by Anne Herries
It was all Miss Merlin’s fault in the first place for putting ideas into the girl’s head and she would feel the full force of his displeasure when they next met.
Chapter Six
‘I think we should order one or two new gowns for you, Eleanor,’ Samantha said when the young lady accompanied her to her dressmaker that morning. ‘Although we do not intend to go out into society much, Annabel will entertain friends and you must be properly dressed. You have only a few simple gowns with you and they simply will not do.’
‘I have no money,’ Eleanor replied blushing. ‘My allowance was spent at the inn before you arrived. I dare say Robert might pay the bill – if he isn’t too angry…’
‘He might indeed, but we shall not ask him,’ Samantha said. ‘They shall be my leaving gift to you, for I do not think you will return to the school.’ She would either be married – or her tyrant of a brother would drag her home in disgrace.
‘You are so kind to me – the sister I never had,’ Eleanor said. ‘Had Aunt Grace been more like you I should never have run away.’ She was silent for a moment, then, ‘I visited the wishing well, you know – and I wished that Toby might love me. He told me how he felt the very next day.’
‘Oh…that foolish tale,’ Samantha said. ‘I believe that the lady of the well does sometimes grant one’s wish, but usually if it is for someone else.’
‘Oh…I did not realise I was supposed to ask for someone else,’ Eleanor said. ‘Had I known I should have wished that Toby would be happy.’
‘I dare say the lady of the well knew what was in your heart.’ Samantha looked at her curiously. ‘Did you by chance hear anything when you made your wish?’
‘Yes…’ Eleanor stared at her. ‘Have you heard it too…that strange haunting music? It isn’t like singing or any instrument I ever heard. I supposed it must be the wind sighing in the trees.’
‘It does sound a little like that, but it usually means that the lady has heard and approves of your wish. I think even as you asked for yourself, your heart was saying something different – and I believe she listens to our hearts not our words.’
‘Are you a white witch, Samantha? Some of the girls think you can cast spells.’
Samantha laughed and shook her head. ‘I have no magic – unless it is the love I have for my girls and for life itself. It is that love which I try to instil in you all. I want you to enjoy your lives but also to be kind and considerate to others…to bring joy into another person’s life is to light a star in the heavens…’
‘You say such beautiful things,’ Eleanor said. ‘I think it is why we all love you so much.’
‘I say what is in my heart. Perhaps I say too much at times. I am very sorry if what I said made you think it right to run away, Eleanor.’
‘Oh…’ Eleanor had the grace to look ashamed. ‘No, of course not. I knew you would not approve – but I just couldn’t face the thought of living with Aunt Grace again after I’d known what it was like to be happy. Toby saw me crying and said he would take me to his aunt’s house – but I thought he might elope to Gretna Green if I asked him nicely and that’s why…but he thought it would not do…’
‘Very sensible of him,’ Samantha said. ‘I think him exactly right for you, my love, and I’m sure you will be happy together.’
‘If only he is not too badly hurt…’ Tears welled up in Eleanor’s eyes.
‘Well, we shall know when we see him later, for the doctor will examine him – and now, my dear, we are here. Forget your troubles for the moment and enjoy buying your new gowns.’
Robert looked through his letters immediately he reached his home. There was nothing from either Eleanor or Miss Merlin. Damn her! Call herself a schoolmistress! She was not fit to have charge of a puppy. Well, she would not get her claws into any more impressionable young ladies. By the time he was finished with her…
He glared at his butler, who had come to inquire when he would require dinner. It was bad enough that he had been chasing all over the country in search of his errant sister – but that her head mistress should conspire to keep her from him when she knew…She would rue the day she’d tangled with Robert Brough.
For a moment delightful pictures of his hands about her throat and her begging for her life threaded through his mind, to change quite abruptly to another scene. A scene in which she had let down her long hair and was standing in a pool of light in a diaphanous gown that showed her skin…My God! What was he thinking? He could not imagine why he had suddenly thought how delightful it would be to kiss her…to take her to his bed…
It must have been his encounter with the courtesan. It had addled his brain, or perhaps he was just so exhausted that he did not know what he was thinking.
Cursing himself for allowing such wayward thoughts into his mind, he addressed his butler.
‘James, forgive me, I must leave in an hour. Have the kitchen send up some beef and pickles and bread in thirty minutes. I shall change and have my valet pack me a bag. I am going to London and he shall follow with a small trunk in the chaise.’
‘Again, milord? It is most unlike…’ James subsided as Robert looked at him. ‘What shall I say when people ask when you will return, sir?’
‘Tell them I should be home again within a week…perhaps ten days.’
Cursing, Robert went past the bewildered butler and took the stairs two at a time. He had better find them in London or…he would not be responsible for his actions!
‘You look delightful,’ Samantha said, greeting her young charge as she came downstairs that evening. ‘Was it not fortunate that Madame Suzette had a gown on her rails that needed hardly any alteration to fit you? An order that was never collected – and looks as if it were made for you.’
The gown was white and in a soft, filmy material caught up under Eleanor’s bust with a blue band that tied at the back in a large bow with trailing ends. It clung to her figure in an elegant way that made her look more grown up than her school dresses and showed her as the young lady she truly was. Her slippers were white leather with silver buckles and she had a diaphanous silver stole over her arms.
‘She looks beautiful,’ Toby said and moved towards them. He stumbled against a chair and clutched at it for support until his head cleared. ‘Damnation. I felt better this morning but there it goes again…’
‘What did Doctor King say about your dizziness, Toby?’ Eleanor asked anxiously, her pretty face taught with concern.
‘He says he does not know precisely. He thinks it will pass in time – but says that sometimes a bang on the head is unpredictable. Some people suffer short term loss of memory, others have headaches or sudden loss of balance, and, as a rule, it rights itself in time.’
‘Is there nothing to be done?’ Samantha asked. She had hoped for more and could not help feeling anxious for him, though she tried her best to conceal it.
‘Doctor King says I am to wait a week and then see him again. It is not that I feel ill, indeed, I feel perfectly well – it’s just this silly dizziness.’
He smiled at them ‘There, it is steadier now – and that is better than it was a few days ago. I am sure it will right itself in time.’
‘Let us go into the drawing room,’ Samantha said. ‘Annabel’s guests have arrived and we should greet them.’
Toby nodded and offered an arm to each lady. ‘I dare say I shall be as right as a cricket for the rest of the evening.’
Samantha accepted one arm while Eleanor took the other. She must wait until he had seen the doctor again, but then, if he were no better she would have to write to his parents and Lord Brough. Both would feel justly annoyed with her for not contacting them before in their different ways. All she could hope was that the young man would soon be back to normal.
As they went into the drawing room, Samantha saw several people she had met previously. They greeted her with smiles of welcome and accepted that she was chaperoning Eleanor, as she had intended they should. If her version of events we
nt unquestioned, there should be no hint of a scandal to blacken the young lady’s name. She could only hope that Lord Brough was being as circumspect…wherever he might be.
Reaching his town house at a little after eleven that evening, Robert accepted that he could do nothing more until the morning. He was in any case exhausted by all the chasing around he’d done over the past few days and, after eating a light supper of soup and bread, followed by two brandies, he went up to his room. Falling into bed, he slept through the night, which was a great improvement on the past few weeks and woke feeling much refreshed at eight the next morning.
By ten o’clock he was shaved, dressed and ready to pay calls. He had of course no idea where Miss Merlin had taken the errant pair, but could only hope that she might have gone to stay with that friend of hers…now what was the name?
Ah yes, he had excellent recall and remembered her speaking of Viscount Wrexham’s wife as being one of her pupils. The young woman had married well, although some people whispered about the Viscount’s birth. He was said to be the bastard son of a gypsy woman and the Earl of…… However, he had been acknowledged and adopted by his father and was now the accepted heir. It was therefore a respectable household and Robert uttered a silent prayer that perhaps his sister might have escaped the certain shame he had imagined must be hers.
He knew where the Viscount’s house was situated in an exclusive square in Mayfair and, if he walked there, would arrive a little before eleven. The walk would do him good after so much riding and travelling and the fresh air might help to calm his mood, which veered from fury to a mild optimism.
Setting out in an easier frame of mind than of late, he was crossing Hanover Square when he chanced upon an acquaintance. He was hailed by an officer he had known when serving in the army, and was obliged to stop.
‘Robert, old fellow, how good to see you. Eleanor did not tell me you were in London?’
‘You have seen my sister?’ Robert took a deep breath. He must control his tongue and be cautious. ‘I arrived last night and have not had the chance to call on her and Miss Merlin.’
‘Eleanor looks very well, quite the young lady of fashion,’ Captain George Rush said and grinned. ‘Had she not already been spoken for I might have been asking your permission to pay court to her. Charming, perfectly charming – but then, she has been a pupil at Miss Merlin’s school, has she not? That lady is known for bringing young ladies along for their debuts in society – and having met her I understand why. Failing your sister, I may try my luck there…’ He laughed, clearly thinking it all a great joke. ‘On my way to Brooks. Any chance you would like to lunch with me there?’
Robert gritted his teeth, painting on a smile that might more easily have been taken for a glare. ‘I fear I have other appointments, George. Another day perhaps.’
Walking on before he lost his temper, Robert felt his mood deteriorating. So that woman had thought fit to put it about that his sister was practically engaged to Brockleton had she? How dare she take such a liberty without consulting him? The saner side of his mind might tell him it was the best solution in the circumstances, but the way it had been done – without a word to him – was infuriating to say the least. The woman deserved to be punished and he would see her chastened if it was the last thing he did.
She should be run out of society. Once again, he delighted in picturing his hands about her white throat, but, unfortunately, within seconds the scene changed and he was kissing her…kissing her with such passion that she swooned in his arms, and then he was lying in a bed with clean linen sheets that smelled of roses and…
Damn her! Was she a witch? Had she bewitched him?
Nonsense! Robert did not believe in any such thing. She was a clever manipulating woman and she deserved…No, he wasn’t going down that road again. He would be dignified, reserved and cold. She should not melt him with her fascinating smile or her perfume that made his senses swoon...
Growling low in his throat, Robert dragged his thoughts back on track. The woman was a menace, a bad influence on her pupils and him alike. He did not know what had got into him. He was not so starved of female companions that he would be taken in by that woman’s wiles. She would be sorry she had not bothered to let him know her intentions – even if her quick action had possibly saved his sister’s reputation.
Approaching the house he knew to be the Viscount’s, he went up to the door and knocked. A butler dressed very correctly in black with a pristine white shirt looked him up and down and then inclined his head.
‘May I help you, milord?’
‘I am Lord Brough and I should like to speak with Miss Merlin and my sister, if you please.’
‘Ah…’ The man frowned and then stood back. ‘Please come in, sir. I fear they went out early this morning, milord. Lady Wrexham is at home, if you should wish to see her?’
Robert stepped into the hall and looked about him. It was a spacious hall, with high ceilings, the floor covered with marble in a black and white pattern. Difficult for the servants to keep clean, he imagined and wiped his boots on the mat just inside. Following the butler into a small parlour to the right of the hall, he was left to himself for a few minutes before he heard light footsteps and turned to see one of the prettiest young women he had seen in an age. He thought that she might be increasing, though it was not easy to be sure for her gown was most discreet. He smile lit up her face.
‘Lord Brough. You have come to call on your sister. How disappointed she will be to have missed you. She and Samantha stepped out to the lending library – and to purchase some new bonnets. Eleanor saw one or two yesterday that she liked and they have gone back to try them on…’
‘Do you know when they may be back, Lady Wrexham?’ Robert clenched his hands as he struggled to control his impatience. It seemed that he could not catch up with them whatever he did.
‘They will be here for nuncheon at a quarter past the hour of noon. They forwent breakfast to get a good start so I am certain they will not miss another meal.’
Robert inclined his head, forcing a smile. ‘Pray tell my sister I shall call on her at two o’clock. I should be grateful if…both she and Miss Merlin would receive me then.’
‘Oh, I am certain they will not want to miss you,’ said Annabel with a dazzling smile. ‘Would you care to wait? I can offer you some refreshment…’
‘No, thank you.’ Robert hesitated, then, ‘Is Mr Brockleton here?’
‘I fear not. He called for a cab and went to visit his uncle this morning. He was feeling a little better and we must hope that he will soon recover from his accident.’
‘Did he take a tumble from his horse?’
‘In a manner of speaking…someone turned across the road in front of him without giving a signal and he had to halt his horses quickly. He managed to avert an accident to his chaise but unfortunately fell and struck his head. I know Samantha is worried about his dizzy spells but Doctor King says they should pass in time…we can only pray he is correct.’
‘Yes, I imagine so,’ Robert said. ‘Eleanor was not harmed in the accident I hope?’
‘Not at all,’ Toby’s quick action saved a much worse accident, but his tumble was serious enough. It meant they were stuck in an inn for days – but I dare say you know about that little contretemps?’
‘Yes…’ Robert bit back the angry words. He had had to discover it for himself, which was infuriating. Had Miss Merlin thought to tell him as soon as she knew, he might have caught up with them days ago. ‘Thank you for your time, Lady Wrexham. I shall return later.’
Robert turned towards the door, knowing that she was watching him. She probably thought him a cold fish but had he said more his temper might have escaped the tight rein he had on it – and his problems were certainly not of Lady Wrexham’s making.
No, he would save his anger for later.
‘Robert is going to be so cross,’ Eleanor said when she learned that her brother would be calling that afternoon. ‘How did he dis
cover where we are? I had hoped he would not just yet.’
Samantha had hoped so too, but it was too late to worry. She knew that she had to face his anger at some time, so it might as well be now.
‘Do you think I could go out…?’
‘No, Eleanor, I do not. Your brother will be even angrier if we deliberately avoid him now.’
‘I won’t go back with him.’ Eleanor’s face began to crumble, the tears hovering. ‘I won’t let him part us…’
‘Do not cry, my darling,’ Toby said. ‘I am here and I shall protect you.’ He reached for the back of a chair for support but his face wore a determined expression. ‘He shall not rage at you. I will not have it.’
‘You shouldn’t…’ Eleanor said anxiously. ‘You are not ready to face him, dearest.’
‘I am not afraid of Lord Brough,’ Toby said, pale but proud. ‘Be assured that he shall not take you from me.’
Samantha watched the pair and her heart ached for them. It was a difficult situation for Lord Brought would be well within his rights to order his sister home if he chose. She hoped that he might be brought to see sense but was afraid that the attitude of the young people might annoy him more.
‘Perhaps you should let me speak to him first?’ she offered, though she too was feeling nervous of the meeting.
‘No, Miss Merlin,’ Toby said firmly. ‘This is my fault. I shall see him alone at first and then you may both come in when I call for you.’
‘Oh, Toby,’ Eleanor said struck by his bravery. ‘I do love you so much. I would rather die than give in and be parted from you now.’
Samantha heard the sound behind her as the door opened and the butler announced, ‘Lord Brough to see Miss Brough and Miss Merlin…’
Eleanor made a little moaning sound in her throat and reached for Toby’s hand. Feeling much the same as her former pupil but without a hand to hold, Samantha turned and looked into the harsh face of her nemesis.