Sir Ranalph woke up with a start. ‘Eh? Who? That blasted man has been hounding me. I think-’ he said to his wife in the loudest of drunken whispers, ‘that he wants Honoria for himself. Confounded cheek. Follows me everywhere.’ He frowned. ‘Why has Allison got his hands round Serena? Thought it was ’tother he wanted.’
‘Not now, my dear. Now he wants Serena,’ explained his wife.
‘He can’t go around changing from one to other- it’s-’ said Sir Ranalph, attempting to stand.
‘It’s quite alright my love,’ said Lady Cynthia, ‘I’ll explain it all later,’ and pushed him gently back.
Sir Ranalph took his seat, but glared at Mr Allison first and then at Lieutenant Prescott, who was looking intently between Lady Cynthia and Honoria.
‘I saw the way you looked at Lieutenant Prescott, Honoria, and I have never seen you look at any other in quite that way. Not all throughout your season. And he too - well I believe that he has been wishing to ask your father-’ she smiled. ‘Maybe I should have left the evening as it is, but my dear, my good and self-sacrificing child - I want you to have what you want now, too.’
‘Miss Fenton!’ Lieutenant Prescott said, starting forward.
‘No!’ said Honoria, ‘You are quite wrong Mama!’ she cried, distressed.
‘Tally-ho, child,’ slurred her father, ‘hold out for Allison!’
‘Mr Allison’s engaged to Serena, Papa,’ said Benedict helpfully.
‘Oh. Forgot.’ Sir Ranalph slumped again.
His wife was not attending. Her self-satisfaction was seriously dented. ‘I was mistaken - you did not favour the lieutenant?’
‘You have all of it wrong! I am not your good and kind daughter. I am often angry and selfish and not at all good.’ Another figure was standing now, emerging from the shadow, looking at the beauty in the white dress, even the hot tears on her cheeks failing to blight her charms. She was speaking her mind at last, and he was so proud of her. ‘When I thought I would have to marry Mr Allison I thought I would die!’
‘Have at you, again Allison! Not only didn’t want you – would rather die! Can you ever rise in your own esteem again?’ jeered Benedict,
‘Difficult,’ agreed Allison.
‘But meanwhile I wanted to kick someone, anyone instead. Even you, Mama!’ Honoria continued, ignoring the interruptions. As her mama’s eyes opened wide she added, ‘Only for a while, Mama.’
‘Your sister really, really didn’t want to marry me,’ Mr Allison said to his love who grinned back impishly.
‘Just as well you picked the less fastidious sister,’ Serena smiled - but she was shocked too. She looked at the trembling Honoria and thought how much her sister had kept within herself.
‘You were not all wrong, Mama. I did favour Lieutenant Prescott.’ She held up her hand to stop Prescott coming forward. ‘I was quite infatuated for a time. He was very like Mr Allison, but much more sensitive and mannerly to me.’
‘I know, Benedict, I know,’ intoned Allison resignedly before Benedict had a chance.
She turned to Lieutenant Prescott. ‘I am so sorry, sir. I did not hear you when you asked if you could speak to my papa - I’m afraid my attention was other where.’
Prescott gulped.
‘Does that mean the young dog will stop hounding me?’ asked Sir Ranalph of his wife. ‘Had to frequent three different establishments today. Every time a door opened, I thought it was he who had found me. Jumped like a rabbit. Didn’t trust myself to be able to refuse him, and was unsure of what you wished for, my love.’
Prescott opened his mouth and closed it again, he stepped back, looking shattered.
‘Didn’t even notice you propose, Prescott. That’s one at you.’
‘Benedict. That is quite sufficient!’ said Lady Cynthia in a tone that brooked no protest.
‘Yes, Mama.’
‘I’m sorry Lieutenant-’ her ladyship said to Prescott, who nodded, still in shock. She turned to Honoria and said gently, ‘I’m sorry I caused you all this worry and embarrassment, my dear. I believe that one day soon, a gentleman will come who will just be as kind and good as you - one who will be deserving of you.’
Honoria turned to her passionately. ‘But I do not want such a man!’
Genevieve sat up. She had just bethought herself of a day at Bassington when she had looked down from her window and saw a strange pairing on an early walk.
‘What do you want, Honoria?’ she asked softly.
‘I don’t know! I want to be a good daughter, of course I do. To the best mama and papa in the world. And I want to be a good sister. Well, not to Benedict, obviously-’
‘Hah!’ said Allison in her brother’s direction.
‘-but to Serena and to the children of course. And I always will want that. But there must be somewhere where I don’t have to be always good. Where I can be awful and mean-spirited and angry. I need a husband who is a friend who can allow me-’ she stopped abruptly, her own words sinking in and there was in her aspect something that held the others silent. ‘Oh!’ she cried.
A voice sounded out suddenly. ‘Is it me, Honoria?’ and Mr Scribster moved forward.
There was a collective gasp. No one, except Genevieve, and that only for the last few seconds, could have guessed. Lady Cynthia could hardly look. This could not be possible.
‘Can it be so?’ said Honoria, wonderingly looking up at him, ‘I didn’t think I liked you till I came to your room-.’
‘Honoria!’ said her mama, shocked.
‘Only to cry, your ladyship,’ offered Scribster, glancing her way a second, laughing at Honoria’s finally uncensored mouth.
‘And you were disgusted with me the next day-’ protested Honoria..
‘No. I thought you’d agreed to marry Prescott.’
‘But how could I marry such a nodcock?’
‘And another, Prescott!’ whispered Benedict, beneath his mother’s hearing, ‘My saintly sister is firing them off tonight.’
‘And I, Honoria? Could you marry me?’ Scribster stood still, his hooded eyes letting out slivers of cruel, dark light.
‘Ah!’ said Allison to Serena ‘- the haircut!’
‘The hat!’ she replied.
Scribster was moving towards Honoria, slow and sinuous as a cat, and she left her mother to meet him. Her ladyship’s hand clung a little to her arm, ‘Honoria! Take care what you are about.’
‘You are very ugly, you know-’ her good daughter said.
‘And you are very beautiful,’ he said, touching her face, ‘but I expect I could get used to it.’
‘-But your face is the dearest face of all.’
He laughed like the crack of a fire and he dropped his forehead to hers. ‘It is not your face I love you for, Honoria, it is your wicked heart.’
‘Oh, no!’ said Lady Cynthia, sitting at last, watching as her daughter was enveloped in the long arms of Mr Scribster. ‘Now I suppose you shall run her off to Scotland!’
‘Another family member has just bought Stane Castle, Lady Fenton – one who will appreciate it as I could not. I’d already purchased a manor house five miles from Bassington. It’s why I’ve stayed there so long - overseeing the works.’
‘What’s Scribster doing with Honoria?’ Sir Ranalph had rallied once more.
‘They are getting married.’
‘Really? Well, he can’t be considered the best looking chap in the world,’ he whispered at the drunken level.
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ said Serena pertly, ‘It would only take a relative to leave him twenty thousand a year to have him accounted desperately handsome.’
‘You, my love,’ said Mr Allison, smiling down at her, ‘are going to be a handful.’
Sir Ranalph, regarding Scribster critically said, ‘Ugly fellow. Pock marks. Not his fault, of course. But what he wants to have such a long face for is beyond me. Clever, though. ’
‘I expect she’ll get used to it,’ smiled her ladyship, meeting Mr Scribster’s ap
preciative eye for a moment before he gave his whole attention once more to her eldest daughter. The way that certain people were looking at each other had to be stopped immediately lest another breach in etiquette, worse than the last minutes, occurred. ‘Now, I think, we should all go in for dinner.’
‘Has he any means?’ whispered Sir Ranalph, the noise bouncing off the walls.
Lady Cynthia finally looked a little embarrassedly at Scribster.
‘A man of Scottish descent will seldom admit to being wealthy. But I am well enough to support a wife.’ He reassured her once more. He looked down at Honoria. ‘Even one who has expensive tastes in gowns.’ She smiled back at him with a smile that made her mother’s heart stop beating. Her daughter gave herself in that moment and with his rarely seen answering smile, her ladyship was able to see that they had no barriers from each other. It was beyond either his bad looks or her beauty. They were one.
With a break in the convention of precedence, Benedict squired Genevieve to dinner first, only stopping to shake the bridegrooms’ hands, then kiss his sisters heartily.
Sir Ranalph mustered his dignity to attempt to rise, something that kind Lieutenant Prescott came forward to help with. ‘Ah!’ said Sir Ranalph, jerking away as he stood. ‘Cynthia, it’s that fellow again. Fellow who’s been hounding me.’
The lieutenant said, smiling politely at her ladyship, ‘I shall dine at my club, I think,’ and he bowed.
‘Quite right!’ said Sir Ranalph. ‘Take yourself off! Can’t have her - Allison’s going to offer for her - any day now.’
‘Yes sir!’ He gave a weary salute to his cousin, who nodded gravely, and left.
Sir Ranalph and his wife made their rather stately way after him.
‘Poor Lieutenant Prescott!’ said Honoria. ‘He didn’t want to marry me you know.’
‘Your father quite thinks he did,’ said Allison, walking with a laughing Serena on his arm, behind them.
‘Yes. But he wanted to marry the good Honoria. The one that would have fulfilled the family obligation,’ she turned and smiled at them all, ‘whereas I am very, very wicked.’
‘You have insulted a great many people tonight, Orry. Including my affianced husband,’ said Serena to that.
‘I expect I shall be very ashamed of myself tomorrow,’ sighed Honoria contentedly.
‘What a family I am marrying into,’ said Mr Allison. ‘Benedict the card shark, your shady Uncle Wilbert-’
‘Card shark? Shady? Oh, and dear Papa as a drunkard this evening,’ laughed Serena. ‘Do you really, truly, want to marry me?’
‘No,’ decided Mr Allison. ‘I shall marry Honoria and have her smile falsely at me every morning so she can fulfil the Family Obligation.’
That agreed, all four of the young people joined their family for dinner.
Epilogue
Later that evening, Honoria and Serena lay in bed curled up and facing each other, finally confiding.
‘What about your life of adventure?’ giggled Honoria. ‘You planned on marrying a sea captain or a highwayman.’
‘Rowley is my own Highwayman, I told you that. He is also a bruising rider and he told me we will travel now that Napoleon is on St Helena and Europe is safe. Don’t be concerned, we shall have many adventures.’
‘I almost pity him, being responsible for your scrapes.’ Serena merely grinned. ‘When did you know you loved him? And why could you not have told me?’
‘It was such an advantageous match for you – how could I deprive you of it? And Mr Allison – Rowley - is so wonderful, I was sure you would be happy. How could you not be? And I didn’t know how I felt for such a long time. I knew he was the most marvellous man of my acquaintance, but I also knew my acquaintance was not large. I only thought he would be the most wonderful brother. And then I realised that I could not bear him to be my brother. I wanted him so much. It was so selfish-’
‘Ha! Who would have thought it? It is you who are the good, self-sacrificing sister! I was running and avoiding Mr Allison even when I had resolved to do my duty. You would give up your true love for the family.’
‘Bunkum! I did no such thing. I had no notion that he thought of me as other than a silly child. I gave up nothing.’
Honoria rolled onto her back and gazed at the ceiling. ‘It all seems ridiculously easy to see now. The way he was when he saw us together at Fenton, the Mystery of the Blue Slippers – what fools we all were not to guess.’
Serena propped her chin on hand to better see her sister’s joyful face. ‘We are so lucky!’ she agreed. Then her naughtiness reasserted itself. ‘What is not so easy is to see how you fell for Mr Scribster. When I think of what I thought of him when he arrived at Fenton Manor!’
‘That is a rather contorted sentence, but I know what you mean - I too. But he saw my unhappiness when others did not. Somehow he read my face. And it was so comforting to be able to talk to someone without disguise. His own disregard for politeness made me so angry, especially since I was feeling so oppressed by my need to be polite and dutiful, and it made it possible to be very rude to him. He was a man of no redeeming virtues, I thought, so what did it matter-’
‘Rowley said tonight that Scribster had saved his life in battle. That he was a bold and brave soldier.’
‘Oh, do not tell me so! I rely upon his being shameless so that I can abuse him at will. You can have no idea how dreadful it was when each new virtue of Mr Allison became apparent. It gave me no excuse to escape.’
‘Why did you want to? Of course, I am extremely glad you did – but what made you take such a disgust to Rowley?’
‘Not disgust. I could not explain it – even to myself. But I think I may be vainer than we have supposed,’ she confided. ‘There simply seemed to be no reason why he should be attracted to me - I turned into an imbecile in his presence. I did not wish to marry a man who would prize my eyes or my figure over my imbecility. Imagine being pursued by a man who wanted you only because you might have handsome children together. It was like that all the time in London. I was not comfortable and so I uttered nonsensities or didn’t speak at all. And yet many men still paid court to me. It gave me a very poor opinion of them.’
‘Oh, my sister, you think much too much. I should have been flirtatious and flattered probably, no matter what their motives.’
‘As though you suffer fools!’ scoffed Honoria. She rolled back to face her sister. ‘No, I wanted a marriage like Mama and Papa. Mr Allison seemed to have none but questionable reasons for choosing me. Of course, we did none of us realise that it was your personality that he really admired. Mine I don’t think he ever saw.’
‘But Mr Scribster saw it.’
‘The worst of it, I fear. But it amused him. And soon I grew so close to him and I never really saw it happen.’
‘You went to his room! That seems more like my sort of a scrape than yours-’
‘How shocking to think of it! But it seemed imperative to tell him how vengeful and violent I felt when I thought of Benedict’s attackers. Mama would have given me a Biblical lecture on “Vengeance is mine” which of course I know. I just needed to say it!’
‘How dreadful!’ said Serena comfortably.
‘Poor Mr Scribster, I fairly threw myself into his arms.’
‘Orry! He certainly seems to bring out a different side of you.’
‘He does. When Mama let us walk on the terrace after dinner, he told me that that was when he realised he wanted me for himself. He calls us Beauty and the Beast! How absurd. I do think he is just a little handsome now that he has cut his hair.’
‘A vast improvement. And I trust you’ll take care of his clothes soon. Perhaps Uncle Wilbert could help.’ They both giggled at the picture this created of Mr Scribster in one of Mr Wilbert Fenton’s more florid outfits. ‘Rowley said he has resisted his invitations to visit his tailor, but holds out hope now that you are around.’ Honoria blushed. ‘Rowley said,’ and now her sister was laughing at her oft-to-be-repeated phras
e, ‘that Mr Scribster’s buying the Manor House nearby was a –‘
‘Oh, Serena, we shall only be five miles apart!’
‘I know, my dearest Orry. But do you know why?’
‘He did not like his castle I suppose.’
‘He did not. But after the battleground, when the two were so much together, Rowley found it difficult for some time to be parted from Scribster. I remarked that they were strange friends and Rowley explained to me that such awful things had happened to him that it was only his friend who kept him sane. Indeed, he begged him to buy the Manor house.’
There was a silence. ‘Pray do not tell me any more virtues of my Mr Scribster. Soon you will make it quite impossible for me to do less than admire him greatly. Which would be fatal.’ They both laughed. ‘Oh, Serena. Winter in London to choose our bride clothes! Going to balls and parties together where I do not have to be afraid being courted and admired. It was very uncomfortable, I assure you. We shall have such fun.’
‘But how will Mama and Papa afford it?’
‘Settlements!’
‘Thank goodness for that! I intend to be a most expensive fiancée.’
‘Serena!’
Her sister’s eyes glistened.
‘Well, it is wonderful to be in love. But so much more wonderful to be in love with a very rich man. I understand your manor will have only ten bedrooms. Never mind, my dear, the spare children can reside at Bassington.’
Lady Cynthia, awake in the next room while her husband snored, heard the shrieks of outrage and laughter coming from Honoria’s room and glowed with maternal pride and happiness.
Mr Scribster and Mr Allison, playing billiards and drinking brandy below, heard it too, and held each other’s eyes. It was almost too much to see the other’s happiness, redoubling their own. They broke off looking and went back to the game. Both rather flushed.
It had been an exceptional day, thought Benedict, regarding them from a table in the corner where he turned over cards idly, making some disappear into his jacket. He would soon be in Wellington’s army – though in this year of 1814 there wouldn’t be too many of the good scraps left – but he’d be in a scarlet coat, with hope of adventure, as he’d always wanted. Genevieve would be gone to a better life in a couple of days, his Uncle Wilbert was engaged to the lovely Countess Overton and Serena set to make the richest, most fashionable man in England the naughtiest wife he could wish for. Yes, Scribster was a strange partner for Orry, but Benedict had seen him look at her. He was not such another as Sumner. Sumner was a charming veneer hiding a black heart. Gus Scribster was the opposite.
Honoria and the Family Obligation Page 23