filled with ladies and gentlemen as elegantly and fashionably attired as one might hope find in Eastbourne, Ramsgate, or even Brighton. That an evening soirée in London would put all to shame did not weight with either of the girls. There was more than enough taste and refinement to satisfy Charlotte and Julia who had little in their experience to compare it to. The Beaufort sisters, on the other hand, were feeling their superiority to the rest of the company. They smirked at the less fashionable gowns of their neighbours and prided themselves with setting the criterion for the evening. As they walked about the room they exuded such grace and charm that they were certain they had caught the notice of everyone worth impressing.

"My goodness, Miss Heywood, why are you hiding yourself all the way back here?" asked Miss Letitia. "And who is your companion? Miss Lambe? I had no idea you had risen from your sickbed."

"I have been well for some time," answered Julia quietly.

"You must excuse my surprise at seeing you here," said Miss Letitia. "I had no idea it was to be that sort of gathering."

"I fail to understand your meaning," said Charlotte, her eyes flashing.

"Oh, you know," said Miss Letitia. "I expected certain standards to be kept." Miss Beaufort sniffed in agreement.

The colour had drained from Julia’s face and Charlotte was about to respond to the incivility in a way she would have found hard to forgive herself for later, when a very welcome voice assailed them.

"Miss Heywood, Miss Lambe, what do you mean by hiding behind these infernal palms? We have been searching for you since our arrival."

There was nothing in Mr Sidney Parker’s expression to show whether he noticed the friction that was in the air, or overheard the preceding remarks. His friend, Mr Yardley, looked as insouciant as ever.

Sidney Parker immediately turned to Julia and said, "I do hope you are not promised for the first two dances yet. I was hoping to bespeak that honour."

"Parker, you are a sly dog," said Mr Yardley. "I had supposed you intended to ask Miss Heywood for the first two and now you have beaten me to the mark with Miss Lambe."

A blush overspread Julia’s cheeks and she knew not what to do.

"Miss Lambe if you would accept me for the first two I am certain my friend will be most satisfied if you were to bestow the second two upon him."

"It would be my pleasure to dance the second two with you, Miss Lambe," said Mr Yardley, bowing.

July haltingly accepted both gentlemen and followed Sidney’s instructions on how to fill in her dance card. Mr Yardley turned to Charlotte, and upon discovering that she was already promised for the opening dance, asked for the two third. Then both gentlemen added their names to the simpering Miss Beauforts’ dance cards before continuing on around the room.

"Mr Parker was not very gallant by you, Miss Heywood," said Miss Letitia when the gentlemen were out of hearing. "He did not ask you to dance at all."

"I did not expect him too," answered Charlotte with composure.

"He must know you mean to have his brother," tittered Miss Beaufort. "But your popularity is surprising, Miss Lambe. I suppose it only goes to prove exactly what is set in store by a fortune. Some will overlook almost any impediment."

"If you intend to continue insulting my friend in such a manner, I must ask you to leave," said Charlotte, her ire returning.

"It was a warning well meant," said Miss Beaufort, affronted. "I would not wish our dear Miss Lambe to misconstrue the meaning of the gentlemen’s attentions."

Charlotte turned her back on the sisters and fought to settle her temper. She did not easily rise to anger and if their slings had only been aimed at herself she would have been unaffected. Julia reached out and patted her hand.

"Do not take on so. They are gone now and we shall easily forget them."

"What they said was untrue," said Charlotte. "Do not set any store by their cruel comments."

"I am used to cutting remarks from those two. I am just sorry that they tried to hurt you because of your association with me."

"I was only offended by their incivility to you."

Both girls’ eyes met and then they burst out laughing realising that they had each been reacting in defence of the other. It was not long before Sidney and Arthur came to claim them for the first set. Charlotte watched her friend take the floor with an unaccustomed feeling in her breast. If someone had told her it was envy she would have denied it immediately. She turned a flashing smile upon her partner as they took their places.

"You look very lovely tonight, Miss Heywood."

"Thank you, Sir. You look quite distinguished yourself."

Arthur blushed. He had taken great care in his preparations for the evening and had been more than pleased with the way the buttons of his waistcoat had fastened without straining and his breeches had draped so smoothly over his legs. It was the first time he had truly noticed the changes in his form that had been effected by the regular exercise he was taking. He had hoped Miss Heywood would notice as well and her compliment assured him of that. He did not converse much, putting all his effort into completing the figures of the dance without missing a step or breaking out into an unsightly sweat.

Charlotte was content to dance in relative silence. Though he was a good sort of person, Mr Arthur Parker’s conversation was neither stimulating nor interesting. She was well pleased that they could spend a half-hour together without having the state of his health be brought to her attention. What kept her thoughts occupied was her friend Miss Lambe, and she was happy to observe that Julia appeared to be very well entertained by her partner. Though it was small wonder, Charlotte admitted. Sidney Parker was nothing if not entertaining.

Upon completion of the dance, a small change was made. Sidney Parker insisted that standing up again so soon would be too much for Miss Lambe, so Mr Yardley politely offered to switch his dances, and dance the next with Miss Heywood, if she was up to the scheme.

Charlotte agreed that it was a safe measure, so Sidney Parker returned Miss Lambe to his sister while she took the floor with his friend. Mrs Yardley proved to be a proficient dancer, committing all the movements so effortlessly as to be able to indulge Charlotte with almost uninterrupted conversation, light and pleasing. She nearly forgot to look over at her friend to see how she fared, but when she did she could not help but notice that Sidney Parker had stayed by her side, sharing witticisms with both Julia and Mary Parker.

When Mr Yardley returned her to her seat and led out her friend, Sidney Parker stood.

"I suppose I must find someone to dance with as you do not appear prepared to ask me," he said.

"I can hardly ask you," said Charlotte in a tight voice.

"That leaves us in quite a quandary, does it not?"

Charlotte refused to answer. She was not about to admit that she regretted telling Mr Parker she would not dance with him if he asked her. She reasoned that he must know she had only spoken in pique, and it annoyed her that he was carrying on the charade merely to tease her all the more.

"I am sure there are many ladies who would be delighted to dance with you," she said.

"But it does not follow that I want to dance with them. I would much prefer to dance with you. If only you would ask and put me out of my present misery."

Charlotte could not help herself – she burst out laughing. Misery was hardly the emotion that showed on Mr Sidney Parker’s countenance. It was imbued with as much mischief as usual. "You must figure your own way out of your distressing predicament," she said. "You are an intelligent young man. It should not be too difficult to come up with an acceptable solution."

"You are right as always, my dear Miss Heywood. Allow me to tell you how it overcomes me with joy that you have noticed my intelligence and remarked upon it. I feel I am finally making some progress in my conquest of you." He affected an expression of deep thought and then continued in a voice that was as contrite as it was teasing. "Will you grant me the honour of staying here by your side for this dance? You have put no embargo on my asking to converse with you tonight."

Charlotte consented readily, though in truth she was more than willing to dance.

"And I would like to request that you save your dinner dance for me as well, though obviously not to dance, for I would never break my word to you and ask for that favour." When Charlotte blushingly consented to that as well he insisted she write it on her dance card and watched conscientiously as she did so. "Remember to note that we will not actually dance," he said in a conspiratorial whisper.

Charlotte resigned herself to the fact that the only way she would dance with Sidney Parker that evening was if she asked him herself, and nothing would induce her to be reduced to that. He was really more than aggravating. She had to admit, though, that the half-hour they sat in conversation went by much more quickly than she had expected and she felt disappointed when he left her to honour his commitment to Miss Denham. She barely had time to greet the returning Julia herself, when she was invited to dance by Sir Edward Denham.

This new partner had as much confidence in his dancing abilities as he did in his mastery of the fine art of conversation. He did both in such an overly elaborate manner that Charlotte was as confused as to where he would next step as she was by his incomprehensibly flowery phrasing. It was with utmost elegance that he misquoted her favoured authors and turned right when everybody else turned left. Thankfully he was more adept at correcting his missteps on the dance floor than he was in infusing any sense into his discourse.

When he returned Charlotte to her seat he graciously begged for Julia’s hand in the next set. She declined, citing fatigue, but agreed to dance the following two with him. He appeared disposed to stay by their chairs for the whole of the set, but gallantly obliged Mrs Parker’s request for refreshments.

Charlotte studied her friend’s face. "I hope this has not been too much of a strain for you."

"I am having a lovely time, but my dance with Sir Edward must be my last. I promised Mrs Griffiths I would not stay for longer than two hours, and in truth I should have left by now but I could not resist another turn on the floor."

"I shall be glad to accompany you to your lodgings when the time comes," said Charlotte.

"I would not think of you missing anything on my account. Mrs Griffiths has sent my maid to wait for me, and Mr Yardley has offered to escort us."

Charlotte silently admonished herself for being pleased that it was Mr Yardley and not his friend who would see Julia home. It had been her intent to watch the interactions between her friend and Sidney Parker to try to discover if there was any sort of attachment between them that would make the gift of the book suspect, but Charlotte could see no difference between his attentions and those of Mr Yardley. She hoped that it did not mean that both gentlemen were falling for the same girl. She could well understand it if they were. Julia was innocent and natural. Though shy, she expressed herself well when speaking of something that interested her deeply, and she shared a love of poetry with both of the gentlemen in question. On top of all that, her improved health had added a bloom to her countenance that enhanced her exotic features. Tonight, in her simple white dress, mother of pearl combs holding up her dark, shiny curls, she looked positively enchanting.

Sir Edward was back much too soon with their lemonade. He fawned over both young ladies, unable to decide which was more deserving of his favour. They, in turn, bore his studied conversation with patience and civility, though Charlotte was heartily glad when it was time for him to lead Julia to the floor. Her relief did not last long however, for no sooner had Sir Edward left with his prize than she was addressed by Arthur Parker and could not deny him another dance.

This time he was more disposed to talking and Charlotte smiled pleasantly while he regaled her with the vagaries of his health. To his credit, he was able to assure her that he had never felt better at such a social function and had high hopes that he was entering a stage of his life in which he expected to be free of many of his most deleterious afflictions. He managed to dispense with everything medical before the set was half completed and then bethought himself to ask Charlotte how she was enjoying the assembly and her opinions of the orchestra, the company, and the adornment of the room. All in all, the engagement had gone better than she had expected and her spirits were high when he returned her to her seat. His thanks were uttered sincerely and without undue effusion, and she smiled prettily upon him.

Arthur joined Charlotte in saying her adieus to Julia and would have persisted by her side had not a young gentleman sought an introduction. Charlotte gladly accepted and returned to the floor. She noticed that Sidney Parker was in the same figure as her and he did not refrain from reminding her of their assignation whenever the dance brought them together. His partner, Miss Letitia, seemed a bit put out that she could not command his undivided attention and increased her output of charm in an effort to keep his eyes to herself.

Charlotte was relaxing behind one of the palms when Sidney Parker eventually joined her, two glasses of lemonade in his hands.

"You see I have anticipated you. I knew you should send me off for refreshments so as to rid yourself of my annoying presence and have some time for quiet reflection, but you have been outdone. I try to always stay one step ahead of the game."

"And should our meetings always be reduced to a game?" asked Charlotte severely.

"Whenever I think I have won a point you foil me!" he cried in mock chagrin. "I should remember to never underestimate my adversary."

"Must we be adversaries?"

"Why, that is the sweetest thing you have ever said to me."

Charlotte blushed at the way he had turned her words back upon her. "I . . . I . . ."

"Did I yet tell you how very much your gown becomes you?" he asked softly.

Charlotte’s wits had returned. "I suppose you will go on to tell me how it brings out the amethyst sparkle in my eyes or the cherry tint of my lips."

"I had no intention of saying anything of the kind. I know the last thing you desire from me is empty compliments, and you must realise I have every intention of acceding to your wishes. I am not flattering or flirting when I honestly say that you are very pretty tonight."

Charlotte wished she had not been so flippant. Her remark had caused him to couch his flattery in such terms as to make it unimpeachable. She knew he was still flirting - he had to be for that was his nature - but she could not call him on it. He had been right when he said not to underestimate one’s adversary. She could not meet the eyes that were warmly regarding her.

"Come, is there anything wrong with telling you that you are pretty? If I have overset you I will take it all back. You are looking delightfully plain tonight, Miss Heywood. I think I must say there is not a plainer young lady in attendance." He smiled; she could hear it in his voice. The corners of her mouth lifted ever so slightly and she finally looked up to face him. "Very plain," he said gently, and his eyes never left hers.

Charlotte knew that she had to think of something to say to change the subject because she had completely lost control of the situation. She did not understand what was happening at all. She recollected the glass in her hand and took a sip. "I think I omitted to thank you for the lemonade," she said, her voice unsteady.

"Yes, and it was most ungracious of you," Sidney Parker said, leaning back and at once lightening the mood. "But I have long forgiven you for it."

After that they were able to converse freely. Charlotte’s ease returned and Sidney entertained her very well. That is not to say that he was no longer audacious, for he was. His humour was irrepressible, but he took great pains not to be so openly sincere again. They passed dinner with Tom and Mary and Mr Yardley who Sidney teased for having beat him out. He may have scored the first dance with Miss Lambe, but he regarded Mr Yardley’s achievement of escorting her home to have been the greater prize.

Charlotte enjoyed the rest of the evening dancing again with Mr Yardley and then the young gentleman who had sought an introduction earlier. She returned to her seat by Mrs Parker with every intention of sitting the last dance out and just watching from her secluded spot. Mr Parker approached with his brother; Charlotte knew he was to dance the last with his wife, but what Sidney was doing with him she had no idea.

Tom Parker bowed low before Charlotte. "As master of ceremonies, would you allow me to introduce this gentleman as a most desirable dance partner?"

She looked up to see Sidney’s eyes shining with delight. He had bested her again but she did not mind in the least. He had given her his word not to ask her to dance, but she had said nothing of the host performing that office. She acquiesced, surprised at the way her heart had begun to beat so rapidly. They took their places on the floor and began the first movements of the dance before Sidney spoke.

"I knew you would never ask me. I hope you don’t mind my subterfuge."

"Not in the least," she answered truthfully.

He smiled at her and she felt light-headed. Her hand was warm in his grasp. She put it all down to the long evening and the closeness of the room. There could be no other reason for it.

"Did you have a chance to read the book?"

"You only gave it to me this afternoon," she reminded him. Had it really been only that afternoon? It seemed like so much time had passed since then. "I did read a little of the first poem," she admitted.

"I stood tip-toe upon a little hill, 
The air was cooling, and so very still,
That the sweet buds which with a modest pride
Pull droopingly, in slanting curve aside, " he quoted.

"Yes. I do not profess to know much about poetry, but I liked it very well. He has a great feel for nature."

"He does," said Sidney. "And I think you belittle yourself. You understand poetry more than you are willing to admit. I see it in the way you talk, especially when you are with Miss Lambe, and the way you respond to the world about you."

In one night, Sidney Parker had managed to leave Charlotte bereft of words and confused not once, but twice. Happily the figures of the dance separated them and she was able to regain her composure before they met again. He resumed his joking manner and they continued to speak of the poetry to be found in Keats’ book without again returning to such an intimate level.

Charlotte had no idea why it affected her so when Sidney Parker lost all his flippancy and became serious and sincere. Hadn’t she always wished he did not see everything as one big joke? Hadn’t she always decried his flirting? She lay in her bed that night and tried to sleep, but visions of him looking deep into her eyes and saying, ‘Very plain,’ in a voice that assured her he meant the exact opposite, obtruded and sleep was hard come by.

 

CHAPTER ELEVEN

As she walked along the Terrace with Mrs Parker, Charlotte saw Clara Brereton sitting on a bench with Lady Denham and realised she had not seen either lady at the assembly the night before. Had she been too distracted by her dance partners, or had they not attended? It did not appear to her that a person like Lady Denham who so craved her due recognition as a community leader would miss an opportunity to reap any praise that might come her way.

Lady Denham did not leave her to ponder the question for long. The first words from her mouth addressed the very issue.

"I am never ill a day in my life," she announced, "so you can imagine how taken aback I was to suffer dreadful stomach cramps last evening. Miss Clara will vouch for the fact that I was completely debilitated, and she herself was a trifle queasy too. I blame the cook and the butcher – I have long believed them to be in league with each other. I pay for quality joints of beef, but what do they give me? I swear the meat was tainted, and overcooked in an attempt to hide the fact. Poston will no longer be in my service, mark my word, and that grasping Fathersham won’t be having my business, or that of any of my friends. You do not get your meat from him I trust, Mrs Parker? It is not fit to be eaten."

"I am sorry to hear of your indisposition," said Mrs Parker with concern. "You were sorely missed at the assembly."

"And after all I had done to promote it, I felt very badly used. There I was, banished to my chamber with only Miss Clara for company and not even able to let a glass of Madeira pass my lips, whilst the whole of Sanditon was enjoying the fruits of my labours."

She continued on in like manner, but Charlotte could no longer listen. Mr and Mrs Parker, and Miss Diana had done all the organisation of the event. All Lady Denham had managed to do was complain about the expense and wonder whether it would be well attended at all. She instead turned to Miss Brereton and enquired after her health.

"I am perfectly well. It was nothing but the ill effects of an overly rich meal."

"But, how unfortunate it was for you to miss the assembly."

"I have become well inured to my lot in life," said Clara, "and take every day as it comes to me. Was your evening pleasant?"

"Very," said Charlotte. "I do hope you will be able to attend the next assembly."

"It is really of little consequence," said Clara, looking away and biting her lip.

Charlotte had reason to believe that it did mean more to her companion than she let on, but knew better than to expect a confidence to be forthcoming. Instead she went on to speak of the music and the dances, and the adornment of the rooms.

"I imagine you were never in want of partners," said Clara.

"I did sit out one or two dances," said Charlotte, blushing slightly. She did not own that for those two dances she had been requested to sit out. She had still not resigned herself to Sidney Parker’s behaviour the night before, nor had she decided quite how she felt about it. That he did it to tease her, she was sure, but why he should take such interest in teasing her so remorselessly she could not fathom. It was better not to think of it at all, but for some reason her mind kept returning to it. She shifted the small parcel in her hand, and decided that there lay the reason. She was taking the book to Julia and it weighed upon her. She was still not certain how she was going to explain to her friend how it came into her possession and why she had been brought into duty to pass it on to her. Charlotte did not truly understand it herself.

Clara Brereton did not seem to mind Charlotte’s sudden pensive silence and sat quietly at her side, with all the appearance of paying rapt attention to Lady Denham’s conversation with Mrs Parker.

"And, if I were you, I would pay much stricter attention to all the household ledgers. Housekeepers will try to take advantage if you do not mind every little detail. I once found a charge of three pence for tapers, when I had seen a drawer full of them in the pantry not a fortnight before! I told Mayhew that if the staff had gone through such an amount in so short a time they could do without for the rest of the year. Well, they hardly need a light in their chambers do they, for how much time do they spend there? And now, I shall have to find a new cook, which is such a bother, because Poston had such a way with eel’s broth."

Mrs Parker murmured something that resembled sympathetic agreement the moment Lady Denham paused for a breath, and then announced that she must escort Charlotte to Miss Lambe’s door before returning to Trafalgar House to tend to her children. Lady Denham commented on the untrustworthiness of nursemaids and they said their adieus.

Julia met Charlotte in the main sitting room. The Beaufort sisters had not yet made an appearance that morning so she was alone save for Mrs Griffiths. After ten minutes conversation about the pleasures enjoyed the previous evening, Mrs Griffiths took up her needlework and moved to sit in a far window, allowing the girls a chance for private conversation.

"I can see there is something you wish to impart," said Julia.

Charlotte did not know how to begin. She held out the package and motioned for Julia to open it.

"What is it?" she asked and when she had unwrapped it, eyed Charlotte questioningly. "How came you by this?"

"Mr Sidney Parker brought it from London. He . . . I . . . we thought you would enjoy reading more of Mr Keats’ poems."

"Indeed, but I cannot take it. Is it not his gift to you?"

"No . . . not precisely." Charlotte blushed. It had seemed easier when he had asked it of her, but how to explain it without making it appear that she had accepted a gift from a gentleman, or had been coerced to act as an intermediary in delivering a gift from him to her friend? "Do not think it was a gift – it was loaned to me and I, in turn, am lending it to you."

"That is very kind of both of you," said Julia. "I will enjoy reading it very much."

"You may keep it for a long as you like."

"Thank you, but I am certain Mr Parker will want it returned shortly."

"I believe he has another copy."

Julia gave Charlotte a quizzical look but said nothing. She leafed through the pages and began to read, then apologised and placed the book on her lap. "It would not do for me to be reading when you have come to visit." They spoke instead of the assembly and Julia’s eyes sparkled as she recounted her dances. "The gentlemen were both so very gracious, and to think that Mr Yardley gave up a half hour of the entertainment to escort me home! I apologised to him for being such an imposition but he told me that going out of doors after the crowded ballroom was a welcome relief. He said that he finds such affairs dreadfully dull, but I cannot credit it."

"I suppose the gentlemen, so used to London seasons, do not find a small assembly so glamorous a novelty as simple folk such as us do," said Charlotte, "but you can depend on it, Julia, that his act was one of chivalry rather than boredom."

They were soon joined by the Beaufort sisters and all confidences were at an end. What was foremost in the thoughts of those young ladies was the superiority of their dress and the success they had garnered with the gentlemen, and they lost no time in expressing such things, and belittling their neighbours. Miss Letitia laughed at Julia’s praise of the music, saying that the orchestra was very substandard and that the smallest London soiree was sure to have much better. Miss Beaufort decried the rustic decorations and looked upon Charlotte disparagingly when she contended that the adornments of the ballroom were quite lovely enough for her tastes.

A commotion was heard at the outside door, and Miss Letitia rushed to the window to discover what was taking place.

"Just as you suspected, sister," she cried. "Mr Parker and Mr Yardley are paying a call. " She hurried back to her chair and settled herself most demurely.

"I knew they could not stay away!" said Miss Beaufort with a giggle. "This is a compliment to you, dear sister."

"Oh, no. To you." Miss Letitia attempted to look coy.

The gentlemen were announced and straightaway paid their respects to Julia and Charlotte before succumbing to the effusions of the Beauforts. Now everything about the assembly was lauded, and a great many leading comments resulted in flatteries that had the sisters giggling all over. "La, Mr Parker, how you do go on!" was heard time and again. Charlotte was contemplating how to politely excuse herself before Mrs Parker returned for her when Sidney Parker addressed Julia.

"I do not need to ask how you enjoyed your first assembly, Miss Lambe, because I could see it in your eyes last night. I trust you were not overtaxed."

"Not at all, sir." She looked down at her hands, and seeing the book of poetry lying in her lap, offered her thanks.

"No need to thank me," he responded. "It is Miss Heywood’s book to lend as she sees fit."

Julia glanced at Charlotte who turned a little red.

"Have you finished reading it yourself, Miss Heywood?" he asked in a lowered voice.

"Not yet. I wanted to pass it on as you . . . I knew Miss Lambe would enjoy to read it as soon as can be."

Julia was about to comment but Mr Yardley addressed her at that moment and began a conversation about the book in question, taking it from her hands and turning to a poem. He pointed out a few lines to illustrate his meaning and soon they were in a deep discussion to the exclusion of all else.

Sidney Parker took the opportunity to lean closer to Charlotte. "I had hoped you would read it first," he whispered, "then I could quote lines from your favourite of the poems and your heart would soften towards me."

"I am not like the . . . ladies you are used to . . . who delight in such meaningless flirtation." She turned her head away from him.

"I know that only too well."

"I wish you would stop," she said rather severely, but the dancing light in his eyes did not dim with her dissaproval.

Miss Letitia, not happy to observe a conversation she could not be part of, tapped Sidney on the arm with her fan and asked him if he would help her set her easel up on the Terrace.

"I have an overwhelming urge to draw," she exclaimed, " and the sea is just the subject I long to capture. Do you not think that if I place a quaint little cottage in the foreground and add a sailboat or two upon the choppy waves it will be perfection?"

"I would help you if I could," said Sidney, "but I have been entrusted by my dear sister Mary to attend Miss Heywood back to Trafalgar House. Maybe later in the day I will see you upon the strand and witness for myself how your inspiration progresses. I’m certain you will do the scene more than justice, improving upon nature with every pencil stroke."

Miss Letitia could not but feel disappointment at the first part of the statement, but soon reasoned that seeing Miss Heywood home was a duty and not a desire, so did not let any undue worries diminish the satisfaction the last part of his statement invoked.

Charlotte insisted there was no need for him to cut his visit short just to escort her because she was perfectly capable of making her way home on her own, but he leaned back in his chair leisurely and assured her he was entirely at her disposal. Mr Yardley stated his intention of accompanying them as far as the hotel and in a matter of minutes the three of them were out walking upon the cobbles.

"My friend and I dropped by this morning to visit you and Miss Lambe with the express purpose of inviting both of you for a walk tomorrow to that stretch of beach where we met last week. I did not want to make the suggestion in the Miss Beaufort’s presence, knowing that neither of you would like the privacy of your refuge to be breached. I also had visions of Miss Letitia burdening me with her easel and pencil boxes and all the other paraphernalia of her hobby. I do not relish being her pack horse."

"You would not have to envision such a problem if you did not encourage her attentions," retorted Charlotte.

"A direct hit! I am a sad, sad fellow indeed – but you have not answered my question. I think you owe it to Yardley and myself to accept, if only because we did not broach the subject before the Miss Beauforts. I think our consideration deserves a reward."

"But I cannot speak for Miss Lambe."

"I have already proposed it to Miss Lambe," said Mr Yardley unexpectedly, "and she said that if you were willing she would look forward to the outing."

"You are very sly, Yardley," said Sidney, grinning widely at him.

"I employed my time better than you," he responded with languid smugness.

"If I had not kept the Miss Beauforts occupied with my flirtations you would have lacked the opportunity." Sidney turned to Charlotte. "You cannot say nay now, Miss Heywood, knowing your dear friend is desirous of going."

"There is nothing preventing me, Mr Parker," answered Charlotte with a smile. "Miss Lambe and I may go on our own at any time, so my saying no to your invitation would not spoil her pleasure in the least."

"But it would greatly spoil mine. I think you are deliberately toying with me."

"She has been in your company too often, Parker, and learned some of your ways." Mr Yardley laughed softly at his friend. "Miss Heywood, I must leave you now but I will await my friend hopeful that he has won an affirmative response from you. Till tomorrow!" He bowed charmingly and sauntered over to the hotel door, waving casually at Sidney as he entered the establishment.

"I wonder why I suffer the impudent fellow," said Sidney in mock annoyance.

Charlotte was still laughing when he took her elbow and they resumed their walk up the hill. "What right you have to call anybody impudent . . ."

"How am I to regain favour in your eyes? You obviously think me beyond redemption."

"Which indeed you are," said Charlotte as Sidney had trouble keeping his face straight.

"Now that you have found me out, don’t you think it behoves you to reform my character? I would suggest making a start as we walk together to the beach tomorrow."

"I have a better plan; I could do much to improve your character at this moment by rejecting your offer of a walk, thereby causing you to understand that if you had been more politic in your request the result may have been more positive."

"There is much in what you say. I propose a truce. Come – let us shake hands upon it." He stopped in the middle of the road and held out his hand to Charlotte, a look of humble sincerity on his face. She smiled and took his hand, then he bowed low over hers and released it. As they continued walking he leaned closer and whispered in her ear. "Will 11:00 tomorrow morning at Miss Lambe’s be acceptable or should I await you at Trafalgar House?"

"You are incorrigible, sir - I have not yet agreed."

"I do my best," he said simply.

"I suppose you will not leave the subject alone until I do agree."

"You begin to understand me."

"I understand you only too well," said Charlotte, who truly felt she did not understand the man at all.

"There, now we may talk of other things," he said. "I have a great interest in your father’s farm."

"You do?" asked Charlotte in surprise.

"Did you not just say that you understand me well? Surely nothing I say should surprise you then."

"It would be more accurate to say that my understanding of you leads me to expect that you will always say something to surprise me."

"I am happy to have lived up to your expectations then," Sidney answered with a laugh. "Now tell me – what type of farmland is to be found in the environs of Willingden?"

Charlotte was grudgingly flattered that he recalled the name of the town where she was from, as it had only been mentioned the once upon their initial introduction. Though she was not sure that he could be truly interested in whether her father kept sheep or milk cows she was content to speak of her home until they had reached their objective. Sidney Parker entered the residence with her, saying that he had some business with his brother and excused himself from being a member of the company that evening. With a wink he reminded her of their engagement upon the morrow and then strode down the hall in the direction of Tom Parker’s office.

CHAPTER TWELVE

The evening was more interesting than Charlotte had anticipated. The family party, unenlivened by the presence of Sidney Parker, invariably conversed upon symptoms and cures, real and imaginary. Early in her stay at Sanditon Charlotte had been able to take some amusement from it, but now she felt deeply concerned at the way this fascination with illness held sway of her friends’ lives. Mr Parker and his wife were sensible with regard to their own health but prone to follow Diana’s lead when it came to their children. Arthur Parker, admittedly, was looking much healthier of late. His face had lost the puffiness and pallor that it had when he first arrived, but he still allowed his sisters to medic him unnecessarily. Diana Parker went about the neighbourhood attempting to diagnose and cure whomever she met with the same frightening zeal as always. The one person that truly worried Charlotte the most was Miss Susan. No matter all the possets and procedures, she remained in a weakened state which Charlotte believed was due in the main to the quackery she underwent. This evening, however, a very welcome shift in interest seemed to have occurred.

The children were testy, squabbling amongst each other and insisting that Miss Heywood, and not their Uncle Arthur who had most generously offered, take them up to the nursery and read to them in lieu of their Uncle Sidney. Charlotte had thought it would benefit both Arthur and the children if he were to see them to bed, but he readily gave way to their demands. She spent a half-hour above stairs with them, and almost lost her patience at the repetition of such declarations as, "Uncle Sidney makes ever so much better voices, Miss Heywood," or, "Uncle Sidney does not read quite so fast," or "Uncle Sidney always shows me the pictures first." Charlotte had two very conflicting overriding wishes: first, that she had never heard of Sidney Parker, and second, that he were there right now. She was reluctant to admit that part of the problem was she missed his presence almost as much as the children did.

When she returned to the drawing room she was surprised to discover that the topic of the evening was neither how to best relieve spasms of the lower back nor the relative merits of barley gruel as opposed to oat. They were speaking most animatedly of history.

That afternoon, while Charlotte had quietly sat mending with Mary Parker, the first meeting of the Sanditon Historical Society had been held in a back salon at the lending library. Mrs Whitby had been all too eager to open her establishment to the newly founded club.

"It is most unfortunate that you and Mary mistook the day, Miss Heywood, for you missed a most stimulating gathering - everyone was there, Lady Denham, Miss Clara, Sir Edward and his sister, those two very fashionable young ladies, the Reverend Dr Brooks . . ."

"I’ll wager my brother was not there," cried Tom Parker.

"Arthur was indeed, but if you mean Sidney I believe it would take even more than the presence of the prettiest girls in town to draw him or his cronies to what he would no doubt refer to as some stuffy event," responded Diana. And then turning to Charlotte once more, she continued, "It is of no great import that you did not attend for we can tell you all that was discussed and I will personally ensure that you do not miss our next meeting in a week’s time. I am sure there are many jobs left for you to undertake. Arthur is going to do research in Lady Denham’s library. Mr Hollis left rather a large collection of local documents, I understand. I am committed to go to the old family house tomorrow and look through the attics for some maps of the area I recall my father storing away. If I remember correctly, they were from the fifteenth century. Susan has even offered to study them, once I have dusted them thoroughly, of course. She reacts terribly to dust, especially that of old attics. The only thing that puts an end to her fits of sneezing is a liberal sniff of camphorated oil."

Charlotte wondered what possibly would ever have brought Susan into contact with the dust of attics the way she coddled herself and barely left her fireside, but was soon distracted from these thoughts by the lively conversation that had developed between brother and sister. Tom Parker insisted that the only maps in their family home were ordinance maps from 1750. Diana adamantly maintained that there were maps of the coast and charts showing waterways between the outlying islands.

"We only pretended they were ancient maps as children, when we played games of pirates and treasure."

"It was the maps that inspired those games, Tom. They were very old and the writing was quite unusual. Do not forget I am older than you are and my memory is one thousand times less muddled than yours. I will brave the dust and find those maps and prove it to you."

Arthur brought his chair closer to Charlotte’s and said, "I have no recollection of any maps at all, only a globe that my tutor kept prodding with a pointer whilst I had to shout out the names of each country. I had thought history dreadfully dull, but now my interest has been stirred. Dr Brooks was telling me of fortifications but fifteen miles down the coast. I mean to find all I can about them and then organise a tour for the society of which I will be the guide. Lady Denham is certain I will find information in the histories in her library. I intend to go there everyday until I am well prepared."

"Do you plan on walking to Sanditon House?" asked Charlotte, much surprised. Arthur assured her that he did, and seemed unconcerned that it was at least three times as far from his lodgings as Trafalgar House. He continued to regale her with his thoughts of the possibilities of refurbishing some of the old cannons at the site and doing a demonstration for the tour. He thought to station a derelict boat out in the harbour to use for target practice, describing how it could be decorated as a pirate ship. Charlotte had never been more entertained in his company and found herself quite drawn to the eager young boy that had emerged from his normally staid and stolid person.

~

Charlotte arrived to Julia’s lodgings on the Terrace promptly at 10:00 am and informed the maid that she would show herself in. Though it was early in the day the sun was already bright in the sky and the morning warm and salubrious.

"You will find Miss Lambe in the front salon, Miss," she said as she bobbed a small curtsy and hurried off about her work.

Charlotte opened the door to that parlour and entered quietly. She stopped still at the unexpected tableau before her. Julia was sitting in a dainty chair, the light from the window streaming in and circling her with its soft glow. Sidney Parker had his chair pulled up close to hers and was reading from an open book. His book. The book he had given her. She felt her throat tighten and a strange sensation akin to regret creep through her being. Mr Yardley was leaning against the mantle, looking on with his habitual nonchalance. Mr Parker’s voice flowed to her, its rich, warm tones bringing the feeling out of the words as he read.

"The light dwelt o’er the scene so lingeringly.
He bares his forehead to the cool blue sky,
And smiles at the far clearness all around,
Until his heart is well nigh over wound,
And turns for calmness to the pleasant green
Of easy slopes, and shadowy trees that lean
So elegantly o’er the waters’ brim
And show their blossoms trim."

Though she did not make a sound, Sidney Parker looked up towards the door and caught her eye. He did not falter as he read the last lines but the corners of his mouth turned up in the vestige of a smile.

"Miss Heywood, I felt sure that you had indeed acquiesced. Yardley doubted my contention, but Mrs Griffiths was confident you would appear, were you not Mrs Griffiths?"

It was only then that Charlotte noticed the older lady’s presence in the room.

"Good morning, Miss Heywood. The gentlemen arrived early and were favouring us with some poetry reading, and very lovely it has been too."

"Have you really agreed to go to the beach?" asked Julia eagerly.

"Yes I have," answered Charlotte, "for how could I deny you that pleasure?"

"I have asked cook prepare you a nice basket of food," said Mrs Griffiths as she lifted her bulk from the chair and bustled towards the door. "I will return with it directly."

It was not long before the party was ready to set out. Mr Yardley carried the basket and Sidney Parker a bundle of blankets upon which they were to have their picnic. Mrs Griffiths insisted that Julia take her parasol and they set out hastily, in case, as Sidney whispered, the Miss Beauforts should take it into their heads to rise early and insist on joining them. They walked in a group until they reached the path and then Charlotte found herself squired by Mr Yardley as they followed Julia and Sidney down the gentle slope of the trail. Though Charlotte admitted to herself that Mr Yardley was as entertaining a companion as usual she could not but wonder what it was that her friend and Mr Parker were discussing with such animation. She forgot to even give thought to that when she beheld the view that was set before them upon arrival.

The tide was high and lapping gently at the sandy curve of shore. The water took on an almost Mediterranean blue under the brightness of the summer sky. Julia sat to rest on her log and was joined by Mr Yardley who set his burden against it. Sidney Parker released his blankets to the ever-present light breeze and drew them smoothly across the welcoming sand. He dusted his hands off, turned to Charlotte and said. "Would you like me to turn my back now, Miss Heywood, so that you may remove your shoes and stockings? The sea looks particularly inviting this morning."

"There is no need," said Charlotte.

"Why ever not? I was sure you would want to gambol in the waves again this morning. Please do not let Mr Yardley’s and my presence hinder you."

"It is not that," said Charlotte, blushing slightly. "I have come prepared." She unobtrusively slipped her shoes off as she spoke and placed them beside the blanket.

Sidney noticed her bare toes peeking from beneath her light muslin gown and smiled. "Indeed you have," was all he said. He motioned for her to join him and they walked down to the water’s edge. "You do have an advantage over me because I am still in my Hessians."

"You shall spoil the leather if you are splashed," cried Charlotte.

"It is of no moment. It would be worse if you were to spoil your gown. You must lift it higher to prevent it from becoming wet."

"But then you should see my feet," said Charlotte, unthinkingly.

"Such pretty feet they are too. I see no harm in that."

"Please," said Charlotte. "I wish you wouldn’t."

"Consider it unsaid. Do not worry about your feet. They will be under the water and I will do my best to refrain from noticing them. I would like you to enjoy yourself."

Charlotte said nothing and looked down at the waves as they ran up the darkened sand and then retreated to the sea once more. Sidney Parker walked ahead for a spell and then stooped over a pile of sea wrack left by the departing water. He picked an object from it and then waded further into the tide ignoring the waves that surged about his ankles. He washed the article off and the returned to where Charlotte was standing and held it out to her.

"You are ruining your boots," Charlotte began to say, and then stopped when she saw what he was holding. It was a globe of blown glass, amber in colour.

"Take it," he urged.

She allowed him to place it in her cupped hands and held it up to the light. It was about five inches in diameter, slightly elliptical, the glass uneven in thickness and with fine bubbles sprinkled randomly in its surface. It was topped with a knob of thick glass with a heavy lip and a piece of twine twisted around and trailing from it.

"What treasure is this? I have never seen anything like it."

"Seemingly a jewel washed up by the sea, but it is only a float from a fisherman’s net."

"It is very beautiful."

"It is heavy and coarse compared to the creations of the Venetian masters and yet it has its own special charm, does it not? To think it is such a serviceable, practical object, and yet it is exquisite in its own right."

"True – look at how the sun catches the different thicknesses of the glass and is trapped by the bubbles within."

"As a lad I often had the task of tying such floats to the nets."

"How so?"

"I trust you drove past my old family home when you first came to Sanditon?"

"Yes. I thought it very snug with its gardens and pastures."

"I grew up there very happily, but even in my youth I was restless." That familiar glint of mischief was in his eyes. "I must confess I escaped my tutors every chance I got. My destination was invariably the same and after an hour or two of freedom I would be dragged home by my ear to my Greek and Latin studies once again. I followed the river to the fishing village, you see. I tried to cajole the fishermen to take me out to sea with them, but none would have me. I think they suspected that a mile or two from shore I would be begging them to return me again. And of course none would brave the wrath of my father."

"It was very wise of them not to take you out. To think if you should have fallen overboard."

"I should have known you would not commiserate with the injustice that they did me. They were, however, very patient with a young scamp such as I was and they allowed me to watch them mend their nets as they spun yarns to entertain me, each one more exciting and unbelievable than the last. My biggest treat was to be allowed to tie the floats to the nets, once I had been taught the correct knots, of course. This one," he said, indicating the globe she still held in her hands, "must have been of my handiwork, lost upon the waves for years until now the sea laid it at your feet."

"It was your feet, as I recall," said Charlotte, holding it out to him. "Here, take back your prize."

"No, the sea meant it for you. I know that as surely as the sun lights up the sky."

"I cannot keep it," said Charlotte.

"Then give it back to the sea. It is not my present, but a gift from the deep."

Charlotte placed it in the waves. She did not want to give it up but felt that she ought not keep it. The water pushed it back up to her feet and then receded without it.

"You see, it is meant for you," he said softly, and he turned and began walking back towards the others.

Charlotte gave the waves one more chance to reclaim their possession, and then picked it up as it was laid to rest upon her toes once more. She liked the feel of it in her hands. She held it close to her chest and followed Sidney Parker back up the loose, soft sand. She was surprised at how happy she felt under the intoxicating warmth of the sun. As she joined her friends and settled upon the blanket with them to partake of the repast that had been spread out, they all smiled at her and she smiled back with the fullness of her pleasure. She was too busy showing her glass bauble to Julia to notice that Sidney Parker could not keep his eyes from her.

That night as she lay in her bed she could not sleep though she knew she ought to be very tired after spending the greater part of the day out of doors. Mrs Griffiths had been quite concerned at the lateness of their return, a full four hours after their departure, and admonished the gentlemen for not keeping a closer eye on the time. To Charlotte it had not seemed that long at all. Mr Yardley and Sidney Parker paid their respects to Mrs Griffiths and then, after taking leave of everyone, walked back along the Terrace to the hotel. Charlotte sat with Julia until Mrs Parker came to claim her, the time spent harmoniously in quiet contemplation.

The remainder of the afternoon she passed with the Parker children under the white awning until it was time to retire and dress for dinner. There was no family party that evening, which was just as well, as Charlotte was not disposed to conversation. Tom and Mary Parker put it down to tiredness from being in the sun too long and encouraged an early bedtime. But somehow, sleep evaded her. There was a little trill of excitement that quickened her heart and kept her mind alert though her limbs were warm and heavy with the desire for sleep. Her eyes refused to close, but sought out her bureau. Upon it, lying full in the moonlight that shafted through her parted curtains, was the amber globe, its surface pearled by the kiss of the moon.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

When Charlotte awoke the first thing she saw was the blown glass float, the early morning sun glinting off its curved sides. She smiled and arose, opening her curtains wider and gazing out the Venetian window over the rooftops to the vast expanse of the sea. The maid came into her room with a jug of water and filled her basin. She washed and dressed quickly, eager to be downstairs and then out into the beautiful morning, certain that the day held nothing but pleasures for her. How could it not? Happiness was near overflowing. She did not stop to question its cause – instead she let it take hold of her. She relished the tingle of the cold water upon her face, the soft drape of the muslin gown against her skin, the bounce of her dark curls as she brushed and pinned them up.

The reflection in the mirror smiled back at her. She noticed how warm and brown her skin was, how bright her eyes. Gazing in the mirror was not her habit – normally she only looked to see that her hair was in place, but this morning she was suddenly arrested by the change in herself. Mr Parker’s health giving sea air must have worked its magic on her. She was pretty. She not only looked it, but she felt it. She shook her head and laughed at her vanity. She laid her brush down, held the glass ball up to the light and viewed the world through its warm amber hue. Then she placed a quick little kiss upon its smooth surface, returned it to her bureau, and almost ran downstairs.

The children begged for her company in the garden and she could not help but comply. They played at find the button, then hide and seek, then with the boys scampering madly behind them, Charlotte and little Mary picked some of the roses that were not too overblown and arranged them in vases.

"How does that look for the parlour?" asked Charlotte.

"Another pink one!" cried Mary, pulling a blossom from the pile upon the table.

"The very thing," said Charlotte as she placed it amongst her display and then breathed in the sweet perfume. "They smell heavenly."

"We must collect more to make rosewater," said Mrs Parker. "But now we can leave the children with their nurse and visit your friend Miss Lambe."

"Miss Heywood and I have not finished our bouquets," said Mary.

"I will do one more with you, then I must go," said Charlotte.

"You will spoil the children," said Mrs Parker complacently as she sat back again in her chair and watched the boys crawl in and out between the table legs almost upsetting it.

When they were shown into the parlour by Mrs Griffiths’ maid, Charlotte and Mrs Parker were surprised to find quite a few people already gathered there. Not only were Julia, Mrs Griffiths and the Beaufort sisters seated on the satin covered chairs, but Sir Edward Denham and his sister were also there, seated together on the divan. Upon their entrance Sir Edward arose and offered his place to Mrs Parker and then took a chair on Julia’s right.

Charlotte found herself a spot in the last available chair, between Miss Letitia and Miss Denham. Even to be placed so far from her friend and in such unwelcome company did not dampen her spirits. She valiantly attempted to converse with Miss Esther and tried not to let the one-word responses put her off. In the end she gave up and listened to what she could hear of the discourse between Sir Edward and Julia.

"Miss Lambe, poetry is truly an animate manifestation. The vitalisation of every syllable that pen places on paper – mere inanimate objects that promulgate the very essence of the poet’s deepest impressions of mortality. To but compose a verse! Would that I had the time, drafting line upon line of metre and rhyme is how my days would be whiled away. But you must know I am caught up in the exigencies of the cruel world. I am in the process of having a Cottage Ornee constructed. Delightful as it sounds the demands upon my time are innumerable. Builders are a churlish lot – forever mistaking one’s directions and misinterpreting the architect’s propositions."

"That is most unfortunate," replied Julia.

"But you, Miss Lambe," he continued. "You are able to devote your time to the perusal of all the accomplishments of the masters of literature. The wordsmiths that place the resplendent revelations of their erudition within our very grasp. I am all envy and at the same measure filled with gratification that your time is not wasted upon the mundane as is mine. Though I feel you would find my cottage most enchanting if you were to lay your eyes upon it – picturesque to the extreme. I told my architect that I wanted the cottage to enkindle all who beheld it. A building ought to reflect its owner in every manner possible and this is the consummation I anticipate from my foray into the business of construction."

"And you believe the builders have not done the designs justice?"

"Dear lady, were I to have your opinion on the matter I would know how to judge. Your delicacy of taste must exceed mine. I have long endeavoured to assimilate the appreciation of style and elegance but a lady’s mind is more finely attuned to form and proportion. I would have you see it, if only we could contrive an outing. A tour of inspection, as it were, during which you could enlighten me as to the veracity of my unpretentious conception of a simple, humble dwelling place."

"I do not know if that could be arranged. How very far is it?"

"But a stone’s throw from here. Why, a promenade along the shore of the somnolent sea, terminating in no time at all at the baroque edifice of my future abode would make a morning’s outing for any group we can put together. Surely there are some in our number today who would welcome just such an excursion."

Sir Edward then applied to Mrs Griffiths and the Beaufort sisters, and on having their approval extended his invitation to the rest of the company. Charlotte did not relish the idea of spending a morning with such company, but Julia gave her a beseeching look and she agreed to be one of the party. Miss Denham then reminded her brother that they were expected at their aunt’s and the two took their leave. The Beaufort sisters insisted on walking out with them as far as the library and soon Charlotte and Julia were able to have an intimate tête-à-tête.

"I hope you do not mind so very much," said Julia about the proposed outing. "I have no great desire to go myself but I did not see any way out of it."

"You are quite right. It would have been impolite to have refused without a prior engagement. But we can hope that he may invite some additional guests whose conversation will be more to our liking."

Julia giggled. "I ought not to say this, but do you not think Sir Edward speaks very strangely?"

"I’m afraid he counts his syllables when he chooses his words," said Charlotte. "If there are too few, he searches out longer ones."

"He appears to enjoy poetry very much, though."

"Yes, but most unfortunately he has even less understanding of it than I."

"I think you understand much more of poetry than you give yourself credit for," said Julia. "Would you like me to return your book? I know you have not yet finished it."

"It is not my book, truly. It was meant always for you to borrow and read as much as you liked."

"Are you certain? From something Mr Parker said to you the other day I was sure that he desired you to read it also."

Charlotte flushed. "He enjoys teasing me – that is all. He thinks I am not well-read."

"I do not think that is the case. If you insist I will keep the book longer. In truth I am loath to part with it, but the poems are so lovely I should like you to read them all as well."

"Thank you," said Charlotte. "I promise you I shall as soon as you are done."

For the extent of her visit Charlotte anticipated an interruption from additional callers, but no one else appeared. Mrs Parker conversed quietly with Mrs Griffiths leaving the two girls free to enjoy each other’s company. Julia brought out a small collection of shells from her homeland. They were in a rosewood box inlaid with mother of pearl, and nestled in a bed of pale blue silk.

"Like the ocean that gave them to me," said Julia.

They were exquisite – the shapes and the patterns – and completely unknown to Charlotte who was accustomed to the blue-black shells of muscles or the ridged and greyish, flat clam shells that turned up on the Sanditon shore. Studying them and listening to Julia talk about her life on the islands almost completely distracted her from thinking of who might be now in the street about to knock upon the door. That preoccupation did nothing to diminish the pleasure she derived from being with her friend nor did it lessen the ebullience that had filled her since the morning. She was happy and certain in her knowledge that at some point in the day her expectations would be fulfilled. She did not think much beyond that. She did not acknowledge to herself exactly what or who it was she was hoping for.

That evening at dinner, Mr Parker turned to his wife. "I saw Sidney when I went by the hotel this morning. Up to his old tricks again, that boy."

Charlotte’s eyes turned to her host at the mention the name. Her fork, on its way to her mouth, was laid to rest on her plate once again. Her cheeks flushed, her eyes brightened. She wondered what sort of ribbing Sidney Parker had put his brother through.

"Which tricks would those be, Tom?" asked Mary.

"You know how it has been such a surprise his staying with us so long, the way he is usually dashing here or there all over England. How many days is it he has been here and only two short jaunts to London?"

"Above a fortnight, to be sure."

"Aye, well above a fortnight. I make it nigh on three weeks."

Mrs Parker thought for a moment. "It cannot be more than eighteen days, for our own dear Miss Heywood was with us only two weeks when he arrived and has only just completed one month a day or two ago."

Charlotte started at that. One month? How the time had flown. July gone and August just begun. By the end of the month she would be back home with her family again. A moment earlier time had seemed to stretch before her endlessly but now suddenly it was curtailed. Would this month disappear so very quickly as the last? She had become accustomed to being with the Parkers, playing with their children, socialising with Diana and Susan, Arthur and Sidney, over the long summer evenings. Had she really only known Sidney Parker for eighteen days – less because he had been gone for at least four or five during that time? It seemed he had been teasing her with his words, his eyes, and his smile for much longer than that. Her attention was caught again by the conversation. Mr and Mrs Parker were still undecided as to how long Sidney had stayed in Sanditon.

"It is immaterial whether it was eighteen days or twenty," announced Mr Parker as he became mixed up again in his calculations. ""The point I am attempting to make is that he has settled here for a singular length of time. I was beginning to suspect him of developing an interest in one of the young ladies hereabouts." Mr Parker leaned back in his chair and looked expressively at his wife. She, in turn, glanced at Charlotte who flushed a rosy red. "One of those Beaufort sisters perhaps, or that little heiress Miss Lambe, though why he should be chasing a fortune, I have no idea. He has a tidy sum of his own, has he."

Mrs Parker turned to look at Charlotte again, this time with a growing concern, and then back at her husband. "You were beginning to think that," she said slowly, "but now he is up to his old tricks again?"

Charlotte did not miss the change of tone in Mrs Parker’s voice. She had already been made to feel uncomfortable by Mr Parker’s suppositions and her own foolish blushing. She felt a little chill go through her. Picking up her fork, she moved the food about her plate, but could not eat any.

"Indeed!" said Mr Parker. "I no sooner enter his room but I find him packing his portmanteau. ‘Of to London again?’ I say. ‘No,’ says he, ‘Hampstead.’ Hampstead? You may imagine I railed him about that. Why ever would he want to go to Hampstead when he could be here with us partaking of our salubrious sea air and not out on some stifling heat-sodden moor?"

"Perhaps he intends to visit friends."

"And that’s the long and short of it. Going to visit some young poet friend in Well Walk."

"But he means to return?"

Charlotte could not take her eyes off Mr Parker as she waited for the answer. Mary Parker had asked the very question she would have if could have brought herself to speak. But her voice had disappeared along with her ability to move.

"I asked him the very same. He said yes, but when pressed did not know if he would be two weeks or four. ‘But,’ said I, ‘what of our assembly next week?’ He gave me a half-hearted grin and replied that we may well see him there. But for that, he made not one jest. I have never seen him with a more serious mien. His friend Yardley soon joined us, as impeccably attired as ever, and announced the carriage was waiting in the street. Sidney said his quick goodbyes and was off, just like that."

"He is already gone?" asked Mary. "Without seeing the children first? They will be disappointed."

"He sent his dearest love for them, and for you," said Mr Parker, "and he bade me extend his regrets to all his friends in Sanditon, and his best wishes. I do hope he has not broken one of those young ladies’ hearts. He flirted with them quite shamelessly, you know, and they might not have understood that it was only his way."

Mr Parker sighed and continued on about the sad capriciousness of his brother and how his lively presence would be missed. Charlotte did not know how she managed to maintain her composure for the rest of the meal. She knew that she answered any questions which were directed at her, though she knew not what she had said. She supposed that she had even eaten something for she had been taught not to leave food upon her plate, but whatever she had eaten, she had tasted none of it. As soon as the covers were removed she excused herself, pleading a headache, which was true enough. She ran up to her room, not with the buoyant excited step that she had used to run down the stars in the morning, but with a heavy sense of desperation.

She closed the door behind her and all the strength that had been holding her together fled with the click of the latch. Tears she did not know she had been holding back streamed down her cheeks. The amber float sat on her bureau as a reminder of her own frailty. She had done what she had never intended to do. She had let herself be beguiled with sweet words and tender looks. Sly smiles. All her good sense had not been able to protect her from someone as competent as he. When flirting and flattery would not do the job he had won her over with kindness, camaraderie, and a glass ball. And she knew that he was not to blame. He could not help himself. As his brother had said, it was his way. He did what someone as charming as him could do nothing to avoid. He charmed. And now he was gone.

The counterpane nestled her body with its warmth as she lay her head upon the pillow. Her tears had stopped and she felt nothing but alone. The rest of the month, which had at one moment seemed so short, now yawned before her. She would have to fill those days somehow with pointless conversations and agonising outings. At least she had Julia – someone she could still look forward to spending her time with. And the children, if only they did not talk too much of their Uncle Sidney. She could always write to her family and ask them to say they needed her back at home sooner. But no. That was a coward’s way out. What had really happened anyway? She had permitted herself to form a tendre for an engaging man. Nothing more than that. It was not as if she had allowed her heart to be broken.

Charlotte got up and walked over to the dresser. The glass orb sat upon the wood, glowing faintly in the evening light. She picked it up and held it. Carried it back to the bed with her. It would be a reminder, she told herself. She would be just like it. Smooth and impenetrable, but sparkling in the sun. She would not repine because she had been foolish. Because she had been captivated by light-heartedness. And if Sidney Parker should return to Sanditon before she took her leave, she would not be swayed again. She had known from the first not to fall under his spell, and it was up to her not to delude herself again that he meant anything at all when he looked at her that was any different from what he meant when he looked at anybody else. What she felt could not be changed, but her heart was now encased with glass so she was safe, at least, from herself.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The social life of Sanditon went on much the same as usual without Sidney Parker there. The young people met on the Terrace, went for strolls on the sand, and attended the next meeting of the historical society. Arthur Parker and Sir Edward, now being the premier young gentlemen in town, were pursued relentlessly by the Beaufort sisters who needed to have an object in order to be content. The two gentlemen, however, were just as intent upon evading those two young ladies in favour of two others. If Charlotte’s spirits were not quite so low she would have found the whole scenario amusing. She could not help but reflect that Sidney Parker would have been highly diverted. And then she had to chastise herself for thinking of the man at all.

She ought not to have had time to brood, as she was soon caught up in a variety of activities that left her little time to even visit Julia. There was no chance of them escaping again to their private beach – not that Charlotte regretted that. She did not want the memories of her last visit there stirred and brought again to the forefront. Instead she trimmed a gown for the coming assembly with little interest, entered resignedly into plans for the pending tour of Sir Edward’s elaborate cottage, and agreed to accompany Diana to the old family house whilst she searched the attics for the maps she insisted were stored there.

Charlotte managed only one morning alone with Julia, two days after the departure of Sidney Parker and Mr Yardley. It was not a satisfying visit. Julia shared none of her surprise or unease at the unexpected quitting. The gentlemen had both called upon her as they passed by her door on their way to Hampstead. Something twisted inside Charlotte when she learned that her friend had been afforded this respect. Clearly Julia Lambe meant more to either gentleman than she. Charlotte knew she ought feel happy for Julia, but that pleasure was obscured by her own sense of ill-use.

When Charlotte arrived at the old Parker home with Diana, she wished she had not come. If anything was designed to bring on a bout of homesickness, it was the visit to a house that gave the appearance of containing all the comforts of her dear home, yet had been left an empty shell. The caretakers, the Hilliers, lived in a small cottage on the grounds and maintained the thriving vegetable gardens. The house was in Holland covers, kept dusted and aired but uninhabited. Rooms that should have been ringing with the laughter of children and the golden notes of music from the pianoforte in the drawing room rang with hollow echoes instead. And all about were mementoes of Sidney Parker, as if the ghost of the child he once was walked with them.

Diana Parker could not enter a room but to recount some tale from her youth, and Sidney’s exploits reigned amongst them. It was there that Sidney had poked his finger through the screen to surreptitiously watch Susan’s early suitors; there that he slithered through the window and to the branch of the ancient oak to escape his tutors; there that he stood up to his elder sister when she ordered him to bed. Charlotte was momentarily diverted by thoughts of either Susan or Diana having suitors, as they were now such inveterate old maids. Why had neither ever married? She dared not broach the question but Diana, as she rambled from one memory to another, answered it for her.

They had just entered the old schoolroom, and Diana sat at one of the old desks.

"Sidney played a naughty trick on Susan one day, as he sat at this very desk. It was nigh on twenty years ago. The little scamp was all but ten. I will say he had excellent penmanship for one so young. A pity he had no understanding of propriety. She was seventeen, and full of the desire to be in love. Her suitor was a callow youth – the son of a gentleman farmer, but quite beneath us in standing. That rascal Sidney befriended the young man and gave him encouragement. He convinced him that he ought write my sister poetry to woo her, but the poor boy had no idea how to go about it. So, when Sidney should have been doing his lessons, he sat at this desk and composed an ode, then managed to pass it on to Susan’s would-be swain. The young man really ought to have read it first!" Here Diana began laughing softly. "Since then Sidney has learned what to say to please a lady, as you no doubt have evidenced, such a sad flirt he is, but at the age of ten he thought there was nothing more delightful than horses and dogs. To have her hair likened to that of a prize spaniel did not please Susan, to say the least. She sent the young man off with a flea in his ear, and when Sidney confessed the whole to her she told him she was well pleased that it had happened because a man who could not write his own poetry, or even bother to read a poem written for him that he intended to pass off as his own, was not worth the time of day. It is well, too, that neither of us married. I could never give up the nursing of Susan to care for a husband and she feels likewise."

Charlotte was overwhelmed by all this talk of the very person she was attempting not to think about, but Diana’s characteristic energy returned and she became intent in finding the maps again. The wraith of young Sidney was dismissed back into the shadows. She led Charlotte up the narrow stair into the attics where a servant had already opened the windows and dusted in preparation of the visit. Charlotte saw the globe Arthur had spoken of hidden under the eaves beside a lopsided rocking horse. She glanced out the window and could see the fishing village in the distance; a few rustic shacks huddled around the river’s mouth. She could almost hear Sidney Parker’s voice telling her again of his visits with the fishermen, the net mending, and the tying of the floats.

"Here we are," cried Diana victoriously as she pulled some parchment rolls from the bottom of an old trunk. "Just as I said!" She spread out the rolls on a table under the window and found them to be ordinance maps from 1750. "Oh! These are not the ones I remember. I must keep looking." She left them where they lay and returned to her trunk.

Charlotte noticed that one of the rolls had fallen to the floor. She picked it up and rolled it out. It was different from the rest, made of thicker paper and more yellowed with age. A coastline was clearly visible, and islands, but the writing was archaic and difficult to decipher.

"Miss Parker, I think this may be the map you were speaking of."

Diana bustled back to her side. "Yes it is! Just as I told Tom, and he insisted that I was mistaken. You see, Miss Heywood, my memory is infallible. I am never wrong. Why, only yesterday I recalled where I had misplaced the friars’ balsam that I needed for the vicar, and I have committed to memory the best recipe for and elderberry tonic that was told to me on the Widow Cranston’s deathbed not twelve years ago. I knew I would find this map! Now let us depart this attic before the dust and mould attack our throats. I am very prone to a putrid sore throat. I should have brought liquorice lozenges with me – no matter. I will see to it that you have some before the night is out. It would not do for you to awake in the morning all feverish and miss the outing that has been so many days in planning. Fancy! A cottage ornée! I am quite tempted to attend myself, though I know I will be of no use to anyone in the morning. This house always brings on my severest complaints."

Charlotte did not regret leaving the house. It had filled her with too much longing for an impossible dream. The images it brought to her of family life were best left unexplored because in those unwitting fancies, Sidney Parker was grown again and the children that played about the hearth had his smile and her eyes. The mind was a very deceptive thing, and obviously not to be trusted. She longed for her own home - her own parents, her brothers and sisters - and she knew that it was this desire that had brought those beguiling visions to her brain, nothing else. Once she was home again these silly ideas would no longer invade her thoughts. She would again be her rational self. But she had close on three weeks left in her visit with the Parkers. How fortunate it was, then, that the residents of Trafalgar House rarely ventured to old Sanditon, and the only time she would pass by the house again was when she was safely on her way to Willingden once more.

~

Unfortunately, when Charlotte awoke there was not even the littlest tickle in her throat. Diana had already succumbed to illness the night before, and sent over the liquorice lozenges by her willing brother’s hand. Arthur drank his cocoa beside the fire and tended solicitously to Charlotte’s every need. Either his good care of her or her sturdy constitution had protected her from any illness; there was nothing to prevent her from joining Sir Edward’s tour.

The party met at the proposed time by the green benches on the Terrace. Sir Edward took it upon himself to escort Julia Lambe personally, indulging her with his edifying conversation, while Miss Letitia walked at his other side, twirling her parasol and attempting to direct his attention upon herself with many a superfluous comment. Sir Edward’s conversation was in need of no one’s words but his own – which was as well because it is doubtful that anyone listening truly understood his elaborately phrased sentences, including himself.

Miss Beaufort and Miss Denham were displeased to find themselves escorted by the vicar who seemed intent upon proving his scant knowledge of architecture in general and the current mode of cottages ornée in particular. Charlotte and Miss Brereton took up the rear with Arthur Parker assiduously ensuring that they were both well wrapped against the mild breeze and at the same time not about to be overheated by the strength of the sun. He lamented that neither had had the forethought to bring a parasol and had to end up conceding that their straw bonnets would have to suffice. All the older ladies had opted to remain upon the Terrace for a spell and then return with Mrs Griffiths to the lodgings for some tea.

The day was clear and the breeze refreshing. They struck out to the south-west, in the opposite direction of the secluded beach, and further east, the fishing village. Arthur was surprisingly entertaining as he spoke of battles that had been fought not too far off coast between excise officers and rum-running pirates. Clara Brereton joined in with informed comments and Charlotte found herself with little need of taking much part in the conversation itself. She had already discussed the map with Arthur the night before, and as all her reading for the historical society concerned natural history, she hardly thought a dissertation upon the mollusc Mercenaria mercenaria would be relevant to the debate.

They came upon a rise and followed a wide path that led up from the sand to Sir Edward’s property. Porticoes and gables could be seen rising above a stand of young trees but still did not fully prepare Charlotte for the unusual sight awaiting her on the other side. The cottage was built of both stone and brick. Columns, arches, domes, buttresses, and about any architectural element one could think of were all combined in a house of small proportions but large ambitions. There were windows of all description: wide, narrow, mullioned, leaded, all of varying sizes. Wide stairs led to an imposing entrance which dwarfed the façade of the structure. Sir Edward proudly held out his arm and cried, "Voila!"

Charlotte was not the only one who was rendered speechless, but soon enough Miss Letitia found her voice and was not sparse with her effusive praise. She left little for anyone else to say, which doubtless most took as a blessing.

"Sir Edward! Not one word you have uttered prepared me for such a fashionable and stylish abode. I was expecting a cottage of quaint and countrified design but instead am presented with such an exquisite rendering. Who could ever have imagined such . . . variety of form . . . such originality of vision? I believe you have quite outdone yourself."

‘Who indeed,’ thought Charlotte. ‘This is architecture run amuck.’

Sir Edward preened. "I must admit that the very essence of the conception for this erection is born of my enlivened mind. The mere architectural challenges that ensued were nothing to the imaginative process that undertaking a project of this magnitude entails. I truly feel that poetry of thought and unity of form have combined to a symbiosis of emotive ingenuity that is rarely found in the buildings of our day. Every classical period has such merit that should not be ignored; combined they are both the antithesis and the epiphany of mankind’s struggle to provide sanctuary from nature’s ramifications and magnificence to restore his burdened consciousness."

"It is truly inspired," Miss Beaufort gasped, not to be outdone.

Sir Edward bowed in acceptance of their praise and then led the way in to the cottage. They went from small, oddly shaped rooms up inconvenient staircases and along tall, dark corridors. The interior was in the process of being embellished with baroque adornments, painted ceilings, and Chinese lacquered panelling. Throughout the tour Sir Edward offered Miss Lambe delicate asides that made her shiver and wonder at his intentions towards her. He smiled, he gave her knowing glances, and once or twice he even kissed her hand and murmured incomprehensible but obviously flirtatious sallies. When they left the building the increased raptures of Miss Beaufort enabled her to extricate herself from his company and she joined Charlotte with some great measure of relief.

"Do not leave me," she whispered. "I could not abide to be in his company again. His conversation has given me a headache and his insinuations are making me ill."

"We must depart at once," said Charlotte, immediately repentant that she had not thought of her friend’s misfortune in companions, only of her own luck not to have to have put up with the gentleman’s attentions herself. She looked around and spied the vicar who was standing to one side, a look of bemusement upon his face. When he heard that her friend was taken ill and they had no desire to upset the rest of the party by calling a halt to everybody’s amusement, he agreed to escort them back to the Terrace by the shortest route possible.

They made their excuses and were soon on their way, sent off with Sir Edward’s protestations and the Beaufort sisters’ insincere wishes that dear Miss Lambe had not suffered a setback to her frail health. Arthur Parker assured Charlotte that he would be only too happy to take the vicar’s place, but she insisted that he not disrupt his outing on her account and reminded him that he had two young ladies who were relying upon his escort and companionable conversation.

The vicar took Julia’s arm and conscientiously squired both ladies along a level path that he assured them would bypass the beach and bring them back to Sanditon in short order. He made quiet conversation, showing his confusion at the unusual design of the cottage but with so much tact that he did not criticise Sir Edward's taste or the veracity of the structure in any way. His soft voice was soothing, and though Charlotte would well have appreciated the type of amusing comments she knew a different companion would have had no compunction about regaling her with, she understood that his calming discourse was just what Julia’s overburdened mind needed. Besides, the person she was thinking of was miles away and someone she had pledged to think about no more. Sometimes it was very difficult to keep one’s vows.

By the time they arrived to the Terrace, Julia appeared to be considerably better, but Charlotte was still worried about her. They both thanked the vicar for his kindness and invited him into the house but he declined, saying that he had much parish work left unattended. Mr’s Griffiths was instantly distressed at the thought that Julia had taken ill and hurried her off the bed the instant the situation was explained to her. Julia had little time to do more than beg Charlotte to come by in the morning so that they could talk. She assured her that she would be well, and Charlotte truly hoped that that would be the case.

For the rest of the day Charlotte chastised herself for her selfishness in being so caught up in her own concerns. She knew that Julia was not only still frail of health, but shy and unused to the company of strangers; and yet she had allowed her to be monopolised by Sir Edward who, by his conversation alone, was a most trying companion. The thought of him insinuating himself upon her friend in some other way was deeply disturbing. In the short time of their acquaintance it was extremely unlikely that he had formed a sincere attachment to her. To Charlotte’s knowledge they had not been in each other’s company above five times. Her wealth, then, was the magnet that drew him. Charlotte was filled with revulsion and an overriding need to protect Julia from any unwelcome proposal he might make. She had no reason to think there could be any further danger than that.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

 

The afternoon of the assembly Tom Parker had given up all hopes of his brother Sidney attending. There had been no word from him but his quick note upon arrival to Hampstead that spoke only of his settling in at the inn closest to his friends’ lodgings. As she was making her preparations for the evening, Charlotte found that her anticipation of the event was lacking. There was no thrill of excitement as there had been just two short weeks ago. She dressed her hair, attached her earrings to her earlobes, and wrapped herself in her Spanish shawl with barely a glance at her reflection. It was only Julia’s artless enthusiasm that managed to lift her spirits.

They were able to place themselves in the same corner they had claimed at the previous ball. Julia settled into her chair, her eyes shining.

"You must think me foolish to take such simple pleasures," said she. "I know that I will be relegated to dance with partners that hold no attraction, but it is the music that delights me, and the colour and spectacle of it all."

"Not at all. In truth your example is very good for me. Instead of becoming cross at the thought of Sir Edward claiming my hand for a set and having to bear his conversation for a full half-hour I shall relish all the other entertainments the evening should provide."

With such great philosophy for the enjoyment of the evening the two girls were able to bear the company of the Beaufort sisters with equanimity when they approached to pay their respects. They were full of empty compliments, which were designed only to bring attention to the superiority of their own dress. Soon they were gone; it was their purpose to spread their civility evenly throughout the company so not one of their friends would be left unaware of their elegance and fashion. This suited both Charlotte and Julia who would happily have spent the entire evening in private conversation.

The first set, however, brought Tom Parker with two hopeful young gentlemen who requested and were bestowed the honour of a dance. Later they were each claimed by both Arthur Parker and Sir Edward in turn. The evening was well underway before Charlotte found the opportunity to sit once more and enjoy watching the figures of the dance from her alcove. She was quite pleased with herself that she had barely thought of Sidney Parker. It had been impossible not to compare his light step and grace of movement with the performance of any of her partners, or his cheery banter to their polite conversation, but other than that he had not entered her head. That she had noticed no one’s form or feature came close to being as attractive as his own was inescapable. But she was not longing for him to look upon her with his laughing eyes or languishing dejectedly in sorrow. She was not thinking of what ifs and might have beens; she would not let regret of him displace her tranquillity.

There was a disruption at the door as late arrivals made their entry. Charlotte allowed her attention to be diverted and looked up to see three gentlemen standing just beyond the doors and scanning the room. Mr Yardley held himself with his usual insouciance, Captain Mittering appeared eager. Sidney Parker stood back, behind the two, his face drawn and tight. Charlotte barely registered the presence of the other two men. She felt a sharp pain flush through her body and settle to a deep ache. She fought to control it - to compose herself. Her hands shook and she held them together tightly until her knuckles showed white. He had not yet seen her or looked her way. She wanted only for him to turn his head and smile. For that unaccustomed severity to fall from his countenance.

It was Captain Mittering who saw her first and he broke into the friendliest of smiles before turning and apprising his friends. Charlotte gave a smile and turned away. She knew she had been caught staring. Now they were all three coming her way and she strove to settle her features into their customary open cheerfulness though she was feeling anything but cheerful. If she had thought forgetting Sidney Parker difficult while he was gone, she knew now that keeping her heart shielded from him while he was present would be a daunting task.

Charlotte hardly knew what she said as she greeted the gentleman but all the common pleasantries were exchanged. Captain Mittering was more than delighted to become reacquainted. Mr Yardley said what was polite and cast his eyes back to the dance floor. Sidney Parker was unusually silent, speaking only in greeting and then standing, fidgeting, beside his friend. She had never before seen him ill at ease and knew not what to ascribe it to. As the set ended the captain applied to her and she accepted, relieved to be taken away from Sidney Parker and the tumult of feelings he had stirred in her. At the same time Julia was claimed by Mr Yardley who hoped she would not be too tired to return directly to the dance floor from which she had come. Charlotte noticed her smile and blush in assent.

As she danced, Charlotte was glad that Captain Mittering kept up a steady flow of conversation. She needed all the distraction he could afford to prevent her eyes from wandering back to where Sidney Parker was leaning up against the wall. The next time she looked he was no longer there and she found him further along, talking with his brother who was heartily slapping his back.

"I had just been asking if you still walk upon the beach with such regularity as you used to when I was last here," said Captain Mittering, "but you appear to be very deep in thought."

"I do apologise," said Charlotte. "I have no other excuse than that my mind wandered and that I blush to admit for it does not reflect well upon me."

"It reflects well upon neither of us," said Captain Mittering with a laugh, "but I will take it in good stead and attempt to make my conversation more appealing. You are no doubt accustomed to much better conversationalists than I, in fact I do recall a certain gentleman - Sir Edward, if I remember correctly."

Charlotte tried to hold back a gurgle of laughter. "He practices a very fine art of discourse which I am afraid is completely lost upon me."

"I could not understand one word in ten that he ever spoke," said Captain Mittering. "I must confide in you that I was constantly in a quake that he should want a response for I was utterly lost by the first sentence."

"A military man like you, overcome by conversation?"

"’Tis a sad fact. I only hope that whilst on a campaign the enemy never catches wind of it."

"I am pleased you were able to leave your military duties and come to Sanditon once again," said Charlotte.

"I too. My friend Sidney has taken a queer start which I am at a loss to understand – I hope that I can bring him out of it."

Charlotte wanted to hear more but could not bring herself to ask, and he immediately changed the course of the conversation back to his original question about walking on the beach. They spoke lightly until the end of the dance, but Charlotte’s mind kept returning to Captain Mittering’s oblique statement and wondering why the carefree Sidney Parker appeared so subdued, to the point that he was causing his friend such concern.

Captain Mittering returned Charlotte to her chair just as Mr Yardley and Julia came from the floor. All four sat together, conversing in a relaxed manner with all the ease of old friendship. Though the captain had not met Julia before, he had such an amiable nature that she was completely free of her shyness about him.

Sidney came back from talking with his brother and looked as though he was about to approach Charlotte when the Beaufort sisters descended from the opposite direction. They were not content to wait for the gentlemen to favour them with their company and not at all averse to forwarding their charms.

"Mr Parker!" cried Miss Letitia. "It has been such an age since you were gone! Sanditon has been dreadful dull without you."

"But there was enticement enough here to draw you and your friends back, was there not?" said Miss Beaufort coquettishly.

"Sister, it is very bad of you to say so," giggled Letitia. "Whatever will the gentlemen think?"

"The fine weather and the beaches, indeed," said Sidney with a light smile.

"You have not yet danced tonight, Mr Parker," said Miss Beaufort. "Both your friends have been upon the floor."

This comment did not elicit the invitation that she wished for. Her efforts received merely a nod.

"But you arrived so very late," said Miss Letitia, lacing her voice with sympathy. "I fear you travelled all day and must be terribly tired."

"I am not such a weak soul as you would make me out," said Sidney.

"Aye," put in Captain Mittering, coming to his friend’s rescue. "Parker would be behind the reins all day if we let him. There is nothing he enjoys more than driving, and it has never fagged him yet."

"You dance very well, Captain Mittering," crooned Miss Letitia, seizing her chance.

"Thank you, ma’am," he said. "If you have the inclination I would be honoured to lead you out."

"Oh! Sir, you are too kind. I had thought to sit out for the rest of the evening, but as you so wish it, I would be delighted to oblige you."

"I will come for you when the next set is starting," he said gallantly.

Miss Beaufort looked eagerly at the other two gentlemen, and Mr Yardley sighed before standing and offering an invitation, after which the sisters were left with nothing to do but return to their seats. They had not achieved their primary objective, but still, dances with the other men were satisfactory consolation.

When the Miss Beauforts were completely out of earshot, Captain Mittering turned to Sidney and whispered. "You are very deeply in my debt now." He was rewarded with a reluctant smile.

Charlotte did not miss this exchange. In fact, she had watched the whole scene that had unfolded with unrestrained wonder. Sidney Parker had not flirted or flattered to oblige the sisters though they had been most energetic in their attempts. She began to worry that he was ill. He stood in conversation with his friends until they excused themselves to reluctantly join their waiting partners, then he took a seat beside Charlotte. Julia’s attention was taken up by Mrs Parker who had just returned from the refreshment table.

"I would like to apologise to you, Miss Heywood," Sidney said in a low voice.

"Whatever for?" she asked. His closeness was ruffling her composure. She kept herself still and vowed that she would let nothing he said affect her.

"When I left for Hampstead over a week ago, I ought to have taken leave of you myself, and not sent a message with my brother. It was most uncivil." His eyes did not make contact with hers, but rested on a point just beyond her shoulder.

"You were under no obligation," said Charlotte, attempting to keep her voice level. "Your niece and nephews did miss seeing you, though."

"And you?" he asked.

Colour rose in her cheeks. "I ought not have said that about the children. I apologise . . . I did not mean to judge your actions or to invite . . ."

"You were very right. I deserved that. My question was most unfair. You have always been very able at noting my failings, and I appreciate it more than you can think."

"I . . ." She could not go on.

"I do not mean to tease you." This time he did try to catch her eyes, but she turned her head away. "Come, let us be friends again. Will you dance with me, or am I still not allowed to ask?"

"We have never stopped being friends," she said.

"I am happy to hear that, but you have not answered my question."

Charlotte took a deep breath and steeled her heart. "You are allowed to ask, and I will dance with you," she said lightly, as if it was no great matter to her. But it was – and she wanted to dance with him almost as much as she feared it.

"Thank you," he said, and then was silent, seemingly lost in thought.

Charlotte felt the discomfiture between them grow as they sat without speaking. She had no idea why he was so changed and wondered if she had somehow offended him. But that would only explain a difference of behaviour towards her, and his whole demeanour had not been the same since entering the room, and if his friend was to be believed, before that. She had to do something to ease the situation, and recollected that she had not yet even asked him about his trip. With all the attention she had placed on schooling her feelings and trying to interpret his diffidence, she had forgotten to act as her usual self also. It was just possible that he believed he had displeased her, regardless of her protestations.

"You were visiting your friend, Mr Keats, in Hampstead, I believe," she ventured. "Did you find him well?"

"Yes I did. He is very deeply involved in writing an epic poem and when he was down from his clouds he shared the verses which best pleased him," he said. "I have writ some down and will share them with you and Miss Lambe tomorrow, if I may."

"I would like that."

"I spent much time walking on the heath with his consumptive brother, Tom."

"Your own brother was worried about the unhealthy air you would be breathing."

Sidney smiled the first real smile of the night. "Yes, his Sanditon air is superior to all," he said with much fondness. "But the fresh air of Hampstead Heath was recommended by Tom Keats’ doctor as being highly beneficial – do not tell my brother. He would be very let down."

"I promise not to," said Charlotte.

"There was much time to think on the lonely moors," said Sidney in a soft, tired voice, as if to himself. He sat quietly for some time again until he shook himself and turned to her. "You must think my poet friend has made me quite melancholy. It was not his doing." His gaze had become intent and he looked as if to say more, but did not.

Charlotte had indeed been thinking just that – that either the poet or his brother, whose disease would surely claim his life, had wrought this change in Sidney Parker. She left a wave of tenderness surge deep within and rock that glass bauble encased in her chest. She wished that she could do aught to comfort him, but knew not what to say without exposing herself.

He turned to her again and smiled. "We are at a ball and should be enjoying ourselves accordingly. Would you like some refreshment before our dance begins?"

"I think there is hardly time for this set will be drawing to a close soon."

"I would not want to miss my opportunity to dance with you."

"I know very well you would avail yourself of the next one."

"But, for all I know you may be promised for the rest of the evening."

"I am not," she said.

"Then all the other gentlemen here are fools," said Sidney with almost his old twinkle.

Though she had complained of his teasing too often in the past and wished for him to be more serious on many an occasion, Charlotte warmed inside at his welcome words and smiled softly without even thinking about it.

When the current dance ended, Charlotte and Sidney took to the floor. Captain Mittering returned from his mission of mercy and was in time to claim Julia and join the set before the music started up.

Charlotte and Sidney completed the first figure in silence and then he opened the conversation with, "We have spoken of my trip, but how did you entertain yourself while I was away? Do you have any exciting occurrences to relate?"

"The historical society meetings have begun."

"Such excitement! I ought never to have left."

"Your brother Arthur is most enthused."

"I am very happy for him. He is a good lad; he only lacked an interest - something to direct his thoughts from his health. My sisters are not always wise in that respect."

"He now walks daily to Sanditon House to peruse the library there."

"That is impressive! And what has your part been in this historical endeavour?" asked Sidney.

"Besides studying some fusty books on the flora and fauna of the coastal area, I toured the attics of your old home with your sister Diana."

"What were you searching for? Ghosts? I’m afraid they do not haunt the attics there but keep more to the main rooms. They are old, you see, and very fond of their comfort."

Charlotte laughed. The only ghosts she had seen were very young, but she did not tell him this. "We were looking for maps."

"Of course! The treasure maps. Shall we have Arthur searching for sunken ships next?"

"I believe his plan is to actually sink a ship himself."

"I have indeed missed much. I am tempted to never leave Sanditon again! You must tell me all about my young brother’s piratical ambitions."

It pleased Charlotte to see Sidney Parker behaving so much nearer to his usual gaiety. She explained to him the plans Arthur had made for the excursion to the fort, and then regaled him with the outing to Sir Edward’s cottage ornée. The dance ended much too soon, but on reflection she decided that it was a good thing. The presence of Sidney Parker had too strong of an effect upon her. She needed to become used to having him in Sanditon again so that she could feel more comfortable around him. And she needed to strengthen the barricades about her heart. Glass was just too fragile a protection.

The rest of the evening Sidney mingled with his neighbours and obliged his brother by dancing with one or two young ladies that he introduced him to. Charlotte danced with Mr Yardley and then agreed to a second dance with Arthur. There was no more occasion for private conversation with Sidney Parker, but Charlotte occasionally allowed herself to watch him as he interacted with others. He was exerting himself to be charming and convivial, but she could see that it was forced and when left to himself his face would become pensive again. That his eyes also sought her out from wherever he was in the room, she was unaware. They both kept such a close rein on themselves that neither chanced to catch the other looking.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Charlotte entered the breakfast room to find Mr and Mrs Parker already there. Tom Parker could still speak of nothing but his brother’s return and how pleased he was by it. The change in Sidney Parker had not gone unnoticed and he had no trouble in ascribing in the indifferent air in the regions Sidney had recently visited.

"There is nothing more lasting and wholesome for a healthy constitution than the sea air," he said as he enjoyed a hearty breakfast of braised kippers. "I have never noticed such a marked change as the one Sidney has undergone, but a few days walking upon the beach in this invigorating clime will have him completely restored."

"I have as much dependence on the benefits of Sanditon as you, my dear," said his wife, "but are you certain there is no other reason for his subdued spirits? And did you not tell us he was not himself when he departed for Hampstead?"

"Well, I had put that down to a reluctance to bid farewell to one of the young ladies hereabouts, but I did not notice him paying any special attentions at the ball last evening. I teased him of the very thing, in fact, and he said he missed no one more than the inhabitants of Trafalgar House, which I can well imagine because he is so attached to you and the children, my dear."

Mrs Parker shot Charlotte a look but said nothing more than, "The children missed him also and will quite plague him today when he comes, I should imagine."

After breakfasting Charlotte and Mrs Parker sat in the small salon with their stitchery until such time as it was proper to go about their rounds of the town. Diana Parker interrupted their tranquillity with a petition for help with a musical evening she was planning to hold in one of the reception rooms at the library. Mrs Parker, knowing that Charlotte had promised herself to Miss Lambe for the morning, offered her services and soon the three women were walking the cobbles of the Terrace.

"Susan is so very ill this morning," said Miss Diana. "I cannot be away from her too long. We are trying a new regime of pork jelly and mint tea three times a day, but she has unaccountably broken out in a violent rash. If you and I, Mary, can discover two violinists I believe Dr Brooks will agree to accompany them on the piano and Miss Beaufort on her harp. Dear Miss Heywood, will you remember to tell Miss Beaufort how much I rely upon her to make my musical evening a success? Tell her also that I will bring by the lanolin salve I recommended just as soon as I am able. She must take every care of her fine hands."

Charlotte gave her assurances that she would pass the information along, and happily knocked upon Julia’s door. She was ushered into the parlour and the two girls enjoyed a quiet chat until the gentleman arrived. Charlotte had spent the entire morning preparing herself for the moment when she would come face to face with Sidney Parker again, but it seemed to her that no amount of preparation could make any difference to the way her unruly heart reacted merely at the sight of him entering the room. She could not raise her eyes after their initial contact until all the pleasantries had been said and the gentlemen seated, and she found that Captain Mittering had taken the chair next to her. He soon engaged her in conversation giving her no time to deliberate on how she felt about Sidney Parker not having singled her out first.

Charlotte may not have noticed, but Julia was more perceptive. She had seen how Sidney Parker had looked to her friend and hesitated when Charlotte had not raised her eyes. This hesitation had given Captain Mittering the advantage that he had unwittingly taken, for if he had known what was labouring in the breast of either he would have unhesitatingly relinquished his seat by the lady.

As he had promised, Sidney Parker had brought a few verses of his friend John Keats’ new poem, "Endymion", the still unfinished poetic romance.

"My friend is labouring feverishly upon this work," he told Julia. "He lives and breathes it day and night and barely has time for the rest of us poor souls of this lowly earth. He spends his time in the clouds with the gods. When you hear what he has written you will find it difficult to warrant that he is very critical of his achievement, worried that he has failed in his object and only committed to the page immature ramblings."

"I think I know the feelings he struggles with," said Julia. "Though I can hardly boast the rare ability that Mr Keats possess, my poor attempts at poetry fill me with just such apprehensions."

Charlotte strained to listen to their conversation as Captain Mittering shared glimpses of the more mundane world of a sporting man, which comprised horses and hounds. Speaking with the captain was like talking with one of her brothers. He had the same comforting familiarity of interest, the same friendly and casual manners. But Charlotte was drawn to Sidney Parker’s quick and more impassioned speech as it filtered across the room. She was glad when everyone’s attention was claimed for the reading of a verse or two of John Keats’ newest poem, and then somewhat disappointed when it was Mr Yardley who took up the piece of parchment to read. He read well, with great feeling and none of the nonchalance that characterised him, but it was not the rich voice she had longed to hear. Mr Parker instead sat silent, listening intently and gazing abstractedly into the far corner of the room.

"What promise hast thou faithful guarded since
The day of sacrifice? Or, have new sorrows
Come with the constant dawn upon thy morrows?
Alas! ’tis his old grief. For many days,
Has he been wandering in uncertain ways:
Through wilderness, and woods of mossed oaks;
Counting his woe-worn minutes, by the strokes
Of the lone woodcutter; and listening still,
Hour after hour, to each lush-leav’d rill . . ."

It continued on, beautifully wistful, and as Charlotte listened she allowed her eyes to rest on Sidney Parker without being aware she had done so. In his face she saw the same uncertainty the poet spoke of and it surprised her, for she was accustomed to his confidence in every situation. The poetry touched him deeply, and through him, through the vulnerability it revealed in him, touched her more powerfully than she had ever expected of poetry. She could not look away and she allowed herself to study his face more than she ever had hitherto. In animation his every feature was lit with his effervescent charm and she had always been aware that he was handsome but now, with his very soul revealed in the soft planes of his cheeks and the faraway gaze of his eyes, she felt the word could not do him justice. His head turned and for a moment their eyes met and locked. The soft warmth of a smile overspread his face and she had to quickly look away before she revealed herself to him.

Mr Yardley laid the paper aside and talk centred upon the poem. Even Captain Mittering had some thoughts to express about the verses. Charlotte found herself unable to voice anything, so overcome was she by the profound feelings the combination of the poem and Sidney Parker had evoked within her. She felt that anything she said would give her heart away as the look across the room almost had done, and she concentrated on steeling her emotions so that she would be able to converse rationally once again.

In the course of the discussion, Captain Mittering moved closer to Mr Yardley in order to read over one of the lines that was up for debate. Sidney Parker lost no time in securing the vacant seat.

"When I first entered the room I did not think you were pleased to see me," he said quietly.

"Whatever made you think that?" was her flustered reply.

"You would not look at me."

"I was quite happy to see you and looking forward to hearing the promised poetry. I . . . I enjoyed it very much."

"I was hoping you would," he said. "Do you not think that Yardley reads well?"

"I had expected you . . . yes – he reads most eloquently." She had made the mistake of looking up and meeting his eyes and it had made her quite incoherent. She sought to compose herself as he moved his chair slightly closer.

"I have saved a few lines to say especially to you, if you will allow me that honour."

She nodded.

"Though your curls are most becoming, I would rather say them to your face. Will you not look up at me?"

Charlotte knew she ought not. She had long promised herself not to succumb to his flirting and how else could she interpret this? It was different from his normal style and she could only suppose he had changed his tactics because she had so well withstood him in the past. She knew it was weakness, but she lifted her head at his request and tried to avoid the clear depths of his eyes.

He spoke the four lines softly and slowly but with such intensity that it stole her breath away.

"My madness impious; for, by all the stars
That tend thy bidding, I do think the bars
That kept my spirit in are burst - that I
Am sailing with thee through the dizzy sky!"

She was lost and she knew it before he was even half-finished. She tried to tell herself that they were only lines of poetry, that he was only repeating another man’s sentiments not relaying his own, that is was just his usual teasing and meaningless in itself. But a tiny part of her could not help but want to believe that it was true and for a moment she even allowed herself to sail the dizzy sky that she found within his eyes.

The entrance of the Beaufort sisters brought Charlotte suddenly back down to earth. They bustled into the room, demanding attention in their usual all-important manner. They hoped the gentlemen had not been waiting long. If they had but known of the proposed visit they would have never gone out upon the promenade. How had they not bumped into each other along the way? It must have been when Sir Edward had tempted them down the steps onto the beach. Well, it was of no moment because they were here now and ready to be entertained and entertain in turn. They hoped that Miss Lambe and Miss Heywood had managed to keep the gentlemen well occupied while they were waiting. Poetry? Why they just loved poetry and must hear it too. Mr Parker, they were assured, would read it better than any of the other gentlemen – they would just be seated and he could begin. Miss Heywood would not mind giving up her chair as she no doubt wanted to sit closer to the window anyway, so intent she was at looking out of it all the time. In short, they took over the salon and reorganised the gathering in a matter of minutes.

Charlotte gladly gave up her spot and moved to the window-seat though Sidney Parker demurred. She had been saved from casting aside all her resolutions and making a silly fool of herself – she had never been so heartily glad of an interruption in her life. Sidney Parker had almost trapped her. She wondered what he did when he made a conquest and acknowledged it. She knew he was too good and kind not to let her down easily and that he had no idea she had allowed her heart to be compromised. The temptation to believe that he had not been toying with her was powerfully strong but she subdued it in every way she could. The idea that someone as charming as him who travelled all of England and was accustomed to associating with people of the highest calibre would truly be interested in a simple daughter of a gentleman farmer was completely inconceivable. She would not think it – such thoughts would cause nothing but grief.

Though Miss Beaufort and Miss Letitia monopolised the gentlemen, particularly Sidney Parker, from the time of their entrance into the parlour, Charlotte could not help but notice that he did not flirt with them in the same way as he had done previously. He treated them with politeness and though he could not but exercise his natural charm, he appeared to also be exerting a good measure of forbearance. She wondered if this was his normal manner when he realised that his flirting might have led him into danger, and she hoped he would not lose his amiable approach with her. She knew she would never attain his love but she could not bear to lose his friendship. The covert glances he sent to her from time to time were reassuring, but they shared no words until the gentlemen took their leave, and those were only a reminder that he would see her that evening at Trafalgar House.

As she herself prepared to leave fifteen minutes later, Charlotte remembered to pass Diana Parker’s message on to Miss Beaufort. An affectionate hug from Julia and insincere goodbyes from the sisters sent Charlotte on her solitary way.

The walk did much to clear her head. With the sun high in an untroubled sky she could not but be brought back to the real world – the one that the sensible Miss Heywood had always inhabited. In two short weeks she would be on her way home again and her stay in Sanditon would become no more than a happy memory, one to bring her warmth and gaiety to look back upon during the long fall and winter months. She was not such a simpleton as to bring heartache into the mix. What girl would not have fallen in love given the same situation as she found herself in? But it was impractical and nonsensical, and just as ephemeral as a summer’s day. She would enjoy her time remaining and keep the memory of Sidney Parker’s smile as a souvenir of a summer that would never be forgotten.

That evening she was able to keep her pragmatic outlook and take pleasure from her friendship with all the Parkers and not afford Sidney Parker the sole place in her thoughts. This was the most difficult while she watched him play with his nephews and niece, because thoughts of what a delightful father he would make were in danger of creating such images of his future children that would tear at her heartstrings. She instead replaced those images with the faces of her own little brothers and sisters and indulged in a bout of homesickness that was an effective antidote.

Later, while Sidney tucked the children abed, Arthur was able to entertain her with outlining all his preparations for their trip to the fort. In one short week it was finally to take place. He was now busy calculating the numbers of the party and the carriages they would need to transport everyone the fifteen miles up the coast.

"I am hoping for good weather. A day like today would be perfect, don’t you think? We could all make the journey in open carriages, I’d wager, even Lady Denham and Dr. Brooks."

Sidney had rejoined them by this time and sat down on Charlotte’s other side.

"As long as you put Miss Heywood in my carriage you are free to organise the rest as you chose," he said to Arthur.

Charlotte tried to quell the thrill these words gave her and said in a deceptively steady voice. "I am sure whatever your brother decides will suit me just fine."

"If I were you, Miss Heywood," said Arthur, "I would take Sidney up on his offer. He is by far the best horseman of the lot of us and drives to a T."

"And my carriage is very well sprung also," added Sidney smugly, accepting the accolade without demur.

Charlotte smiled and acquiesced, and the moment passed as Arthur continued on with his concerns of who would be driving the rest of the company and calculating over again how many carriages they would need.

The week until the outing was filled with activities. It seemed that everyone wanted to be involved doing things together. Sir Edward and his sister came to town each day and walked out on the beach with all the other young people. Even Clara Brereton was free to join the many outings while Lady Denham sat on the Terrace with Mrs Parker and Mrs Griffiths. Sir Edward’s attentions to Julia Lambe increased and with Miss Brereton always present as well, he had great difficulty dividing his time evenly between the two young ladies who he sought to impress above all the others.

Diana Parker’s musical evening was a success and Miss Beaufort basked in the many accolades her harp playing produced. This led Miss Letitia to carry her watercolours and easel wherever she went, and to try and induce Sidney Parker to assist her with its placement wherever possible and to advise her on her many lively compositions. She always managed to complete her sketches quickly, as the attention they provided was much more important to her than the occupation itself.

Throughout the week Charlotte remained sensible whenever she was in Sidney Parker’s presence, though it was no easy task. She had much more difficulty at night in the darkness of her room, however. Her foolish mind kept going back to the lines of poetry that he had recited to her, the intensity of his voice on that occasion, and the depth of his eyes as she had lost herself in them. It was at these times that the full import of the words was not lost upon her and she wished for all the world that their meaning could be true.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

 

To every appearance, Arthur Parker’s excursion to the battlements of Fort Westhaven was bound to be a success. The sky was a clear deep summer blue with not a cloud on the horizon, but there was a light breeze that served to subdue the heat of the morning.

The entire company had agreed to meet on the Terrace. Sidney Parker was the last to arrive with his curricle, and most of the party had already taken their seats in the carriages available, with the help of Diana Parker. Though she was not able to join the excursion because racketing about the countryside would destroy both Susan’s and her nerves, she still wanted to be of as much assistance as possible to the happy outcome of the event. Though Miss Letitia had made a great show of holding back and suggesting that Miss Heywood be seated first, Diana had manoeuvred the two Beaufort sisters into an open carriage with Sir Edward and Miss Denham. Lady Denham had then been prevailed upon to share her carriage with Dr Brooks, Clara Brereton, and Miss Lambe. The other three gentlemen had chosen to go on horseback, but Diana Parker was full of advice for them as to where they should ride in the cavalcade.

Charlotte had been about to accept the offer of being squeezed in alongside Mr and Mrs Parker in their gig when Sidney made his appearance and his tiger* quickly jumped down from the back of the equipage and handed her up. It is difficult to say whose face fell the furthest with this occurrence, Miss Letitia’s, Miss Beaufort’s, or Miss Denham’s, but it was a blessing that Sir Edward had mastered the art of talking without need of a response for none of the ladies were over choking on their resentment for a full five minutes.

With only a quick greeting to his companion, Sidney attended to his horses and turned his carriage deftly in the hotel sweep. If Charlotte had been paying attention she would have been impressed at how well he handled the ribbons, but she was too preoccupied with overcoming her feelings at suddenly being seated so near to Sidney Parker. Their shoulders were almost brushing and if she turned her head his nicely shaven cheek was alarmingly close. She took a deep breath and trained her eyes straight ahead, trying to ignore the heady sensation brought on by the spiciness of his cologne. When she was finally able to take in her surroundings she realised that they were on their own upon the open road with only the company of his small groom. She turned her head and, through the dust of their wake, saw that the rest of the procession was ponderously setting out.

"Should we not wait for the others?" she asked tentatively. "We will soon outstrip them entirely."

Sidney smiled hugely. "That is my intention. I had expected you to congratulate me on my foresight in arriving last. It would never have done to be caught behind one of those lumbering rigs." But for all that he slowed down the pace of his horses. "I have been looking forward to this outing with much pleasure ever since you agreed to drive with me."

Charlotte hoped that her bonnet hid her blushing cheeks from his view. "Your planning almost caused you to drive alone. I was about to join your brother and sister in their gig."

"I would quickly have restored you to your rightful position."

Charlotte decided that a change of topic was in order if she was to make the journey without completely losing her resolve and succumbing to Sidney Parker’s charm. The thoughts the phrase ‘rightful position’ evoked were much too distracting for her own good. "Growing up in this area as you did you must often have visited Westhaven."

"I have explored it once or twice, but never with such a strong enticement as was offered today."

"You have not yet witnessed the firing of the cannons?"

"It was not the cannons I was referring to, nor Arthur’s pirate ship so there will be no need your mentioning it." This was said with such a look that left Charlotte at no loss as to his meaning.

"I beseech you not to flirt with me, trapped here as I am with you in this curricle with no way to avoid you."

"Whatever did I say that you would constitute as flirting?" he asked, coming on all innocent.

"You said . . ." Charlotte realised that she could not repeat that which was implication only without embarrassing herself still further. "You know full well what you said, sir, and what you meant by your words. It is most uncivil of you to expect me to restate it."

"Would you deny me the pleasure of seeing you blush? It is really most becoming."

"It would serve you right if I refrained from speaking to you at all for the remainder of the journey," said Charlotte in a tight little voice as she hoped that colour had not suffused her face again.

"You always know how to best me," he responded with an exaggerated sigh. "Your silence is a fate I should hate to bring upon myself and it would spoil the purpose of our driving together. In truth I had hoped to use this time to know you more. I mean that most earnestly."

To hear such sincerity from Sidney Parker’s lips discomposed Charlotte more than all the flirting and teasing had ever done in the past. She knew not what to say and was relieved when Sidney motioned into the distance and began to tell her of all the points of interest to be found upon the road. His eye for beauty was as unerring as his ability to point out the ridiculous, and soon he and Charlotte were conversing easily. Her earlier awkwardness at being virtually alone with him slipped away and before they arrived to Westhaven she had all but forgotten to keep up her guard against him. Never had she enjoyed anyone’s company as much, and if the satisfied smile on Sidney’s face was any indication, he had found his companion delightful as well.

The road wound its way toward the sea again and soon the fortifications were in view between the sparse trees.

"I would tell you the history of the various stages of construction on this site, but I do not want to detract from Arthur’s dissertation," said Sidney.

"I will be happy to wait to hear it from him," said Charlotte.

"That is because you doubt that I have any knowledge on the subject. I’ll have you know that as a youth I rode out here regularly with Tom and almost haunted the battlements."

"I do not doubt your knowledge, nor that you plagued the custodian no end with your impertinent questions. I wonder you didn’t convince him to let you fire off the cannons."

"It wasn’t for lack of trying," said Sidney with a grin, "but that was one coup I never managed."

"Then he was a very strong-willed man."

"He was a fellow that valued his job."

Sidney had slowed his horses so that they could take in the scene before them. The stone ramparts dominated a cliff that overshadowed a small bay. The water was flecked with whitecaps and a boat could be seen anchored out in the snug harbour. Hoof beats echoed behind them and soon Arthur Parker came abreast of their carriage. He stopped for a moment to confide that he was going ahead to make sure everything was ready and then galloped up the road and off the smaller track that led to the gates of the fort.

By the time Sidney had guided his horses into the yard and chosen a shady spot for them to wait and be watered, the other carriages could be seen trundling along the lane. Mr Yardley was riding beside Lady Denham's carriage and Captain Mittering was riding ahead. He spurred his horse on and came quickly through the gate.

"And so ends our idyll," whispered Sidney as he gave the reins over to his tiger and hopped from the curricle. In a moment he was around the other side of the carriage, handing Charlotte down. She pretended not to have heard his remark and kept her eyes lowered as she alighted from the carriage so that he could not see how the touch of his hand on hers affected her. If she had but looked up she would have noticed that he was not unaffected himself. They stood beside each other in silence for a moment until Captain Mittering joined them, crying out in his usual bluff manner.

"That was very bad of you to leave us all behind in your dust, Parker, but I knew how it would be."

"There was nothing to stop you from riding alongside us," said Sidney. "You could easily have outdistanced everyone upon horseback."

"I could have," said Captain Mittering, "but I value your friendship too much.

Sidney laughed. "Indeed - I would have had your hide if you had done so."

Charlotte turned her head away in confusion. Sidney smiled at her affectionately and took her elbow to guide her towards the portcullis. "Come," he whispered. "Do not take umbrage. Can we not return to our earlier camaraderie?" She nodded her head but did not allow herself to speak.

Before long all the party was again assembled and there was much jostling for position as they waited for Arthur to begin the tour. Mr Yardley escorted Julia Lambe and Clara Brereton to Charlotte’s right where the three girls conversed softly about the trip. Sidney Parker stayed resolutely by Charlotte’s side though the Beaufort sisters attempted to surround him and draw him into their net. In the end Miss Beaufort gave up and attached herself to Captain Mittering, but Miss Letitia stayed by Sidney’s side and barraged him with flirtatious comments that he parried with as much civility as he could muster. Miss Esther Denham had no desire to lower herself into competition with either sister so instead made a point of earning favour with her aunt by dancing attendance upon her.

Arthur finally appeared with a wizened old man who raised the portcullis. Both were dressed in military guise, and Arthur looked very striking indeed. He led them along a narrow causeway and then up a flight of stone steps to a broad crenellated parapet.

"Coastal fortifications existed along this seacoast for thousands of years prior to William the Conqueror," he said as they all stood and gazed at the view out to the open sea. "Westhaven is thought to be built upon Roman ruins."

"How very exciting," cried Miss Letitia. She turned to Sidney and batted her eyelashes. "History is so thrilling is it not? Imagine, Roman legionnaires standing in this very spot!"

"This spot was built at quite a later date," he responded dryly. "The Roman ruins were incorporated into the foundations centuries ago."

"The battlements we stand upon right now," said Arthur, "date to the Sixteenth century. Our fair country has been free from invasion since 1066, but there were a number of times in history where the fort was restored when we were believed to be in danger of assault. The Spanish Armada sailed in sight of this very location, but not in gun range, so no shot was actually fired upon it." He led them up to another level where a gun battery was installed. "This is the newest part of the fortification and it is in the best repair. It was added in the eighteenth century at the advent of the seven years’ war. There was a master gunner and his assistant, both trained civilians who kept the post manned, though they were never put to the test."

Arthur had a lot more to say on the subject as he led them through the rest of the structure. Miss Letitia soon tired of trying to impress Sidney Parker as all his attention was given to Charlotte or one of their other companions. She instead joined her sister with Captain Mittering for the excursion into the powder rooms and what Sidney insisted on referring to as the dungeons. It was dark and damp in the lower regions of the fort with light coming only from deep windows that occasionally slit the thick stone walls. They were all glad to be out in the open and upon the ramparts again.

The cannon was studied with interest and then Arthur led them all to the more precarious ruined wing of the fort. He gave his arm to Clara Brereton and assiduously helped her over the rough stairways and uneven floors.

"I hope you do not mind his desertion," whispered Sidney in Charlotte’s ear.

"Whatever are you speaking of?" asked Charlotte.

"Arthur. I fear he is no longer enamoured of you."

"He never was," said Charlotte. "It was all your imagination."

"I was in mortal fear that he would win you before I stood a chance."

"I never . . ."

"You never what?"

Charlotte almost choked and as the colour rushed to her cheeks she finally managed to say, "You are incorrigible."

"I will only add that though I can’t see how anyone could prefer pallid Miss Brereton over you, I am relieved that he changed his course."

Charlotte was glad of a diversion at that very moment. Arthur announced that he was going to ready the demonstration and requested the assistance of a couple of the gentlemen. Everyone else, he said, was free to wander at will for the next little while until meeting at the cannon balustrade to defend country and honour against the pirates. Both Sidney and Mr Yardley joined Arthur and the caretaker. Charlotte was about to find Julia to talk with when Dr Brooks stopped her to point out an interesting differentiation in the rock used for construction in the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. He prosed on for quite a while about the quarry to be found five miles inland from whence he believed all the building materials to originate. He kept her for so long that they both barely made it back to the gun battery before the demonstration was to begin.

Everyone crowded around the cannon but they were admonished to stand back.

"The ladies will want to cover their ears," said Arthur. "The report is very loud." He was ramming a long post down the gun barrel while the old caretaker readied the blasting powder.

"Where are Mr Yardley and Sidney?" asked Tom Parker. "I thought they were assisting you."

"They are manning the pirate ship!" announced Arthur excitedly.

"That is just the kind of a lark I would expect from Sidney," said Tom Parker.

"But they will be killed when you fire on it!" cried Miss Letitia in horror.

"They are only sailing it a bit closer and firing off a round in attack, then they will row a dingy to shore."

"What if you should miss and hit their rowboat!" cried Miss Beaufort.

All the other men scoffed at the ladies’ fears and reassured them of the gentlemen’s safety. Charlotte leaned against the

rampart and looked out at the boat that was sailing closer in to the bay. She knew in her rational mind that there was no need to fear for Sidney Parker’s safety but she could not help the dread that rose in the pit of her stomach. Strangely enough, in all her worry she did not give a thought to Mr Yardley.

The pirate ship was really nothing more than a near derelict fishing boat which had been given a coat of black paint and trimmed in gold. Red sails had also been added and it indeed looked an impressive sight. A small cannon had been rolled onto the forward deck and Charlotte could see the two gentlemen readying it.

"They are going to fire upon us!" cried Miss Letitia, grabbing hold of Captain Mittering’s arm.

"Do not worry. That little cannon has no range," he reassured her.

The cannon went off with a loud blast and a burst of smoke. A huge splash close to shore showed where the cannon ball had landed. Arthur and the caretaker yelled out a warning and as Charlotte covered her ears in preparation for the blast, she watched the small rowboat push off from the side of the pirate vessel and unerringly head for shore.

"Fire!" yelled Arthur, and the boom of the cannon rocked the foundations, the sound reverberating off the stone and swirling round them as their palms pressed tightly against the sides of their heads. The shot hit its mark and, amid cheers, the boat began to sink into the bay. Down on the shore Sidney Parker and Mr Yardley stood and saluted up to Arthur who saluted them in turn, then they made their way up winding stone steps that led up the side of the cliff to the foot of the fortifications.

"That was a very worthy demonstration!" cried Miss Letitia. "Well done indeed."

Charlotte looked around for Julia. She felt that she had been ignoring her friend, though unintentionally. First she had been too wrapped up with Sidney Parker, allowing him to monopolise her conversation, and then she had been distracted by Dr Brooks. Now she intended to make it up to Julia. She would offer to switch seats for the drive home with Miss Brereton so that she and Julia could have a long chat together. This resolution cost her a pang because the ride to the fort with Sidney Parker had been her favourite part of the outing. As Charlotte looked, she realised that Julia was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Sir Edward Denham.

Charlotte asked everybody, but no one recalled when they had last seen Miss Lambe or Sir Edward, and soon it was apparent that Clara Brereton was also missing.

"They all must be together," said Miss Esther. "I see no reason to get into a state about it."

Charlotte, however, was filled with trepidation. She rushed down the stairs, intent to search for them. The pavement had been so uneven in the ruined portion of the fort and many of the walls were unsafe. What if one of them had fallen, or worse yet? She almost tumbled headlong into Sidney Parker and Mr Yardley who had just reached the landing.

Sidney grabbed hold of her arms to steady her. "Char . . . Miss Heywood, what is the matter?" he asked in concern.

"Have either of you seen Miss Lambe?"

"Miss Lambe is missing?" It was the first time Charlotte had ever seen Mr Yardley unsettled. "Was she not with you for the demonstration?"

"I do not know when . . . and it is not only she who is missing. It is also Sir Edward and Miss Brereton."

Arthur came down the stairs at that moment. "You have not seen them?" he asked shortly. As they shook their heads he requested Mr Yardley to help him search the fort.

"Go and search with them," said Charlotte to Sidney who had stayed by her side and still held one of her arms.

"I do not want to leave you alone. You are not well."

"I am fine – I am just concerned for my friend, probably needlessly." Her voice shook as she spoke.

"I do not believe it is needless," responded Sidney, his face serious. "I think it very unusual that they were not there for the firing of the cannon."

Charlotte looked up into his eyes, hers full of pleading. "I cannot stand and do nothing. I need to look for Julia to know that she is all right. I feel responsible for not being with her. Will you help me?"

He took Charlotte’s hand and raised it to his lips. "At your service," he said softly. Then he tucked it in the crook of his arm and led her down the next flight of stairs. *Tiger: A liveried groom, generally small, generally young. An owner-driven curricle typically had a groom's seat between the springs on which the tiger sat.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

As Charlotte and Sidney descended to the oldest section of the fort they saw Arthur Parker and Mr Yardley out upon the uneven ramparts so they continued further down into the lower rooms. Charlotte shivered involuntarily when they entered the dark, dank hallway.

"You are cold," said Sidney, taking her shawl from her arm and placing it about her shoulders. "Is that better?"

Charlotte nodded and smiled at him, uttering an almost silent "yes" but truly the shawl did not rid the chill feeling that had enveloped her. Her concern for Julia had thrust almost every other consideration from her mind. They went through one empty room after another and then followed a narrow staircase that took them even lower.

"What would Julia be doing down here?" she wondered. "She loves to be in the open with the sun upon her face."

"There is a side door that leads out onto the hill. They may have gone there to see the demonstration from that vantage point, away from the noise of the cannon." Sidney put as much conviction into his words as he could muster, and continued to lead Charlotte through the rabbit warren of tiny rooms and corridors.

"I am so glad you came with me," she said. "I should surely have lost my way."

"I could never have let you go in here alone," he said. His hand came down reassuringly upon hers where it rested on his arm.

Charlotte was surprised at the warmth his touch imparted, doing more to dispel the chill and bring her comfort than the shawl he had earlier wrapped about her. When he finally withdrew it she wished only that he could have kept it where it was. She peered into a room that showed only shadowed corners, empty and bleak, and a further door through which fell a shaft of watery light.

"It is this way," said Sidney, motioning past the doorway where the corridor continued on.

An indistinct sound drifted from the room. The wind, echoing perhaps from wall to wall, or a soft cry.

"Did you hear that?" asked Charlotte. She moved through the doorway eagerly. "Julia, are you here?"

From the far room slow steps could be heard and then Julia appeared, stumbling towards them.

"Oh, Charlotte," she cried. "Thank goodness you came. I am so lost down here." She burst into tears and threw herself into her friend’s arms.

Charlotte held Julia close and stroked her hair, then looked up at Sidney. "She is very cold. We must get her into outside into the fresh air."

He was about to take his coat off when Mr Yardley and Arthur joined them. The former appraised the situation in an instant and was out of his excellently tailored riding coat more quickly than Charlotte ever would have expected of one usually so languid in his movements. Wrapping the shivering Miss Lamb up in its warm folds was a moment’s work, and next he was guiding both Julia and Charlotte out of the room and along the corridor as the two brothers followed close behind.

Charlotte was glad to be back outside with the blue sky overhead and the sun’s rays upon them. The door had opened onto a little pocket of grass bordered by trees on one side and sloping down to the sea on the other. She sat with Julia upon a large sun-washed stone and took up her friend’s small hands, rubbing the warmth back into them. Sidney Parker and Mr Yardley stood back at a discreet distance while Arthur investigated a trail that led up through the trees.

"How did you come to be in the cellars?" asked Charlotte.

Julia looked up at her in agitation. "Miss Brereton!" She turned to the gentlemen. "Someone must go . . . Sir Edward has taken her . . . it is so very terrible! She must be brought back. She went with him to save me." Julia convulsed into sobs again.

Mr Yardley was kneeling at her side at once, holding out his handkerchief. "Miss Lambe, please, do not distress yourself. Everything will be done to find them."

At the same time Sidney ran up into the woods in search of Arthur. He returned shortly with a very troubled-looking brother.

"There is a rough track leading to the road. Horses and a carriage have been there recently," Arthur was saying. "He doesn’t have too much of a head start. I am stealing your curricle, Sidney, and going after them." He turned to Julia. "Miss Lambe, did he give any indication where he was taking her?"

"He meant to take me to the border, so that must be their direction."

"Then he is heading for London," cried Arthur. "If that wretch has harmed Miss Brereton in any way, I will have his neck!"

"Take Captain Mittering with you," said Sidney. "You cannot have a better man."

"I have no time to search for him," said Arthur hurrying away.

"Have mercy on my horses," called Sidney after him, then he looked over to Charlotte. "You must excuse me for a few minutes, Miss Heywood. I need to appraise Captain Mittering of the situation and send him after my impetuous brother." He then ran back into the fort and his steps could be heard clattering and echoing down the cold stone corridors.

Mr Yardley had calmed Julia with his soothing words and unruffled manner and soon she was ready to tell her story. It came out in disjointed gasps at first and was a little incoherent, but when urged to collect herself and start from the beginning, the tale of her ordeal finally emerged.

Back before the readying of the cannon, when the gentlemen had gone off to assist Arthur, Miss Denham had approached Julia and asked for some assistance. Julia was a bit surprised, not having conversed privately with the lady at all before, but she readily offered to help her.

"I have lost my favourite silver bracelet," Miss Denham had said. "Would you please accompany me to look for it, dear Miss Lambe? I think it may have fallen off while we toured the lower rooms."

Julia had no desire to re-enter the cellars of the fort but could not politely excuse herself once she had already offered assistance. She looked about for Charlotte, but saw that she was in close conversation with the reverend. Esther Denham began speaking again as she steered Julia towards the stairs that led down from the ramparts.

"I have long wanted an excuse to get to know you better," she said. "My brother is forever dropping your name in conversation. I think he is quite besotted."

"Oh, no. You must be mistaken," Julia disclaimed.

"You can be open with me," said Miss Esther. "I know my brother to be very charming and handsome. He is quite irresistible with all the ladies, but he has a heart that is steady and true. Once he has decided what he means to have, he is very adept at claiming it."

"I have never thought of him in any way but as an acquaintance," said Julia, and then, thinking she may have sounded uncivil she added, "He is a most interesting conversationalist."

"Yes, he prides himself with his skill in that direction," said Miss Esther with a laugh. "Mind these stairs, my dear. I think it might have been here that I lost the bracelet. The clasp was loose, you see, and I had attempted to tighten it." She peered around and then said, "Do you suppose it could have fallen down this stairwell?"

"I don’t quite see how . . ." began Julia, but Miss Esther grabbed her hand.

"Come let us go down to the lower level."

"But . . . we did not go there on the tour."

"And such a pity too. I have always had the strongest desire to see it. I know the Miss Beauforts and Miss Heywoods of this world blanche at the idea of exploring in such a dark and cavernous region but you, I feel Miss Lambe, are made of much sterner stuff."

"Indeed I am not," said poor Julia. She could not understand Miss Denham at all. The usually impersonal, reserved young lady who put on such airs and only spoke condescendingly was acting in a very erratic, outgoing manner. "I would like to return to the others – they will be wondering where we are."

"They will not miss us at all with their foolish displays of cannons and pirate ships." Miss Denham’s voice was full of disdain – she sounded quite like her own self again. "I must find my bracelet. It is a most treasured heirloom."

"But it is not likely to turn up in a place we have not been."

"I am certain it fell down the stairs. We can at least search along this corridor." She went forward a few paces and then bent over as if to pick something up. "Just look! I have found it."

"That is lucky," said Julia, and she peered back up the stone stairs. If it had simply fallen from Miss Denham’s arm it ought to have gone no further than the first step. "I wonder how it came to be there?"

Miss Denham was making a great show of fastening it on her arm once again when they heard footsteps, and a shadow was cast as someone descended the staircase.

"Why Edward," said Miss Denham. "What a surprise."

"Esther, Miss Lambe. What brings you ladies into these dark and dreary regions?"

"Your sister lost her bracelet," said Julia as she tried to calm her thumping heart. For some reason she had begun to feel very uncomfortable. She had an uneasy suspicion that Sir Edward’s appearance was no accident.

"But it is found again as you see," said Miss Esther. "I am afraid, though, that my little friend here is feeling out of sorts. She is not accustomed to such dark and frightful places as this, and I do agree with her – it is quite a mausoleum."

"We must escort Miss Lambe outside with all haste," cried Sir Edward, taking Julia’s arm and leading her along the corridor.

"But . . . this is entirely the wrong direction. Mustn’t we go up the stairs?" asked Julia.

"There is a much nearer exit from these premises," said Sir Edward. "We need only cross through a room or two and down the occasional corridor and we will come upon a door." He shot a glance at his sister. "You know Miss Lambe suffers from ill health. I fear you have overtaxed her strength."

"Dear Edward, you take this sweet girl out into the fresh air and revive her. I do not mind rejoining the rest of the company on my own. I will be sure to tell them not to worry, Miss Lambe, for you are in good hands."

"I beg you, Miss Denham, please don’t leave me."

"Someone must report your absence to the others," said Miss Denham. "You are certainly too ill to go any further until you have rested."

"But . . . can you not stay with me, and your brother go?" asked Julia desperately.

"I don’t think that would serve quite so well," said Miss Denham as she turned and hurried away.

"Do not be afraid of me," said Sir Edward. "It is not my intention that you come to any harm. I care so very ardently for your welfare. I am uncommonly sorry that I had to bring you through this unpleasant territory. When you are in the luminous sunlight again your spirits will return."

"I beg you to take me back to Miss Heywood, sir," said Julia.

"I’m sorry, my sweet. I cannot do that. Not when I am come so close to achieving my heart’s desire. You are the answer to every wish of my soul." He led her through the door and out into the sunlight. He glanced around and then pulled her close to him. "I have chosen you from all womankind to become my mate, to share my life and all my passions. My every waking hour is filled with thoughts of your enchanting eyes. I feel poetry flow from the heavens when I look upon your comely visage. My ardour almost overwhelms me. Say only that you will come with me and be my wife; that is all I ask of you."

"No . . . please let me go . . . I cannot," said Julia, pushing against his chest. "I do not wish to marry you, Sir Edward."

"You will change your mind in time," he responded. "Let us seal our bargain with a little kiss."

Julia squirmed and turned her head away. "I do not love you. I will not marry you."

"You have no choice. We are running away together now. My carriage lies beyond this verdant grove of trees. By the time we reach the hills of Scotland you will be as desirous of marrying me as I am of making you my very own."

Julia cried and entreated him to let her go, but he tossed her into his arms and marched purposefully up the trail through the trees to the waiting travelling coach. The groom did not blink an eye at the sight of Sir Edward carrying a young lady who was beating upon his chest with her fists and struggling for her freedom.

"You must stay calm for the journey will be lengthy and it will not do for you to be ill upon your wedding day."

"Please, have mercy and let me go."

"Never. I mean to marry you and I will. No one can stop me now."

"I will stop you, Sir Edward."

The voice was so unexpected that Sir Edward dropped his squirming burden. He turned and faced Clara Brereton who was standing in the middle of the pathway. Julia crawled over to the base of a tree and huddled against it in shock.

"How do you intend to deter me from my intent, Clara dearest?"

"I will tell everybody what you have done and where you have gone. You will be overtaken well before you get to the border. How did you ever dream you could get away with such a despicable plan?"

"Once we have gone five miles together in this carriage, Miss Lambe will be so compromised that she will have to marry me."

"Lady Denham will cast you off!"

"Lady Denham supports my suit."

"Yes, she is avaricious enough to encourage you to marry to gain a fortune, but I doubt very much she supports a flight to the border."

"Is what Lady Denham wants of the most importance here, or my desires? I have dreamt of carrying a young woman off by abduction for many a year. First it was you I wanted. My plans were all set for you when Miss Lambe and her fortune were brought to my notice. I put aside my craving for you, but I am prepared to throw it all away, to give up all the riches I could have gained to take you with me now."

"So, after all your professions of love you would leave Miss Lambe and run off with me?"

There was a fire in Sir Edward’s eyes as he looked at Miss Brereton. "It has always been you for me, Clara. I would sell my soul to have you. I near tore my heart out from my chest when I made the decision to have Miss Lambe over you. But what is gold compared to love? I’ll not bear the gnashing pain any longer. To see you standing there in all your beauty is more than any man as in love as I could possibly bear. If you will be mine I will grant Miss Lambe her freedom. Come away with me instead. I will shower you with love as none other ever could."

All the time he spoke, Sir Edward had been closing in upon Clara, and as he said his last words he grasped her arm in a tight grip. He looked into her eyes and she stared back, unmoved and resolute.

"I will, but not out of any feeling for you. Only to prevent you from ruining an innocent girl."

"You will develop feeling for me in that cold heart of yours," he said as he kissed her hand roughly, and pulled her tightly against him.

She drew away and looked at him frostily. "You will take no liberties." She walked to the carriage where the impassive groom opened the door for her.

"No!" cried Julia, suddenly arising from her stupor when she realised what was taking place. "Don’t go with him. I’ll do it . . . please."

"Miss Lambe, do not worry about me," said Clara Brereton. "It has always been my lot in life to make do with whatever uncomfortable situation I have been given. This will be no worse than being Lady Denham’s slave. I will be content to know that at least you are safe and happy."

Sir Edward gave orders to his groom then jumped into the carriage behind Clara Brereton and closed the door. Julia rose up and ran forward, crying out for them to stop but the groom slashed his whip upon the horses’ rumps and set the carriage rolling at quite a speed up the rutted track. She dropped to the ground in anguish and then picked herself up and stumbled back to the dark lower rooms of the fort.

~

Julia looked up from her hands. She had not been able to face anybody while she had told her tale. Sidney Parker returned quite early in the telling, but had only sat quietly on the grass beside the rock Charlotte and Julia were seated on. Mr Yardley remained where he was, seated by her knees where he had earlier knelt to give her his handkerchief. The very handkerchief she had been twisting in her hands the entire time. She raised it to her face now and dried her cheeks.

"I feel so terrible. She gave up all that is important in life for me. She will be tied to Sir Edward forever."

"No," said Charlotte. "Arthur Parker and Captain Mittering will find her before it is too late."

"How could I let myself fall into such a situation?"

"What reason had you to be suspicious of Miss Denham?" said Mr Yardley gently. "Do not blame yourself. You have been through enough today." He then turned to Charlotte and continued. "I think it best, Miss Heywood, if we were to take Miss Lambe home now, and if we could manage it in a way that she would not have to encounter even a questioning glance."

"I think I can commandeer my brother Tom’s gig," said Sidney, "if you two ladies don’t mind squeezing in with me, and Yardley can ride alongside."

"And how would Mr and Mrs Parker get home?" asked Charlotte.

"There are some empty spaces in the remaining equipages. I think everyone would be more than happy to oblige them, under the circumstances." He shot her a swift smile. "I won’t be a moment. I know that neither place will be a happy choice for you, Miss Lambe, but I think if I bring the gig down the track to where Sir Edward had his carriage hid, it will be preferable to making your way back through the cellars of the fort again."

He took Charlotte’s hand, gave it a reassuring squeeze, and then left to complete his mission. As she watched him go, she allowed a thought for her own concerns to override all that she was thinking regarding the harrowing occurrences of the day. Charlotte wondered how she had ever been able to keep her defences up against Sidney Parker. If anyone deserved her love, he did. She could not help but love him, regardless of whether he loved her in return. That, after all, was a little more than she could possibly expect.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

 

The drive back to Sanditon was completely different from the trip to Fort Westhaven earlier in the day. Not only was the gig not as well sprung as Sidney Parker’s curricle and the horses less eager at the bit, but concern over the plight of Clara Brereton created an atmosphere that was tight and troubled. Though she was squeezed much closer to Sidney Parker than before, Charlotte had no thought for the way every bump in the road threw her shoulder against his arm. All her attention was directed towards comforting Julia and if she gave Sidney’s proximity a thought at all it was to be glad of his reassuring presence. His concentration was upon getting the most from a pair of horses unused to being given their heads, and returning Miss Lambe to Mrs. Griffith’s establishment in Sanditon without delay. Yardley kept his horse at an easy pace beside the gig and his eyes were as often upon Miss Lambe, Charlotte’s arm protectively around her, as on the road.

 

The gentlemen set the young ladies down at the lodgings and after ensuring that they were safely ensconced in Julia’s sitting room, made for the hotel to change their horses. They both intended to ride out to join Arthur Parker and Captain Mittering in their search even though they were a few hours behind. To kick their heels in Sanditon awaiting news was unthinkable.

 

Charlotte sat with Julia for the remainder of the afternoon. Though Mrs. Griffiths had provided a cold collation neither of them was able to eat so intense was their worry for Clara Brereton. Despite all that Charlotte said to convince her otherwise, nothing could dispel Julia’s overriding feeling of guilt for Miss Brereton’s present predicament.

 

The Beaufort sisters returned during this time but Mrs Griffiths would not allow them to disturb Julia and Charlotte. They felt very ill used. They had been hoping to discover some particulars of the hasty and unexplained departure of so many of their party. It was really too bad that such a lovely outing had been spoiled and that the attention of all of the eligible gentlemen had been diverted from their charms. They held Miss Lambe responsible for causing a self aggrandising situation and they had no idea how such an insignificant person as she had managed to do it. The girl was much slyer than they had previously suspected – no doubt due to the influence of that upstart Miss Heywood.

 

By evening’s fall there was still no news but Mrs Griffiths, in her concern for Miss Lambe’s health, insisted that she retire to her bedchamber. She provided Charlotte with a servant to escort her back to Trafalgar house, then she bustled off to tend to the placement of hot water bottles in Julia’s bed herself. 

 

When Charlotte entered the Parker’s parlour she could see by their expressions that no word had yet been heard in that establishment either. They both were very solicitous about Miss Lambe’s wellbeing and showed truly compassionate feeling for Miss Brereton and her present plight. Mary Parker guided Charlotte to a chair close to the fire and saw to her comfort while Mr Parker ordered tea to be served at once.

 

“This is a shocking business indeed,” he said after the servant had left the room. “Who would have believed it of Sir Edward? And that such a thing should happen to guest of our family on an outing from Sanditon. I’m afraid the world will view our fair town most unfavourably after this.”

 

“If there is a happy resolution to this debacle the world need never know,” said Mrs Parker.

 

“A happy resolution? Even if they are married with all due speed the gossip mongers will have a heyday.”

 

“As yet it has all been kept very quiet,” said Mrs Parker. “I doubt if all the guests are even aware of what took place. Sidney was very careful to avoid telling the truth of the matter to anyone but ourselves.”

 

“Will they indeed have to marry?” asked Charlotte. “I cannot bring myself to believe that Miss Brereton will be happy with such a man. Is there no other recourse?”

 

“We can none of us be satisfied with that result, but what else is there to be done?” asked Mrs Parker. “Poor dear Arthur, I do feel for him.”

 

“Arthur?” said Mr Parker. “Yes, he was so excited about his Westhaven outing and he put so much effort into its execution. It is a pity that Sir Edward chose to ruin the excursion with his outrageous plan.”

 

“Oh Tom, that is not what I meant at all,” said Mary Parker, smiling fondly and shaking her head. “But it is no use even thinking in that way anymore.”

 

Mr Parker was about to question his wife as to her meaning when the tea was brought in and by the time everyone was served she had managed to steer the conversation in quite a different direction. She thought that dwelling on the tribulations of the day was what Charlotte most needed a break from and instead launched into a description of the antics of her young sons, a subject which no mother has difficulty in elaborating upon. Charlotte, for her part, was very grateful for the respite and soon found herself feeling much less preoccupied by her worries.

 

It was nearing their regular bed time and Charlotte was considering choosing a book from the library, for she was sure she would be unable to sleep, when the sounds of a late arrival could be heard from the front hall.

 

“Sydney and Arthur to be sure,” cried Mr Parker. “I had expected them to be the night on the road. I wonder what news they bring us?”

 

All Charlotte’s apprehension returned. She turned towards the door, her attention full upon it, barely breathing as her heart beat swiftly high up in her chest.

 

“Have they been found?” said Mr Parker without preamble as Sidney entered the room.

 

Sidney Parker looked at Charlotte and gave her a reassuring smile and a wink before addressing himself to his brother. “Yes and all is well,” he said.

 

Charlotte’s heart began a very different and quite erratic cadence which she could not explain. It ought to be settled now she knew that Clara Brereton was safe.

 

“And are they to marry?” asked Mary Parker.

 

“It depends whom you are speaking of,” said Sidney as he came over to the fire and pulled up a chair between the two ladies. “But no, Sir Edward did not get his way. He did, however, receive a blackened eye and a swollen jaw.”

 

“Enough with all this roundabout talk,” said Tom Parker. “Tell us straight out what transpired. I know you like to tantalise us all with your pleasantries but we’ve been on tenterhooks all evening, especially poor Miss Heywood.”

 

“Then I shall do my best to relieve Miss Heywood’s suffering,” said Sidney, giving her a sly grin. “But I am only doing it for Miss Heywood’s benefit, mind, or you would not get the tale half so fast.”

 

“We are not getting it at all,” said Tom. “Never was there a more teasing scallywag.”

 

“But his good humour does bode well,” said Mrs Parker, “for surely he would not jest if aught were wrong.”

 

“There is a perfect piece of wisdom,” said Sidney. “Today’s events, while harrowing at the outset, have turned out much better than would ever have been expected. I’ll tease you no longer. Sir Edward’s coach lost a wheel some twenty miles along the London road - happily no one was injured and they were within walking distance of a small inn. This is where Arthur and Captain Mittering found them; by the time Yardley and I arrived on the scene it was all over. The only use we have been is to serve as messengers.”

 

“Yes, and a very poor messenger you are turning out to be. What of the blackened eye? The swollen jaw? Who is marrying whom?” cried Mr Parker in exasperation.

 

“Please – how will Miss Heywood’s mind ever be set at ease if you insist on interrupting?”

 

Charlotte chuckled and said, “Do have mercy on your listeners.”

 

“If you insist,” said Sidney. “The blackened eye and swollen jaw were not incurred during the accident. I believe that the eye was a result of a difference of opinion between Sir Edward and Miss Brereton while the coach was still intact. She is not quite as submissive as she lets on. The swollen jaw he received in his initial encounter with our brother. Arthur has more fire in him than we ever gave him credit for.

 

“When Sir Edward and Miss Brereton arrived at the inn, she demanded a private parlour and a maid to accompany her. I am quite impressed with her conduct during this entire ordeal. She was courageous, sensible, and collected throughout. Apparently Sir Edward managed to fall foul of the landlord by issuing incomprehensible orders in a most high-handed fashion. When Arthur arrived they were almost at fisticuffs and Miss Brereton was attempting to restore order. He read the situation incorrectly and impetuously planted Sir Edward a facer, thinking he was protecting Miss Brereton’s honour – but I rather think he had been wanting to do it for the past twenty miles, so it would have made no odds what was taking place at the time. Mittering arrived close on his heels and prevented any further bloodshed.”

 

“Arthur punched Sir Edward?” asked Mr Parker in amazement. “First he rattles off in your curricle and then he hits a man? I know the lady was abducted while on an outing he arranged, but such behaviour is entirely out of character for him.”

 

“Love can make a man act in unexpected ways. I wonder what I would have done if the situation had been different and it was the woman I love who had been abducted.”

 

Charlotte again found herself unable to breathe and was thankful that Sidney Parker was looking at his brother and not at her as he spoke.

 

“Love? What are you talking about? Isn’t Sir Edward the one who was in love? After all he abducted the young lady and was running off with her to the border.”

 

“Oh Tom,” said Mrs Parker. “You had no clue, had you?”

 

“I still have no clue,” he said.

 

“Captain Mittering took Sir Edward in hand and soothed the landlord at the same time. A bit of money in the right places goes a long way in these cases. The man has promised his silence and so have the rest of his staff. Sir Edward is on his way to the continent on the evening stage and should not return to Sanditon for at least a twelvemonth.”

 

“And what of Arthur? Did he not come back with you?”

 

“No. He’s spending the night at the inn, along with Mittering. In the morning they will escort Miss Brereton to her family in London. She is taking the landlord’s daughter with her as a companion.”

 

“He is taking his responsibility in this affair rather seriously,” said Mr Parker.

 

“Well, he does have some important business to discuss with Miss Brereton’s Uncle,” said Sidney.

 

“What business could he possibly have? I would not have thought he had ever heard of the man before.”

 

“I doubt that he had, but Miss Brereton’s uncle is, after all, her guardian, and so he is the correct person to speak to in matters such as these.”

 

Mrs Parker clapped her hands and let out a sigh but Mr Parker continued to eye Sidney bemusedly.

 

“I believe that your brother Arthur means to ask for Miss Brereton’s hand,” said Charlotte, “but Mr Sidney Parker is having too much fun making sport of you to tell you outright.”

 

Tom Parker’s eyes widened. “When did all this take place?”

 

Sidney leaned back in his chair and directed a complacent smile at his brother. “Arthur asked Miss Brereton as soon as he found a moment alone with her, and once she realised that he was not merely being chivalrous she accepted him.”

 

“But . . . but . . .”

 

“My dear,” said his good wife, “have you not noticed how for the last two weeks they have not been able to keep their eyes from each other? This historical society of Diana’s has truly wrought some wonders.”

 

“It ought to please her that she has been of such good use,” said Sidney. “She does so like to help out, though in this case I don’t know that she will be happy to have lost her little brother whom she likes to coddle.”

 

“Well it’s a fine thing for him to finally be out of her influence,” said Tom. “Diana is a good woman but she still had the lad in leading strings.”

 

“I am very overjoyed for them both,” said Charlotte. “What a wonderful ending to the whole affair. I never imagined it could possibly turn out well for Miss Brereton at all. I had been so worried for her and now I can wish her happy, though I don’t know that I shall ever see her again. You will extend my greetings, won’t you, when you next see your brother?”

 

“Why do you say you shall not see her again?” asked Sidney. “She is soon to be part of the family.”

 

Charlotte blushed. She did not want to consider what this remark could possibly mean, preferring to think it was a slip on Sidney Parker’s part. He must know that she had not taken up residence at Trafalgar House forever. “But I will be home again in Willingden by the time the week is up.”

 

“Not so soon?” said Sidney. His face appeared to have lost some of its cheerful glow.

 

“I have been here all summer.”

 

“I could not imagine Sanditon without you,” he said softly.

 

“I do not know how we will manage at all without our Miss Heywood, eh Mary?” said Tom Parker. “And Arthur is sure to stay in London, courting his fair lady, and Sidney is never to be counted on to be in one place as long as a fortnight. We will be very dull indeed.”

 

Charlotte looked into the fire and tried not to dwell on how even the thought of leaving was tearing at her heart.

 

Mrs Parker glanced from Sidney to Charlotte and back again. “It has been a long and eventful day,” she said at last. “I am very tired and I’m certain Miss Heywood must be too, after all she was much more directly involved in the whole affair than I was. Thank you, Sidney, for bringing us the good news at once even though you have been on the road for most of the day. How you are still able to stand I have no idea.”

 

“The horses I have ridden today bore all the brunt,” he said with a laugh. “And my own pair! My brother probably became engaged just so I could not thrash him for driving them so hard. I have left them at the inn with my tiger to return in easy stages tomorrow. I will take my leave now and call again in the morning – not early, however, because I’m bound to sleep very late.” This last was said more to Charlotte than to his brother and sister.

 

“I can well believe it,” she said. “Goodnight, sir.”

 

“Ah – such formality. But no matter, I can match it.” He took her hand, standing as he did so. He bowed low over it. “Goodnight, Miss Heywood. Sleep well.”

 

~

 

As Charlotte lay in her bed she tried to sleep but she was haunted by his eyes and his smile, the touch of his hand on hers and the sound of his voice. She had less than a week to enjoy them; less than a week until they would become little more than memories. She chided herself for her sensibility – she had always been so level-headed and pragmatic. Now she was wistfully holding on to dreams and longing for the impossible.

 

She had failed miserably when it came to Sidney Parker. She had intended to withstand his inescapable charm, but he had charmed her – wholly and completely. In a few days she would be gone and he would be out of her life and all she would have to hold onto would be her vain hopes, her wistful imaginings, and her imprudent love of him. And he – would he miss her even a little? Her vanity wished it, but she knew that it would take a remarkable lady to catch his capricious heart, not a simple, sensible country girl like herself.

 

 

CHAPTER TWENTY

 

 

Charlotte stood in the open Venitian window of her bedchamber and stared out upon the sea. The morning was clear with only a light haze upon the horizon. The water and sand spread before her in a panorama that she had enjoyed gazing down upon every morning, another pleasure she would have to bid goodbye. She sighed and turned to her looking glass. She had slept ill and woken early. Dark smudges circled her eyes. She dressed her hair carefully, hoping that cheerful ribbons would draw away her pallor, but instead they only seemed to accentuate it. Before going downstairs to breakfast she took up the glass float and held it against her cheek, remembering the day it had been given to her. She had to shake this melancholy. These last few days in Sanditon were all she had – it was best to make the most of them. She set a resolute smile upon her face and skipped out of the room. When she entered the breakfast chamber she was smiling in earnest.

 

Knowing that Sidney Parker intended to sleep late, Charlotte took an early walk, not towards the Terrace, but in the other direction along the road that led towards Sanditon House. She needed to be active, not sitting in the parlour waiting and watching the clock. The sun was already warm upon her shoulders as she traipsed along taking in the trees and fields that she had grown to know so well over the space of the summer. Birds sang in the larches, and the air smelled sweet with clover.

 

Half an hour later Charlotte slipped back into the house through the French doors of the parlour only to find Sidney Parker sitting on his own upon the settee, looking perfectly composed and relaxed. She started and swiftly took off her bonnet.

 

“You cannot escape from me quite so easily,” he said.

 

“But . . . you were . . . you said you would not be early.”

 

“Aha! You do attend to what I say,” he said, rising and coming towards her. “The day was too fine to waste in bed, and besides there was somewhere I much preferred to be. Are not these windows a blessing? I entered this way myself. No one knows that we are both here . . . together, alone.” His voice had lowered, become softer.

 

He came up very close beside her, took her bonnet from her hands and placed it upon the table. Charlotte did not know which way to look or what to say. She fixed her eyes upon her shoes and wished both that she were still outside and bent upon entering through the front door and that the moment, with Sidney Parker standing so close to her that she could almost hear his heart beating, would never end.

 

“I have long been hoping to have a minute . . .” he said, reaching his hand towards her as he spoke, but just then the parlour door opened with a bang and three little boys entered in a rush, followed closely by their sister.

 

“Uncle Sidney!” they cried in excitement.

 

Sidney laughed and stepped away from Charlotte into the direct onslaught of his little nephews. “It would seem a minute was not enough,” he said ruefully. “I ought to have hoped for an hour at the very least.”

 

Mrs Parker came through the door and took in the scene before her – Charlotte Heywood standing flustered in the light from the open windows, her bonnet upon the table, and Sidney not too far from her with all three boys dangling from his arms.

 

“I am so sorry,” she said hurriedly. “I can take the children out again . . .”

 

“No need,” said Sidney amiably. “I arrived earlier than expected and startled Miss Heywood. I think she took me for a burglar. But my real plan was to see if anyone wanted to come along with me for a walk upon the beach.”

 

Mary turned to her mother. “Oh may we?” The boys disentangled themselves from their uncle and ran clamouring to their mother.

 

“Are you certain you want to be burdened with all these ragamuffins?” she asked.

 

“As long as Miss Heywood comes to assist me I will be sure to manage, and of course you and Tom are also welcome, Mary my dear.”

 

“One of us really ought to join you,” she said, “but Tom is tied up with his man of business and Diana spoke of dropping by this morning with some sort of restorative jelly she means for me to try.”

 

“You have my deepest sympathies,” said Sidney. “I’ll have none of her remedies. The last time I took one of her draughts I was indisposed for a week afterwards. If I were you I would thank her kindly and then put it away in a deep, dark shelf.”

 

Mary smiled. “Really, it is much too much for me to allow you to take all the children – what if I were to send their nurse along?”

 

“Miss Heywood hasn’t even committed herself to coming yet,” said Sidney. He turned to her with a crooked smile. “What is it to be, Miss Heywood? Will you accompany us, or shall I take nurse?”

 

“I would very much like to come,” said Charlotte.

 

 

They strolled down the path that went behind the houses and to the private beach, the boys running ahead and Mary walking sedately beside Charlotte, holding her hand. They had a splendid time paddling in the waves, playing in the sand, and collecting sticks for a bonfire. Even little Mary forgot she was pretending to be a proper young lady and got her skirts wet as she ran screaming in glee through the surging waves. They arrived back at Trafalgar house late for their tea, all wet, bedraggled and sprinkled with sand. Charlotte’s eyes were shining and her cheeks were bright. Gone were the dark smudges and sallow complexion that had looked back at her from the mirror in the morning.

 

The evening was spent in the parlour. The children went up to bed early, tired from their fun, and Diana and Susan joined the rest of them, eager to discuss their youngest brother’s unusual behaviour and surprise engagement. Diana had a great many concerns that, although Clara Brereton appeared to be a level headed girl, she would not know just how to manage Arthur’s diet and ensure the weakness of his cocoa or the dryness of his toast. Susan, on the other hand, worried that Clara might have a tendency to migraines and would not understand the great benefits to be gained from teeth pulling. Sidney departed with his sisters but before he left arranged to come with Mr Yardley the next morning to escort Charlotte to visit Julia Lambe.

 

The morning could not come soon enough for Charlotte. She slept deeply and awoke refreshed. Determined not to make the same mistake she had done the day before, she did not go out for an early walk. Still, she was reticent to simply sit in the parlour with some needlework and appear to be doing nothing but waiting for him. Instead she went into the garden to gather some of the climbing roses that had been blooming all summer long. But of course she really was waiting for Sidney Parker to arrive, and the time stretched endlessly. Her basket was quite full by the time he finally interrupted her, much later than she would ever have expected. She heard a step and glanced up from her task to see him standing hesitant on the threshold of the arbour. There was a constrained look upon his face. She felt her chest tighten and her face tingle.

 

Sidney took a step forward, reached up and plucked a rose and then stood twirling it between his fingers, his eyes all the time upon her. Finally he spoke.

 

“I’m afraid I cannot take you to visit your friend as I had promised,” he said. “I have come to say goodbye. I do not have much time, but I told you that I would never leave again without saying goodbye in person. Truly - I could not have done it, had I tried.”

 

The basket was dangling from Charlotte’s hands, blooms spilling out unheeded by either of them. “What . . .?”

 

“I will be back as soon as possible . . . before you return to Willingden if I can manage it.” He took two steps towards her. “I received an express this morning. My friend John Keats’ brother Tom is very ill. John is distraught and begs me to come – I cannot let a friend in need down though it sorely goes against my wishes to leave at this time.”

 

“Of course you must go,” said Charlotte when she could find her voice.

 

“I wanted to make your last days in Sanditon special.”

 

“Yesterday was special,” said Charlotte softly.

 

“Yes, it was,” he said and his face lit up with a slow smile, making him look almost as carefree as usual. He took the rose that he had been playing with and tucked it behind her ear. His hand paused beside her cheek and then pulled away. “I must go.”

 

“Take care.” Charlotte could not pull her eyes from his face. So sure was she that it was the last time she would ever see him she was intent on memorising every nuance of his expression; the curve of his cheek and the glint of his eyes when he smiled she already knew by heart.

 

Still he stood there even after he said he should go. The moments slipped by and then finally he said, “You look very sweet with that rose in your hair.” He turned and walked quickly through the garden gate.

 

She watched the place he had stood long after he had departed then Charlotte stooped down and, without really knowing what she was about, perfunctorily began picking the flowers up from the ground and placing them back into her basket. She had to do something, if not she knew that she would cry.

 

~

 

Charlotte had not been able to face going to visit Julia that day. She had walked about the house listlessly not really aware of what she was doing and had sat with the family in the evening only partially listening to Diana expostulate on the best ways of going about making Sanditon a success as a favoured seaside resort with the right sort of people. Mrs Parker suggested that she go up to bed at the earliest opportunity and so she found herself in bed two hours before her usual time staring unseeing at the pages of a book the title of which she could no longer remember.

 

The next morning she had herself in check again. There was no denying that the allure of Sanditon was not the same now that Sidney Parker was gone, but it was not the end of the world. In two more days she would be leaving – the parting had been inevitable – it had simply come earlier than expected. She could not fault the man for going to his friend’s aid – it only made her care for him all the more. And it did seem that he had been loath to leave her as well. He had acted differently, without his usual flirtatious teasing, almost as he had that evening at the second assembly, when he was serious and distant. Was he aware that he had stolen her heart and trying to be gentle with his goodbyes, or did he, actually, have some feelings for her? Could she possibly, somehow have touched his soul?  In fact, the other morning she had almost thought . . . but what good was it to think in that way? He was gone and probably happy to find himself safe from an impetuous entanglement.

 

Julia Lambe was pleased to see Charlotte when she finally paid the postponed visit. She admitted to having been weakened by her ordeal at the fort, but the unexpectedly fortunate outcome had done much to raise her spirits.

 

“Yesterday I had a brief visit from Mr Yardley and Mr Sidney Parker before they left for Hampstead,” she said.

 

Charlotte noticed how her friend’s countenance brightened at the mention of the gentlemen. “Mr Parker took his leave of me as well, but I did not have the pleasure of saying goodbye to Mr Yardley.” It was only at that moment that she had even been aware that Mr Yardley had gone also. She hadn’t given him any thought at all.

 

Julia blushed. “He stayed with me and Mrs Griffiths while his friend went to say goodbye at Trafalgar House. Did not Sidney Parker extend his salutations?”

 

‘It seems that Mr Yardley had been as far from Sidney Parker’s thoughts as he was from mine,’ thought Charlotte. “He must have. I probably was not attending.”

 

“Mr Parker seemed very low,” said Julia, giving Charlotte a penetrating gaze. “I do not think he liked to leave, though he was quite impatient to go. I attempted to return his book to him, the one he lent to you of John Keats’ poems, but he said it belonged to you and not him. Here it is.” She picked it up off the table and passed it over to Charlotte.

 

“Oh no, it was for you,” said Charlotte.

 

“He clearly wanted you to have it,” said Julia, “in fact he has marked a spot with the green ribbon. I saw him do it. Open it and see for yourself.”

 

Charlotte let the book fall open where the ribbon separated the pages. It opened easily because just at that spot was also inserted a piece of parchment. Charlotte unfolded it and found one stanza of poetry written out carefully in copperplate. As she read it she could hear the voice that had spoken it to her so softly and yet with so much feeling.

 

My madness impious; for, by all the stars
That tend thy bidding, I do think the bars
That kept my spirit in are burst - that I
Am sailing with thee through the dizzy sky!

 

“Is it a note?” asked Julia in an awed voice as she saw Charlotte’s face change.

 

“No,” said Charlotte, handing it over to her friend. “It is a part of the poem Mr Keats has been working on.”

 

Julia read it and then handed it back. “I think it has special meaning,” she said, blushing lightly. “He placed it there on purpose before he told me that the book was yours and asked me to keep it for you.”

 

“Then why did he not give it to me himself as he was leaving?”

 

“Perhaps he was afraid you would not take it. Perhaps he wanted you to find the stanza when you were home so that you would not forget him. I think it is very romantic.”

 

“I think you are letting your imagination run away with you,” countered Charlotte, but she earnestly wanted to believe that what Julia said was true.

 

“He was only here long enough to accomplish that and then he was gone to see you,” said Julia.

 

“And when he left on that mission, Mr Yardley stayed to be with you,” said Charlotte to turn Julia’s attention away from a topic she was prepared to discuss no further.

 

“Yes,” said Julia. She picked up a shell from the table and turned it over in her hands, stroking its rough surface. “He said that he has an uncle living in Camberwell who he visits every October. He asked if he could call on Mrs Griffiths and me while he makes his stay there.”

 

“What a convenient uncle,” said Charlotte with a laugh. “I hope he is not too surprised when his nephew writes to him asking for an invitation!”

 

“But, he said . . .”

 

“Yes, I know. He said he visits him every October, but a gentleman like Mr Yardley does not go to Camberwell in October – he goes to his country estate for the hunting season, or to that of one of his friends.”

 

“I am glad that he is coming to Camberwell instead, then,” said Julia with a soft smile.

 

“I like Mr Yardley very much,” said Charlotte. “I think he will make you very happy.”

 

“I like him very much too,” admitted Julia. “But why may I not say the same thing to you of Mr Parker without you disclaiming?”

 

“Because the situation is different. Sidney Parker cannot help himself but flirt with any young lady he meets, and he chose to flirt more with me because I did not fall at once into his thrall. He is like a butterfly that flits from one flower to the other; he does not settle.” ‘But what magic he does weave,’ she thought. ‘I do not regret a minute that I spent in his company.’

 

“I think you are wrong. Whenever I saw him with you it was evident that he cares. Yesterday he was pained at the thought of leaving you. He is not an empty, thoughtless creature – he understands poetry and he understands life.”

 

“No, he is not empty and he is not thoughtless, and I think he did enjoy my company and he was sad to cause me pain, but you must understand . . . he did not . . . he did not tell me that he had an uncle to visit in Willingden. He did not say anything about calling on me there at all.”

 

There was nothing Julia could say to that. She was only seventeen and she had known so few gentlemen – could she really claim to understand Mr Sidney Parker? She did not want to bring Charlotte’s hopes up only to have them dashed, but she thought that if she understood anything about poetry as sure as night follows day Sidney Parker would pay a visit to Willingden, uncle or no uncle.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

 

Charlotte breathed in the mingled scents of rose, lavender, and verbena that pervaded the stillroom. She had been home a week and was back to all the tasks of a country girl on a farm, and in truth she was glad of the occupation, though it didn’t entirely keep her mind from wandering back to Sanditon every half hour, it did provide something other to focus upon.

 

Her final two days at Trafalgar House had been bittersweet – there were so many faces she had grown to love that she would no longer see every day, and maybe never again; there were so many beloved locations, so many memories – and she had wanted to hold onto them and never let them go. She promised to write to Julia and to Mary Parker, and she could not help but shed a few tears as she kissed the children’s ruddy cheeks for the last time before she was handed up into the carriage her father had sent for her.

 

She had stared out of the window as the vehicle trundled along and watched the passing countryside through misty eyes. She did not break down until she viewed the old Parker homestead nestled in its curving valley and surrounded by its orchards and verdant grounds. The ghosts were there, playing amongst the trees and scampering across the overgrown lawns. The children with his eyes and her smile that would never be anything more than manifestations of a wistful imagination. She hadn’t wanted to think of him at all. The night before she had held hope with every creaking floorboard and the slightest of sounds from the street that Sidney Parker would be ushered through the door. That he would return as he had said he might before she was gone so that she could see him one more time, hear his voice, feel the warmth of his smile.

 

But thinking of Sidney Parker was not a sensible thing to do at all – and Charlotte had vowed that if nothing else, she would be sensible again now that she was home. Little did it matter that she could not smell a rose without being transported to that last meeting they had together – her life was here in the present and not in the past. She was home in the heart of her family and she should relish that happiness instead. And though she tried her very best, her parents noticed a change in their Charlotte – a melancholy that lingered behind every smile, and they hoped they had not done her a disservice in allowing her to live for two months in a lively seaside resort, so different from her simple home.

 

She placed a sachet of lavender in her pocket and closed the stillroom door. It was time to give lessons to her youngest brother and sister, a boy of twelve who had grown surprisingly tall in her absence and a sweet girl of ten with a twinkle of mischief in her eyes. To her mind Francis was ready for more than she could offer him, but he had a quiet nature and loved the countryside and animals so much that he did not want to be sent away to school and his mother had not the heart to make him go. Emma was bright and eager to learn and challenged Charlotte at every step.

 

~

 

“What could be out the window that is more interesting than the lesson?”

 

Charlotte shook her head, attempting to organise her swirling thoughts. It had been a week; a week and no word. Not that she was expecting anything, but . . . she shook her head again. “Am I not the one who ought to be saying that?” She gave an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry. I will try to concentrate better.” She had read The Iliad deep into the night, and pored over maps and histories of Greece that she might answer some of the probing questions she knew the children were bound to come up with. She now nodded as Francis drew a route out on the map with his finger and answered a quick question of Emma’s that resulted in a change for the route. Both children began to argue their cases while she showed them a third possibility. The knock on the door was a welcome interruption.

 

“Your mother sent me to say there is a visitor to see you, miss.”

 

Charlotte thanked the young servant girl and hurried from the room, relieved to be extricated from a lesson she was finding increasingly overwhelming. Whoever the visitor was, she was thankful for the reprieve, even should it be the widow from the cottage on the hill who rambled endlessly on such divergent topics that it was impossible to keep the threads of her conversation untangled. She smoothed the skirts of her old housedress and tucked a few loose strands of hair back behind her ear before she opened the parlour door. It was not much of an improvement, but it would have to do.

 

Her breath was knocked out of her as Sidney Parker stood up from a chair and walked forward, his arm outstretched in greeting. She did not know how she managed to get through the next few moments as she asked after his family. She hardly dared look at his face and when she did he appeared to be quite pleased with himself.

 

“This is an unexpected pleasure,” she finally said as she sat down.

 

“Unexpected?” was all he said. But his expression was as teasing as ever.

 

Her mother looked from one to the other not knowing quite what to make of their visitor as he sat back and waited for her daughter to say something, a guileless look upon his face. Mrs Heywood smiled in relief as the servant entered with the tea and she was on an accustomed footing again.

 

“I understand you have a message from your brother for my husband, Mr Parker?” she asked politely as she served him a cup of tea.

 

“I suppose he did charge me with one,” said Sidney, smiling. “But actually I came here to discuss a matter of business with Mr Heywood.”

 

“I see,” she said, completely at a loss again. “Are you a farmer yourself?”

 

“No, regretfully not, for from what I have heard from a reliable source it is a delightful occupation.”

 

“So . . . you have developed an interest and have a business proposition for him?”

 

“A decided interest,” said Sidney. “But it is not actually a proposition. It is more of a proposal.”

 

“My husband is overseeing the labourers in his fields, but I can send for him, if you don’t mind waiting,” said Mrs Heywood.

 

“I would much prefer going out to meet him if I could have someone show me the way,” said Sidney, and then he addressed himself directly to Charlotte. “Do you know where your father is working, Miss Heywood?”

 

“I believe he is with the reapers in the barley fields,” she said indistinctly.

 

“And would you be able to lead me there?”

 

His eyes were twinkling much too merrily. Charlotte’s heart was fluttering disturbingly in her chest. She looked over to her mother for approval.

 

“Take Francis along with you,” she said kindly. “I’m sure he would like to be out of doors today. I will sit and read with Emma.” Mrs Heywood was nothing if not sensible. There was obviously something going on between this Mr Parker and her daughter, something that might explain Charlotte’s unusually abstracted behaviour, and she was not about to allow them to walk through the fields unchaperoned, whatever the young man’s intentions.

 

Charlotte decided that she must do something to fill in the gap in conversation while her mother called the girl back to the room to send for Francis. “Your friend,” she said, swallowing a sip of tea quickly to ease her suddenly dry throat. “How is his brother faring?”

 

Sidney’s expression sobered a bit. “On my previous visit to Hampstead, I became very close to Tom. We walked upon the moors talking while John was up in the clouds writing. John knew this and when his brother took a sharp turn for the worse he felt I would want to be there, at least to say goodbye. He was right, but fortunately it was not yet time for goodbyes.”

 

“So, he is better then?” said Charlotte. “I am pleased to hear it.”

 

“For the time being only. Consumption is a very heartless illness. There is no recovery, just increasing weakness and suffering to an inevitable early death. Tom has rallied once again – his spirit is astoundingly strong. We are all hopeful that he will not be taken from us too soon.”

 

“I had forgotten it was consumption. I am so sorry. What is being done?” Charlotte wanted to reach out and touch his hand, but felt her mother’s eyes upon her. She knew her words were too commonplace to convey her sentiments. She need not have worried – her eyes showed all that her words could not express.

 

“Their brother George has taken Tom to Paris now that he is on the mend. They will make their way slowly to Florence upon the doctor’s recommendation. John Keats is going to stay with another friend in Oxford. The heath holds no more inspiration for him.” Sidney smiled softly and said, “Come, let us have no more talk of sad things. Not today when we are finally together again. Tell me the gossip of your last days in Sanditon and how the Beaufort sisters took the desertion of all the eligible gentlemen.”

 

Charlotte laughed. “In the end they would have it that Sanditon was a paltry place and that the following summer they would settle for no less than Eastbourne.”

 

Francis joined the company in the parlour and quickly managed a piece of cake before the three walked out together under Mrs Heywood’s interested gaze. As they rounded the garden wall she took up a plate of cake for Emma and made her way to the schoolroom.

 

“I am certain that a young Jack Strap like you knows a thing or two about horses,” said Sidney to Francis.

 

“I do like to go down to the stables much more than attend to my studies,” he admitted, glancing at his sister lest she would be displeased with this admission, but she only smiled.

 

“Who would not?” said Sidney. “And I can tell that you would rather take a prime pair of bays to be stabled than to walk out to the barley fields in the hot sun with us.”

 

“That I would,” he said eagerly, “but my mama . . .”

 

“Your mama only wanted you outdoors – if she had known about the horses I am sure she would have suggested it herself”

 

“Do you think so?” His eyes were alight.

 

“I am almost certain of it. My tiger is walking the horses in the lane. Do you think you could direct him to the stables and assist him in any way he needs?”

 

“I will do my very best.” Francis began running through the grass towards the lane. He turned suddenly and called back, “Thank you, sir!”

 

“That was very bad of you,” said Charlotte.

 

“To allow a young lad I’ve only just met free rein with my horses? I would say I was being very generous.”

 

“You know exactly what I mean.”

 

“Are you saying you did not wish to be alone with me?”

 

Charlotte coloured and stammered and could not meet his eyes. “I . . . I . . .”

 

“Because I have wanted to be alone with you from the moment you walked through your parlour door unable to meet my eyes, with your hair falling loose and your faded brown gown. I have never seen anything lovelier.”

 

“Don’t . . . flirt!”

 

“How I have missed hearing you say that! But you must know that I stopped flirting long ago.” He stood still and took her arm and turned her to face him.

 

“You are flirting right now,” she whispered, looking at her shoes.

 

“Those are very pretty shoes and I can see you are prodigiously proud of them, but will you not look at me?”

 

Charlotte’s heart began to beat very quickly. “I am afraid to.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because I will be lost.” There – she had said it and now he would know how foolish she really was.

 

“We are both of us lost, and have been for quite some time. Did you not know that?”

 

“Not you,” she said, unable to be more articulate.

 

“And I had always thought you a girl of sense.” He took her hand and squeezed it gently. “Especially me.” He looked down at her and smiled, drawing her a little closer. “When I first realised I was falling in love with you, I was terrified. Do you remember the day the sea gave you the glass float?”

 

“You gave it to me.”

 

He reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and let his fingers trail down her cheek. “I admit it, I did, not the sea. I could never fool you. I thought you were going to throw it back into the waves.”

 

“I wanted to keep it too much for that.”

 

“And I thought then that you were still impervious to my charms. That night it came to me that I loved you, and I began shaking all over. By morning I had resolved to leave. Forgive me – I was not afraid of loving you but of what was happening to me, how my life would change, and what I would do if you did not care for me. When I returned I still had not decided what to do. I walked into the assembly and saw you and knew there was only one choice for me – that I shouldn’t be afraid of change in my life because nothing could be better than sharing it with you. I tried to do what you had asked, to stop gratifying those ladies that expected me to flirt with them, to be more serious and sincere with you. It was completely painless for me to stop flirting – it is easy to give up something so meaningless - and I had no desire at all to pay any attention to any lady who was not you. But I cannot stop teasing you – do not ask that of me – it is much too rewarding.”

 

 Charlotte finally raised her head and looked up into his face. “I may tell you to stop, but I love it when you tease.”

 

“Is there anything else that you love?”

 

“I love it when you play with your nephews and niece. I love the way you show consideration for the people you are close to and that you would do anything for a friend. I love the look in your eyes when you are about to say something very audacious. I love the way you read poetry. I love your voice. I love . . . “ she faltered, and could go no further.

 

“That is a good beginning,” he said, reaching his hand back up to stroke her hair. “I love it when you turn my words back on me. I love it when you put me in my place when I think I am being very clever. I love the way your nose wrinkles when you laugh. I love the way you take interest in the world about you. I love it when you look at me and your eyes soften and it makes me think I’m the luckiest man alive.”

 

She leaned forward and, very naturally, his arms came around her. She pressed her head against his waistcoat, barely able to believe this was real – everything she had wished and hoped but thought was impossible was somehow coming true.

 

“Charlotte,” he said. “How long do you think your father will want to keep you at home before he lets me have you?”  

 

“What are you trying to say? Will you just take me away one day?”

 

“Yes. But I think we will have to involve a parson and some interested onlookers or everyone will look at us askance.” He had that smug look on his face again, but this time she felt no desire to tell him to be serious.

 

“I would prefer it that way.”

 

“So would I. Then I want to take you to a comfortable house in a shallow valley where a river runs out to the sea and fishermen tie glass balls to nets in the hopes of gaining riches - only I have discovered that the best way to gain riches is to place the glass ball at your loved one’s feet.”

 

“There are ghosts in that house that I want to give faces and names to and I want to hear their feet run up and down the stairs.”

 

“I think I like your ghosts better than the ones I remember living there.”

 

“They all have your eyes, but my smile,” she whispered.

 

“Cannot some of them have your eyes?”

 

“Only with your smile.”

 

She looked up into his face again and he smiled that special smile for her.

 

“I think we must find a barley field as soon as possible,” he said. “There is something that I want to do, but I will need your father’s blessing before I do it.”

 

“I am sure there is one about here somewhere,” said Charlotte, “but you cannot blame me if we have trouble finding it. Remember that I told you if I looked in your eyes I would become lost.”

 

“Then it is up to me, I suppose,” he said with a grin. “Can you at least tell me what barley looks like? I would not want to lead us to a field of oats by mistake.”

 

“Just look for a field with a crew of labourers on it, and a gentleman supervising astride a horse.”

 

Sidney released Charlotte from his arms, took her hand, and began to lead her along the hedgerows. “I knew you were a girl of uncommon good sense,” he said as he leaned over and kissed her softly on her cheek. “That’s why I chose you.”

 

 

The End

 

 

 

 

 

 

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