Cousin Kate again and again

Kate is happy to be engaged to Philip but she is feeling guilty that she has become engaged without the sanction of Lady Broome who is her chaperone, and while her aunt is ill. She tells PHilip that she thinks he's unjust to her aunt, that she is selfish, true but not as bad as he makes her out to be. Kate loves Philip and admires his character but she feels that he's prejudiced against Lady Broome... and she tries not to believe that Torquil is indeed mad, though his behavour is becoming more erratic. She was aware of his fits of temper and concerned when he got hold of a gun and began brandishing it about. After a couple of days, Kate is allowed to see Lady Broome, and it is a strained meeting. She tells her about her own youth, and how her family were not that well off and although she was a good looking girl she only had a small dowry. She then met Sir Timothy and although he was much older than her, she liked him and married him. She loved London society life, but within a few years, her husband's health broke down and she had to move back to Staplewood and run the estate for him. Kate sympathises but then her aunt tries to persuade her to marry Torquil, and she says that she is now engaged to Philip. Her aunt gets very angry, at this penniless girl thwarting her plans. Then Sarah Nidd arrives, worried about Kate. But she has met Torquil during her journey to Stapelwood, and he had spurred his horse and almost caused a terrible accident. WHen Lady Broome hears of this, she tells Kate that she knows Torquil is mad, that he was always unstable and recently he has become dangerous and violent and may have to be confined. She says that the only thing that can save Torquil's reputation is for him to get engaged and married. She tells her neice that the mental illness came from her family, and that she desperately wants her son to father an heir, before he becomes so bad that he will have to be confined. Kate is horrified at her callousness.