Sally James (18 page)

Denzil’s eyes narrowed. “What else?” he snapped.

Sir Henry regarded him with a pained look. “What else should I want? This way you will acquire a charming wife, one whom you are convinced is sane, and the matter will be finished.”

“But if Miranda did not wish to marry me?”

“Come, Sir Denzil. You hold yourself too cheap! What penniless girl would refuse that honour?”

“Many might if a more brilliant offer came their way.”

“Meaning?”

“As her guardian I have received more than one request for her hand. I would have thought you would have preferred to see her married to an earl than to me.”

Sir Henry snorted. “That impetuous young fool Devoran? I thought the young puppy mighty taken with her. No, Sir Denzil, there you miss your mark! He would not be allowed to ruin himself by marrying a penniless bastard of dubious stock!”

Denzil laughed. “And you wish that fate for me? Now I begin to understand! You would allow the marriage, and then reveal your story.”

“Not necessarily. I can keep my silence, if I am paid well! It has long been a sore point with me, Sir Denzil, that your brother cheated me of several thousand pounds. That was the real cause of the quarrel between us.”

“You lying scoundrel!”

Denzil had risen from his chair, and he stood before Sir Henry, clenching his fists, and rather white about the lips, scarcely able to control his anger. Sir Henry rose and backed away slightly, then sneered.

“That story would not add to your reputation either, Sir Denzil! Well, do you marry the girl, and pay for my silence?”

“Or?”

“Let us not spell it out too clearly. You and the girl will be ruined if you do not.”

“Miranda will not have me, and I will not have her constrained. Do your damnedest, and we will see whom the world chooses to believe!”

He swung on his heel, and left Sir Henry biting his lip, for the moment at a loss. He had calculated Denzil would agree to marry the girl, for his attachment to her was an accepted fact amongst their circle, though he had not expected he would easily agree to make the payment suggested. However, all was not lost. On thinking it over, the hot-headed young man would soon see the advantages of the scheme. And there was yet another card that Sir Henry held.

Chapter Thirteen

After long and painful consideration, Miranda determined to follow her mother’s advice and confide in Judith. She was able to ask to speak with Lady Beverley on the following morning, and Judith, seeing she was really disturbed, bore her off into her own dressing room and told the servants to deny them to all callers. Judith listened to Miranda’s explanation in growing anger, confirming Mademoiselle’s estimation that Sir Henry was telling lies.

“It is so like him!” she raged.

“I will confess his manner impressed me, until I heard about his duel with your brother. I am so sorry about that,” Miranda said gently.

“Oh, he has learned of late how to impress people by hiding his true character,” Judith agreed bitterly, and told her of Sir Henry’s firing early so that her brother had been murdered.

“What shall I do?” Miranda asked after they had discussed Sir Henry’s perfidy at length.

“First we must consult Denzil. He will know what is to be done. What does your mother wish?”

“She suggested seeing you first if you will receive her here. As for Sir Henry, I think she would much prefer to have no more dealings with him!”

Judith agreed, then arranged for Mademoiselle le Brun to come that afternoon, and also sent for Denzil. The four of them discussed the affair, although Denzil did not reveal what had passed between himself and Sir Henry that same morning. He had already determined to visit Cornwall and make enquiries there, and if necessary bribe or force Miss Brockton to reveal the truth about the marriage. But he did not wish to raise Miranda’s hopes too high for fear he might not succeed. He merely told them he would be out of town for a week or so, and they were to carry on as normal until he returned, when he hoped the matter could be resolved.

Mademoiselle le Brun was despondent. “He does not appear overanxious to assist us,” she said dolefully when Judith and Denzil had left her alone with Miranda. “I think he is more concerned with preparing for his wedding. That must be the business that takes him to his home.”

Miranda feared it was so. She found the days that followed the most difficult of her life. The effort to appear normally cheerful exhausted her, and that, combined with sleepless nights when she wept into her pillow, made her pale and listless. Judith viewed her with deep concern, but as she had no idea what Denzil was about, she could offer little hope or comfort. But she did insist Miranda went out as usual, refusing to allow her to sit and mope at home. And it was at a ball she attended when Denzil had been gone from London for well over a week that she again encountered Sir Henry. She had been dancing with Richard, and they had gone afterwards to seek refreshment in a side room devoted to that purpose, when Sir Henry approached their table, set in a secluded alcove, and bowed.

“Mr Fellowes, I wonder if I might ask you a great favour? I wish to speak with Miss de Lisle, and you have chosen an ideal spot where we might be private. Would you grant me five minutes of your companion’s company?”

Faced with such a blunt request, there was little Richard could do except comply. He glanced at Miranda, raising his eyebrows slightly, but she did not appear to have any objections, so he moved a short distance away out of earshot, but ready to return as soon as Miranda indicated she needed him.

Sir Henry sat down, and smiled reassuringly at Miranda.

“I have found the solution to our little problem,” he announced, looking satisfied with himself. “While you remain unwed there is always the prospect of your story becoming common property, and that, my dear, as you must know, would ruin you with the ton. It would destroy all hope of your achieving a respectable alliance. People are far too afraid of a hint of insanity. It seems to me that if you married, you would have the protection of your husband’s name, and if your husband were aware of your past, any malicious disclosures would be too late.”

He paused, but Miranda said nothing, regarding him steadily in a way he found disconcerting.

“I have seen Sir Denzil,” he continued, and had the satisfaction of seeing her start slightly. “He is very conscious of having acted wrongly by inducing you to leave the island and place yourself under his protection in such a manner, and has offered to make reparation to you by marrying you. I think that would be the best outcome of this affair. Sir Denzil, realising I am in fact your guardian, has asked for my permission, and I have gladly given it. It remains only for him to declare himself to you, and a quiet wedding shall be arranged as swiftly as possible.”

“No! You cannot! He has no wish to marry me!” Miranda’s calm deserted her, and she turned pleading eyes towards Sir Henry.

“My dear, there are many marriages arranged where the desires of the couple involved are of little moment. Sir Denzil harmed you, and is willing to make amends. He is a good looking man, of irreproachable breeding, and has a considerable fortune. A much greater match than you might otherwise have achieved. You have no personal objection to him, have you?”

“Oh, no!” Miranda exclaimed, and Sir Henry went on quickly.

“He will be fortunate to win you, despite your lack of dowry. Shall I tell him that you will receive his offer?”

Miranda protested, but Sir Henry would not be moved. He assured her no other man would be prepared to marry her, and she understood, despite her agitation, that he was threatening to disclose her story to anyone who offered for her. He stressed also that if Denzil did not marry her, he too would be ruined, for when the world heard the story, it would never believe Denzil had treated her honourably. At last he dropped his pretence of benevolence, and snarled at her.

“If you do not accept him, you will be ruined and so will he. And if he tries to withdraw, I will be able to ruin you both. You have no alternative.”

“Why should you be so determined to have him marry me?” she demanded, almost as angry as he by now.

Grimly he smiled. “I have no love for the Trewyns! I have lavished money on you for seventeen years, because of that jade, your mother! I would have been rid of you long ago but that fool Brockton had the audacity to threaten to betray me! I will be rid of you, and he can suffer the result of his interference in my affairs!”

“No!”

“Then I shall have to see whether placing your mother in somewhere like Bedlam will change your mind!”

Miranda paled. “You would not!” she whispered, and he smiled, sure at last he had her.

“I will, and I have some influence in these institutions, so do not think I would not be able to place and keep her there!”

With a final reminder that she had no choice but to accept, he rose and stalked away. The watchful Richard returned to find Miranda flushed and angry and near to tears.

* * * *

“My dear, what is it?” he asked in alarm. “How did he offend you?”

“Oh, Richard, I cannot tell you! Please forgive me, but I – I cannot say, for it is a matter that concerns others besides myself!”

He sat down and gently took her hand in his. “You are so distracted. Shall I take you home? I could return and tell Lady Beverley I had done so afterwards.”

Thankfully she nodded, and he went to send for his carriage. Miranda thought hard while he was gone. Denzil would be forced into offering for her, and she had no wish for this. It must be prevented. He loved Araminta. And yet if she refused, her mother would suffer horribly. She had no illusions that Sir Henry would not carry out his threat. Suddenly she saw the solution. If she herself disappeared, Denzil could not be forced into actions against his will. Nor could Sir Henry ruin him. Her brief appearance on the London scene would soon be forgotten. Denzil would be safe, and so would her mother, for they could vanish together. Sir Henry would be powerless. She hastily thrust aside the thoughts of her own bleak future, and when Richard returned and escorted her out to his coach, she had made her decision.

“Richard, I cannot tell you more, but the woman you took me to visit, she is concerned in this. I must see her immediately! Please will you take me there, and then take a note to Judith? She will send for me later.”

It seemed odd to Richard, but Miranda was so urgent he could not refuse, and he consoled himself with the thought that he could quickly deliver a note to Judith and return with her to the house where the French woman lodged.

Mademoiselle le Brun was in bed and asleep when they arrived, and her landlady, after having been roused by Richard’s loud summons on the door knocker, grumblingly went to announce them. Told that Miss de Lisle waited outside, she hastily threw on a wrap and came down to the small dingy hall, where the landlady had grudgingly allowed Miranda and Richard to wait. Miranda cast herself into her mother’s arms and, overwrought, burst into a storm of weeping. Gently Mademoiselle soothed her, and persuaded her to mount the stairs to her sitting room. Richard looked on, uncertain what to do, but when Miranda was ensconced in a chair beside the dying embers of a fire, Mademoiselle turned to him.

“Thank you for escorting her here. You are a friend of hers, I know.”

“Yes. I was intending to fetch Lady Beverley to her. Will that be best?”

“Yes indeed. Please if you would do that? It would be so kind.”

Their low voiced conversation had not disturbed Miranda, huddled in her chair, and Richard, with a last look over his shoulder at her, hastened to return to the ball and fetch Judith.

* * * *

Once he had gone Miranda turned to her mother and poured out the story of what Sir Henry intended.

“He means to force Denzil to marry me, and that I could not endure! Yet if I do not, he will put you in Bedlam! We must go away from here, so that they can never find us! What shall we do?”

Mademoiselle regarded her in perplexity. “You dislike this Sir Denzil so much?”

“No, I do not! It is not that! But he loves Araminta! I could not serve him so shabby a trick as to fall in with Sir Henry’s plans. Besides, I am certain that he means to do something else, possibly try to ruin Denzil afterwards anyway! He is a monster!”

“Indeed you are right. I cannot imagine how I was ever so foolish as to imagine I loved him!” She hesitated, then continued slowly. “If you really wish to cut your whole connection with Sir Denzil and Lady Beverley, I have a plan. Over the years I have saved money, for I have been well paid, and never had many needs. I had thought I would one day be able to open a milliner’s shop of my own. I have enough to do so now, and why should I not open it in Paris? You could come and help me. You have said you are good with your needle, and so we could work together. It is not what I would choose for you, but I do desire your happiness. If you are utterly opposed to remaining here, this could answer.”

Miranda gazed at her mother with relief. “Oh, indeed it would serve! Then he would never be able to find us, and Sir Henry could never force him to marry me, nor imprison you in some horrid asylum! When can we go? Tomorrow? Oh, we must go before they discover where I am!”

“They will know where you are through that young man who brought you here, my love. But do not fear, we need not tell them what we intend. Lady Beverley will no doubt soon be here, and I will ask her to allow you to remain with me for a few days. It will take me a day or so to make my arrangements, and tell Madame Therese what I intend. She has been my friend and will help me. I cannot desert her without a word!”

Reluctantly Miranda submitted, seeing that it could not be helped. When Judith appeared with an anxious Richard in tow, she was calm, but grew agitated again when Judith wanted to take her back to Green Street. In the end Judith agreed she should remain where she was for a few days, though Miranda resolutely refused to reveal to her why she was so distressed. Richard had told Judith it had been something to do with Sir Henry, but she could not imagine why it should cast Miranda into such a state of apprehension. She hoped a few days in her mother’s care would be beneficial, and eventually left, after eliciting a promise from Miranda that they would discuss it again on the following day when Judith brought Miranda her clothes and other necessities.