“Oh, yes, he is. All men are unfaithful to their wives, aren’t they, if they get a chance?” But at that Jenny looked so stricken she gave her a little squeeze and added hastily, “Except men who live in the country—they’re different.”
And at first she half thought that Philip was different. The instant he had seen her his eyes had lighted with surprise and admiration—but his father was there and the look swiftly passed. After that she met him seldom, usually only at dinner and supper, and then he paid her the same deferential consideration she might have expected had she been at least twenty years older. He very politely tried to pretend that she actually was nearer his father’s age than his own. Amber finally decided, correctly, that he was afraid of her.
Prompted by boredom and mischief and a desire to revenge herself on Radclyffe, she set out to make Philip fall in love with her. But she knew the Earl well enough to realize that she would have to be cautious, and take strictly in private any satisfaction she might find in cuckolding him with his own son. For if he should ever suspect or guess—but she refused to think of that, for nothing violent or cruel seemed beyond him. But Philip was the only young and personable and virile male at Lime Park, and she craved excitement as well as the flattery of a man’s adoration.
One rainy morning she met him in the gallery where they stopped to talk for a moment about the weather. He would have gone on almost immediately but she suggested a game of shovel-board and while he was trying to find an excuse she hurried him off to where the table was set. After that they bowled or played cards occasionally, and a couple of times, apparently by accident, they met at the stables and rode together. Jenny was pregnant and could not ride.
But Philip continued to treat Amber like a step-mother and even seemed to be somewhat in awe of her, which was an emotion she was not accustomed to rousing in men, either young or old. She decided that he must have forgotten everything he had learned on his Tour.
She saw Radclyffe no oftener now than when they had been in town. He supervised every detail regarding the house which was not attended to by the steward (for he refused to allow a woman to manage his household); he planned new arrangements for the gardens, directed the workmen, and spent hours in his laboratory or in the library. He never rode horseback or played a game or a musical instrument, and though he was sometimes out-of-doors it was never to idle but always for a definite purpose and when it was accomplished he returned to the house. He wrote interminably. When Amber asked him what it was, he told her. He was writing the complete history of every article of value he had acquired so that the family would always know what its possessions were. He also wrote poetry, but never offered to read it to her and she never asked to see it. She thought it a very dull occupation and could not imagine a man wasting his time shut up in a dark close room when outside the white violets were poignantly fragrant, beech-trees were hung with purple clusters of bloom, and clean cool rain-swept air washed over the hills.
When she tried to quarrel with him about returning to London he told her flatly that she had conducted herself like a fool there and was not fit to live where she would be subjected to temptation. He repeated that if she wanted to go back alone he was willing to have her do so, but he reminded her that if she did she would forfeit her money to him—all but ten thousand pounds. She shouted at him in a fury that she would never turn that money over to him, not if she had to stay in the country for the rest of her life.
Consequently, convinced that she might be there a long while, she sent for Nan and Susanna and Big John Waterman. Nan, who had earlier had one miscarriage and one abortion, was now pregnant again—this time by Big John—and though it was the fifth month and Amber told her not to come if she thought it might hurt her, she arrived within a fortnight.
As always, they seemed to have a great deal to talk about, for both women were interested in the same things and they gossiped and chattered and exchanged intimate personal details without hesitation or self-consciousness. Jenny’s innocence and inexperience had begun to bore Amber who was relieved to have someone she could talk to frankly, someone who knew her for exactly what she was and who did not care. When she told Nan that she intended seducing her husband’s son Nan laughed and said there was no limit to a woman’s desperation once she was carried off into the country. For certainly Philip could not bear comparison with Charles II or Lord Carlton.
But it was the middle of May before he began to seek her out deliberately.
