The Regency (116 page)

‘
What? Oh, that — no, it's nothing. Nothing at all. If you'll
excuse me, I think I would like to be alone for a little,' she
said, and hurried out to find the solitude to settle her fluttering
nerves.

*

Fanny adored Vienna; she loved being abroad, she loved the
society — a mixture of dashing officers, diplomats, and the nobility of five nations — and she loved the heady, tingling
feeling of power that filled the air: the intrigue, the negoti
ations, the unspoken alliances made and broken all in an
evening upon the dance floor or across the green baize.

She loved gaming, and quickly became addicted to the new
game of
roulette,
as well as to hazard, and the various card
games, and billiards. She loved dancing, especially the waltz,
which was not regarded here as anything untoward, and she
never lacked for partners: pretty Mrs Hawker was the favourite
of all the officers. She was filled with unappeasable energy,
danced until four in the morning, and rose again at ten to be
out riding in the park, driving in the Prater, to be rowed
down the river Wien in a scrolled and gilded pleasure-boat, to
picnic in the Wienerwald, or on the soft green curves of the
hills that embraced the lovely grey and gold-domed city.

And in the evening there was the Opera, and the ballet,
and the theatre; and dancing, dancing, dancing in a hundred
handsome, baroque-fronted palaces whose great ballrooms
glittered and shimmered with gilding and mirrors and crystal lustres and a thousand winking points of candlelight. Thanks
to her Aunt Lucy, she moved in the inner circle which
revolved about the Lord Castlereagh himself and the
principal politicians of the five nations. Lady Theakston knew
everyone, and carelessly presented generals and ambassadors
and princes to her wondering niece. Mrs Hawker became
known as a dashing rider, a cool gambler, a witty talker, and
a tireless waltzer; and she knew how to flirt, too, daringly, but
never beyond the line of what was agreeable.

Her husband watched her growing fame with amusement.
‘You will be notorious, Fanny,' he said one morning as she sat
up in bed devouring a large breakfast, despite her late night.
‘Well for you that you have me here in the background to
guarantee your respectability.’

She looked up from within the frame of her tumbled hair.
Her yellow silk robe, embroidered with crimson birds of para
dise, was slipping from her bare shoulders, and her fingers
were sticky with cherry jam, and she disturbed his senses. ‘I
adore being a married woman!' she cried. 'I love being able to go where I please, and speak to anyone I like, and dance with
anyone and drive with anyone, without all the old tabbies
talking and shaking their heads! It is the best fun in the
world!’

Hawker laughed. ‘Is that all you like about being married?’

‘
Oh no,' she said promptly. 'I adore you, too.'

‘
Generous!' he said, sliding a hand inside her robe, and
making her wriggle. Her eyelids drooped at once, but she said,
‘Oh, let me finish my breakfast! Marcus is coming at ten with Colonel Brooke to take me to see the manoeuvres, and it takes
Beaver for ever to curl my hair.’

Hawker removed his hand. ‘Never turn away love, Fanny,'
he said solemnly. 'There is no knowing if it will be offered
again.’

Her eyes were instantly wide. 'Oh no! Don't say so! I didn't
mean it, Fitz!' She flung herself against him across the tray,
upsetting her cup, and he felt her sticky fingers on the back of
his neck and her lips on his. 'I love you so!' she cried, kissing
him fervently. He returned her kisses with interest, and then
detached her hands and licked the sweetness from them.

‘
It's all right, Fanny, I was only funning,' he said, giving
her back her hands.

She pouted. 'Unscrupulous!' she remarked, setting her cup
upright and mopping the mess carelessly with a damask
napkin. 'One day, Fitzherbert Hawker, you'll go too far.'

‘As you do every day,
cara mia.
Don't think I didn't see you flirting with Lord Hill last night!'

‘
Oh, but he's such a sweet old man,' she said quickly. 'He
asked about you, too. I told him all about you.'

‘Good God, Fanny, what have you said now?’

The truth,' she said, watching him from under lowered
lids. 'That you are a fine soldier and a brilliant diplomat. He
was very interested.'

‘
You're learning to intrigue,' he said, shaking his head. ‘So
much for your innocence.' She laughed and spread cherry
jam on another of the sweet rolls the hotel was famous for.
‘You like it here, don't you, Fanny?'

‘I love it! I wish we might stay for ever!’

He laughed. 'It may even be possible. You know what they are saying: "The Congress dances, but makes no progress"! It
may be that Castlereagh and Metternich and the rest will go
on talking for ever.'

‘
But aren't you happy?' she asked, detecting a touch of
melancholy in his tone.

‘
Of course I am, love. It's just that I feel — restless, I suppose.
It's so long since I've had nothing to worry about, that I
feel a little lost. A life of unending pleasure was always my
goal, but I'm not used to having it without struggle.’

Fanny shrugged. 'Then intrigue! Everybody else does.'

‘
I might have an affair, of course,' he pretended to muse.
‘There are a great many handsome women in Vienna, and
keeping it a secret from you would exercise my intellect.’

She eyed him warily. 'Whom had you in mind?'

‘
Oh, I don't know. There's Lady Castlereagh — she must
want a lover as much as anyone, poor thing. And your aunt,
Lady Theakston, is a very handsome woman.’

She laughed in relief. 'Oh, now I know you're only funning!
You would not care for Aunt Lucy — she is not at all your
type, as prickly as a hedgehog, besides being as flat as a
boy.' She glanced down complacently at the curves her yellow
silk covered; they were even fuller now than before she was
married. 'But talking of Aunt Lucy, she's asked us to her box
at the Opera tonight. Should I accept, Fitz? I know we are
dining with the Angleseys, but will they expect us to go to the
Opera with them as well?'

‘
No, my darling, we can accept your aunt's invitation if
you like. I dare say she will be inviting some high-ranking
diplomat as well, to keep me amused while you're flirting with
all the passing red-coats.’

Fanny finished her breakfast, and Hawker put the tray
aside for her. 'I suppose I had better get up,' she said, stretching
comfortably, like a cat. 'Aunt Lucy was talking the other
day about going back to England. She has to bring out
my cousin next Season, and says she might go home after
Christmas. Will we have to go too?’

She had put the question idly, but Hawker eyed her care
fully, and decided the moment had come.

‘
You may go home, Fanny, any time you like. I cannot.'
She looked surprised. 'What do you mean? Of course you
can.'

‘
No, Fanny. There was an agreement — the condition on
which I was allowed to marry you. I am not to set foot in
England until you come of age.’

She paled. 'What are you talking about? This is nonsense,
Fitz! Who made you promise such a thing?'

‘
Your honoured trustee, of course. He had no desire to be
living under the same roof with me, and I can't say I entirely
blame him.’

Her lips thinned with temper. 'He had no right! And why
did you promise? There was no need — I told you they could
not stop us marrying! Why didn't you trust me? But there is
nothing he can do to enforce it, after all,' she reflected. 'You
must ignore the promise. It was extracted unfairly, and does
not count.'

‘
Fanny, darling, your uncle holds the purse-strings, don't
you understand that? What do you think we are living on
while we are here? How do you think we can afford to stay in
this hotel? How do you think I pay for all your pretty clothes,’

he said, caressing a silken curve, ‘and the cases of wine and
brandy, and the pleasant evenings of macao and hazard?
Your uncle pays me a very handsome allowance, but on the
condition that I live abroad for the next two years. If I return
to England, he will stop the payments.'

‘He can't! I won't let him!' she cried in fury.

‘
He can,' Hawker assured her calmly. 'He has complete
discretion. You know that.'

‘
It's abominable!' she raged. 'He has no right to treat you
so. You are my husband! Well, we'll defy him! You shall not
be forced into exile because of that — that hateful old man!'

‘
I can't live on nothing, love. I am an expensive man,' he
said gently.

‘
He can't stop my allowance. I shall give it to you. You
shall have every penny.’

He kissed her hand. 'I honour your intentions,' he said,
‘but it won't do. Your allowance is only just enough for you.
You're a luxurious little thing, Fanny, and take a deal of
keeping! But come, love, don't look so down! It's only two years — less than two years, now. The time will pass very
quickly, and then we shall be able to do just as we please.'

‘
I don't want to be without you,' she said, close to tears. 'I
can't bear it! Two years is a lifetime!’

He shrugged. 'Well, then, little one, stay here with me.’

She looked at him anxiously, her eyes dangerously bright,
her lips trembling. 'How can I?' she said. ‘I must go home.
Morland Place is mine. I have to be there. There's no knowing
what he will do if I'm away for long. He'll ruin it — he
has no idea of business. And then there's Grandpapa's mills.
He said he would cut me out of his will if I married you, and I
must go and see him soon, to bring him round my thumb
again. I know I can do it if I see him myself, but I dare not
leave it too long. He's been ill, you know, and if he should die
before I get to him —'

‘
Yes, I understand,' Hawker said. 'Business must come
first. I quite see the necessity. You had better go home with
your aunt after Christmas.'