Regency Buck

by Georgette Heyer

  He said lazily: ‘I must have been in an uncommonly good temper, I suppose. Don’t you like the match?’

  ‘It is respectable, but not brilliant, and I must say, Worth, I think Perry much too young.’

  He made no reply. Miss Taverner raised her eyes to his face. ‘Do you think it wise to let him be married?’ she asked.

  ‘I think he is not married yet, Miss Taverner,’ replied Worth.

  The carriage began to move forward. Judith said: ‘Now that it has been so publicly announced it must be a settled thing.’

  ‘Oh, by no means,’ said Worth. ‘A dozen things might happen to prevent it.’

  ‘He cannot in honour turn back from an engagement.’

  ‘True, but I might turn him back from it if I thought it proper to do so,’ said the Earl.

  ‘If you do not like the engagement why did you permit him to enter into it?’ asked Miss Taverner rather sternly.

  ‘Because I had not the smallest desire to see him persuade Miss Fairford into a runaway match,’ replied Worth.

  She frowned. ‘I am to understand that you don’t wish to see him married?’

  ‘Not at all. Why should I?’ He turned to address the coachman, desiring to be set down at the corner. The carriage turned into Piccadilly, and stopped. He got out, and stood for a moment with his hand on the door. His face softened as he looked at Miss Taverner, but he only said: ‘Believe me, I have your affairs well in hand. Where do you go from here? Shall I direct your coachman?’

  ‘Oh, we are going to look at the new bridge across the river,’ said Mrs Scattergood. ‘But he knows. Well, I am glad we met you, and I have no doubt there is a great deal in what you say. You are off to White’s, I suppose? I am sure I do not know what you gentlemen would do if there were no clubs to spend the day in!’

  He returned no answer to this observation, but merely bowed and stepped back.

  ‘Well, my love,’ said Mrs Scattergood as the carriage moved on, ‘you may say what you will, but excepting only Mr Brummell, there is no one in town who dresses so well as Worth! Such an air of fashion! I believe you may see your face in his boots as well as in your mirror.’

  ‘I have never denied Lord Worth’s ability to be in the mode,’ replied Miss Taverner indifferently. ‘The only thing that surprises me is to see him come out of a boxing saloon.’

  ‘Oh, my dear, I daresay he went only to accompany Colonel Armstrong,’ said Mrs Scattergood excusingly.

  ‘More than likely,’ agreed Judith, with a contemptuous smile.

  Peregrine, who had entered the saloon as Worth was on the point of leaving, had also been surprised. That his lordship had been indulging in sparring exercise was evident, for he was just coming out of the changing-room, and had paused in the doorway to exchange a few words with Mr Jackson. He caught sight of Peregrine at the other end of the Saloon, nodded to him, and said: ‘How does that ward of mine shape, Jackson?’

  Jackson glanced over his shoulder. ‘Sir Peregrine Taverner, my lord? Well, he shows game; always ready to take the lead, you know, but sometimes rather glaringly abroad. Good bottom, but not enough science. Do you care to see him in a round or two?’

  ‘God forbid!’ said Worth. ‘I can well imagine it. Tell me, Jackson, could you lay your hand on a promising young heavyweight who would be glad to earn a little money out of the way – not in the Ring?’

  Jackson looked at him rather curiously. ‘Cribb knows most of the young ’uns, my lord. Lads thankful to be fighting for a purse of five guineas – is that it?’Worth nodded.‘Any number of them to be found,’ Jackson said. ‘You know that, my lord. But do you stand in need of one?’

  ‘It has just occurred to me that I might,’ said the Earl, negligently playing with his gloves. ‘I’ll see Cribb.’ He turned as Colonel Armstrong came out of the changing-room. ‘Are you ready, Armstrong?’

  ‘I suppose I am,’ replied the Colonel, who was looking very hot. ‘I’ll swear you’ve sweated pounds off me, Jackson. I don’t know how you both contrive to look so cool.’

  The ex-champion smiled. ‘His lordship was taking it very easily today.’

  ‘What, fighting shy?’ said the Colonel, with a twinkle.

  ‘No, not shy; just trifling,’ said Jackson. ‘But you should be coming to me more regularly, Colonel. It was bellows to mend with you after three minutes of it, and I don’t like those plunges of yours.’

  ‘Trying to land you a facer, Jackson,’ grinned the Colonel.

  ‘You won’t do it like that, sir,’ said Jackson, shaking his head. ‘If you’ll excuse me, gentlemen, I’ll go over and set Mr Fitzjohn to a little singlestick with one of my young men.’

  ‘Oh ay, we’re just off,’ said Armstrong. ‘Are you coming,Worth?’

  ‘Yes, I’m coming,’ answered the Earl. He looked at Jackson. ‘Do what you can with my ward. And, Jackson, by the way – on that other matter, I feel sure I can rely on your discretion.’

  ‘You can always be sure of that, my lord.’

  The Earl nodded, and went out with his friend. Mr Jackson turned his attention to the new-comers, matched Mr Fitzjohn at singlestick with one of his instructors, and stood critically by while Peregrine, stripped to the waist, hit out at a punchball. He presently took the eager young man on in a sparring match, gave Mr Fitzjohn a turn, and dismissed them both to cool off.

  ‘Oh, damn it, why can’t I pop in a good one over your guard?’ panted Mr Fitzjohn. ‘I try hard enough!’

  ‘You don’t try quick enough, Mr Fitzjohn. You want to look to your footwork more. I shan’t let you hit me till you deserve to.’

  ‘What about me?’ asked Peregrine, wiping the sweat out of his eyes.

  ‘You’re shaping, sir, but you must keep your head more.You rattle in too hard. Go along to the Fives Court next Tuesday for the sparring exhibition, and you’ll see some very pretty boxing there.’

  ‘I can’t,’ said Peregrine, draping a towel round his shoulders. ‘I’m going to the Cock-Pit. The Gentlemen of Yorkshire against the Gentlemen of Kent, for a thousand guineas a side, and forty guineas each battle. You should come, Jackson. I’m fighting a Wednesbury grey – never been beaten!’

  ‘Give me a red pyle!’ said Mr Fitzjohn. ‘I don’t fancy any of your greys, or blues, or blacks. Red’s the only colour for your true game-cock.’

  ‘Why, good God, Fitz, that’s the greatest piece of nonsense ever I heard! There’s nothing to touch a Wednesbury grey!’

  ‘Except a red pyle,’ said Mr Fitzjohn obstinately.

  ‘There are good cocks of all colours,’ interposed Jackson. ‘I hope yours wins his fight, Mr Peregrine. I’d come, but I’ve promised to help Mr Jones with the arrangements at the Fives Court.’

  The two young men went off to the changing-room together, and forgot their difference of opinion in splashing water over themselves, and being rubbed down by the attendant. But as Peregrine put on his shirt again he recollected the argument sufficiently to invite Mr Fitzjohn to come to the Cock-Pit Royal on Tuesday and see the match. Mr Fitzjohn agreed to it very readily, and was only sorry that from the circumstances of his being Sussex-born he could not enter his own red pyle for a battle with Peregrine’s grey. ‘What’s his weight?’ he asked. ‘Mine turns the scale of four pounds exactly.’

  ‘Mine’s just over,’ replied Peregrine. ‘Three years old, and the sharpest heel you ever saw. My cocker has had him preparing these six weeks. He’s resting him now.’ He bethought him of something. ‘By the by, Fitz, if you should chance to meet my sister you need not mention it to her. She don’t above half like cocking, and I haven’t told her I’ve had my bird brought down from Yorkshire.’

  ‘Lord, I don’t talk about cocking to females, Perry!’ said Mr Fitzjohn scornfully. ‘I’ll be there on Tuesday. What’s the main?’

  ‘Sixteen.’

  ‘Bad number. Don’t like an even set,’ said Mr Fitzjohn, shaking his head. ‘Half-past five, I suppose? I’ll meet you there.’

  He wa
s not a young gentleman who made a habit of punctuality, but his watch being, unknown to himself, twenty minutes ahead of the correct time, he arrived at the Cock-Pit Royal, in Birdcage Walk, on Tuesday evening just as the cocks were being weighed and matched. He joined Peregrine, and saw the grey taken out of his bag, and looked him over very knowingly. He admitted that he was of strong shape; closely inspected his girth; approved the beam of his leg; and wanted to know whose cock he was matched with.

  ‘Farnaby’s brass-back. It was Farnaby who suggested I might enter my bird, but he’ll make that brass-back look like a dunghill cock, eh, Flood?’

  The cocker put the grey back into his bag, and looked dubious. ‘I don’t know as I’d say just that, sir,’ he answered. ‘He’s in good trim, never better, but we’ll see.’

  ‘Don’t think much of your bag,’ remarked Mr Fitzjohn, who liked bright colours.

  The cocker gave a slow smile. ‘“There’ll come a good cock out of a ragged bag,” sir,’ he quoted. ‘But we’ll see.’

  The two young men nodded wisely at the saw, and moved away to take up their places on the first tier of benches. Here they were joined by Mr Farnaby, who squeezed his way to them, and after a slight altercation prevailed on a middle-aged gentleman in a drab coat to make room for him to sit down beside Peregrine. Behind them the benches were being rapidly filled, and higher still the outer ring of standing room was tightly packed with the rougher members of the crowd. In the centre of the pit was the stage, on which no one but the setters-on was allowed. This was built up a few feet from the ground, covered with a carpet with a mark in the middle, and lit by a huge chandelier hanging immediately above it.

  The first fight, which was between two red cocks, only lasted for nine minutes; the second was between a black-grey and a red pyle, and there was some hard hitting in the pit, and a great deal of noisy betting amongst the spectators. During this and the next fight, which was between a duck-winged grey and a red pyle, Peregrine and Mr Fitzjohn grew much excited, Mr Fitzjohn betting heavily on the red’s chances, extolling his tactics, and condemning the grey for ogling his opponent too long. Peregrine in honour bound backed the grey to win, and informed Mr Fitzjohn that crowing was not fighting, and nor was breaking away.

  ‘Breaking away! You’ve never seen a red pyle break away!’ said Mr Fitzjohn indignantly. ‘There! Look at him! He’s fast in the grey; they’ll have to draw his spurs out.’

  The fight lasted for fifteen minutes, both birds being badly mauled; but in the end the red sent the grey to grass, dead, and Mr Fitzjohn shook a complete stranger warmly by the hand, and said that there was nothing to beat a red pyle.

  ‘Good birds, I don’t deny, but I’ll back my brass-back against any that was ever hatched,’ said Mr Farnaby, overhearing. ‘You’ll see him floor Mr Taverner’s grey, or my name’s not Ned Farnaby.’

  ‘Well, you’d better be thinking of a new one then, for our fight’s coming on now,’ retorted Peregrine.

  ‘Pooh, your bird don’t stand a chance!’ scoffed Farnaby.

  The setters-on had the cocks in the arena by this time, and Mr Fitzjohn, critically looking them over, declared there to be very little to choose between them. They were well matched; their heads a full scarlet; tails, manes, and wings nicely clipped; and spurs very long and sharp, hooking well inwards. ‘If any thing I like Taverner’s bird the better of the two,’ pronounced Mr Fitzjohn. ‘He looks devilish upright, and I fancy he’s the largest in girth. But there ain’t much in it.’

  The birds did not ogle each other for long; they closed almost at once, and there was some slashing work which made the feathers fly. The brass-back was floored, but came up again, and toed the scratch. Both birds knew how to hold, and their tactics were cunning enough to rouse the enthusiasm of the crowd. The betting was slightly in favour of the grey, which very much delighted Peregrine, and made Mr Fitzjohn shake his head, and say that saving his own red pyle he did not know when he had seen a cock he liked better. Mr Farnaby did not say anything, but looked at Peregrine sideways once or twice and thrust out his under-lip.

  The cocks had been fighting for about ten minutes when the brass-back, who had till now adopted more defensive tactics than the grey, suddenly rushed in, striking and slashing in famous style. The grey responded gallantly, and Mr Fitzjohn cried out: ‘The best matched pair I ever saw! There they go, slap for slap! I’ll lay you any odds the grey wins! No, by God, he’s down! Ha, spurs fast again!’

  The setters-on having secured their birds, and the brass-back’s spurs being released, both were again freed. The grey seemed to be a little dazed, the brass-back hardly less so. Both were bleeding from wounds, and neither seemed anxious to close again with his opponent. They stayed warily apart, ogling each other while the timekeeper kept the count, and fifty being reached before either showed any disposition to continue fighting, setting was allowed. The setters-on each took up his bird and brought him to the centre of the arena, and placed him beak to beak with the other. The grey was the first to strike, a swift, punishing blow that knocked the brass-back clean away.

  A sudden commotion arose amongst the spectators. Mr Farnaby sprang up, shouting: ‘A foul! A foul! The grey was squeezed!’

  Someone called out: ‘Nonsense! No such thing! Sit down!’

  Peregrine swung round to stare at Farnaby. ‘He was not squeezed! I was watching the whole time, and I’m ready to swear my man did no more than set him!’

  The setters-on, pending the referee’s decision, had each caught his bird, a lucky circumstance for the brass-back, who seemed to have been badly cut up by the last blow. The referee gave it in favour of the grey, and Mr Fitzjohn said testily: ‘Of course the grey was not squeezed! Sit down, man, sit down! Hey, no wonder your cock’s shy! I believe the grey got his eye in that last brush. Perry, that’s a rare bird of yours! We’ll match him with mine one day, down at my place. Ha, that finishes it! The brass-back’s a blinker now – or dead. Dead, I think. Well done, Perry! Well done!’

  Mr Farnaby turned with an ugly look on his face. ‘Ay, well done indeed! Your cock was craven, and was squeezed to make him fight.’

  ‘Here, I say, Farnaby, learn to take your losses!’ said Mr Fitzjohn with strong disapproval.

  Peregrine, a gathering frown on his boyish countenance, lifted a hand to hush his friend, and fixed his eyes on Farnaby’s. ‘You can’t know what you’re saying. If there was a fault the referee must have seen it.’

  ‘Oh,’ said Farnaby, with a sneer, ‘when rich men fight their cocks referees can sometimes make mistakes.’

  It was not said loud enough to carry very far, but it brought Peregrine to his feet in a bound. ‘What!’ he cried furiously. ‘Say that again if you dare!’

  Though no one but those immediately beside Farnaby could have heard his words, it was quite apparent to everyone by this time than an altercation was going on, and the rougher part of the gathering at once began to take sides, some (who had lost their money on the brass-back) loudly asserting that the grey had been squeezed, and others declaring with equal fervour that it had been a fair fight. Above the hubbub a shrill Cockney voice besought Peregrine to darken Mr Farnaby’s daylights – advice of which he did not seem to stand in much need, for he was clenching his fists very menacingly already.

  Mr Fitzjohn, who had also heard Farnaby’s last speech, tried to get between him and Peregrine, saying in a brisk voice: ‘That’s enough of this foolery. You’re foxed, Farnaby. Ought to be ashamed of yourself.’

  ‘Oh, I’m foxed, am I?’ said Farnaby, keeping his eyes on Peregrine’s. ‘I’m not so foxed but what I can see when a bird’s pressed to make him fight, and I repeat, Sir Peregrine Taverner, that money can do queer things if you have enough of it.’

  ‘Oh, damn!’ said Mr Fitzjohn, exasperated. ‘Pay no heed to him, Perry.’

  Peregrine, however, had not waited for this advice. As Mr Fitzjohn spoke he drove his left in a smashing blow to Farnaby’s face, and sent that gentleman sprawling over the
bench. There were a great many cheers, a shout of ‘A mill, a mill!’ some protests from the quieter members of the audience; and the man in the drab coat, across whose knees Mr Farnaby had fallen, demanded that the Watch should be summoned.

  Mr Farnaby picked himself up, and showed the house a bleeding nose. The same voice which had counselled Peregrine to strike shouted gleefully: ‘Drawn his cork! Fib him, guv’nor! Let him have a bit of home-brewed!’

  Mr Farnaby held his handkerchief to his nose and said: ‘My friend will call on yours in the morning, sir! Be good enough to name your man!’

  ‘Fitz?’ said Peregrine curtly, over his shoulder.

  ‘At your service,’ replied Mr Fitzjohn.

  ‘Mr Fitzjohn will act for me, sir,’ said Peregrine, pale but perfectly determined.

  ‘You will hear from me, sir,’ promised Farnaby thickly, and strode out, still holding his reddened handkerchief to his nose.

  Ten

  MR FITZJOHN, BREAKFASTING IN HIS LODGINGS IN CORK Street next morning, wore an unusually sober expression on his face, and when his man came in to inform him that a gentleman had called he got up from the table with a sigh and a shake of his head.

  The gentleman’s card, which Mr Fitzjohn held between his finger and thumb, told him very little. The name was unknown to him, and the address, which was a street in the labyrinth lying between Northumberland House and St James’s Square, did not impress him favourably.

  Captain Crake was ushered into the room, and Mr Fitzjohn, with a shrewdness belied by his cherubic countenance, instantly decided that his military rank was self-bestowed. He was displeased. He had been brought up by a careful father with a nice regard for etiquette, and one glance at Captain Crake was sufficient to convince him that he was not one whom any gentleman would desire to have for a second in an affair of honour. The first duty of a second was to seek a reconciliation; it was evident that Captain Crake had no such thought in mind. He came only to arrange a place and a time of meeting, and to choose on behalf of his principal pistols for weapons.