Charlotte was securing her bonnet strings under her chin when she heard footsteps approaching. Assuming it was her husband behind her, she turned around with a smile to pass him his own gloves, hat and goat. It was not her husband.
Sidney Parker stood a few steps away from her as he watched her. She eyed him warily again as he began to speak.
"You must be very pleased with yourself, my lady," he sneered. "to have caught a Viscount for yourself. How did you manage it, I wonder? Did you lure him in with your usual impertinence and want of manners? Or perhaps you stumbled upon him naked and grasped the opportunity you missed with me." He moved closer to her as he spoke until he was towering over her, scowling as he spat his insults towards her character.
Charlotte's lips thinned as she considered him. "I see you are still as severe on others as ever you were."
"You certainly seem much changed, Madam. I can only imagine you portrayed your character to him falsely. I never took you for a scheming fortune-hunter; it would seem I was wrong."
"You clearly never knew me at all if you would think I would ever convey myself as being other than I am, Sir. I would beg you leave me in peace, Mr Parker. I have no desire to hear your bile. Your accusations are wholly unfounded and I object to your speaking to me in such a manner." She tilted her head to look up at him coolly as she spoke. She turned her back on him then and continued to pull on her gloves as she waited for her husband so they might be gone from his presence.
George had since conveyed their wish for Tom and Mary to join them one evening and followed the servant back through the house. On their approach to the entrance hall, the harsh words being exchanged could be heard and he turned to dismiss the servant, assuring them he was quite capable of opening and walking through the final door himself.
"What is going on here? Charlotte, are you well? You look pale." Lord Morpeth came to stand beside his wife as she glowered at Mr Parker.
"Oh. No; I am well enough, my lord." She reassured him, her expression settling into something pleasanter.
George studied her for a moment and nodded at finding she was not too shaken. "Why don't you walk ahead; I want to speak to Mr Parker briefly and then I'll catch up to you." He suggested. Charlotte looked at him silently for a moment before nodding and moving out onto the street to wait for him.
Once his wife was gone, George turned and stepped towards to the other man in the entrance hall as he pulled his coat over his arms. "I may not be acquainted with the particulars of your connection to Lady Morpeth, but I am aware that there was some… unpleasantness that led to your parting, Mr Parker. Regardless of whatever may have been between you then, Lady Morpeth is my wife and offenses to her person will not tolerated."
Sidney opened his mouth to speak but George interrupted him. "I have not finished speaking, Sir. You will listen to what I have to say to you." Sidney spluttered and went to speak again but was silenced by the chilling look he received. "I heard what was said between you and it amazes me that anyone would have the presumption to speak to Lady Morpeth in such an ill-bred manner, let alone accuse her of the behaviour you have today." George snapped.
"You will be the very picture of civility at any future encounters you have with Charlotte, or, I promise you, you will find yourself gravely regretting your actions." he concluded and picked up his hat, departing the house with a final scathing warning: " And I suggest you control your wife."
Sidney was left standing there, feeling the full weight of the Viscount's disapproval, and fearing just what consequences would be waiting if the Viscountess suffered further upset from their quarter. He would have to speak to Eliza about holding her tongue. It was sure to spark yet another argument and prolonged silence between them.
George and Charlotte were traversing the streets, arm in arm, back to the house they had let. They were silent for a long while before Charlotte spoke.
"He was very bitter and closed off to the world when first we met. She broke his heart once, you know? Mrs Parker. And he seems to have only become more bitter since their marriage."
George was silent as he allowed his wife to speak what was on her mind. They had never spoken about the circumstances that had led her to leave this place; she had not been ready. He would not discourage her now.
"Initially I thought him unfeeling, indelicate and rude. It took a long time before either of us were willing to be much in the other's presence. Georgiana despised him for being strict with her and her dislike of him fed my own; time and distance have shown me the error of believing him unjust in the way he handled her. She really was very wild and without any semblance of self-control then.
"But we were often thrown together and found ourselves forced to become better acquainted. I could not have ignored the care he had for his brothers and sister and the Parker children, and my feelings began to change. By the time we celebrated the first Regatta, I was quite firmly on my way to loving him.
"It broke my heart to learn he had engaged himself to Mrs Campion during his trip to London in search of a solution to his brother's troubles after the fire. But I understood it. I could not bear to think of it then, but I might have thought less of him had he not made the choices he did. I cannot regret what happened though. It brought me to you, and you… well you are so very, very dear to me. Now I only wish he might find some happiness with where his choices have led him."
George listened to his wife's words as she recounted what had occurred between them. He hated to think that, if events had gone differently, she might be another man's wife instead of his own. But things had not been different and he could not be sorry for it. By her own admission, Charlotte would not have changed the way it all unfolded, but for perhaps a little less heartache on everyone's parts.
"I cannot believe he would not have found a way to help his brother without hurting you, had he truly wanted to. That he did not, only tells me that he did not deserve you if he was not willing to fight harder for you." He responded at length and Charlotte frowned at hearing this. "I know we will not agree on it, so I'll no more on the matter than this: for myself, at least, I am pleased for his mistakes and that I did not make the same ones." He added at the growing frown that had appeared as he spoke.
"Yes, let us speak no further on it." she agreed. "Dwelling on the past does no one any good. Let us only remember what we may recall fondly."
Being only early afternoon, they chose to spend the rest of the day by the sea. They walked along the sandy shores and, in a moment of scandalising freedom, removed their shoes to walk barefoot through the surf as small waves broke the sea line. As they explored the further reaches of the beach and ventured beyond those limits Charlotte had experienced four years prior, they found a secluded cove and determined the mild temperatures were fine enough that they might go further into the water and shucked their clothing to enjoy the coolness of the sea as they swam together.
They did not spend long in the sea, for, although the chill was refreshing, it was not comfortable for long and they retreated to the dunes, clad in their undergarments, to dry themselves in the sun.
Dusk was falling when they returned home for the evening in mussed and damp clothing, having tried to use the less frequented walkways and avoiding the gazes of all who looked upon them. Their meal that evening was a hearty one and, for the first night in their marriage, they fell uneventfully to sleep and would not awaken until the sun was high in the sky the next day.
When they did eventually make their way downstairs, it was much too late to call the meal they ate breakfast, yet too early to truly be luncheon. Their plans for that day were much as the day before had been and they were intending to pay a visit to Lady Denham that afternoon. Charlotte had sent a note the previous morning expressing their intention and signing it only Charlotte. She did not know how much Esther shared with her aunt about what was happening in Town, but she thought Lady Denham would be equally vexed as pleased at the knowledge, whether it was known to her presently or not.
Their morning was spent seeing to their personal correspondence, with Charlotte writing to her sister, brother, parents and Lady Susan with the wish that the latter lady share her letter with Lady Granville and Lady Howard. George had also written to his mother and father and aunt, as well as to one or two of the men whose businesses he invested in.
Having eaten late that morning, they chose to forego a proper luncheon before departing for Sanditon House, instead enjoying a light platter of cheese and cold cuts between them. They chose to take the carriage to Sandition House given the greater distance and George's concern for his wife over her recent spells of fatigue that had sprung from seemingly nowhere. Thus, they arrived at Lady Denham's residence a short half hour later.
George threw himself out of the carriage and presented Charlotte his hand to help her in stepping down before their groom had the chance to do his job. Charlotte laughed at his actions as she found herself once more on solid ground and they walked up the remaining distance of the driveway to enter the house where the butler was already stood waiting at the door to greet them.
"Sir, Miss Heywood, my lady is expecting you. May I take you to her?" he said as he gestured to a footman to collect the belongings they would not need until the departed. It would seem Esther had not, in fact, informed her aunt of Miss Heywood's marriage. They were escorted through the house to the very same drawing room where Charlotte had first made Lady Denham's acquaintance.
"Miss Heywood, I have been hearing tales of your adventures since you returned to us from everyone I see. You were seen cavorting in the nude with a gentleman yesterday. Why are you only coming to see me now, girl?" the ageing lady demanded even before they had set foot inside the room.
A scarlet flush stole over Charlotte's cheeks at the lady's words. Someone had seen them! George, on the other hand, was exceedingly amused by the blunt display from Lady Denham and only laughed. He stopped at the glare his wife gave him for not sharing in her mortification.
"I'm sorry, Lady Denham, that you had to hear those things at all!" She apologised.
"Oh, do be quiet girl. It was the most interesting piece of news I have had in months! This place has become unutterably dull. More unutterably dull than it already was. I have even tired of the humour to be found in that woman Mr Parker married." Lady Denham scoffed which only added to her guest's embarrassment. "I suppose this is the young man spoken of then?"
George gave a wide grin, unrepentant in his humour, and moved to sit himself and his wife on the large chesterfield indicated. "I agree. I must be; it would be most distressing to discover my wife were cavorting in the nude with other men!"
Lady Denham looked at him sharply at his words before turning back to Miss Heywood to confirm what had been said. "I was not aware you had married. But, if you are no longer Miss Heywood, who are you now?"
"Yes, Lady Denham, we have been married for a little over two months. Allow me to introduce the Viscount Morpeth, Lord George Howard. I confess I am surprised you did not read of it in the papers." She said with a little grin.
Lady Denham seemed, for a moment, to have been stunned into silence. It would not last long though, Charlotte knew. And she was correct.
"I have little interest in the papers from Town. You are a very fortunate girl, Lady Morpeth, to have caught so prominent a member of the peerage. How did you manage it? It could hardly be your fortune. You do not have one."
"I would not consider my husband's title the sole, or even the primary, point of fortune, Ma'am." She decried softly, but with earnest feeling.
Lady Denham nodded and expressed that Charlotte was truly very lucky to love and be loved by someone who could afford to commit to her without the promise of a fortune, though she professed it showed a lack of sense on both their parts. "Now, you, boy, I should imagine it is your influence that has led your wife to agree to such public displays of dishabille! I do not like it, polluting my sands and waters in such a way. You are instructed to stop! And don't think I did not notice your evasion of the question girl." The lady commanded in her usual controlling manner.
"My apologies, my lady," Charlotte murmured. "but I can't say even I know quite how I managed it. We met in St Petersburg when I was travelling with Lady Worcester for the coronation of the Russian Tsar."
"It was your spirit, my love. And the way you handled my uncle's hauteur with dignity even in your impertinence!"
Lady Denham considered the couple sat in her drawing room. They certainly seemed to be disgustingly besotted with each other. "Yes. Yes, Morpeth, impertinence describes your wife perfectly. And you are both very nauseating in your sweetness. I can only hope, for the sake of the continued felicity of your marriage, that your family approves of the match you made for yourself." She huffed and was pleased when they broke apart from gazing at each other and making fools of themselves at her interruption.
George snorted at Lady Denham's characteristic intolerance. "Then you may rest easy, Madam. My family approves most heartily; indeed I would not be surprised to learn that Lady Worcester and my aunt had contrived our introduction themselves!" he told her in the most falsely assuring tone he could summon. Lady Denham noticed this and barked at him for his presumption.
The rest of the call passed in similar fashion with Charlotte being outspoken and purposely insolent, George vexing their hostess and Lady Denham scolding the pair assiduously while secretly delighting in the entertainment they presented. The visit ended with Lady Denham insisting on their presence at the dinner she was throwing the evening before the regatta and enquiring as to the duration of their stay. She was informed that they intended to remain until the Midsummer Ball at least before they took their leave.
