‘Egad!’ exclaimed Roger, with a look of shocked surprise. ‘Coignham was the highwayman you once told me of. The same that held you up in the New Forest when you were scarce seventeen, and robbed you of your virginity as ransom for your rings. Dost mean to tell me that you took to meeting the rogue afterwards? Damme, you must have! No occasion could have arisen for you to tell his fortune otherwise.’
She smiled. ‘I’ll not deny it. Dick Coignham was near as handsome as you are, Roger darling; and ’twould be more fair to say that he persuaded me to give rather than robbed me, of what he took. It never cost me a moment’s regret, and ’twas a fine, romantic way to lose one’s maidenhead.’
‘That I’ll allow as an unpremeditated act committed in hot blood—but to deliberately enter on an affair with a notorious felon. How could you bring yourself to that?’
‘And why not, Sir?’ she countered, with a swift lift of her eyebrows. ‘You may recall that ’twas soon after my first meeting with him that I went to Court for my presentation, and during that season I threw my slippers over the moon with the handsomest buck of the day. On my return to Highcliffe there came yourself; but only that once, then you went to France. You’ll not have forgotten how Papa’s having taken a Gipsy for his wife had estranged him from the county, and the almost solitary existence that I led down there in consequence. After a little, with not even a local beau to buy me a ribbon, I became prodigious bored. So when out riding one day I encountered Dick Coignham again, what could be more natural than that I should become his secret moll. More than once I slipped out at night to watch him waylay a coach in the moonlight, and afterwards we made love with the stolen guineas clinking in his pockets. He was a bold, merry fellow, and I vow there were times when he caused me to near die of excitement.’
‘Georgina, you are incorrigible!’ murmured Roger, with a sad shake of his head.
She gave a low, rich laugh. ‘And you, m’dear, are the veriest snob. Why should you be so shocked to learn that I took a tobyman for my lover? Since that day long ago, when I turned you from a schoolboy into a man, I’ve made no secret of the fact that I was born a wanton and will always take my pleasure where I list. ’Tis naught to me how a man gets his living, provided he be clean, gay and good to look upon. Think you poor Dick was more to blame because he paid for the gold lace upon his coats by robbing travellers of their trinkets, than all the fine gentlemen at Westminster who take the King’s bribes to vote against their consciences?’
‘Nay, I’d not say that. I meant only that there are times when I fear your reckless disregard for all convention may one day bring you into grievous trouble.’
‘Should that occur I’ll count it a great injustice. Men are allowed to pleasure themselves where they will, so why not a woman? When you were in France…’
With a smile, he held up his hand to check her. ‘ ’Tis true enough. I tumbled quite a few pretty darlings whose lineage did not entitle them to make their curtsy at Versailles, and I know, of old, your contention that what is sauce for the gander is sauce for the goose in such matters. But the world does not view things that way. And—well, should aught occur to part us I do beg you, my pet, to harness your future impulses with some degree of caution.’
One of those swift changes of mood to which she was frequently subject caused her tapering eyebrows to draw together in a sudden frown. ‘You were thinking of the horrid thing that I saw but now in the glass?’
‘Nay,’ he protested quickly, cursing himself for having brought her thoughts back to it.
‘Indeed you were, Roger. To me your mind is an open book. But have no fears on that score. ’Tis all Lombard Street to a China Orange against my ever again becoming a cut-purse’s doxey, and getting a hanging from being involved in his crimes. Dick Coignham was an exception to the breed, and I was a young, romantic thing, in those days. For the most part they are a race of scurvy, unlettered, stinking knaves, that no female so fastidious as myself would lay a finger on. ’Tis you who must now take caution as your watchword. ’Tis far more likely that, as a man, your temper may lead you into some unpremeditated killing than that I, as a woman, should shed human blood.’
‘I’ll have a care,’ he agreed. ‘But from what you said it did appear that should rashness or stupidity bring us to this evil pass we’ll both be concerned in it.’
‘Dear Roger,’ she laid a hand on his. ‘How could it be otherwise when our destinies are so entwined? Would not either of us hasten from the ends of the earth to aid the other in such an hour of trial? Physical passion between all lovers must always wax and wane, and in that we can be no exception. Yet, in our ease, passion is but a small part of the link that binds us, and we shall love one another till we die.’
He raised her hand to his lips. ‘Thou art right in that; and neither temporary disagreements nor long separations will ever sever this sweet bond, that I value more than life itself. But tell me. When you saw the wedding ring, had you no inkling at all for which of us it was intended?’
‘None. And that, m’dear, comes from thy foolishness in proposing that I should seek to tell the future for us both at the same time. ’Tis a thing that I have never before attempted and it created a sad confusion in my telling. Seeing that I am married already, though, the odds are clearly against it being for me.’
‘Not necessarily. Humphrey may break his neck any day in the hunting-field or die any night from an apoplexy brought on by his excessive punishing of the port.’
She sighed. ‘I wish him no harm; but each time I’ve seen him of late he’s been more plaguey difficult. We liked one another well enough to begin with, but now we have not even friendship left, or mutual respect.’
Roger made a comic little grimace. ‘Your main reason for choosing him rather than one of your many other suitors was because you had set your heart on Stillwaters. You have it; and he leaves you free to lead the life you choose, so it does not seem to me that you have much cause to complain.’
‘After the first year we agreed to go our separate ways, and until last autumn he gave me very little trouble. But since then he has developed sporadic fits of prying into my affairs, and ’tis a thing that I resent intensely.’
‘You’ve never told me of this.’
‘There was no point in doing so. ’Tis not normal jealousy that causes him to make me these scenes when we meet. ’Tis resentment that I should continue to enjoy life to the full while he is no longer capable of deriving pleasure from aught but horseflesh and the bottle; and, something quite new in him, a morbid fear that he may become a laughing-stock should my infidelities to him be noised abroad. I’ve a notion that the liquor is beginning to effect his brain. Should I be right in that a time may come when he will have to be put under restraint; and if that occurs he may live to be a hundred. So you see all the chances are that you will marry long before there is any prospect of my being led to the altar as a widow.’
‘I’ve no mind to marry,’ Roger declared. ‘I would hate to be shackled for life to any woman; that is, unless I could marry you. But perhaps the ring was an omen of the future meant for both of us. Would you marry me, Georgina, if in a few years time you became free?’
‘Lud no!’ she exclaimed with a sudden widening of her eyes. ‘I thank thee mightily for the compliment, but ’twould be the height of folly. Marriage is the one and only thing which might sap away the true love which otherwise will last us a lifetime. Once we were tied I vow we’d be hating one another within a year.’
‘Nay. I’ll not believe it. We have so many interests in common, and never know a single dull moment when in one another’s company. Even when passion faded we’d have a wealth of joyous things to do together.’
‘Be truthful, Roger,’ she chided him gently. ‘Although I have been your mistress only for some five months you have already come to take me for granted, and there are now times when you are just a little bored with me.’
‘I deny it,’ he cried hotly.
‘ ’Tis so, m’dear.
Why did you ask me to invite your friend Lord Edward Fitz-Deverel down this week-end, if not because I am no longer capable of retaining your whole attention, and you are beginning to feel the need for other interests?’
‘Oh come! That is nonsense. Whenever you entertain you must, perforce, give much of your time to your other guests, and I have never taken the slightest umbrage over that. I simply wished Droopy Ned to see your lovely home; and to have someone to talk to, other than your father and the Duke, in order to lessen the chance of my being rude to Mr. Fox.’
She laughed. ‘How you dislike poor Charles, don’t you? Yet he is the kindest and most genial of men.’
‘He is amusing enough and generous to a fault. ’Tis not his company I hate, but his politics. Not a bill goes before the House but he uses his brilliant gifts and mastery of intrigue to get it thrown out—entirely regardless as to the degree of good its passage might do the country.’
‘That is but natural in a leader of the Opposition.’
‘There are times when the Government has the right to expect the co-operation of the Opposition for the well-being of the State,’ Roger replied warmly. ‘But Fox would not restrain his venomous animosity to the Ministers of the Crown even if the Cinque Ports were in jeopardy. He is the bond-slave of an ungovernable ambition and would stick at nothing to obtain office. His unholy pact with my Lord North in ’83 was proof enough of that. ’Twas the most despicable manœuvre that has ever disgraced British politics, and why you should elect to make a friend of such a man passes my comprehension.’
Georgina shrugged her ample shoulders. ‘I have three perfectly good reasons. Firstly, I like Charles for himself. Secondly, your idol Mr. Pitt is a boorish, uncouth recluse, who despises society; and since I cannot have the Prime Minister at my table, the next best thing is the leader of the Opposition. Thirdly, Mr. Pitt’s reign cannot last indefinitely, and when he falls Charles will become the occupant of Number Ten. Then, Roger, my love, I’ll be able to make you Paymaster of the Forces—as I promised I would when you were fifteen.’
‘You are wrong about Mr. Pitt,’ Roger smiled, his good humour restored. ‘He is very shy, but neither boorish nor uncouth; and while your Mr. Fox is making pretty speeches to the ladies at Carlton House, or gambling thousands a night away at Brook’s, Mr. Pitt is at his desk, working into the small hours for the good of the nation. As for your offer of the most lucrative post in the Kingdom, I am mightily obliged; but rather than accept it from the hands of Charles James Fox I would prefer to starve in the gutter.’
‘Hoity-toity!’ Georgina mocked him. ‘What high principles we have, to be sure. But as your patron, Mr. Pitt, has the King’s purse to play with no doubt you can count on his keeping you from beggary.’
Roger ignored the gibe, and asked, ‘Is Mr. Fox bringing Mrs. Armistead with him?’
‘Yes. His “dear Betty” has become an institution rather than a mistress these days. He rarely leaves London now without her, and makes her place at Chertsey his home whenever the House is not sitting. She has some education and is not a bad creature, even if she did graduate by somewhat dubious ways from being a serving wench.’
‘How will his Grace of Bridgewater and his sister take her presence here? If Lady Amelia Egerton is as straightlaced as her brother I foresee noses in the air.’
‘There will be no awkwardness,’ Georgina replied easily. ‘They are old friends and I know their tastes well. His Grace will be perfectly happy talking of canals and coalmines with Papa, and Lady Amelia, like many another old spinster, finds the breath of life in scandal. ’Tis for her that I asked that delightful old rake George Selwyn. He will keep her amused for hours.’
Roger laughed. ‘I had temporarily forgotten your artisty in mixing the most diverse types successfully.’
‘I owe much of my success as a hostess to it; yet ’tis easy enough. One has only to give a little thought to seeing that each guest is paired by love or interest to another and, their own happiness being assured, none of them will give a fig who else is in the party.’
‘All the same thou art a witch, my pet, in more ways than looking bewitching. Few other women would dare to brew the politics of both parties, the demi-monde and the aristocracy, industry and vested interests, a puritan Duke and an ex-member of the Hell-Fire Glub, all in one week-end cauldron, without fear of its boiling over.’
‘You may add diplomacy,’ Georgina told him with a smile. ‘Methinks I had forgot to tell you that Count Sergius Vorontzoff, the Russian Ambassador, is also coming.’
‘And where does he fit into your scheme of pairs?’ Roger asked with the lift of an eyebrow.
Georgina’s smile became seraphic. ‘Why, I have asked him to amuse myself, of course; while you are playing backgammon with your crony, Droopy Ned.’
‘Seeing that Droopy is not a woman that hardly seems a quid pro quo.’
‘Indeed it is. The conversation of your friend will entertain you admirably twixt now and Monday; whereas I have yet to meet the female who could engage my attention pleasurably for more than an hour or two at a stretch.’
‘What sort of a man is this Muscovite?’
‘He comes of one of the great families of his country. His father was Grand Chancellor to the Empress Elizabeth. One of his sisters was the mistress of her nephew, the ill-fated Emperor Peter III; while another, the Princess Dashkoff, entered the other camp, and played a leading part in the conspiracy by which the present Empress Catherine unseated her husband and usurped his throne.’
‘I had meant, what is he like personally?’
‘He is a dark man, not yet past the prime of life, with a clever, forceful face; and, I should hazard, is quite unscrupulous by nature. Underneath his culture there is a touch of barbarism which must give him a strong appeal to women. I met him at the Duchess of Devonshire’s several times this winter, and on the very first occasion he showed the good taste to express the most ardent desire to become my lover.’
Roger frowned. ’Tis my belief that you have asked him down with the deliberate intent to make me jealous.’
‘Lud no, dear man!’ she replied airily. ‘We are both, thank God, far too sophisticated to fall a prey to such a sordid emotion. Did we not agree when first we became lovers that if either of us should choose to be unfaithful to the other no word of reproach should mar our friendship?’
‘I know it!’ Roger stood up and walked over to the window. The dark blue eyes that he had inherited from his Highland mother had become a shade darker, as he went on a little sullenly. ‘Yet I am not of the temperament to stand idly by and watch another man making a play for your favours.’
Georgina stretched and yawned. ‘Then m’dear, you are about to become a plaguey bore, and will be going back upon our clear understanding. We agreed that we would remain free to indulge in casual amours if we wished, and tell or not tell of them as we felt inclined; to ignore such frailties in one another or, if in the case of either such a matter developed into a grande affaire, to separate without ill-will. ’Tis the only condition upon which I have ever entered on a liaison, or ever will; and you entirely agreed with me that, only so could two people live together and be certain of escaping sordid, wearing scenes of futile recrimination.’
Turning back from the window Roger said quietly, ‘That was our pact, and I will honour it. But tell me, frankly. Is it your intention to start an affair with the Russian this weekend?’
She shrugged. ‘You know better than anyone how varied are my moods, and how unpredictable. How can I tell in advance what my feelings may be towards him upon closer acquaintance.’
He scowled at her for a moment, then said reproachfully. ‘I’ve felt for the past week or two that you were becoming restless, and that we were no longer in perfect accord; but I had not thought that our parting was to come so soon.’
‘Dear Roger,’ she murmured, with a sudden return to gentleness. ‘I confess that my heart no longer leaps at the sound of your footfall coming to my room. But you t
oo have lost something of your first fine rapture in me; and if you are honest you will admit it. A time always comes when even the best of friends should part for a season; and wise lovers always do so while there is still an edge upon their passion, instead of waiting for it to become entirely blunted. Only by so doing can they preserve a hope of coming together again with renewed zest sometime in the future.’
‘So be it then; but at least let our relationship remain unchanged throughout the week-end. Then I will take my congé with a good grace, and leave with your other guests on Monday.’
She hesitated a second, then she said. ‘I am most loath to do anything which would give you pain. And think not, I beg, that I am wearied of you to a point where I would have you make so hurried a departure. Stillwaters is so lovely in the Spring, and there is no one with whom I would rather gather daffodils in the woods than your dear self. Stay on for a further week or two, and bear me company while you make your future plans. But for this evening and tomorrow I crave your indulgence to try my wiles on Sergius Vorontzoff.’
Roger had too much pride to accept the preferred olive branch at the price. Instead, he snapped sarcastically. ‘From what you’ve already said ’twill need but little trying on your part to rouse the cave-man in this northern barbarian; and you must forgive me if I say that you seem in a positively indecent hurry to begin.’
‘Nay. ’Tis not that,’ she murmured, her tone still mild. ‘I’ll admit the man intrigues me, but I would have been well content to wait until our affair was ended, had not circumstances forced my hand. The truth is Charles knows that the Russian has a fancy for me and wrote asking permission to bring him down. It seems that the Opposition are particularly anxious to gain his interest, and, naturally, if I decided to take him in hand I shall be in a position to exert a certain influence over him’.
The Shadow of Tyburn Tree Page 2