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Chapter 23
THE MISS BEAUFORTS , with considerable paraphernalia of collecting baskets, drawing paper, crayons, pressing boards, green eye shades and floating shawls, were eager to set off on their expedition; but while loudly proclaiming their zeal for seaweed, they were hesitant about leaving the Terrace before they had gathered up more admirers than Arthur. Sir Edward Denham, his sister and Miss Brereton stood in an indecisive group, debating whether to join them. Miss Denham seemed to prefer awaiting suggestions for some more interesting pastime from the young men at the hotel. Miss Brereton gave no opinion at all; and Sir Edward was being very eloquent in favour of the seaweed excursion. Charlotte, who now most sincerely wished to understand how Clara Brereton could favour his suit, was determined to regard Sir Edward with more sympathy than she had lately accorded him; and with this laudable object in view attended to his conversation with his sister. "But, my dear Esther," he was concluding. "There is no certainty our present procrastinatory conjuncture will culminate in the authentication of your wishes. Our new friends seem disinclined for their morning perambulations today. perhaps we may discover that, like Burns`s Highland Mary, they have forsaken us." This reference could equally and inappropriately have been applied to Burns`s Jean, his Nancy or his Bonnie Lesley, Charlotte reflected. She had long since renounced any attempt to understand Sir Edward`s quotations and reluctantly abandoned her new resolution to understand him. But as she doubted Henry Brudenall would put in an appearance without Sidney Parker there to insist on it, she hoped some activity might result from supporting Sir Edward. "I understand Mr. Parker has gone to London on business this morning; and perhaps Mr. Brudenall finds occupation which keeps him indoors." The announcement had very nearly all the effect she intended, broadening Sir Edward`s smiles, deepening his sister`s frowns and spreading disappointment among the Miss Beauforts. Clara Brereton alone took no share in the general surprise. "Oh yes," she said calmly. "When I was telling you that Lady Denham had consented to invite my cousin Elizabeth to visit us for a few weeks, I forgot to mention it was Mr. Parker who was carrying our letters up to London today. This should prove a considerable help in speeding up the necessary arrangements." There was a note of contentment in her voice, which spoke the serenity of a mind more at ease with itself, and convinced Charlotte that Miss Brereton had recovered from her little fever of the previous day and was prepared to postpone any decision over eloping with Sir Edward till after her cousin`s arrival in Sanditon. While his reply of "Indeed yes, we are all eagerly anticipating Miss Elizabeth`s introduction among us" seemed to indicate he still did not despair of a favourable outcome. To Miss Denham however, the prospective arrival of another Miss Brereton made no amends for the present departure of a Sidney Parker; and she showed her ill-humour by exclaiming, -- "Well then! there is no point in standing about on the Terrace. We may just as well walk along the shore with Miss Beaufort and Miss Letitia," and relapsing into a silence of cold displeasure. Sir Edward`s delight was equally obvious as he contemplated the unexpected felicity of a walk which would give him undisturbed monopoly -- he did not count Arthur -- over the entire bevy of young ladies in Sanditon -- for even Lady Denham`s broadest hints had not led him to count Miss Lambe either. And offering Miss Brereton first claim on his arm, he hurried them all off the Terrace before they could change their minds. But Sir Edward was out of luck. They were passing the hotel on their descent to the sands, when Henry Brudenall not only appeared himself -- but in the company of a most interesting stranger, a young man so modishly dressed that the Miss Beauforts both gaped. It was too much for Sir Edward to expect any of his five young ladies to ignore this apparition. By approaching Henry Brudenall immediately himself however, and making a series of highly unnecessary enquiries about Sidney Parker`s journey to London, he did what he could to forestall any introductions, hoping perhaps if he detained Mr. Brudenall for long enough and left this new rival standing disconsolately about, his own party would eventually walk on out of harm`s way. The stranger was not in the least deterred by this incivility. Having mn a swift eye over the group before him, he made directly for Charlotte, who was standing by herself, a little to one side of it, deriving much critical amusement from Sir Edward`s graceless beh aviour. "Henry is too busy to introduce me at the moment, so I see I must do it for myself," he said with a friendly smile. "Reginald Catton at your service. And you must be Miss Heywood." A good deal of Charlotte`s astonishment was evident in her face and he laughed very heartily at it. "Oh! I was easily able to pick you out from everyone else. I arrived late last night -- but not too late for Sidney to give me a very thorough description of you. We sat up till midnight while he went through the Sanditon notables and I yawned over every Parker and Denham in the place. But it`s as well Sidney insisted on doing it then. He was away so early this morning I missed him completely. Never one for getting up at those hours myself." Charlotte`s pleasure in learning that Sidney had bothered to describe her to his friend far exceeded her surprise in being rated as a notable of Sanditon. She would have been very interested to hear what that description had been; and thinking it unlikely Mr. Catton would volunteer more information himself, she did her best to lead him back to the subject by saying smilingly, "I hope Mr. Parker`s description was not too uncomplimentary?" "Uncomplimentary? No, indeed! How could it have been? I would most certainly repeat it all to you, if I could but remember the details," he said cheerfully. And she perceived he had much of his friend`s frankness without his mental alertness. He seemed to be trying to concentrate, to recall something; but then he shruged his shoulders and gave it up. "The part I do remember clearly, which was why I came straight towards you -- just the one phrase that did stick in my mind -- something Sidney said about `smiling grey eyes.` " This small compliment could not fail to gratify. That Sidney could have made such a remark without any idea of its being carried back to herself was a much greater source of pleasure than any of the compliments he had paid her in person. And though it was tantalising to know there were others details locked up in the recesses of Mr. Catton`s mind, Charlotte was very satisfied to have extracted this single tribute and willing to turn the conversation on his own concerns. Your arrival in Sanditon seems to be most unexpected. Did you take a sudden idea into your head of visiting your friends?" "It certainly was sudden," he agreed. "But scarcely my own idea. Sidney sent his brother`s groom over to Brighton ordering me across. He wanted someone to keep Henry company while he was off to London." "His brother`s groom? Parsons?" "Yes. That`s the fellow`s name. Drove over yesterday.` Charlotte stared. She found this piece of information difficult to fit in with any previous interpretation of Sidney`s arrangements over the drive to Brinshore. His own explanation -- or the several versions he had successively offered -- had never attempted to include this new evidence. She herself had never believed his original and very flattering excuse that he wished to secure her company for the drive. She had almost believed his avowal that he wanted Henry to survive his cousin`s wedding day as effortlessly as possible. And she had conceded the plot to involve Miss Brereton in the scheme was a very typical example of Sidney`s thoughtless frivolity. Even Lady Denham`s contribution to the day`s arrangements she had regarded as mere fanciful embroidery of his own plans -- a subsidiary trick Sidney was quite capable of engrafting on to his main purpose. But now it seemed the entire affair could be covered by a much more simple explanation; and that he had invented a whole series of unlikely and even conflicting stories with no more serious object in view than freeing one carriage and despatching it on a message to Brighton! And Charlotte began to wonder if there had been anything more devious in it at all. In retrospect the day in Brinshore offered a remarkable challenge to her powers of observation. The more she heard about it, the more or less she was able to read into it. But except for her own personal involvement in vividly memorable interludes at distinct and highlighted moments, the rest of the expedition was rapidly becoming too vague to hold any meaning for her at all. She had a sudden vision of Sidney`s face and his quizzical, teasing expression: "Well, Miss Heywood, what a fine day this has been for you! All the opportunities for observing people you could possibly want." But her own thoughts and feelings had occupied and flurried her too much in Brinshore to permit taking proper notice of others or sorting out aIl the various and separate incidents of which the day had been composed. She felt quite ashamed of her failure. That she, who prided herself on her observation, should have been thus blinded for a whole day -- and a day on which so much seemed to have been happening. How humiliating to discover Sidney Parker had the power of driving reason and clarity so far out of her head as to render her own most prized abilities completely valueless! She decided the full day in Brinshore was something she would have to lie awake reconsidering for yet another evening. For the moment she would do better to concentrate on trying to understand Reginald Catton s own connection with it. "You know, it is very strange," she said slowly, "but Mr. Parker gave quite a different reason for sending parsons off in the carriage yesterday." -"Did he indeed? Oh well, there is no one like Sidney for inventing complications and making everything as confusing as possible for everyone else," said Mr. Catton, laughing a good deal more than Charlotte thought necessary at such whimsical behaviour. "Besides, he always has a score of reasons for everything he does. I doubt he is even capable of doing only one thing at a time! Oh! you may be sure Sidney never has less than four pots on the boil, three irons in the fire and as many sticks as he can find heaped into it as well." Charlotte felt that both this jumble of metaphors and Mr. Catton`s renewed laughter were rather excessive -- preventing anything from being very clearly expressed -- but persevered in her interrogation. "It is also rather strange that Mr. Parker never mentioned your coming to any of us yesterday." "Oh well, he may have been uncertain then whether I really would come," he admitted quite frankly. `-He is always accusing me of being fickle. But I promised I would help out with Henry no matter what the inconvenience. And not many of Sidney`s friends would refuse to do something he asked. So here I am. Must keep the horses harnessed up." "The horses?" said Charlotte, considerably mystified. "Why yes, the horses -- keep them harnessed -- a saying, you know," explained Mr. Catton, with a comic look of alarm which he quickly suppressed by beginning to laugh again even more immoderately. "Have you not heard Sidney using the same expression ? " "Indeed I have not. What does it mean?" "Mean? Oh, nothing of great importance. Just a saying we have -- for fellows in Henry`s situation, you know." "I see. But -- " They were here interrupted by Henry himself, whose approach Mr. Catton welcomed with obvious relief. For some time and with increasing chagrin Sir Edward had been observing the stranger making it impossible for him to obstruct his inclusion in the party, and had now resigned himself to allowing Henry to perform the general introductions, and to giving his sister, Miss Brereton, and the Miss Beauforts their share in these impertinent attentions. But when they resumed their walk a few minutes later, Reginald Catton took the earliest opportunity of rejoining Charlotte, and almost immediately embarked on a series of highly indiscreet remarks. "So that was Miss Denham! Predatory female -- Sidney warned me. He said I would not be in the least danger from anyone else -- could handle all the Miss Beauforts with ease -- but Miss Denham would be hanging about me forever if once she caught sight of my barouche. I told the groom to keep it well out of sight in the stables." Charlotte was very amused. The style of Reginald`s conversation had a faint flavour of Sidney`s, reminding her of the first evening she had spent in his company -- the very frank and lighthearted comments he had passed on all his relations, and her own embarrassment over trying to make adequate replies. But she discovered that the consequences of keeping Sidney company for a brief period meant she did not even try to look disapprovingly at his friend. And although she still felt she should be delivering a reprimand, she could not help laughing outright at him instead. ln return, he regarded her with great satisfaction. "I can see we are going to deal famously together, Miss Heywood. You understand my position I am sure. Very happy to be of service to Henry, of course; but here I am marooned in Sanditon till Sidney returns -- and what I shall do for my own amusement, I cannot make out at all. So you must let me know whenever I can be of assistance in any scheme you may have in mind. I will be delighted to help you in organising it -- not that I have Sidney`s finesse, but I shall do my best." Charlotte was at a loss what to make of this speech and could only suppose Reginald bracketed her with Sidney as a person who derived amusement from organising all her acquaintance into schemes of one sort or another. "How long do you expect to be in Sanditon?" she enquired. How long? Well, that depends I suppose. Sidney says it is not even certain yet when Henry`s ship sails for Bengal." "But is Mr. Brudenall planning to remain in Sanditon till then? I thought he would be returning to London fairly soon now his cousin"s wedding is safely over." "His cousin`s wedding? But -- " He broke off, an expression of such embarrassment on his face that Charlotte hastened to add, `It is quite safe to mention that to me. I do understand Mr. Brudenall did not want the exact date of the wedding generally known, but Mr. Parker told me about it yesterday." "Did he indeed? Oh, well -- " Reginald laughed again and confessed rather ingeniously. "You know it is amazingly difficult for me to decide exactly what Sidney has told anybody." "I cannot guess how much he may have revealed to others," said Charlotte. "But, so far as I know, the wedding yesterday was mentioned only to myself and Miss Brereton." "Oh yes, of course, Miss Brereton. Sidney told me about her," agreed Reginald. "And perhaps I was a little sleepy when he was explaining everything else. Or I dare say l was too busy trying to make him listen to me. You know how it is with Sidney -- not the slightest notice did he take of my protests last night. It`s always the same. When he has any serious business on hand, he rides roughshod over everything -- disregards social engagements completely -- his own and everyone else`s. But I mean it was dashed inconvenient for me. Two parties cancelled -- and he waves them aside as mere trifles. Great fellow for insisting his friends must dance to his tune. "Yes," agreed Charlotte. "He manipulates people. He -- " "Oh! famous for it," interrupted Reginald cheerfully. "Always maintains he is doing it for our own good, of course. And in this case he says it is Henry`s. But I told him last night -- when he finished warning me about all these odd people and the hazards I was likely to fall into -- I said I was dashed if I could get through a whole week of Sanditon without running into trouble somewhere, Oh, you will be perfectly all right, Reginald,` says he, "You stick with my friend Miss Heywood and you cannot come to any harm.` Those were his very words." They were words which Charlotte was happy to hear repeated at second hand; and yet she felt there was something derogatory in them as well. Why should Sidney be so certain his friend was safer in her company than in anyone else`s? Clearly he was prone to indiscretion -- which she had already sanctioned with indulgence. But was there something else he and Sidney wanted to hide? Something they expected her to overlook or condone? Again she had the uneasy feeling she was being far less of an acute observer than she had always believed herself. But Sidney`s careless recommendation of her to his friend gave such a glow of satisfaction that she was almost prepared to disregard any other implications, and fully prepared to rank the compliment as high as her "smiling grey eyes." It was these indirect and unconscious small presents Reginald occasionally dispensed which caused her to listen with a concentration his conversation as a whole scarcely merited. He seemed determined to adopt her as his confidante and talked gaily on without ever expecting a reply. But inevitably most of his conversation centred round Sidney; he took it for granted the possession of this mutual friend formed some definite bond of sympathy between them. "Of course I quite understand Sidney had to go to London himself. Very busy fellow. Three urgent committee meetings, he says, and he could hardly have ordered me up to attend those. l would not have understood a word about gas, light and coal." "Gas, light and coal?" On Lord! yes. Did he never mention them to you? Well maybe you have no money to invest but he is always trying to make me invest mine. Or perhaps he thinks it is not a subject which would interest females. I don`t say it interests me a great deal but he goes on about it forever lately. `Lighting London by gaslight, Reginald,` says he, "is an enterprise you should be proud to support.` I told him I read in the papers somewhere that it would destroy the whale-oil trade; and that meant whale-fisheries, ropemakers, sailmakers and mastmakers -- in fact one paper I read predicted the ultimate ruin of even the British Navy from the introduction of gaslight -- but do ytu know what Sidney said? He said his company was doing more for the prevention of crime than any single body in England since the days of Alfred the Great. Oh, Sidney can produce very good arguments in favour of anything he wants you to do, but there is often too much risk involved for me to agree with him." "I take it, then, that Mr. Parker himself does not approve of caution?" "Sidney -- cautious? I should say not. I remember him saying to me once: "Reginald,` says he "we are living in a reckless age Those of us like you who are content to sit still on their capital will only lose it. There are hectic years ahead of us and we must all learn to keep pace with them.` He was trying at the time to make me invest in steam engines. But now he has gone completely off his head over gaslight -- takes absolutely no notice of the derision and opposition there has been to it. Oh, Sidney is all for taking risks," pausing and considering this statement rather more carefully. "That is -- well, only some risks. Because, on the other hand, I can remember his advising me against several of my favourite schemes. Why, when I first heard about his brother`s development plans here in Sanditon -- and it was Sidney himself who told me of them -- I thought it would be the very thing for investment. But no, says Sidney, why venture your money in thao "Sanditon,` he says, `is even too much of a gamble for me. Why do you want to be involved in io` Seaside resorts depend on fashion, he says, and fashion depends on tastes and who can ever predict those with any certainty? He said his brother was making a hobby out of Sanditon and combining commerce with pleasure, which was a good thing for him; but it was clearly no investment for an outsider. Well, here I am running on about money and investments which probably do not interest you in the least. You just stop me whenever you are bored with what I say. All my friends do." "I am not in the least bored," said Charlotte, who had been so busy listening that she had to suppress several possible trains of thought which might have caused her to miss some of Reginald`s revelations. For although he was clearly a rattle and one would hardly have expected much usefulness or information from him in the normal way, he had hit on the one topic of conversation which was, at present, of absorbing interest to his audience. Sometimes it might be a little difficult to follow the twists and bends of his grasshopper mind, but Charlotte was finding ample repayment in her rapt attention; and in many small ways, she was learning more about Sidney`s true character in one morning than Sidney had told her about himself in the course of a week. Where Sidney evaded and joked, Reginald, left to himself with perhaps only an encouraging word or two, revealed everything he knew on any subject at all; and in cheerful acceptance of his friend`s superior talents, he was ready to be guided by him without exercising any further thought over the matter. In fact, she was inclined to doubt whether Reginald exercised much thought in any direction. He often began sentences which seemed to lead nowhere; and a great deal of what he said was not very clear to her. But on the few occasions when she did interrupt with some query which might have helped her understand some of his remarks rather better, a wary expression would come over his face as though he was suddenly conscious of saying too much. And then he would give one of his loud bursts of laughter and immediately change the subject. His general imprudence was plainly shown in the shout of derision he gave on hearing he had become a member of a seaweed-collecting party. "Good God! Have they all taken leave of their senses? Who can possibly go collecting that slimy stuff? Miss Heywood, surely you are not serious?" She assured him three of the collectors at least were perfectly serious, laughed at his undisguised incredulity and attempted to moderate some of his disastrous frankness; but he continued to pour waspish scorn on the whole enterprise in a series of incautious asides at intervals throughout the morning. He firmly declined to help Arthur in wading out for the seaweed; and at first resisted even the Miss Beauforts` entreaties to admire it. But he became a more enthusiastic member of the party as soon as he realised the graver risk he faced of falling victim to Miss Denham. She was always on hand to appropriate him whenever Arthur called Charlotte away to look after his dry towels, his socks and his shoes; and she never despaired of coaxing him to sit on the "comfortable rock" she had discovered while everyone else clustered about such specimens of seaweed as Sanditon could grow and Arthur could find. But Reginald was quite practised enough in social graces to slide away from the Miss Denham Sidney had warned him about; and Charlotte was frequently amused to overhear him proclaiming a sudden passionate interest in examining the latest specimen and occasional minor effusions on seaweed in general, which provided him with the excuse of remaining within the orbit of the harmless Miss Beauforts. Towards the end of the morning, Charlotte became almost fully occupied with Arthur, whose pride in being the only gentleman to risk getting his feet wet almost equalled his anxiety to suffer no ill consequences from it. And Reginald then appended himself to Miss Letitia entirely, standing behind her as she drew outlandish and complicated patterns with seaweed overtones. She had left her easel behind and was constantly heard bemoaning the fact, protesting it was impossible for her to make faithful sketches of seaweed without an easel. But Reginald gallantly defended even the most unsuccessful of her attempts, politely insisting it Iooked just like seaweed to him; and though nobody else agreed with him, Miss Letitia was flattered enough to go on sketching industriously. Charlotte did not grudge Arthur his full share in her attention; and in handing him his towels, wringing out his socks and commenting on his finds, felt she was making some return for the confidence he reposed in her. The morning had added so considerably to her knowledge of Sidney that she was already well satisfied with it -- though she hardly knew where to begin in cataloguing all Reginald`s scraps of information. Most prominent among those which demanded a period of meditation was his scornful "Sidney -- cautious? should say not." This had been stored away in her mind alongside the memory of Sidney"s own remark: "Caution and Miss Heywood go so well together." But she postponed any development on that theme till she could be alone to reason it all out. How differently did everything now appear in which Sidney was concerned! Heedlessness of his friends, flippancy, shallowness and improvidence -- she could no longer accuse him of these. And that he thought very seriously indeed about some subjects she could no longer doubt. But she was no nearer to understanding his character; and after restoring Arthur to his sisters` care, she looked forward to regaining her own room, unwrapping her shellwork box, rereading Sidney`s letter and thinking over all she had heard about him that day. "Ah, there you are," cried Mr. Parker catching her on the way upstairs. "Now I want your comments -- and Mary`s -- on this piece I have been writing about Sanditon. Facts, hard facts, are what I have put down. No exaggeration about them at all. I have said we have a capital set of Assembly Rooms but made no boasts like Brinshore of holding fortnightly Assemblies. For of course, I do not believe that, you know. They may intend to hold fortnightly Assemblies, but I am very sure they do not. Now I have only claimed we hold occasional Assemblies -- perfectly legitimate, would you not agree? In fact, I believe I will start ocganising one directly. So long as we manage one Assembly this season, we can be said to hold occasional Assemblies. I shall set about it immediately -- finding out how many couples we may count on, cards, candles, chairs, musicians and so forth and so on. Oh, there will be enough to do over the business; but I dare say we shall be able to arrange it all very speedily. So I shall write to Sidney and tell him we are about to hold one of our occasional Assemblies! That will bring him back to Sanditon fast enough. Sidney can never resist any entertainment that is going -- idle fellow that he is. Well, and have you time to read my notes on Sanditon now? I can fetch them in a moment from the study. No, on second thoughts, it might be as well to give them to Mary first. A much better plan, now I come to think about it. She has been out in that greenhouse all day and must be longing for some excuse to leave off. I will go and relieve her boredom for her first." And with this happy thought, Mr. Parker went off to interrupt his contented wife, leaving Charlotte to resolve against ever trusting to his judgement again where even the interests of his own family were concerned.
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