The Regency (70 page)

‘
Oh, it's so good to be home!' she cried a dozen times,
hugging her mother round the waist.
‘Chère petite Maman,
it's been a hundred years! Now I must go and see Monsieur
Barnard, and give him the picture I drew for him. Look,
Maman, don't you think he'll like it? It's the view from our
window in Queen Square. Come on, Nicholas, hurry up! All
right, I'll tell you the story about the three little pigs as we
go.’

Africa was just as glad to be home, but for different reasons.

‘
I wish I never had to go back there, Aunt Héloïse,' she said as soon as she arrived. 'It's awful. I was punished for climbing
a tree — can you imagine? They shut you up all day, and
make you recite the dates of battles and play the piano and paint silly vases of dried flowers. Why, my tars could paint
the most amazing things on tiny pieces of bone, and they'd
actually fought in the battles, and they taught me a hundred
and seven songs before I was eight years old. And Miss Brabant
said it was unladylike to dance the hornpipe and the sword-
dance. Unladylike!'

‘
Oh dear,' Héloïse said anxiously, 'I know it is difficult,
dear Africa, but it is necessary for you to learn to be a lady.
You will have to live all your life on shore, you know, and it is
best that you get used to it as soon as possible. Does Sophie
hate it too?'

‘
Oh no,' said Africa frankly. 'She likes it. But then she'd
like anything, she's so good-natured. Only she does get home
sick, Aunt Héloïse. Couldn't we both stay home here, after
all? I shouldn't mind so much, if I could be out in the fields,
and not in a town, with all those other mimsy girls; and
Sophie wouldn't mind anything, if only she could be here.'

‘
I wish you might,
chérie.
I will see what can be done,'
Héloïse said anxiously. 'In the meantime, perhaps you had
better go out and climb every tree in the orchard, just to
make you feel better. I promise I shan't mind.’

Africa grinned. 'That's all right, Aunt. Before I left school,
I climbed up the flagpole on the roof and hoisted a signal —
well, a chemise, actually, but I think everyone will understand
what it meant.'

‘The flagpole?' Héloïse said faintly.

‘
On the roof,' Africa said mercilessly. 'There was such a
nice breeze up there.'

‘Oh dear,' said Héloïse.

Then Fanny came home, fetched by her father from Man
chester, and arriving in style, demanding all the consequence
of the young mistress returning home. Héloïse found her
improved during her stay in Manchester beyond expectation:
she had gone away a child on the brink of womanhood; she came back every inch a young lady. Though Miss Rosedale
was not due to return until September, Héloïse for once
anticipated no trouble from Fanny in the meantime. She did
not quarrel with Sophie or Africa, or throw tantrums, or
demand unreasonable privileges. Even Edward found himself,
quite against his own wishes, enjoying her company at dinner,
and listening to her conversation with pleasure.

‘
The next thing, I suppose, will be her come-out,' Edward
said to James one evening when the three girls were out of the
room.

James looked taken aback. 'Oh, not yet, surely.'

‘
She'll be sixteen in October,' Héloïse reminded him over
her sewing.

‘
Sixteen's too young to come out,' James said, more with
hope than conviction. 'She's still only a child.'

‘
But you've only got to listen to her conversation, Jamie,' said Edward. 'All about the people she's met and the parties
she's been to. You'll never keep her in the schoolroom now. It
wouldn't be reasonable to try. You've given her a taste of
grown-up life, and now she'll want the rest.’

James looked rueful. 'It isn't that I mind the idea of her
going to parties. But as soon as she's out, the fortune-hunters
will come buzzing around her. I was hoping not to have to
fight off suitors for a few years yet.'

‘
Keeping her in the schoolroom won't stop her having
suitors,' Edward said. 'You heard her talk. What was all that about a militia officer? And from what she said, this Cousin
Jasper was pretty jealous of him.'

‘Fanny exaggerates,' Héloïse said peaceably.

‘
That's right,' James said. 'She likes the idea of having
suitors, but I'm sure they weren't really interested in her.
Besides, she won't be in the way of seeing them again. Hawker's
been posted to Nottingham, and Cousin Jasper's firmly tied to
the factories.’

Edward shrugged. 'I don't see that it matters. The point is,
as you said yourself, she likes having admirers. She likes going
to parties. You can't expect her to go back to wearing pina
fores and reciting the kings and queens of England all day.’

The girls re-entering the room closed the conversation. It
was Héloïse who brought it up again, when she and James
were alone together in their bedchamber. The servants had
just gone, leaving them to linger over a last glass of wine
before getting into bed.

‘
James, I was thinking about Fanny's come-out. Edward
is
quite right, you know.'

‘
I'm not bringing her out at sixteen,' James said, with all
the firmness of an uncertain man.

‘
Sixteen is very young,' Héloïse agreed, 'but I was married
when I was fourteen.'

‘And was it a happy experience?'

‘
You know that it was not. But Fanny is old for her age;
and letting her come out does not mean that you are obliged
to let her marry. I think it is better for her to come out while
she is still young enough to be influenced by you. Let her
meet all the fortune-hunters and bad men now, while you can
still chase them away; then, in a year or two, when all the
excitement over her has died down, you may find her a real,
true man, whom she will love. But if she does not come out
until she is eighteen, she will be all the more likely to fall in
love with the first man she sees, and he will be, as likely as
not, unsuitable.’

James listened in silence, turning his wine glass in his hand and watching the reflection of the candle-flame deep in its red
heart.

‘I don't want my little girl to grow up,' he said at last.

‘
I know,' Héloïse said gently, 'but she will do that anyway,
my James. She
is
doing it. And one day there will be a man
who means more to her than you. That is something you have
to accept.’

After a moment, without taking his eyes from the candle's reflected flame, he stretched out a hand to her, and she came
and knelt beside him in the circle of his arm, resting her head
against his chest.

‘
Yes, I know,' he sighed. 'I just didn't want it to be yet.
What do you suggest, then? That we bring her out as soon as
she's sixteen?'

‘
I think you might have a birthday dinner and ball here,
and let her have the Little Season in York, to give her experience,' Héloïse said. 'And then she could have her first proper
Season in London next year.'

‘
A London Season?' James said, without enthusiasm. 'I
suppose that means taking a house and spending three intermi
nable months there.’

Héloïse laughed. 'Here is your real reason for not wanting
to bring Fanny out! But I think you may be spared it. Flaminia
will be sixteen in March, and I know Lucy means to bring
her and Hippolyta out together. I think if you ask she will
agree to take on Fanny as well. The three girls can have a
joint ball, and then they will be able to go everywhere
together, which will be more pleasant for them, and safer.'

‘
And you mean I won't have to do anything?' James
brightened.

‘
Only pay for Fanny's Court dress, share the cost of the
ball, and attend it, of course. After that, you may come home
and let Lucy do all the work and worry for you.'

‘
That seems most unfair,' he said happily. 'And what about
you? Will you have to stay in London with Fanny? For if you
do, I shan't want to come home alone.’

Héloïse smiled at him. 'I shall have other things to think
about in March, my heart's darling. I shall have the best
excuse in the world to stay home.’

He grunted absently, his mind busy elsewhere; and then
as the import of her words struck him, he screwed his
head round to look down at her. 'What? Héloïse, you don't
mean —?’

She laughed. 'Oh yes, I do. Hadn't you guessed? Some
times,
mon âme,
you are not very noticing.'

‘
But how —?' He thought furiously. 'The night Nez Carré
died?' She nodded, her eyes brimming with laughter, 'Oh my
darling! So it will be due — when?'

‘
The beginning of March. Our new baby will come with the
new lambs.'

‘
Our new baby!' He tried the words, and laughed aloud,
and held her against him. 'Oh Marmoset, I do love you!’

‘
I love you too, my James.'

‘
I hope it's a boy.' He kissed her brow. 'Or a girl. I don't mind really. Oh my darling!' She turned her lips up for his
kisses, and then watched as the first astonished, grateful joy
faded from his face, to be replaced with apprehension.

‘No, don't,' she begged him. 'Don't look like that.'

‘
I can't help it. Marmoset, this is all wrong. You shouldn't
be pregnant. You know what Lucy said. I shouldn't have —
oh, it was all my fault! My selfish, selfish folly!'

‘
Don't James,' she said with tears in her eyes. 'I can't bear
it. You must be glad about the baby. It was meant to be —
you must see that, remembering how it came about. God
meant it, and God will take care of us. You must be glad from
the beginning — the child deserves it.'

‘
Glad that you are risking your life? Glad that you must
run the gauntlet for seven months, and then —’

She pulled back from his abruptly and stood up. 'Stop it! I
shall become very angry.' She bit her lip and turned away
from him, hiding her face. James was stricken with a double guilt — that he had made her pregnant, and now that he was
making her unhappy. He drew his breath, assembled his
thoughts, held out his hand to her again.

‘
I'm sorry, my darling. Of course I'm happy about the baby
— how could I be anything else? I wish we could have a dozen
children. It's only your health I'm worried about. If anything
happened to you —’