Leaves him time to ponder...

"You want to invest into Automobiles?" Brigitte asked her mother.

"Over my dead body... and probably countless other's two..." the Earl said.

"Johnathan... We're in public..." The Countess scolder him, reminding him of his place in normal society.

"Forgive me, wife... I just fear for you and anyone who goes near those ghastly machines..." He said.

"Darling... I know you're scared of them. Lot's of people are... but I think that we could be at the forefront of a transportation revolution. Besides... I only plan to invest a few hundred Pounds."

Jonathan shifted in his seat. He wanted to speak up further... but it was not his place as a man to do so. The entire monthly wages for their servants totaled £200. His wife was talking about spending that much on deathtraps...

Brigitte knew her parents well enough to try to change the subject.

"Albert's parents are due back from thier grand tour soon." She said, refering to the young man she planned to marry.

"Oh" The Countess said, catching on.

"Yes... They said the should be home by the start of the next session of parliament. I hope to be able to ask for thier son's hand by then." She told them. She was slightly disappointed that her little sister was getting married first, but she was pregnant and that's what was expected to happen, marry the father as soon as possible.

"How about you, Edward, anyone come calling yet?" She asked her brother.

"Brigette..." Her father scowled.

"No. Not yet." The young man offered up.

"I'm sure someone will soon. Who knows... You might even meet her at the wedding..."

"I do hope so." Edward said, longingly.

Ever since his mother had inherited the family's peerage, he'd been quite lonely. He used to play with the other children on the neighboring estates when they lived closer to London. But after his grandmother, the previous Countess, died when he was 11, they moved to take up residence in the family's manor seat further north west. And he knew no one.

On top of that, the large estate meant that traveling anywhere was long and there were no other estates nearby. As the son of a Countess, he'd been thrust into "proper society", meaning class and standing now mattered in who he could interact with and how he would interact with them. A decade prior, that outburst from his father would have been met with a shrug and a laugh at best. But his mother now had the right to shut his father down completely.

It was a reminder again of what his future was. He knew as a man what was expected of him. Speak only when spoken to. Defer to the women in his life on everything. The only reason he hadn't learned how to cook and sew like most boys his age was his social status.

In a sense, his longing was not so much for the opportunity to be a groom, like every boy dreams of, but to stop postponing the inevitable and begin his life as a married man, and eventually a father.

Johnathan saw the look on his son's face and put a reassuring hand on his arm, with a small smile.

"Father, mother, your train will be here soon." Brigette said.

"You're not joining us?" Edward asked his sister?

"I have more business tomorrow. I'd be catching an afternoon train then and I will see you all for supper tomorrow night."