The Accidental Marriage (2 page)

‘Most of the important people will be there weeks beforehand, planning and organizing. I’m needed.’

It took time and patience, but eventually he was able to take his leave. He rode back to Courtlands, his home several miles away, trying to forget Angelica’s mournful face as she waved farewell. His thoughts turned to the forthcoming negotiations in Vienna, the settlement the many interested countries were hoping to achieve now that Napoleon was finally defeated. His specially built travelling coach was ready, and he would set out early the next morning.

* * * *

‘I don’t know what Frederick will say,’ Fanny said, frowning.

‘Surely he will prefer you to be freed from looking after the girls, so that you can help him.’

‘It’s not that. I don’t suppose we will go out a great deal, or do much entertaining. Frau Gunter has a very small apartment, I believe. It’s more that he would not want it known that his sister-in-law was employed in a menial position.’

Julia laughed. ‘As to that, does he need to inform people I am your sister?’

Fanny shook her head vehemently. ‘I won’t disown you! Besides, if Frederick is busy, it would be pleasant to have your company if we do go to any entertainments. Maggie can share in looking after the girls, but she can’t teach them as you could.’

‘So it’s agreed? I come with you.’

‘If Frederick is willing.’

‘Fanny, I’m fully aware he does not like me - ‘

‘No, that’s not true.’

Julia laughed. ‘Oh, I grant it’s not all personal. You had a portion left you by your godfather, so were acceptable as a wife. My godparents, however, have been inconsiderate enough to stay alive and look like surviving for many more years, they’re disgustingly healthy! So I have no expectations, and as such am an embarrassment to him. Don’t worry, I have no desire for him to find me a husband.’

‘But that would be an ideal solution.’ Fanny was still wedded to that notion, however much Julia tried to convince her it was not her wish.

Julia admitted to herself she would welcome a husband, since the prospect of endlessly teaching small children, or ministering to the crotchets of elderly ladies, did not appeal as a lifelong occupation. But she was realistic. Without a portion, virtually penniless as she was, no sensible man would wish to marry her. So she might as well stop thinking about the possibility.

‘I’ll have no other chance of travelling,’ she reminded Fanny. ‘It would be a wonderful experience. You saw some of the important people in London earlier in the year. I’d love to see the Tsar, and his dreadfully vulgar sister, as well as the Emperor, and all the others. Besides, I speak some German, which might be of use to you.’

‘Then you must come, whatever Frederick says. He’ll have to see the sense of it. We must pay you what we pay Miss Clarence. More, perhaps, to compensate for the inconvenience of living in strange surroundings, and having to keep the children happy and occupied during the journey.’

Momentarily Julia quailed at this thought, but she liked her nieces, they were well-behaved children, and they always seemed happy in her company. It would not be too onerous a task to keep them amused. Better than grooming resentful cats. She had begun to give them lessons on the pianoforte, and teach them simple songs which they delighted in singing to their parents. She’d have gone without a salary, but she recognized the justice of being paid. She would be able to save most of it, which would help her on her return, enable her to take her time looking for a new position.

‘We’d better tell Frederick now, in case he has any objections, and then I will get my things from the Dower House and start packing my trunk.’

* * * *

Sir Carey breathed a deep sigh as he surveyed the small two-room apartment he had rented in a narrow street close to St Stephen’s Cathedral. The journey had taken three weeks, and he was heartily weary of the undiluted company of Tanner, his valet, whose only conversation had been a polite ‘yes, sir,’ or ‘indeed, sir,’ and very occasionally, ‘is that so, sir?’ Tanner and Frisby, his coachman, would share a small attic room on the upper floor. Neither of them had looked pleased at this arrangement, but there were so many visitors in Vienna they had been fortunate to get a room at all.

Lord Castlereagh had not yet arrived, but was expected within days. Sir Carey left Tanner unpacking his gear and strolled out to get his bearings, and perhaps meet some acquaintances.

Vienna, he discovered, was a maze of narrow streets, a jumble of aristocratic mansions side by side with the lesser houses of the merchants, many of whom appeared to live above their shops or restaurants, and the buildings which housed the poorer citizens. Constrained by the ramparts of the old city walls, the people of Vienna had built upwards. Though this, and the narrowness of the streets, kept the sunlight out for much of the time, there were many squares and open spaces, most of them filled with trees, so the city did not feel claustrophobic.

Returning to his apartment, having seen no one he knew, he paused for a glass of wine in a café near the Hofburg Palace. Sir Carey thought he had never seen so many cafés, restaurants and shops in such a small space. All were doing excellent business, for the city was crammed with thousands of visitors from all over Europe and Russia, and this was before the main delegations had arrived. The Viennese would be having a profitable time, he mused, and maybe it was necessary. The Emperor Francis would need to increase taxation to pay for the lavish entertainments Sir Carey had heard were being planned.

He returned to his room and sat down to write to Angelica, a tender smile on his face. Though her family lived only a dozen miles from Courtands, they moved in different circles in the country, and he hadn’t seen her since she was a child. When she had accepted him, instead of some far more eligible men who had been paying her serious attentions, he had been overwhelmed with an amazed gratitude. She was the prettiest debutante of the Season, had sufficient fortune not to have to marry for money, and she had a gentle disposition. She had seemed to cling to him from the start, probably finding comfort in the fact they came from the same county. He thought himself the happiest of men, and spared a few moments pitying the wealthier or higher born men she had rejected.

It had been a severe wrench to insist their wedding be delayed until after his return from the Congress. Angelica did not care for a great show, she’d insisted, and would have willingly accompanied him to Vienna. He had been afraid that if she did not have the sort of wedding most girls wished for, she would in later years have regretted it. And much as he would have relished her company on this mission, he knew her presence would have prevented him from doing a competent job.

* * * *

Fanny bit her lip, and glanced from under her eyelashes at Julia, who was regarding the hands clasped together in her lap with fixed attention. She could have sworn her sister was desperately suppressing a laugh.

Frau Gunter was of the old school, still rigidly upright and tightly corseted. She wore the elaborate embroidered and panniered dresses of the last century, a powdered wig, and had a great deal of cosmetics on her wizened face.

They had arrived before noon, having spent the previous night at an inn outside the city, but Frau Gunter had kept to her own room until just before the dinner hour, and they met her only when sipping inferior sherry before the meal.

Her first words had been disapproving comments about the light muslins Fanny and Julia wore, and she expressed the pious hope that their behaviour would not be as slight or indecorous as their appearances promised. Then she had turned to the children, who were looking terrified, and noted with approval on their resemblance to Frederick.

‘I thought they resembled my mother,’ Fanny said quietly, emboldened to this mild rebellion by the presence of Julia. Her sister, though occasionally causing her perturbation, was usually a welcome support.

Frau Alice Gunter snorted. ‘They may be insipid blondes,’ she said in guttural French, ‘but they have the Gunter nose, just as Frederick’s mother did. It’s a pity he did not inherit it. It looks better on a man.’

Julia uttered a choking sound, disguised as a cough, and Frau Gunter turned to her.

‘Do you have a cold?’ she asked. ‘If so, I would be pleased if you keep yourself away from me. I cannot afford to take risks at my age.’

‘No, ma’am, I am perfectly well,’ Julia replied cheerfully. ‘But I will certainly keep out of your way as much as possible. I mean to teach the children all I can about Vienna and history while we are fortunate to be living here, so I will be taking them out to see the city whenever the weather is clement enough.’

Frau Gunter looked hard at her, then sniffed, and Fanny bit her lip again. She was tempted to ask if the old lady had a cold, but knew she would have to keep silence if their stay was to be bearable.

It would be difficult, Fanny thought. She and Frederick had been allocated the smallest bedroom in the apartment, while Julia, her maid Maggie, Frau Gunter’s maid Ilse, and the two girls shared a slightly larger one. There was just one salon, where it would be impossible to give dinner parties, and it was large enough to hold a dozen people at most. Frederick’s valet Silvers and the coachman Evans had been relegated to a tiny room off the even tinier kitchen, which was normally used as a storeroom for preserves and an accumulation of old furniture, trunks, and several piles of books and old copies of the
Weiner Zeitung
. There had just been room, Frederick had grumpily reported, after piling things to one side, for a narrow palliasse the men would have to share.

‘Silvers will give notice,’ he’d predicted. ‘I’ll find us somewhere more suitable tomorrow.’

Fanny wished he had been able to. But after several hours he had returned to say there was just no suitable accommodation available, there were so many visitors to the city. They would have to endure the crowding, and the disagreeable attitude of his grandmother.

They escaped as soon as dinner was over, saying that after the journey they needed an early night.

‘What an unpleasant woman!’ Julia whispered.

Fanny nodded. ‘Let’s hope the Congress is soon over. I don’t think I can endure much of this. Frederick said Lord Castlereagh arrived yesterday. It’s two weeks to the official opening, and perhaps four weeks for the negotiations. I’m already counting the days.’

‘We must get out as much as possible. Let’s take the girls exploring tomorrow morning. I saw several parks as we drove in, and Ilse says they are all open to everyone.’

Julia smiled as the children ran on ahead, Paula screaming to her sister to wait for her. After three weeks cooped up in the travelling carriage, with their father frowning whenever they made a noise, Alice and Paula were only too willing to explore Vienna’s many parks. Frau Gunter had been more amenable this morning, possibly because she partook of breakfast in bed, and only encountered the children when they were on their way out.

‘She was almost friendly,’ Fanny said as they strolled along the chestnut-bordered paths in the Prater. ‘It may not be so bad after all. I suspect it was the shock of all of us descending on her yesterday.’

‘She’d invited you to stay,’ Julia said. ‘She must have known how many of us there are, unless she didn’t think you’d bring any servants.’

‘I don’t suppose she bothered to count. But she told Frederick last night that a friend of hers with a larger apartment was thinking of leaving Vienna and going to Salzburg to stay with her son while the Congress is here. We may be able to rent that. He’s grumbling at the expense, but he’s willing to pay in order to have more space and our own rooms for entertaining. He’s already been invited to several receptions and balls, and he says there will be even more once the other delegations arrive.’

‘I thought the Congress was for talking,’ Julia began, but was interrupted by a howl from Paula, who had tripped over her feet as she looked backwards at some soldiers exercising their horses. A group of horses ridden by ladies was trotting towards her, only yards away, and as she rolled over she was directly in their path.

By the time Fanny and Julia reached the little girl she had been scooped out of danger and set on her feet by a man passing by.

‘I don’t think she’s hurt, ma’am,’ he said, smiling at Fanny as Paula clung to her skirts, sobbing.

‘Paula, dear, let me look at your knees,’ Fanny said. ‘Did you scrape them?’

Alice came running back, and grasped Julia’s hand. She reassured the little girl that Paula wasn’t badly hurt, and turned to the man, smiling ruefully. ‘Thank you, sir. I shouldn’t have been letting them run about, but they are so pleased to be out of the coach.’

He was, she noted, very personable and impeccably, even expensively dressed. Tall, with dark wavy hair, and piercing blue eyes, he was a man who would have attracted attention in any gathering. And he had a devastating smile.

‘You have come out from England?’ he asked now. ‘I arrived a few days ago, and I am still aching from the jolting. Let me introduce myself. Sir Carey Evelegh, at your service.’

‘I’m Julia Marsh, and this is my sister, Lady Cunningham. And her daughters, Alice and Paula.’

Alice shyly held out her hand, and Paula, prompted by Fanny, did the same. She gulped, and with a watery smile said a quiet ‘Thank you.’

‘We’re in your debt, Sir Carey,’ Fanny said. ‘I was expecting her to be trampled on.’

‘No, there was plenty of room, the horses would have avoided her. Is your husband Sir Frederick Cunningham? I have met him occasionally in London, and he mentioned he was coming here.’

‘Do come and call,’ Fanny invited. ‘He will be happy to see a friend. We may not be at this address for more than a few days, though, we hope to move into a larger apartment.’

‘I would be delighted. Enjoy the rest of your walk, ladies. Goodbye, Alice and Paula, I hope to see you again soon.’

He raised his hat and walked away.

Julia looked after him. ‘What do you hazard he’ll forget all about us?’ she asked. ‘He didn’t say Frederick was his friend. Has Frederick ever mentioned him?’