The Irresistible Buck
Page 14
And after nearly a month in London Clarinda had to admit that she was right!
She was beginning to find it quite easy to accept all the complimentary phrases that were whispered in her ear at every party and she became used to seeing a look of excitement in a man’s eyes as he raised her hand to his lips.
She grew quite adept at avoiding an offer of marriage except from those who were too persistent or thick-skinned to take a hint.
However what never ceased to surprise her was that she saw so little of Lord Melburne. She could hardly believe it possible that she could live in a man’s house, know that he was her host and, more important still, her Guardian, and yet have little or no direct contact with him.
When they did meet, it was always in the presence of others, either his grandmother was present or it was a dinner party. Even when he accompanied them to dinner at other people’s houses, it seemed to Clarinda almost extraordinary that they were never seated next to each other and he never asked her to dance.
She had been very angry with Lord Melburne when they first came to London and she had thought that she would find herself continually raging at him, incensed by his proprietary attitude and fighting with him in words like the cut-and-thrust of a duel with swords.
On the contrary the situation was almost deflating and in a way frustrating, but she had no chance of even arguing with him about anything.
He was always courteous in a detached indifferent manner and she was well aware that she should be grateful to him for the comforts she enjoyed at Melburne House. But she felt now that it must be intentional on his part that they should never be alone together.
She received occasional messages from him through his grandmother. It was in this way that she learnt that should anyone unsuitable make her an offer of marriage, she had only to tell the gentleman in question to call on her Guardian and Lord Melburne would blight any hopes he might have had of gaining her hand.
Clarinda discovered that the only way to communicate such matters to Lord Melburne was to send him a note, and duly in the morning before she and the Dowager started their round of gaiety for the day she would write in her elegant hand a few words on a sheet of writing paper.
“Lord Wilmot will be calling on you today, my Lord, I have no wish to accept his suit.”
Or,
“Captain Charles Cuddington may well ask your Lordship’s permission to see me alone, please prevent this if possible.”
Lord Melburne never replied, but Clarinda found that the young men she disliked were barred the house and even made no effort to approach her again when they saw her at other parties.
She felt that Lord Melburne was extremely thorough in the execution of his duties as her Guardian, but that he appeared to have no desire to communicate personally with her.
Before she came to London that was exactly what she would have desired and yet now his attitude of indifference piqued her although she would not admit this to herself.
When she was dressed ready for dinner at Carlton House, Betty exclaimed her delight at her appearance,
“You look lovely, Miss Clarinda,” she said, “even lovelier than you looked last night. I wish you could have heard all those nice things that were said about you, miss,”
Clarinda glanced at her reflection in the mirror. Her dress for tonight’s party was green, a soft green of buds in early spring, and for a moment she thought that her gown, with its tiny brilliants like drops of water, made her look like a nymph rising from the lake at Melburne.
Then she remembered that she had been wearing a green gown the night Nicholas had taken her to the caves. She gave a little shudder.
Could green be unlucky she wondered? And told herself that she was being nonsensical.
“I am very proud of you, child,” the Dowager smiled as they walked downstairs.
Lord Melburne was waiting for them in the hall, looking incredibly handsome with the decorations that he had won in the Army glittering on the blue satin of his evening coat.
Clarinda looked up at him hoping to see some glint of admiration in his eyes. She had become experienced enough now to recognise that particular expression which sometimes held a flicker of fire behind it.
But Lord Melburne seemed preoccupied in brushing a speck of dust from his sleeve and it was at his grandmother he looked rather than at his Ward.
“We must not be late,” he said, “you know how the Prince insists that his dinner parties shall start on time, especially when it is to be followed by a large Reception.”
“We have plenty of time,” the Dowager suggested soothingly. “I am looking forward to hearing what Clarinda thinks of Carlton House.”
“Of course, it is her first visit,” Lord Melburne said. “I had forgotten that. I hope she will not expect too much or she may well be disappointed.”
“But everything is so exciting for me!” Clarinda exclaimed, wondering why he spoke of her as if she was not present.
“You will find Prinny’s parties unbearably hot and invariably a tiresome crush,” Lord Melburne said in a bored voice. “If I could avoid such occasions, I certainly would.”
“I hope you are not coming tonight solely on my account,” Clarinda said shyly.
“No, indeed,” Lord Melburne replied. “The Prince of Wales insisted on my presence. He likes to have his most intimate friends around him when he entertains.”
Lord Melburne’s reply was quite crushing and Clarinda lapsed into silence.
Carlton House was, however, even more impressive than she had expected. From the moment she entered the Corinthian portico, she felt that she gaped like a yokel at the pillars of porphyry in the hall, at Chinese yellow silk hangings in the drawing room and at the busts, statues, griffins and urns.
She felt so stunned by the dining room walls of silver supported by columns in red and yellow granite that it was hard at first for her to eat or converse with the gentlemen on either side of her.
The dinner was long and elaborate with innumerable French dishes served on solid silver plates, but, when it was over, there were more marvels to see outside.
Through the Rose Satin Room festooned with flowers and the adjoining anteroom with its frieze of sphinxes encircling the bust of Minerva, there was a vast conservatory with a buffet creaking under a load of gold ornaments.
Supper tables were laid out in the garden, where there were miniature fountains and a cascade in which flashed gold and silver fish and there were fairy lamps and Chinese lanterns to illuminate the velvet-smooth lawns.
For Clarinda there was also the novelty of staring at the guests, who were even more colourful than their host’s collection of famous pictures. The women in high-waisted gowns of satin, gauze or muslin, damped to show every curve of their sinuous figures were, with their magnificent tiaras and glittering necklaces, no less colourful than the men in their white knee-breeches and their satin coats embellished with bejewelled decorations.
Never in her wildest dreams had Clarinda imagined anything could be so beautiful, so gay and so noisy. And what was more exciting was that she could never stand for a moment by the Dowager’s side before someone asked her to dance.
It was very hot and the thousands of candles made it hotter still. Lord Melburne slipped away from the elite circle round the Prince of Wales to find a quiet place by a window where he could sit down with three friends to a game of cards.
He was therefore somewhat surprised to find a small figure standing beside him and to hear a low voice say,
“Could you please take me – home, my Lord?”
He glanced up in surprise and then rose to his feet.
“Take you home, Clarinda! It is not yet one o’clock. No one leaves a party at Carlton House until it is dawn!”
“I would like to retire, if it please you,” Clarinda insisted, “But I cannot for the moment find your grandmother.”
Lord Melburne glanced down at Clarinda’s face enquiringly and then put his cards down on the table.
“I wish she had need of me!” one of the gentlemen remarked, but Clarinda had already turned away from the table.
Lord Melburne followed her.
“What is the matter?” he asked when they were out of hearing.
“I cannot tell you – here,” she replied, “but please say – nothing to your grandmother. I must leave – I must.”
Efficiently Lord Melburne found the Dowager sitting with some of her old cronies in one of the salons, drew her aside and told her that Clarinda wished to go home.
In what seemed to be an incredibly short time they were driving back towards Berkeley Square.
“You must be unwell to wish to leave so early,” the Dowager said to Clarinda, “but I am delighted to get away from the heat and deafening clatter of the bands,”
“I have a slight headache,” Clarinda admitted.
“It is not surprising,” the Dowager replied, “you were late last night. Two big parties one on top of each other is too much for anyone,”
When they reached Melburne House, the Dowager gave a sigh.
“I must admit I welcome a chance to get to bed early,” she said. “Come along, Clarinda. Send Betty for a glass of milk to help you to get to sleep.”
“Perhaps I could just have a glass of lemonade,” Clarinda said and looked appealingly at Lord Melburne.
“Come and have it in the library,” he suggested. “I will not keep her long, Grandmama, I promise you.”
“The sooner the child gets to bed the better,” the Dowager replied.
She continued to move up the stairway and Clarinda walked with Lord Melburne to the library.
The big book-lined room seemed cold after all the excessive heat of Carlton House and Lord Melburne told one of the footmen to light the fire. He then went to the grog tray to pour Clarinda out a glass of lemonade.
She took it from him and set it down on a small table by the sofa. The footman left the room and she said in a hesitating voice,
“I have done – something very wrong – you will be very angry with me – and so will your grandmother,”
“Will you not sit down?” Lord Melburne asked.
Clarinda ignored the sofa that he indicated and sank down on the hearthrug. He settled himself in a winged armchair, looking exceedingly elegant as he sat watching her.
The flickering flames of the newly lit fire glinted on her hair, making it seem as if there were little tongues of fire flickering over her bent head. Her shimmering green dress billowed out around her and her bare shoulders were very white in the light of the candles.
“What have you done?” Lord Melburne wanted to know and his voice was kind.
“I have – insulted the – Duke of Kingston,” Clarinda replied. “It was – wrong of me and I should not have behaved in such a – reprehensible way – but I warned you that you would – never make a – fashionable lady out of me.”
“How did you insult him?” Lord Melburne asked.
“I hardly like to – tell you,” Clarinda said, “for your grandmother only today told me how important he is. She is very impressed by – His Grace and she was so delighted that last night he asked me to dance. Now I have – offended him and he may tell the Prince how – badly I have behaved. I am sure I shall never be – asked to – Carlton House again.”
“Would that worry you very much?” Lord Melburne enquired.
“I suppose not,” Clarinda answered. “But it would upset your grandmother ‒ who has been so – kind to me and it might be – uncomfortable for you.”
“What have you done?” Lord Melburne asked her again.
Then, before Clarinda could reply, he said,
“Start at the beginning. Did the Duke ask you to dance?”
Clarinda nodded.
“Yes,” she replied. “I danced with several other gentlemen and I saw that His Grace was standing at the side of the ballroom watching me. Then he came up to me and insisted that it was his dance, although I had promised it to someone else.”
“I am sure that His Grace was very persuasive,” Lord Melburne remarked in a sarcastic voice.
“He was not persuasive, just overbearing,” Clarinda then corrected him. “He seemed to assume it was his right to dance with me.”
“So you danced with him,” Lord Melburne prompted.
“I did not have very much choice in the matter,” Clarinda replied. “He took me almost forcibly onto the floor. It was very hot and overcrowded and, when he stopped dancing, I was glad.”
“So you walked in the garden,” Lord Melburne said as if he knew the inevitable end of the story.
Clarinda nodded again as she was gazing into the flames with her head bowed.
There was a silence and after a moment Lord Melburne said,
“What happened?”
Because she was embarrassed, Clarinda stammered as she answered,
“He tried to k-kiss me – and when I protested he did not seem to h-hear me, so I ran – away.”
She paused for a moment before she went on,
“He ran after me – I don’t know why – it was s-stupid of me, but I was f-frightened. He was so big, I thought he was going to catch me – and then I ran into one of the buffets. You know how they stretched out into the garden. There did not seem to be many people there – and I thought he might s-seize hold of me and drag me – away, so I – ”
Her voice died away.
“What did you do?” Lord Melburne asked.
“I picked up a – bowl of fruit salad,” Clarinda admitted miserably, “and threw it – over him.”
There was a moment’s silence before Lord Melburne put back his head and laughed aloud.
“Always the unexpected where you are concerned, Clarinda!” he exclaimed. “If only I could have seen His Grace’s face!”
Clarinda looked at him for the first time.
“You are not – angry?” she asked.
“Not in the slightest,” Lord Melburne replied. “He deserved it.”
“But your – grandmother?”
“I very much doubt whether Grandmama or anyone else will know what happened unless you tell them. No man likes to look a fool and His Grace is very conscious of his dignity.”
“Supposing he – tells the Prince?” Clarinda asked.
“He will not. I am absolutely convinced, Clarinda, that he will say nothing about this to anyone. He would look too foolish. No man is at his best covered in fruit salad!”
Clarinda gave a deep sigh.
“I hope you are – right. I have been feeling so – ashamed of myself. It is my terrible temper. You know how I say and do anything – when I am angry.”
“I do indeed,” Lord Melburne remarked meaningfully and she blushed.
For a few moments he sat watching her before he asked,
“Did you have any more adventures tonight?”
“Lord Carloss offered for me,” she replied in a low voice. “I told him to come and see you tomorrow.”
“Johnny Carloss!” Lord Melburne exclaimed. “He is a very decent chap, a sportsman and exceeding warm in the pocket. He is most certainly not concerned with your money. Are you interested in him?”
“No,” Clarinda replied.
“Why not?” Lord Melburne enquired.
“He is too immature,” she answered.
“I beg your pardon!” Lord Melburne exclaimed in surprise.
“I said,” Clarinda repeated, “he is too immature.”
“Do you know the meaning of the word?” Lord Melburne then asked. “John Carloss is twenty-seven if he is a day. You are – I think – just nineteen!”
“I am sorry if it seems to you that I am being presumptuous, but his Grace admitted to me that he never reads a book from one year’s end to another. You might well think of him as a sportsman, but, although I am sure that he tools his horses well, he would have no idea of what to do if on
e strained a fetlock. He has never studied the breeding of his racehorses, he only knows if they win or lose. And, although he goes frequently to Newmarket, he had no idea until I told him that the Racecourse was started in the reign of King Charles II.”
“Do you think a knowledge of those things is important in a husband?” Lord Melburne asked, his eyes twinkling.
“Surely if one is married one sometimes has intelligent conversations?” Clarinda replied.
“Grandmama was afraid that you were a female with a brainbox,” Lord Melburne said. “I am beginning to think she was right.”
“I cannot help the way I was brought up,” Clarinda parried hotly.
“Would it be impertinent to ask how you were educated?” Lord Melburne enquired.
“My father or rather Lawrence Vernon, whose name I bear, was a scholar.”
“I had no idea,” Lord Melburne remarked.
“He thought only of his books, which was why we were so poor,” Clarinda explained. “He was determined that I should be well read. I had studied most of the Classics by the time I was twelve, I could repeat all the great speeches in Shakespeare’s plays by heart and by the time I was fifteen, when Papa was killed, I was quite proficient in Latin and Greek.”
“A boy’s education in fact.”
“Exactly,” Clarinda agreed. “And as he had no son, Papa taught me to ride and shoot,”
“To shoot!” Lord Melburne exclaimed.
She glanced up at him with laughter in her eyes.
“I have often thought that I would like to challenge your Lordship in the snipe bog at The Priory,” she said.
“I accept your challenge,” he replied promptly, “and we will have a return match where the wild ducks fly in the North-West corner of Melburne.”
“I often went partridge shooting with Sir Roderick and last time we were out I got fifteen brace to his – ”
She stopped.
“I have no wish to boast, my Lord, it might shorten the odds against me.”
Lord Melburne laughed.
Then he said,
“In shooting at least you would find a companionship with quite a number of the men who have offered for you. But you were telling me about your education and what happened after you were fifteen?”