Felicity gasped and looked from the poacher to Alex. ‘Do you know him then?’
This Felicity is one of our tenants, Mr Kensett. My father hired out the cottage in the lower East Lane to him about six months ago.’ Alex glanced at the trap and quickly took measure of the nature of his tenant’s nefarious activities. Everything made sense, for it was about six months ago that the gamekeeper had first mentioned to his father that he was having a problem with poachers. He had needed to dismantle a number of cruel traps that he had found on the land. Unfortunately, the gamekeeper had not always found the traps empty and had to put a few animals, mostly badgers, foxes and rabbits out of their misery. The day he needed to shoot a stag, he had been particularly despondent. Despite all of their efforts the poacher had proved elusive, so it was good to have him standing here now caught completely red handed.
By this time, Richard arrived. He had been unable to drive the gig on the narrow path through the copse and had made the rest of the way slowly on foot leaning heavily on his stick. Alex called Richard over and handed him the shotgun. ‘Cover him Richard for I have something I must do.’ Alex walked over to the poacher, grabbed his jacket and rendered him a powerful upper cut on the jaw. The man fell like a stone. ‘That is for assaulting a Lady,’ he stormed with some satisfaction. ‘And that is not even taking into account your poaching activities.’ He dragged Mr Kensett to his feet and turned to Richard. ‘Richard can you take Felicity and collect our things from the river bank. I need to finish up here.’
At 6pm that evening, the party gathered in the drawing room for dinner. The Duke had returned from Harrogate after a successful shopping trip with Lady Ellingham. The Countess had ordered a beautiful new pelisse of deep mauve kerseymere from the Dowagers favourite modiste, and the seamstress had promised to have the garment ready for her revered client within two days. Felicity was the last to come down to the drawing room and when she entered the room the Duke gave her a large welcoming smile. ‘Alex tells me that I have a lot to thank you for Felicity. I hear you are responsible for catching my mysterious poacher red handed. I cannot tell you how grateful I am. Mr Kensett has been a constant source of irritation to me for this last six months.’
Felicity looked slightly embarrassed. Richard had not said very much but she could tell on their journey back home in the gig that afternoon, that he was exasperated that she had managed to find trouble again. Well she reasoned, Alex had not seemed to mind and the Duke was positively beaming over the fact that his poacher had been caught. She nodded an acknowledgement to the Duke and gave Richard a defiant grin. Richard ignored her and turned his attention to the Duke. ‘What have you decided to do with the fellow Gareth? From what Alex tells me he was a nasty piece of work.’
The Duke was magnanimous, ‘I spared him the magistrate because it has been tough enough this year, with a lot of the crops failing. Alex detained him and when I returned from Harrogate, we escorted him back to his cottage and made him pack up. I confiscated his keys and he has been evicted. The cottage has been locked up so he cannot return. I know it has been a bad year but he had no excuse for behaving as he did. I have subsidised my tenants this year, so none of them will starve and although I blink a blind eye at the shooting of an odd pheasant or rabbit, I draw the line on inhumane trapping.’
Richard smiled ‘Yes the stupid fellow has so obviously shot himself in the foot.’
Gareth acknowledged, ‘Indeed he has but enough about him,’ he rubbed his hand together, ‘What are we having for dinner?’ he asked gleefully.
Alex grinned. ‘Trout, what else. Some folk have had to fish for their supper!’
Chapter 16
A Musical Evening and a Shock
Much to Richards’s relief, the following week passed by without any more incidents. Richard was recovering very well and by the middle of the week, the swelling on his ankle had gone down and he was able to get his boot on. He found this a great source of relief, for although he still needed to be careful, he could mount his horse without difficulty and spent a couple of hours on horseback, enjoying the delights of the Yorkshire countryside and a little bit of game shooting.
Felicity was the epitome of propriety and even made herself useful helping the old Dowager to organise her musical evening. It was to be a relatively small occasion, the Dowager having invited fifteen of the local families and it was arranged to take place on the following Sunday evening. The Dowager, who had painful bent fingers, tended to write with a spidery scrawl and so she asked Felicity to write out the invitations. She was glad she had done so, for she was delighted by the artistic flourish of Felicity’s hand and the pleasing result. Felicity had spent a pleasant afternoon with the Marquis delivering them, while her mother helped to organise the food and entertainment. In her heyday, the Dowager had developed a reputation for hosting an excellent party and neighbours never hesitated to respond to her invitations. Her musical evenings tended to be very popular for she liked to pre-arrange her entertainment, thus avoiding subjecting her guests to talentless musicians and caterwauling young ladies who thought they could sing.
Saturday arrived and the party assembled in the drawing room ready to greet their first guests. Felicity wore a gown of mid pink satin with a high waist and square neckline. It had elaborate short puffed sleeves and a deep ruche hem decorated with cream rosebuds. She wore cream gloves that were heavily laced and a simple necklace of pearls to complete her ensemble. Alex looked at her in admiration for she looked quite beautiful and he felt a pang at her refusal to marry him. However, he was not to be deterred for he was determined to discover the reason for her reticence.
The gentlemen looked equally fine with Alex turned out in his favourite black, always guaranteed to make an impression. The Duke looked elegant in Olive Green and Richard was wearing a beautiful coat of blue superfine. Richard was greatly looking forward to the evening, but as a person, who very much liked to dance, expressed his disappointment of not being able to do so. His ankle still pained him a little and he found himself cursing the existence of accursed rabbits and their annoying tendency to litter the countryside with plaguey rabbit holes.
The first half of the evening was to consist of some organised musical entertainment followed by a buffet and for the second half of the evening, the Countess had hired a trio of professional musicians so the company could enjoy some informal dancing. She had also set out some card tables for anyone who did not wish to dance but preferred to try their hand at a friendly game of whist or piquet instead. While they awaited their guests, the family enjoyed a pre-party drink. Alex handed Richard a glass of wine and unaware that Felicity’s talent for singing had inspired the whole evening, Alex voiced his concern. ‘Grandmother tells me that Flick is going to sing for us this evening. I hope she has not been coerced and put on the spot.’
Felicity who was standing in earshot drinking a glass of Ratafia eyed him smiling. Richard laughed. ‘Our Flick! You have never heard her have you. She wails like a banshee.’
Felicity bit her lip and tried to hide her amusement under veiled eyes and Richard gave her a mischievous brotherly grin. Both expressions were lost on Alex and he turned to Felicity with some concern. ‘You do not need to sing if you do not wish it. Grandmother can be a bully sometimes and people can find themselves persuaded to do things that they would rather not. Do not feel obligated just because the Dowager asks you, for I would not wish you to feel uncomfortable.’
Felicity reassured him. ‘I could hardly refuse your grandmamma when she asked me and I can hardly renege this late in the day when she has planned everything to the last detail. Do not worry; I think I should be able to acquit myself without too much discomfiture. I shall certainly try to do my best.’
‘Well as long as you are sure.’ Alex replied uncertainly. They did not have time to say much more for the butler arrived announcing the arrival of their first guests. The Allon family had arrived with their 17-year-old daughter Jennifer who had a particularly pleasing voice and h
ad agreed to sing.
The guests slowly started to arrive, introductions were made and the musical evening got underway. The company took their seats for the musical presentation and Jennifer Allon started the singing off with a beautiful rendition of Robbie Burns ‘The Bank O Doon’ and Richard who had taken an instant liking to the girl, stood by the piano to turn the song sheet for her. The company sat enthralled. Due to the Dowagers good planning, the standard of the performances were high. Felicity was the last to perform and she had chosen three of her favourite pieces with which to finish off the recitals. Alex stood nervously by the piano offering his services to turn her music sheet. Unlike The Dowager and Felicity’s family, he was quite apprehensive, for he did not know what to expect and she certainly had some hard acts to follow.
Felicity sat down at the piano, removed her lace gloves and placed them on top of the instrument, allowing her bare hands to have a free flow over the piano keys. For her first song, she had chosen to sing a love Ballard, ‘The Sweet Lass of Richmond Hill’. It was a favourite of King George but being a ballad about a Yorkshire girl, Felicity thought it a nice local touch. She began to sing -
On Richmond Hill there lives a lass,
More bright than May-day morn,
Whose charms all other maids' surpass,
A rose without a thorn...................
Felicity’s voice rang out in fine melody. The audience sat enthralled for her voice had a beautiful haunting quality that could keep even the most unenthusiastic listener spellbound. Alex, for once in his life stunned, stood staring down at her. He could not have imagined that such a headstrong, spontaneous woman who tumbled from one disaster to the next could have such a lovely voice. He raised his head to give Richard a reproachful glance but Richard just sat grinning at him. This was one thing about his madcap sister he could be proud of and he spared no pains to hide it. Alex was so mesmerised that he forgot to turn the page of her music sheet. Felicity lifted her arm to correct the omission and as she did so, he saw it!
A large and wieldy scar adorned the underside of her right wrist. The sight of it burned his eyes like a flame as he realised the significance of it. He stood almost hypnotised; her beautiful voice echoing above his head like the ghostly voice of the Lorelei. He blinked, surely he must be mistaken. He looked at the offending wrist, the underside again hidden as her nimble fingers swept deftly over the keys. Although he could no longer see it, its image was imprinted in his memory and no amount of disbelief could erase it.
His glance shifted thoughtfully from her sensitive feminine fingers to her long golden hair. This evening she was dressed in her pink finery, looking graceful and elegant, who could have guessed that such a graceful woman was capable breaking and entering his home and then jumping over balconies as easily and agilely as any athlete. He thought back and all of a sudden it all made sense. With no fear for her own safety, she had ridden out in the early hours of a cold morning to stop a duel. She had swum against a healthy current on the day she had recued Tiber from the river. He had discovered that she was a remarkable horse woman quite willing to attempt the most challenging of obstacles and on the day of the hunt, had he not found her perched in a tree as comfortable as if she had been born there. It had puzzled him at the time for the lowest branched was just above her head. She must have had the most astonishing upper body stretch to haul herself up there. It would have been no problem for her to drop over a balcony.
Alex stood there, his mind working overtime as Felicity continued through her recital. By now, she had reached her third and final song, which was an upbeat tempo and smiled up at Alex as he absently turned the next page of her music sheet. He caught a glimpse of her now familiar violet blue eyes. His heart missed a beat; the young man dangling from the balcony in his sliding grasp had those same startling violet blue eyes. Even in the fading moonlight, the colour was clearly distinguishable, as they had looked up into his brown ones wide with terror. How could he have not recognised those extraordinary blue eyes? In retrospect, he realised that perhaps with the exception of Richard and the Countess they were practically unique. The answer to that question was quite simple; he had not been looking. He had automatically assumed that the person who had burgled him that evening was a young man. Only it had not been a young man at all, but it had been this delightful young woman, as athletic as she was beautiful and he found his senses in turmoil at the sudden discovery.
He had known her for many weeks and could not understand how he had not seen the scar before. It was large and clearly noticeable, having obviously been the result of some previous dreadful injury, perhaps a burn. He began to reflect and for the first time realised that Felicity always wore long fine gloves. In fact, they were quite her trademark. On the occasion that she did not, she wore a long sleeved dress or a coat. The disfigurement was not at all pretty, and was obviously an abhorrence to her and she did her best to hide it, only this evening she had needed to remove her gloves to get the feel of the piano keys beneath her touch. No wonder that Alex had never seen it before.
Alex’s mind was still trying to process this new discovery when Felicity finished her final song. The audience were applauding in appreciation as Felicity stood up and collected her music sheet. She smiled up at Alex who now looked down upon her in a newfound light and handed her back her fine laced gloves. As she took them from him and put them on, he noticed once again the large discoloured blemish on an otherwise beautiful silky skin. He had not been mistaken but one thing was certain, Alex could not confront her in front of all these people. ‘Quite a revealing performance my dear,’ he remarked ambiguously, ‘I see you are a Lady of many talents. I will admit that you surprise me at every turn. ’
Felicity, who could not have understood his innuendo, accepted his compliment gracefully and turned to the Dowager who was by now at her side to congratulate her for her fine performance. A number of admirers suddenly surrounded her and Alex being crowded out had no time to say much more. Alex watched Felicity as a crowd still lingered, his eyes kindling with conflicting emotions. He loved her still but this newfound revelation had made him angry. He knew she was intrepid and somewhat incorrigible but how could she have taken such a risk. He remembered his total outrage on having found her in his bedchamber. There was no knowing what he would have done if he had caught her. He may have beaten her to a pulp before he had discovered her gender.
Was this her secret, the reason she could not marry him? Could she not bring herself to tell him? He perfectly understood why; for the matter was serious and not so easy to sweep under the carpet. One thing was for certain, he would have it out with her before the evening was out and she would dam well have to accept his marriage offer. As his wife, she would never be doing anything quite so foolish ever again.
The crowd around her was beginning to disperse as they headed for the buffet but still Alex could not catch Felicity alone. She was proving to be very popular amongst his local friends and neighbours as they vied for her attention. He had to admit that she was very sociable and would make a fine Marchioness but now he had other things on his mind. He would just have to wait until the dancing began in order to speak to her. Fortunately, he had booked the waltz long before the first guests had arrived and others claimed her hand. It would be another half an hour however before the waltz, so he would just have to go off and kick his heels with some other diversion, and a stiff drink was probably the best order of the day.
As he made his way to the brandy decanter, he bumped into Richard. ‘What is wrong with you?’ Richard asked. ‘You look like a bear with a sore head. Something has happened to put you out of countenance.’
Alex poured himself a stiff drink and handed another to Richard smiling absently as he did so. ‘Oh nothing I cannot handle,’ he replied nonchalantly. He did not want Richard to worry over this affair and thereby totally spoil his evening. Richard was a fine man and a good landlord but as Alex was beginning to realise he was still very young and had no head on how to
handle his twin sister. As children, they would have been schooled and played together and Alex could guess which one of them was the ape leader. The sooner Richard had Flick off his hands the better, and what is more Alex was determined to be the one to do him that favour.
The time past slowly and did nothing to alleviate his temper but finally the waltz was announced. Alex sought out Felicity and led her to the dance floor. Felicity thought that Alex looked rather fierce as he grabbed her waist and pulled her toward him. His brow was lined and he had a dark brooding look that was enough to make any lesser female bolt for cover. He put his free hand in her gloved one and led her into the dance. He was by no means gentle as he guided her around the dance floor and Felicity began to realise that he was in a black mood. She looked up into his dark inflexible face and wondered what had happened to bring on such displeasure. She waited however for him to speak for she was not going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that she had noticed. Finally, he gave her a foreboding look, ‘When this evening is over I wish to speak to you. I appreciate it may not be easy for you to get away but dismiss your maid as soon as you can and meet me in the library. I will wait at your convenience.’
‘Why whatever is the matter,’ she replied somewhat apprehensively. She had only seen him like this once before and that was when they had argued at Almack’s, when she had accused him of being a thief and he had challenged Richard to that stupid duel. She looked at him with some foreboding and then made up her mind. ‘You know Alex I do not think I will. Apart from the fact, this it is hardly proper for me to be meeting you alone in the middle of the night, you appear to be in a bad temper and I do not think I shall subject myself to your dark humours. So say what you have to say now and be done with it, though for the life of me I cannot see what I can have done to offend you.’
Lady Ellingham and the Theft of the Stansfield Necklace: A Regency Romance Page 17