“He smiled as he spoke,” Lady Esther related, “and I thought he might at that point ask me to marry him. But all he said was, ‘I believe your lady’s maid is some relation of hers. A few days ago when I met her in the corridor she asked me if I had seen Nanny since I came home’.”
Lady Esther stopped speaking and Lord Bayford exclaimed,
“Your lady’s maid? Well, that might be useful! Find out from her what Ivan is doing. If she does not know, persuade her to write to his old Nanny. More than likely you will hear nothing, but one never knows.”
“One never knows!” Lady Esther repeated slowly. “And we cannot leave a stone unturned to get Ivan back!”
Chapter Five
When she was dressing for dinner, Lady Esther said to Lucy as casually as she could make it sound,
“I understand that the Marquis of Windlesham has living at Windle Court his old Nanny and she is some relation of yours.”
There was a pause before Lucy replied,
“Yes, my Lady.”
“How interesting,” Lady Esther said. “Do you often hear from her?”
“Oh, no, my Lady,” Lucy answered quickly.
Lady Esther was quite certain that she was lying. She could not, however, think what she could do about it.
She therefore said no more, but thought that somehow, sooner or later, she would trap Lucy in some way.
In the meantime she wrote several frantic letters to the Marquis and all of them remained unanswered.
She also asked a number of her friends to call at Windle House to hear if there was any news of him.
There had been none.
As the days passed, Lady Esther began to be more and more anxious.
“He will have to come back sometime,” she told Lord Bayford for the hundredth time. “Only last night when I was at Carlton House His Royal Highness said, ‘what has happened to your young man? He is in the country, Sire,’ I replied, ‘and finding the cabbages so alluring that I am afraid he has forgotten me!”’
“I suppose ‘Prinny’ laughed at that!” Lord Bayford said.
“Oh, heartily!” Lady Esther snapped. “But I felt like screaming.”
“As you say,” Lord Bayford remarked, “he will have to come back sometime. I am sure that the Prime Minister will want him, even if he has done all that was required from him at the War Office.”
“Can we manage until he does return?” Esther asked sourly.
“Not really,” Lord Bayford answered. “I have gained a commission from one of the new members of White’s, a rather stupid boy who has just come to London. It will help a bit.”
“You are so clever, Roger,” Lady Esther said, “that you deserve to have money, you do really.”
“That is what I think,” Lord Bayford agreed, “but Fate seems to decree otherwise.”
The following day Fate moved in Lady Esther’s favour.
She was passing through the hall when she realised that the postman was at the door and he was handing over a pile of letters to one of the footmen.
He took it from the man and closed the door.
Then he put the letters down on the hall table and started to walk towards the pantry.
“Where are you going?” Lady Esther asked.
“I’m goin’ to fetch Mr. Burke, my Lady, to sort out these letters.”
Lady Esther did not say anything, but she knew that he was unable to sort them himself because he could not read.
As he ran down the passage, she went to the table to turn over the letters.
There were several invitations as well as a number of letters from friends whose handwriting she recognised.
There was, however, nothing from the Marquis.
Then at the very bottom of the pile she saw a letter addressed to Lucy.
She picked it up.
Swiftly, because she heard footsteps, which were doubtless those of the butler, she hurried up the stairs.
Her bedroom was empty and she then locked the door.
Very carefully she opened the envelope addressed to her lady’s maid.
She realised as she read the address at the top of the thin paper that it was from the Marquis’s Nanny.
This was what she wanted.
Nanny’s father had been the village schoolmaster and she wrote and spelt far better than her niece.
Her handwriting was rounded and neat and, because she was used to reading books to children she had looked after, she could express herself well.
Lady Esther read,
“My dear Lucy,
Thank you for your long letter, which I found very worrying. However things have altered a great deal since you wrote.
His Lordship came home and announced his intention of staying in the country, which has delighted everyone.
What is more, Miss Sedela has persuaded him to give a large party not only for the Gentry but for everyone who lives in his villages.
It takes place next Saturday and you’ll hardly believe it, but there’s to be a circus, one of the big ones, which has lions and tigers, snakes and monkeys. Things as we’ve never seen in these parts before.
On top of that there’s to be fireworks, which no one, except yours truly has ever caught a sight of before.
Anyway you can imagine the excitement and it’s all due to Miss Sedela who’s arranging everything with, of course, his Lordship's approval. We all knows how clever he is at planning a campaign, whether it be troops or just people like us.
Anyway, dear, I think we needn't worry any more that he might marry Lady E and we can thank God for that!
Take care of yourself and write again soon,
With love from your affectionate
Aunt Mary.”
Lady Esther read the letter slowly so that she would remember every word and then she re-sealed it.
When she went downstairs, she sent the footman on an errand.
When he was gone, she threw the letter onto the floor under the table so that it looked as if it had fallen there.
She then went into the drawing room and waited for Lord Bayford, who had promised to come to luncheon.
That was, however, in the early hours of the morning when he was tired and she hoped that he had not forgotten.
In which case she would have to send for him later.
Her fears were groundless as it turned out for at a quarter-to-one he was announced.
“Good morning, Esther,” he began, coming into the room.
He was looking, considering that he had had very little sleep, surprisingly fresh.
“How nice to see you, Roger,” Lady Esther replied.
Then, as the butler closed the door, she said excitedly,
“I have news to tell you and it’s very important!”
But before she could say anything more the butler returned.
He was carrying a silver tray on which was a bottle of champagne and two glasses.
While he poured out the champagne Lady Esther and Lord Bayford talked about the weather. And they discussed a party they were invited to that evening.
When at last they were alone, Lady Esther said in a low voice,
“I have found out what is going on at Windle Court and it is obvious that Ivan has got into the hands of a designing young woman!”
“I don’t believe it!” Lord Bayford exclaimed.
“It is true and he is giving a huge party for the County and for those who work on his estate.”
“That cannot do him any particular harm,” Lord Bayford commented, “except that it will cost money.”
“You don’t understand,” Lady Esther said sharply, “the letter I have read was from his old Nanny to my lady’s maid – ”
“You have seen one?” Lord Bayford interrupted.
Before Lady Esther could reply luncheon was announced and it was again impossible to talk freely.
It was not until coffee had been served and Lord Bayford had accepted a glass of brandy that they were alone again.
�
��Now go on with what you were telling me,” he urged.
“I found a letter from Ivan’s old Nanny written to my lady’s maid.”
“So you opened it?”
“Of course I opened it,” Esther replied. “It told me all about a girl called Sedela who is running everything.”
“I know who she is.”
“You do?”
“Yes, of course. You remember I used to stay there when I was at Eton and I also went there for two or three days with Ivan just before he left for Portugal.”
“And you met this girl?”
Lord Bayford smiled.
“She was just a child then. She was riding one of the horses from the Marquis’s stables and I have never seen anyone, before or since, ride better.”
“What did she look like?” Lady Esther asked sharply.
“Lovely!” Lord Bayford replied. “Rather like a small angel, long fair hair, big blue eyes and she was always laughing.”
He thought for a moment before he added,
“She followed Ivan everywhere, rather like a pet dog, but he did not pay very much attention to her.”
“If she was a child then, she will be grown up by now.”
“Of course,” Lord Bayford agreed. “She will be I think a little over eighteen.”
Lady Esther’s lips set in a tight line.
And then she said,
“We will have to get rid of her! Now listen, Roger, I have an idea.
The excitement over the circus infected the whole locality.
It was impossible for anyone, from the children up to the oldest grandfather, to talk of anything else.
It was just the same at Windle Court.
Nanny and Hanson had seen circuses in their time, but none of the younger servants had seen one, living as they did in such a remote part of the country.
Also, during the War, most of the travelling circuses kept nearer to London, as it was more lucrative and they tended to tour the South where the population was thicker.
Besides the circus no one had ever seen fireworks.
Sedela was determined that the party should be worthy of Ivan’s bravery and an event that everybody present would remember for the rest of their lives.
“If I am costing you a lot of money,” she said to him, “remember the years when, if you had been at home, you would have given balls, steeplechases and point-to-points.”
She smiled and added,
“And undoubtedly a lot of noisy house parties where your guests would have drunk the cellars dry. All that would have cost money too.”
The Marquis laughed.
“I doubt if I would have done anything of the sort. But I have given you carte blanche and I am not complaining.”
He was beginning to become enthusiastic himself and it was such a pleasure to see the smiles on the faces of everyone he met.
Nanny approved of everything.
“You’re doing what I told you to do, Master Ivan,” she said. “You’re makin’ a lot of people happy and no one could ask for more.”
“You know I always obey you, Nanny,” the Marquis teased her.
“Get along with you!” Nanny replied. “You were the naughtiest child I ever had, but there was no real wickedness in you. What was more you always said you were sorry if you’d done anythin’ wrong.”
The Marquis wondered if he should tell her that he was sorry for ever having become embroiled with Lady Esther.
He had discovered, quite by chance, how Sedela had learnt about her and he told himself that he had been rather obtuse in not guessing it before.
Sedela had told him that it was Nanny’s birthday on the following day.
“She will be sixty,” she said, “and I have a special present for her.”
“What you are really trying to find out,” the Marquis replied, “is what I am going to give her.”
“I have thought of that,” Sedela said, “and I know she will be thrilled that you have remembered her.”
“You have!” the Marquis smiled. “I am beginning to wonder how I ever ran my life without you. I am sure you would have been a great help in the Peninsula War!”
Sedela laughed.
“A woman on the battlefield would certainly be original. Perhaps I would go down in history as being the first since the Amazons to have ventured into the firing line.”
The Marquis did not say anything.
She had no knowledge of the ‘camp followers’ who were usually just the poorest type of prostitutes.
They were a tremendous nuisance and he had spent a great deal of time warning his men against them.
However it was a subject that he did not wish to pursue, so he simply asked,
“Now tell me, what does Nanny want?”
“She wants a portrait of you. As you well know, you are the most important person in her life.”
“A portrait?” the Marquis questioned.
“I thought, although perhaps I have no right to suggest it, that the miniature in the drawer in your mother’s secrétaire could go up to the nursery.”
The Marquis looked at her in surprise.
“Is there a miniature there? If there is, I had no idea of it.”
“Of course there is,” Sedela replied. “It has been there ever since I can remember and your mother loved it because it was painted when you were three. She said that you were the most beautiful child she had ever seen.”
“Show it to me,” the Marquis requested.
They went into the Blue Salon and Sedela opened a drawer in the secrétaire.
The Marquis remembered it as the desk where his mother had always sat to write her letters. It was a fine piece of French furniture that had been brought from France soon after the Revolution in 1789.
The French had sold a great many valuables confiscated from the aristocrats and one of the Windles who was a Diplomat had brought it back to England with him.
In the drawer were a number of letters and some of them were tied up with blue ribbon.
Amongst them there was the miniature that Sedela had been talking about.
The Marquis saw at once that it was very well painted and he knew that there were several other portraits of him at different ages besides the one over the mantelpiece.
“Of course Nanny can have this,” he said. “I will pack it up and give it to her first thing in the morning.”
“I think she will have quite a lot of presents,” Sedela answered, “as everybody in the house is so fond of her. But yours will be the one that will delight her more than anything else.”
The Marquis found that Sedela had been right.
When he went up to see Nanny, there were at least a dozen parcels on the nursery table.
When she opened his, she gave a cry of jo and there were tears in her eyes.
“You couldn’t, Master Ivan, have given me anythin’ I want more,” she sighed, “and it’s difficult to tell you how grateful I am.”
“I know a lot of people will be thinking of you today, Nanny,” the Marquis said looking at the presents on the table. “I have never asked you before, but have you any relatives still alive?”
“Not many, my Lord,” Nanny answered, “I had a sister who passed away two years ago, but her daughter Lucy has remembered me and she’s workin’ in London.”
The Marquis thought the name was familiar.
Then, as Nanny went on describing two cousins whom she had not seen for years, he remembered the name of Lady Esther’s lady’s maid.
He had thought that she was rather a nice-looking woman.
And he knew now how Sedela had learnt of Esther’s determination to marry him.
He did not say anything because he thought that it would be a mistake and he only hoped that if Nanny wrote letters to her niece she was discreet about what was happening here.
He had no wish for Esther to be aware of anything that he might be doing.
For his perception told him that she would never give up her pursuit of him witho
ut a struggle.
His secretary in London was sending him letters almost every day.
The invitations had Refused written on them and other communications and bills were marked Answered.
The only letters he had not opened had come from Lady Esther.
He knew her handwriting all too well.
The Marquis was also familiar with the seductive and exotic perfume she used on herself and it permeated the paper and envelopes she wrote on.
He did not open her letters, he merely tore them up into small pieces.
He put them in a drawer of his desk, he did not throw them into the wastepaper basket.
He had learnt during the War to trust no one, but he felt certain that nobody in his home would betray him.
Yet he was aware that servants, like most people, were insatiably curious.
When it was cold enough to light the fires, he would burn the pieces of the letters that Esther had written to him.
Until then they would remain in a locked drawer where no one could piece them together like a jigsaw puzzle.
He left the nursery and went downstairs to find Sedela arranging where the circus tent should be set up. It had already arrived, having come up the drive from the village.
Already the gatekeepers were having difficulty in keeping small boys from invading the Park.
“You must explain to them,” the Marquis said to one of the gatekeepers, “that they will see everything in time and I will not have them putting their hands through the cages of the lions and tigers or trying to ride the elephants.”
“Your Lordship’s ’avin’ an elephant?” the gatekeeper asked in awe.
The Marquis thought to himself that he himself looked like a small boy being given an unexpected treat.
When the men who had come to ask where to erect the big tent had left her, Sedela exclaimed,
“We are very lucky! They have just been telling me about the animals they have brought with them and I am finding it difficult not to rush out and see them at once!”
“I feel rather the same,” the Marquis smiled. “It’s a long time since I saw a circus.”
He thought back into the past before he went on,
“My father took me once to Astley’s Circus in London. I remember being thrilled by the horses and, of course, the lions and tigers.”
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