The Heart's Companion - By Holly Newman Page 0,45

down at her hands clasped before her, then back up at her aunt. "Elsbeth, could you, I mean, would you consider telling me how you know Lord Conisbrough? I wouldn’t inquire in this odious fashion, but there are tales.... I mean, Aunt Serena said...."

A shuttered expression greeted Jane’s words until she mentioned Lady Serena. Lady Elsbeth sighed, her body sagging as if it were a deflating aerial balloon.

"Yes, my dear sister Serena. I can just imagine what she said," Elsbeth drawled. She shook her head and sat down on the edge of her bed to remove her shoes and stockings. "I met Lord Conisbrough during the little season. I’d just turned eighteen. I’d had a successful regular season, even received two offers of marriage, both of which I refused with my father’s full blessing.

"I was in London for a holiday fete. Afterwards we were all to return to Larchwyn Hall. Everyone was coming to Larchwyn for the Christmas holidays. Anyway," she continued, rolling her stockings down, "it was at that party that I met Lord Conisbrough. He was ten years older than I was, already quite shockingly divorced from a woman who ran off to Italy with some Italian aristocrat she’d met while she and Conisbrough were in Italy for their wedding trip. The man actually followed them back to England and convinced Conisbrough’s wife to run away with him. Or so the story goes."

Jane shook her head. "We can’t seem to get away from gossip, can we?"

"No," Lady Elsbeth said, sighing. "Only that was pretty much the true tale. There were no whispers of cruelty or other sordidness. She simply fell in love with someone else. Here," she said, turning around, "if you want the whole tale, you’ll have to make yourself useful and help me with these lacings. I’m not ringing for the maid to overhear all this and exaggerate it to everyone!

"After his wife left him, Conisbrough became quite jaded. He dallied with women here and there, broke endless hearts, and laughed. He gambled hard, rode hard, and played hard. Some say he had a death wish. I don’t think so. I think he was looking for some kind of cleansing, as if in burning himself out he could burn himself clean. He was near that point when I met him. He had not yet aged physically, but there were dark shadows beneath his eyes and his face was unnaturally drawn. I remember thinking when I first met him that his voice was also unnaturally harsh. Truthfully, he fascinated me. I found myself wondering about him.

"I blush to admit it now, but I maneuvered to dance with him just before everyone went down for the midnight supper. Afterwards, quite naturally, I went down to supper on his arm. Somehow we started talking about herbs. I was surprised to find him quite knowledgeable about them. His mother was a noted herbalist. It was strange, but as we talked his face seemed to lose some of its sallowness, and his gray eyes lost their harsh metallic edge and turned to a beautiful, soft, foggy gray. I fell in love with those eyes." Lady Elsbeth sighed and smiled. She murmured her thanks as Jane unlaced her dress. She stepped out of it and picked it up, shaking it out.

"We left for Larchwyn the next day. I didn’t see him again before we left, but I couldn’t stop thinking about him. I know I mentioned his name to one or two. I was gently warned to be wary. I did not understand why. Serena told me he was a callous rake, a user of women. Her words did give me pause, especially when I remembered the dissipation I’d seen in his face. Then, the day before Christmas, I received a package. It was from Lord Conisbrough. It was his mother’s journal, full of notes and recipes for herbal remedies."

"Do not tell me that is the same red leather-bound journal you jealously guard, consult daily it seems, and enter quotes in?"

Lady Elsbeth laughed. "The same. With it Lord Conisbrough sent a note saying that he wished his mother’s beloved work be used and appreciated, not relegated to a dusty library shelf as it had been since her death. I think I fell in love with him that day. "

Elsbeth smiled reminiscently, then briskly continued, "I don’t recall any more of that time at Larchwyn. My time was taken with studying Lady Conisbrough’s journal. I do remember that the family was disgusted with