by Joan Smith
After dinner the gentlemen hastened through their port, and were soon dancing attendance on the ladies in the Green Saloon. Wanda wended her way to the pianoforte, with Hibbard at her side to turn the pages when she nodded, as he couldn’t read a note. Ellie said aside to Claymore, “I have that book I was speaking to you about—an ancestor’s diary, you may recall. It is in the library, if you would like to see it now.”
“Very much,” he said. They arose and slipped out together.
They had not reached the library door before Rex was after them. “You two beating it? Very wise. It’ll be the ‘Fleuve du Tages’ again, I don’t doubt.”
Claymore regarded his friend and sighed deeply. “I’ll tell you what, Rex, why don’t you go out and blow a cloud?”
“Eh? Don’t have a cigar. Wonder if I could slip one of Adam’s.”
“On the table in the dining room, if you hurry,” Clay told him.
“I’ll wait till later,” Rex announced, and took up possession of the one comfortable chair in the room.
“No, Rex, you will do it now,” Clay said menacingly.
“No, no. I can wait. Ain’t all that anxious to blow a cloud, actually.”
“You wouldn’t have a rocket about the house, I suppose, Ellie?” Clay asked, and she giggled at their predicament, though she was not entirely unhappy to have Rex present.
“A rocket? Now what the deuce do you want a rocket for?” Rex asked obtusely.
“To blast you out of that chair,” Clay said.
“Oh. Oh! You want to be alone. Well, why didn’t you say so? I can take a hint. Ain’t that slow. I’ll go.” Rex heaved himself out of the chair and slowly sauntered out the door.
Clay looked at his bride-to-be, and smiled. He found her quite enchanting with that shy, inquisitive smile on her face, her dark curls tumbling about her cheeks, and Wanda’s gown lending her an air of distinction. How had he thought he did not love her? “Slow top,” he commented to Rex’s departing back.
“But very nice. I am fond of Rex,” she said, and went to the table for the book she meant to show him. Opening it, she said, “Here is the passage—”
He lifted it from her hands, closed it, and set it back on the table. “Another time,” he said. “We have more important things to discuss.”
“What do you wish to discuss?” A little tremble started at the pit of her stomach, of fear and anticipation.
“Our marriage,” He reached out and took her two hands in his, and pulled her a little closer to him.
Between the tightness of Wanda’s dress and the excitement of being so close to Claymore, Ellie had a terrible premonition that she was going to faint, to expire in his arms from pure elation. “It will not be for some time yet, I think,” she said in a stifled breath, looking intently at the buttons on his coat.
“Ellie.” His voice was a soft caress. He waited a long thirty seconds till she finally found the fortitude to look at him before continuing. “I don’t want to wait. I would like to get married right away.”
“Right—right away?” she asked blankly.
“Yes, as soon as possible. Oh, I don’t mean in a scrambling way with no notices or anything, but as soon as decently possible. Say a month.”
“But what is the hurry?” she asked desperately.
“What is the point in delaying?” he parried.
“But Wanda’s wedding is coming up, you know—”
“Devil take Wanda! We need not wait on her. You are the elder.”
“By ten minutes only,” she reminded him. She looked cornered, like a trapped rabbit. Her nose was even quivering, like that hare Rex had cornered that afternoon. A horrible thought assailed him.
“Ellie, you are not being forced to accept me, are you? Because of my title.”
“No! Oh no, you must not think that. Papa would never ... it is only that I am not yet quite accustomed to thinking of myself as a married lady.”
“Do you think you could become accustomed to the idea in a month?”
She smiled tremulously, some wise intuition urging her on. “Yes, I think I could.”
“Good, then we shall tell your parents.”
“All right.”
He pulled her into his arms and held her gently for a moment. He could feel the stiffness, the resistance in her body, but she made no effort to withdraw. He sensed it would be unwise to go any further, but over her head he smiled to himself, feeling very masterful. He was glad she was shy, not used to men. He remembered with something like disgust the readiness of the Rose, and Wanda, to succumb to a man. He was not so conceited as to think he had been the only one so honored by them. He touched his lips to her hair, and said lightly, in a teasing tone, “Shy?”
Her head nodded, then settled snugly against his shoulder. There was a fragrance of violets in her curls (from Wanda’s cut-glass perfume bottle, purloined along with the dress), and they felt soft on his cheek. He felt a passion of possession, of protectiveness well up in him, and he squeezed her harder against his breast “I love you, Ellie,” he said softly, but so ardently that she was sure he must mean it. He could feel the tenseness leave her body. She put her two arms around his waist. She had felt very ill at ease with them hanging down at her side, and as she could say nothing, she wished to contribute in some way to this stirring scene. They held together for a moment, the happiest moment of her whole life, and then he released her.
“We have dozens of things to settle,” he said briskly. “Let us sit down and discuss them.” She nodded, and had no idea her glowing eyes spoke all she couldn’t say. Taking her by one hand, he went to the one upholstered chair in the room, that previously occupied by Homberly, and sat down, pulling her down into his lap.
“Giles! I can’t sit here,” she said in a voice of pleasant shock, and she tried to arise, which led him to tighten his hold around her waist A short tussle ensued, and as he had both arms firmly encircling her, and their faces were not an inch apart, he forgot his good intentions and tried to kiss her. Their lips barely met, and he was just preparing with joyful anticipation to do the job properly when she shot from his lap as though sent off by a cannon.
She straightened her dress, and her hair, and said primly, but with a delightful blush, “We shan’t get anything settled in this fashion.”
“No? In my opinion it is the very best way to settle things.” He was strongly inclined to go on settling them in this manner, but Ellie marched straightway to a hard-backed chair pulled up to the table, and he had to join her or shout across the room. They got right down to business and quickly arranged between them that the wedding would best be held in London, at St. George’s in Hanover Square, where Joan and Caroline had been married, otherwise the sisters would not be able to attend, as a long trip in their condition was not advisable.
Ellie would have to go to London immediately to get her bride’s clothes assembled, and no doubt her mama would go with her, as she delighted in any excuse to go to London, whatever the season. Claymore had to go to Claymore Hall in Somerset to break the news to his mother and settle his business affairs. He would bring his mama to London a little later to meet Ellie and her family, and of course she would remain for the wedding.
When all this had been hammered out, Claymore decided to take his leave. The senior Wanderleys had long since been driven from the Green Saloon by Wanda’s strumming. In fact, Wanda herself had left, since George had a mare foaling that he wanted to return to, so Homberly sat playing solitaire at a Buhl table. Not even Abel was with him.
“Rex, what shabby treatment!” Ellie laughed. “Why did you not let us know you were all alone?”
“Oh, as to that, already been hinted away once, you know. Didn’t want to go making a plague of myself when Clay was trying to make up to you. Wanda was here, but with no audience but me, she soon took off. Cards is better than ‘Fleuve du Tages.’ You all set to go, Clay?”
“Yes, you go on. I’ll tell Mama what we have decided,” Ellie assured Clay.
“No, certainly not,” Ellie told him.
Claymore raised her fingers to his lips and kissed them. “I’ll leave for home first thing tomorrow morning, and be in touch with you. I’ll write to you at Lady Siderow’s, in London.”
“Yes,” Ellie said, smiling happily.
“Seems a dashed odd time to be dashing off,” Rex observed to himself.
“Don’t forget what I said,” Claymore reminded her.
“What’s that?” Ellie asked, for he had told her quite a number of things.
His back to Rex, he silently mouthed the words, “I love you.” She blushed, and said in a very low voice, barely audible, “Me, too.”
“Eh?” Rex asked. “ ‘Me, too’ what?”
“Come along, Rex,” Clay said, ushering him briskly through the door.
Ellie, alone now in the Green Saloon, looked at her fingers, so recently bedizened with a kiss, and thought she would burst with happiness. It was all a hum, Wanda’s comments about his being in love with the Rose. He loved her. He had said so. Twice. And he wanted to get married right away, too, so he must love her very much. She went in search of her mama to tell her the good news.
She ran her to ground in her bedroom, where she was already in bed in her nightgown, with Wanda beside her, looking through the omnipresent fashion magazines. Mrs. Wanderley looked with complacence on her elder daughter, noting how bright-eyed and happy she looked.
“The violet becomes you very well, Ellie. We shall get one made up just like that to fit you.”
“Mama, Giles wants us to be married right away.”
“Giles? Oh, you mean Claymore. But what can you mean, love? You cannot be married right away. You haven’t a stitch to wear. And the notices...”
“As soon as possible. We thought perhaps a month....”
“A month! Impossible! You shall have to wait till after Wanda is married.”
“No, we don’t want to wait, and I am the elder. There is no need to wait.”
“What’s the hurry?” Wanda asked suspiciously.
“What is the point in waiting?” Ellie countered with Clay’s argument.
“You are a fool, Ellie,” Wanda informed her with satisfaction. “He just wants to have you to parade in front of the Rose and Everleigh when he goes back to London. That is what all this rush is about.”
“No, it isn’t,” Ellie replied, so unfazed that Wanda was greatly perplexed.
“I suppose he is so smitten with passion that he can’t wait to get you to himself.”
“Hush, love,” Mrs. Wanderley said mildly. “If Claymore wants to do it up right away, I suppose it can be done. We could go to London on Monday, and Joan is not so big yet that she can’t come out with us, and perhaps hold a tea for you. There must be something, you know. The notice must be sent in to the Gazette immediately. What is the rush, Ellie? We could have a better do if you waited a bit.”
“I don’t want to wait, Mama. And I don’t care if it is a small do.”
“You’re afraid he’ll change his mind!” Wanda crowed.
“Do stop it, Wanda.” Mrs. Wanderley turned on her favorite in vexation and then continued. “All right, then, we’ll do it. I shall dash a note off to Joan tomorrow morning first thing, and tell Adam we must have a great deal of money for your clothes. I know he has some put by, else he wouldn’t be talking up those old tobacco plants, and him telling me I couldn’t have new drapes. Not that it will seem a great sum to you, Ellie, with twenty-five thousand settled on you.”
“Twenty-five thousand? What are you talking about, Mama?” Ellie asked. “My dowry is only three thousand, like Wanda’s and Caroline’s.”
“Dowry? Lord, love, I am not talking about that shameful pittance. And there is no reason it could not be five each if it weren’t for that curst old greenhouse. I am talking of the settlement Claymore is making on you.”
“It cannot be so much as that!” Ellie gasped, eyes goggling.
“Of course it is, silly girl. Did he not tell you? Well, I daresay it is nothing to him. Odd, though, that he didn’t tell you.”
“Oh, it is too much,” Ellie said. “Why did he make it so much?”
“You have your papa to thank for it, my dear. Claymore only thought to make it ten, but after all, George is settling ten on Wanda, so I think it quite proper your papa held out for twenty-five. With twenty thousand a year, he will never miss it.”
“Oh, Mama, I hope Papa didn’t haggle over it. It is so embarrassing, so mercenary.”
“No, he didn’t have to haggle in the least. He says Claymore just swallowed once or twice and agreed to it. He must be excessively rich, and I am so happy for you. He said it was much harder to screw Hibbard up to ten.”
“I don’t doubt he would have forked out fifty thousand if he could have had Miss Golden, whom he really wanted,” Wanda said, angry at her mama’s disclosing that George had resisted such a paltry sum as ten thousand.
“Hush up, you silly girl.” Mrs. Wanderley turned on Wanda in anger. “It could have been you marrying him if you weren’t such a widgeon. Well, you have made your bed with a country squire, and now you must lie on it, so stop pinching at Ellie, only because she is sharper than you.”
“No, Mama, I prefer to marry a man who truly loves me. I would not be so crass as to marry for a title and a little pile of money, nor so stupid as to marry a man who only wants to use me to make his lover jealous.”
“Neither would I,” Ellie replied agreeably, and she left.
“Don’t rub it in too hard, my fine lady, or you’ll find yourself unwelcome at Claymore House, and you know perfectly well George won’t be hiring you a house for the Season. Play your cards right and you might get Ellie to put you and George up for a few weeks.”
“I should be more comfortable with Joan or Caroline.”
“Caroline never asks any of us, as you very well know, though her place is nearly as big as Joan’s. But she was always a nip-farthing. As to staying with Joan again, she had you this year. Besides, I doubt Siderow would take to Hibbard. So very different.”
Wanda gathered up a handful of magazines and stalked from the room. It galled her that she must bend like a reed before Ellie, whom she was used to lording it over, but she was as needle-witted as her mother when it came to self-advancement, and she determined that she would try to be nice to her sister. It was some mitigation that she could at least feel sorry for Ellie in making a marriage of convenience, for that’s what it was, of course, while she had George, the handsomest man in the whole county, and he doted on her.
Chapter Ten
Lord Claymore was to leave early in the morning as he had a trip of some eighty-odd miles before him. He pointed out to Rex that he would be extremely busy and not free for much sport, but Rex decided that Bath would be equally flat with his mama and Missie to squire about, so he elected to accompany his friend to Somerset. He punctiliously forwarded a note to his mama, pointing out that he had been pressed to go with Claymore to his home, and would present himself in Bath as soon as it should be possible. He never for a moment thought his mama so dull as to actually expect him to show up, nor did she. His letter was of some interest to his parent all the same, as it confirmed the silly story Missie was mouthing that Claymore meant to offer for Ellie. Had offered, in fact, and been snatched up as quick as a cat could lick her whisker. The tale lent her a popularity in Bath that she was unaccustomed to enjoying, as she was the only person with any actual hard news on the subject. Its subsequent publication in the Gazette next day confirmed her as a bona fide source of news and she was much sought after for a week, till people from London with fresher news arrived to enlarge upon the story. It was quickly circulated that Miss Ellie Wanderley had got to the Metropolis, and proved to be just such a ravishing beauty as all the other Wanderley beauties.
Claymore had no notion of the wonderful s
urge his reputation had taken. He was deep into business negotiations at home, trying to raise what part of the settlement he could. It was no easy matter, and to add to his consternation his mama was acting up, as usual. She was first put out at hearing rumors of her son’s betrothal from Bath, provoked by Aubrey Hansom’s tale, before ever Giles said a word to her himself. But she was not of a disposition to require any reason for her pique. She was undecided whether to take the tack that he had been taken in by a penniless little nobody, and probably a loose baggage to boot if she was anything like her sister, Lady Tameson, or to treat him as a villain who had coerced some innocent, witless little country girl into having him, only to cover his shame at being shown the door by the Rose, It would all depend on his own attitude.
What she never for one moment counted on was that he actually loved the girl, as he said he did. His statement was borne out to some extent by the fatuous smile she occasionally spotted on his face, and the number of times he mentioned “Ellie” in a certain voice. This threw her off her stride, and she had to reconsider her tactics and see how best to amuse herself at his expense. Life was a bore in the country, and one must make the best of it with these little entertainments. Of course, to anyone outside the family she would tout the whole thing as a wonderful match. No one who knew her would be so reckless as to say a word against the match, for in public Claymore was held to be a paragon.
It was from Rex Homberly that she tried to elicit some news of the girl. Naturally that obstinate creature of a Giles would say only that she was very pretty, and very pretty behaved, and such things as gave her no notion of what she was really like.
The Dowager turned her steely eye on Homberly, thought him a common-looking fellow, and wondered what in the world Giles saw in him. “As you are a neighbor of the Wanderleys, you are just the one to tell me something about my son’s fiancée,” she began, pleasantly enough. “She has a good reputation, I suppose?”