by Abby Ayles
My heart cries out to be next to yours again. Only when we are once more within the same room will I return to happiness. I care not if we have a hundred chaperones, a thousand of them. Simply to look upon your face again will be enough for me.
I am beside myself with misery now that I know it shall not happen this spring. Please, we must find some way to meet again soon.
Perhaps there will be a ball over the summer. If I am still imprisoned in my tower then, perhaps you might beseech my stepfather to let me down from a high window. I shall be much in need of a rescue.
Yours, and with the deepest ache at missing your company,
Juliana
Juliana sealed the letter inside an envelope, letting a little wax from a candle onto the paper so that it would be impossible for anyone else to read it without detection.
“Bessie!” she called out.
Within only a few moments, a thin, sparrow-like creature emerged. Bessie was Juliana’s maid, though she was a slight and nervous thing. She had her uses, and was often most efficient, even if she did look as though a stiff wind might break her.
“Yes, my lady?”
“Take this letter,” Juliana said, pressing it into her hands with an urgent look.
“You must take it into town and post it yourself. Don’t send it with the household post, do you understand me? Father must not see it. Nor the butler. I do not trust his allegiances. Will you do as I ask?”
“Yes, my lady,” Bessie said, head bobbing up and down nervously. “Right away, my lady.”
“Good. Now go,” Juliana said, giving her one more intense stare for good measure. The girl often needed a little additional push.
Alone again, she sighed as she remembered the first time that they had met, at that ball a year ago…
“That sounds rather dull,” Juliana said, giving him a mischievous look that she hoped would convey exactly what she wished it to.
There was a pause then, as the dashing young soldier stepped around her, their bodies so close but never touching. Juliana wished he would at least take her by the hand, but this dance did not call for it.
“I think,” he said at last, “that you and I together could never be a dull combination.”
“You have it right,” Juliana laughed, filling the air with her enjoyment. Around them, people were watching, she knew. She always made sure that she was noticeable.
But this young soldier was noticeable himself. She saw that the ladies around them stared at his bright red uniform and his soft hair tucked back into a tail at his neck. He had quite the bone structure, a face that gave away his noble birth.
“So, shall I call upon you on the morrow?” he asked.
“It would only be rude of you not to. Particularly now that my aunt has seen us dancing, she will expect your presence.”
“Then I shall prepare myself most heartily for tea and pastries. She looks like a tea and pastries woman, your aunt.”
“Tea, yes,” Juliana giggled as she spun around him. “I do not know if you will be popular enough with her for the pastries.”
“You wound me,” he said. “I suspect far too few gentleman visitors are considered popular enough for the pastries, judging by your aunt’s appearance.”
Juliana squealed and her eyes flashed fire at him, though she smiled still. He was a card – a reckless and wicked one, but a card. “Lieutenant! You can’t!”
“What?” he asked with mock innocence. “I only mean that she gives me a stern gaze. Surely no man is good enough for her precious niece.”
All too soon the music came to an end and they faced one another, panting, to bow.
“How can you tell that I am precious in such a short time?” she asked, begging to hear one more compliment from his honeyed tongue.
“If you were mine,” he said, leaning close to her ear before she could react, “I should guard you like the most precious jewel in all the world, for I know how many would covet you.”
With a wink, he was gone, and her next dance partner stepped forward.
But for the rest of the night, Juliana only strained to catch a glimpse of him again, and wait until they might dance together one more time…
It was not two hours later before Juliana was hauled downstairs in front of her mother and stepfather, in the study which the latter called his place of work.
“What is this?” he thundered, laying down a piece of paper on the desk with such a flourish that there could be no doubt at all as to what it was.
“A letter,” Juliana ventured.
“And to whom?”
Juliana met the eyes of Bessie, who was simpering in the corner. The maid looked away quickly. Good, Juliana thought. At least she had the good grace to be ashamed of her behavior.
“To Lieutenant Christopher Hardwicke,” Juliana admitted, raising her chin and keeping her tone even. “It was private correspondence, in fact. I sealed it with wax.”
“You have no such thing as private correspondence, Juliana,” her mother said. “You are a young, unmarried lady. You should not be writing privately to soldiers.”
“Nor to any of the male sex,” her stepfather put in.
“No, indeed,” her mother agreed.
“I had the need to inform him that I would not be in Bath, as he was expecting me there,” Juliana scowled. “It is not the ladylike thing to leave a gentleman waiting when you are aware ahead of time that you shall not attend.”
“First of all, he should not at all be waiting for you without my permission,” the Duke of Prighton glowered. “And secondly, he is hardly a gentleman. He is only a soldier.”
“He is an officer,” Juliana protested. “And a noble-born one, at that.”
“Pah! Lieutenant is hardly even a commission,” the Duke spat. “And as for his noble birth, I’ll hear nothing of that. The boy is a nobody. Not even the son of an earl any longer, but the brother of one. One day he shall be the uncle of one. That is no nobility at all.”
“We had a perfectly good match for you,” the Duchess said, shaking her head sadly.
“That is over, Mother,” Juliana said. She had heard enough about her failed engagement to the young Lord Drevon. The topic was going beyond irritating to her now. “There is nothing that can be done about it any longer.”
“No, well,” her mother said, resting the back of her hand against her forehead as if stricken. “It is my great misery. But we can at least attempt to claw back some form of respectable position for you if you simply do as you are told.”
“And that does not include going off to your aunt’s home and out of our sight,” the Duke added. “We shan’t have you able to do whatever you like.”
Juliana saw an opening and leaped for it, with hardly the time to wonder where she would land. “My aunt is hardly likely to allow me that. She is one of the strictest chaperones I have ever seen.”
“Is that so?” the Duke asked, raising his eyebrows.
“Truly,” Juliana went on. “She only allows me and Mary the barest of freedoms to go to the market for ribbons and lace. We’re not out of her sight all day long, nor the night either.
“We must dine when she dines and sleep when she sleeps. And if she walks in the rain, we must walk in the rain. She’s a keen old eye. I daresay it is the only part about my visit to Bath that I am not sad to be missing.”
The Duke and Duchess exchanged a glance.
“Bessie,” he said. “Go out and bring the Lady Mary here, would you?”
Bessie dipped a curtsy and hurried out as fast as her skinny legs could carry her.
“You say that Mrs. Reffern is of the strictest sort?” The Duke turned to his wife. “Is that true, my lady?”
The Duchess gave him a blank look. “She is not my sister. She was married to my late husband’s younger brother, who passed away years ago, God rest his soul.
“I confess I do not know what sort of personality she may have with the young ladies now. Her husband never gave her a living child before he
was gone. Perhaps she takes to being strict with them for protection.”
“Exactly so,” Juliana cut in, excited but aware of the perils of overdoing it. “She fears that if she lets us alone for one single moment, we will disgrace or injure ourselves or be gone forever. It is most tiresome.”
Bessie re-entered the room then with Mary at her side.
“Ah, Lady Mary,” the Duke said. “You come at an opportune moment. Tell me, what kind of chaperone is Mrs. Reffern?”
Juliana stiffened. For a long moment, she was afraid that Mary would give the game away by telling the truth:
That Mrs. Reffern could be fierce, but that she was also given to a drink, and would think nothing of letting the girls into the town on their own at any time of day.
She stared over at Mary, but the other girl did not so much as twitch her head in the right direction. Juliana mentally willed her, instead, to know the right answer.
“The strictest,” Mary said, calmly and smoothly as an iced lake. “Why, she never lets us alone.”
Internally, Juliana cheered for her friend. There was something to be said for having a person around you who understood, truly, what you were about.
There was even yet more to be said for that person not being ashamed to lie for you.
“Hmm,” the Duke muttered, walking around his desk and looking at his wife for a long moment. Some form of question must have passed between them, for then the Duchess nodded.
“Alright,” he said. “The two of you shall go to Bath. It sounds to my ears as though you will be safer there than you would be here, especially given that you are trying to invite this boy to visit you.
“I have not the time to oversee your every letter, though it seems that your aunt does. So, I shall send you to her, and rest easy knowing your every move is watched.”
As soon as they were away from the room, and they knew they could not be seen, Juliana turned and threw her arms around Mary’s neck.
“Oh, you beautiful friend!” she exclaimed.
“I gather I had it right, then?” Mary said, laughing.
“Yes. Most certainly, yes!”
We are going to Bath, Juliana thought, unable to contain her excitement. It is truly happening.
With the smile still on her face, she let her eyes flutter closed for a moment and sent a silent message to the skies, half a promise, half a prayer.
Wait for me, Christopher. I am coming.
Chapter 5
“There it is,” Christopher said, breathing deeply and exhaling. “The beautiful city of Bath.”
“Wonderful,” Jasper said dryly. “However, I don’t intend to sit out here in the street with our trunks all day. Do you think we might move them inside?”
“Fine, fine,” Christopher said good-naturedly. There was nothing that could spoil his mood now, not now that he was here in Bath. He was so close to seeing Juliana again, he felt almost as if he could fly.
They unloaded their trunks into the home of a colleague from the army, who had generously agreed to take in a few soldiers for a week or so while they were on leave. The man was a good friend of theirs, and always a sharp feature in the mess hall. His stories were the stuff of legend, though many people doubted whether a single word of them was actually true.
Still, it was enjoyable to listen, especially when you were stuck in your barracks far from all other entertainment. It was, perhaps, less useful here in Bath, where there was enough entertainment to spare.
That done, Christopher changed from his traveling clothes into a clean red uniform, ensuring before he left that his gold buttons were gleaming.
He went out into the street without Jasper, borrowed a horse from his friend’s stables, and traveled across the city to the rhythm of clomping hooves.
It was only a short trip before he could see the gates of Mrs. Reffern’s house ahead of him. The woman took residence here year-long, which was mighty convenient for visits from her niece.
He gathered she had other young relatives who would come to stay at various times, though he had met only Juliana.
He dismounted his horse, delivered the rein to a stablehand that had promptly appeared, and brushed himself off one last time. Satisfied that his appearance was at its best, he climbed the house’s steps. At the entrance, he was greeted by a man who served as a butler to the household.
Christopher waited alone in the hall while he fetched his mistress, rocking slightly on his heels and admiring the wallpaper. In truth, it was nothing spectacular, but he was so pleased to be there that he could have praised it day and night.
After all, this same wallpaper had the job of housing Juliana, and that meant it was the most exciting wallpaper in the world.
“Lieutenant,” a stern voice came from behind him.
Christopher turned to see Mrs. Reffern walking towards him. A stout woman with a sharp gaze, she had not changed at all since he had seen her last.
“Mrs. Reffern,” he greeted her. “I am most pleased and charmed, as always, to be in your presence once more.”
“I doubt that you will be pleased much longer,” the lady said ominously.
“Allow me to curtail our conversation and unnecessary graces with some news which is most pertinent to your visit. I hear tell from the Duke of Prighton that his stepdaughter will not be visiting with us this season. She is to remain in her family home.”
Christopher stared at her for a moment, his mouth agape. It took a while for the meaning of her words to truly filter through his consciousness.
Could this be right? No Juliana at all? Perhaps Mrs. Reffern had somehow been mistaken.
“No visit at all?” he finally managed to choke out.
“None,” Mrs. Reffern said, giving him another stony glare. “It seems that her parents are concerned about the type of character she might be spending time with here in Bath.”
There was a long pause, during which time Christopher could not fail to deduce from her tone and raised eyebrows who it was they were concerned about.
“Me?”
“Your reputation is a poor one, Lieutenant,” Mrs. Reffern said. “I hope you will not find it uncouth of me to cut right to the truth of the matter. There has been much talk about you and the company which you keep in relation to the young women of this town, and of others.”
“I assure you,” Christopher said, shaking his head rapidly. “All rumor and conjecture, nothing else. While it is true that there are some soldiers in our company, and even officers, who may treat the fairer sex poorly, I am not amongst them. Truly, I have been dedicated to the thought of no one but Lady Juliana this past year.”
“And then there is the matter of your standing,” the lady pressed on, ignoring his protests.
“At one time, you were the second son of an earl. Not the best of positions, but a fine one all the same considering that our Juliana is but the third daughter of a late earl.
“However, things have changed. Her mother remarried. She is a duchess now, and Juliana is a duke’s ward. And you…
“You are now the brother to an earl, and there is an heir to his estate already on the way. Should the baby arrive healthy and strong, you will be in a different position entirely.”
“Yes, but…” Christopher began, his throat drying up as he trailed off.
“But?” Mrs. Reffern replied, raising her chin in a clear challenge.
Christopher struggled to come up with some response. “Edmund will give me a good allowance to live on. And I am an officer.”
“A lieutenant,” Mrs. Reffern replied, looking at the badge denoting his rank with clear scorn.
That was all there was to be said. Christopher knew he had lost this argument, or discussion, or whatever it might be called when a man is lost before he begins. The Reffern family and the Duke of Prighton’s family had clearly decided long before this day that he was not a suitable man for Juliana.
Shoulders slumped, Christopher turned to go. He reclaimed his horse and rode back through
the streets, stopping at the first tavern he came across.
“Boy,” he called out to a young lad who was slinking around near the entrance. “Carry a message for me.”
He held out a silver coin, and the boy rushed forward eagerly.
“Yes, sir! What should I tell ‘em?”
“Find Lieutenant Jasper Rivers and tell him his presence is wanted here, at the…” Christopher craned his neck to read the sign hanging above the door. “George and Dragon.”