Cousin Kate Again 2

Kate is increasingly uneasy with life in the Broome household, especially when Lady Broome suggests to her that she should marry Torquil. She points out that she is 5 years older than him and penniless. But she begins to feel that her aunt is using her position to put her under pressure.. that Lady Broome perhaps wants to control Torquil and his wife, and maintain her status as lady of Staplewood for life, rahter than let him be free to choose his own wife. So she wants to pick a bride for him who is beholden to herself. But she is beginning to feel that she wants to escape from Staplewood but has nowhere to go. Then Philip comes to tell her that there is someone in the village to see her. She is amazed to find that old Mr Nidd, Sarah's father in law has come to see if she is all right. He is a shrewd old man and fond of her so he decided to come to Staplewood and see her and he met Philip in the town. Philip brings Kate to one of the better inns where she can talk privately to Mr Nidd and he tells her that Sarah was worried because she had only had one letter from Kate, but she thought that Kate was busy with her new life. Kate tells him that she is not having a gay social life, but that she would never forget Sarah. She writes a note for him to take to his daughter in law but she realises that Sarah's letters and her to her nurse had been intercepted by Lady Broome who is trying to drive a wedge between them. However when she gets home to Staplewood, she finds that Lady Broome has contracted flu and has collapsed, very ill. She offers to help nurse her aunt but is not allowed, but during her aunt's illness, she and Philip talk. He tells her that he thinks Lady Broome is manipulating her and that Torquil is on the verge of madness. He also tells her that he is in love with her and wants to marry her, although he is not a very rich man. He has his small estate and can give her a home.