6.
~ "Do rabbits hibernate?" Phillipa asked as she and Eames walked down a path that was normally flushed with rabbits.
The girl wanted to take more pictures, and found it disagreeable that the intended subject matter wasn't available.
"No, but they stay in their burrows when it's cold outside, just like we stay in the house." Eames said as Phillipa scowled into the light filter of the camera.
"I want to see the bunnies." Phillipa said.
"You'll see plenty of them in the spring time, love." he said sadly as he wondered what Ariadne and this Fredrick person were doing back in the conservatory.
Their sacred place of hiding was becoming over run with outsiders lately. First Cobb, then Juniper. Just today Lady Percy, Cobb and Mal had intruded in their space. Now, Fredrick Hays was making himself at home there.
Eames broke a dead twig in his hands at the silent frustration he was feeling.
"In the spring time? You'll be at war in the spring time." Phillipa told him and Eames heard the shutter click. Phillipa had take n his picture without his knowing.
"I will be, yes." he said as she observed him.
"Will you die?" she asked.
"Why would you think that, Phillipa?" he asked.
She gave a little shrug.
"Daddy died. Simon died. Cousin Arthur died." she explained.
"Well, I'm not going to die." Eames assured her.
"Cousin Ariadne is worried you'll die." Phillipa informed him.
"Did she say that?" Eames asked.
His heart suddenly leaping with joy at the idea that Ariadne had talked to Phillipa about him. That she was worried about him. That she might love him after all.
Phillipa didn't answer, but scowled at something behind him.
"Who's that?" she whispered and Eames turned to look.
A woman, well dressed in a wool long coat and fashionable hat with a tuft of quail feathers was striding towards them.
Eames felt his heart almost stop beating.
"Charlotte." he coughed and stood up to greet her. "What are you doing here?"
"Miles told me you had gone for a walk. I thought I might join you." Charlotte Williams said. "We can enjoy this last embrace of warmth before the winter sets in."
Eames nodded and felt embarrassed. Phillipa was looking at the both of them.
"Phillipa, this is Charlotte Williams." Eames explained feebly. How should he introduce such an acquaintance to the child? Charlotte wasn't his friend, he was not her suitor. He barely knew the woman outside of a few stolen moments together at a party.
"Pleased to meet you." Phillipa said with a little curtsey.
"Charming." Charlotte said stiffly. "My, she's allowed to play with an expensive toy, isn't she?" she said nodding to the brownie camera Phillipa was holding.
The little girl aimed the lens at them and Eames was quick to block Phillipa from taking the picture of him with this woman.
"Darling, why don't you run ahead to the gardens? Take some pictures there? We have to use up all the film so we can develop them." he told her.
Phillipa looked at him curiously and turned to go.
"Lovely child. You're uncle's daughter, right? I heard she was on Titanic and was abandoned by her maid in New York. How dreadful." Charlotte said in a voice that sounding anything but horrified.
"What is it you want, Miss Williams?" Eames growled. He felt his cheeks burning with shame over what he had done with this woman in the library at the Gardner's party.
"Nothing, Mr. Eames." Charlotte laughed. "I told you I would be coming by."
"And I said that wouldn't be necessary." he said.
"I think it is." she said as they stalled on the trial and watched Phillipa taking pictures of the dieing winter roses.
"What do you want?" he asked again. "You want some kind of commitment from me over what we did in the library? Some kind of heartfelt apology for ruining your reputation? You won't get it. I'm not that kind of man." he told her.
"It was my idea, Mr. Eames. Remember?" she said lazily. "Anyhow, I thought you liked it. You seemed to."
"I did enjoy it. But I'm not looking to be married now because if it." he said.
"That's not what I hear." she said.
"What is it you hear?"
"I hear, from many reliable sources, that you are in desperate need of a wife who can produce you a legal heir. Without said arrangement, your new found fortune will be to the winds. All that money will go back to America, no doubt, with your late cousin's lovely wife." she said.
"Who told you this nonsense?" he growled.
"Your mother." she said lazily. "She seems to think we'd be a good match and I must admit, I agree."
"I don't think we would. You're a very selfish, spoiled brat who only cares about the world as it affects her." he said and stepped away.
"I won't deny that." Charlotte said with a smile. "But you're not exactly an angel Mr. Eames. Gossip about you can always be found."
Eames stopped walking and turned to her.
She gave him that aggravating superior look again.
"Not many girls from good families would marry you. No matter how much money was involved. Just this past year, very troubling rumors about you in some charity hospital in White Chapel have come out. That just before your cousin's death, his wife had to come and rescue you from a life of drunken debauchery. Word has it you obtained some kind of foulness from women who sell themselves. That's why no one at the party would talk to you." she said.
"You didn't seem to have any problems." he said through gritted teeth. "In fact, how do you know I'm not ripe with disease?"
"I think we both know I had the opportunity to examine you thoroughly. I also think that you're too much in love with another woman to pay some street walker." she said.
"Who am I supposed to be in love with?" he laughed.
"Ariadne? Is that her name? Some kind of silly Greek name from unimaginative and ill bread parents." Charlotte sighed.
Eames had to bite back a denial that threatened to come up. He swallowed.
"I suppose people on the outside, looking in, assume things. Their lives are so dull, they have to imagine things about others to gossip about. All to detract from the drama in their own lives." he said.
"I suppose." Charlotte said. "And Lady Bradford is very lovely. If you fail to marry, or die in this silly war, she'll be a wealthy woman again. Nothing is more enticing to a man than an attractive widow with lots of money."
Eames said nothing.
"In fact, I think a Mr. Fredrick Hays was talking to his chaps just last night about... oh what was the term he used... ah, getting his card in early. I think he's hoping to get in her good graces in case she does come into the money. He's middle class and her late husband's estate is still not settled until you marry." she explained.
"So you want me to marry you. Is that it?" he said with a chuckle.
"Yes, I do." Charlotte said simply. "I think we would be beneficial to each other."
"Why don't I just marry Lady Bradford?" Eames said with a shrug.
"Because I don't think she'll have you. She stayed away from you all night at the party." Charlotte explained.
"Maybe we kept away from each other on purpose. All the gossipers." Eames offered.
Charlotte laughed.
"I thought you didn't care about the gossiping old biddies." she said. "No, Mr. Eames, you were eying her with such hatred as she talked to other people at the party. I pride myself on knowing people. You love her, she doesn't love you."
Eames felt like he had been bitten by a heartless snake. It's venom pouring into his veins like cold, creeping ice water.
He tripped over a hidden branch and tried to collect himself.
"I"m not looking to get married, Charlotte." he said at last. "I would be a disservice to both of us if I married you."
"Eames, I'm not fool. I'm 28 years old now. The bloom is off the rose so to speak. You're older now as well. Not many women will have you now that the war is on. You want to protect your family's home? You want a home for your mother and young Phillipa there? Or do you want to be forever known as the man who lost Blue Rivers to an American interloper?" she snarled.
Eames looked back at her. This creature wounding him through the heart with her poisonous words.
Everything she said was true. If Arthur's money reverted back to Ariadne, she would certainly take herself and Olivia back to America. Men would line up to marry her. He had some investments, but nothing close to what he would need to run Blue Rivers. The house was large with many servants and despite Arthur making the rental properties profitable again, it wasn't enough to maintain such a grad house. His mother, Aunt Percy and Phillipa would be forced to leave their home if Arthur's money went away.
"I realize this is harsh." Charlotte said as her venom hurt his blood. "But I want you to understand when you're in for. What we could provide for each other. I'm not the enemy Mr. Eames. I'm your chance at saving the family home. You only have a few months left before Ariadne can reclaim her late husband's estate. What do you think will happen when she does? She depends on your charity now; when she doesn't... she will leave and never return. Marry me, and you can keep her here with you at Blue Rivers forever. I don't care if you keep a mistress. I'll produce an heir for you and our obligations to each other will be over, aside from public appearances. You'll be free to keep your great love around your home forever." she said soothingly.
Eames felt himself shaking and Charlotte took his hands.
"I know this is troubling, dearest. But think about it." she said.
He finally turned to look at her. Her tall, slender body. Her bright, crafty face.
"Good day Miss. Williams." he whispered and left her.
"I'll call again tomorrow, Mr. Eames. Think over all I've said, we can talk then." she called after him.
~ "So, tell me all about Mr. Hays." Juniper said with a knowing smile. "He's so handsome."
The family had seated themselves at dinner that evening. Ariadne wasn't used to dressing up for dinners anymore. Since Lady Percy's illness, Arthur's departure, Eames coming home so sick and Arthur passing away, the fancy sit down dinners had been done away with.
Instead, she, Eames, Olivia and Phillipa would hide in the conservatory and have Miles bring them a picnic basket of food.
It had felt more cozy to eat in their conservatory with just them. The regal dinning room of Blue Rivers felt like a monstrous chore with footmen and Miles hovering nearby and their conversation monitored.
"Mr. Hays is very nice." Ariadne said casting a worried look at Miles and the two footmen.
"I'm so very pleased you're keeping company with eligible gentlemen." Juniper said. "Although, a marriage to him would mean you would downsize quite a bit. You'll be living in Town at his father's home. A nice house, but small."
"Perhaps, you shouldn't rush into anything, dear." Lady Percy said and cast Juniper a scathing look. "Marriage is a serious business arrangement that must be carefully weighed and measured before accepting terms."
"Business arrangement?" Juniper laughed. "You haven't changed a bit, Aunt Percy."
"Marriage is in every way a business arrangement. Money, property and other capital is merged. Living arrangements are changed and new parties are brought into the picture who are a joy, but also a liability. It's far more sensible to look at a potential husband as a business partner before anything else." Lady Percy explained.
"So love doesn't enter into it?" Juniper scoffed.
"Love is fickle, fleeting and subjective." Lady Percy explained. "It's far better to ally yourself to a person whom you find beneficial and tolerable."
Juniper rolled her eyes.
"Laugh all you will. The best marriages, the happiest couples, marry under arrangements that are treated more like a business than some silly romantic notion, Juniper." Lady Percy said.
"I fell in love with my dear Charlie, and I don't regret it." Juniper said.
"You weren't always singing that tune. His poverty was noble and romantic at first, but it soon soured for you. If you had married a man more suited to your own temperament and social circle, who treated you as a partner, and not a lover, you would have been much happier."
"I was Charlie's partner. As well as his lover." Juniper growled.
"Charlotte Williams came to see me today." Eames interrupted the bickering.
Ariadne looked at him in surprise. He had be quite all night.
"Who is she?" his friend asked.
"I meet her at the party. We had a nice talk." he said and didn't look at her.
"How nice, darling." Juniper said and tried to give him a smile which he did not return.