‘You will live to rue vis day, vat I promise you,’ she said, making her way to the door. ‘I will see vat from vis very moment on no door in decent English Society will ever be opened to you again, and as a consequence of your intransigence you shall be forced to marry a person of no consequence, vat is if you find anyone who wishes to marry you at all. Anyone halfway decent vat is. You have disgraced yourself tonight, and because of vat I shall see you stand truly disgraced.’
Before Emily could say another word, Daisy had whipped the key out of the door, swept out and locked her unfortunate charge in her bedroom, where she was forced to remain while Daisy set about ruining her protégée’s reputation.
Harry was standing in one corner of the drawing room smoking a cigarette and surrounded by cronies when Daisy found him. Seeing his mother beckon him to come across to her, he idly excused himself from his friends and sauntered across to see what might be required of him now.
‘I need your help, Harry darling,’ Daisy said, taking her son by one arm and removing him from anyone’s earshot. ‘Tell me who is ve most deceitful of your acquaintances. It needs to be someone who is present tonight.’
‘No difficulty there, Mamma,’ Harry replied. ‘Roddie Gillord. Roddie Gillord is the most mendacious and untrustworthy fellow I know by far. That’s him sitting in the wing chair.’
Harry Lanford pointed out a dark and churlish-looking young man, unfortunately blessed with a head too small for his rather large frame. He had long and lank fair hair, close-set eyes and a full greedy mouth, and looked altogether the sort of person whose company would be eschewed by respectable members of both sexes.
‘Does he owe you any money, darling?’ Daisy enquired.
‘Does he owe me any money?’ Harry giggled drunkenly as he stared first at Roddie Gillord and then back at his mother. ‘He owes everyone money, Mamma. They say Roddie was born in debt. I’ve never known him to have a bean.’
‘Ven I am sure he could well do wiff a fousand pounds. Call him over here, darling boy. I need to talk to him at once. And if you need any money too, ven I should be most grateful of your assistance in vis matter as well.’
* * *
Roddie Gillord’s story was perfectly straightforward and completely matched the events of the evening. During the time Emily was shuttered away privately in the library with Lady Devenish, Gillord swore that having danced with her earlier in the evening, the one fact of the whole story that was true, he kept an assignation with Emily out on the balcony and then in the garden during which time Emily had made free with him, and in return he with her. He confessed he had allowed her to believe that he was exceedingly rich with estates in Sussex as well as Yorkshire because from the way she had danced with him she gave him the distinct impression she was nothing but the usual sort of gold-digger with whom he could have what he called a bit of idle fun. He had learned that Emily might be this sort of girl from some of his friends in the Lanford circle, who although they had no wish to be named had led him to believe that they too had enjoyed rendezvousing, as they called it, with Lady Emily Persse on other balconies and in other gardens during the Season. The reason the story had all come out was because later in the evening he had become well and truly drunk with Harry Lanford and foolishly had told his friend of his secret assignation, forgetting that Lanford’s mother was the girl’s patron. Harry Lanford had of course felt it incumbent on himself to tell his mother of her charge’s misdemeanour since he knew that a good and particularly honourable friend of the family, namely Captain Peter Pilkington, was hoping to have his proposal of marriage accepted by the miscreant that very evening. His mother, while deeply dismayed and shocked, also of course had no option but to inform Captain Pilkington that his intended had strayed which in turn was the reason he had not gone through with his proposal.
Emily learned all this from Lady Devenish the following morning when she was finally released from her captivity. Lady Devenish was greatly upset not just by the lie which was being told but because she felt it was all entirely her fault for removing Emily for such a length of time from the ball. Had she not, they would never have been able to invent such a calumny because Emily would not have been that worst of all worsts in London Society, an innocent girl who had gone absent for any length of time.
‘That woman is the very epitome of wickedness,’ Lady Devenish told Emily. ‘She must somehow see everything or at least know of everything that goes on. She must have spies everywhere.’
‘But we can prove you and I were together in the library at that time,’ Emily said. ‘Don’t you remember? Someone came in looking for somebody else and saw us both there.’
‘I remember all too well, but obviously you do not, my dear,’ Lady Devenish replied. ‘That person was none other than Harry Lanford, and of course he now denies being anywhere near the library at that time. You are the victim of an appalling conspiracy, Emily dear, and it is all my fault. I should have minded my business and allowed you to mind your own. Perhaps you would have turned down Captain Pilkington anyway.’
‘I am afraid not, Lady Devenish. I had already made my mind up to accept his proposal. I was not going to profit from the situation whichever way it was.’
‘You do know what this means, do you not? It means that if everyone believes the story which they most certainly will since that is the way of the world, then as far as any decent family goes you will be persona non grata. Oh, dear Emily, what have I done to you?’
‘You have done nothing, Lady Devenish, no-one is responsible for me except myself, I do assure you,’ Emily told her bravely. ‘Please, do not give it another thought.’
‘But my dear, with this rumour abroad no respectable man will wish to marry you and even if he should his family will forbid it. In the times in which we live the very slightest hint of scandal or impropriety is a sufficient deterrent for it is not just the gentlemen who are put off from marrying a girl with the wrong reputation, it is the mothers. They are the ones who have all the influence and are only too willing to entertain scandal about a young gel, as is the way of the world. Your patron knows this of course, and she holds such sway in Society on account of her influence at court that I fear you will be utterly ruined.’
‘So what is to become of me now, I wonder, Lady Devenish?’ said Emily. ‘I surely cannot stay here. Not that given the circumstances I would possibly want to do so.’
‘You are to be returned home in disgrace, Emily my dear,’ said Lady Devenish and her pale blue eyes filled with sudden tears as she remembered how much she had enjoyed their times together. ‘You will be sent home,’ she continued after a small pause. ‘With a chaperone of course. Your maid Minnie is to be sent with you back to Glendarven, from where she will return to London once you are safely delivered back to your poor parents. In the meantime you are to stay here in my care, because your patron has let it be known she never wishes to see or speak to you again. Your belongings are to be sent down from London this very morning, until which time I am to ensure that you stay shut up here in your room.’
‘In case any of the other guests see me and die from shock, I suppose,’ Emily said with a wry smile.
‘It is a matter of etiquette, Emily dear,’ Lady Devenish replied. ‘Had such a thing truly happened and you had been discovered you would either be expected to leave here immediately or remain out of sight until everyone else had gone. So since they all believe that you did stay out too long on the balcony, then you have no option.’
‘Oh I think I have, Lady Devenish,’ Emily said with the sparkle back in her eye. ‘Not only do I have an option, I think I have a right to reply, don’t you?’
‘What do you have in mind?’
‘What I have in mind must not concern you, for you’re the very last person I would want to get into trouble. I’ve grown too fond of you, so you, Lady D., are to stay here, where I shall lock you in. No – it’s no good trying to protest because I’m much too strong for you and if you try to resist me I shall bundle you up and lock y
ou in that frightful wardrobe over there. So your story is that I forced you to stay here, locked you in, and then set about my mischief.’
Emily took the key out of the door and flourished it, as if to underline her intent.
‘Don’t even try to deny me this, Lady D.,’ she said. ‘With the exception of yourself, Portia Tradescant and May Danby I have found nothing in London Society which I could truly recommend to anybody. And so if I am to be returned to Ireland forthwith, then all I can say – with me hand on me heart – is that it won’t be a blinkin’ moment too soon!’
Emily ran out of the room, locking the door behind her. From there she hurried along the corridor until she came to the top of the staircase where to her delight she saw that the door to the dining room where people were already breakfasting was wide open, and that other guests were making their way across the hall to join them. Collecting her skirts up over one arm, she waited until the prime moment when the hall was busy with people before climbing onto the banister and sliding down it with a wild Irish whoop!
The effect was exactly as Emily had hoped. Everyone in the hallway stopped dead in their tracks while those already at table looked up in astonishment. And not only was the effect perfect, so too was Emily’s descent down the long run of highly polished banister. But then so it should be, since she had honed the art of banister sliding to perfection back home at Glendarven.
‘Good morning, me fine boyos!’ she saluted her fellow guests as she shot through the air to land on two feet in exact imitation of a trained athlete coming off a vaulting horse. ‘Now if ye’ll all excuse us, I’d give me best horse for a smoke.’
Grinning broadly at the wide-eyed and still speechless women who were standing rooted to the spot, Emily helped herself to a cigarette from the large silver box she had spied on one of the hall tables, threw a box of matches laid by its side to one of the footmen obliging him to light it for her, and sauntered into the silent dining room.
‘Hello, me boyos,’ she said as she came in, giving a particular wink to a blackberry-faced elderly gentleman whose eyes all but popped out of his head at the sight. ‘I should imagine you’re all feeling a bit on the old tired side this fine morning, to judge from the pitter patter of feet up and down the corridors all night. I never heard such toing and froing. Well now, while yous all finish up, I’ll sing you a little ditty which I just learned a while back from my maid. Here goes!’
At which she launched into a verse and chorus of one of the most popular musical comedy songs of the era, a number made famous by Lottie Collins which her English maid Minnie had delighted in teaching her.
I’m a timid flower of innocence,
Pa says that I have no sense—
I’m one eternal big expense.
The boys say that I’m immense,
Ere my verses I conclude
I’d like it known and understood
Though free as air, I’m never rude,
I’m not too bad and not too good,
Ta-ra-boom-de-ay, ta-ra-boom-de-ay—
Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay,
Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay, we’ll have some fun today,
Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay, ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay.
By the time Emily was launched into a repeat of the chorus the younger ‘boyos’ were joyously banging their knives and indeed joining in the chorus, after several repetitions of which, and having performed the number just as Minnie had performed it for her – with a backwards bump of her derrière to go with each repetition – she ended with a flourish and was rewarded with an enthusiastic round of applause from the ‘mashers’.
‘Now I’m in need of an escort, and as ye all well know, sure a dacent gel can’t have a little play in the garden now, can she?’ she then asked. ‘At least not without company.’
Emily looked at the various young men sitting around the table but none of them made a move, not even the most vociferous of the young bloods.
‘Ah to be sure none of ye’d never make it over even the first little wall back home,’ she mocked. ‘What about you, Lord Littlechin?’ Emily leaned across the table to blow some smoke at an exceedingly pallid young man. ‘Listen, I knows this old garden like the back of me hand? Hadn’t you heard? We could make a right old time of it, but ah well, if none of yous has the guts then who cares? I’ll go be meself. Ta-ra!’
And with a little wave and a sigh Emily opened the doors and departed out into the garden to head for the stable, leaving behind her a totally stunned dining room full of people.
At the stable she caused a small sensation, arriving as she did unannounced in her ball gown with her hair all tousled and half down. She knew all the grooms from when she had stayed at Sunning Lodge with Lady Devenish prior to her debut in London, so they greeted her with enthusiasm. Even so, such a vision was the very last thing they would have expected to see that fine summer’s morning as they went about their work, and as a result her appearance in the yard had almost the same effect as it had just had in the house.
‘Lady Emily?’ the head lad called as he saw her wandering round the yard greeting the horses like some early morning equestrian Ophelia. ‘Is that you, milady? Are you all right?’
‘Sure of course I’m all right, Tim,’ Emily called back. ‘Why? Don’t I look it?’
‘No, no, milady,’ the head lad replied. ‘With respect it’s just that not a great many people make their way to the yard still in their evening clothes, milady.’
‘I felt like a ride, Tim. That is why I am here.’
‘In your fine ball gown, milady?’
‘In my fine ball gown, Tim. What else?’
‘You can hardly go riding in your evening gown, milady.’
‘I don’t see why not, Tim. For I shan’t be wearing it again. And there’s no need for yous to go looking like that, as if I was one of them daft rich girls who just throw things away when they’re finished with them. It isn’t that at all. It’s because I am to be sent home, Tim, and so thank God I shall have no further need of such finery. So saddle me up Wellington here and I shall take him out for a good long spin.’
Once the horse was groomed and Emily safely mounted in a side-saddle, she clattered out of the yard at a sharp trot and straight down the back drive which led onto the road which ran past the racecourse opposite the house. Emily hacked the magnificent bay gelding down to Swinley Bottom where in the woods she knew of a gate which opened straight onto the course. But she didn’t bother to stop and open the gate. Instead she kicked Wellington on into a fast canter and jumped it, clearing the five bars by a good two feet.
Initially she could see no-one out on the course or the heath itself, at least no-one near enough to stop her and enquire of a beautiful young woman still in her ball gown what she thought she was doing exercising her horse on the racetrack, so she allowed Wellington his head and galloped from the gate at Swinley Bottom up the hill towards the stands and past them where she saw the first signs of life, groundsmen working on the hallowed turf for the next race meeting. As she raced by at full stretch she called out to them in greeting but they had all already seen and heard her horse thundering up the straight so that by the time she passed by they had all stopped what they were doing to watch her. She shouted another greeting and gave them all a merry wave before steering Wellington around the top bend to gallop off again away from the stands and back to the gate which she had jumped to get in and which she now jumped once more to get out.
‘That’ll be something else to tell them all back home, Wellington,’ she said as she patted her horse’s neck and slowed him down to a trot. ‘How I rode at Ascot racecourse. Old Mikey will just love it, so he will.’
When Wellington had got his breath back she trotted him on not back to the house but away from it towards Windsor Great Park where she spent the rest of the morning happily riding among the huge historic oak trees and in the shadow of the great castle itself. By the time she finally got home her belongings had arrived down from London and with absolutely no sense of r
egret whatsoever she allowed Minnie to change her out of her ball gown which was now well covered in horse hair and into clothes suitable for the long journey which lay ahead of them both.
THE SET-UP
Now Harry Lanford set about his conquest of May Danby, a campaign which given his mother’s advice he reckoned to last no longer than a week or two at the most. Daisy had already talked to May’s mother as promised, whom she had found to be as subservient as Daisy had expected a woman of such social insignificance to be in such a situation and as Alice Danby had prepared herself to be, given the design of Lady Patrycia ffitch-Heyes’s stratagem. On the strength of what she thought she had learned from May’s mother Daisy reported at once to her son that just as she had predicted any approach Harry might make to Miss May Danby would be readily entertained. She was quite simply his for the asking.
Once Harry was assured of this by his mother he asked her to organize a small dinner party at Mount Street in order that he might get to know Miss Danby better, preparatory to his proposal of marriage which Daisy suggested he might make to her at the Duke of Sherborne’s ball the following week, the last of the great balls of the Season and always one of the highlights. All that was left after that was Cowes week before Society dispersed and took itself away en masse to the country, rather than be seen in London in August.
Daisy considered her dinner party to have been a great success. Besides herself and her husband there were only a dozen guests besides her son and his intended Miss May Danby, her mother and her father. Captain Danby was not at all a familiar figure in London Society, apparently preferring to let his wife oversee the process of their daughter’s debut due to the fact that he suffered from a chronic shyness. This of course was far from the case, as what had kept Charles Danby busy during the foregoing months was the fact that he had been taken on by Herbert Forrester in his London offices with a view to training him up finally to manage a new branch of the company in a fresh part of the country. The captain did not disappoint his mentor who was already impressed both by Charles’s instinctive grasp of the railway business and by his extremely honest and likeable personality. Thus Captain Danby hardly had the time to indulge himself in Society activities other than to make token appearances when necessary.
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