“A present I hope you will like,” the Dowager said and, opening a case on her dressing table, she held it out to Clarinda.
Against a black velvet background, Clarinda saw a necklace of turquoise and diamonds, a bracelet to match and small earrings fashioned in the shape of flowers.
“Oh, ma’am, is this really for me?” Clarinda cried.
“I intended to give it to you the night of your own ball,” the Dowager said, “but then I thought it was far more suitable for the gown you are to wear tonight and so I kept it until now.”
“Oh, thank you! Thank you! It is the loveliest thing I have ever seen and it is the first jewellery I have ever owned.”
“I am glad you are pleased, child,” the Dowager smiled.
“How can I ever thank you for all you have done for me?” Clarinda asked. “You have been so kind and I cannot tell you how happy it has made me to be with you. Sometimes it is almost like having Mama with me again.”
“You could not say anything nicer. Thank you, child. Now put on your jewellery and so make yourself look even lovelier than you do already.”
Clarinda certainly looked gay and happy as she went downstairs to greet the guests the Dowager had invited to dine with them. She knew most of them already and because she was in high spirits it seemed to her that there had never been a more amusing party since she first came to London.
When dinner was over, they all piled into the carriages waiting outside. Clarinda found herself travelling with the Dowager and noticed that she gave a little exclamation of pain as she sat down in the soft seat.
“Is your leg hurting you again, ma’am?” she enquired.
The Dowager nodded.
“I have been standing too much this past week. Don’t worry about me, Clarinda, but if the pain gets worse I may slip away early. My grandson will bring you home.”
“I will find you a chair for you as soon as we reach the ballroom,” Clarinda murmured.
*
Hetherington House in Park Lane was an old and rambling building that had a charm of its own.
Unlike the other balls which Clarinda had attended there was not one ballroom but four. Two opened out of each other, the others each had their own band.
It was entertaining to roam from one to the other finding a different sort of dance to a different sort of music. It was a novelty that intrigued even the most spoilt and blasé.
The real difficulty at Hetherington House, Clarinda discovered, was to find one’s partner. The numerous rooms and winding corridors were so crowded that it was hard to move about.
At the same time Clarinda realised that the floral decorations were unexpectedly lovely and the supper room, decorated like a Moorish tent, was something that she had never seen before.
Her partner after supper had not yet found her and now she was moving along a corridor alone, when she met Lady Romayne Ramsey who was looking, Clarinda thought, even more beautiful than usual. Her dress of ruby-red gauze did little to conceal her sinuous figure and her raven-black hair was a perfect background for an enormous tiara of rubies and diamonds. A ruby necklace glowed against her white neck, the fire of the gems seeming to accentuate the seduction of her eyes.
“Why, Miss Vernon, I was looking for you,” she exclaimed on seeing Clarinda.
“Your Ladyship was looking for me,” Clarinda asked in surprise.
She was sure that Lady Romayne had a dislike of her because the acknowledged beauty had pointedly ignored her ever since she had arrived at Melburne House.
“Yes, indeed,” Lady Romayne replied. “There is an old friend of yours, Miss Vernon, who is anxious to renew your acquaintance. He knew that you were in the supper room and he asked me if I would be obliging enough to bring you to him. I was just on my way to find you.”
“I don’t think I would have any old friends here,” Clarinda said hesitatingly, wondering why Lady Romayne should appear so gushing and so feeling vaguely uncomfortable because she could not understand this sudden change of attitude.
“Now you have become a success you must not forget or ignore those you knew before you came to London,” Lady Romayne said admonishingly, “for this friend of yours tells me that he met you in the country.”
Clarinda’s puzzled expression cleared. Of course she knew who it was. It must be Julien! Julien Wilsdon come to London perhaps on leave from the Army.
She was surprised for a while that he had asked Lady Romayne to find her, then thought that perhaps he was feeling shy in such grand company. She remembered that he had met Lady Romayne and they had talked at The Priory when she had so very foolishly run away.
“I think I know of whom you are speaking,” Clarinda said with a smile.
“I thought you might guess,” Lady Romayne replied, “but it is supposed to be a surprise, so you must not ask me if your supposition is right or wrong. Come with me, I will take you to him.”
She took Clarinda by the hand as she spoke and drew her out of the corridor and down a narrow passage that was marked ‘Private’. Clarinda thought that Lady Romayne must know the Earl and Countess of Hetherington well and therefore had permission, even at such a large party as this, to wander into their private apartments.
The passage, obviously not supposed to be used, was unlit, but Lady Romayne seemed to know the way. At the end of it she opened a door and Clarinda had a quick glance at a small, cosy sitting room such as might be used by a housekeeper or a Governess.
“Thank you, it was kind of you to bring me here,” she said to Lady Romayne and entered the room.
For a moment she thought it was empty. Then someone closed the door behind her and she heard the key turn in the lock.
She swung round to become speechless with horror when she saw that it was not Julien who stood smiling at her but Sir Gerald Kean.
CHAPTER TEN
Lady Romayne was not a particularly stupid woman, but she was extremely conceited.
This was not surprising because, having been fêted and acclaimed ever since she left the schoolroom, she had begun to believe that her beauty was a talisman which would procure her anything she wished for anywhere in the world.
Having made up her mind to marry Lord Melburne, she did not credit that his obvious reluctance to ask her to marry him was anything but a childish obstinacy that made him very determined not to surrender his bachelor freedom until he was forced to do so.
She recognised that she attracted him physically and she was convinced that eventually he would come to love her as whole-heartedly and adoringly as all the other men who cast themselves at her feet beseeching her favours.
Because Lord Melburne was so elusive, he attracted her all the more and she made up her mind that sooner or later he must succumb to the prompting of his heart and ask her to be his wife.
She could in a way understand his reluctance to be tied to one woman. His philandering and his many love affairs were public knowledge and Lady Romayne had no illusions about the difficulties she might have in keeping him faithful to her.
At the same time she told herself, with a little shrug of her white shoulders, all that was of little consequence. Once they had been married, he would be fully occupied in keeping importunate suitors away from her and, if very occasionally he glanced at another woman, she would still be the chatelaine of Melburne and the wife who bore his name.
Lady Romayne had lived for too long in the fashionable world to believe that love was anything more than an infatuation of the senses, she knew that the most important factor in marriage was to obtain the right sort of stability in terms of social position and wealth.
Buck Melburne could give her all the things she still craved for in life. She had money of her own, but, although she was at the moment the rage of the young Bucks of St. James’s, she was well aware that their acclaim would fade just as quickly as her looks. She wanted to be sure that her husband had both dignity and an unassailable standing in the Social world.
She had, it was true, been pertur
bed at the news that Nicholas Vernon had brought her of Lord Melburne’s betrothal to an unknown girl. But when she saw Clarinda she was at once convinced that there must be a secret reason for this mystifying and unexplained situation.
When nothing more was heard of marriage and Lord Melburne had become Clarinda’s Guardian, Lady Romayne told herself that the whole arrangement had something to do with the Priory Estate being adjacent to Melburne and Buck’s interest in this country wench could be simply accounted for by the word ‘duty’.
Lady Romayne, it was very true, was extremely piqued when Clarinda became a success overnight and was talked of as ‘the most beautiful debutante of the Season’. But her many informants, and Lady Romayne had many, told her how little interest Lord Melburne showed in his Ward, never dancing with her at the balls, never driving her in his high perch phaeton and never being seen having an intimate conversation with her.
There was also talk of his being interested in a new ‘bit of muslin’ in the Corps de Ballet and of dining twice in one week at the house of one of his old flirts. They were then reported immediately to have resuscitated an affection that everyone thought had ceased to exist.
‘No,’ Lady Romayne told herself, ‘Buck is not interested in that tiresome girl.’
But she did think that the fact that Clarinda was staying in his house, which necessitated his grandmother being his guest, meant that he had less time to spend in her own company than he had done hitherto.
What was obviously important was that Clarinda should get married and so be out of the way. Then, Lady Romayne thought, she would return to her onslaught on Buck’s sensibilities in which she was quite convinced that she would be the victor.
As she left Clarinda in the Governess’s sitting room at the end of the private passage at Hetherington House, she told herself that she was doing the girl a good turn.
Sir Gerald Kegan might seem sinister to some women as he was undoubtedly extremely wealthy and, if he proposed marriage, which seemed likely, Clarinda might be well advised to accept him.
Anyway it was all up to Sir Gerald to persuade the young chit that he was a desirable husband and, most debutantes of Clarinda’s age had a partiality for older men.
Lady Romayne was smiling as she left the unlit passage and glanced at the notice reading ‘Private’ that was affixed to the wall. It was most unlikely that anyone would disturb them, she thought, and Sir Gerald would doubtless be grateful to her for arranging the tête-à-tête for which apparently he had a most ardent desire.
She had always heard that he was extremely generous when it came to gifts for services rendered and wondered whether she might ask him for a large diamond brooch shaped like a butterfly that she had seen in a jeweller’s window in Bond Street.
Lady Romayne was greedy for jewels and her lovers, although she was discreet about them, found her insatiably grasping for a tangible expression of their affection.
‘Yes,’ she decided, ‘I shall certainly ask Sir Gerald for the butterfly.’
Then, through the crowd milling backwards and forwards along the corridor, she saw a figure approaching who made her heart leap at once. There was no reason to question why Lord Melburne was called irresistible. He had qualities that made him stand out in an almost startling manner wherever he might appear.
Tonight it was not only the elegance of his evening coat nor the many intricate folds of his snowy-white cravat, it was rather something in the carriage of his head, the breadth of his shoulders and, most of all, the expression on his face.
‘Could any man be more handsome and more physically beguiling?’ she asked herself.
Almost pushing several people aside she stood in front of Lord Melburne and looked up at him, her eyes very soft and her red lips smiling provocatively.
“Where have you been all evening, Buck?” she asked in the voice that she could make so seductive that every word seemed to have a hidden meaning. “I have been looking for you and longing to see you.”
“I have been playing cards, Romayne,” Lord Melburne answered. “Let me compliment you. You are in great good looks.”
“Come and dance with me,” Lady Romayne pleaded.
“I regret I cannot oblige you,” he replied, “although I am convinced you have no lack of partners. I am searching for Clarinda.”
“I want to dance with you,” Lady Romayne protested. “We so seldom see each other these days or if you prefer we could talk together in the garden. There is much I wish to say to you.”
“Another time, Romayne,” he replied firmly. “At the moment I have a message from my grandmother that I must convey to my Ward.”
“You are far too busy playing the anxious nursemaid. It does not become you,” Lady Romayne declared. “Come and dance and afterwards I will tell you where she is.”
“Tell me first,” Lord Melburne replied, “and then I might consider your offer.”
There was a touch of sarcasm in his voice.
“Now you are being unkind,” Lady Romayne said pouting at him, “so as a punishment I shall not tell you where your Ward is hidden. Besides you have no need to trouble yourself about her, she is being very well amused, I can assure you.”
“Who is she with?” Lord Melburne’s voice was sharp.
“Someone who I am convinced is making her an offer of marriage. If she accepts, you will be free, Buck, free to give me a little more of your attention than you have done this past month. I know it must have been irksome for you having the responsibility of a girl hardly out of the schoolroom. Soon, I am convinced, your difficulties will be over.”
“Who is with Clarinda and where is she?” Lord Melburne demanded impatiently.
“I have told you that she is very pleasantly engaged,” Lady Romayne answered. “What woman does not enjoy herself when a man lays his heart at her feet? And you will not be able to find her, Buck, however hard you try, so don’t be tiresome. Come and dance with me.”
“Who is with her?” Lord Melburne demanded and now he spoke fiercely.
The hard and determined tone in his voice made Lady Romayne cry angrily,
“You are being nonsensical about the wench! Leave her alone, I am sure she is enjoying herself far more than we are.”
Lady Romayne put out her hand as she spoke and laid it on Lord Melburne’s arm.
“Let’s talk as we used to do!” she suggested softly and her voice had an almost siren-like seductiveness.
Lord Melburne unexpectedly put out his hand and took Lady Romayne’s in his. It was a small well-shaped hand with long tapering fingers.
Lady Romayne had undone part of her white-kid glove and slipped her hand through it. The candlelight shone on the diamonds that encircled her Wedding finger.
“Where is Clarinda?” Lord Melburne repeated.
As they had been talking, they had edged a little out of the crowd and were now standing in the doorway of an anteroom that was empty save for two couples at the far end.
“I am not going to tell you,” she replied petulantly. “You are becoming a bore.”
She stopped suddenly and gave a cry,
“You are hurting me!”
Lord Melburne was holding her hand in his and now he bent back the first finger slowly but relentlessly.
“Buck, what are you doing? That is painful!”
“I mean it to be,” he answered. “Either you tell me where Clarinda is this very moment or I swear to you, Romayne, I will break your finger. It will be extremely uncomfortable for the next few weeks and, swathed in bandages, very unbecoming.”
“You are mad!” she spat at him, “quite mad!”
“Merely determined,” he answered. “Where is Clarinda?”
For one moment it appeared as if Lady Romayne would defy him, but, as he bent her finger a little further, she gave another cry,
“She is down – the corridor – towards the supper room,” she now panted. “It is the first passage – on the right – marked ‘Private’ – the room at the end.�
�
“Thank you,” Lord Melburne said mockingly.
He turned as he spoke and strode away from her.
She stood looking after him, her face puckered with anger as she rubbed the finger of her left hand, which she fancied was already swollen.
*
Clarinda’s astonishment at finding Sir Gerald Kegan in the room that Lady Romayne had taken her to, was only equalled by her feeling of terror as she realised that he had locked the door.
“I t-think – there is some – mistake,” she stammered. “I was – e-expecting to find – Mr. Julien Wilsdon here.”
“There is no mistake,” Sir Gerald answered and she thought that he seemed even more debauched and evil than he had looked that night when he and Nicholas had taken her from The Priory to the caves.
“I have no – wish to talk with – you, sir,” Clarinda said, “if that is your – intention.”
“I want a great deal more than talk,” Sir Gerald replied.
Seeing the expression in his eyes and the sudden smile on his thick lips, Clarinda almost instinctively took a pace back. She was beginning to tremble, but she felt that she must not let him see her fear.
“We have – n-nothing to say to each – other,” she said. “I – wish to – forget our last – meeting. Kindly open – the door.”
“I have no intention of opening the door until I have been repaid for what you cheated me from attaining that night at the caves.”
“I don’t – understand,” Clarinda stuttered.
“I think you do,” he answered. “I am sure you were well aware that I was not going to allow Nicholas Vernon to ravish you after the Mass had been said. I had arranged with Moll that just before the Service had started she would pour into his wine the drug that had been intended for you. I would have taken his place in the Service and when it ended you would have been mine, Clarinda.”
“But I – was – rescued,” Clarinda faltered.
“Yes, you were rescued,” Sir Gerald agreed, “and so you defrauded me of my rights. That is what I am claiming now.”
He moved a step towards her as he spoke and again Clarinda retreated.
The Irresistible Buck Page 17