The Regency (82 page)

‘
Who was that gentleman, Fanny? He seemed to know
you,' Polly asked.

‘
It was a Mr Hawker — an acquaintance of my grandfather's. I met him in Manchester last year,' Fanny said
abruptly. Polly looked at her sideways in surprise, but did not
pursue the matter. She was not to know that Fanny had just
felt the flutter she had been idly wishing for, and had found it
more disturbing than she had bargained for.

*

The Earl of Wyndham sought out his brother at White's, and drawing him into a private room, flourished a letter, already
opened, whose seal bore the Aylesbury coronet.

‘
Well, Harvey, I have here Lady Aylesbury's final answer.
Shall I read it to you?’

Lord Harvey leaned against a high-backed armchair and
picked idly at the trim. 'You may save yourself the effort. Just
tell me what you have been deciding between you.’

Wyndham looked at him more kindly. 'I have only your
best interests at heart, Harvey. I'm deuced fond of you. I
wouldn't go to all this trouble on your behalf if I wasn't.'

‘
What trouble? The trouble of trying to separate me from
the woman I love?'

‘
Come now, there's no need for that sort of talk. Miss
Haworth is a nice girl, but there are plenty more fish in the
sea.’

Harvey jerked his head irritably. 'Spare me your plati
tudes! I suppose you have enlisted Lady Aylesbury's help in
parting us. You might as well have left it alone. I've neglected
my dear girl so badly this last week, she probably hates me
utterly.’

Wyndham looked startled at the choice of words. 'You
haven't declared yourself to Miss Haworth? You haven't done anything foolish?'

‘
No, of course not. I couldn't ask her to marry me, until I
know that I can support her as she ought to be supported.
That's why I've been avoiding her — curse my cowardice! Until
I've persuaded you to let me have her, I dare not let myself —’

Wyndham waved away the rest of the speech. 'You may
forget all that, my dear brother, for Lady Aylesbury has said
that she would categorically refuse your suit to Miss Haworth,
should you be foolhardy enough to press it. She is in
loco
parentis,
of course, while the good Captain is away — which is
likely to be for a long time.'

‘
What? Refuse? You mean you've
persuaded
her to refuse!'
Sale straightened up, his eyes glittering. 'Why, you unspeakable
swine —'

‘
Oh do stop blethering, Harvey,' Wyndham said, looking
pleased with himself. 'You haven't heard the all yet. Lady A. has agreed, on the most generous terms, for you to marry her
daughter, the lovely Lady Flaminia. The settlements are all
worked out, the Guv'nor approves, and all that's wanted now
is to decide the date. You're a lucky man, Harvey, for she's
one of the best catches of the Season, I can tell you!'

‘
You can tell me nothing about women! Lady Flaminia?
How can you even mention her in the same breath as Miss Haworth?'What is all this nonsense?'

‘
An earl's daughter — twenty thousand pounds, that's
what I'm talking about. A generous allowance from the
Guv'nor, and the Stainton estate for your own, absolutely
your own, until you inherit the title. I repeat, you're a lucky
man. Lady Flaminia's a sweet girl.'

‘
Your objections, then, don't cover the whole family?'
Harvey said contemptuously. 'The blood is good enough now
is it?'

‘
It's a different matter entirely,' Wyndham said, surprised.
'Surely you must see that? Lady Flaminia is the daughter of
an earl. Well, I never liked Aylesbury — not the boy, I mean
the late earl — but the Chetwyns are perfectly all right, and
his mother was a Cavendish. Now I suggest that we visit Lady
Aylesbury tomorrow morning, see the girl and all that sort of
thing —'

‘
Oh no,' said Harvey, shaking his head and backing off.
'You may prevent me from marrying the woman of my
choice, but you cannot force me to marry anyone else!’

Wyndham frowned. 'What are you talking about? Of
course I can — in exactly the same way. The Guv'nor and I
are agreed that this is a good match, and we want it
concluded as quickly as possible. It's time there was an heir. It don't do to leave these things to chance.'

‘
An heir?' Sale said in disgust. 'My God, you talk as if I
were breeding stock!'

‘Well, so you are, in a way.'

‘That's one thing you cannot force me to do.'

‘
Not force, exactly, but persuade. Your allowance will be
doubled when the gal produces. I think that's an attractive
offer, don't you?’

Sale's mouth twisted bitterly. 'My God, you think of every
thing, don't you?’

Wyndham smiled modestly. 'I try to. I think I have this time.' He looked at his brother kindly. 'Come, Harvey, be
sensible! The girl's a perfectly nice little thing, no harm in her
at all. You'll have a comfortable wife, a sufficient income, all
the consequence you could wish for. Think of your duty,
man! Think of the honour of the family. It ain't like you to be
selfish and wilful. You were always Papa's favourite you
know. It would break his heart if you were to go to the bad.’

Sale felt his stomach churning, as though he had physically
eaten the horrible situation, which was violently disagreeing
with him. Yet what could he do? A man could not live without
money — certainly could not marry without money — and
his was not a nature to thrive in poverty.

‘
Very well,' he said. 'You win — you and the power of
money between you.'

‘
You mean — you'll marry Lady Flaminia?' Wyndham felt
greatly relieved. He had not been sure, even though he
pretended to be, how far his brother's passionate nature might
drive him.

‘
Settle it how you please,' Sale said bitterly. 'I'll do my
duty like a man. Just keep out of my way for a day or two, will
you George?’

And he left the room without another word or a look.

*

Lucy came into the morning room where the three young
ladies were sewing and talking over the previous evening's
entertainment. They looked up as she came in — a little
cautiously, for Lucy's temper had been uncertain since
Africa's disappearance. Lucy surveyed them calmly and then
said, 'Fanny, I would like you to take your work into the
dining-parlour for a few minutes. I wish to talk to Polly and Minnie alone. I will call you back when I have done.’

It was not a voice to be argued with. Fanny said, 'Yes
Aunt,' meekly, picked up her work, and went into the next
room, closing the double-doors behind her. It took no more than one second's battle with her conscience before she laid
her ear to the join of the doors. One must fend for oneself in
this world, she told herself firmly.

In the next room, Lucy began, 'This concerns you only
indirectly, Polly, but I thought I might as well tell you
together. I have arranged a match for you, Minnie — a most
advantageous match, and I suppose I needn't tell you how
lucky you are to be spoken for so handsomely in your first
Season, when you are only sixteen?'

‘I am to be married, Mama?' Minnie said, bewildered.

‘Yes, married, and very soon. You will have an excellent
establishment, a handsome allowance, and the very finest of prospects for the future. Your future husband's family want
everything settled as quickly as possible, so I think I may
safely say you will be married by the end of the summer.’

Minnie stared at her, too taken aback by the unexpected
news to know what to think or say. Told that she was lucky,
she tried to feel herself so, but the idea was too strange to her
to be able to feel anything about it at all. Then she thought of
Lord Petersfield, and a little flush of pleasure and trepidation
passed through her. At last she managed to say, 'Who am I to
marry, Mama?'

‘
Lord Harvey Sale,' Lucy said. Hippolyta gave a little gasp
— as did the listening Fanny in the next room — but Lucy
went on without heeding it. 'His brother, Lord Wyndham,
has arranged everything with me in the handsomest manner. You will be Lady Harvey Sale, my dear, and at some time in
the future, you will be the Marchioness of Penrith, for
Wyndham doesn't mean to marry. As I said, Polly, this doesn't
really concern you, except that I believe at the beginning of
the Season, Sale was disposed to pay some attention to you,
and you may have thought it more serious than it really was.’

Since giving that initial, betraying gasp, Polly had listened
in silence, her hands clenched by her side, while a number of
thoughts rushed through her head. He had not loved her,
then! It had been nothing to him but a flirtation. Her own
affections had been deeply engaged, and he had trifled with
them. She was astonished he should be capable of it, for she
had thought she knew him. But then as Lucy looked at her
and uttered those last words, she understood what it was that
had happened. She saw how she had been slighted, not by
Lord Harvey, but by her own aunt and guardian! All the
humiliations of her dependency suddenly surfaced, and her
lifelong calm abandoned her.

‘
You
have done this!' she cried out in a low voice. 'You
have arranged it! I'll never forgive you.’

Lucy looked at her with hard eyes; and then, seeing how
she shook, she said sharply, 'Flaminia, go into the next room.’

Minnie ran, startled, almost knocking over Fanny as she pushed the door open. When they were alone, Lucy said to
Hippolyta, 'You must control yourself. This sort of passion
will do you no good.'

‘
The whole world has seen how he behaved towards me.
Everyone will know I am betrayed. You have humiliated me!
I shall be laughed at, derided!'

‘
You are not the first woman to be deceived by a man's
attentions, and you won't be the last,' Lucy said. 'Sale has
changed his mind, that's all. It happens all the time.'

‘
He doesn't care a jot for Minnie, and you know it. It's me
he loves! I wondered what had happened to him this last
week, and now I know. You forced him to betray me, you and Wyndham. How did you bring him to it, between you?'

‘
Betray you — nonsense! There was no promise between
you and Sale — therefore no betrayal. This is hysterical talk.
I'm sorry you should have fancied yourself in love with him,
but these things happen.'