Frederica waited until the tea tray had been brought in before asking him politely how he was.
‘Very well, Miss Armitage,’ said the duke, crossing his legs and surveying her curiously. ‘I had begun to wonder whether you had taken me in dislike. I called twice before and each time was refused admittance.’
‘I cannot understand why,’ said Frederica. ‘It was none of my doing. I did not think dukes were refused admittance anywhere.’
‘Where is Lady Godolphin?’
‘My lady is in the bath.’
‘You amaze me. Are you enjoying your first Season?’
‘Ye-es,’ said Frederica doubtfully. ‘I am a trifle fatigued. We go to many balls and parties. I am beginning to think perhaps that arranged marriages might be a very good thing.’
‘Indeed! But that way you may end up with some gentleman who displeases you.’
‘I think I may very well end up with some gentleman who does not precisely make my heart beat faster,’ said Frederica. ‘It is done, you know … ladies marry just anyone. Only very, very rich families can afford more than one Season.’
‘With so many gentlemen about, I am sure you will find yourself attracted to at least one of them.’
‘Perhaps. It is not like books, is it?’ Frederica giggled. ‘I cannot imagine anyone turning pale with passion at the sight of me.’
He suddenly frowned and Frederica wondered whether she had offended him. But the duke was remembering that one kiss. He had never before experienced anything like it. If only he could try again to prove to himself that his own strong feelings had been brought on by the strangeness of the situation he had found himself in.
His eyes fell to her mouth. It was very well-shaped. Amazing girl! Not at all attractive taken as a whole, but when studied closely, one discovered many beauties.
Her large eyes were very expressive, her ankles were neat, and her movements graceful.
‘Did I say something wrong?’ asked Frederica nervously.
‘No,’ he said. ‘I was merely wondering whether you were going to offer me any of that tea.’
Frederica blushed. Hurriedly, she poured tea and offered cakes. She racked her brains for something to say. The drawing room was well-proportioned but it seemed to have become small and airless and charged with electricity, as if a thunderstorm were about to break.
‘I think the pleasantest outing I had,’ she said, ‘was to Hyde Park. The deer are so very tame they let you stroke their antlers. It was almost like being in the country again. Oh, I know it is not fashionable to prefer the country, but London seems so very enclosed. So many buildings and so many don’ts.’
‘Don’ts?’
‘There are all the people one must not recognize and all the places a lady must not go, like St James’s Street and Bond Street. It is forbidden to show any excess of emotion, to laugh or to cry. I found the opera most affecting the other night and started to cry, and even Lady Godolphin was appalled and it takes a great deal to upset her.’
‘Do not despise the conventions.’ He smiled. ‘They are in their way protection for you. They prevent a young miss from being subjected to over-warm attentions from her gallants.’
Frederica sighed. ‘I find it a very unsatisfactory way of life. I enjoyed working as a chambermaid.’
‘My dear Miss Armitage, pray do not go about saying such things. The very fact that you were a chambermaid nearly ruined you socially.’
‘And if it had not been for the gallantry of the Duke of Pembury at Almack’s, I am persuaded I should still be out of favour. I have had a letter from my sister, Diana, Lady Dantrey. She tells me that the problems at home which had distressed me so much are now resolved. I am glad, but, on the other hand, it makes it so very tempting to prove myself a failure so that I might return and forget about all this nonsense.’ Frederica waved an eloquent little hand, expressively damning all the fashionable world and its foibles from Grosvenor Square to St James’s.
How easy it was to talk to him, thought Frederica. Then she remembered the lectures she had received from Lady Godolphin and Deirdre. The duke was merely amusing himself. She must not take him seriously. But he was by far the most exciting man she had ever met.
‘Do you go to the Coopers’ ball tonight?’ he asked.
‘Yes. I do not know which gown to wear. I now have five, one from each sister.’
‘What colours are these gowns?’
‘Let me see. Two white, one pink, one primrose, and one blue.’
‘What colour of blue?’ he asked, remembering how blue her eyes had looked when she smiled.
‘Like a summer sky.’ Frederica smiled. ‘Deirdre, Lady Desire, insists it is just the thing.’
‘Who chose the gown you were wearing at Almack’s?’
‘Deirdre.’
‘Then be guided by Deirdre. You need colour.’
‘I know,’ said Frederica wistfully.
All of a sudden, he wanted to reassure her, to tell her he found her beautiful no matter what she wore. He was startled at the intensity of his feelings.
There came a great thumping and crashing and swearing from abovestairs. Lady Godolphin was obviously emerging from her bath.
He felt he could not bear any of Lady Godolphin’s vulgar company. He rose to his feet to take his leave and Frederica rose at the same time, her fingers nervously pleating the silk of her gown.
‘You should wear something warmer,’ he found himself saying. ‘This room is cold.’
Frederica once again found his presence and nearness overwhelming and wished he would go. ‘I have a shawl somewhere,’ she said, looking around the room in a vague way.
He put his hat and gloves down again on a console table.
‘Miss Armitage,’ he said, ‘do you remember that I kissed you?’
Wide startled eyes flew to his face. ‘You did not!’ gasped Frederica.
He smiled. ‘You were asleep in my arms in that hut.’ Frederica remembered her dream and a tide of red flooded her cheeks. ‘You had better go,’ she said in a little voice.
He leaned forward to retrieve his hat and gloves. Then he straightened up, threw his hat and gloves on to the sofa, and jerked Frederica into his arms.
She was too startled to struggle, and, before she knew it, he had covered her mouth with his own. She stayed very still in his embrace. She felt warm and protected and isolated from all the troubles of the world. But then the warm safe feeling went away as a dizzying passion rose up in her. Frightened and alarmed, Frederica wrenched herself out of his arms. She was very white.
‘Please leave,’ she whispered.
She looked so young and dazed and shaken, he felt like some horrible satyr. He wanted to say he loved her, but he was frightened it would turn out to be untrue.
So, instead, he said the worst thing he could possibly have said. ‘I am sorry,’ said the Duke of Pembury. ‘I must have had too much to drink. Please forgive me and do put the unfortunate incident from your mind.’
‘Go away!’ said Frederica.
And to add insult to injury – he did!
Mary decided to walk back from the City to the West End. To a country girl, it was no very great distance and it seemed almost immoral to waste a shilling on a smelly hackney carriage.
She stood outside the apothecary shop, tucking the bottle of tincture into her apron pocket. Walking would give her an opportunity to look at the shops. It was then she heard her name, and, looking up, saw Lady James leaning out of a carriage window, beckoning to her.
Mary was unaware that Lady James had followed her from Hanover Square. She did not want to speak to Lady James but was too frightened to refuse.
Mary approached the carriage and bobbed a curtsy. ‘I recognized you,’ said Lady James, smiling sweetly. She held open the carriage door. ‘Are you returning to the West End?’
‘Yes, my lady,’ stammered Mary, quite overwhelmed. Her new status as lady’s maid, she decided, must have elevated her amazingly in Lady James
’s eyes.
Once inside the carriage, Mary found herself subject to the full battery of Lady James’s charm.
She was asked her impressions of London and listened to as if she were the wisest sage.
When they were bowling along Oxford Street, Lady James said, ‘Pray do not tell Miss Armitage of our meeting. I am afraid Lady Godolphin does not like me. Promise, now!’
‘I promise, my lady,’ said Mary, dazzled and enchanted by this new, charming Lady James.
‘I also wish to discuss a little matter with you. It will be a secret between ourselves. Can you come to my home at 9 Curzon Street next Wednesday?’
‘I could try,’ said Mary, intrigued and excited. ‘But what will I tell Miss Armitage?’
‘We will not tell her anything,’ said Lady James, bestowing a warm smile on Mary and squeezing her hand. ‘If you call at ten in the morning, Lady Godolphin and Miss Armitage will still be asleep and there will be no reason to lie. I do so hate lies.’
Mary nodded fervently and was still beaming and nodding when she was set down at the corner of Hanover Square.
‘Ugly little thing,’ thought Lady James contemptuously as her carriage rolled on. ‘I may not need to use her if Wentwater is clever with this footman business. But … we shall see.’
The Duke of Pembury strode into Hubbold’s coffee house, scowling like a demon.
‘You look the way I feel,’ grinned his friend Mr Tommy Ward. ‘Hock and seltzer is the answer.’
‘The trouble is neither in my head nor in my spleen,’ said the duke, sitting down opposite Mr Ward.
‘Aha! Then it is your heart. Still pining after Miss Armitage?’
The duke looked at his friend in amazement. ‘What on earth gave you such a chuckle-headed idea as that?’
‘Stands to reason. Made a dead set for the girl at Almack’s. Never seen you look so interested in any female. Come in here looking like thunder. Love takes men odd ways. Some get all happy and smiling and some, like you, go around cursing and kicking the cat.’
‘I am not in love with Miss Armitage or anyone else,’ said the duke in frigid accents. ‘Pray let us talk about something sensible.’
‘As you wish,’ said Mr Ward amiably. ‘Feather-head is running at Newmarket, Humphrey’s filly, and I’ll lay you a monkey she comes in first.’
The two men conversed amiably on sporting topics, but all the time he was chatting, the duke’s brain was working feverishly.
Love? Was that what ailed him? Love was supposed to be a pleasant emotion, not this puzzled mixture of bafflement and yearning.
He would go to the Coopers’ ball. The sooner he saw Frederica Armitage again the better. He would no doubt find her just an ordinary, colourless little girl who had briefly caught his attention.
EIGHT
Lord and Lady Cooper lived in great style in Grosvenor Square. Lady James arrived early. Despite the fact she was not welcome at such austere places as Almack’s or the Italian opera, most other doors were open to her. She only regretted Guy Wentwater was such bad ton he was not invited to the Coopers’. She would need to perform her part in the plan and trust he had done his.
Although her reputation was low with the ladies, the gentlemen still flocked about her, begging her to dance. Lady James flirted, danced and chatted, all the while keeping a sharp eye on the door to note the arrival of Miss Armitage.
At last Frederica was there, looking well enough in a simple blue gown and a fine sapphire necklace, but nothing out of the common way, thought Lady James complacently, and then wondered if all the plotting and planning were a waste of time. Such as Frederica Armitage could never hope to attract a high stickler like the Duke of Pembury.
But fifteen minutes later, Lady James found that the irritating Miss Armitage had undergone a transformation. Her eyes glowed like the sapphires around her neck. Her whole slim body seemed to radiate with vitality. It was then Lady James noticed the Duke of Pembury had arrived.
Despite her appearance, Frederica was finding the duke’s presence in the ballroom an agony. She was terrified he might approach her, and at the same time, she was terrified he might not.
She found Lady Godolphin was over at the far corner of the room and decided to seek sanctuary in the shadow of that formidable lady’s bulk. As she edged through the crowd of people around the dance floor, she felt a note being pressed into her hand. She looked about, but could not even begin to guess who had given her the note.
Frederica retired behind a pillar out of the crush and spread open the paper. ‘Miss Armitage,’ she read, ‘I am only a lowly servant in this establishment, but I am in sore trouble and need your help. If you could be of service, ask the tall footman by the East Door to guide you to me. I am desperate. Yr. Humble Servant.’
Frederica was very much a daughter of the vicarage. She barely paused to think about the wisdom of answering the note’s summons. Someone needed her help.
She made her way to the east door and showed the note to a tall, handsome footman. ‘This way, miss,’ he said without so much as the flicker of an eyelid.
Frederica followed his tall figure along a passage which led away from the ballroom. He opened the door of a small morning room and ushered her inside.
‘Where is this servant?’ demanded Frederica.
‘It is I, Miss Armitage,’ said William Richards. He was glad she was such a small, slight-looking lady. All he wanted to do was get his part in this comedy over with as quickly as possible. His gambling debts weighed heavy on his mind.
‘You?’ said Frederica. ‘How did you come to hear of me?’
‘It is well known you have a kind heart, Miss Armitage.’
Frederica was suddenly aware she was alone with this young man. The faint strains of a waltz came from the ballroom.
‘Tell me Mr …?’
‘Richards, ma’am.’
‘Tell me, Mr Richards, what is your problem?’
To Frederica’s alarm, the tall footman fell on one knee in front of her.
‘You are,’ he said. ‘Oh, Miss Armitage. I love you.’
‘Looking for Miss Armitage?’ Lady James’s mocking voice sounded in the Duke of Pembury’s ear.
‘Good evening, Lady James,’ he said. ‘I trust you are no longer spreading false rumours about Miss Armitage’s devotion to some footman.’
‘I did not start the gossip. The silly girl has, however, gone too far. She is with him now.’
‘Where?’ The duke looked first one way and then the other.
‘Come with me and I will show you. I feel perhaps you should caution her on her behaviour.’
The duke sighed. He felt sure Lady James was simply trying to get him alone to enact a scene. But it might be better to depress her ambitions for once and for all.
‘Lead on,’ he said amiably. ‘I will follow.’
Lady James led the way out of the ballroom by the east door. She hoped Guy Wentwater’s creature had managed to get the timing right. It would be fatal to burst in just as Miss Armitage was soundly slapping some footman’s face.
But Richards was determined to play his part right. He was not going to touch Miss Armitage until he heard voices in the passage outside.
‘In here, I think,’ he heard Lady James say.
He had been standing with bowed head before Frederica who had been reading him a stern lecture on his folly, but at the sound of Lady James’s voice, he leapt into action.
Frederica, who considered the young man well and truly cowed, suddenly found herself enfolded in a tight embrace.
‘I love you madly,’ said Richards in a loud voice, just as the door opened.
Lady James smiled with satisfaction.
The Duke of Pembury saw the passionate scene and then a red mist of rage rose before his eyes. He took hold of the footman by the shoulder, swung him about, dragged Frederica out of his arms and jerked her violently away so that she hurtled into the corner of the room. Then he smashed his fist full and hard right on t
he point of Richards’s chin. The footman stretched his length on the floor. Lady James began to scream as loudly as possible. It was part of Wentwater’s plan to have as many witnesses to Frederica’s unfortunate ‘infatuation’ as possible.
The note that Frederica had shown Richards lay on the floor. The duke picked it up and read it, and then he raised his eyes and looked long and thoughtfully at Lady James. ‘Say anything, madam,’ he grated, ‘and I will expose your plot.’
The guests came crowding in at the doorway demanding to know what all the fuss was about.
The duke moved quickly and put his arm about Frederica who had just risen shakily to her feet.
‘I am afraid you have arrived at the end of this comedy of errors,’ he said. ‘Miss Armitage had retired from the ballroom to try to remove a speck of soot from her eye. Lady James told me of Miss Armitage’s whereabouts, knowing I was looking for her. This unfortunate footman was endeavouring to help Miss Armitage, but I am afraid my jealousy got the better of me, and I rendered the poor man unconscious before I learned the truth of the matter.
‘You must forgive me. It is not every day I become engaged to be married.’
‘Married!’ screamed Lady James.
‘Married?’ whispered Frederica, trying to move away from the duke, but his arm was like an iron band about her waist.
‘Married!’ screamed Lady Godolphin, using her elbows as battering rams to force a way to the front. ‘Oh, joy. Oh, rupture!’
The duke bowed to Lady Godolphin. ‘I must apologise for being so impetuous. I will call on you tomorrow, my lady, to obtain your kind permission to pay my addresses.’
Richards gave a groan and tried to struggle into an upright position. ‘Leave me with this poor man,’ said the duke. ‘You, too, Lady James. I must make my amends.’
He pushed everyone out of the room and then said to Frederica, ‘Look happy and we will come about with your reputation intact.’
Frederica in Fashion Page 11