The Gamble

by Joan Wolf

  “I am sorry I was not there,” I said fiercely. “I would have dealt with him properly, that disgusting fishmouth.”

  “Er . . . fishmouth?” said Lord Winterdale.

  “He has a mouth just like a fish,” I said furiously. “All wet and slimy. He tried to kiss me once. It was disgusting.”

  “Georgiana!” said Lady Winterdale in horror. “I am seriously disturbed by your language.”

  I ignored her and turned to Nanny. “It is too soon for any of the men I have met here in town to come up to scratch, Nanny. The Season has barely begun, after all.” I began to pace back and forth in front of the alabaster fireplace. “God, but I was hoping that my cousin wouldn’t come to Weldon Hall until after he had leased his own house in Berkshire!”

  “Georgiana,” said Lady Winterdale dangerously.

  Nanny completely ignored her. “Well come he has, Miss Georgiana, and we can hardly ask him to leave. He is the new owner, after all.”

  I shut my eyes briefly. What was I going to do with Anna? It was my worst nightmare come true. We were homeless.

  Nanny said prosaically, as if what she was asking was perfectly normal, “Perhaps Lord Winterdale wouldn’t mind if Miss Anna and I remained here with you until our future is settled, Miss Georgiana.”

  I bit my lip and looked with distress at Nanny’s weathered, kindly face. I realized that she thought that Lord Winterdale was my guardian. She had no idea that I had blackmailed my own way into his house.

  At Nanny’s suggestion, all of the points on Lady Winterdale’s face drew together. She drew herself up to her full, imposing height. “That is impossible,” she said.

  From his post by the door, Lord Winterdale said blandly, “Of course you and Miss Anna are welcome to remain at Mansfield House, Mrs. Pedigrew.”

  My eyes flew to him, but he wasn’t looking at me. He was looking at Nanny, and his face wore a smile of such genuine sweetness that my heart quite turned over.

  I swallowed, and managed to say, “Thank you, my lord. Anna will be no trouble, I promise you.”

  He looked back at me and lifted his black brows and the sweetness was gone from his face. “Of course she will be no trouble,” he said. “She is a child, after all. What trouble can she possibly be?”

  Lady Winterdale, who was still smarting from having her nephew overrule her, said, “You cannot allow it to be known among the ton that she is here, Georgiana. What man is going to marry you if he realizes that you have a simple sister to drag along as excess baggage?”

  I wanted to kill her. I said in a strangled kind of voice, “Lady Winterdale, the only reason I have come to London to find a husband is because I need a man who will offer Anna the tranquil and settled way of life that is necessary for her. If this were not so, I would just have married Frank Stanton and gone off with him to follow the drum.”

  Lord Winterdale said, “Who is Frank Stanton?”

  I opened and closed my fingers, trying to relax them from the fists that they had clenched into at Lady Winterdale’s words.

  “He is the son of the local squire near my home in Sussex. Frank and I have known each other forever and he has wanted me to marry him ever since he returned from the Peninsula. But I cannot drag Anna around from one military post to another, and so a marriage between us is impossible.”

  “I see,” he said. His face was inscrutable.

  There was a light knock on the door behind him and he turned to open it. Catherine and Anna stood upon the threshold.

  “I have picked out the room next to yours, Georgie,” Anna said as she came into the room. She gave a little skip before she got to me. “It is very pretty.”

  Lord Winterdale said to Nanny, “Do you usually sleep close to Miss Anna, Mrs. Pedigrew?”

  “Indeed I do, my lord,” Nanny replied. “The poor lamb has nightmares sometimes, and I like to be near.”

  “Then I will instruct my housekeeper to prepare the bedroom on the other side of Anna’s room for you,” Lord Winterdale said.

  “Philip!” The outraged voice came from Lady Winterdale. “You cannot put a servant on the same floor as the rest of us.”

  “Nanny is not a servant,” I said stoutly. “She is family.”

  Lady Winterdale gave me a withering look. “That, my dear Georgiana, is about as outrageous a statement as I have ever heard, even from you.”

  “If you do not wish to sleep on the same floor with Mrs. Pedigrew, then you are perfectly free to leave Mansfield House, Aunt Agatha,” Lord Winterdale said pleasantly. “Perhaps that house in Park Lane is still for rent for the Season?”

  Silence descended upon the drawing room.

  How he must hate his aunt, I thought. First he took me in and now he was taking in Anna and Nanny, and it was all done to annoy Lady Winterdale.

  “Nothing is for rent anymore, unless one wants to go into the outer reaches of the suburbs,” Lady Winterdale said at last. “You know that perfectly well, Philip.”

  “Well then I suggest that you learn to accept Mrs. Pedigrew, Aunt Agatha, because she is staying,” Lord Winterdale said in a hard voice.

  Anna pressed herself close to me, upset by the harsh tones of the voices in the room.

  “Is everything all right, Georgie?” she asked me in a frightened voice. “Why is the man angry?”

  I saw Lord Winterdale take a deep breath. He said in a much milder tone, “I am not angry with you, Anna, and I am sorry if I frightened you.”

  She gave him a timid smile.

  “Are you hungry perhaps?” he asked even more gently. “Would you like something to eat?”

  “Oh yes,” she replied eagerly. “Do you have hot buttered muffins, my lord?”

  Hot buttered muffins were one of Anna’s favorite foods. She could eat them any time of day.

  “I am sure that we must,” he said. “I shall ask Mason to consult with cook. In the meanwhile, why don’t you let your sister help you to change your dress, and when you have done that your luncheon will be ready.”

  Anna beamed.

  The door knocker sounded once more, and this time it was Lord Henry Sloan come to collect Catherine and me to go to his mother’s concert. It did not take a great deal of persuasion on my part to convince Catherine to go without me, and if Lord Henry was disappointed that he had only Catherine to escort, he concealed it beautifully. My estimation of him went up as he drove off with Catherine to the duchess’s afternoon concert while I devoted myself to taking care of my sister.

  The journey from Sussex had tired Anna out and after she had eaten I persuaded her to lie down for a nap. When I came back downstairs again, Lord Winterdale was waiting for me.

  “Let us go into the library, Miss Newbury,” he said. “I think that we need to talk.”

  “Yes,” I sighed. “I suppose that we do.”

  We took our usual places, Lord Winterdale behind the desk and I in the chair on the other side of it.

  “Why did you never tell me about your sister?” he started out by asking.

  I gave a small shrug. “I never hid from you the fact that I have a younger sister for whom I am responsible. I never mentioned Anna’s . . . problem . . . because I didn’t think it was relevant.”

  “It is relevant in one way,” he returned. “Much as I dislike agreeing with my aunt on any subject, I am afraid that she is right about one thing. A younger sister in perfect health can be expected to marry one day and leave your protection. Obviously, this is not the case with Anna. She will be your responsibility for as long as she lives.”

  “I don’t mind that,” I said hurriedly. “I love her. She is not a burden to me.”

  “Of course she is a burden,” he said impatiently. He held up his hand. “Now, don’t get all heated up. I am not saying that you don’t love her. But my aunt is right when she says that Anna is going to make it more difficult for you to find a husband.”

  I scowled. “I don’t see why. You have seen her, my lord. She isn’t violent, for heaven’s sake. She is
just like a four-year-old child.”

  “Yes, but she is not four, Miss Newbury. How old is she anyway?”

  “She is seventeen,” I said reluctantly.

  “Seventeen, with the mind of a four-year-old. There is a stigma attached to such a childlike creature, Miss Newbury, no matter how lovely she may be. Look at this cousin of yours, calling her a booby to her face.”

  “I would like to kill that man,” I said fiercely.

  “Yes, that was perfectly obvious from the expression on your own face when Mrs. Pedigrew told you of it,” he said dryly.

  I drew in a deep, ragged breath. “He must have made life exceedingly unpleasant if Nanny felt that she needed to take the drastic step of removing Anna from Weldon. Please let me tell you, my lord, how grateful I am to you for allowing Anna and Nanny to stay here.” I rubbed my forehead and eyes, which had begun to ache. “For years it has been my greatest fear, that I would not be able to provide a home for Anna.”

  The brilliant blue eyes were steady upon my face. “Your father did not leave you with any means of support?”

  I gave him a crooked smile. “No. He left the estate, which is both entailed and mortgaged, to my cousin. There was nothing left for Anna or me.”

  “Is your cousin married?”

  “No, he is not. I must admit that he has shown signs of interest in me, but the thought of being married to a man like that, of being forced to submit to his embraces . . .” I shuddered. “When I found the evidence of my father’s blackmailing scheme, I determined that I would rather try that instead.”

  One eyebrow quirked. “This is the cousin with a mouth like a fish?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  He leaned back in his chair. “What men have you met in London so far whom you do like?” he asked bluntly. “Lord Henry Sloan?”

  “He seems very nice,” I agreed. “He lacks a certain seriousness, perhaps, but he is certainly a very agreeable companion.”

  He drummed his fingers on the arms of his chair. He had beautiful hands with short and immaculate nails. I always noticed nails because I bit mine.

  “Sloan is not wealthy, but he is expecting to inherit a decent little property from an uncle, I believe,” Lord Winterdale said.

  “That is what he told me,” I confessed.

  The fingers drummed some more.

  “What about Borrow?” he asked next. “He is quite well off, and he made a point of getting Lady Sefton to let him waltz with you.”

  “Lord Borrow is too big,” I said firmly. “He would intimidate Anna.”

  Once again up flew an eyebrow. “Precisely how big is the gentleman you are looking for?”

  “Well . . . about your size, my lord,” I said. “Big enough to be reassuring but not big enough to intimidate.”

  He looked briefly amused.

  Then, “What about Stanhope?” he asked. “Didn’t I see him dancing with you twice last night?”

  “Yes,” I said, my mind going to the two dances he himself had danced with Mr. Stanhope’s sister.

  “Stanhope has a nice little fortune,” Lord Winterdale told me.

  “I thought he seemed rather cold. Anna needs someone who will show warmth to her.”

  “You can show her warmth, Miss Newbury,” he said. “Your husband need only be pleasant and provide her with a home.”

  He must have seen my disagreement on my face, for he added bluntly, “You can’t afford to be too choosy, you know. Girls who have no portion and who are encumbered by a permanent dependent are not likely to be snatched up on the marriage mart, no matter how pretty they may be.”

  It was a brutal thing for him to say and a brutal thing for me to listen to. Unfortunately, it was the truth.

  I felt my lip quiver and I put my hand to my mouth and pretended to cough so that he should not see how close I was to tears.

  He straightened some papers piled on the desk in front of him and changed the subject. “I saw Charlie Howard at Almack’s last night with his wife. Did he seek you out by any chance?”

  I bit my lip. “Unfortunately, he did.” I told him all about my conversation with Mr. Howard over the stale cake in Almack’s supper room. “It seems that you were right, my lord, and I made a grave mistake in burning that evidence. But there is nothing I can do about it now. The deed is done.”

  He scowled at me. “What is your schedule of activities for the rest of the week?” he demanded.

  I told him.

  “You’ll meet Marsh when you go to the ball at Wrenham House,” he said with certainty. “Lady Marsh and Lady Wrenham are bosom bows, and the Marshes will be sure to be there. What night is that ball again? Monday?”

  “Yes, my lord,” I returned.

  “I’d better come along,” he said. “Marsh is a nasty piece of work, and I don’t want you running into him by yourself.” His eyes glittered. “Not that there is much that he can do to you surrounded by half of London’s most elite society, but I still think it would be better if you met him while you were in my company.”

  I smiled at him. “Thank you, my lord.” I laughed a little unsteadily. “I seem to be saying that a great deal lately, don’t I?”

  “It makes for a pleasant change,” he replied blandly. “It is not a phrase I have heard very often in my life.”

  He stood up, an unmistakable and rude signal that our interview was over. “Please don’t hesitate to ask my housekeeper for anything you might need for Anna.”

  “Yes, my lord,” I said stiffly. I stood up also. “Thank you,” I repeated, and turned to leave the room. I glanced back at him once, just before I went out the door. He had sat back down at his desk and was looking at the top paper on the pile that was stacked there. Again I had that powerful impression of his solitariness that had struck me before.

  I closed the door quietly behind me and made my way upstairs to look in on Anna.

  CHAPTER

  ten

  CATHERINE CAME BACK FROM THE CONCERT practically radiant. She confided in me that Lord Henry had told his mother that Catherine was a musician and that the duchess had insisted that Catherine perform for the assembly.

  This didn’t surprise me, as it was I who had told Lord Henry to ask his mother to do just that.

  “You can imagine how horrified I was, Georgie,” Catherine told me. “I had nothing prepared. I haven’t practiced in weeks. I was certain that I would disgrace myself.”

  “I am sure that none of those things happened,” I said.

  “Well, I most certainly did not play my best, but people were very kind,” she replied. Behind the spectacles, her eyes were like stars. “In fact, they made me play another piece.”

  I smiled at her. “What you need, Catherine, is to become a part of London’s musical society. That is your natural milieu.”

  She heaved a despondent sigh. “Yes, but unfortunately Mama doesn’t see things the way you do, Georgie. She wants me to be fashionable.”

  “Were there any eligible young men present at this musicale?” I asked hopefully.

  Catherine shook her head. “The only men under the age of fifty were the duchess’s sons.”

  As the only one of the duchess’s sons I ever saw at ton parties was Sir Henry, the other son must be very young. This was not promising news, and I sighed.

  Catherine brightened. “The duchess is having another musicale next week, however, and she invited me to come and play.”

  “That is wonderful,” I said warmly. I thought that even Lady Winterdale would allow Catherine to play the piano if she was invited to do so by a duchess.

  The next few days went by relatively smoothly. When I was at home Anna stayed very close to my side, and I realized how much her sense of security had been shaken by this unaccustomed change in her residence.

  Lady Winterdale had decreed that she did not want Anna to appear in the downstairs drawing room during the morning hours when Catherine and I entertained visitors, and I did not try to gainsay her on this subject. I did not feel
that I had the right to do anything that might stand in the way of Catherine’s making a good match, and so I told Nanny to make certain that Anna remained out of the way during the hours between eleven and one.

  Three days after Anna’s arrival, however, she appeared in the doorway of the drawing room accompanied by Lord Winterdale.

  “The weather is very fine this morning and I am going to take your sister to see the milkmaids and the cows in Green Park, Miss Newbury,” he said to me. “We will not be gone for long.”

  The four gentleman in the room had gotten to their feet and were looking at Anna with dazed admiration. I made a quick decision to dispense with introductions.

  “How lovely,” I said warmly. “You will like the cows, Anna. They are particularly pretty.”

  Anna’s eyes lit upon Catherine. “I left a surprise for you in your room, Catherine,” she said. Her beautiful blue-green eyes sparkled. “Something I made for you myself.”

  “Did you, Anna? How wonderful,” Catherine said. “I can’t wait to see what it is.”

  A voice from the hallway said, “The carriage is waiting, my lord.”

  “Come along, Anna,” Lord Winterdale said. “I can’t keep my horses standing, you know.”

  To my amazement, Anna skipped happily over to his side. She nodded wisely. “I know. That is what Frank always says.”

  He took her elbow to turn her toward the door, but she artlessly slipped her hand into his. I could hear her asking him a question about the cows as they went out the front door.

  There was a horribly embarrassed silence in the room after they had gone. Lady Winterdale looked thunderous.

  Once again, Lord Winterdale had managed to make his aunt furious. I was quite certain that his appearance with Anna had been deliberate.

  Catherine broke the heavy silence by saying, “I wonder what it was that darling Anna could have made for me.”

  “Good God,” said Lord Borrow. “Did you say that she is your sister, Miss Newbury?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  It was Lady Winterdale who rushed into words to explain that Anna’s childishness was the result of an accident, not heredity.