Mr. Rushford's Honor

by Meg Alexander

  Over the years he’d been aware of his friend’s struggles. He’s just had one blow too many, he thought to himself. It’s time he had some fun.

  With this end in mind he felt it time to make some enquiries.

  ‘Much to do round here?’ he asked casually.

  ‘I promise you won’t be bored.’ Giles smiled. ‘We can offer you good fishing. Have you read The Compleat Angler?’

  ‘Books ain’t much in my line, but I did just glance at it. The old chap, Walton, seemed to know his stuff.’

  ‘He did indeed. His river, the Dove, is further to the north, but there is some good sport here.’

  ‘And Abbot Quincey? I must say, I liked the look of it.’

  ‘Or was it the wenches who took your fancy?’

  Thomas took the teasing in good part. ‘Give me time! I didn’t arrive until yesterday, but bless me if I didn’t see three beauties driving through the town this morning.’

  ‘I’m surprised that you didn’t stop the coach to introduce yourself.’

  ‘It was going too fast, old son. Gave me no time to pull on my boots.’

  ‘Your man isn’t with you then?’

  ‘Gave him the slip in London. If there is one thing guaranteed to take the shine off any expedition it’s that old curmudgeon, Stubbins. I’m sure my father makes him dog my heels to keep me on the straight and narrow.’

  ‘Has he had much success?’ Giles was laughing openly.

  ‘Not that you’d notice.’ Thomas gave him a cheerful grin. ‘Still, it don’t stop him from trying. That’s the trouble with people who’ve known you since before you were breeched. They won’t believe you’ve left the schoolroom.’

  ‘Won’t he worry about your disappearance?’

  ‘Stubbins? Not a chance! That fellow is a human bloodhound. He’ll track me down before the week is out.’

  ‘Then you’d best make the most of your freedom whilst you may.’

  ‘I intend to,’ Thomas said with feeling. ‘Now tell me about Abbot Quincey. Is it a big place?’

  ‘It’s the largest of our local villages—more like a small market town.’ Giles cast a sly look at his friend. ‘For your entertainment we have a corn and cattle market on a Tuesday…’

  ‘Wonderful!’

  ‘We also have an abbey and a vicarage…’

  ‘Too much…!’

  ‘Aha, but we also have a scandal. The Abbey is owned by the Marquis of Sywell…’

  ‘What, that old roué …?’

  ‘The same! Now his young wife has disappeared. She hasn’t been seen for months. Rumours have been rife. A favourite is that he murdered her.’

  ‘Wouldn’t put it past him.’

  ‘It’s more likely that she simply ran away.’

  ‘Sounds a reasonable thing to do. Tell me more…’

  ‘No more is known. We have had a murder though.’

  Thomas looked startled. ‘What lives you lead in the quiet of the countryside! I thought that nothing happened here…’

  ‘This came very close to home. Isham’s half-brother was killed some weeks ago in one of the Luddite riots. The mob attacked the Grange.’

  Thomas reined in at once. ‘My dear chap! Have your wits gone a-wandering? The family won’t wish for a guest at such a time. I’ll go back to the Angel.’

  ‘No, hear me out!’ Giles reined in beside his friend. ‘There was something strange about the business. Isham and India have said very little, although they saw the shooting.’

  ‘Not a pleasant thing to remember.’

  ‘No, I agree, but I get the feeling that there was more to it than they’ll admit. It’s an odd affair, and even Henry’s mother, who lives with us, seems not to wish to speak of him. It turns out now that he was no blood kin to Isham, though he thought he was.’ Giles paused. ‘I wish I could explain. It is the strangest thing, but you’ll find no sense of mourning at the Grange.’

  ‘Even after such a tragedy?’ Thomas was unconvinced.

  ‘You shall see for yourself. Of course, Isham doesn’t plan to entertain in his usual style. He isn’t much for convention, nor is India stuffy, but you understand?’

  ‘Perfectly. Got to show respect for the dead, old son.’

  ‘Exactly, but even so, you won’t be short of company.’ Giles allowed the ghost of a smile to touch his lips. ‘I have seven cousins in the neighbourhood, and five of them are girls…’

  Thomas brightened at the thought of some feminine company. ‘Unattached, I hope?’

  ‘As yet. The younger ones are barely out of the schoolroom, but there, you won’t mind that. You’ll just about be on their level.’

  This gibe caused Thomas to aim a playful blow at his companion, which Giles avoided with ease. Spurring his horse ahead, he took off at a gallop across the flat land leading to the Grange.

  As Thomas was about to follow, three riders came up fast behind him. As they swept past he decided to give chase. Bruising horsewomen, he thought to himself, but darned if I’ll be beaten by three females.

  He was well mounted and he caught them up with ease just as their leader swung round to her right and came to a sudden halt.

  ‘What do you want?’ a clear voice called. ‘I’m armed, so pray don’t think of robbing us.’

  Thomas swept off his hat. ‘My apologies, ma’am. I didn’t mean to frighten you.’

  ‘Nor did you do so.’ The lady’s hand was hidden in the folds of her riding skirt, but a look at her eyes convinced him that it held a pistol. ‘Are you in the habit of chasing females, sir?’

  ‘Only pretty ones,’ Thomas answered audaciously.

  The lady chuckled. ‘I phrased that badly, didn’t I? What I meant to ask was why you followed us?’

  ‘Ma’am, your speed was irresistible. I can never turn down a race, can you?’

  ‘Not often. Now, sir, tell me who you are. Are we on your land?’

  ‘No, ma’am, but if it were mine you would be more than welcome. My name is Thomas Newby, and I shall be staying at the Grange with Lord and Lady Isham. Are you a stranger to these parts?’

  ‘No, though I have been away for many years. My name is Gina Whitelaw, and these are my stepdaughters, Mair and Elspeth.’

  ‘Why, you are the ladies who were driving past the Angel earlier today,’ Thomas exclaimed with delight. ‘You looked so charming. Giles said that I should have stopped your coach to introduce myself.’

  ‘Did he indeed?’ Gina permitted herself a faint smile. ‘I think he could not have known our names.’

  ‘Why no, but he’ll be glad to meet you. Here he comes now…’

  Giles had turned his horse and was trotting back towards them with a smile of amusement on his lips. He cast a merry eye at Thomas, promising that gentleman a roasting later on. Then his gaze fell upon the ladies and he reined in sharply, causing his mount to rear at the sudden check.

  His efforts to control the animal took him several minutes, much to Thomas’s astonishment. His friend’s horsemanship was legendary. Now Giles was making much of the simplest of manoeuvres.

  It served. By the time he had stilled his restive mount Giles had schooled his expression to one of polite surprise.

  ‘Lady Whitelaw?’ he said stiffly. ‘Isham told us that you had returned to Abbot Quincey. I…we…had not expected to find you riding out so soon.’ He stole a careful look at Gina’s face.

  He’d dreamed of this moment for so long, wondering how she would react if ever they should meet again. Now he was baffled. In her look he saw no trace of embarrassment, regret, or the least trace of affection.

  She gave him a cheerful smile. ‘Giles Rushford! What a pleasure it is to see you again! Girls, do you remember Mr Rushford? We met him in Italy long ago.’ She might have been greeting a distant acquaintance.

  His own heart was pounding at the sight of his lost love. Lost indeed! This sophisticated, self-possessed young woman bore no resemblance to the loving, innocent girl he’d left so long ago.

  Chap
ter Three

  ‘You know each other?’ Thomas beamed with pleasure. ‘Good! Giles, will you assure her ladyship that I am not a highwayman?’

  ‘My good sir, I didn’t think you were.’ Gina gave him a demure look. ‘Your face was a study when I threatened you with my pistol.’

  ‘I expect it was, ma’am. For all I knew you might have shot first and asked questions afterwards, perhaps in a fright, you see.’

  ‘Gina is never frightened, Elspeth told him proudly. ‘She killed two men in India, when they came to rob us.’

  ‘I don’t doubt it.’ Thomas pretended to cower away, much to the delight of both the girls. ‘I’m hoping not to make a third. In a fight, your ladyship, I shall wish to have you on my side…’

  ‘And will you be behind me or in front of me, Mr Newby?’

  This sally even brought a smile from Giles, though he felt obliged to offer a word of warning.

  ‘I see that you ride without your groom,’ he said. ‘Is that wise, Lady Whitelaw? You may not have heard of it , but there is some disaffection in the countryside.’

  ‘Luddites?’ Gina gave him a measured look. ‘I have no plans either to set up a factory or to import the new machinery, Mr Rushford. The frame-breakers have no quarrel with me.’

  ‘Other elements have joined them,’ he told her brusquely. ‘The riots have often been a cover for robbery and even murder.’

  ‘I thank you for your concern, but, as you see, I am well armed. As for my groom, he rode ahead of us with a message for your sister. I think I see him in the distance…’ Gina was smiling, but there was an edge to her tone which left both men with little doubt that she would brook no interference.

  She turned her mount as the groom rode up, and bidding the girls to follow she rode off with a final word of farewell.

  Thomas gazed after her with an open mouth.

  ‘That’s quite a woman,’ he said with feeling. ‘Did you see her face when you tried to warn her? That one won’t stand quietly in harness for any man.’

  ‘I see no merit in being foolhardy,’ Giles retorted.

  ‘Perhaps not, but you won’t deny her courage. Do you believe that she killed two men?’

  ‘Oh yes! Isham told me something of her history. She and her family travelled widely, as Whitelaw hoped always to find some cure for his first wife’s illness. Gina dealt with a Lascar mutiny on board ship and stood up to the Voodoo priests in the Caribbean…’

  ‘Great heavens! How can you think her foolhardy? I should imagine that she will find no difficulties in this country. Perhaps it is no wonder that her husband lets her ride abroad without protection.’

  ‘She has no husband. Gina is a widow,’ Giles said shortly. ‘Whitelaw died two years ago.’

  ‘Ah, now I understand. The girls are not her own? I thought her too young to be their mother.’

  ‘Gina has no children of her own, I believe.’ Giles urged his horse into a trot, clearly anxious to dismiss the subject, but Thomas could not contain his curiosity.

  He stole a look at his friend’s face.

  ‘You don’t like her, do you? Why is that? I thought her a charming little creature…’

  ‘You think all women charming creatures until they let you down. What happened to that stunning bird of paradise who won your heart last year?’

  ‘I ran out of the dibs, old son. Carriages and jewels cost a mint, to say nothing of that pretty little house in Mayfair. When Brande came along with all his shekels I didn’t stand a chance.’

  ‘Shall you go up to London for the Season?’

  ‘Not this year. My father has refused to stand for it. Can’t say that I’ll miss it much. Stale sandwiches and weak lemonade at Almacks’, and dodging all those match-making mamas. Of course if I married the old man would stump up, but what a price to pay!’

  ‘You are incorrigible!’

  ‘I know it. But women are funny creatures, aren’t they? They won’t rest until they have you by the leg, and then they try to change you, Won’t do for me. I plan to remain a bachelor, and you, for one, won’t argue with that.’

  If this was an invitation to a confidence Giles ignored it. How could he explain that he longed for nothing more than to make Gina his wife?

  True, she had changed, but perhaps no more than he himself. Behind the elegance and the casual politeness of a woman of the world there was still the same indomitable spirit. Her smile, the turn of her head and her graceful carriage reminded him so vividly of the days when he had held her to his heart, murmuring endearments and secure in the knowledge that she returned his love.

  It all seemed so long ago, and clearly the years of their separation had killed that love once and for all. He could not blame her. He too had changed. At thirty he was no longer a carefree youth prepared to conquer the world for his lady’s pleasure. The years of struggle had taken their toll.

  He would not, could not, ask her to wait till he might offer her a comfortable future. Gina would marry again, he was sure of it. She was made for love. Why should she waste her youth in vain hopes, even if he should manage to win back her affections. Better to put it out of his mind and pray that when she did re-marry he was not around to witness it.

  Gina herself was taking a much more sanguine view of matters. She had been half dreading meeting Giles again, unsure of her ability to hide her feelings for him. Now the first hurdle had been overcome and she was pleased with the result. She had had long experience in keeping her countenance. What she could not control was the thudding of her heart. To her it had seemed deafening. Surely he must have heard it?

  ‘Gina, you were unkind to Giles,’ Elspeth accused. ‘Why did you call him Mr Rushford? I thought he was a friend of ours.’

  ‘He used to be,’ Gina said carefully. ‘But that was long ago…’

  ‘But you told us that once a friend, always a friend,’ Elspeth persisted.

  ‘So I did, but times and people change. When we knew Mr Rushford he was just a boy, and you were babies. Perhaps he has forgotten the days when you used to play together.’

  ‘No, he hasn’t.’ Mair spoke with conviction. ‘He looked so sad. I wanted to make him smile.’

  ‘And you will do so, my dear one.’ Gina gathered her charges to her. ‘I have a surprise for you. Lord and Lady Isham have invited us to dine with them.’

  ‘Oh, Gina, are we to go as well, even though we are not out?’

  ‘This is just a small family party, my dears, and I have no fears for you. You know how to behave. It is so much more sensible to learn how to conduct yourselves in company before you are thrown headlong into a London season.’

  ‘Darling Gina!’ Both girls hugged her. ‘We shall be very good. You’ll be proud of us…’

  The excitement of being invited to dine at the Grange lasted for the next few days and led to long discussions as to suitable toilettes, and who was likely to be their dinner partners.

  ‘I shall hope to be seated by Mr Newby,’ Elspeth announced artlessly. ‘Giles is much more handsome, of course, but Mr Newby is my idea of a perfect gentleman.’

  This brought cries of amusement from Gina and Mair.

  ‘Don’t tell me that Lord Isham is no longer your idol,’ Gina teased.

  ‘Well, Mair was right. He is a little old for me. Besides he is married now…’

  ‘For all you know Mr Newby may be married too,’ Mair said wickedly.

  ‘Oh, I don’t think so. He has not the look of a married person…’

  ‘And what look is that?’ Gina was vastly amused.

  ‘Oh, I don’t know…perhaps I mean a little staid.’

  ‘Like me?’ Gina enquired.

  Her companions shouted with glee. ‘Not in the least like you,’ said Mair.

  ‘Of course not.’ Elspeth was quick to support her sister. ‘You are no more staid than Mr Newby. Isn’t he fun? He makes me laugh so much.’

  ‘I see that he is a paragon of all the virtues. You are quite sure that you were not swayed by his
compliments?’

  ‘Of course not!’ Elspeth was indignant. ‘I know that gentlemen are trained to make pretty speeches. They don’t always mean what they say.’

  ‘It might be as well to remember that…’ Gina’s smile hid an anxious heart. Who had learned better than she to place no faith in pretty speeches?

  When Giles had vanished all those years ago the shock had left her reeling. How many times had she relived those final hours together when they had strolled on the terrace of the villa hand in hand, stopping now and then for a passionate kiss as the moon sailed high above the Mediterranean in a cloudless sky. A silver pathway on the mirror-like surface of the sea had seemed to point the way to a lifetime of happiness and love.

  The prospect of a few days apart was little to be regarded when they had all their lives ahead of them. With a final, lingering kiss Gina parted from her love with a promise to see him when her employers should return from a brief trip into the countryside.

  That trip was soon cut short. With the breaking of the Treaty of Amiens the French were quickly on the move again as Napoleon resumed his dream of conquest. The whole of Italy was thrown into turmoil. The Whitelaws fled back to their villa on the coast and from there to Naples. Refugees had taken almost every berth on the few available ships. Given no choice Sir Alastair had embarked his family on a merchantman bound for the Caribbean.

  Gina had suffered agonies of mind, but Giles was nowhere to be found, and in the panic and confusion of those final days in Italy she had no hope of tracing him. She would not believe him a coward who would take care of his own skin, leaving his friends to fend for themselves.

  She’d heard that all foreigners had been advised to leave the country, but he must have had time to send a message to the villa.

  She could not know it, but Giles had done so. A frantic message from his uncle had warned him to get out of Italy fast before escape became impossible. His father’s affairs were in a bad case and Giles was needed at home.

  He’d scrawled a few lines before embarking on a vessel bound for Dublin, but it had taken a heavy bribe to persuade his Italian servant to carry his letter to the Whitelaw’s home to await Gina’s return. En route his messenger had had second thoughts. Why should he risk his neck for what could only be some trivial billet-doux? The man tossed the note into some bushes and turned back to the port, thankful to see that Giles had already sailed. His ship was far out in the bay.