Daughter of Trade

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Daughter of Trade Page 11

by Lesley-Anne McLeod


  Adelaide smiled an apology and drew her Thomas away, into the dance forming. The viscount offered Dinah his arm, and she accepted it. She felt she owed him some sort of reparation for her brother's rudeness. They strolled the edge of the dance floor.

  "They do not accept me, do they? They do not like me to be here; I make them uncomfortable." he said. There was disappointment in his face and something of regret.

  "Some of them," Dinah said. "It is true of some of them. You cannot change people's prejudices overnight. They think of the nobility as expensive idlers, lofty critics of their way of life. Some even think your class stupid and arrogant. Joseph expresses his opinions too strongly on the matter. Thomas would not agree with him."

  "Nor John?"

  "Never John."

  "But you believe it yourself."

  "If I did, you are teaching me that it is not necessarily true," she said.

  "I cannot respond to that as I would wish."

  "There you see--as soon as you find opportunity, you...philander."

  "Why do you imagine I am not sincere?"

  Dinah avoided response and smiled at a pair of ladies staring avidly at the viscount. They flushed and turned away.

  "This is not the time or the place," Holly muttered. He changed the subject. "You see Joseph there, and his cronies? Could their looks kill, I should be dead."

  "You cannot change them all. No more than you can change the aristocracy's opinions of us. Do you think the reactions would not be the same were this a ball in...in Grosvenor Square, and I walked thus on your arm? It would be me that your equals would disdain, and you thought a traitor for transgressing the boundaries of class."

  "Is that why you avoid me? It is wrong. And it must be changed."

  "If you push too hard, too fast, you will be like Thomas' Luddites." She did not admit to avoiding him. "It will take time and education and--retraining--before our classes feel themselves equal."

  "Can the change not begin with us? Can we not show them we consider each other our equal, despite our backgrounds? Or do you believe that we are not? Which of us is superior then, which inferior? You must tell me, for I do not know."

  She could not answer him. "I would like to rejoin my mother."

  "Dinah do not, I beg you, shut me out of your life. Ah, we cannot talk here."

  They were silent then, approaching Mrs. Driffield. Dinah was aware of the tension in Holly's strong arm under her fingers. Caught up in her thoughts and fears, she was unaware of the music and the speculative stares upon them.

  The viscount greeted Mrs. Driffield with a forced smile, but he spoke only to Dinah. "We will discuss this again." He bowed over her hand.

  We will not, she promised as fervently, but only to herself.

  * * * *

  Sebastian called in Park Square the next day, and found Bernard Humberstone in possession of the drawing room. It seemed to Sebastian that he had been overly optimistic in celebrating the big man's absence from Gott's ball. For a week past, he had thought Dinah was almost avoiding Humberstone, but it seemed today as if she was using Humberstone for protection.

  Dinah was working on her sewing industriously and Humberstone seemed to be boring on about some mechanical problem at his factory. Harriet sat, as a sop to propriety, in the bay window's seat overlooking the square. She looked over the edge of her newspaper as Sebastian was announced by Bubwith, and rolled her eyes towards Humberstone.

  Sebastian choked on a laugh that he turned into a cough, and winked at her before bowing over Dinah's hand. He had never suspected the keen insights that the younger set were prone to display and had certainly underestimated their capabilities. Unless Dinah's siblings were somehow exceptional, an interesting possibility.

  He attended to the big man for he sensed Humberstone was about to try and discomfit him with an observation. To forestall him, Sebastian spoke immediately to Dinah. "You are in looks after your exertions last night, ma'am." He admired the way the colour rushed to her cheeks when he retained her hand a moment longer than necessary. "Mr. Gott entertains in great style."

  "His guests seem always to leave in good spirits," she agreed. She drew her hand away from his with haste, and without grace.

  "But we did not see you there, Humberstone." Sebastian turned to his rival before the other man could speak. "Surely you had an invitation."

  "I am great friends with Mr. Gott's son." The big man rushed to defend himself. "Sadly, my mama was taken with the catarrh day before yesterday. I stayed in last evening to ensure she was well looked after. I am out now only to execute a few commissions for her, and thought I must inform Miss Driffield of her sufferings."

  "I hope you may not have brought the sickroom miasma with you," Sebastian suggested wickedly.

  Dinah reproved him with a warning glance from her wide brown eyes.

  "Never!" Humberstone exclaimed. "My mama does not allow me in her sickroom. In fact she wishes not to expose me to such harm."

  "Ahh," was all that Sebastian could manage without giving way to his amusement. There was a smothered snort from behind the newspaper that put his own determination not to laugh to the test. He reproved himself. How was he to know the lengths to which a mother would go to protect her young?

  He turned back to Dinah, and said, "I wondered if you would wish to ride out with me, Miss Driffield--today, or tomorrow?"

  "I have no mount, my lord."

  "I took the liberty of bringing Merry from Harrowgate, Miss Driffield. You enjoyed her so much, that I thought your lessons would profit from being continued on the same mount."

  The newspaper was lowered at last to reveal Harriet's freckled face agog with interest. "You hired a hack in Harrowgate, for Dinah, and brought it here?" she questioned.

  "Well, no, not exactly," he admitted. "I bought Merry and sent her here."

  "For Dinah?"

  "I am sure Miss Driffield would never accept such a gift from a stranger," Humberstone interjected.

  "I hope I am not quite a stranger," Sebastian found himself snapping. "And I hope that I would never be so lost to propriety as to offer such a gift to a young lady. I bought the horse as I bought Challenger, because she is a fine animal that I am happy to add to my stables. I merely wondered if Miss Driffield would care to exercise her."

  "You show the extravagance of your class, my lord," Humberstone was ponderous. "I find myself content with a pair of horses for my phaeton. I keep no other stable; it would be pretentious."

  "Mr. Humberstone, you cannot think to tell Lord Holly what is appropriate for his circumstances."

  Sebastian was glad of Dinah's intervention. He had come perilously close to losing his temper, and giving the jumped-up mushroom--he could think of Humberstone in no other terms--a shattering set-down. He took a deep breath.

  But Dinah was continuing. "Had I the time, I might be glad to ride Merry. I am sure it would be pleasant to further my experience with her. But alas, my lord, I have no time. My obligations are many. You see me at work here; I make baby fittings for my ladies."

  "You will think this is inappropriate my lord," Humberstone seemed aware that he had offended and appeared to be offering an olive branch. "And indeed I would agree with you. Such activities for such people are beneath Miss Driffield. My mama has often said so."

  Sebastian was aware that Harriet's eyes were growing rounder the longer this conversation continued. But he could not repress his opinion. "Miss Driffield is to be respected for her concern for her dependents."

  "They are not her dependents; they are paid a wage."

  "They are still dependents, upon her father's good management, and her family's continued prosperity."

  Dinah joined the fray. "And it is Christian charity. And what my own mama thinks an appropriate activity, cannot be descried by Mrs. Humberstone."

  Humberstone accepted the rebuke without comment. He said, "In any event, Miss Driffield has denied me the pleasure of her company in driving out, so she cannot well accept your inv
itation to ride."

  Dinah dropped her sewing on her worktable and rose, pressing her fingertips to her wide brow.

  "Gentlemen, I have the headache. Mr. Humberstone, I will be pleased to drive out with you tomorrow after divine services. Lord Holly, I should like to ride Merry, very much. Would Monday suit you?"

  Sebastian rose, well satisfied with Dinah's resolution. He winked at Harriet again, and nodded abruptly at Humberstone.

  "I suffered with the headache as a child, as you know; I can imagine how you must feel. You will be wishing us at Jericho," he said to Dinah. "I will relieve you of my company, and Humberstone's as well. Will you join me sir? We may walk in to town together."

  "I go the other way," the big man said rising to his feet, seeming to recognize his rout. He made his farewells with ponderous dignity.

  Sebastian excused himself soon after, relieved not to have the company of Humberstone. He was seen to the door by Bubwith and Harriet, who urged him to return soon. He set off with little reluctance and some satisfaction. He had, after two weeks' residence in Leeds, no lack of places to be and plenty of acquaintance. The people of Leeds were good, honest, hard-working, no-nonsense folk. He liked them all except for the few he did not trust, which included Bernard Humberstone.

  The citizens he met returned his interest. And they were not many of them as hostile as Humberstone, or Joseph and his comrades. Some of them liked him because of his title, some of them in spite of it, and some, he thought, held prejudices as firm as Joseph and Dinah Driffield.

  Sebastian had toured many of the leading manufactories, as well as the White Cloth Hall, the Mixed Cloth Hall, and even the Irregular Cloth Hall, often enough that he had begun to recognize faces and put names to them. He had attended at a meeting of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal Society with John Driffield, which he had enjoyed. And he had toured, with Dr. Hesler, the General Infirmary. He could not say that he enjoyed that visit, but he had admired its advanced ideas and excellent facilities without artifice.

  He had been introduced by Mr. Driffield to Mr. Benjamin Gott in the first week of his stay. He had enjoyed the old man's company immensely, but had nevertheless been surprised to receive an invitation to Mr. Gott's ball. He had had no hesitation in accepting.

  He paused now at the corner of West Street, and considered his options. His decision taken to visit the Driffields' manufactory, he continued on his way, thinking about the previous evening. Mr. Gott had drawn him aside on his entry, and his conversation had been surprising.

  "You know, lad, what I said to Josiah Driffield? I said, who is this puppy, Josiah? Usually the nobs want tours, then leave with a tangle of misinformation. This chap, who looks like he couldn't think beyond tomorrow's coat, remembers everything you tell him, and understands the new machinery better than we do ourselves.

  "So what are you about here, Viscount? For I was wrong about you, and not ashamed to admit it. You've money to invest no doubt? And other fish to fry?" Gott had looked significantly across the room to where Mrs. Driffield stood with her two eldest daughters, and tapped the side of his hooked nose.

  Sebastian shuddered even now to think he had been so obvious.

  "Do you know what Josiah told me yesterday you'd been about? Said you was helping his lad Joseph set up a new power loom t'other day. Surprised me that you don't mind getting your hands dirty. And he said you was both stripped down to your breeches for a'course it's hot work in this late spell of hot weather, and he says you've got as many muscles under that fine linen as his boy does and that's saying something."

  Sebastian had been embarrassed by that frank speech, but still felt a glow of pride as well. He'd attempted a disclaimer which Gott had swept aside.

  "So what I want to know, is where'd you get them muscles, eh? You're a Pink of the Ton no doubt, and dressed as fine as a fivepence always. Where'd you come by them muscles?"

  "Sport, I would guess, sir, though I really can't say," Sebastian had told him.

  Mr. Gott had watched him watch Dinah, and cackled, "Eh, I see where your interest lies. Well, be off to her then. Show her them muscles, me lad. The ladies like fancy dress, but what they really like is a bit of muscle in their bed."

  Sebastian could still scarcely credit that that frank exchange had embarrassed him. He was as accustomed to the salacious talk of clubs, coffeehouses, and gaming hells as any young man, but he supposed because this was personal it had touched him more. And perhaps it was the way fathers talked to their sons. It surprised him, thinking about it in the bright morning of a Yorkshire autumn, to realize that he would have been delighted with a father like Benjamin Gott, or Josiah Driffield.

  * * * *

  Dinah saw Holly at the end of her drive with Mr. Humberstone the following day. She had had a busy day, attending divine services, visiting at her Sunday school, and would have excused herself from this excursion had she thought it at all possible without giving offense.

  Ignoring a little wind that was almost certainly reddening the tip of her nose, she made polite conversation. She was thinking about tea and biscuits and the warm drawing room fire in number five, Park Square, when she spied Sebastian striding down Guilford Street toward Briggate. He had a long, easy stride that covered ground efficiently and gave one to believe he was enjoying the exercise. He carried his hat and his copper curls gleamed in the bright sun of the cool day. He was apparently giving his curiosity free rein, for he looked about alertly as he walked, and paused to consider anything that caught his interest. Dinah found herself more and more thinking of him as 'Sebastian' although she tried not to. In fact, she wrestled with herself, clinging to the formality of 'Holly' if she could not discipline herself to 'Lord Holly' or 'the viscount'.

  Humberstone saw him also apparently. "Drat that viscount," he mumbled under his breath, then added more loudly, "Should he not be caring for his estate, or sitting in the House, or idling elsewhere--as the nobs do? Why has he stayed in Leeds, Miss Driffield?"

  "I cannot claim any knowledge of Lord Holly's reasoning, Mr. Humberstone." Dinah had recently deliberately encouraged Humberstone's attendance upon her to deter Sebastian from seeking her out, but his tone annoyed her. "But I am sure he has as much right to visit here as anyone."

  Dinah could not imagine that Holly had heard their words, but at that moment, he saluted them gravely with his walking stick. Then he gave Dinah a roguish grin that took all her fortitude to resist.

  Humberstone had no intention of stopping and swept by the viscount with a brief nod. Dinah could not have told whether she was disappointed or pleased.

  "I cannot think his motives innocent," Humberstone blustered. "Should he offer you any insult, I shall know how to act."

  Despite her intentions, Dinah found herself defending Sebastian. "I hardly think that Lord Holly would in any way offer me insult, sir. And if perchance he did surely my father and brothers would be the ones to act for me."

  "Miss Driffield, you must know..."

  Dinah scarcely heard him for she was looking back at Sebastian. Juliana Hesler and her mother had stopped their barouche to speak with him. She found herself envying her friend. Stifling the disappointment that caught her unaware, she rejected her desire to be in his company, and reminded herself she must not use his given name. Only then did she realize what Mr. Humberstone was about to say.

  "Please, sir, let us enjoy our drive," she said in haste.

  "But, Miss Driffield, you must be aware--"

  "Mr. Humberstone, this is neither the time nor the place. Please let us make the most of the pleasant weather, for surely it cannot continue, do you think? And how is Mrs. Humberstone? Is she fully recovered from her illness?" To her infinite relief, he was easily distracted, and the rest of the drive passed without incident.

  She was not so sanguine about her excursion with Holly the following day. She had briefly considered crying off, and then decided to indulge herself. Surely, she thought, she could resist his blandishments and practiced, insincere gallantry.<
br />
  She donned her green habit with scarcely understood excitement, and when Pippy informed her of the viscount's arrival, she ran down the stairs with unfeigned eagerness. She did not find Sebastian in the entry, however and had opportunity to compose herself. He had been drawn, she discovered, by Harriet into the drawing room where she, Hamilton and Geoffrey were plying him with questions.

  Holly disengaged himself from the children immediately upon her entry, and she had only a moment to admit to herself that his gallantry was not at all insincere and that his blandishments were not unwelcome. Her realizations gave her a severe aspect as she greeted him, but they were soon saying their farewells.

  Dinah allowed her pleasure in the ride to cause her to relax. She had a happy reunion with Merry who seemed to remember her, or so she fancied. She managed an assisted mount and was once again disconcerted to experience the tingle of sensation at the intimacy of Sebastian's assistance.

  She carefully suspended all thought but for the immediate experience, and she was pleased to discover she had not forgot what she had learned of riding. They followed Park Lane into the country and wandered up St. Peter's Hill with a Driffield groom following them.

  Sebastian instructed her in her trot, quite in his same friendly manner as during their days at Harrowgate and Dinah further relaxed.

  Then he said, "Did you enjoy your drive yesterday with Humberstone?"

  Dinah was abruptly thrown into confusion, and did not answer his question. "Mr. Humberstone wondered that you are not at your estate, my lord. Or at Parliament," she said. Then she added, gathering her composure, "Well, I know that Parliament does not sit this time of year, but I too do wonder that you can so long leave your property."

  "I should not. I should be there overseeing the work, preparing for the winter. I missed the Harvest Home this year, Dinah."

  She opened her mouth to protest his use of her name and then, meeting his challenging glance, did not bother.

  "I think the harvest the most evocative of country occurrences; I enjoy its homely hard work and its symbolic importance. But this year I was possessed of a restlessness and Matherton's offer of shooting seemed like the change I needed. Now I know something led me to you."

 

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