The Regency (83 page)

‘
It didn't just happen. You made it happen, and all for your
own advantage, to see your daughter well married!' she cried passionately.

‘Hold your tongue,' Lucy said angrily.

‘
You've always hated me, haven't you? You were jealous of
our mother, and you hated me and Africa, and you've done
everything you can to ruin us. You sent her to school, though
she begged you not to, and drove her to run away, probably to
her death, and now —’

Lucy whitened, and stepping forward, struck Hippolyta on
the cheek. Polly's words were cut off with a little cry, and she
stood trembling, her eyes wide with shock.

Lucy was trembling too, but made herself speak softly.
‘You're beside yourself, Polly. I think you had better go to
your room and lie down until you are calm.’

Polly stared a moment longer, and then turned away.

‘
Think carefully before you speak again,' Lucy said quietly
to her retreating back. 'Remember your cousin is very fond of
you. You don't want to say anything to upset her, do you?’

Polly looked over her shoulder, a hard and bitter look. 'Upset
her? Did you think of her feelings at any point, while you
were selling her to Lord Wyndham?' she asked,
'Hypocrite!’

The last word was hardly louder than a whisper, but it was
feelingly spoken, and Lucy let her go in silence.

*

In the next room, Fanny removed her ear from the door, feeling
a little shaken, and gave her cousin, seated at the table quietly
sewing, a thoughtful look. Listening at doors was certainly
entertaining, might even be essential, if you were ever to learn what was going on; but there were some things you
might overhear which you could never repeat to anyone.

Fanny knew, better than Aunt Lucy, how devoted Minnie
was to Hippolyta. Though Polly was fond of Minnie, she
could have got on perfectly well without her — without any
one indeed. But if anything happened to shake Minnie's faith
in her beloved cousin, it would be the end of the world for
her. From the time she could walk, she had trotted after
Polly, leaned on her, borrowed her opinions and sought her
advice. Without her, she would pine away.

When Polly joined them an hour later, pale but composed,
she had evidently been thinking the same things, for the first thing she did was to go quietly up to her cousin and kiss her,
and congratulate her.

‘
I'm sure you will be very happy, Minnie dear,' she said,
and if Fanny could detect a strain in the voice, it was evident
Minnie did not. She beamed with pleasure.

‘
I'm so glad you like it after all, for when Mama told us, I
thought you did not,' she said. 'Indeed, I thought Lord Harvey
was
your
beau. He always asked you to dance before anyone
else.'

‘
Oh, that was nothing,' Polly said calmly, resuming her
seat and taking up her needlework again. 'We liked to dance
together, but there was never anything between us. He wasn't my beau, Minnie. It was a surprise to me, that's all.'

‘
It was to me, too,' Minnie said placidly, 'for I hadn't
thought about getting married — well, only a little, at the
beginning of the Season, but that was nothing. I suppose if
Mama says it is right, and if you like it, then it is the best
thing. After all, we have to get married some time, don't we?'

‘
I don't mean to get married for as long as possible,' Fanny
said with a grin, 'but it will suit you prodigously, Min.'

‘
Will it? Yes, I'm sure it will, if you say so. And you like him
too, don't you, Polly? Which will be pleasant, for we will all be together.’

Polly looked startled. 'What can you mean?’

Minnie looked up from her work. 'Well, you will be living
with me still, won't you? I don't want to go away if you do not
come.’

Fanny began to laugh quietly, and Polly glared at her, and
said, 'No, Minnie dear, when you marry we shall be parted.
You will live with your husband, and you won't need me.
That is the way of it.’

Minnie's eyes filled with tears. 'But it needn't be!' she
cried. 'Lots of married women have friends to live with them,
and I'm sure you would rather be with me than with Mama,
for you will have much more fun. I can't do without you,
Polly, indeed I can't! Please say you'll come! Please don't
make me go away without you!’

Fanny bit her lip and kept her face bent over her work, as
Polly began the hopeless task of trying to persuade her cousin
to give her up. Oh, it was the greatest fun! Fanny thought.
Minnie was the stubbornest creature alive if ever she did
decide on anything, and Polly would be obliged to give in at
last, even if only to save her pride, and let people know she
had not really cared for Sale at all. What a
ménage a trois
that
would be, to be sure! Love, Fanny thought, makes such fools
of people!

‘
Mama, may I speak to you, please?' Bobbie asked, coming
into the blue saloon, where Roberta sat placidly sewing in the window-seat.

‘
Of course, darling.' She looked up and smiled at him.
Bobbie thought that since she had married Mr Firth and
taken to wearing prettier caps, she looked younger and more
beautiful than ever. 'What is it?'

‘It's about Marcus.’

Roberta laid her work aside and patted the seat beside her,
and Bobbie sat down and fixed her with an earnest gaze. 'Oh
dear, is it something serious?' she asked with mock alarm.

‘
Well, yes, it is, sort of,' Bobbie said, frowning. 'I wanted to
ask you — Mama, have I got any money?'

‘
What an extraordinary question! What do you mean?
Have you overspent your allowance? There's no need to look
so worried, my dear — I can give you a shilling or two, if
there's some little thing you want to buy.'

‘
No, Mama, it's not that. I mean, I know I'm the Earl of
Chelmsford and all that, but does that mean I have any
money? Or is it just the title?'

‘
No, darling, of course it isn't. There's lots of money,
invested in all sorts of places — in the Funds, in forests and
mines and factories and houses. It's all yours, although of
course I am your trustee until you are twenty-one.’

Bobbie looked more than ever concerned. ‘So I can't have
any of it until I'm twenty-one?'

‘
I didn't say that, precisely.' Roberta looked at him
shrewdly. 'Darling, what is all this? Perhaps you had better tell
me from the beginning. And what has it to do with Marcus?
Don't tell me you have lost some prodigious sum of money to
him at macao? If it's more than a guinea, I shall have to stop
you playing for pennies, for it's only meant to be fun between
you, you know. I shouldn't like to think you're developing a
taste for gaining.’

Bobbie flushed. No, Mama, it's nothing like that. But it is
more than a guinea I need.'

‘How much more.'

‘
I'm not sure exactly, but I think it might be about two
thousand pounds,' Bobbie said carefully. 'Would there be as
much money as that in the estate?’

Roberta stared. 'You want two thousand pounds? For
Marcus? Good God, has he been kidnapped?’

Bobbie laughed. 'Oh no, Mama, of course not! It's for his
colours.' Illumination spread over Roberta's face, and Bobbie went on, 'You see, the one thing Marcus wants in the world is
to be an officer like his papa, and to go to war, and he's so
afraid it will be over before he's had a chance to fight. And his
mother won't buy him a commission because — well, you
know how she is, Mama.' Delicacy forbade Bobbie's naming
her parsimony for what it was. ‘So I thought that, as he is my cousin, and we are friends, and he lives with us, which makes
him almost like my brother — well, I thought perhaps I might
be able to buy his colours for him. If there's enough money.'

‘
Oh, there's enough money. There's twenty thousand in the
Funds alone,' Roberta said. 'As sole trustee, I can authorise a
release of capital, if I think the case is justified. But, darling,
two thousand pounds is a great deal of money, just to be given
away.'

‘
It doesn't seem a lot, when I have so very much,' Bobbie
said tentatively.

‘
And it isn't only the capital, you know: there's the income
that would be lost as well.’

His face fell. 'You mean I can't have it? Only if I wait until
I'm twenty-one, it might be too late.’

She regarded him thoughtfully. ‘Do you want this very
much?' she asked.

His eyes lit. 'Oh yes, beyond anything! You see, Marcus has
always been so good to me; and he is heir presumptive to the estate, isn't he, Mama? If anything happened to me, it would
all be his anyway.'

‘
Nothing is going to happen to you,' she said quickly.
‘Well, but if I didn't get married, or didn't have a son,
Marcus would have everything, so it seems only fair to let him
have a bit now, when it's something he wants so much. And I
don't mind about losing the income, because even if I have to go without new clothes or eat cabbage or anything like that, it
will be worth it. Marcus is a trump card, you know, Mama!’

She smiled at the idea, and then added seriously, 'You love
him very much, don't you?’

Bobbie looked cautious at the use of the word. 'I like him
awfully. Don't you?'

‘
Yes, of course,' Roberta said absently. 'Well, darling, I
can't give you my decision right away. I shall have to think
about it, and ask Mr Firth for his opinion. And I shall have to
consult the lawyers about it, too. That will all take time.'

‘
Yes, I understand. Only you will say yes after all, won't
you Mama?' Bobbie said with a winning smile.

‘
I can't promise anything yet. Go along with you, now.' He
got up to leave her, and she called to him as he reached the
door, saying, 'Bobbie, did Marcus put you up to this?'
Bobbie turned, looking vexed and upset. 'Of course not!' he
cried. 'He'd never ask me for anything. He doesn't even know
I'm asking you.'