The Accidental Marriage (3 page)

‘No, but he doesn’t tell me about his London cronies. Wasn’t he handsome? I wonder whether he is married?’

Julia laughed. ‘Fanny, I beg you, don’t start matchmaking here. I’m your children’s governess, remember!’

‘Stuff and nonsense. You’re my sister. I hope he does call.’

* * * *

To Fanny’s delight Frau Schwartz, Frau Gunter’s friend, agreed to let them rent her apartment, which was in the next building, as well as her cook and housemaid to look after them.

‘It has six whole rooms!’ she told Julia. ‘There are two salons, connected by double doors, so we can entertain properly.’

Julia thought of Greystones, the rambling, many-roomed Jacobean manor house that was Fanny’s home, and the London house they rented when they spent the Season there. Two salons seemed quite inadequate, unless they were spacious. She suspected they would not, in the end, do a great deal of entertaining. From rumours they had heard the official receptions, balls, military reviews, shooting and hunting parties, together with the theatrical performances, concerts and ballets, would fully occupy the time. She could not imagine when the Ministers would find time for negotiations, unless they did it over the card and supper tables.

By the following day they were installed, and when Sir Carey called two days afterwards, having been given their new direction by Frau Gunter, Fanny was able to welcome him in a large, ornately furnished drawing room.

‘We hear the Ministers are already talking,’ Fanny said. ‘Are they not waiting for the other delegations to arrive?’

‘They are discussing how to go about it, which we hope will save time once the Congress opens officially. Have you received invitations to the Reception at the Hofburg, on the thirtieth?’

‘Frederick hasn’t said.’

‘There is also a masked ball two days later, after the regimental parade. Everyone will be going to that. Even a palace as huge as the Hofburg will be crowded. It’s a vast place, like a city. It’s been added to over the centuries as the Hapsburgs gained more power. The oldest part is thirteenth century, but for the rest, all sorts of styles, rather like my own home but on a far grander scale. I will hope to see you there, but in such a crush who knows whether we’ll meet?’

‘Oh, we didn’t bring dominoes and masks,’ Fanny said.

‘Then we had better go shopping tomorrow,’ Julia said briskly. ‘What other entertainments are planned, Sir Carey? Surely they won’t all be huge affairs?’

He grinned, and she felt a slight fluttering sensation in the region of her heart. He really was enormously attractive.

‘All the Ministers will be entertaining. I hear Metternich has something very grand arranged.’

‘We heard that the Princess Bagration is giving a ball the day after the reception, but Frederick said that is a small affair. We saw her yesterday, out driving in the Prater. She is amazingly pretty. She’s Russian, is she not?’

‘She’s related to the Tsar. Tell me, were you in London during the celebrations in the summer when he visited? I saw Sir Frederick there once or twice, but we did not meet, Lady Cunningham.’

As Fanny began to describe what she had seen, and deplore the massive crowds that had been everywhere, hoping for glimpses of the Tsar and the other important visitors, Julia frowned slightly. Why had he changed the subject so abruptly?

‘What’s the matter with Princess Bagration?’ she demanded after he had left.

Fanny shook her head. ‘I haven’t a notion. But he did not want to talk about her, did he? Perhaps he’s in love with her. After all, he did say he’d spent some time in Russia, so he probably met her there.’

‘We’ll no doubt discover it soon enough. Maggie says the servants spend half their time gossiping, when they are supposed to be marketing. I imagine their employers do too! Do we go and shop for your domino this afternoon, or wait until morning?’

‘Yours, too. You’ll have to come with me. Frederick won’t want to have to stay beside me all night, and I’d be terribly nervous on my own.’

Julia did not protest. As well as recognizing the truth of Fanny’s words, she was eager to see Emperor Francis’s Hofburg Palace from the inside. They had seen the outside the previous day when they had been exploring the old quarter of the city. And she admitted to herself the hope that she might achieve a waltz with Sir Carey. This dance, which so many in England considered shocking, was much more popular on the continent, and she had secretly learned how to dance it from a friend she had made in Bath, a niece of her late employer who had wanted a partner to practise with before she went to London for her first Season.

* * * *

Sir Carey was writing a letter to Angelica, but found his attention distracted by thoughts of the problems he could foresee arising in Vienna. Prince Talleyrand had arrived, accompanied by Dorothée de Corlande, wife of his nephew, who acted as his official hostess, and objected vehemently to what he saw as an attempt by the four powers of Austria, Britain, Prussia and Russia to settle matters between themselves. Eventually the letter was very brief, describing his doings in the two days since he had last written to her. It was time to prepare for the masked ball.

The Hofburg Palace, when he arrived, was sumptuously decorated in red and gold. Such was the crowd of people arriving he was late, and entered the Redoutensalle to see the Tsar, that unpredictable man who had created such offence in London by his rudeness, leading the Austrian Empress in a stately Polonaise. He joined the throng which went up the grand staircase, through various rooms, and came finally to the Audience Chamber.

He hadn’t been here before, and gazed round in awe. It was huge, with golden pillars and hangings of red velvet. Most of the guests appeared to be equally impressed, whether they were minor German royalty or plebian merchants who rarely had the opportunity of mingling with so many aristocrats.

After a while he began to wander through the maze of rooms, sampling the food from the many buffets, but looking for the English family he had encountered. He told himself they would be overwhelmed. They were not of the level of society which attended the Prince Regent’s lavish entertainments at Carlton House. Indeed, when he had mentioned them, Fanny had shuddered and declared she never wished to be invited. It had been a sufficient ordeal when she was presented during her first Season.

The dominoes, disguising figures to some extent, apart from when the wearers were whirling in the dances, made it difficult to recognize people, though the masks were small enough to allow people who knew each other well to find their friends. He was estimating his chances of finding Lady Cunningham and her party as exceedingly remote when he heard Julia’s voice. It was clear, musical, and distinctive.

He swung round, smiling. She was standing a few yards away, talking animatedly to a man he knew was a minor official at the Foreign Office, one of the clerks who had accompanied Lord Castlereagh. Fanny and Sir Frederick and an unknown couple were also in the group. Sir Frederick was looking grim.

‘Good evening,’ he said, moving towards them. ‘Lady Cunningham, I hope you will do me the honour of dancing with me?’

She looked nervous, and glanced at her husband. Frederick forced a smile to his lips.

‘My wife has promised me this dance,’ he said abruptly.

‘Then Miss Marsh, perhaps?’ Sir Carey said smoothly. He could not suppress the feeling that she would be a much livelier companion than her sister, who appeared to be a rather timid, unconfident woman.

They looked alike, superficially, but Julia was taller, more slender, and had slightly darker, honey-coloured hair, and deeper blue, almost violet, eyes. She was more vivid in every way, in both looks and deportment.

Julia smiled and took his hand, and he led her towards the nearest ballroom, where the musicians were playing a waltz.

‘Oh dear,’ she said, and laughed. ‘Frederick will disapprove for days. He thinks the waltz is depraved. I doubt he’ll dance it even with his wife. It was to prevent you from dancing with her that he claimed her hand.’

Sir Carey grinned. ‘I don’t suppose you will allow his disapproval to affect you.’

He placed his arm about her waist and swung her into the crowd of dancers. She was, as he’d expected, an excellent dancer, and they twirled about, dipping and swaying to the music.

‘Heavens, no! I’ve suffered his displeasure ever since he met Fanny. I’m just thankful he doesn’t expect me to live with them all the time.’

‘You live with your parents?’

‘My parents died five years ago. I lived with Fanny and Frederick until my come out, but when I didn’t take - and how could I have done with no portion and no great beauty to compensate, like the Gunnings sisters - I started to earn my living as a companion. I’m only here now because Fanny’s governess declined to come at the last minute, and I was looking for a new position. You are dancing with a humble governess, sir!’

‘Not so humble,’ he retorted, laughing. ‘So you are in charge of those delightful little girls. No doubt they prefer that to whatever governess they had before.’

‘You, sir, are a flatterer,’ she said. ‘I wouldn’t mind being a governess if all my charges were so clever and amenable. It would be a pleasant change from grooming dogs and cats.’

She gave an involuntary shiver, and his arm tightened about her waist.

‘What do you mean?’

Julia laughed, and explained. ‘I applied for a position where I would have been expected to groom cats. I have nothing against the creatures, apart from when they are being brushed and combed against their will.’

Sir Carey laughed. ‘I have a cousin who spends all his money commissioning statues and paintings of his menagerie - or should I call it cattery? When I last heard, he had at least two dozen.’

He grew pensive, thinking of his cousin Daniel. He was wealthy, but a miser, spending as little as possible apart from his obsession with the felines. When he glanced at Julia she was eyeing him with a slight frown in her eyes, but she did not ask to be told his thoughts.

The waltz ended and they went back to where they had left Fanny and Frederick. They had disappeared, and reluctant to abandon Julia on her own in a crowd that was becoming boisterous, he suggested they found some food and glasses of wine.

The buffets were lavish, and they loaded plates and took them to a small side room which had been set with small tables.

It was half an hour before Fanny, looking flustered, found them. A pity, Sir Carey couldn’t help thinking. Julia was an interesting companion, with sensible, firm views of her own, but he knew he had monopolized her company for too long.

‘I trust we’ll meet again soon,’ he said, bowing himself away.

* * * *

Fanny sank onto the chair he had vacated, and Julia looked closely at her.

‘What’s the matter?’ she asked. ‘Where’s Frederick?’

‘Oh, he’s dancing. With some Russian girl, I understand. He said when we were introduced that he’d met her in London. I think she was something to do with the Tsar’s sister, perhaps one of her ladies. But the Grand Duchess is not here, so I don’t understand why she is.’

Julia suppressed a sigh. Frederick was clearly up to his old tricks, but it was scarcely gallant of him to have deserted Fanny, as he must have done, in such a large crowd. It would do no good complaining, however. Fanny needed to believe in him, and she herself had to live in harmony with him while they were in such circumscribed quarters.

‘Do you want any food?’ she asked instead. ‘There are buffets in all the rooms, and I’ll fetch you some if you wish.’

Fanny shook her head. ‘Tell me about Sir Carey. Did you find out much about him?’

‘Not a great deal, apart from the fact he has a cousin who is passionate about cats, and spends all his money on them.’

‘I wonder if he is married?’

Julia frowned. ‘He didn’t say, but Fanny, please don’t try to matchmake. If you pursue him too eagerly, you’ll frighten him away.’

Fanny looked thoughtful. ‘Yes, of course. You are right, and how sensible. We’ll treat him carefully, just as a friend. And then we’ll be able to find out his situation.’

What did it matter, Julia thought, grinding her teeth. Fanny was incorrigible, and nothing she could say would change her. Then she admitted, deep down, that the answer would interest her too. Not, she hastened to tell herself, that it could make any possible difference to her situation. Without a portion, she would never be able to marry anyone half as attractive as Sir Carey, and she had better make her mind up to it.

* * * *

‘I’ve found out about the Princess Bagration,’ Fanny announced a few days later when she returned from a shopping expedition. ‘Her husband was killed at Borodino, but she’s had dozens of lovers, including Metternich. They call her the naked angel because she cuts her bodices indecently low. She and the Duchess of Sagan both have apartments in the Palais Palm, and apparently she is no better, and what’s more,’ she added breathlessly, ‘Metternich fell in love with her, and is distraught because she has taken a new lover.’

Julia laughed. ‘What a coil! Do you think any real talking is happening? So far there have been endless balls, and now they have agreed to have a recess until November. The Congress hasn’t started properly. It seems it will go on for months.’

Fanny sighed. ‘I’ve decided we have to have a small party. We’ve met several people now, enough to fill the salons. There’s the Pryces, they’re renting an apartment in this building, and our nearest English neighbours. Then Lord Pendle and his sister, and the Webbers. They are dreadful gossips, of course, but they are friendly with Frederick’s grandmother, and I suppose some people find them amusing. And Sir Carey, we must invite him too. Will you help me write invitations? I thought next Wednesday.’

To Fanny’s relief most of the people accepted. She suggested Julia might teach the little girls simple songs they could sing for the guests.

‘I’m not sure that’s a good idea,’ Julia said. ‘They will be shy.’

‘Of course they won’t be too shy. They love to sing for our friends at home.’

‘Yes, but these people will all be strangers.’