Teaching His Ward: A Regency Romance

by Noël Cades

  Marcus, also alone in his bedchamber in another part of the house and away from the allure of his ward, was struck with remorse. Thank God he was bound for Spain, or he might end up outraging his ward’s chastity utterly. He had never been the kind of rogue who set about taking advantage of young maidens and pressing his embraces upon them. And now he had done so twice! And even let her suppose that his actions were some form of matrimonial preparations.

  His shame was such that he could not bring himself to tell her the truth about his intentions. For Jemima would surely react with shock and mistrust, and he could not bear for her to look at him so.

  Chapter 17

  The departure of Lady Julia Carlingford had not passed unnoticed in town. The manner in which the reclusive Earl of Southwell had singled her out had naturally caused a degree of interest in her, and tongues to wag.

  Although her absence was excused by her friends for reasons of family illness, this did little to assuage those with a propensity for scandalmongering.

  The disappearance of the Earl just a few days later only served as confirmation that the speculation must be more than justified. There was some mystery here, if not an actual scandal.

  Mrs Linton-Smythe was practically feverish with the gossip. Kitty found it unbearable to face her at the assemblies, yet there was no escaping that lady.

  “Dear Miss Berystede and Miss Elstone! How very delightful it is to find you both here tonight. I was saying to Selina earlier that perhaps you might have felt that you must stay away - but no! You are here, and this I trust means that you have happier news of your friend, whom I fear has suffered some recent distress?”

  She did not have a nose for scandal, Kitty thought, so much as a shovel. She kept quiet and allowed Beatrice Berystede to deal with her distant relation.

  “She is well, and we are grateful for your kind inquiry,” Miss Berystede offered as little information as possible, albeit with perfect courtesy. Kitty was sure, however, that Miss Berystede disliked Mrs Linton-Smythe as much as she herself did.

  “I am glad. I am so very glad,” Mrs Linton-Smythe said, with feigned enthusiasm. “I am certain we are not the only ones to mourn the loss of her charming presence. The Earl of Southwell, as I recall, was most taken with her society. Interestingly, it is observed that he himself recently left town, in a most sudden and mysterious fashion.”

  This was too much even for Miss Berystede. “I am afraid I cannot speculate on the Earl of Southwell’s affairs,” she said.

  Her tone should have shut down the subject, were it not for the fact that nothing was able to stop Mrs Linton-Smythe. She leant closer to the elderly woman, a jewelled contraption of absurdly long, curled feathers in her hair nearly poking Miss Berystede in the eye.

  “Indeed, for you must know that there are some rumours… but I have spoken too much, I am sure. Doubtless it is just as you say, and Lady Julia attends her elderly relative in Ireland. And the Earl may be on any kind of business, why, there is no reason to suppose that his business takes him to Ireland. Though I suppose there is also no reason why it may not…”

  She trailed off, still hopeful of some damaging disclosure.

  Never had Kitty been so grateful for their conversation to be interrupted by a young man requesting her hand for the next dance, if she were not yet engaged.

  “I am not yet engaged, and I would be honoured, sir.”

  The young man, mistaking her relief for enthusiasm over his invitation, led her away with a sense of gratification. Miss Elstone was considered to be one of the very best-looking young ladies that season, not to mention an heiress, having no brothers.

  In truth there was far from any reassuring news concerning Jemima. They had so far heard nothing, though Miss Berystede had consoled the anxious Kitty that the journey to Ireland and subsequent delay in sending a letter must take some number of days.

  If Mrs Linton-Smythe’s society at Almack’s and elsewhere were not ordeal enough, that woman also saw fit to pay a call on Miss Berystede. She brought with her the tiresome Selina as well her companion, a half-French woman named Colette Martin. This meant that Kitty was forced to endure Selina’s company, while Miss Berystede fended off the probes and barbs of Mrs Linton-Smythe with her customary forbearance.

  Miss Martin, a woman of around eight-and-twenty with a sly look in her eye, was sent with Ann Pargeter to be shown the preparation of a tonic. Miss Berystede, attempting on a previous occasion to assuage Mrs Linton-Smythe’s incessant solicitude as to the older woman’s health and strength, had referred to this restorative. Mrs Linton-Smythe now insisted that Colette be apprised of this "great secret" so that she might also prepare it.

  "For I confess I am dreadfully fatigued with all the many invitations we are receiving. I do not think we have an evening spare this fortnight! Yet I do not wish to disappoint my dear Selina in having to excuse myself, nor to disappoint all the people who have invited us. If Miss Pargeter would be so kind as to entrust the recipe of this tonic to my dear Colette, such disappointment might be diverted, might it not?"

  Of course, as both Miss Berystede and Ann Pargeter were aware, Colette Martin’s true mission was tattle, not tonic. Nonetheless Ann accompanied the other companion to the kitchen, where the cook was dozing comfortably by the stove. With Miss Berystede and the young lady so often out, and not so far entertaining themselves to any great degree, the cook was quite underworked.

  Miss Martin feigned the barest interest in the method of preparation for the tonic, as she plied Ann Pargeter for information. Ann had the advantage of knowing nothing, so could reveal nothing. She was privately alarmed, however, at the gossip being reported to her.

  "Of course there is much talk of the Lady Julia Carlingford," Miss Martin said. She studied Ann Pargeter as she spoke, awaiting some betrayal of emotion. "Though we are all sure there can be nothing in it. Being family, of course, I don’t doubt that your employer would take mine into her confidence on the matter." Her implication was that Ann Pargeter should do likewise.

  Ann was in some dilemma regarding her response, for they had not yet heard from Lady Julia and she did not want to reveal this to the prying Colette Martin. Nor did she wish to entrap herself in a lie. "I am sure that is so," she said.

  "But of course you have heard from her, and can assure us that she is well?"

  "I have heard no evidence to the contrary," Ann Pargeter told her.

  Colette, idly picking up a vial of tincture of myrrh, tried a different tactic. "I am very privileged in that Mrs Linton-Smythe takes me into her full confidence with all her correspondence. I am sure it is the same for you. With Miss Berystede’s eyesight so weak, she must require your services as amanuensis."

  "On occasion. However her handwriting is excellent," Ann said.

  "But you would know if she had written to Lady Julia or received correspondence from her?"

  Ann Pargeter was firm but polite. "My dear Miss Martin, I am sure you could not expect me to disclose my employer’s private correspondence."

  Colette Martin tossed her head and gave a little laugh. "La! Of course not, indeed." She pretended to change the subject. "Mrs Linton-Smythe mentioned that your household is acquainted with the Earl of Southwell. A man of considerable fortune and handsome features, so I am told. I am given to understand that he recently left town with unexpected swiftness."

  Miss Martin forbore to add "as well" but her insinuation was quite clear. Ann Pargeter, having made up a bottle of the tonic though aware that Colette had shown but a cursory interest in its preparation, did not rise to her bait. "Your news is more recent than mine," she replied. After instructing the cook to wrap the bottle and have it taken to Mrs Linton-Smythe’s carriage, she ushered the other companion out of the kitchen.

  When Kitty did receive the letter that Jemima had surreptitiously sent from Aunt Harlington’s house, she was nearly beside herself with guilt and misery for her friend. Miss Berystede was resting late in her room that day, and it was Ann Pargeter w
ho discovered the distraught Kitty in the morning room. A piece of paper was clutched in her hand and her face was strained and tearful.

  “I am afraid you have had bad news, Miss Elstone. Can I be of any service?”

  “It is very kind of you, Miss Pargeter, but I am at a loss as to whether anything can be done.” Kitty had been determined to keep her composure, but the horrid leer of Sir Hubert came into her mind at this point and she burst into a flood of weeping.

  Miss Pargeter waited tactfully for some time, then as Kitty’s sobs subsided, she took the chair across from her. “There is perhaps some trouble that you do not wish to burden Miss Berystede with?”

  Kitty looked at the companion. It struck her that Ann Pargeter was not really so old, perhaps only in her thirties. Which was still old, course, Kitty reasoned, but not very old as Miss Berystede was. For a wild moment she longed to confide in the companion, but did not yet dare.

  Even without the insinuations and probing of Mrs Linton-Smythe and her companion, Ann Pargeter had long suspected that all had not been quite as it seemed with Lady Julia. She had not been able to place her finger on the exact spot of doubt, but there had certainly been some mystery there. She had briefly discussed the subject with Miss Berystede, when relating to her the scandalmongering of Mrs Linton-Smythe’s companion. They had both been surprised and concerned to learn of the rumours surrounding their former guest. An interview with Kitty further revealed that Selina Linton-Smythe had also made several tentative attempts to extract information from her.

  Yet despite the gossip and her own private misgivings, Ann had liked Lady Julia. She discerned that Kitty’s fears were for her friend, for what difficulty could Miss Elstone herself be in? Nothing untoward had happened at any of the balls and assemblies, at least so far as anything Ann was aware of.

  The companion was not of a prying nature. However, she knew that young women frequently became worked up over matters that could easily and swiftly be resolved. She made one more attempt to be drawn into Kitty’s confidence.

  "It is on Lady Julia’s behalf, perhaps, that you are distressed?"

  Kitty could hold in the awful tidings no longer. "O! Miss Pargeter! It is too dreadful. She is to be married, and there is nothing that can be done about it."

  This news puzzled Ann Pargeter. "Is such a matter a cause for anguish? Lord Dalrymple is a very eligible match, is he not?"

  Kitty put her hands over her face. "It is not to Lord Dalrymple. If only it were!"

  Over the course of some time, Ann Pargeter gently extracted the sorry tale from Kitty. She was, indeed, shocked. Not solely at the deception, but also at herself for privately experiencing some amusement at it. She had formerly worked as a governess, before entering Miss Berystede’s employment. She knew all too well how the constraints of the schoolroom fostered rebellious spirits. So while she was very surprised that the two young women had carried out their scheme, she was not so surprised at their having devised it.

  But the outcome - the incognito encounter of the absent guardian and the absconding ward - seemed an impossible coincidence.

  "Let me ensure that I understand you, for it is a startling tale," Ann Pargeter said. "You say that unbeknownst to either the Earl or Lady Julia - that is to say Miss Carlow - the two became acquainted with one another? With both being unaware as to the other’s identity?"

  Kitty nodded, her eyes still wet from weeping.

  "And now it is decreed that Miss Carlow is to marry another man altogether?"

  Kitty’s features became animated. "He is more monster than man! He is old, and unctuous, and lecherous."

  The reason for Lady Julia’s surprisingly swift departure was now clear. But Ann Pargeter was bewildered as to why the Earl of Southwell should be determined to marry his ward off to someone else, given the gossip circulating about his own attentions to the girl.

  Regardless, such revelations were too momentous to be kept from Miss Berystede, who deserved to know that her former guest had not been whom she claimed to be. Ann tried to persuade the reluctant Kitty to impart the news to Miss Berystede herself.

  Kitty was distraught at the prospect. "How can I tell her? Cousin Beatrice has been so very kind, and we have been so unkind as to deceive her."

  "Would it not be a greater unkindness for her to discover this through some other means? Only imagine if Mrs Linton-Smythe were first to discover Miss Carlow’s identity?"

  It was indeed a horrifying prospect, and reduced Kitty anew to a fit of sobbing.

  Chapter 18

  Following her conversation with Ann Pargeter, a tearful and very humbled Kitty made her confession to Miss Berystede. The elderly lady, so regal in appearance with her snowy hair and erect bearing, received the news with her customary composure. "This is quite a revelation, Catherine. You must permit me some time to consider it."

  Kitty, overcome with shame in addition to her distress over Jemima, made no protest. She was sure that Miss Berystede must send her away in disgrace. After handing Miss Berystede the note of thanks that Jemima had included in her letter to Kitty, she went to pack her things.

  When she had gone from the room, Miss Berystede was silent for a while, before startling Ann Pargeter with a chuckle. "I cannot help but feel, Ann, that the shock of discovery has constituted a more than adequate punishment for our former guest. But must it be coincidence? I wonder if Southwell was well aware of his ward’s identity, and sought to play her at her own game."

  "Such a scheme has indeed crossed my mind," Ann Pargeter replied. "Yet though I am loath to afford any credence to scandalmongering, if there is but a grain of truth in the insinuations made to us, it appears that Lord Southwell afforded the girl no little attention. Were he cognisant of her name, his attentions would surely not have been so pronounced as we have been led to understand they were."

  It was an intriguing puzzle.

  "And what is this of her being affianced to another gentleman? Surely, in the circumstances, the obvious course would be for Southwell to wed her himself?" Miss Berystede said.

  Ann was preparing ink and quill for it was the hour that Miss Berystede composed her correspondence. "He is disinclined to marry, perhaps?"

  Miss Berystede, who had been disinclined to matrimony herself, dismissed such a notion in the case of an Earl. "Southwell holds a title and estates and has no brothers. He has no choice but to marry eventually." She looked thoughtful.

  "Something must be done, though, to allay these damaging rumours. I will write to the Earl and reassure him that he has our discretion. And then we will see what may come of this all."

  Having dispatched his ward to Southwell, Marcus returned forthwith to London. He had some business to attend to before his journey to Spain.

  The least agreeable of these tasks was apprising George Gresham of the situation. Gresham was an old friend and must discover the facts eventually, as would society in general. While Marcus generally disdained public opinion, he would not have been human had he not felt some twinge of mortification at the likely tongue-wagging that would ensue.

  He had set down his second cup and was contemplating a third to gird himself for the ordeal when George Gresham arrived.

  “Southwell. I trust your domestic sphere is returned to harmony? Your ward was recovered safe, and not past the border?”

  Marcus summoned the club attendant and commanded a stronger libation. “Indeed.”

  “Then all is well,” George said. “Are you to set off for Spain, then, or while away a few more evenings in the hope of encountering the bewitching Lady Julia? I must tell you that your departure from town has closely coincided with her own disappearance. Something which has not gone unnoticed by those who take it upon themselves to notice such things.”

  The Earl of Southwell gave his friend a penetrating look, but finding nothing disingenuous in his expression, resigned himself to confession.

  “There is no Lady Julia.”

  George frowned. “What can you mean? I refer t
o the girl - the diamond of the first water, as society has deemed her - whom you partnered at the Rexfords’.”

  “Such a girl, at least with the name and title of Lady Julia Carlingford, does not exist.”

  “But what - ?” George’s brows were still drawn together, but a faint light began to dawn. “Ah! You mean to say that there is some error over her name? Her identity is mistaken?”

  “To some degree.”

  The attendant returned with a tray, interrupting the conversation as he set down the respective drinks. Marcus ran his finger around the rim of his brandy glass but did not imbibe any.

  “She is not titled, then? Or not christened Julia?” George asked.

  “You have observed that her absence coincided with mine. Consider only whose absence her presence coincided with.”

  George Gresham was still trying to interpret his friend’s cryptic remarks. “I confess I am at a loss to comprehend your meaning, Southwell.”

  “Then be at a loss no longer. On returning to Harlington House, I made the discovery that my ward and Lady Julia are one and the same.”

  George gaped. Then as he recovered himself, seeing the thundercloud across Southwell’s visage, he was forced to lower his own face and take a rapid draught of his port. This resulted in a fit of choking, by which he was able to conceal at least some of his mirth.

  Looking up again and trying to maintain his composure, George was so struck by the notion of Southwell being duped by his own ward - a “schoolroom chit”, he had termed her - that he laughed aloud. Once this emotion had overtaken him, he was unable to withstand it. He laughed nearly to the point of convulsion while Marcus remained rigid in his chair.