by Sheila Walsh
The younger was a fashionable sprig in yellow pantaloons, a yellow spotted handkerchief tied in an elaborate bow over high shirt points, his companion, a tall lanky young man, wore the blue braided dolman of a hussar, but with the red facings and sash and the elegant helmet of the Royal Horse Artillery.
‘Courtney!’ Pandora cried. ‘Oh, I don’t believe it ‒ and Captain Greville!’
They looked up at the sound of her voice and the younger of the two came bounding down the steps, his handsome face lighting up. He swung her from the curricle almost before it had stopped moving, whirling her off her feet in a laughing embrace, talking all the while, parrying her questions with questions of his own …
‘But why are you here? You haven’t been rusticated?’
‘Devil a bit! You’re looking a bit hag-ridden, ’dora? Not feeling quite the thing?’
‘Oh, never mind me! Why aren’t you at your studies?’
‘Don’t nag, little sister! You shall know all presently. Meanwhile, you are being deuced impolite to Hugo!’
‘Oh, Gemini!’ Pandora extricated herself from her brother’s arms and turned to the fair handsome Artillery man with the twinkling eyes who took both her hands in his and held her away from him, declaring that she was grown into quite the young lady, which caused her to blush rosily.
The Duke, forgotten in all the excitement, watched their meeting and found it curiously enlightening. On the Captain’s side there was the teasing affectionate familiarity born of a long acquaintance, and nothing more. But on hers? He had seen that look in a young woman’s eyes too often to mistake it now. Whether she was aware of it herself, he knew not, but there was no mistaking that Miss Pandora Carlyon was head over heels in love with the gallant captain.
As if he had declared his conclusion aloud, she looked up at that moment, guilt written large submerging the joy as she belatedly remembered his existence.
‘My lord Duke,’ she began, stepping forward.
But he was in no mood for introductions and polite conversation.
‘You are clearly much in demand, ma’am.’ He nodded curtly and picked up the reins. ‘I will bid you good day.’
Chapter Seven
Pandora led the way to the breakfast room where she could be reasonably certain of their being able to talk undisturbed. She was conscious of questions burning to be asked and painfully aware that her eyes must be blotched from crying. She was quite irrationally furious with Courtney for arriving unannounced and for bringing Hugo Greville just when she must be looking her worst. Not, she reflected in a brave attempt at philosophy, that Hugo could ever be brought to consider her in a romantical way.
Hugo had always been there ‒ or so it seemed; always special, not quite a brother but more than just a friend. His princess, he had called her from the day seven years ago when he had arrived in Lisbon straight from the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, a very young, very dashing officer with laughing blue eyes. He had stolen her twelve-year-old heart clean away.
‘Well, Princess,’ he said now as he closed the door, and no amount of cold common sense could entirely disperse the little ripples of happiness that radiated through her to hear herself so called once more. ‘You keep exalted company these days, it seems. A duke, no less!’
‘Oh, but he isn’t ‒’
‘Never mind what he isn’t, my girl!’ put in Courtney with a brotherly lack of tact. ‘It don’t take much wit to see what he is! Which means that you’ve got a mite of explaining to do, by George! Lord, that fellow must have been all of five and thirty years ‒ and up to no good either, I shouldn’t wonder …’
Courtney’s notion that his grace might be secretly lusting after her sent Pandora into a paroxysm of mirth. He looked decidedly put out.
‘You may laugh, sister mine, but you’re just a babe in the ways of the world. Wouldn’t know a loose fish if you met one, I daresay!’
‘And you would, I suppose?’ she gasped amid fresh whoops of laughter. ‘Oh, Courtney, how I wish I could see his grace the Duke of Heron’s face an’ he heard himself described as a loose fish! And by a mere stripling!’
‘Heron, did you say?’ The slur on his manhood overlooked, Courtney’s eye brightened, his mouth dropped open. ‘Lord, I wish I’d known! They say he’s complete to a shade, you know ‒ rivals Brummell at his best!’
It was clear that he was much struck by his sister’s acquaintance with such a nonpareil and when she scoffed at the importance attached to these considerations he replied loftily that she could not be expected to understand.
It was left to Captain Greville, his amusement at their good-natured squabbles tempered by concern, to say quietly: ‘Leaving aside the matter of his grace’s sartorial excellence for the moment, could we return to the matter of his reputation? I don’t know how you came to be in his company, Princess, but …’
‘Heavens! What a fuss! Do stop being ridiculous, both of you!’ Pandora spoke lightly, not entirely displeased to find Hugo so concerned. ‘It is all perfectly proper,’ she said with a simple adherence to the truth. ‘The Duke is Lady Margerson’s friend ‒ you know, Courtney, I wrote to you about Lady Margerson, Mama’s godmother? It was entirely at her behest that he was escorting me home.’ Octavia’s words came back to her. She gave a rueful shrug. ‘Well, honestly ‒ look at me ‒ you surely cannot suppose that the Duke would find me to his taste?’
‘That’s true enough,’ said Courtney with a grin, as Hugo made gallant protest. ‘And now I come to think about it, you weren’t exactly looking the picture of a maiden wooed in his company! In fact, I rather think you had been crying.’
‘Oh, that!’ She explained briefly about meeting Josiah and how much it had upset her.
‘Sergeant Blakewell will come about,’ said Hugo bracingly. ‘He’s not the kind to brood for long on his ills.’ He looked keenly at Pandora. ‘Nor is it like you to let such things get you down.’
‘No.’ She wished she could explain her feelings rationally, but feared that she would make as sad a botch of it as she had to the Duke earlier, since she didn’t wholly understand them herself. While she was still debating, Courtney claimed her attention and something in his manner, an air of urgency, of nervous excitement ill-concealed, recalled to her mind the unexpectedness of his arrival
‘My turn to play the inquisitor now, brother dear,’ she said. ‘If you haven’t been rusticated, would you mind telling me why you are here ‒ and looking as guilty as a cat that’s swallowed someone’s pet mouse?’
The two young men exchanged glances.
‘Well, the thing is, ’dora ‒ I’ve quit!’ The words came out in a rush of bravado. ‘I’m going to do what I’ve always wanted to do ‒ join the Regiment.’
Pandora stared, saw the stubborn set of his chin and was bewildered. ‘But why now ‒ when Boney is beat? Oh, Courtney, you promised you would finish your studies!’
‘I know! But something has come up and, well, you see …’
‘I’m afraid the fault is mine, Princess.’ Hugo was apologetic, though he looked anything but. ‘I had been visiting my parents and I bumped into Courtney quite by chance in the middle of Oxford.’
‘Hugo’s off to America, ’dora! Now that we’ve put a stop to Boney there’s a strong contingent of troops being sent out to clear up that affair, too. America, ’dora! Only think of it!’
‘I am thinking.’ Pandora felt that her head was spinning. ‘But surely you cannot go ‒just like that? You know it is customary for our officers to be trained first.’
‘Well, actually,’ said Hugo, ‘I am on my way now to Woolwich to report, and if Courtney cares to come along, I might be able to pull a string or two.’
‘If you can’t, then I shall join the infantry!’
This defiant announcement brought a shocked: ‘Courtney! You wouldn’t?’
‘Oh, I doubt it will come to that.’ Hugo’s grin was laconic. ‘After all, he isn’t the usual green would-be hero, is he? Knows a deuced lot already.
Been around guns most of his young life ‒ father’s son and all that! By the bye, did you know that Wellington had made a point of citing your father’s last engagement in his recent dispatches? Said he’d seldom seen anything to equal the sight of Colonel Carlyon charging out of the mist sword in hand at the head of young Craig’s troop to scatter the French when they had three companies of our 3rd Foot cut off in perilous conditions ‒ his horses stretched like fire-breathing greyhounds, the guns bounding behind them like weightless toys in headlong career and the mounted gunners, heads bent low, weapons at the ready. He referred to it, I believe, as an act of conspicuous bravery carried out without regard for personal safety and said that in losing his life, the colonel had undoubtedly averted a massacre!’
Pandora clapped her hands. ‘Oh, that is wonderful news, isn’t it, Courtney? Dear old Nosey! That will make a few people eat their words!’
‘It’s splendid,’ agreed Courtney. ‘And don’t think I’m any less pleased than you, ’dora, but ‒ well, there isn’t much time, and if I’m to be ready, I shall have to purchase my commission and find myself a good mount, and ‒ oh, well, you know.’ He was the coaxing wheedling boy she remembered from their childhood days. He almost always could get round her. ‘I’ve been to see that paltry lawyer fellow ‒’
‘Mr Lewis isn’t paltry!’
‘He’s a regular slow top! Jawing on about responsibility. He don’t approve, I could tell that at a glance ‒ and he ain’t prepared to advance one jot more than my present allowance, which is all but used up. In any case, it wouldn’t be anywhere near enough!’ Courtney grinned sheepishly. ‘I wondered … that jewellery of Mama’s … you always said it would serve for emergencies.’
Pandora bit her lip and went to stare out of the window. It was true. She had said it, and it would be awful to blight Courtney’s dreams by denying him this chance, but she didn’t much want him to go off to America either ‒ certainly not with such a woeful lack of experience. And besides …
‘Oh, come on, ’dora ‒ be a trump! I have tried, you know, but studying ain’t in my line. This is what I’ve always wanted. And America! It’ll be the most tremendous adventure!’
He sounded exactly like William. Pandora’s objections melted away and she reluctantly abandoned her own dreams of using the money from the jewellery to set up a home for them all. The way things were shaping, there would be no one to make a home for.
She turned with a bright smile. ‘Very well. We’ll see what can be done in the morning.’
‘I knew it! Didn’t I say she was the greatest gun ever?’ Courtney whirled her off the floor, spinning with her until she cried for mercy. ‘The best sister a fellow ever had!’
Captain Greville, watching Pandora’s face intently, had guessed more or less accurately at the struggle preceding her decision. It made him say with more than usual warmth, ‘She is indeed a sister in a million. I only wish that she were mine!’
He could not know how his words wounded ‒ how Pandora longed to have him more than a brother. With her back towards him she was vouchsafed precious moments in which to conceal her feelings before turning to laugh at him over her shoulder.
‘Thank you, Hugo, but two are more than sufficient for my needs! And anyway,’ she concluded with pleasing conviction, ‘I almost count you one!’
The door burst open to admit William, his animated face already showing clear evidence of his recent conflict.
‘Binns said you were here!’ he crowed with delight. ‘Are you staying? I say, Captain Hugo. You too!’
Courtney strolled across and put a hand under his brother’s chin, turning the boy’s face to the light. ‘Still not learned to put up a guard, I see. That’s quite a shiner, young Will. Be closed by morning ‒ black and blue into the bargain, I shouldn’t wonder. Wouldn’t you say so, Hugo?’
‘More than likely.’ Hugo grinned sympathetically.
‘No it won’t!’ William retorted. ‘Because the Duke’s man put something on it and he swore by it!’
‘The Duke?’ Courtney raised his eyebrows, and even his sister stared.
‘Did he actually take you back to Heron House, then?’
‘Yes. And what’s more, I had a perfectly splendid time!’
Pandora had uttered the question before realizing how it must give rise to fresh speculation about the Duke’s involvement in their affairs, but William forestalled comment by launching upon an enthusiastic account of his afternoon’s adventures which was only curtailed when Captain Greville interposed to say regretfully that they must be going if he was to keep his appointment at Woolwich.
Mention of Woolwich and the fact that Courtney was going too necessitated fresh explanations for William’s benefit.
‘But you’ll come back here afterwards, Court?’
Courtney said there wasn’t a doubt of it so long as Octavia didn’t object to his shaking down in William’s room for a couple of nights.
‘I shouldn’t think she’d even notice,’ said William scathingly.
Before Pandora went to bed that night she took down from the closet shelf the soft leather bag which she had guarded with such care since her mother’s death. She tipped everything on to the bed and spread it out. A pretty garnet brooch and matching bracelet, a string of pearls; nothing of any value, she decided, except for the necklace. This she drew towards her, tracing the delicate flower settings of the diamonds with loving fingers, recalling how her mother had treasured it as a sole link with her own mother who had been given it by her husband as a wedding gift. Candlelight lent the stones warmth and brilliance.
Acting on impulse she lifted it from the bed of crimson velvet on which it lay and fastened it round her neck, standing up, peering in the tiny mirror to see her shadowed face looking almost alluring above the glowing circlet. Just for an instant she imagined herself in a beautiful gown, her head piled high with pale golden curls … Would Hugo Greville feel differently about her if he could see her like that? She concluded that it was unlikely and removed the necklace, putting it carefully back in its case.
Messrs Rundell and Bridge’s on the following morning exuded an aura of discreet luxury sufficient to make Pandora hesitate on the threshold. Had not Courtney been at her side, ebullient with expectation, she must have shrunk from entering, but upon the outcome of this transaction rested all his hopes and she could not fail him now. This was where the necklace had been made for her grandfather, so it had seemed the logical place to bring it. She stepped resolutely towards the very grand gentleman who awaited her.
The said gentleman, an obsequious smile fading from his face as he took in at a glance the undoubted insignificance of the would-be clients, delegated them without hesitation to one of his underlings who, taking his tone from the other, did not trouble to offer the lady a chair. Pandora misliked his manner and was put very much on her mettle as she explained the nature of her business.
The young man was on the point of cold outright rejection when a door at the rear of the showroom opened and a voice drawled: ‘My thanks for your trouble, Bridge ‒ this emerald trinket will answer my purpose excellently.’
Pandora uttered a small gasp and hastily turned so that her back was towards the door whence the voice came. But she had reckoned without the Duke’s instant recognition of Courtney which in turn led him to look more closely at the trim back so firmly presented to him. The salesman’s air of cold disdain spoke for itself.
‘Miss Carlyon? May I be of some assistance?’
She knew that he was at her shoulder though she had not heard him approach across the thick carpet. Turning now to look up at him, she saw that he was frowning, which she took to denote disapproval. No doubt he too thought she had no place in such a grand emporium. Aggravation made her greeting correspondingly formal as she declined his offer.
She was, however, obliged to introduce Courtney to him. Courtney who had the looks in the family ‒ and of whom she was so patently proud. And Courtney, visibly impressed by his grace,
showed a maddening disposition to be friendly, regaling the Duke with an eager account of his prospective good fortune, and imminent departure.
‘Thing is, though … a bit short of the ready,’ he informed Heron with the same ingenuous frankness that seemed to characterize the whole family. ‘Obliged to pop Grandmother Wyndham’s necklace in order to purchase my commission.’
Heron’s amused glance moved to Pandora’s face, suffused with mortification, and thence unhurriedly to the necklace where it lay on the counter pad.
‘May I?’ He lifted it to the light, the petal-like settings lying glittering on his palm. ‘A charming piece.’ He allowed it to slip through his fingers back on to the counter and turned his keen glance on Pandora. ‘Must you really part with it?’
She tilted her chin, answering obliquely. ‘There seems little point in my keeping it, sir. I doubt that diamonds would ever sit well on me.’
There was a fleeting expression in his eyes that she could not read. Then he said casually, ‘In that case, I have no doubt that Mr Bridge will be pleased to give you a handsome price for it.’
Well aware of the weight his words must carry he nodded to that rather bemused gentleman, touched his hat to Pandora and her brother and strolled to the door which the head salesman had rushed to open for him.
A short time later Pandora too was out in the street, clutching her reticule in a rather dazed way, still hardly able to credit the treasure it contained ‒ enough to fit Courtney out in first style, and with so much to spare that already her mind was teeming with possibilities. It was Courtney who finally brought her back to earth, reminding her that he had very little time in which to accomplish all that must be done.
They hurried back to Brook Street where Hugo Greville awaited them, being ably entertained by William, but his relief upon seeing Courtney betrayed his impatience to be off.
‘Come along, my boy. I can tell by your face that you have the ready, and I heard of a good steady mount only this morning ‒ should suit you admirably if only we are in time to snap it up!’ He turned his charming rueful smile upon Pandora. ‘Sorry, Princess, but you of all people don’t need to have matters explained to you.’