‘M’sieu!’ Alys gasped, not having followed all he said. Her English deserted her. She went on in French, ‘If you aren’t Monsieur Dennis, who are you?’
‘Ah, you’re one of the French girls I’ve heard so much about,’ said he, in excellent French. ‘My name’s Hopetown ‒ I’m employed by Monsieur Richard Patterton, known to you, I imagine?’
‘Ah!’ She was relieved. It was very bad, to go off to dance with someone other than the promised partner, but perhaps it was excusable if the new partner was a friend of a friend. ‘You are in the wine business?’
‘Only in the lesser ranks,’ he said with a rueful smile. ‘And just to make sure you understand my situation, I was only invited tonight to make up the numbers.’
‘Oh, how sad. Nevertheless, I thank you for rescuing me. I was hearing all about Miss Arkley’s failures in the marriage market.’
‘Poor girl,’ he said in a voice of friendly amusement. ‘If she’d only not advertise her tumbles … It puts the fellows off tremendously.’
‘You know her well?’
‘I’ve met her often. You see, Lady G. needs me to pad out her parties ‒ the suitable young men steer clear.’ The music began so he took one of her hands in his and with the other held her at arm’s length. ‘Tell me how you like London,’ he said as they jogged off to the spritely tune.
‘I believe it will be very enjoyable,’ she said.
‘Oh, is that because you’ve just met me?’
‘Ah, come ‒ you can hardly expect me to say yes to that! You rescued me, and I am grateful, but my enjoyment of London doesn’t depend on you, m’sieu.’
During the weeks that followed, that statement became largely untrue. Gavin Hopetown became very important in Alys’s scheme of things. At first it was all quite open and above board ‒ he called at the school, was inspected by Mrs MacArdle and approved of because he was vouched for by an acquaintance of Madame de Tramont. He was of a respectable Scottish family, had received an excellent education, had travelled much in France and, though engaged in ‘trade’, it was the wine trade, which everyone understood to be especially elegant. He escorted both girls to one or two concerts and lectures. Mrs MacArdle was untroubled.
To the contrary, Delphine became more and more anxious as Christmas approached, bringing their mother on a short visit. ‘If she catches one hint of how often you see Gavin, she’ll ‒’
‘She’ll what? Fetch us home? I don’t think she’ll do that, Delphie. Now I come to think of it, I believe she wanted us out of the house for some reason. That decision to send us to Bern with Fräulein was very odd ‒’
‘Now don’t talk nonsense,’ Delphine interrupted. ‘Just because you have a guilty conscience, that’s no reason to claim that Mama has been underhanded ‒’
‘My conscience is quite clear! Gavin and I have done nothing wrong ‒’
‘Are you saying he hasn’t even held your hand? Really, Alys, you know as well as I do that you’re behaving badly. Otherwise why have you never mentioned Gavin in any of your letters to Mama? Why do you slip out to meet him in secret ‒’
‘Delphine!’
‘Good gracious, Allie, you can’t really imagine I don’t hear you when you creep out of bed at midnight and slip through the French windows to the gate at the back ‒’
‘You’ve been spying on me!’
‘Nothing of the kind. What worries me is that one of the others may hear you and raise an alarm that a burglar has got in ‒’
Alys collapsed in a fit of giggles. ‘Oh, wouldn’t that be awful? Caught red-handed with mud on my slippers ‒’
‘Or worse than mud! I do think that meeting in a mews with horses going munch-munch at their oats is terribly unromantic!’
‘Oh, Delphie darling!’ They fell into each other’s arms and on to the side of the bed, laughing until the tears came. But when they had sobered Delphine gave a frown and a sigh.
‘We may laugh, Allie, but you’ve got to make up your mind. Either you tell Mama about this young man and get permission to see him openly ‒’
‘She’d never consent. He’s so unsuitable. Do you know, Delphie ‒ he has scarcely any money except what he makes as an agent in the wine trade?’
‘Mama might not think too badly of him. You know, although she speaks little about it, she was poor herself as a girl.’
‘Ye-es … But that doesn’t prevent her from wanting us to make grand marriages. And you know Grandmama wants at least one of us to get a title.’
Delphie gave a snort. ‘Mama won’t be too much influenced by Grandmama. They get on well enough but I always feel Mama doesn’t like Old Madame to interfere too much. If she met Gavin, and liked him, I think she might allow the friendship to go on.’
‘So long as it remained only a friendship.’
‘Well, it’s only a little more than that, isn’t it? A flirtation after all.’
‘I don’t know,’ Alys said, with unexpected tears brimming under her dark lashes. ‘I thought so at first but … When I think of Mama telling me to end it, I somehow … I couldn’t bear that, Delphie.’
‘Alys!’ Delphine leaned away to study her sister’s face. She caught the glint of tears. ‘Alys, you can’t be growing serious about him?’
‘No. No, of course not. Only … the thought of being forbidden to see him is … Well, let’s not tempt Providence. Promise me you’ll not mention him to Mama.’
‘Of course I won’t, Allie. All the same …’
‘All the same what?’
‘You’re playing with fire.’
‘Oh, you don’t know him! He’s so nice and good … It’s just a shame he hasn’t a title or fortune!’
‘You’re not thinking of him as a suitor? Mama would have a fit! She doesn’t want you to marry an Englishman, Allie! Now look here ‒ promise me, promise me, you won’t for one moment think of anything more serious than a few moonlight kisses and notes left for you in secret places. Allie! Promise!’
‘All right,’ sighed Alys, ‘I promise.’ Yet she knew even then that she was unlikely to be able to abide by it.
Nicole was pleased with them when she arrived for a short stay in December. They looked well, seemed contented, and could certainly speak English a lot better than she could herself.
London was pleasant with pre-Christmas gaiety. Candle-lit fir trees, made popular by the late Prince Consort, decked the vestibules of the larger shops, and coloured globes in some of the gasoliers lent a touch of fantasy to the less dignified emporiums.
Owing gratitude to Lady Grassington for kindnesses to her daughters, Nicole paid a morning call upon her with Alys and Delphine.
‘My dear Madame de Tramont, I would have done more for them,’ her ladyship said with a shrug, ‘but you know, as they’re at finishing school, they cannot be regarded as “out”.’
‘I prefer it so,’ Nicole said. ‘They will have their first season next year in Paris, when they will be introduced to the young men whose families are in touch with me.’
‘In touch?’ Alys said, a sparkle of indignation coming into her brown eyes. ‘Mama, you haven’t begun negotiations ‒’
‘Come, come, my dear, we don’t want to discuss family matters at the moment ‒’
‘Ah, madame, I do sympathise,’ Lady Grassington sighed. She gave a glance towards her own daughter, who was sitting with a piece of embroidery into which she was inserting clumsy stitches. ‘You know, in the end it’s easier to take things into one’s own hands …’
‘That’s terribly old-fashioned!’ cried Alys. ‘These days it’s considered wrong to ‒’
‘By whom?’ Nicole said lightly. ‘By high-spirited daughters who don’t know what’s good for them. Now tell me, milady, what do you think of this great new canal in Egypt? Shall you ever travel through it, do you think?’
Lady Grassington followed her visitor’s lead in changing the subject, said a few complimentary things about the French engineers of the Suez Canal, and the visit ended a
fter the usual quarter of an hour. Late that afternoon a vanman in the livery of the firm of Champagne Tramont delivered a case of the finest champagne, together with a charming card thanking her ladyship for all her kindness. Honour was thus satisfied on both sides. ‘Mama, what did you mean?’ demanded Alys in the carriage taking them back to Kensington. ‘Have you started matchmaking?’
‘Allie dear, it’s inelegant to use that term and improper of you to inquire. In due course you will meet several young men in Paris. That’s enough for you to know.’ Nicole turned with a smile to Delphine. ‘You too, my dear. Of course you have always known that the business is to be left to you equally when I am gone ‒’
‘Oh, Mama, don’t be gloomy!’ Delphine protested. ‘It’s Christmas! And don’t talk about husbands!’
‘The word has never passed my lips,’ Nicole pointed out, laughing a little. ‘All the same, it’s as well for you to have it in mind. When you return home next year I hope everything will be in good train, but of course these things take time, inquiries have to be made, lawyers have to be consulted ‒ and lawyers are seldom in a hurry.’ A slight difficulty with the traffic at Hyde Park Corner caused a break in conversation. When the driver had at last controlled the horses and made his way through Knightsbridge, Nicole spoke of plans for the rest of her stay.
As they dined with her at her hotel that night, Alys went back to the subject. ‘Mama, I know you say it’s improper for me to inquire, but … let’s speak about marriage. After all, you know, there’s no hurry. I’m still only eighteen ‒’
‘Yes, quite true, but one can’t do nothing. Look what has happened to poor Millie Arkley. But you must leave it all to me, dear ‒ such things need careful thought.’
‘But Mama, after all it concerns me ‒ I mean us, both of us, Delphie and me. Listen, Mama, I hope you’re not too set on us liking a gentleman with a title ‒ after all, that’s not important ‒’
‘Quite, I agree with you. Of course it would please Grandmama ‒’
‘But it’s more important that we should like the man. You agree there?’
‘Certainly,’ Nicole said in some surprise. ‘I should never dream of forcing you into anything that you didn’t want ‒ my dear, you haven’t been imagining I would do that?’
‘No, no, of course not.’ Alys looked in appeal to Delphine. But Delphine was quiet, as usual ‒ quieter, perhaps, than usual. Perhaps she too was thinking seriously for the first time about the business of marriage.
‘Suppose, Mama … suppose that in Paris we were to meet someone ‒ suppose we liked someone, but he wasn’t on your list of possible suitors?’
‘Well then, my love, I should look at him carefully and consult Pourdume and find out if he had an income that gave me confidence in his ability to support you properly. You see, Alys dear,’ Nicole said with a muted sigh, ‘it happens that you are the daughters of a very rich woman. And one wants to be sure that anyone who dangles after you isn’t out for the money only. There are a lot of fortune-hunters in wait for girls like you, unfortunately.’
‘Of course, that’s true, but suppose there was a gentleman we included in our circle in Paris, but who perhaps ‒’
‘That’s all quite hypothetical, dear, and I don’t think you should worry your head about it.’
‘But Mama ‒ after all, it’s our lives we’re talking about! What if one of us fell in love with a man who had no money?’
Nicole frowned. ‘Alys … What makes you bring up such an idea?’
‘Well … I …’ Alys longed for the courage to say, ‘I’ve met such a man, and I’m in love with him!’ But she found she couldn’t utter the words under the surprised gaze of her mother. ‘I just wondered,’ she ended weakly.
‘Then I’ll give you an answer. I should of course not want any daughter of mine to be unhappy over a man. But I should also hope that a young man with no money would have enough sense of honour to take himself off out of the way if he thought there was any danger of that sort. I’d have a poor opinion of him otherwise ‒ and some doubts of his sincerity.’
Having thus disposed of some little romantic notions that were only natural in girls of that age, Nicole concentrated on giving her daughters as much fun as possible for the rest of her stay. She left for Dover three days after Christmas, wishing to be at home for a New Year Ball in Rheims in aid of a charity for which she was patroness.
Both Alys and Delphine had enjoyed her visit. Yet it had meant almost no opportunity to meet Gavin. Alys ran to her first rendezvous with him, swept along on winged feet, understanding at last that he was far too important to give up just to suit Mama’s plans.
‘Have you missed me, Gavin?’ she asked.
‘Not in the least. I was sent on business to Southampton and had hardly any time to think about you at all.’
‘Oh, if that’s true ‒!’
‘No, my angel ‒ I was absolutely miserable!’ he confessed. ‘It was wet and cold in Southampton and my hotel was dismal. But even if it had been a palace I’d have been unhappy there.’
She looked up into his solemn face, and at that moment knew that he really, genuinely loved her as she loved him. ‘Gavin …?’
‘Alys!’
It was their first kiss, tremulous and hesitant. Their lips scarcely brushed. Yet a moment later they were wrapped in each other’s arms, murmuring endearments and exchanging caresses in growing passion.
‘No!’ he gasped at last, pushing her away. ‘No, Alys ‒ we must be honourable.’
‘Gavin, I trust you ‒’
‘But I don’t trust myself! Don’t you see … You’re so adorable, and I long for you so much ‒ but we mustn’t, we really mustn’t. I’d hate myself if I caused you the slightest unhappiness.’
‘But I’m always happy when I’m with you, Gavin. Nothing else matters.’
For the moment he abandoned argument. They spent that meeting holding each other fast against the dreary cold of a winter afternoon in Kensington Gardens.
But when he saw her again Gavin was adamant. ‘We mustn’t allow ourselves to get carried away,’ he said, his strict Scottish upbringing stiffening his resolve. ‘I love you, Alys, and I want you to belong to me, but I’ve thought about it and thought about it and there’s only one way ‒ I must write to your mother and ask for your hand in marriage.’
‘No, don’t!’ she cried in panic. ‘Don’t, you’ll spoil everything!’
‘But it’s the only honourable step ‒’
‘She’ll whisk us home, I tell you! We talked about it over Christmas ‒ she’s already started the marriage-broking, there’s already a list of suitable young men ‒’
‘Alys! You’d never accept any of them?’
‘Of course not! But you see ‒ she said she wouldn’t trust a young man who had no money ‒ she’ll think you’re after my fortune.’
He went fiery red. ‘If you think that ‒’
‘Don’t be silly! Oh, darling, I know you would never think of such a thing … But of course Mama …’
‘If I were to go there,’ he proposed. ‘If I asked to see her? It’s true I’ve almost no money, but my family’s a good one, the Hopetowns come from a long line of Border earls …’
She shook her head. ‘It wouldn’t be any use. She’d forbid us to see each other.’
‘Oh no ‒ I couldn’t bear that ‒’
Each time they met they went back over the same ground. They had certain things that they held on to as absolute truths ‒ they were in love, they wanted to be married, Alys’s mother would refuse her consent.
In the end they solved their problem. Delphine woke one morning in March to find a note pinned to the pillow next to her in the prettily-hung double bed.
‘Gavin and I have gone to Scotland to be married. Parental permission is not required there. I know this will grieve you and Mama but there seems no other way. Yr. loving sister Alys.’
Chapter 17
Mrs MacArdle was having weak hysterics. Lord Gra
ssington, summoned by her as the only male with any authority to deal with this problem, was writing a hasty note while a messenger waited to take it to Richard Patterton at Lindom and Company.
Delphine was sitting on a hard chair in Mrs MacArdle’s office, apart from the drama now. Her role had been played: she had brought the note to Mrs MacArdle as soon as she had dragged on a dressing-gown. Now, clad in a morning gown and with her hair in a simple cap, she awaited her doom.
‘We must get a message to your mother by the next packet available,’ his lordship said, with a brief glance of sympathy. ‘Don’t look so stricken, Delphine ‒ we may yet be in time to prevent the marriage.’
She didn’t think so. The runaways would have taken a night train to Scotland and there, knowing the laws and customs of his own country, Gavin would have found them a place to wait in security until the marriage could take place. Lord Grassington had told her it took three weeks. That sounded a long time. But if they could remain out of sight in some unexpected spot until the time was up, nothing could prevent the ceremony.
‘Your poor Mama!’ wept Mrs MacArdle. ‘What will she say? She told me she had a splendid marriage arranged for Alys … Oh, oh! Such a thing has never happened before during the entire time I’ve had girls under my care! Oh, my reputation is damaged for ever!’
‘You are not to blame, Mrs MacArdle. I’m afraid the young people used a great deal of guile.’ He sighed. ‘As to Hopetown, I’m ashamed of him. He’s been a guest many a time at our house …’
In his capable hands, inquiries were pursued and letters sent. It seemed indeed that the young couple had taken the mail train to the north but at what station they had alighted no one could tell. Grassington instructed a private investigator to trace them, but without success. Nicole arrived three days later, accepted the actual note from Delphine’s trembling hands, and looked grim.
‘She writes of him to you as “Gavin”. You knew this young man?’
The Wine Widow Page 22