Apple Blossom Bride

by Marina Oliver

  The Earl, it seemed to Eve, suppressed a grin. 'Yes. Of course. Every penny helps.'

  'I see. Peter, now you must introduce me to some men who have better titles and big fortunes. I would like to meet a duke. It doesn't have to be one of the Royal dukes, for I believe they are all rather old and fat and have many mistresses. That would not do for me.'

  The orchestra, seated on a small dais at the far end of the room, who had been tuning their instruments as they talked, now broke into a country dance tune. The Earl seized Eve's hand and dragged her onto the floor.

  'Come and protect me,' he said, laughing.

  'You don't need any protection,' Eve retorted, laughing with him. 'You are quite capable of evading girls like Talia.'

  'How on earth am I going to get out of dancing with that harpy? Two dances, heaven help me!'

  'I suggest you sprain your ankle. But then you'd have to sit out with her, and she'd have more time to quiz you. Don't worry. There isn't much chance of talking during a country dance,' she flung at him as the movement separated them. 'Nor a quadrille,' she hissed as they passed one another.

  Justin was laughing as they followed the movements, rarely coming together for more than a few seconds at a time.

  'May I have the supper dance?' he asked when the dance finished and he escorted her back to where Caroline was sitting. Amelia and Sir Peter soon joined them, and it was agreed the four of them would have supper together.

  'Why doesn't your cousin – I understand she is a cousin – try to ensnare you, Peter, if she is so eager to marry an English title?' he asked.

  'Me? But I'm just a baronet, far below her touch, and she knows to the penny what my income is, and what I can in due course expect from Mama. It isn't nearly enough for Talia. If she can't snare a duke, and there aren't many around, she'd probably make do with a marquess. There are a few more of them.'

  'Tell me, are all Russians like she is?' Caroline asked.

  'I haven't met many, but no, she is unique.'

  'Thank goodness,' the Earl repeated. 'If they were I'd resign my commission if I were ever asked to go to Russia.'

  'Then best get married, and out of her reach,' Peter said. 'If she ever finds out how wealthy you really are she might accept you.'

  'She'd have to wait for an offer.'

  'Don't think not making one would save you from a cunning, predatory female, Justin! You've seen what she's like.'

  *

  James found an empty barn on the outskirts of Gloucester. It was still not very cold at night, and with his greatcoat he could sleep anywhere that was sheltered, but he preferred it inside barns and stables if he could find them.

  It had been bad before Stephen left, but much worse since. His father had been offended the boy had been removed from his care, and James had decided he simply could not bear to remain at home. Not only was his desire to enlist becoming ever more urgent, since the war might be over within weeks, his father had reverted to his earlier methods of punishments he had not employed while Stephen was with them. He presumably did not wish it generally known that he treated lads old enough to go to university as young children, beating them, depriving them of all food apart from bread and water, and locking them up in their rooms.

  So James had taken advantage of his father's absence one day, when he had gone to Hereford, to leave. He had decided not to take more than one other shirt, and a warm muffler, but to carry what food he could in his pockets. Bread and cheese, and a few apples, would last for several days, but he also went to the kitchen late the previous night and took slices of the beef joint they had had for dinner, some cold left-over potatoes, and several cooked chicken legs. Cook would be furious to find them gone, but when she heard he was not at home she would probably realise what had happened.

  He had decided to walk to Portsmouth, where he would either find a regiment that would accept him, or a ship to transport him to France. His money, no more than a couple of guineas, he must keep to pay for food, but he had hopes of being able to find jobs that would pay him in food or somewhere to sleep. He might also, he hoped, find friendly carters who would give him a lift on their carts.

  His father would, he felt sure, try to follow him, but James hoped he would first look in Cardiff or Bristol, rather than further away. The next stretch of his journey was to Swindon, and if he were fortunate with lifts he might reach the town in two or three days. Then Winchester, and finally Portsmouth.

  He woke early. He always did, especially when sleeping out in the open, under hedges, or in cold barns like this one. If he managed to find a bed in a hayloft where there were horses in the stables below, sending up their heat, where he could be snug and warm, he tended to linger. But today, facing some rather bleak downland, he wanted to be on the road early.

  He was fortunate, a farmer heading for Cirencester stopping to offer him a lift within an hour of his leaving his last bed. The man was talkative, but after a while James began to feel suspicious. He was asking too many questions.

  'Where did you say you lived?' he asked, for the second time.

  'A small village near Worcester. You wouldn't know it. It's off the main roads, very difficult to find.'

  'And you're going to visit your aunt, you say?'

  'Yes. My father's sister. Near Lechlade,' he added, trying to think of a town nowhere near Swindon.

  'Is she married there, then?'

  'Yes.'

  'To a farmer? You seem to be better educated than most farm boys. Did you go to one of the grammar schools?'

  'Yes,' James said again, offering no further information.

  'And your parents? Are they still alive?'

  'My father is,' James said, thinking he ought to keep to as much of the truth as he could, or he might forget what he had said, and this inquisitive fellow would remember and challenge him. Why was he so interested?

  'And he's a farmer?'

  'Yes.'

  'I don't believe you. You're too well educated to be a farm boy. I think you are running away. Look, if that's so, I can help you. You need a job, and somewhere to stay, don't you? I could provide both.'

  'No,' James said sharply. 'I don't need any job, thank you. Like I said, I'm visiting an aunt.'

  They were passing through a stretch of woodland, and he calculated that if he jumped down from the cart now, he could be hidden within minutes. The farmer could hardly leave his horse and the produce he'd said he was taking to market to chase him.

  He acted at once. There was only a short stretch of woodland, and he had to get into it. As he leapt from the cart the farmer called out in surprise, but James was soon hidden by the undergrowth, and as he had expected, the farmer made no attempt to follow him.

  *

  Rather to her surprise, Eve danced every dance. She was also promised several morning calls, and invited to drive out with two of her partners. Talia, she saw with a reprehensible laugh, had to sit out for more than one dance. If her approach to other men had been the same as that towards the Earl, how had they escaped her clutches?

  During supper, the Earl and Sir Peter suggested the visit to St Paul's should take place in two days.

  'You will receive several morning calls tomorrow, mothers persuaded by their sons to make your acquaintance and invite you to their own entertainments,' Sir Peter predicted.

  He was proved correct. It had been an exhausting day, and Eve had not got to bed until four in the morning. She sat demurely in one of her refurbished day dresses, trying to suppress her yawns, while Caroline conversed with these matrons and their sons tried to make plans to drive the girls in the Park as soon as could be.

  'You will soon get used to it,' Caroline said when the last of the visitors had left. 'In the Season you will probably be out late every night.'

  'Then I will sleep every morning,' Eve yawned.

  By the following day, however, she was recovered, and enjoyed the visit to the two churches. It was more the company of the two young men than the glories of the architectu
re, but she consoled herself that in her next letter to her father she could tell him she had made the visit. She had written to Rachel, telling her all about her enjoyment of London, and how all her old gowns were being made more fashionable.

  When they returned to Albemarle Street it was to find the Countess and Talia in the drawing room with Caroline and two other ladies of her acquaintance, with their daughters. Thompson told them there were visitors as they entered the house, and the Earl promptly announced he had an important meeting at the War Office and must hasten away.

  'You are needed there too, Peter,' he said.

  So both girls were laughing as they joined Caroline, and managed to tell the company where they had been without saying with whom.

  Talia was informing everyone that she had met a duke, and did not think him at all regal enough.

  'When I marry, if I marry an English nobleman, I want him to be presentable as well as titled and rich.'

  'Did he make you an offer?' one of the girls asked, her eyes wide.

  'I did not permit it,' Talia said. 'I have a great dislike of refusing the offers which are made to me, and so hurting the poor men. But I fear that most of the English dukes are already married, and I would not wish to cause the great scandal of a divorce. There are not enough dukes in England.'

  'Do you believe the King should create more dukedoms?' Eve could not resist asking.

  'To be sure I do, and if I meet his Majesty, I shall mention it. But I understand the King is mad, so I may not meet him. The Prince Regent is not empowered to create dukedoms, I believe.'

  'The Prince Regent is separated from his wife,' Amelia said. 'Perhaps he will obtain a divorce and then you might marry him.'

  'I would consider it, but I have seen him and he is grossly fat, not at all attractive.'

  'So your husband, as well as being titled and rich, must be personable too?' one of the mothers asked. 'You are demanding the impossible.'

  'Not at all, my lady. What I want I normally obtain.'

  'I don't think she will obtain Justin,' Amelia whispered to Eve, who just managed to stifle a giggle. The Earl and Sir Peter had been frank during the expedition about their horror of Talia and her manners. Sir Peter had tried to defend Russians by saying they were not all like Talia, and he did not know why she should think her behaviour was acceptable, and why his mother did not make any attempt to correct her.

  'I believe she is so delighted to have a member of her own family visiting, she pays no attention to Talia's boasting. She is an expert at not listening to anything she does not wish to hear.'

  Eventually the visitors departed, and the ladies could laugh.

  'Why did Justin and Peter not come up with you?' Caroline asked.

  'Thompson warned them,' Amelia told her. 'They escaped. I only wish we had been able to.'

  'But we can't fear her,' Eve said. 'It's amusing to listen to her.'

  *

  The girls had been invited to attend a masquerade, but Caroline was doubtful.

  'It's at a private house,' Amelia said, 'not at all like the public ones where anyone might attend.'

  Eve listened, not wishing to say anything, but hoping Caroline would relent and permit them to go.

  'There will only be people we might meet at any ball,' Amelia went on. 'There won't be anyone there you don't want us to meet.'

  'The people I know are not always admirable, or discreet,' Caroline said. 'They might be tempted by being masked to go beyond the line.'

  'Surely not. Not our own friends.'

  'Darling, young men, especially when they have been drinking, do not always remember their manners.'

  Amelia thought they would have to refuse the invitation until Sir Peter came to their rescue. 'I will escort the girls, and I'm sure Justin will come too, if he is free,' he offered.

  Caroline agreed they could attend on these conditions, so Amelia promptly took Eve shopping to purchase masks and dominos. She chose green for herself and blue for Eve. When Eve tried to protest that she did not have sufficient money left, Amelia brushed it aside.

  'Caroline is paying for them. To make up, I think, for at first refusing to permit us to attend.'

  The masquerade was being held in a large ballroom attached to a mansion in Piccadilly. The coach taking the girls had to wait for some time until it could enter the courtyard and the girls could step down. Sir Peter had accompanied them, but the Earl was to meet them there, as he had to entertain a foreign diplomat first.

  Amelia was fizzing with excitement. Eve was more cautious, when they entered the ballroom and she saw the vast crowd of masked people, all wearing concealing dominos that disguised their figures and masks which hid their identities. It would be easy, she thought, for anyone to gain access, if they had sufficient nerve.

  The guests were already dancing, and when a man in a red domino came to ask Eve to dance Peter whisked Amelia away. Eve had no option but to join the stranger on the dance floor. She was convinced he was a stranger. He did not say much, but she could have sworn she did not recognise his voice. Then she mentally shrugged. Surely the point of a masquerade was that strangers need not wait for a formal introduction.

  As the dance ended, Eve and her partner were by one of the long windows hat led into the garden, and the man pulled Eve towards it.

  'It's confounded hot in here. Shall we step outside for a moment, to get cool?'

  'No, I wish to go and find my friend.'

  'Oh, come on, don't be a spoil sport.'

  He had opened the window and taking her hand in a strong grip, began to pull her outside. Eve wondered whether to scream, or beg for help from some of the people standing nearby. She had, she decided, to deal with this importunate fellow herself. She relaxed, and surprised, he pulled her closer. As he put one arm round her waist she twisted and brought up her knee into his groin. Thank goodness skirts were not as narrow as they had been, she thought, as he winced and released her. With a smile she stepped back into the ballroom to find the Earl just inside the window. Somehow, despite the mask and domino, she knew him at once. It was his height, his dark hair and glinting blue eyes, but there was something else, a kind of familiarity she could not identify. As he clearly knew her. He took her arm and began to lead her towards the supper room.

  'Do you always treat importunate young fools the same way?' he asked.

  Eve giggled. 'James taught me that trick,' she confessed. 'I didn't think I'd need it in London, at a private party.'

  'Did you know who he was?'

  'No. I don't think I've ever met him before.'

  The Earl laughed. 'And if he knows who you are I'm sure he will keep out of your way. Now, after supper, we can dispense with propriety and you will dance the rest of the evening with me. I'll not risk you having to deal in the same way with other young fools.'

  That evening, Eve considered, had been the best she had so far experienced in London. She and the Earl found so much to talk about when they were not dancing. He was an excellent dancer, too, and when she finally went to bed she sighed with enjoyment. Nothing else, she was sure, would be as delightful as that.

  *

  Robert Ferguson had dealt with the Earl's correspondence. The official memos were fewer, but the social invitations seemed to be growing in number.

  'More people are coming back to Town,' he said when the Earl came into the study. 'It's too wet and cold for hunting.'

  The Earl silently congratulated himself for having acquired such an efficient, pleasant young secretary. Robert's former employer in York had died, and he had heard about him during his last visit to Sherwood Hall, soon after he had returned from the Peninsula.

  'Then I am glad not to be missing it! Robert, you have family in Yorkshire, I believe?'

  'My father still works for the Duke.'

  'I need to send two of my tenants from Buckinghamshire to Sherwood Hall.' He explained the situation with Elsie and Mrs Potter. 'I want you to take the small post chaise and go to collect them. Arrange f
or any household effects to be taken by carrier. There is a small cottage which is available, my bailiff tells me, since the old man, a former gardener, died last month. He left some furniture which none of his children wanted, so when you have settled them in it you can spend Christmas and New Year with your father. There won't be a great deal to do here.'

  'Thank you, my lord. It is some time since I saw him.'

  'And he is getting old.'

  'Yes.'

  'I will send a letter to the bailiff. Elsie is to have a small sum every week, so long as she behaves herself. He must judge that. Her mother used to be a cook, and there is need for another at the Hall. Ask him to arrange it.'

  'Yes, my lord.'

  'I shall be in Buckinghamshire for some time over Christmas. There is not likely to be anything urgent here, and the rest can wait until I or you come back.'

  *

  CHAPTER 5

  The next few weeks were, Eve considered, the best of her life. There were so many entertainments she could not imagine how there would be more during the main Season. On most days she was driven in the Park by various young men. Often Sir Peter and the Earl both drove the girls, and it became the custom for them to alternate which girl they drove. They were out every evening, unless Caroline held a dinner party. Eve came to know many people, and had no apprehensions about the coming Season when she would be staying with Rachel who, Caroline reassured her, knew mostly the same families, as Eve discovered from her letters from Rachel.

  It was almost time for them to return to Herefordshire, and Eve was reading Sir Peter's cider book, sitting in the drawing room late one afternoon, when Thompson came in to introduce a visitor.

  'The Reverend Sir Frederick Ripon is here to see you, Miss,' he intoned in his usual stately manner.

  Eve looked up as her father came into the room, startled. 'Father? This is a surprise. Why are you in London?'

  'What is that gown you are wearing?' her father demanded, ignoring her question and sitting down opposite her, and Eve, glancing down at one of her altered dresses, gulped. The neck, as on all her dresses, had been lowered, and the sleeves shortened. In addition, it was adorned with bunches of ribbon on one shoulder, and frills of ribbon had been attached to the hem.