The Regency (16 page)

‘You're right,' she discovered.

‘
Of course I am. It is the beginning of your cure. Come and
share my box at the theatre tomorrow. I will get together a
little party of old friends — Mildmay and Alvanley and
Wiske. Do you like Charlotte Bouverie? I might ask you to
invite her, for Mildmay's sake, for he's most fearfully in love
with her! And we'll have supper afterwards at the White
Horse, and eat the last oysters of the year, with a great deal of champagne.'

‘Thank you — I'd like that.’

He smiled. 'You have the rest of today and tomorrow to
consider what you will wear. I wish you to dazzle, Lady
Aylesbury. Nothing less will do.’

He helped her into the curricle, and she waved her whip to
him as she drove away.

‘
I wonder if there is time to have something new made up?'
she said aloud.

‘My lady?' Parslow enquired.

‘
I think I'll drive to Grafton House, and see what new mus
lins they have in. I'm bound to have to wait at this time of
day, so you can take the horses home, and send Docwra for me; for if I find anything I like, I shall walk round to Madame Genoux's afterwards, and come home in a hackney.'

‘
Yes, my lady,' Parslow said impassively, but with a hidden
smile of satisfaction. It was a long time since his mistress had
shewn any interest in clothes, and the change could only be
for the better. Inwardly he blessed Mr Brummell not only for
a kind and loyal, but an intelligent friend.

*

At the beginning of June, Héloïse arrived at Chelmsford
House in Pall Mall and found it covered in scaffolding and
thronging with workmen, inside and out. Her old friend
Roberta, the widowed Lady Chelmsford, was no less hospit
able on that account.

‘
You have come to stay, I hope? We can make you comfort
able, never fear, in spite of all this turmoil. Did you come
straight here?'

‘
I called at Upper Grosvenor Street, but Lucy was not
there, so I left my card and then came here. Dear Roberta, you are looking very well! What is it you are doing to this
handsome house?'

‘
The roof to begin with — it was in a sad state. Athersuch
tells me some of the lead was stolen during the time we lived
in Ebury Street, and the thieves must have loosened some of
the slates. And then the outside is to be repainted, and we are
having all the principal rooms redecorated, too. Mr. Firth's
idea is that if we confine the decorators to one end of the house at a time, we may manage to survive without being
driven to distraction, but already I wonder if he is right. The
smell of paint gets into one's food so.'

‘Does all this work mean something special?'

‘No, it was what was needed, that's all. I can't let Bobbie's
inheritance go to rack and ruin during his minority. This is a fine old house, and I want it to be fit for him to inherit when
he comes of age.'

‘Well, it means at least that the war is not pressing on your
finances,' Héloïse said practically. 'I am glad to hear it. James
tells me that Bonaparte's embargo on our ships is already
beginning to cause bankruptcies.'

‘
Oh, the Berlin Decrees! Mr Firth explained it all to me,'
Roberta said. 'But the Chelmsford fortune is very widely
invested. The fifth Earl — my late husband's father — had
interests all over the world. I think we even own a munitions
factory in Russia! So Mr Firth thinks the embargo isn't likely
to affect us seriously.'

‘
James says it is the iron and textile trades which will suffer
the most, for they export a great deal to Europe. I know
Fanny's grandpapa, Mr Hobsbawn, says the demand for his
cotton has fallen in the last few months. He writes to Edward
about it.'

‘Not to James?’

Héloïse shrugged. 'He still finds it hard to forgive James for
marrying me so soon after his daughter's death. But it could
not be helped — we could not have waited any longer, not for
anything in the world! And he will probably be even more
vexed with James when he learns of my condition.’

Roberta stared. 'Héloïse, my dear — you don't mean —!’

Héloïse laughed, her eyes shining. 'Yes,
I
do mean,' she
laughed. 'Dear Roberta, I know you will rejoice with me when
I tell you that I am with child.'

‘
You sly thing, why didn't you say so at once? Oh my dear!
I am so happy for you! But when?'

‘In January. I am only just sure about it.'

‘
Does James know? And he let you travel all this way alone,
the villain!'

‘
I wasn't alone, I had Marie with me. He would have come
too, but he is very busy at the moment, and I told him I did
not need him. It would not quite have suited me to have him here, because apart from wanting to buy things for the baby,
I wanted to consult you and your wise Mr Firth about Fanny.'

‘
Ah yes, Fanny!' Roberta said thoughtfully. 'I must say I
did wonder when you and James got married, whether you
would have trouble with her. Has she settled down at all?’

Héloïse made a face. 'I wish I could say she has, but I
believe she hates me more than ever. Is that a terrible thing to
say about a child?'

‘
I expect she's jealous,' Roberta said briskly. 'She was
always allowed too much freedom, and James spoiled her. She
needs to be taken in hand, that's all.'

‘
Bien sur,
that is what she needs — but I cannot do it,
pa se
volt.'

‘
Of course not — nor should you have to. She needs a
governess.'

‘
So I thought,' Héloïse nodded, 'and I persuaded James at
last of the same thing. But Fanny did not like the idea.'

‘
Fanny should not be given the choice,' Roberta said
firmly.

‘
She was not, I assure you. I found a suitable woman and
James engaged her — a Miss Pinckus. She was with us a
week.'

‘
You found she wasn't suitable after all?'

‘
But she was! She spoke German and Italian, and played
the pianoforte, and had very good references. James liked her,
and I thought her a genteel sort of person.'

‘
Then what happened?' Roberta asked, but with a suspi
cion that she already knew the answer.

‘
She came after a week and said she would not stay. We
asked her why, but she only cried and went away. So we. looked again and found Miss Leggat. She was younger —James thought too young, but I thought Fanny would like
better someone more lively. She sang very prettily, and played
the harp, which made her more expensive.'

‘And?'

‘
She was made of sterner stuff — she stayed a month, and
only left when someone — we do not know who — cut the
strings from her harp one night. It cost a great deal to have it
restrung, but James felt it was only right, even though —'

‘Héloïse, you can't mean that Fanny —?'

‘
Who can say? It must have taken a long time, even with a
hacksaw, which was missing from the blacksmith's shop in
the village. Miss Leggat was a sound sleeper, and would not
have noticed, perhaps, if Fanny crept out in the night. The
dogs in the hall did not bark, as they would for an intruder.
But nothing could he proved, even if one really wanted to;
which, dear Roberta, you must see one did not.’

No, I can see that,' Roberta said thoughtfully. 'But
Héloïse, if it was Fanny — it is all worse than I imagined!’

Héloïse nodded. 'Miss Bantry said that Fanny was a
monster.'

‘Miss Bantry? Was she another one?'

‘
Three in three months — quite an achievement, is it not?
Miss Bantry had Irish blood, which made her more outspoken
— or perhaps Fanny was less cautious. She endured the frog
in her reticule, and the chicken's pluck in her bed, but it was the eye that upset her.’

Roberta's cheek muscles twitched. 'The eye?' she managed
to say.

Héloïse's face was likewise rigid. 'The poor woman had an accident in her extreme youth, and lost an eye, and to replace it she had a glass one. It was a very nice one made by a crafts
man, and I must say that one did not at once notice the
difference. She was not unpleasant to look at. But at night
she kept her false eye in a glass of water by the bed, and one
night Fanny stole it and replaced it with a sheep's eye.’

Roberta moaned. 'Where —'

‘
I cannot begin to guess.' Héloïse put her hands over her
face and shook with laughter. ‘Oh it is too bad of me,' she said
at last reproachfully. 'Poor Miss Bantry shrieked and
shrieked! The whole house came running. We thought she
had been murdered in her bed; but there she was in her
nightgown and curling-papers, and the eye on her bed where
she had dropped it, staring at her, and her staring at the
eye —'

‘
She's right, Fanny is a monster,' Roberta said at last,
drying her eyes. 'But in all seriousness, Héloïse,' she added,
sobering rapidly, 'that sort of thing cannot be allowed to go
on.'

‘
I know — and that is why I have come to consult. I
thought that you and Mr Firth between you might be able to
advise me how to find a woman strong enough to stop Fanny.'

‘Who is looking after her at the moment?'

‘
Oh, she is spending her days with James, which of course makes her happy and good. I told you in a letter how her dog
was run over, did I not? James wanted to give her another,
but she refused to have one, so he has decided instead to give
her a new horse, instead of Tempest. A proper, lady's horse.
He has let her choose one of the young mares, and they are
training it together. Of course there is nothing she could like
better. It keeps her occupied, and she had her father's
company all day long. So while I am sure she will not do any
harm, I have taken the chance to come here.'

‘Does she know about your expectations?' Roberta asked thoughtfully.

‘
No. I asked James not to tell her yet. I don't know what it
might provoke her to do.' Héloïse bit her lip. 'It is dreadful to
have to say it,' she added in a low voice, 'but I am afraid for
Sophie and Thomas, too.’

Roberta became brisk. 'Don't worry any more, dearest
Héloïse. Peter — Mr Firth and I will do everything we can to
help you. We'll find the right person, never fear. And don't
forget, it's early days yet. Fanny will settle down in time,
provided she has the right guidance. She's only a little girl,
after all.’