First Comes Marriage

Elliott was already dressed. He had been contemplating an early morning ride, in fact. But it was time he and Con had a talk far away from the other occupants of the house. Merton was young and impressionable. His sisters were i

He went after Con. He had turned left out of the flower garden - Elliott had seen that before leaving his room. He had not been heading toward the lake, then, or the stables. But it soon became clear where he /had /gone.

Elliott followed him to the private family chapel and the churchyard surrounding it. And sure enough, there he was standing at the foot of Jonathan's grave.

For a moment Elliott regretted coming. If this was a private moment, he did not want to intrude upon it. But almost immediately he felt angry.

For even if Con /had /loved Jonathan, he had also taken advantage of him in a most dishonorable ma

And then the moment for turning back unseen - /if /he had wanted that moment - was gone. Con turned his head and looked steadily at him. He was not smiling now. There was no audience he might wish to charm. "Is it not enough, Elliott," he asked, "that you must come prying into my father's and brother's home - and my cousin's - and throwing your weight around there as if it were your own? Must you now invade even the graveyard where they are all buried?" "I have no quarrel with them," Elliott said. "And fortunately for you, they have no quarrel with you. They are all dead. But it amazes me that you choose to stand on such hallowed ground. They /would /have a quarrel with you if they were alive and knew what I know." "What you /think /you know." Con laughed harshly. "You have become a sanctimonious bore, Elliott. There was a time when you were not." "There was a time when I sowed some damnably wild oats," Elliott admitted. "But I was never a scoundrel, Con. I never relinquished my honor." "Go back to the house," Con said harshly, "while you still have your health intact. Better yet, go home to Finchley. The cub will prosper well enough without your interference." "But with /yours /he would doubtless be stripped of what remains of his inheritance," Elliott said. "I am not here to bandy words with you, Con.

Leave here today. If you have a scrap of decency remaining, go away and leave these people alone. They are i

I suppose you are pla

They are not for the likes of you."

Con sneered again. "I ran into Cecily last week," he said. "She was out riding with the Campbells. She is making her come-out this year, she was telling me. She told me to be sure to be at her come-out ball. She is going to reserve a set for me. Sweet little Cece - she has grown into quite a beauty." Elliott's hands balled into fists at his sides and he strode another few steps forward. "You are not about to swing one of those are you, Elliott?" Con asked, cocking one eyebrow and laughing. "It is an age since we last came to fisticuffs. It was when you broke my nose, I believe - though I also seem to recall that I drew a pint or so of blood from yours /and /blackened one of your eyes. Come on, then. If it is a fight you are spoiling for, I am your man. Indeed, I will not even wait for you to make the first move. You always were slow to get started." And he closed the short distance between them and planted Elliott a facer - or would have if Elliott had not blocked the blow with the side of one arm before taking a swing of his own. The blow glanced off Con's ear and /his /next blow caught Elliott on the shoulder instead of on the chin as intended.

They backed up, their fists at the ready, and circled and weaved, looking for an opening. Ready for the real fight - without pausing to divest themselves of their coats.

And this, Elliott thought, half exhilarated despite himself, was indeed what he had been spoiling for for a long time. It was time someone gave Con a good drubbing. And he had always been better with his fists than Con, who had indeed once blackened his eye and drawn blood from his nose, though not nearly a pint, by Jove.

He saw his opening and - "Oh, /please /do not," a voice said from behind him. "Violence never accomplishes anything. Can you not /talk /about your differences instead?" A woman's voice.

Uttering absurdly asinine words.

Mrs. Dew's voice.

Of course.

Con dropped his fists and gri

Elliott turned his head over one shoulder and glared. "Talk?" he said. "/Talk? /I would ask you to turn about and return to the house, ma'am, and stay away from what does not concern you." "So that you can continue to hurt each other?" she said, drawing nearer. "Men are so foolish. They think themselves the superior sex, but whenever there is a difference between two of them or two groups of them or two /nations /of them, the only solution they can see is to fight. A fistfight, a war - there is really no difference between them." Good Lord!

She had thrown her clothes on hastily, at a guess. She was not wearing either gloves or a bo

She was the most abominable female it had ever been his displeasure to know. "You are quite right, Vanessa," Con said, his voice shaking with laughter. "And I have always believed that in fact it is the female sex that is the superior of the two. But you see, we men /enjoy /a good bout of fisticuffs." "You are not going to persuade me that this was to be a friendly sparring match," she said. "It was not. For some reason the two of you hate each other - or think you do. If you would just /talk /to each other, perhaps you could patch up your quarrel far more easily than you think and could be friends again. I suppose you were once friends. You grew up five miles apart and are cousins close to each other in age." "If Elliott will agree to it," Con said, "we will kiss and make up." "Mrs. Dew," Elliott said, "your impertinence knows no bounds. But I am sorry to have disturbed your walk. Allow me to escort you back to the house." He glared fiercely at her to show her that he was very aware of the fact that she had not been out i