by Steven Neil
***
Martin attends Goodwood races in July, at the Duke of Richmond’s invitation. The sun shines. Blair Athol wins the Gratwicke Stakes: the Syndicate collects. Martin wonders why life cannot always be so uncomplicated. He takes in Henley regatta, although he has very little idea who is rowing against whom. He attends Cowes week, but the hot weather finally breaks and some of the yacht racing is cancelled due to rough seas. Martin makes a pilgrimage of sorts to Carisbrooke School, the scene of Harriet’s escape attempt. There is, of course, no trace of Harriet ever having been there and she does not feature in the list of illustrious alumni, etched in gold leaf on a board in the reception hall, but he does sit on the mounting block, where she waited for the milk cart some twenty-odd years earlier.
***
At the end of the summer season, Martin meets Nathaniel Strode in London to discuss his financial arrangements, before he returns to France. Martin turns down direct assistance from his mother, but the proceeds of his wagers, on Ely and now Blair Athol, sit untouched in the bank and Strode is keen to set them to work. Martin explains that he and Tom have a business proposition they are working on together.
‘Tom thinks there are opportunities. Jem has agreed he will work with me. They will both put money in. William Cartwright is also in. We would like another investor to spread the risk, even though we are confident. I think you would say we are being prudent if I have understood my lessons correctly.’
‘You are a quick learner. I will solve this for you myself. I will be the last investor. Let me know the figure when you are ready. I think that concludes our business for today.’
‘I meant to ask you something else. I didn’t know Mama was so well acquainted with the Queen.’
‘Your mother has friends in the highest places; I can assure you of that.’
‘So it seems. You knew about it?’
‘I did. There is a great deal about your mother that you don’t know. She has asked that I provide you with answers if you have any questions.’
‘But first I have to know which questions to ask.’
‘Indeed. I think you have developed a good instinct, though. The need for secrecy is gone and Harriet wants to set things in order. You will not need to be patient for much longer. I think everything will become clear.’
***
In France, things take their course, much as Martin and Tom hope. Jem moves to France and joins Harriet at Beauregard. Jem retains his house in St John’s Wood and Martin takes possession of a set of keys, so that he will have a base in England. Mellie moves into the cottage in the grounds at Beauregard, once it is suitably redesigned and redecorated to suit the needs of a lady. Martin rents a townhouse in Versailles to be close to La Celle but not in the way. It is a sort of mutually beneficial merry-go-round. Lavinia and Mathilde soon invite themselves to the London house, as a bolthole, so that when they are not busy terrorising the eligible bachelors of Paris they can turn their attention to the wealthy, unattached gentlemen of London. Parties, the more lavish the better, are the order of the day, where Lavinia and Mathilde are concerned. Harriet and Jem sometimes accept an invitation in Paris and trail in their wake, but they are usually home by midnight at the latest.
Nathaniel Strode visits Beauregard for one of his regular reviews with Harriet. She is keen to resolve the remaining issues concerning her divorce from Trelawney and to make some adjustments to her will.
‘I will have the paperwork drafted,’ he says. ‘I will ask the lawyers to send you the documents for signature.’
‘I am looking forward,’ she says. ‘I will draw a line under the past and look towards the future.’
‘Very good. I am always keen that those I advise make changes as soon as they have made decisions. It is a sensible precaution. Too many people let things run on. We cannot know what will happen tomorrow.’
***
Back in France, Tom stays with Martin at Versailles. Tom has horses to buy and money to spend. Jem and Martin already have a shortlist of horses they have tried out. Provided Tom is happy and the horses are passed by the vets, deals will be struck. When the talk of horses is finished, Tom asks about Harriet and Jem.
‘Is everything going well?’
‘I hesitate, but yes. I think we can say we are entering the final furlong.’
‘Let us hope they can stay the course.’
Thirty-Three
Reconciliations
La Celle-Saint-Cloud, France
Wroughton, England
1864
The Syndicate, with the exception of one reverse, when Blair Athol is beaten by the French horse, Vermout, at Longchamp, continue their successful season. Tom takes charge of the commissions when Blair Athol wins the St Leger at Doncaster in September. It is one of those years when virtually everything goes their way. A party is held at Beauregard, almost exactly a year after Ely’s victory at Doncaster. Jean Mocquard sends apologies, but everyone else is present and Princess Mathilde is in rampant form. There is a star-strewn, moonlit sky and the evening culminates in an impromptu midnight cross-country race over the post and rails and hedges of the estate. Lavinia wins, riding side-saddle. Tom and Jem fall off their mounts – admittedly, they are riding bareback. No damage is done. The anaesthetic qualities of several more flagons of wine mean that only pride is dented. At one point in the evening, Martin sits alongside Tom. He has been observing proceedings.
‘Is there something between you and Lavinia?’ he asks.
‘There was once, a long time ago.’
‘Could there be again?’
‘Who knows?’ Tom shrugs but he can’t conceal a smile.
‘You old rogue. I see you are ahead of me.’
The party continues long into the night. The church clock strikes twice before the carousers give best. It marks the end of an idyllic summer in England and France.
***
Autumn at La Celle sees Harriet and Jem immerse themselves in the charms of the château. The long, hot summer and the continuing mild weather mean Beauregard has never looked better. They are still making improvements, but the changes are minor and cosmetic, rather than substantial. There are some days when they wake without a plan, so they spend the day deadheading late roses in the garden or cleaning tack or mending fences. After everything that has gone before, the unexceptional normality of daily life is refreshing. They are often to be found at the races at Longchamp, whether they are involved with runners or not. They never tire of the Paris parks: the Parc Monceau, the Jardins du Luxembourg and the Tuileries Gardens all have a special place in their shared history and they visit often. A mood of reconciliation pervades their relationship. It is an enchanted existence; they both feel it. There is, though, still something unresolved between them, something they are avoiding. Jem broaches the subject.
‘We need to talk about Martin,’ he says.
‘Yes, we do.’
‘Do you have something you would like to tell me?’
‘You seem to get on well.’
‘We do. I count him a good friend. I think he feels the same. But if there is something more, he deserves the truth.’
‘And you?’
‘I cannot rewrite history and you have taught me not to live in regret. It cannot change anything now. Can I make this easy for you?’
‘I don’t think I follow you.’
‘Martin and I discussed it between us recently. Frankly, it was impossible not to, given the time we spend together. We are as certain as we can be that Martin is my son. We understand that you had reservations about admitting this in the past, we are sure for good reasons, but there can be no point in maintaining the mystery now. The only secret is that everyone around you still pretends to you that they don’t know.’
‘Everyone?’
‘Mellie, Lavinia, Mathilde, Tom, Nathaniel, me.
Is that enough?’
‘You have discussed it between you?’
‘I am afraid so.’
‘When was this?’
‘After the party. You went to bed first. Everyone else stayed up. Mathilde started it. You know what she is like. She would not be denied.’
‘I don’t know what to say.’
‘Just say yes. Then we can all relax.’
‘Yes.’
The tears that follow reflect relief rather than sadness, as if a great weight has lifted from Harriet’s shoulders. All those years spent searching for the right moment and now it has been taken out of her hands.
‘I have a lot to thank you for,’ she says. ‘I see that I have made myself hostage to a habit I could not shake off.’
‘That puts it very well. Your friends would not stand by and let you stay like that. Martin and I had already talked about it, but it was Mathilde who brought it into the open.’
***
Martin, Tom and Jem become established as business partners, based at the Château de Beauregard. They stand two stallions, board mares and foals; take horses for pre-training, prior to sending them on to the training centres at Saint Cloud and Maisons-Lafitte; source new horses for owners and trainers; and provide stabling for English-trained runners, when sent over for French races. Strode is their accountant, as well as an investor. There is no repeat of the excesses under Captain Trelawney’s stewardship. It is a profitable business, run on strict commercial principles. Strode sees to that. Beyond the professionalism, though, there is the gift that the three main partners share for horses. It is a winning combination.
***
In the wider world of politics, everything seems to be going well, although Harriet rarely has cause to think much about the grand alliance between France and England, preferring to concentrate on matters closer to home. For all the reservations about Emperor Napoleon III, the British Government, under Lord Palmerston, feel vindicated by their role – not that they would admit anything – in his extended stay in power. True, he is fixed on his vanity project in Mexico, thankfully now free of British involvement, but he is persuaded by Lord Russell to follow Britain’s lead in staying out of the American Civil War and he resists the temptation to meddle in German, Italian or Russian affairs – for the moment, at least. There is nervousness about the emergence of Bismarck’s Prussia as a major power again, but, Denmark aside, there is a prevailing calm in Europe and Palmerston judges that peace is best achieved by maintaining the status quo. Besides, he has an election coming up in the following year and the more he can exude stability and calm, the more certain he will be of victory.
Lord Cowley visits Harriet, after another very long absence, to ask her if all the “arrangements” agreed with Palmerston are satisfactory. She thinks it an odd thing to happen, but, reading between the lines, it seems that Queen Victoria has been asking about her and, as usually happens, Cowley is dispatched by Palmerston to make sure Harriet is behaving herself.
***
Harriet and Jem’s enthusiasm for the château and for each other is undimmed as winter envelops La Celle. In Paris, they attend a preview of Offenbach’s new production, La Belle Hélène, at the Théâtre des Variétés. One day, at the Jardin des Plantes, with snow on the ground, they realise they are reprising a scene from many years ago. Harriet recalls their conversation.
‘Do you remember… I said everything would be alright?’
‘Some would say we have taken our time.’
‘They would be correct.’
‘It was worth the wait.’
‘There is one more thing I must do,’ she says. ‘I have made so many excuses not to visit my parents. It is another habit that needs to be broken. I asked them to come here, but they are set in their ways and won’t be moved. I must go to them before it is too late. I must see for myself that they are provided for. Then, when I return, our life together stretches out before us, uninterrupted. Everything will be resolved.’
‘Would you like me to come with you?’
‘We have decided that it will just be two of us: Mellie and me. We will see Mellie’s mother in London. She does well, by all accounts, but we will make sure she is settled and looked after. Besides, you have much to do here. You and Martin are in charge of the arrangements for the new paddocks.’
‘Very well. I shall pine for you here.’
***
Life has a habit of casting clouds, just when all seems positive. Jean Mocquard dies on 12th December 1864, after a sudden and unexpected illness. Harriet weeps long into the night at the loss of her friend. Jean-François-Constant Mocquard, to give him his full appellation, leaves his wife, Marie-Anne, daughter, Marie-Emilie-Hortense, and son, Amédée. Jean’s son is already a successful lawyer and on good terms with Martin. Indeed, the Mocquard and Howard families have become very close over the years. Harriet would like to attend the funeral, but she knows that Louis and Eugenie will be there and everyone agrees that this is probably best avoided. Mellie and Martin attend in Harriet’s place.
***
A few days after the funeral, Nathaniel Strode receives a telegraph to say that Harriet’s father is in hospital in Norwich. Strode has a long-standing arrangement with a local churchwarden, who lives close by the Harryets, to alert him urgently if any difficulties arise. It has never been needed, until now. He sends his own physician up from London and waits for news. He decides not to inform Harriet until he knows the extent of the illness. When he receives the diagnosis, it is, thankfully, not as serious as first feared. Apparently, Joseph fell down the stairs at the cottage and Elizabeth could not move him. He complained of chest pains and she called for help. The neighbours, fearing a heart problem, took him to the hospital. By the time Strode’s physician, Dr Clements, arrived the next day, Joseph was sitting up in bed. He was suffering lacerations around his face, but a thorough examination and a discussion with Elizabeth revealed the likely cause of the fall as an excess of alcohol and the likely cause of the chest pains as indigestion, following an overindulgence of roast goose. Dr Clements finds it hard to hide his irritation and this is rather reflected in the invoice that arrives on Strode’s desk the following week.
***
There is a third, and more serious, dark cloud gathering. The next time Martin and Tom meet at Wroughton, Martin expresses his concern.
‘Jem is not well. I’m not sure how long they will have,’ he says.
‘I have been bothered about Jem’s health for a long time now. I don’t expect him to live into old age, but I thought he seemed steady enough when I saw him last. Has something changed?’
‘He has lost weight. He coughs all the time. I don’t like the look of him at all. I noticed it much more recently, when I hadn’t seen him for a few weeks.’
‘What did Jem say?’
‘Initially, he made nothing of it; he said he felt fine, but eventually the truth came out.’
‘What truth?’
‘He is carrying an illness, but there is something else. You remember I spoke to you about Nicholas Sly’s murder. I said the finger pointed at Francis Mountjoy-Martin. That is not the case. It was Jem.’
‘I can hardly believe it. Are you sure?’
‘It is not something he would invent. It is a heavy burden. At any time, there could be a knock on the door. Mountjoy-Martin was very accommodating in laying a false trail, knowing he had an alibi. He was at a regimental dinner with two hundred officers available to verify his whereabouts. Nevertheless, the worry remains.’
‘I didn’t even know Jem and Mountjoy-Martin were acquainted.’
‘I don’t think anyone does. Jem sought him out and asked for his help. Mountjoy-Martin was happy to oblige. I think both of them felt their relationship with Mama was doomed, but with their help she could be rid of Sly at least.’
‘Have you
spoken to Harriet about it?’
‘She is preoccupied with going to England at the moment. I understand that. She needs to see her parents. Jem puts on a good show in front of her. It seems to me he doesn’t want to worry her. I am not sure she should ever know about this.’
***
Château de Beauregard
La Celle-Saint-Cloud
Dearest Mama
I am so sorry that Papa has been unwell, but relieved to know that he is well on his way to recovery. Please tell him we are all thinking about him here and send our best wishes.
We have enjoyed the most delightful summer here at La Celle. The sun seems to have shone every day, right through into September. Even the recent months have been tolerably kind to us and we are preparing the house for Christmas as I write. It is not such a tradition, here in France, but we like to keep a little of England at Beauregard and our friends all seem to enjoy seeing the house dressed and joining in the old games we played as children.
Martin is now established in his stud business and doing very well. He does seem to have a real talent for it. I am sure he will call in to see you, the next time he visits Newmarket.
We have endured one great sadness this year, as our dear friend Jean Mocquard died earlier this month. We all miss him awfully and life will never be the same without him.
As soon as New Year is behind us, I am coming to England. I will be with you as soon as I can. I know I have neglected you so terribly and I can only ask for your forgiveness.
God bless you.
Your loving daughter.
Eliza
***
2 Ferry Lane
Norwich
Dear Eliza
Thank you for your note. I know you won’t take it the wrong way when I say that we will believe it when we see it. Of course, it would be lovely if you could visit, but please don’t put yourself to any trouble.