‘It was our brother Charles’s favourite.’
Wick choked on the ice in his mouth, feeling cold all over.
‘Charles was our third brother,’ Mantheria explained. ‘Just two years older than myself and my twin sister.’
Louisa set down her spoon. ‘I am sorry. I did not know that you had a twin...or a brother named Charles.’
Wick’s sisters rarely talked about Charles and Elizabeth around him. They knew how painful he found it. But Mantheria seemed determined to open that old wound today.
‘I don’t remember them very well,’ Becca admitted, her lips drooping. ‘I was only three when they died.’
Mantheria’s eyes were full of unshed tears, but she smiled. ‘Oh, they would not wish for you to be sad that they are gone. Both Charles and Elizabeth were the happiest children I ever knew. Charles was so sweet, and he loved animals—just like you and Helen. He taught Sadie the elephant all her parlour tricks—like putting on her own cloak and kneeling to allow rides. And he didn’t like sweet foods at all. Not even fruits. That is why the parmesan ice was his favourite.’
‘Charles was usually good-natured,’ Wick said. ‘But Papa called him Char Bear, because occasionally you’d poke him and he’d get really angry, like a bear. I was teasing him one night at dinner and he picked up his plate and pushed it into my face. There were carrots in my hair and gravy on my nose.’
‘And mashed potatoes in Wick’s eyebrows,’ Mantheria added.
Helen put her elbows on the table and leaned forward. ‘What did Mama and Papa do?’
Wick shook his head. ‘Nothing.’
‘Nothing?’ Becca repeated.
Wick couldn’t help but smile at the memory. ‘Mama said that justice had been served and told Harper to bring me another plate. We continued eating dinner as if nothing were amiss.’
Helen shook her head. ‘And you sayweare wild animals!’
‘What about Elizabeth?’ Becca asked eagerly, her ice quite forgotten.
‘Elizabeth loved sweet things,’ Frederica said, sniffing. ‘She was the only one who could steal biscuits from the kitchens without getting into trouble. Papa said that her tongue was sweeter than sugar. No one could stay cross with her for long.’
‘She was very slight...bordering on frail,’ Wick found himself saying. ‘Cook was always trying to fatten her up. It wouldn’t surprise me if Cook had brought her the biscuits.’
‘Or Mrs May!’ Mantheria said with a little laugh. ‘They both doted on her. She was the good twin and I was the naughty one.’
‘That hasn’t changed,’ Helen said, giggling.
But it had. Wick had been the only one old enough at the time to see it. Mantheria had changed after Elizabeth’s death. She had become serious, obedient and eager to please, as if trying to take the place of her twin in the family. She had carried a heavy burden as the oldest daughter.
Wick’s eyes filled with tears and he got to his feet abruptly. ‘Come with me, Andrew. I’ll buy you another ice. Yours is all gone.’
His sticky nephew dropped his spoon on the table with a clatter and eagerly placed his hand in Wick’s. They walked away from their seats, but he could still hear his sisters’ voices.
‘Wick blames himself for their deaths,’ Mantheria said. ‘He was the oldest, and our parents were away in Africa when scarlet fever hit the family. He rode all night to London, to fetch a specialist for Charles, but it was too late. The fever had taken his strength and his heart. Wick stayed up with both of them, night after night. Charles died a few days later and Elizabeth did not outlast him by more than an hour... I know it sounds strange, but I was glad of that. I had always been with Elizabeth, and I was happy to know that neither of them was alone—even in heaven.’
‘Mama and Papa didn’t blame Wick,’ Frederica said. ‘They blamed themselves for leaving us. I suppose we all feel the guilt of surviving when they didn’t.’
Unconsciously, Wick tightened his hold on Andrew’s wrist. His sisters had put his feelings into words that he never could. As he’d held Charles’s slender hand in those final hours, he had prayed that God would take his life instead. But his prayers had not been answered.
‘Too tight, Uncle Wick!’ Andrew protested, yanking his hand away.
‘Sorry,’ he said with a sniff.
Wick would always be sorry.
Chapter Twenty-Two
They finished their ices and Mantheria suggested they stroll in the park before heading back home. Louisa was grateful for the extra time with a certain marquess, and the younger Stringham sisters also took up this suggestion with enthusiasm.