“I feel sure that Papa will be gratified. I am just wondering if every ball I go to will always be exactly the same as the previous one.”
Mr. Wilson looked at the pile in front of him.
“I cannot promise you anything unusual, but I have not opened all the post as yet.”
“I will take Bracken for a walk. Perhaps amongst that pile there is an invitation to something I have not yet done.”
“I am sure there will be,” Mr. Wilson replied.
But she knew he was only being polite and she had actually, although she did not say so, found last night’s ball rather dull.
It was exactly the same as the ball she had attended the night before and the night before that.
There had been the same young men at dinner and on one side of her there was an Honourable and on the other a Viscount.
They were both at University and their conversation was exclusively on sport.
The Viscount talked about cricket and she learnt he was a good bowler and the Honourable was taking part in the Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge.
The other young gentlemen she danced with were all replicas of one another.
At the end of the evening she found it was difficult to remember their names or to be the slightest concerned as to whether she would meet them again.
‘I would so much rather be with Papa,’ she decided. ‘At least we can talk about politics, the Russian menace or what is happening in France.’
Then she told herself it was no use being critical as she had to accept what was on offer and be thankful for it.
Bracken was delighted to be taken for a walk and, although Flavia put him on a lead, he jumped and twisted and attempted to run ahead of her.
When she reached the Square, she released Bracken because she knew he would not go far and he was already seeking other dogs.
Quickly, just in case anyone should notice her, she slipped behind the statue.
For four days she had searched with her fingers, only to be disappointed.
But today to her delight there was a folded piece of paper and in case anyone was watching her, she slipped it into her handbag.
Then she went to the other side of the Square where there was a seat. Bracken followed her when she called him and an attractive little terrier came with him.
Flavia sat down on the seat and looked around to make sure she was not being observed.
Then she took the piece of paper from her handbag and opened it.
“The Grosvenor Chapel at eleven-thirty. Urgent.”
That was all that was written, but she felt her heart jump.
The chase was on!
Although it was rather frightening in some ways, the excitement made her feel that she was back in action.
This in itself was most satisfactory and because she was so used to rising early in the country, even if she was late going to bed, she was usually downstairs before nine.
It was now only ten o’clock so there was plenty of time for her to go to the Grosvenor Chapel.
Even so, she looked at her watch a dozen times and it seemed to be going slower than it had ever gone before.
She kept wondering what had happened.
She felt sure that the Earl would not have sent for her unless he had something vitally important to tell her.
And she was trying to guess what it could be.
She wondered if he had found some subtle way of protecting them from her father’s and Lord Carlsby’s plot.
One thought had occurred to her only last night.
As the Earl did not want to marry her, he might easily become involved with or even marry someone else.
If he was entranced – as the Prince of Wales was – with someone as enchanting as Lillie Langtry, it would be impossible for her father and Lord Carlsby to involve him with her.
The plot would then grind to an abrupt standstill.
She suspected that being so good-looking the Earl must have had many affaires-de-coeur, as others did.
They were spoken of in front of her only with bated breath, but she and her father talked about them openly and it had inevitably started with the Prince of Wales.
“Is it really true, Papa,” Flavia had asked, “that the Prince has had a great number of affaires-de-coeur with beautiful ladies, not only in London but in Paris?”
“Now who has been talking to you?” he asked.
“I was actually listening to something said to Mama when they did not think I was listening.”
Her father had been amused.
“It’s a great mistake for you to listen to gossip, but in this instance it would be stupid to try to keep the truth from you. Yes, the Prince of Wales has had many love affairs and it would be silly for me to pretend he is faithful to the Princess.”
“Does she mind?” Flavia asked naively.
“If she does, she is clever enough to make it clear, as far as the outside world is concerned, that she and her husband are extremely happy with each other.”
Lord Linwood had paused before he said positively,
“In public they appear to be a contented and happy couple.”
“But the Princess must mind, if she loves him – ”
“The Prince of Wales always treats her with great courtesy and insists on her receiving it from everyone else. What he does in private is not discussed at Marlborough House.”
This was before the Prince had met Mrs. Langtry and Flavia had heard her father and his friends saying with astonishment that Princess Alexandra had accepted her.
This meant she was invited to Marlborough House and the Social world had followed Princess Alexandra’s lead and opened their doors to her.
As Flavia had seen on the night of her dinner party, the Prince was very much in love.
Yet she had heard one of the ladies when they were in the drawing room saying that she had so enjoyed a party that had taken place at Marlborough House.
“His Royal Highness always thinks of something amusing to entertain us,” she had said, “and that evening I think everyone was laughing from the moment they arrived until the moment they left.”
Flavia longed to ask if Princess Alexandra was laughing too and almost as if the lady read her thoughts, she said,
“When we were just leaving, I heard Her Royal Highness saying to Mrs. Langtry, ‘I do hope you will come again, as when you are here, His Royal Highness is always in such a great jovial mood and everyone finds the party entrancing’.”
Flavia thought over what she had heard.
She wondered if perhaps the Earl had followed the Prince of Wales’s example.
Was he indeed having a love affair with someone as beautiful as Mrs. Langtry?
If he was, it would be completely impossible for her father and Lord Carlsby to catch him out with her and claim that he had ruined her reputation.
It was just a thought.
Yet, she knew that if it was the end of this strange drama, she would in a way be relieved.
At the same time she would miss the excitement of wondering what could happen next or how she and the Earl could defeat the two of them, who were determined to lock them together in Holy Matrimony.
She took Bracken back to the house.
Then she spent some time choosing a pretty hat to go with the dress she was wearing.
When finally she was ready, it was fifteen minutes past eleven.
She needed to find someone to escort her to South Audley Street and it was safe to say that she was going there directly as she had done earlier.
She therefore approached Mrs. Shepherd,
“I am only going to the chemist to buy some more scent, so I will take Molly with me again. She so enjoyed coming with me the other morning that I felt I must take her again for old times’ sake.”
“You’re very kind and considerate, Miss Flavia,” Mrs. Shepherd said, “which be more than I could say for most young women of your age. All they thinks about is how they can doll themselves up for the da
ncing.”
“I think you are being unkind, but, as you know, Molly has been with us longer, I think, than anyone else, and I don’t want her to feel that she is too old for whatever we are doing now.”
“She’ll be very happy to go with you, Miss Flavia, and so would any of the others. But as you says yourself, Molly be getting old and you mustn’t take her too far.”
“Only to the chemist and this afternoon unless I get an invitation to tea with anyone, I would like Betty to come with me and we’ll take Bracken for a walk in Hyde Park.”
Mrs. Shepherd smiled.
“That’s a good idea and what you needs be plenty of exercise. You were late this morning setting off for your ride and came back quicker than I expected.”
Flavia could not say she had been disappointed as there was no sign of the Earl in Rotten Row.
There were just the same people she had seen every day and some had been at the party last night. She had therefore galloped with the groom behind her several times up and down the Row and then returned home.
Now she was feeling excited because the ‘game’ had started again.
She wondered what the Earl would have to tell her.
Holding Bracken’s lead and walking very slowly as Molly could not hurry, they then turned into South Audley Street.
The chemist’s shop was halfway down on the right hand side.
“I want you to go and ask for the scent I always use,” Flavia said to Molly. “If he does not have it, tell him to order it for me.”
She paused for breath before she added,
“I will leave Bracken with you while I run to the Post Office with a letter I have to send. I will not be long, but in case they keep me waiting sit down inside the shop – there is always a chair – and wait until I reappear.”
“That’s all right then, miss,” said Molly, “I knows exactly what you want. Don’t you hurry yourself too much as it’s so hot.”
Flavia saw Molly go into the chemists and then she walked as quickly as she could to Grosvenor Chapel.
The door was open as it always was and she saw as she peeped inside that there were three people praying in various pews.
Then, as she hurried upstairs to the Gallery, she was frightened in case there were worshippers there as well.
Much to her relief, however, there was only the Earl sitting where he had been before.
She moved quickly towards him, but he did not rise and she sat down beside him.
“I thought you had forgotten about me,” she began.
“You can be quite certain I have not,” he replied. “But I had no news to tell you until yesterday.”
“What happened then?” Flavia asked breathlessly.
“Your father and Lord Carlsby have been extremely shrewd and have done something we did not expect.”
“What is that?” Flavia asked.
“Your father suggested to Her Majesty that, as you have been such an amazing success since you appeared in London and everyone is now talking about your beauty, he thought it essential you should marry as soon as possible.”
Flavia gave a gasp and stared at the Earl.
“Did Papa really say that to the Queen?”
“He did – and what is more, he suggested that Her Majesty would understand that I was definitely the most eligible bachelor in London at this moment and begged her help in drawing us together.”
“I don’t believe it!” Flavia exclaimed. “Surely my Papa cannot really have said that to Her Majesty.”
“That is what Her Majesty told me. When I insisted it was nonsense and I had no wish to be married, she said she thought it would be good for me to have a wife. Also she understood that I was consorting with women like the Duchess of Manchester and that was something of which she most definitely disapproved.”
“What did you say to her?”
“What could I say? I said I had no wish to marry anyone at the moment, and if I did, it must be someone I loved who would share the same interests as I have.”
There was a pause and as his eyes twinkled, he added,
“I must now be honest and tell you that I said I was looking for someone just like Her Majesty when she was young!”
Flavia laughed because she could not help it.
Then she rapidly covered her lips with her hand in case she was overheard.
“That was very quick of you,” she whispered.
“It is almost true. After all she is an intelligent woman and Lord Melbourne taught her so much when she was young that she is so different from the brainless young women who are pushed upon me at every ball.”
“I wondered why you were not at the Duchess of Bedford’s last night,” Flavia commented.
“Do you mean you missed me, Flavia?”
“Of course I did. I find our dangerous situation, even though it is frightening, far more interesting than the conversation of the men who danced with me.”
“You must have enjoyed the compliments they paid you. How many proposals of marriage have you had?”
Flavia answered him without thinking,
“Two, as it so happens, and one in the offing. But I would rather die than marry any of them.”
“Why, what is wrong?”
“They are young and know little about anything except sport. And I should undoubtedly find them boring before the honeymoon was over.”
“It’s exactly how I would feel,” the Earl exclaimed. “Now you will understand why I have no wish to marry, whatever the Queen or anyone else says.”
“Could she hurt you in any way if you reject her advice?” Flavia asked him after a moment.
“She could make things very difficult for me and that of course is what your father and Lord Carlsby desire.”
“In other words, either you marry me or you are no longer persona grata at Windsor Castle!”
“Exactly. Therefore we have to think of something brilliant as an answer.”
Flavia was silent for a moment and then she said,
“I was actually thinking today that perhaps you had found someone who thrilled you in the same way that Mrs. Langtry thrills the Prince. If you were as much in love as they are, it would be impossible for Papa or Lord Carlsby to try to force you to marry me.”
“That is certainly an idea, but at present I am not particularly attracted by anyone and I have no wish to go looking for more trouble than I am in already.”
“You mean that, if the lady is married, her husband might take action against you?”
“Right again! It would certainly be a case of ‘out of the frying and pan into the fire’!”
Flavia wanted to laugh and had great difficulty in preventing herself from doing so.
Then she asked in a different voice,
“What can we do?”
“I was hoping you would have an idea, Flavia. I don’t want to frighten you, but I think it is only a question of time before the Queen orders your father to bring you to Windsor Castle.”
“You mean Her Majesty will tell me outright that I have to marry you?” Flavia asked incredulously.
“She may do, I wouldn’t put it past her. If she gets an idea into her head, it is almost impossible to push it out again.”
There was silence and then Flavia murmured,
“You mean she really might order us to marry each other. If you refuse, it would ruin your career at Court.”
“I was thinking,” the Earl replied, “that one way I could circumvent them would be to go abroad. There are still parts of the world I have not seen and I always enjoy travelling.”
“It’s unfair that you can be so lucky. You can slip off quite happily and no one would think it strange, but you can imagine the hue and cry if I did such a thing.”
He did not speak and after a moment she added,
“That is exactly what I would love to do. You will not believe it, but I do find London and the Season rather disenchanting. It has been exciting because you and I are attempting to prevent Papa and Lo
rd Carlsby having their way. But now that the Queen has joined in, it may be more threatening than we had anticipated.”
“It may not be as bad as I fear, but I thought you should know what was happening.”
“Of course I have to know. You could not be so unkind as to leave me out. And if you just disappeared, I should find it intolerable to go on listening to all those silly and tedious young men!”
The Earl looked pensive for a moment,
“I thought when we first met, Flavia, the one thing you wanted was for me to ignore you and for us never to speak to each other again.”
“That is what I wanted at first, but now I find it very disappointing when there is no message from you. I discovered that the fight we are having with Papa and Lord Carlsby is more intriguing than dancing round a ballroom every night with each partner exactly the same as the last.”
“That is exactly what I have always felt,” the Earl said. “I think really the wisest course we can now take is to sit tight and wait and see what happens.”
Flavia looked at him wide-eyed.
“Do you really mean that? What will you do if the Queen orders you to marry me?”
“She will not do that in so many words, but she will make it very clear that it is her wish, and, of course, your father’s, who she greatly respects, that we should be joined together. It will be very difficult for us to refuse when she offers us her blessing.”
There was a note of sarcasm in his voice as he spoke the last words.
Then Flavia cried,
“Whatever happens neither of us must marry unless we are true to our convictions that we have to be wildly in love!”
“That is just what I am trying to say, Flavia. But being ‘wildly in love’ as you so elegantly put it, does not come naturally. As you grow older, you will find that most times one is disillusioned far too quickly and what one at first thought of as love becomes as dull and depressing as you found with your dancing partners last night.”
“Now you are trying to disillusion me, but I have believed all my life that I would find the real love which comes from my heart and my soul. Once I found Prince Charming, we would live happily ever after!”
The Earl smiled.
A Shooting Star Page 11