As soon as she had turned a few moments later into Berkeley Street, she started to run. Picking up the front of her gown, regardless of curious looks from the passers-by, she sped as quickly as she could down the long Street into Berkeley Square.
It only took her five minutes to reach Melburne House and the door was opened by a footman even as she put her hand up towards the knocker.
She swept past him, saw the Major Domo, who was standing in the hall looking at her in surprise, and asked with difficulty,
“His – Lordship – is he – here?”
“I believe his Lordship is in the library, miss,” the Major Domo replied and Clarinda, without waiting for a footman to precede her, ran down the hall and flung open the library door.
She slammed it to behind her and stood leaning against the polished mahogany, panting from the speed that she had been running at.
Her bonnet had fallen back and was caught only by the ribbons round her throat. Her hair had become dishevelled in the wind and rioted in soft curls around her forehead. Her cheeks were flushed. The laces at her breast rose and fell tumultuously.
Lord Melburne had been sitting at his desk writing a letter. He stared at Clarinda with raised eyebrows and then rose slowly to his feet.
But before he could speak, Clarinda cried, her breath coming in broken gasps,
“You – lied to me! You have – broken your promise. I did not – believe – you could be so despicable – so two-faced – after what you said last night. But you – lied to me and now he is coming here – he is on his way – I swear to you I will – not do it whatever you may – say to me – I will not, I will not marry him!”
She paused for lack of breath and Lord Melburne, staring at her in amazement, then said slowly in his most uncompromising voice,
“May I enquire the reason for this incomprehensible flapdoodle?”
“He is – coming to – you now,” Clarinda reiterated. “He has it – all arranged – for the second of July – but I will not marry – him! Do you hear me? I will not – marry him! If you – dragged me up – the aisle I swear – I will still say ‘no’ when I reach – the Altar steps.”
“Would you kindly enlighten me as to who is on his way here?” Lord Melburne asked.
“As if – you did not know – the answer!” Clarinda said scornfully. “It is the – Duke of Kingston and. His Grace should be – here at any second!”
Lord Melburne crossed the room with unhurried dignity to pull the bell. Almost at once the door was opened behind Clarinda and the Major Domo stood there.
“If anyone should call,” Lord Melburne ordered, “I am not at home and you are not expecting me to return until after six of the clock.”
“Very good, my Lord.”
The door was closed again.
“You look extremely dishevelled, Clarinda,” Lord Melburne said coldly. “Perhaps you would wish to tidy yourself before we continue our conversation.”
Clarinda reached up her hands, tugged at the ribbons of her bonnet and then flung the expensive headgear onto the floor.
“No!” she answered angrily. “My appearance is – not of the least – consequence. I wish to know – why should you should break – your promise to me within only a few hours of – making it. Why you should try to – marry me to a man whom I do not even – like and who – frightens me.”
She was now not quite so breathless, but her words still came jerkily from between her lips and Lord Melburne, going to the grog tray, poured out a glass of lemonade.
“Suppose you sit down,” he said quietly, “and let us discuss this in a civilised manner.”
“I will not – marry him – I will – not,” Clarinda asserted strongly through gritted teeth.
She took the glass of lemonade from Lord Melburne’s hands and sipped it thirstily.
“Would it be indiscreet,” he asked with a slight twinkle in his eye, “to ask why you are so out of breath? Can it be that you have run all the way here from Devonshire House?”
“I had – to arrive – before His – Grace,” Clarinda explained.
“I always thought that the Duke overestimated the performance of his horseflesh,” Lord Melburne remarked drily and he was smiling.
“Don’t laugh at me!” Clarinda cried furiously. “You deceived me by – promising that you would never – force any – man on me – and now you have given your permission for my – marriage with the Duke.”
“I have done nothing of the sort,” Lord Melburne replied.
Clarinda looked up at him, her eyes suspicious.
“But His Grace – told me that you – had. He has just – said so!”
“I only gave His Grace permission to ask for your hand in marriage,” Lord Melburne corrected her. “That I could not refuse, Clarinda. He is, as you know, completely eligible and it is not in my power to forbid anyone without any reason to approach you as a prospective bridegroom. But you have complete freedom to accept or refuse any offer you receive.”
“But he – told me – ”
The Duke is, not surprisingly, a very conceited man,” Lord Melburne said quietly. “It would never enter his head that any woman, especially one as comparatively unimportant as yourself, Clarinda, would refuse him.”
“Then I don’t – have to marry – him?” Clarinda asked in a very small voice.
“Not as far as I am concerned,” Lord Melburne replied.
“Then will – you tell him – so?” Clarinda asked, “for I know His Grace will not – listen to me.”
“If you empower me to refuse the Duke’s suit, then I shall do so,” Lord Melburne said, “although I feel sure that, even from my lips, he will find it very hard to credit.”
Clarinda put down the glass of lemonade she held on a table beside her and put her hands up to her hair.
“I know I should not have – run away from – Devonshire House,” she said humbly. “Your grandmother will be – incensed with me, but I was so – afraid.”
“ – and so angry with me,” Lord Melburne added.
“I thought you had – betrayed me.”
“Did you really think I would make you marry that blustering windbag!” Lord Melburne exclaimed.
She stared at him wide-eyed.
“I had thought that – just like your grandmother you – wanted me to make an – important marriage.”
“I want you to be happy,” Lord Melburne replied, “but I should not be doing my duty as your Guardian, Clarinda, if I did not point out to you the advantages of such a union.”
It seemed to Clarinda that he already regretted the belittling way he had spontaneously spoken about the Duke.
Now he walked across the room and back again before he said,
“Do you really understand what you are refusing besides the man himself? You would have a unique position in Society, Clarinda. You would have the nearest place to Royalty that a commoner can hold. You would be immensely rich, envied, fêted, admired wherever you might go. There is not, I believe, any girl in the whole length and breadth of this country who would not jump at the chance to marry His Grace of Kingston.”
“But I don’t – love him,” Clarinda said in a low voice.
“And you think that matters more than anything else?” Lord Melburne asked.
She saw he was looking at her searchingly with those penetrating grey eyes, which made her feel always that he looked deep into the heart of a person, seeking for something that was not apparent on the surface and looking, as it were, into their very heart and soul.
“I could not – let him – touch me,” she whispered and shivered.
“Then on your behalf I will refuse His Grace’s kind offer,” Lord Melburne said firmly. “Don’t perturb yourself, Clarinda. I promise you he will not worry you again.”
“But your – grandmother,” Clarinda faltered.
“I will deal with Grandmama as well,” Lord Melburne said. “She also wants you to be happy, Clarinda. Unfortunately, like most of
her generation, she is much more concerned that a marriage should be advantageous from a worldly point of view than that one should know the joys of loving and being loved.”
Clarinda drew a deep breath as if her relief at what Lord Melburne was now saying was inexpressible.
Then she looked up at him with a little smile and murmured,
“I am – sorry.”
“For what?” he enquired.
“For being rude,” she answered. “It seems I must always be apologising to you, my Lord, whenever we are alone together.”
“You perhaps had some provocation today.”
“That is generous of you,” she answered.
There was a silence and, because she knew he was gazing at her, she felt shy.
Nervously she put up her hands to smooth her curls and to tidy the laces at her breast.
She was suddenly conscious of the silence that lay between them, a silence which was somehow pregnant with a meaning which she could not understand and because she was so embarrassed she rushed hastily into speech without looking at him.
“I was thinking of you last night, my Lord.”
“Of me?” Lord Melburne enquired.
“I was thinking of the things ‒ we talked about. Most of all of your – boredom.”
“You are making it quite a personal problem,”
“I was thinking,” Clarinda went on, “that, while I have to hide away the fact that I have a brain of some sort, you have no reason to be ashamed of yours and so there are many things you could do which would keep you both occupied and interested.”
“At the moment I am finding you almost a full-time occupation,” he grinned.
Clarinda frowned.
“I am speaking seriously, my Lord.”
“I beg your pardon if I sound frivolous,” he replied, “but it happens to be a fact.”
“I am thinking of your life in general,” Clarinda said. “You know as well as I do that, if I engage some of your time now, it is only for a short period. Soon I shall have left London and returned to the country. Then what will you do?”
“What I have done before, I imagine,” he answered. “Amuse myself.”
“And yet you are not really amused,” she said. “That is what causes me concern.”
“I am deeply grateful for this most flattering attention on your part,” Lord Melburne said with mock humility.
“Oh, don’t be so irritating!” she flashed at him. “Can you not see I am just trying to help you? I have considered your problem and found, if you would like to hear them, at least one or two solutions.”
Lord Melburne sat down in the chair opposite her with a twinkle at the back of his eyes. His voice was, however, quite serious as he said,
“I apologise again if I sounded frivolous. I am extremely curious as to what remedy you would prescribe for an occasional outburst of irrepressible boredom.”
“Well, I was thinking firstly of all the things that you could do at Melburne.”
“At Melburne?” his Lordship enquired with raised eyebrows. “Surely you are not saying that I should rebuild the house after my father has already done it so extravagantly? Or do you consider that Foster is not carrying out his duties satisfactorily?”
“I am sure that Major Foster is a very good Agent,” Clarinda replied, “but he is merely carrying on the estate in the same well-conducted way that it was run in your father’s time. So he would never attempt anything revolutionary without your permission or indeed, I am convinced, without your inspiration.”
“And what innovations would you suggest I propose?” Lord Melburne asked.
It seemed to Clarinda that there was something almost hostile in his tone as if he resented her finding fault with his estate.
“These, of course, are only my own ideas,” she said tremulously. “I am quite sure that your Lordship will have better ones.”
“And what suggestions would you make?” Lord Melburne asked in the tone of voice of a man who thinks that the subject of discussion was not open to improvement.
“Well, first of all,” Clarinda said, looking away from him, “the High Wood in the North-West corner has passed its prime – it needs replanting. It covers over two hundred acres, but it would be quite easy for you to build a timber yard on the spot and make a short road down to the highway. The granite pits are not far away and that part of your estate is badly in need of new cottages.”
There was a moment’s silence before Lord Melburne asked,
“And what else?”
“Everyone of import I have spoken to since I came to London,” Clarinda went on, “like General Sir David Dundas, seems convinced that the Armistice is but an excuse for Napoleon to rearm. If the War is renewed, this country will once again be badly in need of food. If you cleared away the scrub from the land to the East of Coombes Bottom and drained the Marsh, you could put nearly two thousand more acres into cultivation.”
“How the devil do you know all this?” he asked. “I apologise for my language, Clarinda, but you surprise me.”
“I have always been interested in the Melburne Estate,” Clarinda answered, “and I could not help comparing the improvements that we were making every year with the unchanging conditions at Melburne. Uncle Roderick and I often thought that your management was just a trifle old-fashioned.”
“Well, you have most certainly given me something to think about,” he replied sharply. “Anything else?”
“You may not – like this – idea,” Clarinda faltered, “but I heard last year and the year before that all the races you won were either at Epsom or at Ascot. Have you ever thought that instead of keeping your horses at Newmarket, which is far further from London than Melburne, it would be more convenient and far cheaper for you to train at home? Besides, now you have Dingle’s Ride you have a perfect gallop ready-made.
She looked directly at Lord Melburne for the first time since she had been speaking and saw by the expression on his face that her last suggestion interested him.
“You have given me much to consider, Clarinda,” he remarked after a moment.
“I have not quite – finished.”
“More for me to do?” he enquired.
“A great deal more if you wish it,” she answered. “You are a Member of the House of Lords. Have you never thought of how a Bill is urgently needed to prevent girls of thirteen and fourteen becoming prostitutes?”
Lord Melburne sat bolt upright.
“Who has been talking to you about such things?” he enquired.
“No one,” Clarinda answered. “But I have the use of my eyes. I can see them standing in Piccadilly – miserable little creatures with painted faces, quite obviously attempting to attract the gentlemen who pass them.”
“A lady of sensibility would not notice such things,” Lord Melburne asserted positively.
“No, but a gentleman of sensibility should,” she retorted. “Something should be done about them, just as I am convinced that a Law should be passed to prevent small climbing boys being forced to clean chimneys when they are often but five years old. I saw one the other day and he had large burns on his feet and legs and his face was streaked with tears. I was ashamed that such cruelty should be permitted in any civilised country.”
Lord Melburne rose and walked across the room to the window.
“You are right, Clarinda,” he said after a moment. “Of course you are right. But we have grown callous or else most of us are just thoughtless. Would it please you if I talked to their Lordships on such matters,”
“Perhaps nothing can be done,” Clarinda answered, “but I cannot help feeling that men with brains like yourself, my Lord, should try to influence public opinion against some of the misery that one sees on every side in London. There is so much wealth, so much luxury and in contrast a poverty and a cruelty that has horrified me ever since I have been here.”
“I thought you were enjoying yourself, Clarinda.”
“I am, but although your grandmother
would find it regrettable, I cannot help thinking at the same time.”
“The brainbox in fact,” Lord Melburne remarked.
“Exactly.”
She glanced at the clock and Betty to her feet.
“Her Ladyship will be returning at any minute, my Lord, and I know that the Duke will have told her I ran away because he wished us to dine with him tonight. When she hears what you have to tell her, she may be angry with me and will most certainly be disappointed. Will you try to make her understand?”
“I promise you that I will do my best,” Lord Melburne said. “Don’t worry, Clarinda. I am certain that Grandmama, like myself, wants only one thing and that is your happiness.”
There was a warmth in his voice that made Clarinda feel shy.
“Thank you, my Lord,” she said softly, “and once again – please forgive me for being – rude.”
She went from the room without waiting for his answers and, when she was upstairs, stayed for a moment with her hands to her face, feeling a relief like the warmth of sunshine steal over her. She knew now how afraid she had been of being forced to marry the Duke.
Then she rang the bell for Betty. She had already learnt from the Duchess that tonight would be the last of the great balls of the season. There would be a number of others, but the one given by the Earl and Countess of Hetherington at their mansion in Park Lane, would be, with the exception of Carlton House, the most glittering and the most important entertainment that Society could be invited to in London.
The Dowager had chosen a very special dress for Clarinda of white gauze. The frills that ornamented the hem were embroidered with turquoise beads. Turquoises also nestled in the lace that framed her shoulders and were even embroidered on her tiny white slippers.
“I have a present for you,” the Dowager said when Clarinda went to her room rather apprehensively before going downstairs to dinner.
“A present for me, ma’am,” Clarinda exclaimed.
She had expected to be greeted with reproaches. But at the Dowager’s words she knew that Lord Melburne had smoothed her path and so she was not going to be taken to task for having refused the Duke.
The Irresistible Buck Page 16