Intolerable Civility

Chapter Twenty-Five: Sense and Reason

The blasting and digging of the mine kept David busier than he expected. It gave him an excuse to avoid spending much time with Cate alone. He was now aware of a danger there. She was pretty again. Not that he had ever not found her attractive, but she was growing back into her looks, gaining back the weight and colour she had lost before he married her and paying the old, careful attention to her dress and hair. She also smiled more, and sometimes he even made her laugh, which made his heart dance until he remembered her betrayal and it hurt again. He thought it safer to talk to her only in company. He dined with her and Sarah, and Luke very often now too, or he came to her sitting room for a chat and tea only when he knew Sarah or Laurie were there as well. Laurie was quite the antidote to danger. She watched every interaction between them with a cat-like smile on her face and always found something to tease him about afterwards.

With Luke, he allowed himself more indulgences. If Cate was tired, or simply wanted some peace and quiet, he would take Luke with him into his study and let him crawl and toddle around exploring the desk drawers and scribble on bits of scrap paper. Or if it was fine, they might go outside into the garden and hunt for snails and other small creatures, which Luke was fascinated with. The height of joy was the day Luke caught a sleepy frog, even if he did cry when it hopped away again.

Two or three weeks after they started blasting the mine, another one of David's investors, Major Kayton, an old friend of his, visited Plas Bryn without invitation on his way through to Bangor. David took him to the quarry to see the progress and watch the digging, then back home to talk figures with Baxter in his study. Kayton was unduly optimistic and it required all of Baxter's tact to give him a more realistic understanding of how long it would take before the mines could be productive.

At last, Kayton said with a sigh, "Then it is three or four years, I think, before I see a real profit, and ten, perhaps, before things are really swinging. Your children, Demery, will be reaping the reward of your hard work decades from now."

"And I will too, I hope," David said. "I am only thirty-two. I like to believe I have a few decades left in me."

Kayton laughed. "Certainly, I have no doubt. You are one—"

He stopped abruptly as the study door creaked open. David twisted in his chair, but no one was there.

"A ghost?" Kayton said.

There was a giggle, and Luke marched into view from behind the desk before stumbling and falling to his bottom with a surprised look when he got his feet tangled. He was used to falls now, and pushed himself back to his feet with a look of triumph.

"Your son?" Kayton asked with a frown. "No, it would not be... your wife's son?"

"Indeed." David scooped Luke into his arms. "What are you doing here? You're trespassing."

Luke laughed and waved at Kayton, who was a new face.

"No, don't make friends," David said. "Don't think smiles will get you off. I'm judge, jury, and executioner. I'll send you to the penal colonies. I'll send you to bed."

Luke fixed David with a beseeching gaze.

"Oh, alright," David said. "I'll take you back to your mother. She's probably looking for you."

He got to his feet, holding Luke in one arm. "Sorry, Kayton. He must have run off. He's getting very fast, and very silent when he wants to be."

"Not at all." Kayton looked curiously at Luke. "You're very fond of him, aren't you? That's unusual, given the circumstances, but a rather charming development."

"He's only a baby. I can't hold it against him."

"You don't look unalike though. If I didn't know better, I would think he was your son. You have the same colouring, if not the same features."