Beauty and the Beast of Thornleigh

by Kate Westwood

  ‘Perhaps, dear, if we have time, but first the snow must thaw a little more; and you see how it is quite wet and muddy outside.’

  ‘Oh, but that does not signify, for Manfred says he will carry me, and he does not mind the mud, I am sure!’

  Georgiana privately thought it was a good thing they would be able to leave soon, since Julia’s attachment to Thornleigh and its inhabitants was becoming evident, and she did not want her sister to become attached to anything about Thornleigh!

  She spent the rest of the day in her own room, repacking her gowns and other things, and did not venture out unless it was to read to Julia. She took a tray in Julia’s room that night, and upon rising the next morning, was gratified to find that a reply had already come from her aunt, promising a carriage at her disposal the following morning, on account of its still being very icy on the roads. Georgiana had hoped for a carriage that very day, but, admitting the sense of the scheme, she was obliged to inure herself to one more day under Captain Brandt’s roof. She fortified her nerves, and went to find her host.

  Pushing open the door to the drawing room, she stepped inside. Her host had his back to the fire and was fondling the ears of the huge beast which seemed to accompany him everywhere. It swung its great head toward her when she opened the door, assessing the intruder, and its master lifted his eyes. For one moment, she locked eyes with him and froze. He turned back to the great creature at his feet, silent.

  ‘I have only come to say that I have had a letter from my Aunt.’ Her tone was cool.

  He was silent, his back to her.

  ‘She is to send her carriage for us, at ten o’clock tomorrow morning. You must have been wishing Julia and me gone for some time,’ she added.

  If he noticed the defeat in her voice, he did not scruple to protect her from his own acid tones.

  ‘As you wish. You must be eager to carry on to your Aunt’s.’

  ‘Yes.’ She paused. ‘I am much obliged to you, Captain. If it had not been for—’

  ‘Pray don’t trouble yourself with polite courtesies, Miss Hall. I am sure that between us, with an understanding so complete, they cannot be necessary.’

  Her colour rose. ‘If you mean, Sir, that you and I have learnt the necessity of mere disinterested acquaintanceship, and that I have been obliged to learn that the flaws of humans sometimes indeed cannot be excused, no matter how fine the deeds of their perpetrators, then yes, Sir, we understand each other perfectly!’

  He was silent a moment. ‘I think you have mistaken my meaning; I had not intended—’

  ‘Indeed,’ she interjected frostily, ‘I think I apprehend your meaning vastly well, Sir. Either you intended, two nights ago, to seduce me into becoming your wife, or you sport with me.’

  ‘It was my object neither to seduce you, nor to sport with you. In any case, you made your feelings perfectly clear. I am abhorrent to you, you despise me, and my face repulses you.’

  She gasped. ‘And you excuse your ungentlemanly behaviour on the grounds that you think me repulsed by your face? Oh, wicked creature that you are! That you try to rest the blame with me, who never—’ She broke off, near to tears with vexation. ‘In all my dealings with you, in your previous proposal of marriage to me when I was all but a stranger to you, and in every way since then, you have violated the bounds of propriety; you have taken advantage of my weakness; you have considered me a— a mere object to bend to your needs! I am a real woman, with real feelings! I am not a plaything, to divert you when you are in need of amusement. It is one thing, Captain, to admit to human frailty, but quite another to use someone for your own ends!’

  His countenance had turned pale, and his scar was a livid pink in contrast. ‘Then I must apologise, Miss Hall. I have been so long from society that I forgot myself,’ he replied coldly, turning back to the fire.

  Georgiana stared at him, shocked at the indifference of his manner. That she had ever thought of him as a true heroic character! After a moment, she turned and left the room, closing the door quietly behind her, and dashed a stray tear from her cheek. She repined against his cruel usage of her, and yet her heart betrayed her in its flutterings, every time his face rose before her. Oh cruel, cruel providence! To deliver her here, of all places, into the hands of a man who she felt she could truly love, and yet who wished to make a mere convenience of her! It was impossible to endure, but endure it she must.

  ~~*~~

  At around four o’clock, a subdued Georgiana had gone down to the kitchen to see Mrs Randall about some tea, when she heard a knock on the outer door, followed by a voice which caused her to startle in astonishment. She made her way back to the front hall.

  ‘Henry!’

  Her cousin stood before the fireplace at the end of the great hall, shaking snow from his boots. Manfred had opened the door to him and taken his crop, hat and cloak.

  ‘Georgie!’ he cried affably, and advanced toward her. He kissed her affectionately on the cheek. ‘I am vastly glad to find you, at long last. I have ridden all day, you know! I am quite fagged! I took Father’s horse, but the old nag was so knocked up by midday, I had to switch at some godforsaken posting house, and beg one of the postillions there for another! Quite the devil to get one, had to give the old grasper a half-guinea, but he eventually gave me a horse. Not that but it was only good for the knacker’s yard! The old bone-creaker nearly packed it in when we took a low ditch, just before I got here, and I had to lead it in, walking for my damned half-guinea after all! Is there a man who can take the animal and stable it? I shall be in trouble if I don’t get it back alive!’

  Georgiana stood listening to this tale of misfortune, but only been absently paying attention, for her mind was much preoccupied with the new humiliation of having to account her cousin’s presence to her host! ‘But Henry, what are you doing here— how astonishing that you should come! Is someone ill? How did you know to find us here?’

  He regarded her with complaisance. ‘Oh yes, everyone is in excellent health, pray don’t distress yourself! I have only come to take you home, you know!’ He lowered his voice and spoke close to her ear, while Manfred respectfully waited instructions at a short distance. ‘I heard from your mother the whole shocking story, and as soon as ever the snow had stopped, I bethought myself to come and take you both home. But,’ with a sideways glance at Manfred, ‘are you well, Georgie? And how is Julia?’

  ‘Yes, quite well, I thank you. And Julia is quite recovered now! But, I am astonished— this is so unexpected! Did Mama send you? No, of course she did not, she would not want— but, oh dear, you will have to stay the night!’ She was so discomforted at the thought of his being here, in Captain Brandt’s home, and having to play the role of hostess, that when, at the same time, she recollected that she had yet another reason to wish her cousin away, she grew quite pale.

  She wished very much to be able to excuse his ungentlemanly behaviour to Esme Osbourne; she did not wish to add to what she considered his youthful inequities, and she was eager to hear an account of the matter from his own standpoint. She hoped to clear him, to think well of him again, for without a reasonable explanation, she could only feel partially glad to see her cousin, and she wished very much to restore their former good standing.

  But now, Henry had divested himself of his gloves and handed these, too, to Manfred who took them silently. ‘I wonder, I couldn’t have some tea? I’m most dreadfully dry-hung, and quite famished, too!’

  Georgiana flushed. What would Captain Brandt think, when he found her cousin eating and drinking and making himself at home without a formal invitation, and in light of all that had passed between the two of them! There was nothing to be done, however, and she sighed, half vexed, half despairing. It seemed providence had not quite finished with her, after all!

  As she floundered to reply, Manfred, with the all the peculiar indoctrination of a sailor, said, ‘I’ll see to your horse, Sir, and get Mrs Randall to send in a bit of tea ‘n’ peck. The Cap’n went out earli
er, with his sails up ‘n all, Miss, but when he comes in, I’ll tell him your friend’s come. Happen he’ll be in better temper by that time, I’m sure!’ He cast an assessing look at Henry and shook his head slightly.

  ‘I wonder, you wouldn’t happen to have some ‘Ol Tom’ sitting about, would you now?’ enquired Henry, oblivious to his cousin’s pink-cheeked gasp. ‘Or some brandy will answer just as well. To warm me up, you know! It was a horrid chill journey!’

  ‘I’ll see what I can do about the grog, Sir,’ replied Manfred, and muttered something fulminating under his breath. When he had gone from the room, Georgiana reluctantly led her cousin into the drawing room with a great deal of chagrin, at being obliged to play hostess in a house that was not her own. ‘Sit Henry, please do! But what did Mama tell you, to have you hastening here on such an errand?’

  Henry made himself comfortable opposite her and kicked off his wet boots carelessly. ‘Only that they had received word from your aunt that Julia was ill, and that your carriage had overturned close by, you had lost your man, and that you had come here to seek shelter from the weather.’

  ‘We did lose a man,’ replied Georgiana soberly. ‘Old John was killed, and I cannot think how his family will get on!’ she added. ‘Captain Brandt has taken care of things but I do hope Mama will get a message to John’s family.’

  ‘I am sorry you have had to endure such a shocking event,’ her cousin responded sincerely. Then, ‘Damned bad luck though! Your mother will have to find another manservant. Good servants are so hard to find, these days! She will be hard upon it to find anyone for the wages she can pay! But perhaps your aunt…’ Then, seeing the expression on Georgiana’s face, he added, ‘Ah, well, these things are known to happen from time to time. How excessively inconvenient! But you must get a better carriage for your next!’

  Georgiana wisely did not comment on the dubious expediency of this proposed purchase and wished her cousin not quite so heartless sometimes. She ventured to press a new point, however, in the hopes her cousin might think of going into the nearby town for the night. ‘Henry, I must own, you have put me in a distressing position! I am only a guest here myself, and an unwanted one at that! I fear Captain Brandt will blame me for your presence here! Perhaps — you might organise some accommodation in the village — it is only six or seven miles on, I believe...’

  ‘Why, don’t be a goose, my little cousin! You can hardly think he will blame you for my coming! Why, I cannot think of riding out again, in this weather, and the condition of my beast is quite shocking, really it is! But tell me, do, when you knocked on his door, did you really not apprehend to whose house it was you were applying?’

  ‘Indeed, I did not!’ expostulated Georgiana indignantly. ‘I would never have — how could I have known? Providence has been most unkind to me, Henry, but I admit,’ she added earnestly, ‘without Captain Brandt’s kindness, Julia may not have survived. Nor I. We are, as much as I loathe to admit it, obliged to the Captain for taking us in.’

  ‘How dreadful, to be obligated to such an odious creature! I hope he was accommodating. Do tell me the whole story at once! I am quite agog to hear what he said when he saw you standing at his door!’

  She could not meet Henry’s eye. What would he say if he knew Captain Brandt had undressed her to her petticoats and put her, unconscious, into his own bed! She coloured, and dissembling guiltily, recounted only the main points of her arrival, and Julia’s subsequent chill.

  Henry said severely, ‘You were very lucky to find a house at all, in that snow storm! You ought not to have travelled at all, Georgie! What your mother was thinking, to send you away with a heavy snow coming, I know not! When I heard you were taken into Captain Brandt’s house, I determined at once to rescue you, for I know how you detest the man, and I felt it my duty as your cousin, to fetch you home. Besides, I wanted to see the place where he is said to shut himself up!’ he added with candour.

  ‘I thank you for your thoughtfulness,’ she rejoined drily, ‘but we would have gone on to my aunt’s tomorrow, in any case. She sends a carriage for us; I had a letter from her just today.’

  ‘Oh! But I came on purpose to take you home!’

  ‘Yes Henry, and it is very kind of you, truly. But we go on to my aunt’s; that was my first object, you know!’

  ‘Yes, quite.’ He was only nonplussed for a moment. ‘Then I shall accompany you both, on horseback — what is a mere twenty or thirty miles, for my little cousins! Besides, I have longed to see Northstead; nothing like a rich old lady’s seat, you know! I collect it must be quite a comfortable establishment! Old St. George was quite the old swell-pocket, was he not? Yes, I should like to see it very much!’

  Georgiana, blushing at this rather vulgar expression and much offended for her beloved aunt, said nothing in reply, but thought it well to change the direction of the conversation. She paused, hesitating. ‘Henry, I must ask you — I can hold back no longer — I don’t wish to pry, but have you heard the talk about you and Esme Osbourne?’

  He uttered an oath. ‘Oh, that! Confound it! What a damned hum that has been! Devilish bad business, I must say. I am quite bedevilled by the affair. It was really a great quantity of nothing, you know!’

  ‘It was hardly nothing, Henry! You really ought to have known better than to meet Esme alone in Hyde Park, furtively, as if you had something to hide! We saw you both, you know, Mrs Laidlaw included. Poor Esme has lost Tom because of the whole affair. Only conceive what the whole world has been thinking!’

  Henry sighed. ‘Including you, Cousin? Ah, but perhaps it is as I deserve, as father keeps telling me! Well, I shall relate to you the whole of the matter, and you shall judge. I received a note, from Esme herself, requesting a meeting. She wished very much for me to do her a favour, and of course, thinking it very important, and wishing to be helpful, I agreed to meet her. It turns out she had a letter, an urgent letter, which she wished me to take it to White’s. It was addressed to Charles Hailsham.’

  ‘A letter? Are you sure it was for Charles Hailsham?’ exclaimed Georgiana, her fine brows furrowed.

  ‘Very certain. She was most anxious that I should take it. She said it was not her letter, you know, but she was doing a favour for someone else. When I guessed it was from her sister, she broke down and told me everything. I rather took pity on her; she is such a sweet, taking little thing! At any rate, I agreed to the errand. I suppose I ought not have done it, but she was in distress, and I could see she wanted to be of service to her sister.’

  Georgiana was still puzzled. ‘But we saw you, from the other side of the river bank; she put her hand on your arm, and you took her hand!’

  ‘Who saw me? What do you mean? Oh, but don’t be a goose-head, Cousin! I only comforted her and reassured her I would without delay take it along to White’s, and put it into Hailsham’s hand myself. She was so very grateful, that I thought I had done the right thing.’

  Georgiana was pale. ‘Oh, Eliza, what have you done?’

  ‘Eliza? What has she to do with this?’

  ‘Lilly wrote to me, Henry, enclosing just such a letter, and asked me to enlist your help to hand it to Charles Hailsham. But we had just…’ she faltered, embarrassed to mention their fight. ‘We had just had a fall-out, if you recall, and it seemed rather awkward to ask. Eliza offered to take Lilly’s letter and give it to you. She must have manufactured the meeting between you and Esme!’

  ‘But why would Eliza go to such lengths to bring Esme’s reputation into disrepair? I cannot comprehend it!’

  ‘Oh, Henry! It is no bread and butter of mine to say it, but I believe Elizabeth has long been jealous of Esme. You remember I am sure, just before Papa died, how she dangled after him! Perhaps she wanted to do some kind of, oh, I don’t know, mischief I suppose, and break Mr Laidlaw from Esme. Poor Esme! Eliza must have written the note to you herself, pretending to be Esme and asking to see you secretly, then gone to Esme with her sister’s letter for Charles Hailsham, and somehow convin
ced her to deliver it to you!’

  ‘And arranged a secret meeting, so that I could receive it from her hand, and deliver it to White’s,’ pondered Henry. ‘I had no idea of Eliza’s being so— so underhanded!’

  Georgiana was caught up in own thoughts and did not answer him for several seconds. ‘It is no wonder Eliza was so adamant, that day we walked in the park,’ she said suddenly, ‘that Mrs Laidlaw join us, and that we walk on the paths she chose! Oh, it is too calculated, too cruel! My sister was in very poor judgement, very poor indeed, to do what she has done! If she could only conceive the distress she has caused two innocent people!’

  ‘Don’t make yourself anxious, Georgie!’ He patted her hand carelessly. ‘There is nothing to be done. I thought it strange that such a shy, proper girl as Esme wanted to meet in secret, and I ought not to have agreed. As it turns out, we were seen, and conclusions were drawn which were injurious to both myself and to young Miss Osbourne, and I am very sorry for it. But there you have it, Georgie; I did not make love to her then cast her aside. I am not that much of a bounder! I believed her very much attached to Tom Laidlaw. I am sorry it has caused a rift between them!’

  ‘A rift!’ she cried. ‘I believe he is gone into the north and has not renewed his address to Esme at all! I admit I was shocked at the business, especially after your recent proposal to me…’ Her voice trailed off. ‘But then, we heard you were engaged to a Miss Wright, and I thought you a great scoundrel after all! Is it true, that you are engaged?’

  ‘Yes, it is true. Father says it is time I settled down. I would have been happy, you know,’ he added earnestly, ‘had you accepted my offer; I was quite ready to marry, and the thought of doing some good, to you and your family— it seemed that to keep you permanently at Loweston, would be a very kind thing, and— ah, never mind that now,’ he equivocated, seeing Georgiana’s countenance, ‘Caroline is a fine girl, and I admire her immensely. She will do very well as mistress of Loweston. And I shall, of course, be happy to have you stay on, if you wish it, Georgie; your mother will go to Northstead, I suppose, but you are welcome to stay on for as long as you wish!’