Harley Street

by Lynne Connolly

  “Have you forgotten, Lady Rose? This is my dance.” I knew who it was from the familiar nickname bestowed upon me in Venice. Only one or two people called me “Lady Rose” instead of my correct appellation of “Lady Strang.” Less formal than the proper title, not intimate enough to indicate impropriety.

  It was Freddy, his face creased in a familiar smile. I was never so glad to see him. I was feeling the strain of keeping up appearances with an unpleasant person like Steven and I needed a break. I stood and took Freddy’s arm. “I thought you were to dance with me later,” I murmured as we moved away.

  “You needed it. Your back was so straight, it reminded me of my old governess.”

  “He’s not a pleasant person. And the thought he once fooled me fills me with contempt—for myself.”

  Freddy laughed. “Foolish woman.” Then he led me into the set for the first of the country dances.

  I saw Aunt Godolphin later and after I had thanked her for coming and made sure she was comfortably circumstanced, I asked her if she’d had any unusual visitors recently. “No,” she replied, “but now they know I’m related to you, I’m getting many more of them.” She smiled beatifically. “Lady Hareton comes to see me and dear Lizzie and you, of course, so I have no time at all any more for my ordinary household duties. And I hear you’re in the family way.” She took both my hands and pulled me to her to give me a kiss. “I’m so pleased for you.”

  I thanked her but I was getting a little tired of the constant congratulations. I guessed that Richard was feeling the same. We would both be glad when the spate of news giving was over.

  I couldn’t see Richard but Julia was there, dancing with one of her beaux, a man I didn’t know well. Lizzie was talking to Sir Willoughby Fletcher, who was showing her something he had drawn out of his pocket, a little box that glittered with jewels. I supposed it was a snuffbox and I watched them idly for a few moments, admiring Lizzie’s capacity to flirt.

  It was comfortable to sit next to my aunt watching the company. I was far more used to doing that, even now. If affairs had turned out differently, I might, after all, have enjoyed my season in London as Miss Golightly. I would have been content. Then I would probably have gone home and married Tom, lived happily at Peacocks and had a brood of children. It would have been a comfortable, pleasant life without any of the shocks that I was presently subject to—but with none of the excitements either.

  I danced several more times, then Richard came to fetch me to supper. I was getting tired by then, weariness creeping over me but I don’t think anyone noticed except my husband. I assured him that I would go to our old room if I was tired but I thought he looked tired, too and I decided that I must stay as long as he did.

  The supper revived me, as did the glass of cold lemonade Richard managed to find. His care for me had not gone unnoticed, any more than had his disregard for the woman it was supposed he’d taken for mistress. I hadn’t spoken to Eustacia but I hadn’t cut her either.

  Despite the fact that it was November, the rooms were warm and the windows at the end of the drawing room open to the night air. Several people took advantage of the fresh air. Some couples even went out to the balconies, a perfect place for flirtation, where a chaperone could still keep an eye on her charge without being oppressively close.

  After supper I retired to a sofa in the ballroom and held court. I had friends to amuse me and some men who imagined they were in love with me, much to my amusement. Richard danced with me once more, then made sure that I sat again before he left to dance with Lizzie, after which he danced with Ruth. I enjoyed my coming-out ball far more than I’d imagined.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  IT MUST HAVE BEEN PAST one o’clock when I found myself without a partner, so I decided to go into the drawing room in search of something else to eat. So many people told me that I was eating for two that my mind turned relentlessly in pursuit of food. I made my way across the ballroom and into the smaller room. As I strolled past smaller rooms I heard a scream, not of flirtatious protest but a full-bodied, leave-me-alone scream.

  No one else seemed to have heard but an urgency in the sound demanded immediate action. If I hadn’t known the house, I might have overlooked it but I’d had the guided tour, so I knew where the small door led. I opened it and went in.

  The first person I saw was Steven. He stood in the middle of the room, a frown of annoyance marring his perfect features. I closed the door behind me. Then I saw Eustacia Terry, backed against the wall by the door, a look of terror on her face.

  I tried to be practical. Eustacia was given to histrionics. “Why, whatever is the matter, Eustacia?”

  Dramatically, she pointed a trembling finger at Steven. I sighed. I hated dramatics, except on the stage. “He—he said things—”

  Her neckline was a little disarrayed but apart from that, she seemed presentable enough, so I crossed the room to her and began to tidy her up. “Control yourself, Eustacia. Words can’t hurt you.” I turned to face Steven. “Whatever have you done this time?”

  He shrugged. “I assumed she was more game than she actually is.”

  Eustacia promptly burst into tears and Steven turned away. “Find your handkerchief, Eustacia,” I told her, then went over to where Steven was standing, uncomfortably fiddling with something in the pocket of his coat. “What on earth did you say to her?”

  He glanced at me and sighed, then looked away, not at all as composed as he had been earlier in the evening. “I’m having damnably bad luck recently.”

  “What did you do to Eustacia? Was it anything like what you tried to do to me at Hareton Abbey?”

  A smile crept over his features. It might have been a pleasant smile under other circumstances. “What a shame we were interrupted.”

  “Not from where I’m standing.” My own fears a thing of the past, he merely disgusted me.

  He looked over my shoulder at Eustacia. “I only suggested one or two things. She was game.”

  Despite my better judgement, I asked, “Game for what?” Knowing Steven, there would be more to it than a simple affair.

  Turning to the mirror above the fireplace, retying his neckcloth, he told me, almost casually, “We’ve started a club, my wife and I.” He glanced at me to make sure he had my attention. He did. “There are many kinds of love, Rose and ours is a little different to yours. Or maybe not.” He regarded me again, his mouth curled up on one side in a half-smile. Eustacia’s sobs quieted.

  Steven continued his explanation. “When we first married, I discovered that Julia enjoyed what you evidently did not.” He paused and waited for me to catch up with him. I remembered only too well.

  In Devonshire when he’d been courting me, he’d always been respectful, considerate but he became more insistent in Yorkshire when he saw he had a rival. That must be what he was referring to. The violence had not sickened me so much as his assumption that I might enjoy it.

  “No one can enjoy that.”

  “Oh but you’re wrong,” he said, his voice a caressing murmur. “And other things that can be enjoyed, too. Have you ever engaged in”—he studied me strangely, with a sort of hunger I didn’t want to define—“forced acts before an audience?”

  At first, I didn’t understand his meaning. I wasn’t a complete innocent, I knew such things went on but I thought men paid for it and kept away from respectable women. I was glad my stomach felt empty and I hadn’t drunk too much. “You suggested this to Eustacia?”

  His look of contempt scored her. “She would wear a mask. No one would know her unless she wanted them to.”

  The thought didn’t disgust me. Only that Steven would think that women wanted to be forced, and that he’d force them despite their protests.

  “Eustacia’s a respectable person. How can you suggest such a thing?”

  He smiled again. “I was merely continuing where your husband left off.”

  “He’s done nothing to her.”

  He shrugged and turned away from the
mirror to look at me. As far as he was concerned, Eustacia might not have been in the room with us. “So you say. We’d prefer a virgin but she’s close to one. The thought of a respectable maiden being laid down on the altar of virginity for us—” He almost drooled.

  I turned to leave. I suspected he was trying to shock me, to overset me and I was equally determined he wouldn’t.

  Eustacia still wept but more quietly now. I went back to face Steven. “I can’t stop you from doing these things but I can stop you abusing respectable girls. You’ll have to pay a prostitute to fake it for you because if I find you’ve tried this again, I’ll make sure my friends know about it.”

  He sneered at me then, as though I was still shy Miss Golightly of Devonshire. I wasn’t. I’d changed. “My friends include some of the most influential in the land these days. We could stop you, if you became intrusive and create such a scandal that you would be forced to retract.”

  His low voice filled with menace. “You’ll find that we have as much influence as you do.”

  I left it there. I took Eustacia by the elbow and led her to the door, not to the outer door but to the hidden servants’ jib door by the fireplace. I opened the panel and ushered her inside. I closed the door behind us with a determined click.

  Once out of the little room, I was completely lost. A long corridor stretched before us, presumably leading to the service rooms on this floor but I couldn’t see any stairs until I turned to look the other way. I knew where I wanted to go but not how to get there. Then a servant I knew, hurried towards us, head down. “Peters?”

  She looked up in surprise. “My lady?”

  “This lady has received a shock and I would like to take her to my room without the other guests seeing her. Could you show me the way?”

  The maid curtseyed and we followed her down several narrow passages and up a set of narrow wooden stairs, where she opened a door into a corridor I knew. I found a tip for her from the deep pocket reached through a slit in my skirt and asked her to tell Richard that I was tired and had gone to rest. She didn’t seem to see anything unusual in this, merely curtseying and leaving.

  I took Eustacia into the bedroom and left her to fetch brandy from the sitting room. Fortunately the decanters had been replenished and I brought one back with some glasses on a silver tray.

  Eustacia sat silently in one of the chairs by the fire, staring into the glowing depths. I poured her a drink and pressed it into her hand. She looked at me then. I’d never seen her so vulnerable, so shocked. It seemed she hadn’t any reserves of spirit to draw upon. I was shocked, too but only by the fact that Steven, who was still a man of the cloth, could indulge in the practices he’d described. I knew among the many clubs dedicated to eating, literature, mathematics and so on there were some less salubrious ones dedicated to other appetites and that people of my acquaintance belonged to them. I had strong suspicions that Freddy Thwaite knew more than he ever told me but a lady was supposed to disregard such things, especially in mixed company. I knew Freddy well enough to know that he wouldn’t involve himself in any vicious activity.

  I watched Eustacia sip her drink and recover. I took the chair opposite her and waited for her to speak, content to roam amongst my own thoughts. Steven’s new hobby was vile and I couldn’t believe that the fastidious Julia consented to be involved. Perhaps he forced her. Try as I might, I couldn’t get the mental picture of Steven forcibly deflowering a virgin out of my mind and I shuddered to think that fate might once have been mine. But who would think a more than averagely handsome curate in a small village near Exeter would have such exotic tastes? Certainly not I.

  When Richard came in, as I knew he would, Eustacia was still sniffing a little but had revived her spirits to a great extent. Her face was blotchy and red but tears no longer coursed down her cheeks and her mouth had regained its pretty pout, automatically assumed whenever men were near.

  My husband’s first look was at me and the tense lines around his mouth relaxed when I smiled and he realised I wasn’t distressed in any way. Then he looked enquiringly at Eustacia. “Steven Drury suggested some particularly vile things to Eustacia,” I explained. “I have a strange aversion to repeating them but I’ll tell you what he said later.”

  Richard nodded and, spotting the decanter and the remaining glass, went over to help himself. Then he came back to the fire and stood by me, looking Eustacia over. “You seem to have a penchant for assignations in private places.”

  Eustacia sniffed but lifted her chin in a challenge. “You didn’t seem to mind once.”

  Richard smiled. “That was for a particular reason.” He let his hand rest on my shoulder. “If you can remember that far back, I was leading you into error to repay you for certain disfavours you did my wife in the past. As I recall, you didn’t take much persuading. I hope you’ll consider future meetings a little more carefully.”

  “I did consider it.” she retorted, stung by his cutting words. “I’ve known Mr. Drury for a long time, long before his wife met him. I never dreamt he would offer me the insults he did.”

  Richard didn’t allow a pause between her statement and his, cool, reasoned response. “In this society, an assignation in a private room is only accorded one meaning. Be careful, Miss Terry, lest you gain the reputation that would prevent a decent man from thinking about you in any but a clandestine way. I have made it clear tonight that I have no interest in you. If I’d been even cordial to you, the gossips would have had us in the same bed by morning. You spread the rumours yourself. I’m just cleaning up your mess.”

  Aghast, she stared at him. I decided to take a hand. “In Exeter, you knew many of the people from childhood. That’s not the case here. You must behave with far more circumspection than you did there, Eustacia.”

  I was trying to help but she resented it that I, of all people, should give her advice. She stared at me. “From what Steven was telling me about you, circumspection is the last thing that will get me a good match.”

  I couldn’t help it, I burst into laughter. “He’s told you far more than you have any right to know. Yes, I was Richard’s mistress before we married but there was never any doubt about our marrying. Many couples pre-empt the marriage.” Richard pressed my shoulder. “It’s a different matter to throw yourself in the arms of someone as vicious as Steven Drury. Richard was my affianced husband. Steven is married. You should at least stick to the single men.”

  “Do you wish to remain here?” Richard asked. “Or shall we go back?”

  “I’m all right but Eustacia had better wash her face before she goes back, if she intends to do so.”

  Richard looked, one brow raised in query at Eustacia, who stood. He took her elbow and led her to my dressing room, where she could put herself to rights. Then he came back, took my hands and drew me to my feet. “Well, my dear delight? I always said you were a hoyden. I don’t think I was ever so taken aback as when you seduced me.”

  I leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek in a chaste manner. “I wasn’t before I met you. You put all manner of thoughts into my head that weren’t there before.”

  He smiled at me. “It was the last thing I wanted to do. I wanted everything to be right where you were concerned.”

  “Oh, it was.”

  Still smiling, he drew me to him for a proper kiss. He didn’t release me when the dressing room door opened but kept an arm about my waist and turned to see Eustacia, nodding his approval at the improvement in her looks.

  Eustacia gazed at us, eyebrows raised in surprise. “You’ve been spending a lot of time with the Drurys lately, haven’t you?” Richard asked her.

  “They were kind. I was flattered,” Eustacia said, then added, looking at us with curiosity, “I thought you were estranged from each other.”

  I wondered how I had ever allowed her to intimidate me. “As you see, we’re not. What made you think that?”

  “Steven Drury told me. He said you’d had a falling-out and the honeymoon must be over.
He asked me if I’d succeeded.” She had the grace to blush. “I wouldn’t tell him.”

  “Was he pleased?” I asked her.

  “Oh yes. Both of the Drurys seemed pleased. I thought it was spite but they wanted more from you.”

  She stopped and looked cautiously at Richard. “Go on,” he said calmly. He kept his arm about my waist.

  “Steven—Mr. Drury said he wanted to recruit you for his little group. He said your approval would add a stamp of—of modishness to it, that where you led, others followed.”

  “Was his wife present when he made those last remarks?” I was sure Julia had something to do with this.

  Eustacia turned her gaze to me, the expression changing to familiarity. “No. It was tonight, just before he tried to do those disgusting things.”

  Richard asked, “Will you be associating with them in future?”

  I saw her shudder, even in the dim light from the fire and a single branch of candles. “No indeed.”

  “Just so,” Richard agreed. “You would be well advised to stay away. Will you return to London after Christmas for the Season proper?”

  “Mama says no but she’s hiring a house in Bath for later in the year, so I’ll meet with many people then, won’t I?”

  “You will. And you’ll be safer in Bath. It’s so much nearer to home, isn’t it?”

  Eustacia nodded. “I don’t know if the Drurys are going. They said they hadn’t finalised their plans yet.”

  “I’ll bet they haven’t,” I murmured and Richard’s face tightened a little at my bitter tone.

  We took Eustacia back to Martha, explaining she had felt unwell. Martha examined me curiously but said nothing.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  WE DIDN’T GET TO BED until late. I had to be undressed and have the powder washed out of my hair. I was almost asleep while Nichols washed it out but managed to get to bed, where Richard waited, still awake. I slipped into his arms and fell asleep almost immediately. The last thing I heard was his chuckle as he kissed my forehead and held me close.