The Major Meets His Match

by Annie Burrows

  Today, however, she couldn’t drag her eyes from her uncle as, having indicated with a brusque gesture that she should sit in the chair before his desk, he went round it to sit down himself.

  He huffed. Frowned. Leaned back, making the chair creak. Leaned forward, folding his hands on the desk.

  Harriet swallowed.

  ‘I have had...something in the nature of a complaint,’ he finally said. ‘About your behaviour.’

  ‘Oh?’ Not Papa, then. Thank heaven. But...had somebody told him about her tussle on the grass with Lord Becconsall? How typical that would be, to be found out now she’d vowed never to speak to him again. Knowing her uncle, he’d insist it was grounds for marriage. And the only person who would be more appalled at the prospect would be Lord Becconsall himself.

  It wouldn’t surprise her if he was so appalled that he sought out a regiment that was serving overseas and joined up at once.

  But what if he was wounded? Killed? Her stomach turned over.

  ‘It pains me to have to be the one to say this,’ said Uncle Hugo, breaking through the chaos raging inside her head. ‘But as things stand, I cannot trust Lady Tarbrook to set you to rights.’ He scowled.

  She said nothing. What was there to say? That she’d already learned her lesson, in the worst way possible? To confess that at some time just after dawn, having been unable to sleep, she’d seen that most people would say she’d probably deserved for Lord Becconsall to treat her as a joke, because of the way she’d behaved. That she shouldn’t have been out in the park, unattended. And that, therefore, whatever had happened since was entirely her own fault.

  That on the whole, she could see their point.

  ‘It is one thing ordering my staff to refuse admittance to my house to certain gentlemen,’ he began. ‘Though really, if you find some suitor unacceptable, you should have spoken to your aunt and explained why, and then she would have taken care of it.’

  She hung her head to conceal any expression of relief that might have flitted across her face. It didn’t sound as if he’d found out about her escapade in the park. Or he would have opened with that. Besides which she was a bit ashamed of having tried to go round the problem of Lord Becconsall instead of facing it head on. She knew it wasn’t her place to give such orders to Lord and Lady Tarbrook’s staff, but if she’d gone to her aunt in the regular way, she’d have wanted to know what her objection was to Lord Becconsall. And she simply couldn’t face telling her.

  ‘But as for questioning them about the fate of the Tarbrook parure...’ he breathed very loudly through his nostrils, which were pinched and white, she noticed as she raised her head in surprise ‘...that, I have to tell you, young lady, is going beyond what is acceptable. My staff,’ he said, getting to his feet, ‘have been for the most part with me since I was a boy. I trust them all implicitly. And to have them all upset by accusations of...theft, is something I will not have. Do you understand me?’

  By the time he spoke the last words he was standing right over her, his brows drawn down. If he hadn’t been, she might have blurted out that it was a great pity he didn’t feel the same about upsetting his wife with similar accusations.

  ‘I...I didn’t accuse anyone of anything,’ she said mulishly. ‘I only asked if anyone had any suspicions. The servants are, after all, the best people to know what goes on in a big household—’

  She flinched as Uncle Hugo slammed his fist down on his desk.

  ‘Enough! I will not have you answer me back in that insolent fashion. A mere chit of a girl like you. It would serve you right if I packed you back off to the country, where you clearly belong if you are so ungrateful for this chance my wife has seen fit to give you, that you go round upsetting the household by making the servants fear they are about to be accused of something that is a hanging offence!’

  Only a few days ago, she’d thought the threat of being sent back to the country might have come as a relief. Because it was where she belonged. London, and London society, was like a foreign country to her. She scarcely spoke the same language as the natives. And their customs and habits made very little sense to her.

  But at that time she hadn’t fully appreciated just how much she owed Aunt Susan. To abandon her, now, would be an appalling act of selfishness. Even if it would be a means of escaping Lord Becconsall.

  So she hung her head and attempted to look repentant.

  Actually, she was a bit repentant now that Uncle Hugo had told her how she’d made the staff feel. She hadn’t considered the fact that theft of such precious items was a hanging offence.

  ‘I never meant to frighten anyone,’ she said with genuine remorse. She lifted her head to look her uncle straight in the eye, to show him that she was being completely honest. ‘I just thought that one of the staff might have seen something suspicious. Or at least been able to say exactly when the last time the genuine stones had been seen...’

  ‘You are not to plague any of my staff with any more of your impertinent questions about this matter, do you hear me?’

  She nodded. For just about everyone in the house must have heard. When Uncle Hugo got angry, his voice carried.

  ‘Because if you do, I shall most certainly send you back where you came from. And that will be the end of any chance some decent man might marry you. Though why on earth any man of sense would wish to...’ He looked at her as though she was a worm. ‘I believe there is a certain type who would overlook your lack of address because of your fortune, but what man could stomach a woman who...meddles in things that don’t concern her? That answers back?’

  ‘I...’ She bit down on the retort that she hadn’t answered back, since that would have been answering back.

  ‘Go to your room and stay there,’ he bellowed. ‘And think about the consequences of your actions this day.’

  She didn’t hesitate. She got out of her chair and scurried to the door. Oh, not because her uncle frightened her. Although it was a bit disconcerting to have a grown man standing over her, shouting right into her face. It was Harriet’s guilty conscience that was making her so uncomfortable. Because it really was unforgivable to upset the servants so badly. Badly enough for them to break with all the etiquette that appeared to govern them and make a complaint about her.

  As if that weren’t bad enough, worse was to come. Just as she reached the foot of the stairs, who should she see descending them but Lord Becconsall.

  He was frowning. And his eyes were flicking from where she was standing clutching at the newel post for support to the door of her uncle’s study.

  He must have seen her coming out. He’d probably heard her uncle shouting. And he’d definitely seen her being hauled unceremoniously out of the drawing room.

  Not that he cared. Not about her. That frown, that expression of concern, couldn’t possibly be concern on her behalf. For a man like that cared only about himself. And his stupid friends. And their stupid wagers.

  So he was probably wondering if somehow, someone had told her uncle what she’d been up to in the park. Or, more likely, told tales about her going out on to the terrace with him last night.

  Yes, he was probably scared that her warning about him having to marry her if anyone should find out he’d kissed her was about to come true.

  Well, he need not be. She would rather spend the rest of her days...well...anywhere than married to him when it was clearly the last thing he wanted. In the hopes of conveying her determination to do anything rather than be dragged down the aisle to marry him, she lifted her chin, prised her fingers from the newel post, urged her feet into motion and began to mount the stairs.

  ‘Lady Harriet...’ he began in an urgent undertone as she drew level with him.

  She shot him a scathing glance, tossing her head for good measure, and kept right on climbing the stairs.

  And then she strode along the corridor t
o her room with her head held high. Without looking back to see his reaction to her snub.

  Not even once.

  Chapter Twelve

  She didn’t slam the door to her room behind her. But she did attempt to relieve her feelings by marching across to the dressing table and kicking the stool. Which hurt like blazes.

  Cursing under her breath, she hopped over to her bed and sat down quickly. As she sat there cradling her foot, wondering if she’d broken a bone, she listened to callers leaving and callers arriving. Eventually the hour for paying such calls came to an end and the house fell quiet. Relatively quiet. She heard Kitty’s footsteps hurry past her room and then the sound of her bedroom door open and close. Her little bedroom clock struck the hour twice, but it wasn’t until she heard the family making their way to the dining room that she began to wonder if she was not only confined to her room, but also going to be deprived of food and drink.

  Which made her get up and start pacing the room angrily. That she was able to do so came as some relief in regard to her toe. At least she had only bruised, rather than broken, it.

  Nevertheless, she didn’t kick any other item of furniture, even when she heard evidence that the family had not only dined without her, but were also getting ready to go out, without a single one of them deigning to see if there was anything she might need.

  She’d just flung herself on to her bed, with her poor injured foot at the head so that she could treat it to the softness of half-a-dozen pillows, when the door opened to reveal her aunt, all dressed up ready to go out, but looking far from well enough to do so.

  ‘Aunt Susan, I am so sorry,’ said Harriet, instantly struck with remorse for having spent the day thinking of nobody but herself. Uncle Hugo had probably used her behaviour as yet another stick to beat Aunt Susan with. Metaphorically, that was.

  ‘I didn’t mean to cause you any trouble,’ she said, scrambling to sit up. ‘Or upset the servants. I just couldn’t bear to think of you bearing the blame any longer. I hoped to find out...’

  ‘Oh, my dear,’ said Aunt Susan, glancing over her shoulder guiltily before coming in and shutting the door behind her. ‘It is better, really, that the world should believe that I sold the jewels to pay gambling debts and had the stones copied, than that a serious enquiry should be made.’

  ‘What? No! Surely—’

  ‘Hush.’ She came across the room and sat down on the bed, next to Harriet. ‘Let me explain something to you,’ she said, taking hold of her hands. ‘It will help you to understand your uncle’s attitude over this. I know you think he is being harsh and unforgiving, but it is not the case. You see,’ she went on hurriedly when Harriet took a breath to protest that it was the case and she would never forgive him. ‘When he was a boy, his mother...lost a string of pearls. She accused a servant, who hadn’t been with the family for very long, of stealing them. The maid swore she was innocent, but his mother insisted it must have been her, since nobody else had access to them. She was found guilty and hanged. And then...the pearls turned up.’

  ‘What? How dreadful!’

  ‘Yes. His mother never forgave herself. She’d sent an innocent woman to the gallows. You can imagine the effect it must have had upon him. Which is why, though it has upset me, I...I can forgive Lord Tarbrook for being so insistent on blaming me, when he must know...’ Her lower lip trembled.

  ‘Well, anyway, enough of that. You are not to be permitted to come out with us tonight. Though, I take it, that will not concern you too much?’ She tilted her head and looked Harriet in the eye. ‘Since you seem determined to avoid a certain...gentleman?’

  ‘Oh, dear. Yes, that is something else I need to apologise for. Uncle Hugo told me I had no right to have your butler refuse admittance to any of his guests. It was just that—’

  ‘You have taken him in strong aversion.’

  ‘Yes.’ She found she couldn’t look her aunt in the eye. Instead she gazed down at where her own hands were being held between her aunt’s bejewelled fingers as she braced herself to face some awkward questions.

  But her aunt only sighed.

  ‘Well, no matter. He is not exactly a splendid catch. Although he comes from a good family and has a comfortable income, his reputation is that he is not all that...steady. Had I been thinking more clearly I might have given him a hint he was wasting his time in the first place. However, you appeared to like him, so...’

  ‘Yes, I did, at first. It is just that...’ She swallowed, wondering how to continue that sentence without owning up to what she’d done, or what he’d done, or what she’d subsequently overheard.

  ‘First impressions can be deceptive. And I don’t forget that he was the first man of any real consequence to pay you attention. However, I am sure he won’t be the last, so we will say no more.’

  She was sure he wouldn’t be the last? Harriet lifted her head to stare in astonishment at her aunt. That definitely wasn’t what Uncle Hugo thought. He’d told her she was so worthless and unattractive that only a desperate fortune-hunter would be prepared to overlook her faults. He’d been so cutting and cruel that if she’d been a sensitive sort of girl she would have been devastated. Fortunately, he’d already revealed his true colours by the way he’d treated his own wife. Her lovely, lovely Aunt Susan, who was trying to make her feel better instead of crushing her when she was already down.

  ‘I shall tell your uncle that I have found you suitably penitent,’ said Aunt Susan. ‘And not mention your obvious relief that you don’t have to face the ordeal of yet another ball. It would quite spoil his conviction that he is being extremely strict with you,’ she said, much to Harriet’s amazement. In the space of three minutes, Aunt Susan had not only expressed an opinion which was the very opposite of the man she normally deferred to on all matters, but now she was proposing to actually hoodwink him!

  ‘I shall have Maud bring you up some supper the moment we have gone out. You can manage until then? You are not too hungry?’

  ‘No, thank you Aunt Susan,’ she said, wishing there was some way to express the sudden surge of affection she felt for her brave, kindly and compassionate aunt. Who was always trying to see the good in people, even when experience must have taught her that there wasn’t all that much, all that often.

  ‘I will also select a few journals and books for you to read. I see no reason why you should be deprived of all forms of entertainment, just because you are not allowed to leave your room. Especially since...’ She trailed off, looking guilty. Leaving Harriet wondering what she’d been about to say. She hoped that Aunt Susan might have thought about saying she was touched by Harriet’s belief in her innocence. Or that she didn’t think the things she’d done warranted confinement in her room. But to do either would have meant openly declaring that she no longer believed her husband was infallible. And she clearly wasn’t yet ready to commit such open sacrilege.

  It wasn’t long after Aunt Susan left her room that Harriet heard everyone going downstairs. She went to the window to watch the family get into the coach and go out. She folded her arms as the coach merged with the traffic going around the square and shook her head over the tale Aunt Susan had told her, about the innocent servant going to the gallows. She’d done it to try to make her believe that Uncle Hugo wasn’t a complete ogre, of course. But, well, it had given her food for thought.

  For one thing, she could see that Uncle Hugo did have a good reason for behaving the way he’d done. For another, if she’d known about the awful fate of that poor servant girl in his childhood, she would never have asked the servants so many questions about Aunt Susan’s rubies. They must all be terrified the same kind of thing might be going to happen all over again.

  Which made it impossible to ask them anything else.

  Which meant poor Aunt Susan was just going to have to bear the blame.

  Which wasn’t fair! She couldn
’t have had the jewels copied. She just wouldn’t do such a thing.

  She leaned her head against the cool panes of glass. And it was just as if some of its clarity seeped right into her head. Because she could suddenly see that although the horrid fate of that serving girl had come as a complete surprise to her, there must be plenty of other people who knew all about it. A story that shocking was bound to have been broadcast far and wide at the time. You couldn’t keep a story like that hushed up, no matter how hard a family tried to do so.

  She straightened up. Anyone who knew about it would also know how reluctant Uncle Hugo would be to question his servants very closely. That he’d be much more likely to pretend nothing had happened rather than risk sending another innocent to the gallows.

  And if they knew the family well enough to have heard about that old scandal, then they’d probably also know how infrequently Aunt Susan got the rubies out of the...well, wherever it was she kept them.

  Oh, how she wished she hadn’t promised she wouldn’t ask the servants any more questions. Because now Aunt Susan had told her all about those pearls, it had shone light on the mystery of the fake rubies in a whole new way. She no longer needed to look for the kind of thief who’d climb in through a window. Someone like...a close friend of the family would have had far more opportunity to effect the swap. Someone who could walk into the house as though they had every right to be there.

  She’d just reached that conclusion when someone scratched at the door, then came straight in. It was Maud, with her supper, and Peter with a bundle of magazines and a couple of novels.

  Neither of them looked at her, but simply set their burdens down on the nearest surface.

  ‘Please,’ said Harriet, darting forward, her hand outstretched. ‘Would you be so kind as to convey my heartfelt apologies to all the staff? I never meant to frighten anyone. I never imagined I could frighten anyone. It is just that my aunt has been so good to me and, seeing her so upset over being accused of something I just know she couldn’t have done, well, I wanted to clear her name. It never occurred to me that clearing her name might mean casting suspicion on any of you. I am sure none of you would do anything so disloyal. I just thought you might have some suspicion of...well, how an intruder might have got in. Or something,’ she finished, her heart sinking as both maid and footman regarded her with identically stony faces.