Georgette Heyer - [Alastair 02]

by Devil's Cub

  Juliana was looking at him in considerable awe. ‘You haven’t answered me,’ she said, with an uncertain laugh.

  ‘What I might do is – happily for you – not in the least like what Comyn will do,’ he replied.

  ‘No,’ she said sadly. ‘But can you understand that I wish it were?’

  ‘My deluded child, one taste of my lamentable temper would send you flying into your Frederick’s arms,’ said the Marquis, and rose. ‘Where’s Mary Challoner?’

  ‘She wouldn’t come.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘To say truth, Vidal, I believe she did not desire to meet you.’

  ‘Fiend seize her!’ said his lordship unemotionally, and went off.

  Miss Marling emerged from her alcove to find him gone. When he did not reappear she realised that he had left the ball, and had no difficulty in guessing his present whereabouts.

  Nearly an hour later Mr Comyn came up the wide stairway. His arrival was most inopportune, for he came in excellent time to see Miss Marling bestow one of her pink roses on the ecstatic Vicomte de Valmé.

  She was standing just outside the ballroom, and she did not immediately perceive Mr Comyn. The Vicomte took the rose reverently, and pressed it to his lips. He then bestowed it carefully inside his coat, and informed Miss Marling that it caused his heart to beat more strongly.

  Miss Marling laughed at him, and at the same moment caught sight of Mr Comyn. She had never seen so stern an expression on his face, and she was secretly rather frightened. She made the grave mistake of trying to brazen it out, and greeted him with a careless nod. ‘I vow I had quite given you up, sir!’ she said.

  ‘Yes?’ said Mr Comyn, icily civil. ‘Pray you will spare me five minutes alone, ma’am?’

  Juliana gave a little shrug, but she dismissed the Vicomte. She showed Mr Comyn a mutinous face, and said with a coldness that matched his: ‘Well, sir?’

  ‘It does not seem to me to be well at all, Juliana. You could not bring yourself to forgo one ball to please me.’

  ‘Pray do not be absurd, Frederick!’ she said sharply. ‘Why should I forgo it?’

  ‘Merely because I begged you to, ma’am. Had you loved me –’

  She was jerking her handkerchief between her fingers. ‘You expect a deal too much of me.’

  ‘Is it too much, then, to expect that you would prefer an evening spent in my company to one here?’

  ‘Yes, it is!’ Juliana answered. ‘Why should I prefer to be scolded by you? For that is all you do, Frederick; you know it is!’

  ‘If my remonstrances seem to you to be in the nature of scolding –’

  ‘Why must you remonstrate with me? I vow if that is how you mean to treat me when we are married I would rather remain single.’

  Mr Comyn grew paler. ‘Tell me in plain words, if you please, do you mean that?’

  Juliana turned her face away. ‘Oh, well! I’m sure I don’t want to quarrel with you, only every time you see me you behave in this disagreeable fashion as though I had no right to be at parties but must be forever thinking of you. You think because you are used to life buried in the country I must be as dull as you are, but I have been bred very different, sir, I’ll have you know.’

  ‘It is unnecessary to tell me that, ma’am, believe me. You have been bred to think of nothing but your pleasure.’

  ‘Indeed!’ said Miss Marling, with rising colour. ‘Pray do not mince matters, sir! Inform me that I am selfish. I expect no less.’

  ‘If you think so, ma’am, you have no one but yourself to blame,’ said Mr Comyn, deliberately.

  Juliana’s lip trembled. ‘Let me tell you that there are others who do not think so at all!’

  ‘I am aware,’ bowed Mr Comyn.

  ‘I suppose you are jealous, and that is the whole truth!’ cried Juliana.

  ‘And if I am, have I no cause?’

  ‘If you think I care for someone else I wonder that you don’t try to win me back,’ said Miss Marling, stealing a look at him under her lashes.

  ‘Then you have very little understanding of my character, ma’am. I do not desire a wife who could give me cause for jealousy.’

  ‘You need not have one, sir,’ said Miss Marling, her eyes very bright.

  There was a short silence. Then Mr Comyn said, holding himself very erect: ‘I take your meaning, ma’am. I hope you will not live to regret this night’s work.’

  Juliana gave a defiant laugh. ‘Regret it? Lord, why should I? You need not think you are the only gentleman who has done me the honour to solicit my hand in marriage.’

  ‘You have played fast and loose with my affections, ma’am. I could laugh at myself for having been so taken in. To be sure, I should have known what to expect from a member of your family.’

  By this time each was in a royal rage. Juliana flashed back at him: ‘How dare you sneer at my family? ’Pon rep, it is the greatest piece of impudence ever I heard! Perhaps you are not aware that my family consider you a Nobody?’

  Mr Comyn managed to keep his voice very level. ‘You are wrong, ma’am: I am well aware of it. But I was not aware until this moment that you would be guilty of the vulgarity of boasting of your noble connections. Allow me to point out to you that your manners would not be tolerated in my family.’

  ‘Your horrid family will not be called upon to tolerate me!’ Juliana replied, quivering with anger. ‘I cannot conceive how I could have been fool enough to fancy myself in love with you. Faith, I believe I pitied you, and mistook that for love. When I think what a mésalliance I have escaped, I vow I find myself shuddering!’

  ‘You should thank God, as I do, ma’am, that you have been saved from an alliance that could only end in the lasting misery of us both. I beg leave to bid you farewell, and I trust, ma’am, that you will be fortunate enough to be solicited in marriage next time by a man who will be blind to the folly and conceit of your nature.’ With which parting shot Mr Comyn executed a low bow, and went downstairs without one backward look.

  Rejecting the lackey’s offer to summon a chair, he left the Hôtel Saint-Vire, and strode off down the street in the direction of his own lodging. He had not covered more than half the distance, when all at once he seemed to change his mind, and retraced his steps till he came to a side road. He turned down this, traversed a broad place and arrived presently, and for the second time that evening, at the Hôtel Charbonne.

  The lackey who opened the door to him had ushered the Marquis of Vidal out not twenty minutes earlier, and his well-trained countenance betrayed surprise. Upon being asked if Miss Challoner were still up, he said cautiously that he would inquire, and left Mr Comyn (whom he began to suspect of clandestine intentions) to kick his heels in the hall.

  Miss Challoner, who had been sitting in a brown study, by the fire, started when the servant came in, and glanced at the clock. The hands pointed to a quarter past midnight.

  ‘The Englishman who was here first to-night, mademoiselle, is here again,’ announced the lackey severely.

  ‘Mr Comyn?’ she asked, surprised.

  ‘Yes, mademoiselle.’

  Wondering very much what could have happened to bring him back, Miss Challoner requested the man to admit him. The lackey withdrew, and said later to his colleagues downstairs that the customs of English demoiselles were enough to shock a decent Frenchman.

  Meanwhile Mr Frederick Comyn stood once more before Miss Challoner, and said with less than usual precision: ‘I beg pardon, ma’am, to intrude upon you at this hour, but I have a proposal to make to you.’

  ‘A proposal to make to me?’ repeated Mary.

  ‘Yes, ma’am. Earlier this evening I informed you that if it lay within my power to serve you I should count myself honoured.’

  ‘Oh, have you found a way to escape for me?’ Mary said eagerly. ‘Is that what you mean? I would welcome any way!’

  ‘I am glad to hear you say as much, ma’am, for I fear that what I have to propose to you will take you by surprise, and ev
en, perhaps, be repugnant to you.’ He paused, and she noticed how hard his eyes were. ‘Miss Challoner, in touching upon the extreme delicacy of your situation I do not desire, believe me, to offend you. But your story is known to me; you yourself have divulged as much to me as my Lord Vidal. Your plight is desperate indeed, and while I can readily understand your reluctance to wed his lordship, I am bound to hold with him that nothing save marriage can extricate you from a predicament that must necessarily blacken – though unjustly – your fair name. Madam, I humbly beg to offer you my hand in marriage.’

  Miss Challoner, who had listened to this amazing speech with an expression of frank bewilderment on her face, recoiled. ‘Good gracious, sir, have you gone mad?’ she cried.

  ‘No, ma’am. Mad I have been for the past weeks, but I am now in the fullest possession of my faculties.’

  Her suspicion that he had been drinking gave place to a more exact comprehension of the true state of affairs. ‘But, Mr Comyn, you are plighted to Juliana Marling!’ she said.

  He replied very bitterly: ‘I am happy to be able to inform you, ma’am, that Miss Marling and I have cut the knot of what each of us has been brought to regard as our entanglement.’

  ‘Oh!’ said Mary in distress. ‘Have you quarrelled with Juliana, then? Dear sir, I do not know what has passed between you, but if Juliana is to blame she will be sorry soon enough. Go back to her, Mr Comyn, and you will see that I am right.’

  ‘You mistake, ma’am,’ he replied curtly. ‘I have not the smallest desire to return to Miss Marling. Pray do not imagine that I am come to you in a fit of pique. I have for a week past realised the unwisdom of our betrothal. Miss Marling’s conduct is not what I wish for in my wife, and her decision to release me from my obligations I can only regard as the greatest favour she has ever bestowed upon me.’

  Miss Challoner turned quite pale at this awful pronouncement, and sat weakly down on the couch. ‘But this is dreadful, sir!’ she said. ‘You are speaking in anger, in a way that you will regret when you have had time to reflect.’

  ‘Madam, I speak not from anger but from infinite relief. Whether you choose to accept of my offer or not my betrothal to Miss Marling is at an end. I shall not conceal from you that I fancied myself to be much in love with her; nor shall I insult your intelligence by pretending an ardour for yourself which I can naturally have had no time to acquire. If you will be content with my respect and deep regard, ma’am, I shall count myself fortunate to have secured the hand of one whose character and conduct command my sincere admiration.’

  ‘But it is impossible!’ Mary said, still feeling dazed. ‘Surely, surely all cannot be at an end between you and Juliana?’

  ‘Irrevocably, ma’am!’

  ‘Oh, I am sorry!’ Mary said pitifully. ‘As for your offer, indeed I thank you, but how should we two wed without love, or even acquaintance?’

  He said seriously: ‘At any other time, ma’am, such haste would be strange indeed. But your situation being what it is, you are bound to seek refuge in wedlock with all possible speed. Ma’am, allow me to speak with a plainness you may deem impertinent; I think you, as well as I, come to this marriage with a bruised heart. Forgive me, Miss Challoner, but having watched you I could not but suspect that you are not indifferent to my Lord Vidal. I do not inquire what are the reasons that induce you to refuse his suit; I say only, each of us is disappointed: let us endeavour, together, to heal our separate hurts.’

  She covered her face with her hands. She was so taken by surprise that her brain reeled. Here indeed was the answer to her prayer, yet all she could say was: ‘Please leave me. I must think, sir; I cannot answer you now. I know that I ought to refuse your offer, but such is the hopelessness of my position that I dare not even do that without a pause for calm reflection. I must see Juliana; I can scarcely believe that all is indeed as you say.’

  He picked up his hat at once. ‘I will withdraw, ma’am. Pray think well over what I have said. I shall remain at my present lodging until noon to-morrow, then, if I do not hear from you, I shall depart from Paris. Permit me to wish you good night.’ He bowed, and left the room, and after a few moments Miss Challoner rose, and went slowly up to her bedchamber.

  She heard her hostess and Miss Marling come in an hour later, and presently got up out of her bed, and slipped on a dressing-gown, and went to scratch softly on Juliana’s door.

  Juliana called her to come in. A sleepy tirewoman was undressing her, and closely as she scrutinised the vivid little face Mary could perceive nothing in it but a natural weariness.

  ‘Oh, is it you, Mary?’ Juliana said. ‘You should have come; it was vastly entertaining, I do assure you.’ She began to chatter of the people she had met, and the dresses she had seen. Her eyes were bright and hard, her good spirits perhaps rather feverish, but she deceived her friend. She sent the abigail to bed when her dress was safely hung in the wardrobe, her jewels locked up, and her hair brushed free of powder, and Mary ventured to ask whether Mr Comyn had been at the ball.

  Juliana jumped into bed, saying: ‘Oh, don’t speak to me of that man! I cannot conceive how I was ever fool enough to fancy myself in love with him. ’Tis all over between us; you cannot imagine how glad I am!’

  Mary looked at her worriedly. ‘But, Juliana, you did love him – you do still!’

  ‘I?’ Miss Marling gave a scornful laugh. ‘Lord, how solemn you are, my dear! I thought it would be famous good fun to let him think I’d elope with him, but if you must know, I never meant to marry him at all.’ She shot a quick look at Miss Challoner’s grave face. ‘I shall marry Bertrand de Saint-Vire,’ she said, to clinch the matter.

  This announcement startled Miss Challoner almost as much as it would have startled the Vicomte, had he been privileged to hear it. She said: ‘How can you talk so, Juliana? I don’t believe you!’

  Miss Marling laughed again. ‘Don’t you, my dear? I make no doubt you think me monstrous heartless. Oh, yes, I can see you do! Well, we don’t have hearts in our family, as you’ll discover, I fear.’

  ‘You need not fear for me,’ said Mary calmly. ‘I am not going to marry Lord Vidal, I assure you.’

  ‘You don’t know my cousin,’ replied Juliana. ‘He means to wed you, and he will – in Uncle Justin’s teeth, too! Lord, I would give a guinea to see my uncle’s face when he hears! Not that it would tell me much,’ she added pensively. She clasped her hands round her knees. ‘You’ve not yet met his grace, Mary. When you do –’ she paused. ‘I can’t advise you. I am for ever making up my mind just what I shall say to him, and then when the time comes I am not able to.’

  Miss Challoner ignored this. ‘Juliana, be frank with me: have you quarrelled with Mr Comyn?’

  ‘Lord, yes, a dozen times, and I thank heaven this is the last!’

  ‘You will be sorry in the morning, my dear.’

  ‘It don’t signify in the least. My mamma would never permit me to marry him, and though it is very good sport to plan an elopement it would be amazingly horrid to be really married to someone quite outside one’s own world.’

  ‘I did not know you were as selfish as that, Juliana,’ said Miss Challoner. ‘I’ll bid you good night.’

  Juliana nodded carelessly, and waited until the door was firmly shut behind her friend. Then she cast herself face downwards on her pillows and wept miserably.

  Meanwhile Miss Challoner sought her own bed, and lay thinking of the strange proposal she had received.

  Her disgust at Juliana’s behaviour was untempered by surprise. By now she had reached the conclusion that the manners of the whole family of Alastair were incomprehensible to a less exalted person. My Lord Vidal was reckless, prodigal, and overbearing; his cousin Bertrand appeared to be a mere pleasure-seeker; Juliana, too, in whom Miss Challoner had suspected a warmer heart, was frivolous and calculating. From Juliana’s and Vidal’s conversation she had gleaned what she believed to be a fair estimate of the remaining members of the family. Lady Fanny was worldly and
ambitious; Lord Rupert apparently wasted his time and substance on gambling and other amusements; his grace of Avon seemed to be a cold, unloving and sinister figure. The only one whom Miss Challoner felt any desire to know was the Duchess. She was inclined to think that Mr Comyn was well rid of a bad bargain, and this conclusion brought her back once more to the consideration of her own difficulties.

  It seemed ridiculous in an age of civilization, but Miss Challoner had no doubt that in some way or other Vidal would contrive to carry her off to Dijon. She believed that he was prompted more by his love of mastery than by his first chivalrous impulse. What he had said he would do he must do, reckless of consequence. He could not, she realised, drag an unwilling bride to the altar, but if he succeeded in transporting her all the way to Dijon she felt that she would be then in so much worse a predicament that marriage with him would be the only thing left to her. Against this marriage she was still firmly set. God knew she would ask nothing better than to be his wife, but she had sense enough to know that nothing but unhappiness could result from it. If he had loved her, if she had been of his world, approved by his family – but it was useless to speculate on the impossible.

  She might steal away from this house very early in the morning, and lose herself in some back-street of Paris. She could not forbear a smile at her own simplicity. She would certainly lose herself, but it seemed probable that his lordship, who knew Paris, would have little trouble in finding her. She was without money and without friends; if she left the protection of Mme. de Charbonne’s house she could see only one end to her career. Marriage with Mr Comyn would be preferable to that. At least his degree was not immeasurably superior to hers; he did not seem to be a gentleman of very passionate affections, and she felt that she could succeed in making him tolerably happy. After all, she thought, neither of us is of a romantic disposition, and at least I shall be rid of this dread of sudden exposure.