Secret Heiress (11 page)

When Adrian was announced the afternoon after Caroline's conversation with Mr. Stokes, she greeted him warmly. It seemed to Adrian that she was looking especially well. In fact, Caroline had taken special pains to look her best and was wearing a particularly flattering blue gown.

“Caroline, you look lovely,” exclaimed Adrian, as he clasped her hand for a moment.

“Thank you,” replied Caroline, smiling at him. “It seems that happiness agrees with me.”

Adrian smiled in return. “It gives me pleasure to be the author of that happiness,” he said.

Caroline blushed. “Indeed,” she replied. “Little did I think, when I came to London for a brief stay, that I should come to think of London as home.”

“Do you?” asked Adrian. “Do you truly feel at home here?”

“Yes, I do,” Caroline answered.

“That relieves my mind of one worry,” said Adrian. He took a turn around the room.

“What do you mean?” asked Caroline.

He did not answer immediately. When he did, he spoke slowly. “This situation is extremely difficult for me,” he said. “I wish that you had a guardian—a protector—someone to whom I could speak about your future.”

“There is Aurelia,” said Caroline humorously.

“Do be serious, Caroline, I beg of you,” said Adrian.

“But you are being absurd,” replied Caroline. “I have no need for a guardian. I am of age. And it is not as if I had a large fortune or trust which would have to be settled,” she added.

Adrian glanced at her quickly. “No, of course not,” he said. “But, still, it would relieve my mind to know that someone with your interests at heart—shall we say—approved of my suit.”

“But I do not need anyone's approval,” said Caroline. “I know my own mind. I know that I shall not have wealth or estates, but we shall have each other. In fact, and I hope you will forgive my acting before you had declared yourself, I have taken steps to sell my property in Lancashire. We could not afford to maintain two establishments, and I know you will wish to remain in London.”

“Sell Brampton?” exclaimed Adrian involuntarily.

“Why, you know of Brampton?” asked Caroline. “How can that be? I am certain I have never mentioned the name of my home.”

“Ah, you forget, my dear, that you let slip the name on the day when we went to the Tower. And why should it be a secret?”

“I do not think I mentioned it,” said Caroline.

“Well, perhaps Aurelia mentioned it,” said Adrian. “You know how she chatters! Come, what difference does it make if I know the name of your home?”

“Because it makes me wonder what else you know about me,” she said evenly.

“What else!” said Adrian playfully. “Have you deep, dark secrets you wish to hide?”

“I did,” said Caroline, her voice tightening. “I came to London with a secret I wished to keep from everyone, but it appears that I did not succeed.”

“Caroline, my dear, I have never heard you speak this way. Please tell me what has happened to distress you. You seem overset.”

“I think it is time we stopped this charade,” said Caroline. “I am aware that you have known, since the day I met you in Mr. Stokes's office, that I have a considerable fortune. I am aware that you sought me out because your circumstances made it necessary for you to marry a wealthy woman.”

“You do not know what you are saying!” said Adrian.

“But I do,” said Caroline. “I know that you have made a fool of me. I know that you would not be here now if you did not think me wealthy.”

“That is not true,” said Adrian, grasping at straws. “Perhaps it is true that I began my relationship with you because of your fortune, but if I had not been attracted to you I would not—could not—have continued it. And now I am here because I want to be. Because I love you!”

“Spare me at least this embarrassment,” said Caroline. “Do not expose yourself further. I am furious at myself for having been so taken in, but the deception is at an end. I do not intend to reveal your character because to do so would be to reveal my own stupidity—but do not push me. You will leave this house and never come near me again. And now you will excuse me because I have nothing more to say.” She swept out of the room, almost knocking down Aurelia as she rushed up the stairs.

“Caroline!” she called as she hurried downstairs to see what had occurred. As she entered the parlor, she was swept aside by Adrian rushing past.

“Mr. Bradford!” she exclaimed. “Pray tell me what has happened.” Her only answer was the sound of the front door slamming. She looked around her, but the room provided no clue. “Well!” she exclaimed. “I do believe they have quarreled.” She picked up her embroidery and began working on the cap she was making for a cousin's new baby.

For Adrian Bradford it was a time of desperation. He had been dodging his creditors for months and he was now at point non plus. Expecting at any moment to be able to announce his engagement to an heiress, he had been confident that, once again, he would escape Dun's territory. He could not believe that his scheme had failed! How had she discovered that he knew of her wealth? He had been so careful . . . and yet, somehow, she had discovered the truth. Was it Kendal? But how would he have known? Had Stokes gotten the truth out of that wretched clerk? In any event, there was nothing left for him to do but flee London. To stay was to court the public humiliation of bankruptcy and debtors' prison. Not even the Bradford name would save him this time. Once he was out of London, his creditors would have to find him . . . and he intended to make that difficult for them. Perhaps he would even go abroad, to France. Brummell himself had done that when his debts had grown too burdensome.

His first stop, before he could make any plans, however, would be at his sister's home in Northampton. He would try to play upon her fear of scandal to borrow passage money, at the very least. If luck were with him, her husband would not be at home. His brother-in-law would see that he would get not even a farthing from his sister. He'd made that clear the last time. But there was no one else. Yes, there was only one course open to him. He would leave London as soon as he could. Tomorrow would not be too soon.

The note was delivered to Giles while he was still in his dressing gown eating breakfast. He was just finishing some excellent kippers when the butler came in.

“Excuse me, sir,” said the butler. “There is a young person to see you. She says it is urgent, and that she comes from Miss Chedworth.”

“Indeed!” exclaimed Giles. “Then I suppose I had better see her. Show her in.”

“Very good, sir,” said the butler. He returned shortly, followed by a heavily veiled young woman in a gray cloak.

“Please, sir, are you Mr. Giles Kendal?” she asked in a wispy voice.

“Yes, I am,” said Giles. “And who are you?”

“I'm Maria, sir, maid to Miss Chedworth, and I have a note which she entrusted to me and told me to give to you no matter what happened to me.” She clutched the note to her as she spoke.

“Please give me the note,” said Giles, somewhat amused by the dramatics.

“Yes, sir,” replied Maria as she handed the note to him.

Giles ripped it open.

Dear Giles,

I was not going to tell anyone of my plans, but I must confide in you, for only you can understand and help me. Lord Warriner has been accepted by my Papa and I am helpless to oppose. The only thing for me to do is to run away and become a governess. Then I can earn enough money to support Jeremy while he writes his poems. Maria is pledged to secrecy but Mama will surely come to you. Please tell her that I am well but that I cannot marry Lord Warriner.

I have taken my pearls (the ones Papa bought me for my come-out) and will have to sell them as I haven't any money except what is left from my allowance. As it is almost the end of the quarter, that isn't very much. I am certain I shall be all right and shall write to you (in secret) when I have found a situation.

Jeremy has no inkling of what has occurred. I am enclosing a separate note for you to give him. He will know what to do. I am depending on you both, for I am desperate.

Yours faithfully,

Arabella

“Good God!” exclaimed Giles when he had finished the letter. He turned to the maid. “Why did you not accompany your mistress?” he asked.

“Miss would not have me,” she explained. “She said that governesses did not have maids.”

“And you let her go?” asked Giles. “Did you not tell her mother?”

“Miss was being forced to do something she could not!” pronounced Maria dramatically. “It was my bounden duty to help her.”

“You have a strange notion of duty,” said Giles sternly. “But there is nothing to be gained in speaking of that. Have you no clues as to where your mistress may have gone? Did she say nothing?” As Maria hesitated, he said, “Come, I can be trusted.”

“Well, sir, Miss did say she couldn't go anywhere where people knew her. I heard her wondering how much money it would take to get to Bedford.”

“Bedford!” exclaimed Giles. “That's a day's journey from here. When did she leave?”

“Miss left before it was light,” said Maria. “No one else is awake yet.”

“That was three hows ago,” said Giles, thinking aloud. “If she caught the early stage, she will have departed. I shall have to make inquiries at the station first and then follow on the road to Bedford.”

“Please, sir, what shall I tell my mistress?” Maria looked frightened at the thought of the confrontation with Mrs. Chedworth.

“You shall take this note back with you.” He penned a few words telling Mrs. Chedworth he was going to search for Arabella and would have word later. “If you are turned off, as I suspect you may be, come back here.”

“Oh, thank you, sir,” said Maria. She curtsied as she left.

Damn! thought Giles as he contemplated the note intended for Jeremy. He knew he should not open it, but propriety would have to give way to expediency. He opened the note and scanned it quickly. When he had finished it, he groaned.

“Good God, another Cheltenham tragedy!” he exclaimed. Arabella was clearly under the influence of some of the more fanciful novelists, but at least she had let fall some of her plans. Her first stop, it appeared, would be Bedford. At least, he thought, he had a direction. He wondered about delivering the note to Tarkington and decided reluctantly that bringing Arabella back to London would be more easily accomplished with him than without him.

Damn! thought Giles again as he contemplated the situation. But there was no time for that. He dressed quickly and within an hour was on his way.

Arabella had never before ridden in the stage. When she had come to London, it had been in her father's carriage, accompanied by her maid and surrounded by outriders. She had not shared it with other persons of the sort she was not at all accustomed to being with. The people she knew did not smell odiously, as that fat man did, or pinch her cheek, as that young man had. It had been difficult enough leaving the house without being observed. She had not wished to confide in anyone, but it had been necessary to seek Maria's help in packing a bandbox. Arabella had never packed anything in her life. She did not even know where her bandboxes were kept. Maria already knew the story of her persecution, so she confided in her the decision to flee. To Maria it sounded like a storybook: her pretty young mistress, in love with another, being forced to marry the rich old nobleman. Maria had pledged her silence. At the last minute Arabella had decided to send Giles a note. She was afraid to go without letting anyone know, and Giles seemed the right person. At least it eased her conscience about leaving her parents. She knew they'd be terribly worried. But it served them right. They had no right to force her to marry that fat old man!

With Maria's assistance, she had packed the bandbox by candlelight. It had been very hard to leave behind the pink silk with the florettes or the blue muslin which matched her eyes, but she wouldn't need them as a governess. Governesses didn't go to balls. A tear rolled down her cheek, but she brushed it away. From what she'd seen of governesses, they didn't cry, either. Governesses didn't do much at all, except teach Italian and sketching and get scolded when the children misbehaved. It was going to be very different from what she was used to, but much, much better than marrying Lord Warriner! With that thought she comforted herself.

There had been some difficulty about gaining a seat on the stage, the statiomnaster taking exception to so young and obviously well bred a female traveling alone. But she had gazed up at him and told him of how her maid had been taken ill and how she was needed at home because her brothers and sisters had the measles and so she had to leave in the middle of the Season. It wasn't even such a very big lie, because they had had the measles. Whether the stationmaster believed her or not, he had shrugged his shoulders and taken the coins she offered. It never paid, he had discovered, to question the thinking of the Quality. Strange in their ways, they were. He had given Arabella a ticket and pointed to where she should wait. Then he had forgotten about her.

It had been a very long evening. At dinner, Aurelia had tried to discover the source of the fight between Caroline and Adrian, only to be met by Caroline's discouraging, “I do not wish to speak of it, ma'am.” There had been such a note of finality in her voice that even Aurelia had known better than to pursue the matter. Caroline had barely touched her dinner and had excused herself, saying she had the headache. As Aurelia well knew, Caroline was not subject to headaches or to any of the other ailments which troubled her own poor constitution, so this explanation boded ill. Aurelia made no attempt to follow her.

Caroline sat at her dressing table for a long while, looking at herself in the mirror.

“Well, my girl,” she said aloud, “you've come full circle. When you decided to come to London you were sitting in your room, looking in the glass. As I recall, you were disappointed then, too, to discover that your most desirable feature was your fortune.” She smiled weakly. “You know,” she continued, “it's your pride, not your heart, that has suffered the worst hurt. You weren't really in love with him. You wanted to believe he loved you because he seemed to want you for yourself. You've been deceiving yourself, but now it's over.” She put her chin in her hands.

“The thing is, what are you going to do now?” she asked herself after a few moments. “You can't leave London: it would show him you were running away.” But suddenly the need to see Brampton, to go home, seemed overwhelming. “I don't care what he or anyone else thinks!” she declared. “I am going home!” She lifted her head defiantly.

“Sarah!” she called. Her maid came running to the door.

“Yes, Miss Caroline, what is it?” she asked anxiously.

“Sarah, we're going home to Brampton!”

“We are, miss?” asked Sarah. “But I thought . . .”

“Never mind that,” said Caroline. “We are leaving in the morning.”

“Tomorrow, Miss Caroline?” asked Sarah in surprise. “Will you be taking everything with you?”

“I shall take just a few things with me. In a few days I shall send you back with the carriage to collect the rest of my things and to help my cousin. I could not ask her to leave so quickly. Now, please send Briggs to me. I have arrangements to make.”

“Now, Miss Caroline . . .”

“Please send Briggs to me,” she repeated firmly. Sarah opened her mouth as if to say something, thought better of it, turned quickly, and left the room.

When the butler appeared at the door, Caroline said, “Briggs, I shall need the carriage in the morning.”

Without blinking, Briggs said, “Indeed, miss. And may I ask at what hour you will require the carriage?”

“I should like to leave for Lancashire quite early—perhaps by eight.”

“I beg your pardon, miss, but it may be difficult to make the proper arrangements for such a long journey with so little notice.”

“I am certain it will not be difficult for you, Briggs,” said Caroline with a smile. “I shall be leaving London, as I imagine you have surmised.”

“It is not my place to question your intentions, miss,” he replied firmly. “May I say, however, that I speak for all the staff when I say that we shall be sorry to see you leave us.”

“Why, thank you, Briggs,” said Caroline, touched by the comment.

“And now I shall see about the arrangements.” He bowed and left.

“I suppose I had better tell Aurelia of the change in our plans,” said Caroline. She smiled ruefully. “I have certainly left the hardest task for last.”

She found Aurelia in her sitting room, reading sermons.

“Ah, my love,” she said when Caroline entered. “I hope you are feeling more the thing?”

“Yes, I am,” said Caroline. “But I find myself homesick for Brampton.”

“That is quite natural,” said Aurelia, “though you would not wish to leave our particular friends at this time.”

“But that is exactly what I mean to do,” said Caroline. “It is my intention to leave in the morning.”

“The morning!” shrieked Aurelia. “But that is not possible! I could not possibly be ready!”

“You shan't be leaving tomorrow,” said Caroline calmly. “I shall leave with Sarah. She will return in the carriage in several days to collect you and your possessions.”

“But why?” asked Aurelia, fanning herself. “Why must we leave in this precipitous fashion? It is not at all dignified or proper. What of our engagements? The Waterloo Bridge opening . . .”

“I have decided that I wish to go home,” said Caroline. “Our lease on the house is nearly up. Ah, and that reminds me that I must send a note to Stokes in the morning.”

“Should you not inform our friends—Mr. Bradford, Mr. Kendal—that we are leaving?” asked Aurelia timidly.

“No,” said Caroline. “I do not feel that is at all necessary.”

“Please, my love, please tell me what has happened. Why did Mr. Bradford leave here so angry?”

“I do not intend to discuss the matter, Aurelia,” said Caroline. “And now if you will excuse me, there is much to do if I am to be ready in the morning.” She turned and left the room.

“Oh dear,” said Aurelia, shaking her head. “Oh dear, oh dear.”

Caroline had asked to be awakened at sunrise, but she was already out of bed when Sarah came to rouse her.

“Up already, Miss Caroline?” scolded Sarah. “And you going to bed so late last night, insisting on writing letters and who knows what else.”

“I fear I've been a trial to you lately, Sarah,” said Caroline. “You quite sound like Mrs. Lawson, giving me a scold. I can just hear her.”

“You're still not too old to scold. Miss Caroline,” mimicked Sarah with a grin. “But you should put on your dressing gown and drink your chocolate. It's a damp morning, it is.”

“Yes, ma'am,” said Caroline meekly. “After I wash, I shall come downstairs for breakfast. Please tell Briggs I should like to see him then.”

“Yes, Miss Caroline,” said Sarah. “And mind you finish your chocolate!” She bustled out of the room.

“If I'm not careful, she'll soon be as bad as Mrs. Lawson!” said Caroline with a laugh. She finished her chocolate and began to dress.

While Caroline was eating breakfast, Briggs came in.

“You wished to see me, miss?” he asked.

“Yes,” replied Caroline. “Is everything in readiness? I was not sure it could be done on such short notice.”

“Of course, miss,” said Briggs, his tone implying surprise at her doubt. “The carriage will be here at nine. Will that be satisfactory?”

“That is perfect,” said Caroline.

“Briggs,” continued Caroline, “I wish to thank you and the rest of the staff for your kindness during my stay in London.”

“I am certain I speak for all the staff when I say that it has been our pleasure to serve you,” said Briggs. “If your baggage is ready, I shall send the footman upstairs to bring it down.”

“It is almost ready, I believe,” said Caroline.

“Very good, miss,” said Briggs. He bowed and left Caroline to finish her meal alone.

Caroline was upstairs when the carriage was announced. She quickly put on her hat and cloak and went downstairs. While Briggs supervised the loading of the bandboxes that she was taking with her, Caroline stopped to speak to the rest of the staff and to say good-bye to them.

Before leaving the house, Caroline handed Briggs two notes. Aurelia had not come downstairs, so Caroline had left a note for her. “I shall depend on you to see that Miss Peakirk receives one note and Mr. Stokes the other. I have printed Mr. Stokes's direction on the envelope.”

“I shall see to it, miss,” said Briggs.

“And please extend my apologies to Miss Peakirk,” said Caroline. “I did not wish to disturb her this early in the morning.”

“I understand, miss,” said Briggs with a look that indicated that he did indeed.

Caroline entered the carriage, followed by Sarah. Briggs closed the door behind them. Caroline gave a final wave to the staff assembled in front of the house and they were on their way for the long drive to Lancashire.