‘Wow,’ Cat said as they headed for the dance floor without a word of protest from Bella. ‘He’s a bit of a force of nature, your brother.’

‘Mmm.’

‘But that was kind of him, to think of Bella being alone and miserable without James while everybody else is having a good time.’

Henry made the kind of noise that purports to be a laugh but isn’t. ‘It must be lovely inside your head, always attributing your good-hearted motives to everybody else.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘There’s no cynicism in you, Cat. You never think anything but the best of everyone. Not everyone has the best of motives, but you persist in thinking well of them.’

‘I don’t understand you.’

‘Then I’m one up on you, because I understand you perfectly well.’

Cat gave a wry chuckle. ‘Right. Because I can’t speak well enough to be obscure and unintelligible.’

This time Henry’s laugh was genuine. ‘The perfect satire on modern pretentiousness. Well said.’

‘But tell me what you’re getting at.’

‘I don’t want us to fall out, so I think I’ll just shut up now.’

‘We won’t fall out, I promise. Just tell me what you meant.’

He considered for a moment then shrugged. ‘It’s typical of you to take my brother at his word. To believe he meant it when he said he was asking her to dance to protect her and cheer her up. Me, I know him well enough to know that was the last thing on his mind. Which proves, if I needed proof, that you are probably the most good-natured person in Edinburgh.’

Cat flushed deep scarlet. ‘You’re making me blush,’ she said. ‘But here’s the thing. Bella was so determined not to dance with anyone because she’s so in love with James, that only kindness would make her break that determination. And she knows Freddie is your brother, so she trusts him.’

‘That might be her first mistake,’ he said grimly. ‘Freddie’s always found beautiful girls irresistible. And they seem to think the same about him. As soon as I walked in and saw you two, I knew he’d be across like a bullet from a gun. And no matter how firm Bella’s intentions might have been beforehand, I knew they would melt under the heat of my brother’s charms.’

‘I think you’re reading too much into a simple act of kindness, Henry. Bella is totally devoted to James. And she’s a woman who knows her own mind.’

He threw up his hands in a gesture of submission. ‘If you say so. But the other side of the coin of people who say they know their own mind is obstinacy. The secret is knowing when to give in. So maybe that’s Bella’s secret. She knows when to back down.’

‘Which is a good thing. So, Henry, are you going to sit here gassing all night or are you going to cheer me up on the dance floor? Or do I have to get one of Freddie’s buddies to shake his booty?’ She jerked her head towards Freddie’s companions at the bar.

Henry shuddered. ‘I could never do that to you.’ And so they followed the music next door and threw themselves into unstructured gyration with all the energy and passion they had previously devoted to the strict patterns of Scottish country dancing. Still, Cat had enough attention to spare to notice Bella and Freddie making the most of the music, dancing perhaps a little closer than Cat would have done in Bella’s shoes.

It was past midnight when Cat and Bella extricated themselves from the party. Both Tilney men had offered to escort them home, but the girls had refused. ‘We’ll walk down to the Allens and call a cab for Bella from there,’ Cat had insisted. Henry’s words had made her a little more cautious where his brother was concerned, especially since he had had at least four beers and two whiskies that she had counted. Drink, she knew, could blur boundaries and make people behave in ways that would shame them afterwards. Better to avoid the possibility.

Arm in arm, the two girls tottered down the street on feet made sensitive by energetic dancing. ‘I’m knackered,’ Bella complained.

‘It’s your own fault. You said you weren’t going to dance.’

‘I took pity on him. Don’t forget, Freddie’s been out in Afghanistan risking his life, not swanning around courtrooms like his brother. He deserves a bit of cheering up. And it was so sweet of him to be concerned that I might be lonely without Jamie.’

‘I don’t know how thrilled James would have been about that.’ Cat tried not to sound disapproving and dull.

Bella tutted. ‘Jamie doesn’t want me to be mis. Anyway, I feel like I did my bit for the troops tonight. My personal Help for Heroes. Poor boy, he’s had such a tough tour of duty, he needed to let down his hair. And once he’d danced with me, nobody else would do. If I’d gone and sat down, he’d just have been pestering me non-stop.’

‘That must have been flattering.’

‘It was quite. Anyway, what are you complaining about? Me being occupied with Freddie meant you got to dance with Henry all night. He’s a lovely mover, isn’t he? Much more stylish than his brother. Positively hetero-flexible!’ She giggled.

Cat wasn’t in the least comfortable with pursuing that angle, not being entirely sure what it meant, but reasonably certain it was nothing that would bring her comfort. ‘I suspect his conversation’s a bit more interesting too.’

Bella groaned. ‘You’re not kidding. There’s nothing modest about Freddie. He’s a bit up himself, like all the Tilneys.’

‘That didn’t stop us having a good time, though.’

Bella squeezed her arm tightly. ‘It passed the time. Because I’m on tenterhooks to talk to Jamie tomorrow, to hear what your parents said. I can’t wait!’

17

As arranged, Cat and Susie met Bella and Martha at the Book Festival for coffee and croissants first thing the next morning. Both girls were in flat plimsolls, complaining of sore feet after their high-heeled adventures on the dance floor the night before. Bella was also whingeing about her lack of sleep. ‘I’m so desperate to hear the full story from Jamie, I could hardly sleep a wink,’ she said.

‘Funny that,’ Martha said. ‘Because when I went to the loo in the middle of the night, someone was snoring their head off in your bedroom.’

‘Ha, ha,’ Bella sneered.

Cat was on her second croissant when Bella’s phone rang. She jumped to her feet and ran across the grass to a more isolated spot. Cat watched as her friend paced back and forth, spare hand clutching her hair, head down, a frown of concentration on her face. Then she turned her back on them and walked behind the equestrian statue in the middle of the festival grounds, so she was entirely obscured from sight.

When she finally reappeared, Bella was pale, save for two spots of high colour on her cheekbones. It was not, Cat thought, a look that did her any favours. Bella sat down heavily and a look that did her any favours. Bella sat down heavily and drained her cooling latte. ‘Well,’ she said. ‘Now we know where we stand.’

‘And where is that, exactly?’ Martha asked.

‘So, Jamie told his parents, and he says they were delighted. But they’d also just had a letter from a university friend of Mr Morland who’s a barrister in York and he’s offered Jamie a place in his chambers. So, I go, Jamie, you’ve got to be joking, right? York? I mean, it’s in Yorkshire, right? The North, for God’s sake. Then he admits he’s been getting nowhere with all the London sets he’s applied to and his dad says he’d be crazy to turn this down because it’s really tough out there. Plus his dad says if he takes the York offer, they’ll help him with the deposit on a house because they can afford that on account of house prices are lower up there because, duh, it’s the North and nobody wants to live there.’ Bella paused for breath. Her tone was dull and flat but even Cat registered that her words were not.

‘I think that’s very sensible of Jamie and very generous of your parents, Cat. I wish I could do as much, but of course I’m just a poor widow. I expect Mr Morland will do more for you once he sees you settled, for he sounds a lovely man, from everything Jamie has said,’ Martha commented.

‘I doubt it,’ Cat said. ‘He’s only a vicar.’

Both Martha and Bella looked at her with some puzzlement, but Bella moved on regardless. ‘But here’s the worst bit. Jamie says he thinks we should wait for a couple of years at least before we get married because he just doesn’t see how he can support both of us till he’s got his feet under the table. Even with the little bit I bring in.’

‘Now that does surprise me,’ Martha said. ‘It’s not like you’re ‘Now that does surprise me,’ Martha said. ‘It’s not like you’re a big spender. You’re not one of those “want, want, want” girls.’

Bella sighed. ‘I’m not thinking of myself, I’m thinking of poor Jamie having to work so hard just to earn enough for the basics. It’s him I care about. I can manage with next to nothing.’

Martha patted her daughter’s hand. ‘That’s just like you. So selfless. It’s such a shame that the only reward it brings you is everybody’s affection and respect. If all that love turned to money, you and Jamie would be millionaires. Frankly, I’m sure that when the Morlands meet you, Jamie’s father will find a way to help you be together as soon as possible.’

Bella gave Cat a look freighted with an impenetrable meaning. ‘Everybody has the right to do what they want with their own money.’

Cat didn’t know what she could say to make the truth of her family’s situation clearer. She looked to Susie for assistance, but she was staring deep into her coffee cup. ‘I’m amazed my dad’s offered this much,’ she said. ‘Honestly, he’s always made it clear we’d have to make our own way in the world.’

‘Dear, sweet Cat,’ Bella sighed again. ‘It’s not the lack of money that’s pissing me off – you know I despise people who are obsessed with money. It’s the waiting. Two years? I’d run off with Jamie tomorrow and to hell with the money. But your father has obviously convinced him that he needs to be cautious and save up before we can get married. Save up for what? I’d live with Jamie in a bedsit.’