by Wendy Vella
Emma refused to speak. They were rapidly approaching the house, and she quickened her steps.
Lady Babbage had no trouble keeping up. She continued speaking, “I have learnt to observe people around me and understand them. I see more than people think I do, and I know that man is a fraud. You, my dear, are still young and are as yet unaware of the world. I would request you to be careful.”
“I thank you for your concern, but I assure you, I am doing nothing that would shame the Earl in any way,” Emma replied nervously and then hurriedly changed the topic. “Did you ask Catherine to study human nature like you do?”
“I am often overlooked, and Catherine is a lot like me,” said Lady Babbage, her face softening as she spoke. “That girl is intelligent and a fast learner. I did nudge her in the right direction. People like us prefer to watch rather than be watched.”
Emma eyed her sceptically.
Lady Babbage spoke more forcefully. “We prefer such an existence, and I know for a fact that it is far more fruitful and peaceful than being the centre of attention.”
Emma, who had spent an entire season in London trying to get noticed and feeling terrible at being snubbed, had a difficult time grasping Lady Babbage’s meaning. She could not imagine how it was more wonderful to be a wallflower than the belle of the ball.
“I have forgotten my needles,” Lady Babbage said, interrupting her thoughts, “you do not need to accompany me back. I am allowed to walk about alone. Go back to the house, I will see you at dinner.”
She watched Lady Babbage return the way they had come. She had never realised the depths that someone she had known all her life hid from the world. The woman was more complex than she had given her credit for.
Yet, in spite of her protestations of being content, Emma had heard the underlying tone of bitterness lacing her words.
***
“Young man, have you seen my sewing basket?”
“It must be on the stone bench.” The Earl glanced up to see a satisfied smile on the Lady Babbage’s face. He realised his mistake. He continued uneasily, “But you jest, My Lady, I have not been a young man for years.”
“Could you fetch the basket for me?” Lady Babbage asked, instead of answering him.
The Earl was annoyed. The woman could walk the few steps herself.
“My hands are filthy, My Lady.”
“I don’t mind. I am tired of walking.”
The Earl walked the few steps and carefully picked up the basket with the tips of his fingers and handed it to her.
He had often bid his valet fetch him a glass of brandy when he could have reached the drink himself by stretching out his hand. He had never before realised how annoying his request would have been to his servant.
“So are you a second son or perhaps one of her tutors?”
“Pardon, madam?”
“An old man would not have gotten up so fluidly after kneeling for hours on the ground.”
“I am simply blessed with good bones. Why, my father . . . ”
“I do not have time to play games. I know you are courting Emma, and you are obviously not rich enough or of her status; hence, this charade to stay close to her.”
He stared at her, carefully masking his expression. There was something cruel in her face as she spoke.
“I should inform the Duke, but I will not.”
“That is very kind of you, but I assure you that you are mistaken.”
“I am not mistaken, and I am not kind. I think having you under my thumb will work well to my advantage. When the time comes, I will tell you what I want you to do for me.”
“You will resort to blackmail? It will not work on me.”
Lady Babbage raised an eyebrow. “You need to think of Emma and her reputation. If I let slip what I suspect . . . she will be a ruined.”
“You have known her since she was a babe. You would never hurt her.”
“You do not know me or my relationship with the girl. She has ignored me and my advice every summer. Unlike Catherine, she never even pretended to like me. I couldn’t care less about her.”
The Earl frowned. “You can tell the Duke if you like, but I don’t think he will find anything unseemly. You will make a fool of yourself.”
Lady Babbage smiled and said, “So you continue to lie to me? You will sing a different tune soon enough.”
She received a blank submissive look of a good servant for her efforts in return. She stood for a moment looking at him uncertainly, then shook her head and walked away.
***
That night, instead of finding the Earl hiding under her bed, Emma found a note:
Pickering did not take his nightly ale and I could not dose him. DO NOT venture out alone to the Duke’s study. I will tell you more when I see you.
Yours
Richard
“Yours Richard,” Emma grumbled. Why had he not written love?
She crumpled the note and threw it into the fire. She watched it burn and wondered why he didn’t want her to investigate on her own. He could have written another line explaining.
She wanted to disobey him and search the study, but the vision of Lady Babbage with the candle swam before her eyes.
She admitted to herself that she was not brave enough to venture out alone. Taking the coward’s way out, Emma decided to stay in her room that night.
***
The next morning Emma sat at the table poking holes into her boiled eggs. The Duchess had woken early and joined them for a change.
Mrs Barker enthusiastically shook salt all over her plate. “Your Grace, I compliment you on how well this household is run. It is so hard to find good servants these days. Though, I admit, I have never had any trouble dealing with them personally. My mother taught me the art of running a smooth household. But lately I have heard of servants putting on airs and graces, trying to act well above their station.”
The Duchess looked up in surprise. “My housekeeper deals with them. She is highly efficient. I leave everything in her capable hands.”
“I agree, people of our class should stay well away from dealing with their kind. They can be so temperamental. One must not get too familiar with them,” Mrs Barker said, looking at Emma.
Emma fumed. She considered her maid Bessie to be a thousand times more refined than Mrs Barker, irrespective of her status in society.
The Duke looked concerned at the direction the conversation had taken. He spoke now, “Emma, can I request your presence in my study after you have eaten?”
“Yes, uncle,” she replied, her heart hammering.
This was it. Either the Duke had discovered the truth, or he wanted to scold her for chatting with the gardener like a commoner. Neither option soothed her fears.
Chapter Twelve
“Enter,” the Duke called out.
“You wanted to speak to me?”
The Duke looked up from his desk and set aside his pen. “Ah, yes, Emma. Please sit. I don’t like you hovering over me like that. Would you care for some tea?”
“No, thank you, I had plenty during breakfast.”
“Are you happy here, Emmy?”
She felt tears prick her eyes at hearing her childhood name spoken after so many years. Her parents still called her Emmy, but the Duke had long given it up.
“I have always been happy here, uncle.”
“I hope you still consider this as your home and know that you can confide in me if anything troubles you.”
Emma nodded, not wanting to speak the lie.
He waited for her to continue, and at length when she did not, he said, “I am concerned about you spending so much time with the gardener. Do not misunderstand me. I have nothing against servants. I value Pickering above a number of lords and ladies. I often take his advice, and he mentioned how you have been seeking out the gardener again and again. I know your intentions are honourable and I trust you, but servants have an unfortunate habit of gossiping, and your preference has been noted and comme
nted upon. Even Mrs Barker hinted at something unsavoury regarding your conduct this morning.”
He held up his hand when Emma would have spoken, “Hear me out. I know she is a gossipy, vulgar woman, and you should normally ignore all she says. But in this instance such talk could ruin your future prospects. Since you are so newly engaged, the Earl may not find such conduct agreeable in a wife.”
“I understand, uncle, but I assure you, the Earl would have nothing to be embarrassed about. I have behaved like a lady, and it is not fair to say I cannot learn the nuances of planting flowers because someone like her objects.”
“You may learn it after you are wed,” the Duke snapped and then taking a deep breath continued more gently, “I know why you are here after such a short courtship. I guessed the Earl was not happy with the delay in the wedding plans. I did it for you so that you may not regret marrying the man years later. I made the mistake of marrying the current Duchess too soon. We had known each other for only four months. The constrictions of society never allowed us enough time together to get to know each other properly. I still regret that decision. I did not want the same to happen to you.”
Emma’s heart clenched in pain. “I am sorry, uncle, I confess I had been angry with you, and I thank you for the explanation. I appreciate your concern and understand your reasons better now. I do feel that you are right in your thinking, but you don’t know the Earl. I have spent a lot of time with him going on rides and picnics. One may spend years living with someone without understanding them. At the same time, you can rightly judge a man within five minutes of meeting him. Marriage is a risk, uncle, and I believe I know the Earl well enough to take that risk. I am so afraid he will be snatched away from me that I’d rather not wait.”
The Duke leaned back in his chair, his face thoughtful. “I did not want to tell you as it was to be a surprise. When I saw you gardening with that man with not a care for propriety, I realised that parting from your betrothed so soon was making you unhappy, and you were seeking a diversion. With Mrs Barker making such vicious comments about how she found you this morning, the situation is direr. She will let the word out, and I do not want the Earl, if he is a good man, to judge you wrongly. So I am pleased that I have already written to the Earl and invited him to visit us here. He can see for himself what the source of gossip is like. I can meet the man you have chosen, and if I find him worthy of you, then you have my blessings to marry when you choose.”
Emma’s smile had grown bigger and bigger as her uncle spoke, and now she leapt from her chair and rushed to hug him like she used to as a child.
“Thank you! Thank you! You are the nicest, kindest, most wonderful uncle in the whole wide world!”
The Duke laughed and gently pushed her away.
“Now go, I know you are dying to tell your cousin the latest news. I hope he arrives soon enough for your sake.”
Laughing, Emma ran out and went not to look for Catherine, but once again, the head gardener.
She sneaked out the back, taking care to avoid Pickering or anyone who could be watching. She knew the Duke would not expect her to go looking for the gardener, not after the talk they had just had, but this was too exciting for her to keep to herself.
She found him smoking a pipe in the apple orchard.
“I have news,” she panted.
“I need to talk to you,” he said at the same time.
Because she was still catching her breath, the Earl decided to go first.
“Lady Babbage tried to blackmail me.”
Emma took one look at his face and sat right where she stood. She patted the grass next to her, and the Earl joined her.
“She came to me yesterday after dropping you back to the house,” the Earl said.
“To fetch her work basket?”
“That was just an excuse. She has guessed that I am younger than I look, and she knows something is going on between us, though she is still in the dark as to my identity. She wants me to do something for her, and if I don’t, she has threatened to tell the Duke or the Earl.”
“But you must be mistaken. Why would she do something like this? She lives in comfort, and what could she possibly gain? She did hint her misgivings to me, but she said it was out of concern. It truly did not sound as if she had some nefarious plan.”
“She wanted you to talk, and once you did, she would blackmail you as well. I hope you did not confide in her.”
He continued after her reassurance that she had kept it all to herself. “She will approach me when she has a job for me to do. She said so clearly, and if I do not comply, then she promised to make me suffer, even if it means ruining your name. She dislikes you, she said, for you have never heeded her advice and always neglected her . . . I do hope she writes to the Earl instead of going to the Duke. Imagine me receiving my own complaint. My reply would be colourful enough to set her right for good.”
“It is true, I never liked her, but I never hated her or deliberately snubbed her. I was young, bound to break some rules and disregard her presence, but resorting to blackmail seems a bit extreme. She may have been bluffing . . . I cannot imagine her being capable of such things. She is a sweet old boring lady. She was trying to scare you into leaving me alone.”
“Trust me, and stay away from her. That sweet old lady has tiny horns protruding from her head. I am sure she hides them in that nest of dry brown hair. That woman has her own agenda. I don’t know what it is yet, but I intend to ferret it out. Meanwhile, I want you to stay in your room and no more searching the Duke’s study. If she catches us, then we would have a lot more to worry about than the Duke discovering my identity. Searching through his personal belongings is a far more serious matter.”
“That is why you left the note for me last night. Well, what I have to tell you would throw water on Lady Babbage’s plans. Put out that smelly pipe first. My poor nose cannot take it anymore.”
The Earl took a long drag, and then reluctantly put it away. Emma then proceeded to recount the morning events.
“I am not sure if this is good news,” he replied.
“Whatever do you mean? You can give up this entire charade and present yourself to the Duke. You still get to live in the same house but this time with all the comforts. I can meet you more frequently and openly. How is that not a good thing?”
“The Duke has had a hard marriage. He may think I am a fine young man, but there is no guarantee he will admit it. He will think of something else to delay the wedding. His main concern is your behaviour, which he feels needs to be curtailed. You do not seem to listen to his authority, so he hopes my presence will curb your wild ways and keep you passive. He will then attempt to convince me to wait a little longer, and I will have no decent counterargument. My instinct tells me that we are right for each other, but that is not going to go down well with a practical man.”
“So what do you suggest?”
“I want to continue this charade. The main reason being, I have spent almost a week sweating and labouring in this very field. I do not want that to go waste and declare defeat. My wager still stands, and I aim to see this thing through.”
“Oh, forget this silly game. I concede defeat, and you have won the wager. Now, please just come and stay as yourself. I will even admit to being compromised, and there will be no reason to stall the wedding after that.”
“It is the principle of things. I have to win the wager fairly, not because my fiancée suddenly feels sorry that I have to sleep on a flea infested mattress. No, Em, I am sorry, but it is just a matter of another three weeks. I will see this entire thing through.”
“That’s all very well, but the Duke expects the Earl to arrive any moment now. He sent the letter a few days ago. Remember, we saw it. It would be rude not to answer his request for your presence. Besides, a fiancée would be clamouring to be with his betrothed. You can’t weasel out of it using a business excuse.”
The Earl was silent for a moment. At length, he brightened and said, “I know
the perfect man for the job.”
“Job?”
“Yes, it’s brilliant. Another tweak in our plan.”
“No”
“Yes”
“No!”
“Please, hear me out at least.”
“Fine,” she replied, crossing her arms.
“I can continue to be the head gardener, and someone else can take my place as the Earl. No one on the estate has met me before. They will never know!”
“They will meet you on the wedding day. Then what?”
“They will hardly stop the wedding over a tiny bit of play acting.”
“Hardly tiny,” she muttered and then said more loudly, “So now you mean to bring another actor into this entire façade? You will continue impersonating the gardener while someone else will impersonate you? This is giving me a headache! Is there anyone you can trust to such an extent?”
“Yes, Em. It’s the perfect plan.”
“Not your Valet, Richard. You cannot be thinking of that man! Why, he resembles a fat, overripe tomato!”
“No, I am not thinking of Burns. I am thinking of the honourable marquis’s eldest son, Lord William Raikes.”
“You are funning me. That man hasn’t set foot in England, why . . . since he turned eighteen.”
“He has recently returned to England as his father is ailing. I have been in touch with him over the years. We grew up together. His estate adjoins mine. You are mistaken in your belief that he has not visited England between his travels. He comes often, but he is a sort of recluse, keeping to himself a lot. He is a writer and has made quite a name for himself.”
“I remember reading a book by ‘W.S. Raikes’. It’s in my father’s study. I wonder if he is the same?”