Intolerable Civility

Chapter Sixteen: Until You

"Partially." Baxter looked skeptically at David. "Partially isn't good enough."

"I know. I thought my wife was sick, so I came home early. Lost a valuable investor by doing so as well."

"How is she? I noticed she hasn't been at church for a while."

"There was nothing wrong with her. It was all a mare's nest." David sighed. "She and her stupid companion had a plot to pretend she was sick so I would send them away from here. It was mostly her companion's doing, but Cate didn't stop it."

Baxter was not a man easily given to anger, but now a dark flush slowly suffused over his cheeks. "Of all dirty tricks! Didn't she think what she would cost you? Doesn't she know what she has cost herself?"

"I tried to explain it. I think she is sorry, not that that fixes anything." Somehow, seeing Baxter's anger made David feel better about it all, as though he was right to feel wronged. "I got rid of the companion, warned her off. A poisonous influence."

Baxter's top lip curled. "Indeed. In the village, people were beginning to say that her nose was always held as though she had shit smeared on her upper lip."

David sputtered, trying not to laugh. "Don't. It's not polite."

"But it is true. And good riddance to her."

"I'll drink to that." David raised his cup of tea. "And what are they saying of Cate?"

Baxter looked away. "What you would expect of a woman who has a baby out of wedlock. Not much more. She treats her servants well and she's pretty, so some are sympathetic to her. Others, more loyal to you, are less forgiving. And the gentry look down upon her, as far as I can tell."

Baxter's unwillingness to meet David's eyes was suspicious. "And what are you saying of her?"

"Nothing. I do not speak of her. I am no gossip."

"You're gossiping with me right now."

"Well, I don't gossip of you or your family. I know what side my bread is buttered."

"You're too kind. What do you think of her?"

Baxter shrugged. "A great deal less, after what you've told me this morning. It's not just your livelihood and hers. It's the people who live here. The miners. Their wives. Their children. The village that has grown from the wealth of the mines. Expanding them would mean prosperity, perhaps not what would you consider prosperity, but mouths fed, fires lit, rooves and boats mended, and comfort, in some small measure, for so many. I don't think she understands that."

"I tried to make her."

"And did you succeed?"

"I don't know. She is remorseful, but perhaps more for what she did than for its consequences."

"Hmm." Baxter poured himself another cup of over-brewed tea, sipped it, grimaced, and put it aside. "Would she try to make up for it?"

"What do you mean?"

"It occurs to me that, having lost you one investor, she might help you find a second one."

"I don't see how she could. If she returned to London with me, no one would speak to me."

"Not in London." Baxter rubbed his knee where his false leg attached. "At her home. Her father is very wealthy, is he not?"

"Significantly. But I can hardly ask him. He hasn't forgiven Cate for having the baby. In fact, I have the impression that he saw our marriage as a way to excise her permanently from the family circle. Since the day of our wedding, he never sent a single letter to either of us. He forbids her siblings to communicate with her. I believe he would refuse because I'm Cate's husband."