Earl from India

by Oliver, Marina

  'He won't be able to speak to you here,' she said, a martial light in her eyes. 'I'll give orders he is not to be admitted.'

  'He is threatening Gerard's business,' Lucien said, and explained the threats John had made. 'He'll want to retaliate even more now.'

  'He knows he'll be suspected if anything happens,' Lady Charlotte said. 'But your brother must take more precautions, for John is not a very sensible or rational person. His fury might overcome his common sense. And I will ask Jethro to speak to him.'

  'I'll make sure Gerard understands. Now, I suppose, I ought to go and ask him for your hand. And I'll send to Beech Court for the family betrothal ring, but tomorrow I mean to take you to Rundell and Bridge to choose a betrothal gift.'

  They were still making plans for a betrothal party when the butler came in.

  'My lady, sir. Mr Holbeck is here and wishes speech with you. I've put him in the library.'

  *

  Fanny was distraught when she heard of her mother's death, and Lady Charlotte put her to bed, gave her a dose of laudanum, and ordered Megan, Amanda's maid, to sit beside her. Amanda had dissolved into tears and been banished to her own bed.

  'Until you can be calmer and a help to your friend, you had best not see her,' Lady Charlotte said sharply.

  Then she returned to the drawing room where Gerard and Lucien were discussing what had to be done. Gerard had said little about the news of his sister's engagement, apart from saying he was pleased she had chosen someone other than the Earl of Escott.

  'We'll have to cancel her ball, of course, and we can scarcely hold a betrothal party, either.'

  'If Fanny agrees, when she has had time to recover, I would suggest a quiet wedding with just a few friends,' Lady Charlotte said. 'Perhaps it would be best in Shropshire. I see no point in waiting a year, until she is out of mourning, and since Fanny has no female relatives who can look after her. I'll be happy for her to stay with me.'

  'I would like to take her out of London,' Gerard said. 'She has not had a very happy time here, and she will recover faster in the quiet of the countryside.'

  'But your house isn't available, it's let,' Lucien said.

  'I'll rent somewhere.'

  'Both of you come and stay at Beech Court. We can marry from there. Then if you need to come to London to see to the business, you'll know she is with friends.'

  'She would be better at my house,' Lady Charlotte said. 'I don't think Amanda will mind leaving London, and really, it would not be proper for Fanny to stay with you, Lucien. Amanda can stay with me too and keep Fanny company. And we are only ten miles from Beech Court, you can ride over every day if you wish.'

  'I suppose that would be best.' Lucien had to agree, though he promised himself to try and arrange the marriage as soon as possible.

  'I'm very grateful, Lady Charlotte. That would be the best plan.'

  'How about the business?' Lucien asked. 'Can you leave it for long?'

  'Fanny is more important. My managers are competent, and if I come to London every few weeks that should be enough.'

  'Then you will stay with me too. I suppose you will wish to remain in London until after your mother's funeral?'

  Gerard sighed. 'There will be a great deal to do. I have to cancel poor Fanny's ball, for a start. It was to be the week after next.'

  'Give me all the details and the guest list, and I will deal with that. Amanda can help. Being busy will calm her.'

  'You are very good. Now, I suppose I must go home and see to matters there.'

  'Shut the house up as soon as you can, and come to stay here. Then if there are other things I or Lucien can do for you we are on hand.'

  *

  Silas went that evening to his favourite gambling house in Pall Mall. He was consumed by fury with both Fanny, for rejecting him, and Lucien for having stolen a march on him. He needed to vent his spleen on someone, and was soon quarrelling with Sir Humphrey.

  'If only you'd made more of a push with the Escott wench Fanny Holbeck would have had less support,' he raged.

  'There's no way you can blame me,' Sir Humphrey said with a sneer. 'Face it, Escott, the girl didn't want you. What girl would, when all you have is a ruin of a house and debts to all the tradesmen you've dealt with. I heard your tailor is refusing to make another coat until he's paid.'

  Silas frowned and shrugged his shoulders, clad in the latest coat he had not paid for.

  'There are plenty of tailors. Now, let's forget this and find some fool we can part from his money.'

  They had barely settled down with a pair of young men new to town, to play whist, when an elderly man stopped by their table. He had lost a good deal of money to Silas the previous week and was trying not to grin.

  'Aren't you making up to the Holbeck chit?' he asked Silas.

  'Why do you want to know?' Silas clenched his fists, wanting to knock the fellow down despite his grey locks.

  'I hear it was her mother who was killed this afternoon, in Bond Street. Hadn't you heard? That will cause you a problem if it's her fortune you're after, and she's in mourning for a year.'

  'What? How?'

  Silas jumped up and grabbed the man by the lapels of his evening coat, upsetting the table, their drinks, and the cards and money all over the floor.

  'Hey, be careful! That wine went all over my new coat,' one of the young men complained.

  Silas ignored him.

  'What happened?' he demanded of the older man. 'Get on with it, can't you?'

  'Runaway horses. She was trampled. Blood all over the road, they said. Unrecognisable, but her coachman told the constable who she was. There'll be no wedding for you for a year now.'

  *

  CHAPTER 11

  Fanny kept to her room for two days. She claimed she could not eat, but Cook sent Amanda upstairs with trays containing delicious concoctions, and Amanda, who had recovered from her tears, persuaded Fanny to drink some beef tea, eat a boiled egg, and nibble at a chicken wing. When Fanny slept she assisted her aunt, who had recruited both Megan and her own maid, in writing notes to the people invited to Fanny's ball, explaining it had been cancelled. Lucien dealt with the hotel, caterers, orchestra and florists, while Gerard began the melancholy task of arranging his mother's funeral and closing up the Park Street house. He could, he said, stay at his rooms in the City if Lady Charlotte would look after Fanny. Later he could find somewhere for her until she and Lucien could be married.

  'We'll talk about that later. Will you bring Fanny's maid here?' Lady Charlotte asked. 'She can help look after her. And she ought to bring the rest of Fanny's clothes and other possessions.'

  'Fanny didn't have her own maid,' Gerard explained. 'Mama thought it a waste of money, since she would soon be married, so she shared Mama's maid. I don't think Clara would be happy to come.'

  'I'll find one for her. Prue, one of my housemaids, wants to be a lady's maid, and Megan can help train her. What about the rest of your servants?'

  'I've had to give them notice. I'm selling the house. Fanny won't need it when she is married, and it's far too big for me. When she is feeling better she can come and see whether there is anything she would like to keep.'

  'What about when you are married?' Amanda asked. 'Won't you need a London house then?'

  Gerard gave her a pained look.

  'I am a merchant, and it would suit me better to live in the City, near my office, in the unlikely event I marry.'

  It did not sound as though he had any girl in mind, Amanda thought, and secretly hugged herself. She would win him yet.

  Sir Humphrey, rather to Amanda's surprise, paid a visit of condolence. Both she and Fanny refused to see him, but Lady Charlotte said he had asked to be remembered to both girls. They spent most of their time in the garden, which was secluded and had several seats where they could sit and talk or read. Fanny resumed her sketching, saying she had had no time for it in London, and having something to do seemed to sooth her. If the weather was inclement they used a small
sitting room Lady Charlotte said her own daughters had favoured.

  'Then you need not see any callers.'

  Miss Pollock was summoned to make Fanny some mourning clothes.

  'I still have the gowns I wore in India when Papa died, and the half-mourning I wore on the ship. There is no need for more of them,' Fanny insisted, 'especially if I am in the country. And there I don't need to be fashionable.'

  The funeral was a quiet one. Mrs Holbeck had made few friends whose husbands might have felt obliged to pay their respects. Gerard, Lucien, Jethro Wilkes, Mr Samuel, Gerard's senior manager, and some of the upper servants were the only mourners to follow the coffin. Fanny, composed, waited with Amanda and Lady Charlotte. When the men returned they began to make plans for the move to the country. The house in Park Street was shut up, and Gerard, giving way to Fanny's entreaties, accepted Lady Charlotte's invitation and moved to Berkeley Square, mainly, Amanda thought, to keep his sister company. He spent several days in the City, making arrangements with his managers. He did not expect to be absent for much more than a month, he told them.

  *

  'So what are they doing?' Silas demanded.

  Sir Humphrey still frequented the Pall Mall gambling house, and Silas, who knew he would not be granted entry if he called in Berkeley Square, depended on him for information.

  'They are moving to Shropshire, but I don't know whether they go to your cousin's house or your aunt's.'

  'No matter, I can soon discover that when I am there. When do they go?'

  'You mean to follow them?'

  'Of course!' Silas was irritable. 'How else am I to manage?'

  'I'd have thought you'd be better advised to set your sights on some other heiress,' Sir Humphrey said.

  'When I want your advice I'll ask for it! The chit has defied me, and I've a great desire to make her pay for it. But my pockets are to let. I need to find some gingerbread before I go. I can't take the journey slowly and win on the way as I did before.'

  'This time you will be known,' Sir Humphrey warned.

  'Why should I care?'

  Sir Humphrey shrugged.

  'Then let's see who is here. I can do with more blunt myself.'

  *

  Lady Charlotte's party set out for Shropshire on the day Fanny's ball was to have been held. Jethro and Lady Charlotte, with the two girls, rode in the big travelling coach. Lucien elected to drive his curricle, and Gerard went with him. Those servants who were needed rode in another coach with the luggage strapped on behind.

  'We will take three days on the journey,' Lady Charlotte decreed. 'Then we will arrive at Dean House in time for dinner.'

  They were all to stay there, including Lucien for the time being. Dean House was a few miles south of Shrewsbury, and Beech Court north towards Market Drayton. Lucien would go on there in a few days, to set it in order for Fanny.

  The park surrounding Dean House was enclosed by a high wall, within which a thicket of trees and undergrowth stretched for several yards. They could see nothing of the house until the carriages turned in through ornamental gates and into a wide park scattered with tall, venerable trees, and with a small herd of deer grazing beneath them. There were also sheep dotted about, and they trotted away as the carriages rolled up the drive.

  The house itself stood on a small knoll, and Fanny drew in her breath when she caught sight of it. It was a larger house than she had expected, built of a pale stone, with a long front facing them, and many tall windows, but only two storeys high, plus small round windows set behind a parapet above. A few steps led up to the front door, set in a wide columned portico.

  'Jethro built it for me when we married,' Lady Charlotte said. 'There was an old Tudor house here, which was an even greater ruin than Escott Priory, which is why the park is much older. There are formal gardens at the back, but we decided to leave the park as it was. We have all enjoyed watching the deer, and with the sheep they keep the grass tidy.'

  'I want to paint it!' Fanny said. 'It's so beautiful.'

  'So you shall, my dear. There is a great deal worth painting. Amanda knows it well, and will show you around. We even have a small lake, and a river that feeds it.'

  By this time they had drawn up in front of the portico, and two footmen came down the steps to hold open the carriage doors.

  'Welcome, Fanny. I hope you will be comfortable here.'

  Fanny blinked back tears. Lady Charlotte and her husband had been so very kind to her. She did not know what she would have done without their support. And soon she would be marrying Lucien. He wanted to marry her at once, but she had resisted.

  'Let us wait a little while,' she said. 'Mama's death was such a shock, I need some time to believe it.'

  The curricle had followed them up the drive, and Lucien handed over the reins to his groom, riding at the back, while he came across towards the others. Gerard stood looking about him, smiling. Fanny, he was thinking, would find peace here.

  'We passed the other carriage a few miles back,' Lucien said. 'They'll be here shortly.'

  'Then let us all go in. My housekeeper will show you all to your rooms, and as we keep country hours here dinner will be ready in an hour. I trust the luggage will be here soon, but you do not need to change tonight, we will be informal.'

  Inside the house was even lovelier than out. There was a wide marble-floored entrance hall with archways to each side, and wide corridors leading, Amanda informed her, to a series of formal drawing rooms on one side, and dining parlours and library on the other. Fanny was led up a sweeping flight of stairs to a gallery that went all the way round the entrance hall. Portraits hung on the walls, and Amanda said they were of her cousins.

  'I'll introduce you to them later,' she promised.

  The housekeeper, a Mrs Price, led them along a corridor where Fanny tried to count the doors. She and Amanda had been given rooms at the end, with a connecting dressing room.

  'Bring Miss Holbeck down to the drawing room when you've washed,' Mrs Price told Amanda. 'There's hot water here, and if you need help before your maids come, just ring and I'll send someone up.'

  Fanny stood at the window, looking down on the formal gardens, beyond which the Park stretched to the belt of trees by the estate boundary. She was alone, for the first time, it seemed, apart from when she slept, since her mother had been killed. Everyone had been so kind, but she wanted sometimes to be alone. Here, in these gardens, she knew she could find peace.

  *

  Silas did not wish to advertise his presence in Shropshire. Besides, his luck had deserted him on the last few days in London. He had even been accused of cheating, and narrowly avoided being challenged to a duel. As a result he had insufficient money to stay at even the meanest inn and had been forced to travel by the mail, giving up his plan of gambling his way north, he had just enough money left to buy a horse in Shrewsbury, a veritable nag, he thought in irritation. He could make a couple of rooms at the Priory habitable for the short time he intended to remain there, and no one need know he was there. The last elderly servants had been sent away, Mr Sopwith had said, somewhat reluctantly carrying out Silas's orders, and to Silas's fury had informed him that Lucien had provided them with pensions. If he were careful no one need know he was there. And the plan he had devised on the uncomfortable journey required secrecy.

  He would need to spy out the land. It might take some time, but Sir Humphrey had discovered Lady Charlotte meant to keep the girls with her at Dean Court. Silas had never been there, but he knew all about it from John. Fortunately it was much closer than Lucien's house, and had a much larger park with plenty of places for concealment. He might even get close enough to see the house.

  One of the first things he did on reaching the Priory was investigate the stables. There was plenty of hay for his wretched horse, and the old pump still worked. To his relief the old gig his father had used was still in the coach house, and it looked in a useable condition. There were also a number of horse blankets in the tack room, and
these he took up to the room he intended to use as a bedroom. It was at the back of the house, in the older Tudor wing that stretched out, lower than the more modern rooms at the front. He could light a fire and no one would see the smoke, as the chimney had fallen down and any smoke would have dissipated in the attics before it could rise above the roof.

  Everywhere was damp, even though it was the height of summer. He found some broken furniture in one of the outhouses, and some chopped firewood in the kitchens. Laboriously he carried it all up to this room and lit the fire. He spread the horse rugs to dry, they would make a bed on top of some of the hay. Then he went foraging for food. There were some early apples in the orchard, and he set several traps. If he could catch a few rabbits he would not starve. When it grew dark he could steal some eggs. His mother still kept chickens, no doubt, and he might be able to take a hen or two. The cottage door was never locked, and if she had been baking he might find a loaf. That would do him while he was here, and if he could find enough he could take food with him on his prospecting, rather than spend his last few precious coins, and show himself where he might be remembered, if he had meals at inns.

  On the following day he would ride to Dean House and discover what he could.

  *

  Lucien was reluctant to leave Fanny, but he had been away from home for some months, and wanted to ensure it was fit to receive his bride when he finally married her. A week after arriving at Dean House he planned to go to his own home. He had been concerned about Amanda. The girls were great friends, but she had, when she had been home from school, in effect been his hostess since their mother died five years earlier. Would she be happy to see Fanny take over? Also, Fanny was far more diffident than Amanda, and would probably be only too willing for the other girl to take the lead.

  He found Amanda wandering about the park one afternoon, and tried to talk to her about it.

  'I don't want you to feel you have lost your place,' he said.

  Amanda grinned at him.

  'Dear Lucien. There is always the possibility of my getting married myself,' she said. 'Then the problem would not exist.'