An Affair of the Heart (16 page)

“Oh, Mama, I hope Papa didn’t
haggle
over it. It is so embarrassing, so mercenary.”

“No, he didn’t have to haggle in the least. He says Claymore just swallowed once or twice and agreed to it. He must be excessively rich, and I am so happy for you. He said it was much harder to screw Hibbard up to
ten.”

“I don’t doubt he would have forked out fifty thousand if he could have had Miss Golden, whom he
really
wanted,” Wanda said, angry at her mama’s disclosing that George had resisted such a paltry sum as ten thousand.

“Hush up, you silly girl.” Mrs. Wanderley turned on Wanda in anger. “It could have been
you
marrying him if you weren’t such a widgeon. Well, you have made your bed with a country squire, and now you must lie on it, so stop pinching at Ellie, only because she is sharper than you.”

“No, Mama, I prefer to marry a man who truly loves me. I would not be so crass as to marry for a title and a little pile of money, nor so stupid as to marry a man who only wants to
use
me to make his lover jealous.”

“Neither would I,” Ellie replied agreeably, and she left.

“Don’t rub it in too hard, my fine lady, or you’ll find yourself unwelcome at Claymore House, and you know perfectly well George won’t be hiring you a house for the Season. Play your cards right and you might get Ellie to put you and George up for a few weeks.”

“I should be more comfortable with Joan or Caroline.”

“Caroline
never
asks any of us, as you very well know, though her place is nearly as big as Joan’s. But she was always a nip-farthing. As to staying with Joan again, she had you
this
year. Besides, I doubt Siderow would take to Hibbard. So very different.”

Wanda gathered up a handful of magazines and stalked from the room. It galled her that she must bend like a reed before Ellie, whom she was used to lording it over, but she was as needle-witted as her mother when it came to self-advancement, and she determined that she would
try
to be nice to her sister. It was some mitigation that she could at least feel sorry for Ellie in making a marriage of convenience, for that’s what it was, of course, while
she
had George, the handsomest man in the whole county, and he doted on her.

Chapter Ten

Lord Claymore was to leave early in the morning as he had a trip of some eighty-odd miles before him. He pointed out to Rex that he would be extremely busy and not free for much sport, but Rex decided that Bath would be equally flat with his mama and Missie to squire about, so he elected to accompany his friend to Somerset. He punctiliously forwarded a note to his mama, pointing out that he had been pressed to go with Claymore to his home, and would present himself in Bath as soon as it should be possible. He never for a moment thought his mama so dull as to actually expect him to show up, nor did she. His letter was of some interest to his parent all the same, as it confirmed the silly story Missie was mouthing that Claymore meant to offer for Ellie.
Had
offered, in fact, and been snatched up as quick as a cat could lick her whisker. The tale lent her a popularity in Bath that she was unaccustomed to enjoying, as she was the only person with any actual hard news on the subject. Its subsequent publication in the
Gazette
next day confirmed her as a bona fide source of news and she was much sought after for a week, till people from London with fresher news arrived to enlarge upon the story. It was quickly circulated that Miss Ellie Wanderley had got to the Metropolis, and proved to be just such a ravishing beauty as all the other Wanderley beauties.

Claymore had no notion of the wonderful surge his reputation had taken. He was deep into business negotiations at home, trying to raise what part of the settlement he could. It was no easy matter, and to add to his consternation his mama was acting up, as usual. She was first put out at hearing rumors of her son’s betrothal from Bath, provoked by Aubrey Hansom’s tale, before ever Giles said a word to her himself. But she was not of a disposition to require any reason for her pique. She was undecided whether to take the tack that he had been taken in by a penniless little nobody, and probably a loose baggage to boot if she was anything like her sister, Lady Tameson, or to treat him as a villain who had coerced some innocent, witless little country girl into having him, only to cover his shame at being shown the door by the Rose, It would all depend on his own attitude.

What she never for one moment counted on was that he actually
loved
the girl, as he
said
he did. His statement was borne out to some extent by the fatuous smile she occasionally spotted on his face, and the number of times he mentioned “Ellie” in a certain voice. This threw her off her stride, and she had to reconsider her tactics and see how best to amuse herself at his expense. Life was a bore in the country, and one must make the best of it with these little entertainments. Of course, to anyone outside the family she would tout the whole thing as a wonderful match. No one who knew her would be so reckless as to say a word against the match, for in public Claymore was held to be a paragon.

It was from Rex Homberly that she tried to elicit some news of the girl. Naturally that obstinate creature of a Giles would say only that she was very pretty, and very pretty behaved, and such things as gave her no notion of what she was really like.

The Dowager turned her steely eye on Homberly, thought him a common-looking fellow, and wondered what in the world Giles saw in him. “As you are a neighbor of the Wanderleys, you are just the one to tell me something about my son’s fiancée,” she began, pleasantly enough. “She has a good reputation, I suppose?”

“Oh no, Ellie has no reputation,” Rex replied blandly. “Wanda, now ... you might say
she
has a reputation, I suppose.”

“I am not interested in Wanda.”

“Twins,”
Rex enlightened her.

“I know that much. How did it come Miss Elinor was not presented? Sickly is she?”

“No, no. Never sick in the least. Quite a robust girl.”

“Well, why then?”

“Too young. Not up to snuff.”

“A twin, you say, of the one who
was
presented.”

“Yes, but . . . well, Wanda
was
up to snuff, you see. That’s the thing.”

“A gauche, shy creature, you mean?”

“No,”
Rex answered severely. “Not a gauche bone in her body. Slips around as light as a dancer, and much better behaved than Wanda, if you want
my
opinion.”

“Then I don’t see why she wasn’t presented.”

“She was going to be, next spring. A late bloomer, like Lady Siderow. That’s Joan Wanderley, or was.”

“I am acquainted with Lady Siderow. Would you say Miss Elinor takes after Lady Siderow?”

“She’s more like her than she is like Lady Tameson, if you know what I mean.”

“I hope I do. Not fast, you mean?”

“Not fast in the least. A very nice girl is Ellie. Like her tremendously. Better than Wanda.”

“So you have implied, Mr. Homberly. Twice, and still I have no notion what the girl is like.”

“She’s a very nice girl, and quite pretty, too, when she’s dressed up decently.”

“A bad dresser, is she?” The Dowager leapt on this crumb.

“Shouldn’t worry about it. Mrs. Wanderley will get her decked out properly, now.”

Lady Claymore was forming an impression of a shy, countrified girl without a word to say for herself, and not even fashionable. It did not seem possible Giles would have offered for such a person. Especially if she were not even pretty. “She cannot be such a slow top as you are painting her, if she nabbed Giles within a week.”

“As to that,
he
was the one did the nabbing. Took to her right away. Well, as soon as Wanda got engaged, anyway.”

“It was Miss Wanda he actually preferred, you mean?” she asked astutely.

“He did at first, but he wasn’t long in tumbling to what kind of a girl
she
is.”

“I trust her reputation is not so black as to ruin the whole family?”

“Oh no, she’s a cagey one. And now that she’s engaged, it will all come to a halt. Hibbard will ride herd on her harder than she thinks. It may be all smiles and kisses now....”

Lady Claymore absorbed this. “This Wanda—would you say she is the prettier of the two?”

“Everyone thinks so, but I prefer Ellie.”

“Yes, you have mentioned it.” Was he actually a mental case, she wondered, or just plain dumb? So, Giles had gone off to Surrey to offer for Wanda, the beauty of the family, but was too late, so he had taken second best to save his face in London. She smiled her approval. There seemed plenty of ammunition here to give him a hard time. She was in quite good charity with the girl who gave her such an advantage, and wrote her off a pretty little note saying she was looking forward to meeting her. If she had any of the Wanderley looks at all, she would make a decent showing and Giles might succeed in passing it off as a love match, as he no doubt intended doing, even to her. She would show the public a satisfied face, but how she would chide him in private—little slurs and insinuations. Yes, the immediate future looked rosy.

She nabbed Giles alone in the study before dinner on the pretext of wanting him to frank her note to Miss Elinor. “I have written off a note, telling her how happy I am for the connection,” she said amiably.

“I should like to have read it, Mama. I feared you might not like it...”

“Oh pooh, I am not so old-fashioned that I expect my only son to bother telling
me,
only his mother, when he means to marry.” She could not refrain from this taunt, though she had meant to be conciliating.

“The decision was reached very suddenly.”

“It certainly was! She must be an extravagant beauty. But then, if they have nothing else to offer, the Wanderleys are all beautiful. She
is
a beauty, I suppose? As beautiful as her sister Wanda, who was brought out this spring?”

Clay frowned, not caring for the question. “She is very pretty,” he replied vaguely.

“As pretty as Wanda?” his mother repeated the question.

“They are different types. I prefer Ellie’s style,” Giles stated.

“One can trust your opinion in such matters,” his mother said, smiling inwardly at his discomfiture. “No one would disagree with your assertion in a letter to me not a month ago that Miss Golden was the beauty of the Season, for instance. That would be, of course, because Miss Elinor had not made her bows.”

“Yes,” he said curtly, and turned to the accounts he was working on.

“Troubles?” his mother asked. “An expensive business, marriage, but
her
parents will have to worry about that. I suppose, being a Wanderley, she would not bring much of a dowry. Not above ten thousand.”

“No, not above ten,” he replied evasively, and buried his nose deeper in his books.

“How much?” the question was rapped out

“Slightly under ten, Mama,” he said, without ever looking up.

“Not a sous above seventy-five hundred you mean.” She nodded sagely, and her deceitful son did nothing to enlighten her. “That will mean she has under four hundred a year pin money, Giles. You will have to give her some small settlement.”

“Yes, I mean to,” he said over his shoulder.

“How much?”

“I am trying to figure out how much I can afford, Mama, if you will leave me alone,” he said angrily.

“Hmph. Give her twenty-five hundred. That will give her ten thousand clear, and five hundred pounds a year pin money. It will be plenty, for Homberly tells me she doesn’t take much interest in her wardrobe.” She looked closely to see how this dart was received. Claymore pretended not to have heard. “I say, Giles...”

“I heard you, Mama.”

“Well, what do you think?”

“Twenty-five was the sum I had in mind,” he said, wondering how long it would be before she discovered it was in thousands he was speaking, not hundreds. “Oh, Mama”—He looked up innocently, the sly wretch—”I must give her a ring for the engagement. She will not want to be going about London without a ring, you know.”

“Yes, you must buy her some little thing.”

“Well, Mama, the Claymore diamond is our family engagement ring, you recall.”

“She won’t care for that. Homberly tells me she is not fashionable at all. That little pearl your papa gave me for my birthday will do well enough for her.”

“It will not do for
me.
I wish her to have the diamond, as has always been the custom in our family.”

“I’m not dead yet, Giles, so pray do not begin stripping the pennies from my eyes.”

“I have no notion of stripping you of anything that belongs to you. The diamonds are part of the entailment. Anyway, you never wear that ring.”

“I have seldom taken it off this past year,” she lied unblushingly, and determined to put it on that very night for dinner.

“Where do you wear it, for you have been telling me you never see a soul but the vicar and the squire’s wife. You need not impress them with the jewelry.”

“I’ll tell you what, Giles,” she said cheerfully. “There is no need to settle that twenty-five hundred on her. Wanderley is doing pretty well to get a title for her, without you giving her all that money, too. Buy her a diamond of her own—not entailed you know, but for her own—a sort of investment. Then I may keep my ring, that your father
gave
me.”

“Papa didn’t
give
you the ring, Mama. However, if you are so particularly attached to it, I can as well give Ellie that emerald with the diamond chips around it. I daresay she won’t care.”

“Buy her one.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Why not? You were telling me last time you were home how you’d managed to save up ten thousand. You can buy her the ring, and still give her the twenty-five, if you wish to throw your blunt away. We must take into account your unbounded passion for the girl, I suppose,” she said in an arch tone.

“No, I have ... the money is invested.”

“Consols? I think you ought to sell out then, for they have gone up remarkably well lately, and I have had my man sell out, just last week. They reached an unnatural high after Waterloo, and he says they are bound to settle down at a lower level soon. I made a packet.” She laughed gleefully at her good fortune.