Page 58 of Charity

Oscar merely shook his head at her. “Despite whatever history is between you and Manning, now or in the past, Mother, he was truly cast down by Mr. Birkenstock’s death. As are we all.”

Estella took in a steadying breath. “Forgive me. It has been a long day and night.”

“Agatha was exhausted and fell asleep quite quickly, but have you been here all night with her?”

Estella nodded. “She sent for me not long after I arrived home from Daventry’s dinner. You, I imagine, must have been well and truly in a fog by then.”

Oscar looked down. “Perhaps not the best night to sample Daventry’s wine cellar as extensively as I did, but I am here now and intend to stay.”

“You cannot remain.” She shook her head. “Think of her reputation. Or what she might still have, that is, after your unseemly arrival.”

“Her reputation is my only concern, and I promise to correct the damage I’ve done as soon as possible.”

Estella’s mouth fell open. He couldn’t mean to marry Agatha Birkenstock, surely? He was already to wed. “But what about Lady Penelope?”

Oscar’s face twisted into one of distaste. “I rather expect her father will sue me for breach of promise. I really couldn’t care less for my own reputation, should he savage me to society. Penelope can go find another gullible gentleman and force a match on him.”

“Oh, Oscar,” she cried. “What a mess you’re making. We may never recover from this.”

Oscar sat forward with his hands upon his knees. “As indelicate as this is for me to say to you, I’m planning to improve on my father’s efforts to be happy. I’ll marry Agatha and move from the city. If we can find a big enough place, and funds permit, we will take the orphanage children off the trustee’s hands and raise them ourselves.”

Estella fell back in the chair. He would throw away everything they had both worked so hard for, their position in society, a supremely beneficial marriage, and all for love?

She stared at him. She had not thought it possible to love her son more but she did now.

“Don’t look so surprised, Mother. You raised me to be a gentleman, to do the honorable thing. I should have married Agatha months ago, long before Lady Penelope made her accusation. A lie, by the way. I’ve never even held Penelope’s hand.”

Estella gulped. “Is Agatha with child?”

“Unfortunately not.” He grinned. “But give me time and I’ll report happy news in the near future, I’m sure.”

“Oscar, this is no joking matter. This is serious.”

“And it’s about time I was serious and lived up to my obligations.” He stood and prowled the room. “Agatha will be my wife, and to make us both happy, we will have the orphans with us. If you cannot bear to lose your position in society because of my decision, you are free to disown me as loudly as you dare. But if you make a scene before Agatha, I will never speak to you again.”

Estella gulped. She barely recognized the affable gentleman in the son before her. He reminded her too much of Lynton. “Oscar, I like Agatha very much, as you well know, but have you really thought this through?”

Her son set his hands to the back of a chair. “I’ve thought of little else since signing that blasted betrothal document. I made a mistake then, but I’d be a bigger fool if I didn’t marry her. I love Agatha with my whole heart, and I won’t make the same mistake my father did. I’m not afraid of what people will say. The bigger scandal would be never to marry her at all.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Oscar hurried up the front steps of his townhouse, anxious to greet his unexpected visitors. He’d spent the last few days in Agatha’s home, mostly holding her when she cried, and had thought little of the outside world. But he should have completed his assessment of the orphanage by now and felt slightly guilty for being summoned. He would have to apologize for failing to deliver his findings to the trustees sooner.

As he crossed the threshold of his drawing room, he drew to a sudden halt at the unsmiling faces of the trustees from the Grafton Street Orphanage. Each gentleman curled their lip at his arrival. Were they that angry with him over the delay? He’d have to think quickly to appease them and maybe they would grant him a little more time. “Gentlemen, so very good to see you. To what do I owe the unexpected pleasure?”

They glanced between themselves then Lord Carter stepped forward. “Never in all my years have I had to engage in conversation with a gentleman of such depravity. If it were not for our pressing business, I should have no cause to call on you at all.”

Oscar blinked at the startling statement. He glanced around those present, seeing varying degrees of violence in their expressions. All this because he was late? Perhaps they hadn’t come for the accounts, after all. “How have I offended you?”

Lord Carter set his hands to his hips. “By taking up with that…that…oh, I can scarcely say the words. Her own grandfather, a man ever conscious of his place in the world, still lies at rest within the house, and yet you frolic with the girl, no doubt on his very death bed, too.”

The gentlemen closest to Lord Carter looked everywhere but at him. Oscar was shocked to his core. “There has been no frolicking, as you put it. Miss Birkenstock is a very good friend and is deeply distressed by her grandfather’s death. I am giving comfort, not debauching her. But you may set your minds at rest. It is my intention to marry her and restore her reputation.”

“We couldn’t give a fig for the girl. If she hasn’t the sense to boot you from the house, then she deserves every ill that comes to her. We, my colleagues and I, are concerned with more important matters.”

“And what exactly would matter more than your mistaken assumptions about me and Agatha Birkenstock?”

Lord Carter held out his hand. Mr. Manning, his dear newly discovered papa, stepped from the rear of the group where Oscar hadn’t spied him before with a paper in his hand. Manning didn’t meet his eye. Carter took the paper, gave it a little shake, and then handed it to Oscar.