Rupert sighed. 'I suppose we had better look for her.'
The men stood up and were deciding where each would go when Louise insisted she join the search.
'She is my responsibility,' she said.
'Come with me, then,' Rupert said, and they made for the far part of the gardens. 'Have you seen Cedric?' he asked as they hurried along one of the side walkways.
'No. Is he here?'
'David thought he caught a glimpse of him while we were eating supper. I'll hazard that's who she is with.'
They reached the furthest part of the gardens without seeing either of the culprits, then they heard the sounds of an altercation coming from a small pavilion, and after a worried glance at each other, turned towards it.
'That's Matilda's voice,' Louise said, picking up her skirts and breaking into a run.
The inside of the pavilion was lit with one of the lamps. Two young men, somewhat inebriated, stood in the doorway, laughing and jeering.
'Can we have a go when you've finished, Cedric? She looks a game young pullet.'
'Where did you find her?' the other asked, clinging drunkenly to his companion's arm.
Louise pushed them aside and then halted, aghast. Cedric and Matilda were sprawled on a cloak laid on the ground, and her skirts were pulled up to reveal most of her legs. One of his hands was resting on her thigh, and the bodice of her gown was torn. Cedric, his arm round her neck, was pulling at it, trying to extricate his other hand but hampered by Matilda who was struggling to sit up.
'Go away!' Matilda was saying, and then, seeing Louise, burst into tears. 'It wasn't my fault,' she sobbed. 'It's because no one wants me, and Cedric says he'll marry me, and no one else will!'
Cedric had managed to free his hand from Matilda's bodice. He pulled down her skirts and helped her to her feet. Then he saw his cousin and his face blanched. Louise thought he was about to faint, but had little time for considering him as Matilda threw herself into Louise's arms, sobbing gustily.
*
Somehow Rupert organised everyone. He sent the two young men away with dire threats of what would happen to them if they gossiped about the incident.
'They will, though,' he said to Louise. 'They won't be able to resist spreading scandal. I'll find a carriage to take you home, and Amelia and David can escort you. As for you, Cedric, go home and I will speak to you tomorrow morning. Will you be all right here for a few minutes, Louise?'
'Yes, of course.'
She sank onto a bench at the back of the pavilion, and pulled Matilda down beside her. When the girl began to make excuses Louise told her firmly not to say a single word. Matilda dissolved into sobs which continued throughout the drive home across Westminster Bridge. David and Amelia said nothing until they reached Half Moon Street, but looked sympathetically at Louise.
'I'll come round in the morning,' Amelia said quietly as Matilda was helped out, followed by Louise. 'We'll do what we can to prevent scandal.'
'Go to bed,' Louise said as they entered the house, and Matilda, after a defiant look at her, ran up the stairs. Louise sighed. What should she do? Send the girl back to Yorkshire in disgrace? Try to make Mrs Hoyland take some responsibility for looking after her daughter? Or hope those two young men would forget, or at least not know Matilda's identity, so they could go on as though nothing had happened? At least she would wait until she had been able to consult the Earl. What would he do to Cedric? No respectable young man would try to seduce an unmarried girl, as he had clearly been trying to do, with, she sighed, Matilda's cooperation until they had been discovered.
She slept little, and in the morning ordered Matilda to remain in her room with just Jenny to attend her. She was having breakfast when, to her annoyance, Mr Littleton was announced. She had forgotten this was the day he was to come for his monthly visit.
They were going through the accounts in the library when Cedric appeared. He pushed past Swayne and burst into the room. Ignoring Mr Littleton he demanded to see Matilda.
'For I mean to marry her,' he shouted. 'I know you and Rupert don't want me to, but we love one another. You don't think she would kiss me if she didn't love me, do you?'
'Swayne, pray get one of the footmen and throw this creature out of the house, and if he tries to enter again, send for a constable.'
'You can't do this,' Cedric protested. 'I mean to marry her, and if those two scoundrels, who pretend to be my friends, tell everyone what they saw, no one else will have her!'
Two footmen had appeared, they grasped Cedric's arms and dragged him from the room. Swayne said he would open the door, and Louise heard it slam a few moments later, after Cedric had presumably been ejected.
'What was that about?' Mr Littleton asked. 'He was talking about Miss Hoyland?'
'Oh, a small contretemps at Vauxhall,' Louise said, trying to sound nonchalant. She did not want Mr Littleton to know the details. Then the knocker sounded and Swayne, with the footmen in tow, went to open the front door. It was not Cedric, for Louise heard him greeting Lady Amelia, and suggesting she wait in the drawing room.
'Where is Louise? Don't try to fob me off, after last night I must talk to her.'
'She is in the library, busy with Mr Hoyland's man of business,' Swayne attempted.
'He can wait, I must see her.'
She came in, and ignoring Mr Littleton, took Louise's hands in hers. 'Rupert is furious,' she said. 'I've never seen him so angry. If Cedric appears at Dubarry House he might kill him!'
Mr Littleton coughed. 'I think, Lady Rushton, you must tell me what has occurred, I have a duty to report to Mr Hoyland.'
*
Chapter 12
Louise was finishing a light nuncheon when Amelia arrived.
'Coffee?' Louise asked.
'No thank you. Can we go somewhere private?'
They went up to the drawing room and Louise sank into a chair beside the fire. It was a warm Spring day, but she could not stop shivering.
'How is she?' Amelia asked.
'In bed, crying, refusing to speak to anyone. What of Rupert?'
'I've never seen him so angry. Normally if he is annoyed he is icily cool, but he never stopped raging last night, until David and I crept off to bed leaving him to it. This morning he and David, and Sir Arthur, are out looking for Cedric. All I know is he didn't return to his rooms last night, so they are going to his friends and his other low haunts. I even pity Cedric if Rupert finds him.'
They were interrupted by Swayne, who came to say the ladies Rushton and Barlow were asking to speak to Louise.'
'Show them up,' Louise said. 'We might as well have a council of war,' she added as the butler withdrew.
'My dear, how are you?' her mother asked, coming into the room and kissing her.
'Weary, and feeling a failure. I haven't made any progress in teaching Matilda proper behaviour.'
'She's a lost cause, and always was,' Lady Barlow said. 'Her mother retreated to Cheltenham and left her to run wild in Yorkshire after her father died. You could hardly work miracles in a few months!'
'What is she doing now?' Lady Rushton asked.
'Weeping and wailing in her room and refusing to talk.'
'Is Cedric likely to try and get in touch? Could he plan to elope?'
'Peg and Jenny are taking turns to be with her all the time. They are the only ones to see her. I believe none of my staff would smuggle a note from Cedric, or one from her.'
'He can't elope, he has no money and is always in debt and expecting Rupert to rescue him,' Amelia said.
'She has her mother's diamonds,' Louise reminded her. 'One of those bracelets would take them to Gretna.'
'They ought to be given back to Mrs Hoyland, to remove temptation,' Lady Rushton said.
'Of course. Amelia, will you take them back to Dubarry House? What is Mrs Hoyland proposing to do? Does she know about last night?'
'I'll take them, of course. Mrs Hoyland must have heard Rupert rampaging last night. Dubarry House is large, but her room is close to the
stairs and the central hallway. She hasn't, though, asked any questions. She just says she wishes to return to Cheltenham as soon as Rupert condescends to send her. I can see where Matilda gets her arrogance from!'
'What about Matilda?' Lady Barlow asked.
'I don't know what to do with her,' Louise confessed. 'I could send her back to Yorkshire, or force her mother to take her to Cheltenham, but in either place Cedric could find her and persuade her to elope. She has her own jewels, she doesn't need her mother's. If they did elope I would feel I had failed completely. He made no secret of his intention to live off her money, and he'd ruin her within months. Plus,' she added bitterly, 'he is looking forward to Rupert's being killed, and then he'd run through the Dubarry fortune too!'
'Perhaps the best solution would be to let them marry and pack them off to Yorkshire,' Lady Rushton said. 'I know it's not what you want, Louise, but your grandfather gave you an impossible task, as he'd have known had he troubled to discover what Matilda was like.'
'I don't like to have failed, but it's perhaps the best solution.'
'Has she ever indicated she wished to marry Cedric?'
'No, Mama. She wants to marry the Earl. She was very hopeful when he danced with her at the ball. It was the first time he had asked her, you see, and she was in alt, until it was clear he had no intention of asking her for a second dance.'
'He had to start the ball with her,' Amelia said. She giggled. 'He was grumbling about the necessity all that morning. Louise, I ought to be going home.'
'We should be leaving too.'
'I'll fetch Mrs Hoyland's diamonds. Thank you for coming, all of you. I feel better, even if there is no solution.'
*
Rupert, David and Sir Arthur met for dinner at Dubarry House. They had discovered no trace of Cedric, but Rupert's fury had diminished. Now he was merely threatening to whip Cedric's hide raw when he caught him, rather than the hanging, drawing and quartering which had been his fervent desire the previous night.
Amelia reported that Louise had taken measures to ensure Cedric could not get in touch with Matilda, and that she was guarded by trustworthy maids all the time, even during the night.
'Either Peg or Jenny sleeps in her room. They lock the door and keep the key under their pillow. The window is too high for the girl to climb down, and they have removed all her shoes to another room.'
That made Rupert laugh. 'I can see Louise would make an excellent jailer.'
'She already is, but that does not solve the problem of what to do with the wretched girl. She can hardly be kept a prisoner for the rest of the Season. Did you hear anything while you were searching? Rumours about what happened, I mean?'
'Nothing has yet been said. But those two rattles were so bosky they would probably be sleeping it off all today. It's too soon to judge.'
'Louise is worried about what she can do with Matilda.'
'So am I. Let us wait a few days and see what develops. Meanwhile, just in case she can be of any help, we will keep Mrs Hoyland here. The coach will have gone for some slight repairs.'
'So what will you do now? More searching?'
'We need to ask everywhere Cedric might have hired a horse or a carriage. And at all the stage depots. He knows what he faces if I catch him, so I am sure he will try to leave London as soon as he is sober enough to think properly.'
'I almost begin to pity him,' Sir Arthur said. 'Can't you force him to join the army, Rupert? A spell of tough discipline would do him good.'
'I pity any regiment he is foisted on! And I fear he'd abscond within days.'
'Then the navy, where he couldn't run away,' David suggested.
'It's a possibility, but pity the poor captain!'
*
They had no luck the following day, Lady Rushton reported. She had come to dine with Louise, but had spoken to Sir Arthur earlier.
'Rupert is beginning to think he left London the night of Vauxhall,' she said. 'He would have been wise, but he has no money, so where would he go?'
'If he did leave he is out of Matilda's reach,' Louise said. 'I'd let the girl out of her room if I thought she could not contact him.'
'How is she?'
'Still weeping and refusing to talk whenever I look in on her.'
Lady Rushton was about to reply when there was a commotion in the hall, and a loud voice demanding to speak to Louise.
Louise went pale. 'This is all I need! It's Grandfather,' she explained. 'Mr Littleton knew the whole, and must have posted down to Bath straight away yesterday. I've never known my grandfather stir himself like this, he must have been travelling all day.' She took a deep breath. 'I'd better go and talk to him.'
Joseph was in the hall, divesting himself of a large cloak and several shawls. Mr Littleton, looking drawn, was behind him carrying a pair of walking sticks.
'Ha, so there you are, Miss! A fine mess you have made of a simple task. What do you mean by it, hey? Letting that young rascal make a fool of the girl. Well, they'll have to be married, as soon as possible. I've come to see to it. Littleton here will get a special licence tomorrow.'
'Grandfather, have you eaten? We were just about to begin dinner.'
'Dinner? At this hour? Modern manners! I ate on the way at a decent time. I want to see Miss Matilda.'
'She is unwell, and in bed,' Louise said. She dreaded any confrontation while her grandfather was in this mood. 'And Cedric has vanished. No one can find him.'
'Vanished? I suppose he was too frightened to face me.'
'He couldn't possibly have known you would come. It was Rupert, Lord Dubarry, he was afraid of. But Grandfather, where are you staying? I have no suitable room here.'
'I'll stay at Limmer's, thank you. I've already sent my man on to get rooms ready for me. Then tomorrow I'll see this Earl. He's the damned villain's cousin, I'm told. It'll be up to him to find the wretch and order him to make an honest woman of the chit. Then, thanks be, I'll be rid of her, and you can go home to Devon. I needn't keep on this house for the rest of the Season.'
'Grandfather – ' Louise began, but he didn't permit her to finish.
'I'll be off now. My gout's giving me hell, I want to sit with my leg up. Now, where's my cloak? And the gloves. Come on, Littleton, be useful for once.'
As noisily as he had arrived, Joseph went, and Louise sank down onto a chair in the hall. Then she began to laugh.
'My dear, come and have your dinner,' Lady Rushton said, emerging from the dining room. 'I didn't want to interfere, to join in. I didn't think it would help. But I truly pity Cedric when your grandfather meets him!'
*
They were all in the large drawing room at Dubarry House. When David came with Rupert's request for them to go there Louise had bullied Matilda into dressing, and they had been driven there to find all the Vauxhall party assembled, plus Joseph and Mrs Hoyland. The latter was on a sofa, swathed in shawls, and muttering about her maid not being permitted to attend her.
'Do you wish servants to hear all the details of your daughter's disgrace?' Rupert was asking as Louise pushed Matilda into the room in front of her. Joseph glared at Matilda as Louise led her to a seat next to her mother's sofa.
Louise was thankful Mr Littleton was not present. She had heard from David that the story, somewhat embellished, was all over London. Matilda would never survive this scandal. She had to be got away from London. Perhaps Rupert had some plan. Louise hoped so.
Rupert was standing in front of the fireplace. A fire had been lit, and Louise was grateful. She didn't seem to have been warm ever since leaving Vauxhall. He looked, she could not help thinking, magnificent, even though he was wearing just the ordinary clothes of cream pantaloons, gleaming hessians, a pale green waistcoat with just a hint of coloured embroidery, and an olive green coat. His cravat was tied in what Louise was sure was an intricate style only a few men could achieve. None of the other men in the room looked so elegant. They all seemed to have dressed in a hurry.
The women were all
seated in a circle facing the fire. Sir Martin and David sat by their wives. Joseph stood by one of the windows overlooking the Square. He wore his usual country attire, breeches and an old-fashioned coat, and he had donned a wig to cover his incipient baldness. Louise went to sit beside her mother.
'Good,' Rupert began. 'Now we are all here we must decide what is best for Miss Hoyland. She cannot remain in London, and it would be unfair to expect Lady Rushton to continue caring for her.'
'Not that she's done a good job,' Mrs Hoyland said.
'It might have been possible for her to do a good job if you, Madame, had not permitted the girl to have her own way for years while you coddled yourself in Cheltenham.'
'Well, really, you may be an Earl, but you can't speak to me in that manner! I'll ask you to send me back to Cheltenham at once.'
'Certainly, if you are willing to travel post and take your daughter with you.'
'Take – How can I? I'm a sick woman, too ill to look after her.'
'There won't be any need,' Joseph said, leaving his stance by the window and coming towards the rest of the group. 'She'll marry that young cub at once. My man Littleton's gone to get a special licence this very morning.'
'Cedric will not marry her.'
Joseph looked at Rupert and shook his fist at the Earl.
'He must. Have you found him yet, or aren't you looking?'
'He'll be found soon. The Runners are looking. But he will not marry Matilda.'
'He must! He's ruined her! He can't refuse, if that's what you fear, for you will have to force him.'
Rupert shook his head. 'Cedric is under age, and I am his guardian. He cannot marry without my permission, and I will never give it for him to ruin himself by such an imprudent marriage.'
For a moment Joseph seemed incapable of speech, then he roared at Rupert.
'Imprudent? When the girl has the biggest fortune in Yorkshire? It's a honey fall for him, and no doubt what he was hoping for.'
'But not what he will get.' Rupert turned to Matilda. 'Do you want to marry Cedric, after he has brought such scandal on you?'
'I never did want to marry him, but he was the only one to show any interest,' Matilda managed before dissolving into tears.
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