Brothers at Arms

main party of visitors arrived, Lady Cardington immediately made her younger sister aware of her husband’s displeasure at hearing that the family of a cousin had taken Tom Norbery away from his political commitments.
    “My dear Jane,” Lady Cardington said in her fussy voice for the third time in as many minutes. “Humphrey was absolutely shocked.”
    That was a degree of impertinence Jane would not allow, and one to which she gave a tart response. “Yes, I dare say he was, Clarissa, though what it has to do with him, I do not know. When I sought Tom’s counsel, he took charge of the matter, and decided we could not leave the children in Ireland to be sent who knew where by their uncle – a man with no more sense of family than a stranger.”
    “But Humphrey says Tom should not have allowed it…”
    There were times when Jane could cheerfully have shaken her sister. Instead, she said in the sweetest voice. “Would you rather have our cousin Charlotte’s orphaned children treated like paupers, and be sent to a poor house?”
    Being of a similar age to the daughter of her favourite uncle, Jane had a closer affinity with Charlotte than either of her sisters, and had lost a dear friend when she died.
    “Of course not,” Lady Cardington dissembled, “but surely, there was not the slightest danger of that?”
    Jane chose her words carefully. “I don’t know, Clarissa. After all, the man married his housekeeper. One doesn’t know what else he might have done.”
    “His…?” Abject horror filled her sister’s eyes. One did not do such things.
    “To avoid paying her wages, I expect,” she said. “It might well have been a prudent measure, for he did tell Tom his business was not in good heart.”
    Later in the evening, when Jane recounted the conversation, Tom said, “Did I ever tell you that you have a wicked imagination, my dear?”
    “I cannot deny the truth of that,” she said with a smile, “but I do thank you for being a dear, kind man. I shudder when I think of the life those children have led – especially Sophie.”
    “I think Sophie has developed her own resilient way of dealing with events. As you saw with Matthew, she is a formidable opponent.”
    “Mmm, I wonder what made her do that. It was almost as if she was punishing him for something.” She stopped. “Do you think it was because he bullied Joshua?”
    “But she had only just walked through the door.”
    “Yes, but he did make them welcome, when others in the family did not.”
    “I wonder if you are right.”
    Having planned the Cardington visit with one object in mind, Jane was prepared to endure almost any inconvenience, except the one to which she was subjected. Despite being told repeatedly that Kate lived on her side of the house and took no interest in anyone else’s activities, Clarissa insisted that their elder step-sister be brought into the party, which Jane knew was at Lord Cardington’s behest.
    He had interfered many times over the years, for his notion of self-consequence knew no bounds. Jane also knew that Kate would not miss an opportunity to humiliate Tom, particularly in the light of recent events between Matthew’s friends and Joshua.
    Watching Charlie, when he met Lord and Lady Cardington, Jane knew her cousin Charlotte would have been proud of her son’s good manners, whereas Sophie behaved towards the visitors with her usual degree of disdain.
    At the outset, she wondered how Kate and Matthew would respond to Sophie, but she need not have worried. For a brief moment, the older black-haired woman subjected the younger pugnacious face to scrutiny; and then Sophie adopted the same attitude of unconcern as with Lord Cardington and walked away without uttering a word. Matthew, hovering in the vicinity of his Rushmore cousins studiously avoided her.
    Inevitably, she had to listen to Clarissa’s complaints. “I didn’t know where to look, Jane. The child knew not how to behave in Humphrey’s presence. She