“Why, Amaris, one would suppose that you do not yourself care overmuch for the lady,” Lady Caroline said, putting up her brows.
“I had the misfortune to share the same coming-put Season with that female. I have always suspected that once she latched on to the earlier Lord Heatherton she positively bullied him to the altar,” Mrs. Burlington said.
Lady Eddington glanced at her guest’s polite expression. “I fear none of this can be of much interest to Fraulein Gutenberg. Nothing is more boring than to be obliged to listen courteously to old gossip, isn’t that so? Do let us talk of something else. Perhaps we may put our heads together and agree on a date for another dinner party, this time to be hosted by Berwicke. I did so enjoy the last.”
Lady Caroline, taking note of the almost indiscernible flicker of disappointment in Fraulein Gutenberg’s eyes, was certain that the lady had been far more interested than Lady Eddington had assumed. However, she herself was more than willing to follow the countess’s lead, for she had not felt comfortable while Mrs. Burlington gossiped so disparagingly of the gentlemen.
Soon afterward, Fraulein Gutenberg rose to take her leave. She remarked that it had been a most entertaining tea and she promised to carry word back to Walmesley of the informal soiree that was to be held at Berwicke Keep.
Lady Caroline chose to ride over to Walmesley the following day.
When she arrived she was astonished to see a familiar highbred team being backed into the traces of a sporting phaeton. She deduced instantly that the phaeton was being readied for travel. Accepting the assistance of a groom to descend from her mount, she tossed the man the reins and entered Walmesley’s open door.
She discovered Lord Heatherton in the entry hall, engaged in pulling on his gloves. “Nana, never tell me that you are leaving!”
Lord Heatherton greeted her with one of his usual open smiles. “Lady Caroline! I had hoped to see you before we left. I was meaning to have Sinjin drive over to Berwicke before we returned to town, for I wished to convey my apologies. I have been fretting this age that I offended you over that little matter we talked of the other evening.”
Lady Caroline laughed and shook her head. She felt a rush of glad relief. Tucking her gloved hand into his elbow, she said, “I do not regard it in the least, I assure you. Now, you must tell me why you and my two other friends have decided to abandon the neighborhood so suddenly, for I must have a plausible excuse to convey to Lady Eddington.”
“The soiree, of course!” Lord Heatherton frowned, as though weighing something in his mind. “Come into the drawing room a moment, my lady. I think it best if we are not overheard.”
Lady Caroline accompanied his lordship, wondering and curious. When Lord Heatherton closed the door, she said lightly, “Now I am certain that you have a secret to tell, my lord.”
“As it chances, I have. But it is not altogether mine, so you must not tout it about,” Lord Heatherton said.
Lady Caroline instantly sobered. “Why, Nana, what is it about?”
“The thing of it is, you shall have to contrive an excuse for us to Lady Eddington, for the truth would never do,” Lord Heatherton said. “We are returning to town because Carey has suffered a severe reverse. None of us quite realized how besotted he had become with Fraulein Gutenberg, more’s the pity. Well, you know yourself how Carey is forever sighing over a pretty face.’’
“Indeed I do. He tumbles in and out of love as many times as some gentlemen put on their boots,” Lady Caroline quipped.
Lord Heatherton nodded, taking the joke in a serious vein. “Aye, but this time he proposed to the lady in question.”
Lady Caroline’s mouth dropped open. “I do not believe it!”
“I do not wonder at your astonishment, my lady, for I felt the same. In any event, poor Carey was fairly certain that he had begun to fix his interest with the Fraulein. Well, anyone could see that she was beginning to thaw toward him after the dinner party,” Lord Heatherton said. He shook his head. “It was deuced odd. Yesterday, when Carey offered for the Fraulein’s hand, she told him that she would never consider his suit. Yet not four hours previously he had hinted to me that the Fraulein had freely bestowed upon him a kiss.”
Lady Caroline did not reveal to Lord Heatherton her own unpleasant conclusion. She remembered quite clearly that during the afternoon tea Fraulein Gutenberg had steered the conversation onto the subject of English gentlemen. She had wondered at the time that the Fraulein seemed inordinately interested in Mrs. Burlington’s somewhat malicious recounting of gossip regarding Lord Trilby’s friends, but she had never expected this result.
“It is a pity, indeed. One must feel for poor Carey,”she said quietly.
Lord Heatherton nodded sadly. “Aye, but I cannot but wonder whether fate took a hand in it, for Carey has dealt often enough in that same coin. In any event, Lady Caroline, you must see that the truth would not do for Lady Eddington.”
“Pray do not be anxious over that point, Nana. I shall say all that is necessary,” Lady Caroline said.
There was an impatient shout from somewhere outside the drawing room. “That will be Sinjin. He is in the devil of a mood; no one knows why. Between the pair of them, I shall have a jolly time of it,’’ Lord Heatherton predicted morosely.
Lady Caroline and Lord Heatherton emerged from the drawing room. The viscount stood in the entry hall, slapping his gathered whip against his thigh. The ferocious scowl on his face lessened when his eyes fell on Lord Heatherton. “There you are. Carey is waiting for us.” He glanced at Lady Caroline and abruptly smiled. “It has been a damnable visit, but still I am glad to have seen you again, Lady Caroline. You are not in London nearly often enough to leaven the dull functions one is forced to endure.”
Lady Caroline laughed and shook hands with him. “Be off with you, Sinjin.”
She walked outside with the gentlemen, to discover Lord Trilby conversing with Mr. Underwood next to the phaeton. “My lord, Mr. Underwood. I rode over to confirm the date of the soiree for three days hence, only to discover that our company will be sadly depleted.”
Mr. Underwood smiled. There was a look of strain about his eyes and mouth, but none of his previous reserve toward her. “Pray convey my apologies to Lady Eddington. Unavoidable obligations carry me back to London.”
“Of course, Carey,” Lady Caroline said quietly.
The gentlemen climbed up into the phaeton, again said their good-byes, and then they were off. Lord Trilby and Lady Caroline stood looking after them until the carriage had bowled around the curve and was lost to sight.
“Will you come in for a few minutes, my lady?” Lord Trilby asked.
Lady Caroline heard the entreaty in his lordship’s voice. She was not immune to his appeal, and that was what made up her mind. “I think not. I left Lady Eddington with my aunt, who has for several days now taken it upon herself to educate her into her duties as mistress of Berwicke. Lady Eddington cast me a rather wild look as I set out, and I suspect that by now she will be in dire need of rescue,’’ she said with a laugh. She nodded to the waiting groom that she was ready to mount.
The earl waved aside the man and himself tossed her into the saddle. Silently he adjusted the stirrup for her, his hands lingering a little. Then he stepped back a pace, still without having said a word.
Upon meeting his gaze, Lady Caroline rather breathlessly said good-bye and rode away.
Chapter Twenty-eight
The soiree at Berwicke Keep threatened to fall sadly flat owing in large part to the departure of the London gentlemen. Lord Eddington remarked regretfully if somewhat tactlessly that he would have enjoyed a few rousing hands of cards played for more than chicken stakes.
The Grandduchess Wilhelmina Hildebrand contemplated the gathering with jaundiced eyes, somewhat in sympathy with Lord Eddington’s view. She found the maneuverings of her grandnephew and Lady Caroline particularly tedious. Lady Caroline had allowed her attention to be dominated by Lord Hathaway all the evening, w
hile Lord Trilby pursued conversation with Fraulein Gutenberg. The earl betrayed himself several times, however, by allowing his eyes to stray in Lady Caroline’s direction. The grandduchess thought it time to give her grandnephew a determined path.
Lifting her guttural voice, she made an abrupt announcement. “I shall shortly be leaving England.” She raised a commanding hand to still the astonished murmurs. “However, I shall carry with me the glad knowledge of my grandnephew’s engagement to Lady Caroline Eddington.” She smiled knowingly at the sudden stillness that fell over the Earl of Walmesley’s expression.
Lord Eddington whooped. He shook hands with Lord Trilby and kissed his sister fondly. “This is glad news indeed! I have always known you and Trilby here would make a match of it.”
Lady Eddington pressed Lady Caroline’s fingers and said softly in her ear, “I am very glad that you shall not be living too far away for me to call on you, Lady Caroline.”
Mrs. Burlington was in high alt. “I have hoped for this happy event for far longer than I wish to recall! Berwicke Keep shall miss you, dear niece, but I assure you that all will be kept just as you like it.”
Lady Caroline met Lady Eddington’s twinkling eyes. “I am certain that will be so, Amaris.”
Of the company, only two greeted the announcement with less than enthusiasm. Fraulein Gutenberg exchanged a long look with the Grandduchess of Schaffenzeits. There was nothing to read in the grandduchess’s expression but a faint amusement. Fraulein Gutenberg’s gaze dropped to her rigidly clasped hands, but she said not a word.
Lord Hathaway was not so retiring. His mind grappled with the enormity of what he had heard, for he had been confident that it was he who would carry the day with Lady Caroline. “Lady Caroline affianced? To the Earl of Walmesley?” He seemed to choke on the words.
As he dropped heavily into a chair, his expression was seen to be stricken and his reaction served to subdue the glad expressions of most of the others. Mrs. Burlington, however, uttered only an exclamation of impatience. She did not care what gentleman had at last succeeded in capturing her niece’s hand. The fact of it was good enough for her.
Lady Caroline had the grace to feel compassion for Lord Hathaway. She had attempted to discourage his lordship for months, but he had not taken her rejections as serious. He had instead continued to insist that she must one day come to her senses and accept his suit.
Though Lord Hathaway had often tried her patience and on one occasion subjected her to humiliation, she could yet feel sorry for him.
Lord Trilby was silent. He, too, recognized Lord Hathaway’s pitiful disorientation, but he was not inclined to commiserate with the gentleman.
As for the grandduchess, she had no patience for fools. This obtuse and arrogant English lord reminded her in part of those of her retainers for whom she reserved contempt. Her glance was therefore pitiless. “That is correct, my lord. It has been known to me for some months, but I withheld my approval until such time as I could meet and judge Lady Caroline for myself. I am happy to say that all my reservations are at an end. I am honored to welcome Lady Caroline as my grandniece.” She turned her shoulder on the shattered Lord Hathaway and thereafter ignored him.
Fraulein Gutenberg for the first time revealed emotion. She stared at the Grandduchess of Schaffenzeits as though what she had heard was unbelievable. And so it was, if true, for it meant the entire journey to England had been made on the grandduchess’s empty promises.
The grandduchess looked up suddenly, as though aware that she was under scrutiny, and her eyes met the Fraulein’s. Suddenly, in the moment before the grandduchess’s gaze drifted away, Fraulein Gutenberg looked as if she could feel her advantage slipping away from beneath her like so much sand.
The Fraulein’s gaze traveled to the affianced couple. Lady Caroline blushed at something said by Lord Trilby, and a shudder went through the Fraulein, for it was horribly apparent she had rejected an honorable proposal for her hand in favor of the nonexistent chance to become the Earl of Walmesley’s bride.
Fraulein Gutenberg’s eyes sought Lord Hathaway. For a long time she unblinkingly regarded his lordship’s downcast countenance, while about her the conversation advanced.
“I am well-pleased, Miles. You have at last done as I have instructed. You will now be so good as to enter with me into plans for the wedding. It must be in the spring, naturally. This dreary English winter is not the proper time for a wedding. I shudder to think of it.”
“Lady Caroline and I shall address the question of the date in good time,” Lord Trilby said easily, but with a hint of steel.
The Grandduchess Wilhelmenia Hildebrande stared levelly at her grandnephew. Apparently what she saw satisfied her, for she abruptly nodded. “Good, good. For now, it is enough.”
Lady Caroline cast another glance in Lord Hathaway’s direction. He seemed to have regained some of his color, but there was still a bewildered look in his eyes.
She had never believed that Lord Hathaway was the least bit in love with her. He had never averred that he was, and certainly, with that one extraordinary exception, his dealings with her had not been in the least lover-like. Yet now, witnessing Lord Hathaway’s devastation, she could not but wonder if he had indeed harbored the smallest tendre for her.
Lord Hathaway seemed quite unable to pull himself together. Lady Caroline knew that she could not very well offer words that might ease his troubled countenance. It would be unwise to do so, as well as lacking in sensibility. She was the cause of his lordship’s distress, after all. Still, she hated to see his lordship sunk so low. Lord Hathaway needed to be distracted, she thought.
Lady Caroline’s gaze fell on Fraulein Gutenberg’s smooth countenance. As always, the young woman’s polite expression revealed only the mildest interest in what was taking place about her. Knowing what she did now about the Fraulein, Lady Caroline wondered what thoughts were hidden behind those beautiful veiled eyes. On the instant, she decided upon what in other circumstances she would have thought to be a reprehensible suggestion.
As coffee was brought in, Lady Caroline seized the opportunity to drift over toward Fraulein Gutenberg. Quietly she said, “Fraulein, I hope that I may rely upon you for a small favor. Lord Hathaway has suffered something of a shock, I think. Perhaps—if you would not mind it—you could speak to him and attempt to give his thoughts a new direction?” Their eyes met and a long unspoken conversation passed between them.
Fraulein Gutenberg gazed at Lady Caroline calmly for a moment longer. Then the young lady’s eyes turned in Lord Hathaway’s direction. “Certainly, if that is your wish, my lady.” She rose from her place, made a formal bow to Lady Caroline, and glided over to seat herself beside Lord Hathaway.
In a very few minutes’ time Lord Hathaway appeared to be reviving. It was from the Fraulein’s hands that he accepted a cup of coffee, sweetened exactly to his taste.
Lady Caroline watched these encouraging signs with satisfaction, and was startled when she felt warm breath on her ear. She turned quickly. “My lord!”
“Tossing the Fraulein into the breach, are you, Caro? Are you perhaps hoping to make a match of it?” Lord Trilby’s voice was low and teasing.
Lady Caroline opened her eyes wide. “Why, no, my lord. Whatever would give you such an odd opinion of my character?” When he but smiled, she said, “It is not such a bad notion, you know. They would deal extremely well together. He is such a worthy, and would treat her with a most tiresome respect, while she is perfectly willing to be coddled for the remainder of her days.”
“You have at least provided the Worthy with a way to salvage his pride,” Lord Trilby said dryly.
“It is true, his lordship has appeared incapable of meeting my gaze. I suspect that he would gladly forgo addressing me for the remainder of the evening,” Lady Caroline said.
“Awkward, indeed, since you are to receive the felicitations of this little gathering,” Lord Trilby agreed.
Lady Caroline flashed an apprec
iative glance up at him. “You are a wretched man.”
The earl shrugged, not at all perturbed. “I am not greatly interested in Lord Hathaway one way or the other. In any event, Fraulein Gutenberg appears to be doing the job. Perhaps you may now turn your attention to one much more deserving of your sympathy,” he suggested.
Lady Caroline did turn toward him then. She cocked her head to regard him with twinkling eyes. “Indeed, I do seem to detect a certain despondency in your carriage, my lord.”
“Do not overlook the care that has been permanently worn into my countenance by this farrago,” Lord Trilby said.
“No, indeed I do not! Why, one could believe that you have most recently scraped through a most unpleasant situation, only to become resigned to an ignoble fate,” Lady Caroline said.
Lord Trilby laughed at that. He eyed Lady Caroline appreciatively. “That was unkind, Caro.”
“Quite unkind,” she agreed. “You shall trounce me for it, I daresay, but I think that, at least for now, I am safe enough.” She gestured in the direction of the Grandduchess of Schaffenzeits. “Her grace has not yet said exactly when she means to leave England.”
“Take care, my lady! You have become emboldened by what you perceive as your security, but I shall come about, never fear, and teach you a proper respect,” Lord Trilby promised.
Lady Caroline cast a glance up at him through an exaggerated flutter of her lashes. “Perceive that I am quaking in my boots, my lord.”
“Are you indeed! A poor show you make of it, then.” When Lady Caroline laughed, he said, “Come, my lady, make a clean breast of the thing. I have never succeeded in exciting the least emotion in you, have I?”
With one stroke, the props were knocked out from under her. Lady Caroline felt as though she had fallen off the front of the stage, but from long practice she retained hold of her smile.
“Oh, as to that! What can I say that would not insult or embarrass you, my lord? If I agree, surely your ego would be bruised to learn that you had not made an impression upon my stony and indifferent heart. If I disagree, and assure you that indeed my poor heart is sent tripping whenever you enter the room, then you must be horridly discomfited by such maudlin declarations. So you see, my lord, it is best never to delve too deeply for an honest opinion.”
Gayle Buck Page 21