A Country Miss in Hanover Square (19 page)

Susannah dismissed the incident, because she did not want to cause a fuss. Yet she was almost certain it had been the marquis—and that the woman leaving the boat house was Miss Hazledeane! She had seen a flash of white and Jenny Hazledeane was the only lady wearing white this morning. If it were Northaven and Miss Hazledeane, they must have met there by prior arrangement, perhaps when they had tea in Bath. She recalled the incident in the gardens the night she had arrived. She had seen a man and a woman kissing. Could it have been Jenny Hazledeane and the Marquis of Northaven?

Susannah was thoughtful through out the rest of the morning. She managed to join in the activities and to talk about all kinds of things, but at the back of her mind was a niggling doubt that would not let her rest. If Miss Hazledeane was meeting the Marquis of Northaven here at Pendleton, Harry ought to be told about it.

Susannah knew that Miss Hazledeane had met the marquis in Bath, and she was fairly sure of what she had seen that morning. Was it her duty to tell Harry what she knew?

The question continued to tease Susannah throughout the afternoon. Several times she was on the verge of telling Harry, but Miss Hazledeane had rejoined the company, and had joined in a game of cricket. To raise doubts about her conduct might throw a cloud over the party, and after the upset of the previous day, Susannah did not feel like making a fuss. She decided that, if she got the chance, she would speak to Miss Hazledeane about it in private that evening.

However, she did not have a chance to speak to Miss Hazledeane alone until much later, because she was asked to play the pianoforte for the company when the ladies retired to the drawing room. When Amelia took her place, one of the relatives asked if she would join a hand of piquet.

Susannah found herself drawn into a lively game, which she enjoyed more than she might have expected. Harry was not a part of it, however, and when she looked for him he had disappeared.

‘If you are looking for Harry, he and some of the others took them selves off to play billiards,’ Lady Ethel told her in a loud voice. ‘Pay attention, my dear, or you will lose points. You will have plenty of time to bill and coo tomorrow.’

Susannah laughed and put her mind to the game. She managed to win at least one hand and to share another. When she was finally released by Lady Ethel, she told her mother that she was going to bed.

‘I need to be fresh for my driving in the morning,’ she said. ‘Please tell Harry that I said good night.’

After wishing the gathered company good night, Susannah went upstairs to her own room. However, her conscience would not let her rest and she slipped out again a few minutes later, going along the hall to the room she knew was Miss Hazledeane’s She hesitated, then knocked sharply.

‘Just a moment…’ Miss Hazledeane opened the door in her dressing robe, staring at her for a moment. Susannah thought there was a flicker of fear in her eyes. ‘What did you want?’

‘I have some thing to say to you—in private, if I may?’

The other girl stood back, a sullen look on her face. ‘I didn’t steal your pearls…’

‘No one stole them; they were mislaid,’ Susannah said, though she suspected the other girl had taken them to punish her, not realising that it would cause so much fuss. However, they had been re turned and there was no point in holding a grudge. ‘I haven’t come about the pearls.’

‘Why have you come, then?’ Jenny’s eyes were suspicious, her manner uneasy.

‘I thought I should warn you…’ Susannah drew a deep breath. ‘I saw you leaving the boat house earlier today and I know you have been meeting someone in secret. I believe it may be the Marquis of Northaven. I think you should know that he is not to be trusted. Harry warned me against him and I think—’

‘How dare you accuse me of having a lover? You have no right!’

‘I did not say he was your lover…’ Susannah saw the guilt and fear in the other girl’s face. ‘I am so sorry. I should have warned you sooner…when I first saw you with him in Bath.’

Tears hovered on Jenny’s lashes. ‘It would have done no good. We have been lovers for months, long before my brother died…’ She brushed her hand over her cheek, pride in her eyes now. ‘Edmund promised to marry me… He would have married me, but my brother wasted my inheritance and he is in debt.’ Her eyes glittered. ‘Edmund loves me, but he must marry a fortune. You do not know what it is like to feel hopeless! I have nothing and I love him so much.’

‘I am so sorry—’

‘I do not want your pity,’ Jenny flashed back at her. ‘You come here interfering in what does not concern you, so smug because you are to marry into a wealthy family.’ She turned away, her shoulders hunched as she fought the tears. ‘Tell Lord Pendleton, then—tell Lady Elizabeth what a wanton trollop I am. I know you are dying to be rid of me.’

‘No, you are quite wrong,’ Susannah told her, her sympathy aroused. ‘I do not hate you. I would be your friend if you would let me. If there is anything I can do to help you?’

The other girl turned, her expression des per ate. ‘Please, do not tell anyone what you saw. I beg you, do not betray me. I have given Edmund an ultimatum. He must wed me or I shall never see him again.’

‘I am so sorry…’

‘Then keep my secret…please?’

Susannah hesitated. It was her duty to tell either Harry or Lady Elizabeth, but how could she deliberately shame a girl who already had so much to bear?

‘I will think about it,’ she said. ‘I shall not tell them tonight, but you must give me your word that you will not continue to meet the marquis here at Pendleton.’

‘I promise. Please—do not betray me.’

‘Very well. I shall say nothing for the moment.’

‘Thank you,’ Jenny said, the glitter of tears in her eyes. ‘I wish that someone had warned me long ago.’

Susannah wished her good night and returned to her room. She was uneasy, because she was not certain she had done the right thing in promising to keep Jenny’s secret.

Susannah woke suddenly. She was not sure what had woken her, but she got up and walked over to the window. It was almost morning, the dawn light just beginning to creep in through the curtains. She pulled them back and glanced out, catching sight of someone moving furtively through the gardens. Surely that was Miss Hazledeane? Susannah felt a tingling sensation at the nape of her neck. She was almost certain that Jenny was carrying a valise!

Why would Miss Hazledeane creep out in the early hours of the morning with a valise? Unless… Susannah remembered Jenny’s tears of the previous night. Jenny had begged her to keep her secret and now…she had run off with her lover.

She must be wrong! Susannah shivered as the idea grew in her mind. She was almost sure that Miss Hazledeane had eloped with the Marquis of Northaven!

Susannah could not rest. She paced the floor of her bedchamber, wondering what she ought to do. She had to confide in some one! She had given her word to Jenny, but on the condition that she broke off her affair. She had made a terrible mistake. Instead of speaking to Jenny privately, she should have confided her suspicions to Harry. She should have told him the first time she saw Miss Hazledeane with the marquis. Now Jenny had run off with him and she would be ruined.

Was it too late to do anything? Susannah fretted as she went through to the sitting room. Who should she wake—her mama, Amelia or Harry?

Why hadn’t she told Harry of her suspicions sooner? Susannah was overcome with guilt. She had hesitated, because she did not like to create suspicion concerning another lady, but now she was wishing that she had spoken out. She was on thorns. How long must she wait until she could tell someone?

Susannah decided that the best person to tell must be Harry. However, she could not possibly go to his bedchamber, even had she been sure of its situation. She would go down stairs and see if the servants were stirring and then ask one of them to ask him if he would come down and speak to her. If no one was about, she would take a turn in the gardens to help her summon the courage.

Looking out of his bedroom window, Toby saw Susannah pacing up and down in the garden below. She was so obviously in distress that he dressed quickly and went down. They met just as she was returning to the house.

‘Susannah—are you ill?’ Toby enquired in concern. ‘What were you doing in the garden.’

‘Oh, thank goodness!’ Susannah cried, clutching at his arm anxiously. ‘I wanted to talk to someone. You are just the person. I am afraid Harry will be so angry with me….’

‘What have you done?’

‘I kept some thing back that I ought to have told him,’ Susannah confessed. ‘And now some thing terrible has happened—at least, I think it may have.’

‘Sit down and tell me,’ Toby said, leading her to a chair. ‘I am sure it cannot be anything very dreadful.’

‘But it is,’ Susannah said, a sob in her voice. ‘You know the man we saw leaving the boat house yesterday afternoon?’ Toby nodded. ‘Well, I am certain it was Northaven and that he has run away with Miss Hazledeane.’

‘No! She would not…’ Toby stared at her. ‘She has no fortune to speak of…Northaven would not marry her without…’

‘So much the worse,’ Susannah said and caught back a sob. ‘I saw them in Bath just before she left to come here. They were taking tea and the look on her face said it all. She is in love with him.’ Susannah saw the shock in his eyes. ‘She has been meeting him here and this morning she ran off. She was carrying a valise.’

‘Why did you not tell someone before this?’

‘Because… I was not sure and when I asked her she wept and begged me to keep her secret. I told her she must break with him and she promised she would—but very early this morning she ran away.’

Toby was stunned. ‘Stay here, Susannah. I shall wake Harry, if he is not yet awake. A maid must go to check whether Miss Hazledeane is in her room.’

‘Harry will be so cross…’

Toby was no longer listening. He took the stairs two at a time, clearly in a state of some anxiety. Susannah got up and began to walk about, studying the paintings in the hallway in an effort to ease her mind. However, her conscience could not be eased, for she knew that this calamity was her fault. If she had only spoken to Harry in the beginning, this could never have happened!

Some twenty minutes or more had passed before Harry came striding towards her. His expression was one of absolute fury and Susannah trembled inwardly. He did blame her and he was right to do so, for it was her fault!

‘It has been confirmed that Miss Hazledeane’s bed has not been slept in and that some of her things have gone.’

‘I am so sorry,’ Susannah said in a faint voice.

‘Did she tell you of her intentions? Did you help her to run away?’ Harry’s gaze was stern and cold. ‘Tell me now. I wish for no more lies.’

‘I have not lied…’ Susannah faltered. ‘I did not tell you what I had seen for I thought it was not my affair…and then she wept and begged me to keep her secret. She said that Northaven would have married her, but he needs money and her brother wasted her inheritance.’

The look on Harry’s face made Susannah wish to sink into the ground and disappear. ‘Not your affair when you saw a young woman not much older than yourself meeting secretly with a man you know to be unworthy! Miss Hazledeane is my ward! You must have known that I should wish to be informed so that I could protect her? You deliberately went behind my back, to keep a secret you must have known was wrong! You have behaved thoughtlessly…recklessly. I had thought you had more sense!’

‘I was not sure…’ Susannah could not meet his eyes, because she knew herself at fault. ‘She was in distress. I felt sympathy… Forgive me. I know this must pain you.’

‘It pains me more that you did not see fit to tell me in the first place, Susannah. It shows a distinct lack of trust on your part, and that is serious. A marriage without trust is not worth having!’

‘It was not that I could not trust you…only that I felt awkward. I had almost made up my mind to tell you what I suspected last night, but you… I did not see you to speak to alone. So I asked her for the truth and then…’ It was a weak excuse and she saw the disdain in his expression. Her heart sank and she wished that the floor would open and receive her. ‘I did not know what to do.’

‘I am afraid our driving lesson must be can celled for the moment,’ Harry said curtly. ‘I must go after Miss Hazledeane and see what can be rescued from this mess.’ He glanced up as Gerard and Max Coleridge came clattering down the stairs, closely followed by Toby. ‘Not you, Toby. My sister would never forgive me if any thing happened to you. Northaven has done this deliberately to draw me into a fight.’

‘I am prepared to shoot if I have to,’ Toby declared, looking stub born.

‘Thank you, but it will be settled in the proper manner if I have anything to do with it,’ Harry told him. ‘Please stay here and look after Susannah. I would not put it past Northaven to arrange some thing for her once my back is turned.’ He glanced at Susannah once more. ‘I shall speak to you when I return.’

‘Yes, Pendleton.’ Susannah watched as Harry and his friends strode towards the front door, which was opened by a sleepy-looking footman who had just arrived at his post. Her throat was tight and the tears burned behind her eyes. She glanced at Toby, her face pale. ‘He is so angry…’

‘Yes, but you might have expected it,’ Toby said, for once unsympathetic. ‘Why on earth did you not tell one of us? Something might have been done to prevent them running off.’

‘Do you think they will catch them?’ Susannah asked. She was filled with apprehension. ‘Is it too late? I dare say they may be half way to Scotland by now.’

‘I doubt he will have taken her to Scotland.’

‘Not—but surely they are eloping?’

‘Northaven will not marry her without a fortune. Harry told me she has only a few hundred pounds from her brother’s estate. Hazledeane was the guardian of her inheritance, but he misappropriated the funds—in short, he robbed his sister of ten thou sand pounds. Northaven might make her his mistress, but he will not wed her.’

‘But she will be ruined.’ Susannah was horrified.

‘That is the reason Harry is so angry. She was under his protection and he feels responsible for her. Unless he can force a deal on Northaven, Jenny Hazledeane will never be able to show her face in society again. Indeed, if her elopement becomes known, many will not receive her even if she is married.’