The Regency (108 page)

The Prince had an unfortunate reputation for promising a
great deal more than he ever performed, but in this case he
proved as good as his word: Danby Wiske had been a personal
friend of his for as long as Lucy had. In August there were
widespread celebrations to mark the one hundred years of
Hanoverian rule, and a number of honours were created to
mark the happy occasion. Danby Wiske was made a viscount, promoted to Colonel, and given a staff appointment as Liaison
Officer between Lord Castlereagh and Lord Wellington, who
at the same time was raised to a Dukedom.

As a result, when the Peace Congress opened in Vienna in
September, promising to be the most extended and glittering
social gathering of all time, and Lord Castlereagh went out to
head the negotiations which were to settle the future of
Europe for all time, his enormous retinue included Colonel
Lord Theakston and his lady, whose only care on the ship going across the channel seemed to be whether her horses
would survive the crossing uninjured.

*

James had been increasingly anxious about Fanny's growing
preference for the least suitable of her beaux. It was Louisa
Anstey who first alerted him to the situation, which had been drawn to her attention by her sister-in-law, Meg Somers. Mrs
Somers was bringing out her youngest daughter Jane, and
was therefore present at every ball, rout and assembly in the
area.

‘
Meg mentioned to me, and therefore I thought I ought to
mention to you, Jamie,' Louisa said anxiously, 'that Fanny is
beginning to be talked about, because of this Mr Hawker.'

‘Mr Hawker? That fellow who was in the militia? What's he doing?'

‘
Well, Fanny stands up with him at every single ball,'
Louisa said 'Oh, only for two dances — Fanny would never
do anything improper, I'm sure — but sometimes they sit out
and talk to each other, and it's always he who takes her to
supper, and fetches her ices and so on.'

‘Impudent dog,' James said, a little startled.

‘
Only, the thing is, Jamie,' she went on breathlessly, 'that
everyone knows he's
not at all suitable,
for he must be ten
years older than her, and he has what John calls a colourful
reputation; and I'm
afraid,'
she screwed up her face in pain at
having to speak ill of anyone, 'that he has debts with all the
tradesmen, and
appears
to be entirely without means.’

James had thanked her, soothed her, and hurried home with the alarming intelligence to Héloïse, who appeared
unmoved by it.

‘
Yes, he does hang around her,' she said serenely, not pausing
in her hemming of a new dress for Benedict, whose vigorous
career tended to make short work of his clothes. 'Have you
not seen, after church on Sundays he waits for her at the door,
and they talk while you are being civil to your friends.'

‘
I've never noticed particularly who she talks to after
service,' he admitted. 'There are always half a dozen callow
young men at her elbow, but I hardly know one from the
other, and she treats them all alike, so I've never worried
about it.' He frowned. 'How do you know about it?'

‘
Stephen tells me. He is my eyes and ears,' she said. She
looked up, her head cocked enquiringly. 'For such a stern
father, my James, you are sometimes very unnoticing.'

‘
I never thought she could get up to any mischief outside the Minster doors on a Sunday morning,' he said uncomfort
ably.

‘
I don't think she gets up to mischief. She is very careful to
do nothing which is beyond the line of being acceptable.'

‘
Nevertheless, Louisa says she's being talked about, and Louisa is the least gossipping woman I know — apart from
you, of course. It has to stop. I wish you'd told me before,
Marmoset!'

‘
I didn't tell you, my love, for the very reason that if I did,
you would probably go thundering in like a bull and forbid
Fanny to see him again.'

‘
Damned right I would! It should have been stopped long
ago!’

Héloïse put down her sewing. 'But no, you must not!
Reflect a moment! Come, sit by me, and listen.’

He sat, looking at her with a perplexed frown. 'What then,
Marmoset? You said I was an unnoticing father? Now I have
noticed, why must I not do something about it?'

‘
If you go to Fanny and tell her she must not have anything
to do with this man, do you think she will say "Very well,
Papa", and obey you? Or will she rather scowl at you and
stamp her foot and defy you? Picture to yourself, and tell me
which is the more convincing portrait?’

James smiled unwillingly. 'Well, I suppose
forbidding
her
might be a little extreme,' he admitted.

‘
It is why I have not spoken to her myself on the subject; for you know we go on very well, in general. But forbid her
something, and she will want it all the more.'

‘
But, damn it, Héloïse, this man is unsuitable! He's deep in
dun country, according to what Louisa said. Probably a
gazetted fortune-hunter. I can't do nothing.'

‘
What I advise,
chéri,
is that you find out all you can about Mr Hawker. Ask some discreet questions at the club. You can
do that so much better than I, or Stephen. And then, perhaps,
we should have him to dinner.’

‘What?'

‘
Why yes — with other people, of course, so that it shall not
look too pointed.'

‘But why the
deuce —?'

‘
You cannot fight an enemy unless you can get near him,'
she said quietly. 'Also, you must remember that you yourself
began the acquaintance when you invited him to Mathilde's
ball —'

‘
I didn't invite him. He came as a substitute, if you
remember, brought by that other subaltern, the Irish one you
didn't like.'

‘
Yes, I remember; but the invitation was issued in your name. Also he claims to be acquainted with Fanny's grand
father, and he did Fanny a great service in Manchester —
though how much of truth there is in that story perhaps we
shall never know. And he met her in London at a number of
respectable houses, when she was under Lucy's chaperonage.’

‘
I didn't know that! How —'

‘Stephen heard about it from Fanny's maid. So you see, the
acquaintance is too long-standing to be broken off, unless
there is some good reason, and I think this man will not give
you reason, if he can help it.'

‘
Dangling after Fanny's fortune is reason enough, I should
think.' James growled.

‘
To you — not to Fanny. She will probably tire of him
soon, as long as she is not crossed, or forbidden to speak to
him. Meanwhile, you must find out all you can about him, so
that you can — discourage him, if it becomes necessary.
There may be many things in his background that he would
not care to have known.’

James reflected. 'Yes, you're right.' He lifted her hand and
kissed it. 'As always, Marmoset.' He sighed and relapsed into
thought again.

Héloïse watched him sympathetically, and after a while
said comfortingly, 'After all, my James, Fanny is not so very
susceptible. She is a very level-headed young woman, in fact,
and has never yet lost her heart to any handsome face or
charming manner. All the smartest beaux in York and London
have tried, and failed to make any mark on her.'

‘
Yes,' James said, but it didn't seem to comfort him.
‘That's another worry. She's been out for three years, after
all. She'll be nineteen soon, and she's never wanted to marry
anyone. I'm beginning to fear she'll end up as an old maid. I
wonder if we brought her out too young?’

Héloïse laughed, and rubbed his hand against her cheek.
‘You are a dear fool, my James! The one minute to be afraid
that she will want to marry, and the next to be afraid she
won't.’

He smirked sheepishly. 'I just want her to be happy,' he
said.

‘
Only that?' Héloïse said.
'Tiens!
Then we had better have
recourse to prayer.’

*

James followed his wife's advice, and pursued discreet
enquiries, and meanwhile gave a dinner-party to which he
invited Hawker, amongst several other young people. He was
disturbed to see Fanny in raptures over the news that her
admirer was to come under her roof, although he had to
admit that when the day came, she behaved in a perfectly
calm and controlled way, and treated Hawker with a pleasant
friendliness which suggested a long acquaintance, but was
socially unexceptionable.

He was impressed by Hawker's behaviour: his manners
were polished and unassuming; he was charming to Héloïse, respectful to the older gentlemen, spoke sensibly about what
ever topic of conversation was raised, was grave or witty as
the moment demanded, and paid no special attention to
Fanny, or at least, none that was objectionable. The degree of
their apparent intimacy dismayed James, even while he was puzzled by the quality of it, which suggested not so much a
lover engaged in wooing, but something along the lines of an
affectionate older brother, or perhaps a childhood playmate
met again in maturity.

On the other hand, the more he learned about Hawker, the
less he liked the situation. He was, as Louisa had said, deep in
debt, with tradesman's bills of a long-standing nature, and
apparently no means of paying them. He was a gamester,
although from what he could gather, James guessed he played
rather from necessity than out of gambler's fever.

Extending the delicate web of enquiry still further, James
learned that when Hawker had been in the militia and
stationed at Fulford, he had had a reputation for drinking too
much, for keeping dubious company — like Black Tom, the
notorious but uncatchable poacher and liquor-smuggler —
and for consorting with the Muslin Company; though as to
the latter charge, James could hardly blame him for that, considering his own past record. An unmarried man was entitled
to take his pleasure that way, and he could not learn that
Hawker had visited any Barques of Frailty since he had come
to York in March of this year.

Meanwhile, the licence which had been granted to Hawker
by his having been invited openly to dinner and acknowl
edged as an acquaintance meant that he was able to call at
Morland Place, officially to pay his respects to Héloïse, but in
reality to sit with Fanny for half an hour. There was nothing
to object to in that — Héloïse made sure never to leave them alone together — but Hawker would sometimes invite Fanny
to walk about the gardens, or go for a ride, or drive about the
park. This was less satisfactory, though Héloïse, if she did not
accompany them herself, which was not always possible,
made sure that Fanny's maid went with them, and, if they
were riding or driving, a reliable groom.