by Amanda Quick
“Oh, dear, this does sound serious.” Sally closed her book and gazed inquiringly at Augusta. “Perhaps you had better tell me everything right from the beginning.”
“I have been a perfect idiot.”
“Yes, well, we all are, sooner or later. Now, why don’t you tell me the tale? I confess I have been a trifle bored this afternoon.”
Augusta took a deep breath and explained the disaster in all its unpleasant detail. Sally listened attentively and then nodded in complete understanding.
“Of course you must settle the debt, my dear,” she said. “It is a matter of honor.”
“Yes, precisely. I have no choice.”
“And your mother’s necklace is the only thing of value you have to pawn?”
“I fear so. All my other jewelry has been given to me by Uncle Thomas and I would not feel right selling it.”
“You do not feel you could go to your uncle and request his assistance in this?”
“No. Uncle Thomas would be vastly overset by this entire mess and I could not blame him. He would be extremely disappointed in me. A thousand pounds is a great deal of money. He has been far too generous already.”
“He will be getting a considerable sum in marriage settlements from Graystone,” Sally pointed out dryly.
Augusta blinked in surprise. “He will?”
“I believe so.”
“I did not know that.” Augusta scowled. “Why is it that men never discuss that sort of thing with the women involved? They treat us as if we were feebleminded. No doubt doing so makes them feel superior to us.”
Sally smiled. “That may be part of it, but I think there is more to it than that. I believe, at least in the case of men such as your fiancé and your uncle, that they act the way they do because they feel protective.”
“Rubbish. But be that as it may, the settlements, whatever they are, will not be made for another four months. I cannot wait that long. I have the distinct impression that Lovejoy will begin hounding me for repayment very soon.”
“I see. And you do not feel you could take this matter to Graystone?”
Augusta stared at her, utterly aghast. It took her several seconds to close her mouth. “Tell Graystone I lost a thousand pounds to Lovejoy? Are you mad? Have you any notion of how he would react to such information? I cannot even bear to contemplate the explosion that would take place if I were to confess this to him.”
“You may have a point. He would not be pleased, would he?”
“I could probably tolerate his displeasure,” Augusta said slowly. “Who knows? It might even convince him to let me cry off the engagement. But I could never in a million years endure the humiliation of having to explain to him that in my desire to teach him a lesson I made a complete fool of myself.”
“Yes, I can fully comprehend that. A woman has her pride. Let me consider this for a moment.” Sally idly tapped the leather binding of the book in her lap. “I believe the simplest way to handle this is for you to bring the necklace to me.”
“To you? But I must pawn it, Sally.”
“And so you shall. But it is very difficult for a lady to pawn an expensive item without the business going unnoticed by someone. If you bring the necklace to me, on the other hand, I can send Scruggs to the pawnbroker’s for you. He will keep his silence.”
“Oh, I see what you mean.” Augusta leaned back in her chair, somewhat relieved. “Yes, that would work. It is very kind of you to assist me in this, Sally. How can I ever repay you?”
Sally smiled and for a moment her fine-boned features held a hint of the radiant beauty that had once made her the toast of London. “It is I who am happy to be able to repay you in some small way for all you have done for me, Augusta. Now run along and fetch your mother’s necklace. You shall have your thousand pounds by nightfall.”
“Thank you.” Augusta paused and gave her friend a searching glance. “Tell me, Sally, do you think it is possible that Lord Lovejoy used the conversation about investigating my brother’s death to lure me into deep play? I am not trying to excuse myself, but one cannot help but wonder …”
“I think it entirely possible. Some men are extremely unscrupulous. He probably sensed your weakness and used it to distract you.”
“He never meant a word of his promise to help me prove Richard was not a traitor, did he?”
“I think it highly unlikely. How could he? Augusta, you must be realistic about the matter. Nothing will bring back Richard and there is no way you can ever clear his name except in your own heart. You know he was innocent and you must be satisfied with that inner knowledge.”
Augusta’s hand tightened into a small fist in her lap. “There must be a way.”
“It has been my experience that in matters such as this, the best solution is silence.”
“But it is not fair,” Augusta protested.
“Much of life is not, my dear. On your way out, Augusta, would you please ask Scruggs to have one of the maids bring me my tonic?”
Quite suddenly Augusta’s own problems faded into the background. A deep, helpless anguish gripped her. Sally’s tonic was brewed from the juice of the opium poppy. The fact that she was calling for it this early in the day meant that the pain was getting worse.
Augusta reached out and took hold of one of Sally’s frail hands. She held it very tightly for a while. Neither woman spoke.
After a time Augusta rose and went to tell Scruggs to fetch the tonic.
• • •
“I ought to paddle her backside so hard she could not sit a horse for a week. She should be locked up and not allowed out except under guard. The woman is a menace. She is going to make my life a living hell.” Harry stalked across Sally’s small library, found himself blocked by a bookcase, swung around, and stalked back in the other direction.
“She is going to make your life interesting.” Sally sipped her sherry and did not bother to conceal an amused smiled. “Things have a way of happening around Augusta. Quite fascinating, actually.”
Harry slammed his hand down on the gray marble mantel over the fireplace. “Quite infuriating, you mean.”
“Now, do calm down, Harry. I only told you about the incident because you were demanding to know what was going on and I was afraid you would start making inquiries. When you make inquiries, you generally get answers. So I cut the process short by supplying you with the answers.”
“Augusta is going to be my wife. I have a perfect right to know what the devil she’s up to at any given time, damn it.”
“Yes, well, now you know and you must let that be the end of it. You are not to interfere in this, do you understand? This is a matter of honor for Augusta and she would be most upset if you stepped in and resolved the issue for her.”
“Honor? What has honor got to do with this? She was willfully defying me by flirting with Lovejoy and she got herself into serious trouble.”
“Augusta is well aware she behaved somewhat recklessly. She does not need any lectures from you. This is a gaming debt, Harry. It must be settled. Allow her to do so in her own way. You would not want to injure her pride, would you?”
“This is intolerable.” Harry came to a halt and stood glowering down at his old friend. “I cannot stand by and do nothing. I will deal with Lovejoy myself.”
“No.”
“A man is responsible for his wife’s debts,” Harry reminded her.
“Augusta is not yet your wife. Let her handle this. It should be over quite soon and I assure you she has learned her lesson.”
“If only I could believe that,” Harry muttered. “Damn Lovejoy. He knew what he was doing.”
Sally considered that briefly. “Yes, I rather believe he did. And Augusta reasoned that out for herself, by the bye. She is no fool. It was no coincidence that he brought up the subject of her brother just as she was getting ready to quit the table and return to the ballroom. If there was one thing guaranteed to distract her attention, it was the matter of Richard Ballinger’s inno
cence.”
Harry drove his fingers through his hair in a distracted motion. “She was apparently quite close to that damned rakehell brother of hers.”
“He was all she had left after their parents were killed in the carriage accident. She adored him. She has never stopped believing him innocent of selling his country’s secrets and she would give anything to clear the stain on his reputation.”
“From all accounts Ballinger was wild and reckless, just like his father.” Harry stopped pacing and went to stand in front of the window. It was after midnight and it was raining. He wondered if Augusta was even now paying her gaming debt. “It is entirely possible he got involved in something serious simply because of the promise of adventure. Perhaps he was not aware of the nature of his actions.”
“That branch of the Ballinger family has always been a bit reckless, but no one has ever accused any Ballinger of being a traitor. Indeed, Ballingers have always guarded their honor quite fiercely.”
“Certain documents were found on his body, I believe?”
“So it is said.” Sally paused.” “Twas Augusta who found him, you know. She heard the shot. Sound carries a long distance in the country. She went rushing out into the lane. Richard died in her arms.”
“Christ.”
“The documents were discovered by the local magistrate who was called in to investigate. Once everyone realized what had been found, Sir Thomas exerted every ounce of influence he had to get the facts suppressed. Obviously he did not have quite enough influence to stop all the rumors. But it has been two years now and most people have forgotten the incident.”
“That son of a bitch.”
“Who? Lovejoy?” As usual, Sally had no trouble following Harry’s chain of thought. “Yes, he is, is he not? There are many like him in Society, Harry. They prey on vulnerable young women. You know that. But Augusta is going to get herself out of this predicament and, as I said, she has most definitely learned her lesson.”
“Not bloody likely,” Harry said with a resigned sigh. But he had made his decision. “Very well, I shall allow Augusta to repay her debt, collect her vowels, and keep her pride intact.”
Sally cocked a brow. “And then?”
“And then I shall have a little chat with Lovejoy myself.”
“I rather thought you would. By the way, there is one thing you might like to do for Augusta.”
Harry looked at her. “What is that?”
Sally smiled and picked up the velvet pouch that sat on a table beside her chair. She loosened the thong that bound the pouch and allowed the necklace inside to spill out into her hand. Red stones sparkled in her palm. “You might like to retrieve her mother’s necklace from pawn.”
“You still have the necklace? I thought you sent it out to a jeweler’s.”
“Augusta does not know it, but I acted as her moneylender.” Sally shrugged. “It was the only thing I could do under the circumstances.”
“Because you could not bear for her to have to part with the necklace?”
“No, because the thing is not worth a thousand pounds,” Sally said bluntly. “It is paste.”
“Paste? Are you certain?” Harry crossed the room and plucked the necklace from Sally’s hand. He held it up to the light, examining it closely. Sally was right. The red stones sparked attractively but there was no fire in their depths.
“Quite certain. I know jewels, Harry. Poor Augusta thinks the stones in that necklace are real, however, and I would not want her to learn the truth. The thing has great sentimental value to her.”
“I know.” Harry dropped the necklace back into the pouch. He frowned thoughtfully. “I suppose her brother pawned the real rubies when he bought his commission.”
“Not necessarily. The workmanship on those stones is excellent and very old-fashioned. It was probably done many years ago. I suspect the real rubies were sold sometime in the family’s past, perhaps two or three generations back. The Northumberland Ballingers have a long history of living on their wits and not much else.”
“I see.” Harry’s hand tightened around the pouch. “So now I owe you a thousand pounds for a string of false rubies and fake diamonds, is that it?”
“Exactly.” Sally chuckled. “Oh, Harry, this is all so very delightful. I am enjoying myself immensely.”
“I am glad someone is.”
Augusta, dressed in an emerald green gown with long, matching green gloves and a green plume in her hair, stood frozen in the theater lobby. She stared up at Lovejoy, whom she had just succeeded in cornering. She could not believe what he had just said to her.
“Not allow me to pay my debt? You cannot be serious. I pawned my mother’s necklace in order to repay you. It was all I had of hers.”
Lovejoy smiled without any warmth. “I did not say I would not allow you to repay the debt, my dear Augusta. I agree it must be paid. It is, after all, a debt of honor. I merely said I could not take your money. It would be unconscionable under the circumstances. Your mother’s necklace, no less. Good lord, I simply cannot do it and continue to live with myself.”
Augusta shook her head, completely at a loss. She had gone to Pompeia’s earlier to collect the money Scruggs had received when he had pawned the necklace late that afternoon. Then she had rushed off to the theater fully intending to make arrangements to pay off Lovejoy.
Now he was refusing to take the money.
“I do not understand what you are talking about,” Augusta hissed softly, anxious not to be overheard in the crowded lobby.
“Tis quite simple. After due consideration I realize I could not possibly take your thousand pounds, my dear Miss Ballinger.”
Augusta eyed him warily. “That is very kind of you, sir, but I must insist.”
“In that case, we must arrange to discuss the matter in a more private atmosphere.” Lovejoy glanced meaningfully around at the throng that filled the lobby. “This is surely not the appropriate time or place.”
“But I have a draft for the amount with me.”
“I have just told you I cannot take your money.”
“Sir, I demand that you allow me to settle this debt.” Augusta was beginning to feel frustrated and quite desperate. “You must return my marker for the thousand pounds.”
“You want your marker back very badly, do you?”
“Well, of course I do. Please, my lord, this is very awkward.”
Lovejoy’s eyes glittered with amused malice as he appeared to consider her demand. “Very well, I think we can make arrangements. You shall have your vowels back if you care to call on me two nights hence. Say around eleven o’clock in the evening? Come alone, Miss Ballinger, and we will settle the debt.”
Augusta was suddenly chilled from head to toe as she realized what he was saying. She moistened dry lips and tried to keep her voice calm. It sounded unnaturally thin, even to her own ears. “I cannot possibly call on you alone at eleven o’clock at night. You know that very well, my lord.”
“Do not concern yourself with the little matter of your reputation, Miss Ballinger. I assure you, I will mention your visit to no one. Least of all to your fiancé.”
“You cannot force me to do this,” she whispered.
“Come, now, Miss Ballinger. Where is that adventurous spirit and thirst for recklessness which everyone says is a family trait? Surely you are not too timid to risk a little late-night rendezvous at the home of a friend.”
“My lord, be reasonable.”
“Oh, I shall be, my dear. Most reasonable. I shall expect you at eleven, evening after next. Do not disappoint me, or I shall be obliged to make public the fact that the last of the Northumberland Ballingers does not pay her gaming debts. Think of the humiliation, Augusta. And so easily avoided by a short visit.”
Lovejoy turned and walked off into the crowd.
Augusta stared after him, her stomach churning.
“Oh, there you are, Augusta,” Claudia said as she came up behind her cousin. “Shall we join the Haywoods in
their box now? It is almost time for the performance to begin and we are expected.”
“Yes. Yes, of course.”
Edmund Kean was as compelling on stage as always, but Augusta did not hear one word of the play. She spent the entire time trying to deal with the new twist in the disaster that had befallen her.
No matter how she viewed the situation, there was no way around the horrible fact that a note saying she owed Lovejoy a thousand pounds was in the odious man’s possession and he had no intention of returning it unless she compromised herself.
Augusta was reckless, but she was far from naive. She did not believe for one minute that Lovejoy intended her late-night visit to be a social call. The man was clearly going to demand much more of her than a little conversation.
It was clear that Lord Lovejoy was no gentleman. There was no telling what he would do with her vowels should she fail to show two nights hence. But she had seen the chilling promise in his eyes. Sooner or later he would use her note against her in some malicious manner.
Perhaps he would go to Graystone with her marker. Augusta closed her eyes and shuddered at the thought. Harry would be furious with her. The evidence of her foolishness would confirm all his darkest suspicions concerning her character.
It would be humiliating, but she could tell Harry the whole story now. He would be thoroughly displeased, even disgusted with her behavior. This incident would no doubt be just the impetus he needed to finally agree to allow her to call off the engagement.
That thought should have brought her a giddy sense of relief, but for some reason it did not. Augusta forced herself to examine the reason why. Surely she did not actually want the engagement to stand. She had resisted the notion right from the start.
No, she decided firmly, it was not that she still believed that marriage to Harry was a sound idea, it was simply that she did not wish to be embarrassed and humiliated in front of him.
She had her pride, after all. She was the last of the proud, daring, neck-or-nothing branch of the Ballinger clan. She would look after her own honor.
On the way home in the Haywoods’ carriage, Augusta came to a grim conclusion. She had to find a way to retrieve the incriminating gaming voucher before Lovejoy found a way to embarrass and humiliate her with it.