He called Ramswick 5 minutes later. As soon as Ramswick entered, he ordered him to immediately summon the land agent who had interviewed yesterday.
The land agent arrived at Whitefield that evening. He was a short, pudgy man in his 40s with drooping bags under his eyes.
Ramswick had already caught a strong whiff of con man from his oily speech and sycophantic attitude during the previous interview. He wondered why the master had called this man back as he escorted the land agent to the office.
It was two hours later when Ramswick was summoned to the office. When Ramswick entered, Ian referred to the man as the new land agent and told Ramswick to assist him from now on.
Ramswick was greatly surprised. As it turned out, Ian had been handing over responsibilities to him for two hours.
Ian told Ramswick to call for a carriage immediately, and with a small travel bag that he had ordered a servant to pack at some point, he departed for the station to take the train.
Watching the carriage kick up dust as it drove away, Ramswick and the servants couldn’t help but wonder what on earth had happened in London.
Thanks to the night train service, he was able to arrive in London by the next morning. Ian immediately hired a private carriage in front of the station.
The carriage soon stopped in front of the Fairfax siblings’ townhouse. Ian paid the fare, got out with his bag, and went straight to knock on the door. The servant who opened the front door was visibly startled to see who had knocked.
My, they hadn’t received any word that the master of Whitefield, Mr. Dalton, would be coming!
Ian strode in, handed his travel bag to other equally surprised servants, and asked for William. The servants informed him that he was in the drawing room. Ian instructed them to take the bag to the guest room and went straight to the drawing room.
In the drawing room, the Fairfax siblings were enjoying a cozy time after finishing breakfast. Miss Janet was playing the piano while William sat on the sofa reviewing documents as he listened to the performance. It was truly a peaceful scene.
But when Ian entered, the leisurely morning atmosphere turned to surprise. Miss Janet stopped playing the piano when she saw him, and Mr. Fairfax dropped the documents he was holding.
Ian nodded lightly to Miss Janet, who had stood up from the piano bench and was curtsying with a flushed face. Then he turned his gaze to William, who looked as if he’d seen a ghost.
“What brings you here? What about the estate?”
“It’s in the hands of a suspicious bookkeeper. I need to see you for a moment.”
Ian gestured to William and left the drawing room. William neatly arranged the documents and placed them on the side table, then lightly kissed Janet’s forehead, saying he enjoyed the piano, before following Ian out of the drawing room.
The two moved to the study. As soon as Ian entered the study, he leaned against William’s desk on one side and asked as soon as William closed the door.
“What’s that fellow’s name?”
“What?”
“That financial tycoon from America, what’s his name?”
William realized the effect his letter had on his friend as he saw Ian’s angry expression.
“Why do you want to know?”
“I need to drive him out of England.”
“What? On what grounds? He’s originally British. Even though he’s lived mostly in America, he’s still a British citizen. Besides, he hasn’t committed any crimes here, has he? How do you plan to drive him out?”
Instead of answering, Ian reached into his inner jacket pocket and pulled something out. It was a small pistol that fit snugly in his hand. William’s face drained of color as he saw the gun, looking back and forth between Ian and the weapon.
“Are you planning to challenge him to a duel of honor?”
Instead of answering, Ian placed it on William’s desk and then took out a cigar from the cigar box on William’s desk and put it in his mouth.
“Are you mad? Have you gone insane, Ian Dalton? It’s almost the 20th century! That kind of thing ended in our grandfather’s generation!”
Ian took out a matchbox and struck a match against the striking surface. A flame sparked at the end of the match. He lit the cigar with it and then took a deep drag.
“The law still allows it. As long as there’s a witness, I can legally put a bullet in that man.”
“So, you, young as you are, intend to send that elderly gentleman with not many years left to the afterlife? What kind of duel of honor is that? It’s elder abuse!”
“If he doesn’t like it, tell him to get back to America immediately.”
Ian Dalton said firmly and smoked his cigar. William was dumbfounded, certain that this situation was caused by the letter he had sent thinking it couldn’t possibly have this effect. That letter had hit the heart of a man in love with a woman like a direct hit, turning a cynical man who had never cared about honor in his life to the brink of drawing a gun.
A duel of honor, of all things. Who would have thought the day would come when Ian Dalton, of all people, would bring up such a relic of the past that only appears in novels.
“Were you really in love with Miss Pendleton?”
Ian, who was leaning against Mr. Fairfax’s office desk and blowing smoke, narrowed his brows and asked back.
“Why else would I be here?”
“Well, you might have been moved by chivalry to drive away Mr. Price as a friend of Miss Pendleton.”
“Don’t look for that chivalry nonsense in me. I’m a man who lives without caring about such childish wordplay.”
Ian tapped his ash into Fairfax’s ashtray and continued.
“I didn’t tell you, but I’ve had my eye on Miss Pendleton ever since I first met her in London. If the parish priest hadn’t died, I wouldn’t have had to go down to Whitefield in the middle. I was planning to marry her in London and go down together.”
William’s mouth fell open when he heard talk of marriage from his lips.
This guy is really serious, isn’t he?
“Then, does Miss Pendleton know your feelings?”
“Yes.”
“And she accepted your feelings?”
Ian continued to smoke his cigar without answering William’s question. William furrowed his brow.
“So you were rejected?”
Ian remained silent. But his expression was answer enough. William sighed, “Haah.”
“Do you realize you’re talking about shooting and killing a friend of the lady’s uncle after being rejected for a proposal?”
“Is there a problem?”
“The problem is that you don’t see the problem! Don’t you know that if you do something like that, it will only trouble Miss Pendleton? What you’re trying to do isn’t love, it’s a reckless crime of passion blinded by jealousy. If that situation arises, Miss Pendleton will be in the most difficult position. What will you say to her uncle, the head of the household? How will society view Miss Pendleton?”
“Nothing could damage Miss Pendleton’s honor more than leaving this situation as it is, William.”
Ian muttered through gritted teeth as he crushed out his cigar in the ashtray.
“If she had a father or brother, they would have acted just like me. They would have gladly drawn a gun for the honor of their daughter or sister. No, such a deranged old man wouldn’t have approached her in the first place. That scoundrel is pestering Miss Pendleton because he knows she has no man to protect her!”
William was stunned by his friend’s unfamiliar appearance as he looked at his flushed forehead and burning eyes. He had never seen Ian lose himself like this before.
Ian, who had been an insufferably proud little gentleman since William first met him as a child, had grown into an adult who was cynical about everything. But now he seemed like a completely different person. Reckless, emotional, slightly crazed.
“Yes, you’re right. I agree too. How unfair the situation Miss Pendleton is in. But strictly speaking, you’re not Miss Pendleton’s father or brother.”
Ian silently took out another cigar from the box.
“That doesn’t mean I’m just Miss Pendleton’s friend, William.”
“Right, you’re a suitor. So you think that gives you the right to threaten Miss Pendleton’s guest at gunpoint for her honor? Isn’t that presumptuous?”
“……”
“In the world of aristocrats, you know that the face of the head of the household is the face of the family. You’re trying to disgrace the Pendleton family now. Even if there’s a small chance she might fall in love with you because of this, she would never see your face again. Miss Pendleton is a Pendleton, after all.”
“Because of the face of a head of household who doesn’t even protect her?”
“Because of the face of a head of household who doesn’t even protect her. I can assure you, as someone who has been friends with her for 6 years, that’s the kind of person Miss Pendleton is.”
Ian listened to his story silently. Noticing that his momentum had softened, William put his hand on Ian’s shoulder.
“If you really want to win Miss Pendleton’s heart, calm down first. I’ll think about what we can do too. And put that gun away. It’s scary.”
Normally Ian wouldn’t have even snorted at William’s words, but this time was different. He obediently followed William’s words and put the gun in his pocket. William had years of friendship with Miss Pendleton. Right now, he needed the help of someone who knew Miss Pendleton well more than anything.
For him, there was nothing more infuriating than watching Miss Pendleton be insulted, but he couldn’t bear the sacrifice of never seeing Miss Pendleton again either.
William sat down next to Ian, leaning like him, and took out a cigar to light. The two men blew smoke silently.
William thought about the marriage between Miss Pendleton and Ian. It was quite a good match. Although it was a shame to lose Miss Pendleton, Ian was quite a good catch when you looked at the conditions, and given his personality, he wasn’t the type to easily cool off and forget a love he had fallen into, so he would devote himself to her for life.
Miss Pendleton had also acknowledged that Ian was a good catch, and above all, someone like Miss Pendleton would be able to handle Ian’s strange personality well and live with him. For Ian, this might be his last chance not to die as an old bachelor.
So why did Miss Pendleton, who viewed Ian quite favorably, reject Ian’s proposal?
“Ian, how exactly did you propose?”
“I never proposed.”
“But you said you proposed?”
“I said Miss Pendleton knows my feelings.”
“How did you convey those feelings? Tell me the details of the situation.”
Ian wasn’t particularly keen on telling a male friend about his affairs with Miss Pendleton, but he obediently opened up.
“During the picnic, while you were skipping stones with Miss Hyde, we took a walk together. As we strolled through the forest, the topic of Whitefield came up, and she said that when I get married, she would come to where I am to attend the wedding. So I told her I wouldn’t get married without her, and she just turned serious and left.”
William stared at him blankly for a moment before asking again.
“So, Miss Pendleton said she would attend your wedding? Hoping you would get married soon?”
“Yes.”
“And you told her you wouldn’t get married without her?”
“That’s right.”
“You said that even after hearing those words? It’s obvious that Miss Pendleton has no feelings for you at all.”
“If I could go back to that moment, I would bite my tongue to keep from saying it.”
Turns Out He’s Been Secretly in Love with Me
One-line summary: He acts like he doesn’t like her but is actually playing hard to get.
Synopsis:
Xu Muzhou like her. He has liked her for a very long time, and through repeated schemes, he finally closed the distance with her.
But this is still far from enough.
He wants to be the one who stands out among her many suitors, to fight for her attention, and to make her take the initiative to pursue him.
_____
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