‘The Chartist Martyrs.’
‘More radicals,’ Constance said, frowning at the inscription. ‘Paul says that there is a Radical Army of men who are intent on causing a revolution if they are not given the vote. He says that one of the reasons the King is here in Edinburgh, is to distract people from their cause.’
Grayson shrugged. ‘If it is, then it’s working. Can we forget about what Paul says and enjoy the day? Come on, let’s go up to the observatory, we’ll get a bird’s eye view of the procession down to Holyrood from there.’
* * *
They were on the path leading to the top of the hill, dominated by the tall tower of the Nelson monument. Some of the bonfires which had been lit to welcome the King were still burning, kept going by the people who had set up temporary homes in tents on the hill for the duration. The path took them around the green-domed observatory building and past the odd, half-finished edifice that was supposed to resemble some ancient Greek temple. Clambering on to the plinth, they both caught their breath at the view of Leith, the Firth of Forth and the Fife coast beyond.
‘Is that Incholm?’ Constance asked, pointing.
‘I reckon.’
‘Pearl says I have a tendency to lecture.’
‘The world needs idealists like you to tell pragmatists like me what needs doing.’
‘But I haven’t even done that, have I? I’ve pointed out the injustice of what’s happening, I’ve pointed out the hypocrisy of what is going on down there in Holyrood, but I’ve not said what should be done to remedy it all.’ She sighed wearily. ‘Because progress can’t be halted. There will be more Highlanders in Canada soon, than there are left in the Highlands. And as Pearl pointed out, half of them only speak the Gaelic.’
‘There you are then,’ Grayson said, ‘there’s your next quest. Set up a school to teach them English.’
‘I’d have to sail to Canada.’
He slipped his arm around her waist, pulling her close. ‘There’s no need for that. Teach them before they sail. In fact, set up your school in Greenock or Port Glasgow, and then you’ll be located where your Highlanders sail from, and by a happy coincidence, not too far from me.’
‘You don’t need me to teach you English.’
‘No, I just need you.’
He helped her down from the plinth and they walked slowly around to the other side of the hill and the view over to the Old Town.
‘You shouldn’t have said that.’
He grimaced. ‘I know.’
‘We’re fooling ourselves, aren’t we? What was it you said the other day, about two middle-aged intelligent people trying to make sense of their situation? We’re not being very sensible, are we?’
‘When I’m not with you, I’m very sensible, and I tell myself that we’re wasting our time. Worse, we’re making what’s to come a lot more painful. But then I see you and all that goes out of the window.’
‘I know. When I’m with you, I can make myself believe anything is possible, but when I think it over, I can’t make sense of any of it. We can read each other’s thoughts, but we couldn’t be more different. I’m fighting to change the world, you’re fighting to keep your own wee world just the way it is. Introducing me into that world, it would be like firing one of those rockets from last night. Your children would resent me, your in-laws would think me a revolutionary, and you...’
‘Don’t say I wouldn’t want you.’
‘No, but you don’t want a wife, Grayson and even if you did, I’m about as different from Eliza as it’s possible to get.’
‘I don’t want to replace Eliza.’
‘I know that.’
He shook his head impatiently. ‘That’s not what I meant. I don’t want another Eliza. I have changed so much since she died that if we met now, I don’t know that I’d even like her very much, let alone fall in love with her.’
‘So what are you saying?’
He cursed under his breath. ‘I don’t know. I feel like we’re going round in circles. I don’t want this. You don’t want that. Maybe all the fates intended for us was a brief liaison, and here we are, desperately trying to turn it into a lifetime.’
‘And failing to find even a starting point.’
‘Aye. And yet when I look at you, I swear to God, my heart actually flutters.’ He put his arms around her waist, pulling her close, and she smoothed her hand over his cheek.
‘And when we’re like this,’ Constance said, ‘it feels like nothing else in the world matters.’
Their lips met in the most bittersweet of kisses. It was destined also to be the shortest. A loud wolf whistle brought them to their senses. Grayson released her, smiling sheepishly. ‘Fate, in the shape of that grubby wee lad in tartan trews over there is giving us a wake-up call. You know what, I’m sick of talking about all this.’
‘There’s nothing to talk about.’ She slipped her hand into his. ‘Why don’t we just enjoy the day?’
‘That is a very good idea.’ They stood together, watching the long snaking line of carriages stretching from Princes Street in the west, the beginning of Regent Row in the south, and over in the east at Abbey Hill, begin to move. The gates of the palace must have been opened, for a throng of people could be seen moving into the yard, a blur of black, scarlet and tartan milling around. Sun glinted on the vast array of weaponry sported by those who had opted for Highland dress, and those who had been set to guard the King while he submitted his hand to the caress of hundreds.
‘Do you think that they actually kiss the royal hand?’ Constance asked, wrinkling her nose.
‘If they do, I don’t fancy being at the back of the queue.’
‘It will be a very long queue. There must be hundreds of people down there.’
‘A good few will be hingers-on. Courtiers, the proud Highlandman’s retinue, servants, coachmen and footmen,’ he elucidated.
‘Hingers-on,’ Constance repeated. ‘I sometimes feel I’m learning a whole new language, talking to you. I shall offer to teach Glaswegian in my school, as well as English.’
‘There’s something to be said for that. You could teach them the lingo and give them some advice on life in the big smoke at the same time. There’s a big difference, I’d imagine, between living in a cottage with a kailyard, and living up a close in a tenement.’
‘It’s a good idea, but unfortunately I have no idea myself of how to live up a close in a tenement.’
‘I’ll tell you, and you can tell them.’
The tinny sound of the trumpets announcing the King’s arrival distracted them, followed by what could have been a band playing the national anthem. The crowd in the palace yard surged towards the doors and slowly, over the next hour, disappeared in one door and out of another.
‘How long do you think he’s giving each person?’ Grayson asked.
‘It can’t be more than a few seconds.’
‘Time for a bow and a scrap and a slobber and not much more. What’s the point of it?’
‘To have your name on the roll call that is to be published tomorrow. To be able to say that you were there?’
‘But to what purpose? It’s not as if there’s time for anyone to have a quiet word in the royal ear. Could you do me a wee favour, Your Majesty, and grant me a royal charter for my sporran-making business, that kind of thing.’
‘Could you do me a wee favour, Your Majesty, and tell the Marquess of Stafford to stop burning his tenants out of their cottages.’
‘Stafford? You used that name in your last piece—or rather Flora did. Who is he?’
‘His wife is the Countess of Sutherland. It was her factor, Patrick Sellar, who started the trend for clearing the land, and James Loch who carries it on to this day. Loch and Stafford are probably down there, kissing the King’s hand, as we speak. The number of tenants they have dispossessed makes the Clachan Estate Clearances look hal
f-hearted.’
‘I’m planning on finding out what is happening on the Glenbranter Estates.’
‘Don’t do that, Grayson, it’s hardly conducive to your ingratiating yourself with your in-laws.’
‘I’ve no plans to ingratiate myself. I want us to understand one another, and to accept that we all want what is best for Neil and Shona, even if we can’t necessarily agree what that might be.’
‘But if you start asking them about improving...’
‘I’ll ask them for their views, and I’ll listen to them. I’m not going to open the conversation by asking them if they’ve burned any of their tenants out of their homes recently.’
‘If they are improvers though...’
‘What? Would that mean we can’t be friends?’
‘No!’
‘But if I take the stance that it’s their land, that they’re not doing anything illegal even if it is immoral, what then?’
‘If it were not for Shona and Neil, would your stance be different?’
‘If it were not for Shona and Neil, I’d not be asking them.’
‘No, of course you wouldn’t, why should you, it’s none of your business. Why are you asking them, then?’
‘Those lands will belong to Neil one day. It might be too late by then, of course, but at the very least, I can make sure my son understands that being a landowner is as much about the people who live on it as it is about making a profit from them. You see, Flora might not have stopped the Clearances, but she’s changed this man’s thinking.’
‘Thank you, but please think carefully before you speak to them. You want to persuade them you’re a sensible, loving father with his children’s interests closest to his heart, not a revolutionary intent on destroying their way of life.’
‘I thought you’d be pleased.’
‘Flora would be. I’m speaking to you as Constance.’ She squeezed his hand. ‘Who more than anything wants you to be happy.’ Because she cared for him, more than anything else. It was too frightening a thought for her to give it room. ‘Look down there, I think the King is leaving already.’
‘You are a remarkable woman, Constance. I wish...’
‘Don’t say any more, please, Grayson.’
He flinched, but nodded. ‘An hour,’ he said after a tense moment’s silence, ‘that’s all I reckon the King’s been at the palace, not much more. An hour to be kissed what, a hundred, three hundred, four hundred times?’
‘Judging by the crowd, more like a thousand.’
‘A thousand kisses in an hour. That’s a challenge I’d be more than willing to take on.’ He kissed her swiftly. ‘But for now, I’ll have to content myself with one.’
Chapter Fourteen
Tuesday, 20th August 1822
‘I am so glad to be back, Pa.’ Shona strode into the sitting room of the Caledonian Suite, pulling the white ostrich feathers from her hair.
‘Two hours it took that French hairdresser your grandmother sent to create that coiffure, and you’ve destroyed it in less than two minutes.’
‘The feathers made my head ache. We had to sit in the carriage for hours before the King even arrived, and when we finally got to the palace, would you believe there were no facilities in the waiting room?’
‘Facilities?’
‘She’s referring to chamber pots,’ Neil piped up. ‘When I went to the palace with Grandfather, they were located behind a screen in the waiting room.’
‘When you went to the palace, there were no ladies present. All the gentlemen escorts and the footmen were in the same waiting room with us, so even if there had been a screen with—with facilities, I would not have dreamed of using them.’
‘Your train would have got in the way too,’ Neil said, grinning.
Shona swiped at him with a feather. ‘Make yourself useful and fetch me a lemonade. I’m parched.’
‘Please?’
‘Please, darling Brother, fetch me a lemonade. And Pa, you’d best pour a sherry for Grandmother, I think she’ll need it.’
‘Your grandmother is here?’ Grayson jumped to his feet. ‘Where? Why didn’t you say?’
‘We dropped Grandfather off at the other Oman’s, but Grandmother said she wanted to speak to you, only when we arrived, she met someone she knew. I expect she’ll be up soon.’ Shona dropped down on the sofa. ‘I’m exhausted. And I’m famished. May we have dinner early, and invite Grandmother? Please, Pa. When Grandfather isn’t here to talk over her and put her down, she’s actually good company. You may even discover—heaven forefend—that you like one another. Will you ask her?’
‘Ask her what?’
‘Lady Glenbranter.’
‘Mr Maddox. May I come in?’
‘Of course. Would you care for a sherry, or a cup of tea?’
‘I’d actually prefer a whisky if you have such a thing. What an ordeal. Did Shona tell you how long we had to wait?’
Grayson handed her a crystal glass of whisky. ‘Glenlivet, which I’m reliably informed is the King’s favourite. Would you like a little water in it?’
‘I never dilute good whisky.’ Lady Glenbranter tossed back the golden liquid in one swallow and held out the glass again. ‘I would be most obliged if you would pour me another, thank you.’
‘I’ll join you, if I may.’ Like Shona, Lady Glenbranter wore a silk gown and long white gloves, though she had detached the obligatory lace train. She was a woman who would more likely to be referred to as handsome rather than beautiful, with a strong nose and a decided chin, though her soft brown eyes and sculpted cheek bones, and her smile, when she deigned to use it, reminded Grayson of Neil. And of Eliza, of course.
Grayson poured the drinks, chinking his glass to Lady Glenbranter’s before sitting opposite her in the chair next to his daughter. ‘So, was it worth the wait?’
‘His Majesty, for reasons beknown only to himself, was dressed in the uniform of a field marshal,’ Lady Glenbranter said.
‘With a white sash and a huge diamond brooch,’ Shona chimed in. ‘He was so old, Pa, and so fat. I do believe he was wearing rouge too for his face was a very unnatural shade of pink. We had to walk for miles through so many different rooms before we were finally in the waiting room, and then when our names were called, one of the helpers, I forget what they were called...’
‘Lords-in-waiting.’
‘Yes, that was it. Well, he spread my train out behind me and then Grandmama and I were positively hurtled into the Drawing Room. We had to curtsy so low I was almost kneeling on the ground, and then we had to bend over the King so that he could kiss us and then we had to make another curtsy, and leave the room walking backwards, which let me tell you is very difficult, with a train.’
‘I’m sure it is. Did the King actually kiss you?’
Shona giggled. ‘To be honest, it was all such a blur that I can’t remember anything except making a huge effort not to screw my face up for he smelled odd, and I wanted to laugh, because it was all so strange, with everyone taking it so seriously. Did he kiss you, Grandmama?’
‘Certainly not. I made sure to keep a bit of air between us.’ Lady Glenbranter shuddered. ‘So unhygienic. The whole thing was a waste of a day, if you ask me, but my husband was keen to have our names on the list of attendees, and at least now both Shona and Neil can say they have met the King.’ She took a sip of her whisky, making an approving face. ‘Shona, I wish to have a word with your father.’
‘That’s nice. I was saying a moment ago, that we should invite you to dine with us, Grandmama. Will you?’
‘I would like a word with your father in private, my dear.’
‘But Neil is fetching me a lemonade.’
‘Drink it in your room while you get changed.’ Grayson pulled his daughter to her feet, kissing her cheek.
‘But Grandmama will prefer...’
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br /> ‘Your father and I are perfectly capable of having a civilised conversation together without your supervision, Shona. Contrary to your expectations, I’m not about to bite his head off and I am sure he will return the promise.’
‘I promise,’ Grayson said, waiting for Shona to close the door before taking his seat again. ‘I am grateful to you and Lord Glenbranter for making the effort to include Shona and Neil in your royal engagements.’
‘It is magnanimous of you to say so. May we speak frankly, Mr Maddox?’
‘It is always my preferred approach. I wish you would call me Grayson.’
‘Mr Maddox. I will not pretend that I have ever been anything other than unhappy that Elizabeth married you. You will think me antiquated, but I firmly believe that a union between two people from such very different walks of life is doomed to failure.’
‘Ours did not follow that pattern.’
‘No. If Elizabeth had lived, however, it may have been a very different matter. My daughter never once expressed any regret. I will go as far as to say that Elizabeth loved you until the end, but she was not entirely happy.’
‘I was aware of that.’
Lady Glenbranter’s brows shot up. ‘You were? She was most insistent that you were not, and equally insistent that she had never discussed the matter with you.’
‘None the less. I knew Eliza very well, Lady Glenbranter. She was my wife. I know she never quite reconciled herself to what she had chosen to give up. She loved me, I loved her very much, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to try to merge her two worlds. Not that she received any encouragement from you to do so, mind.’
‘You are referring to the fact that we never invited you to Glenbranter when she and the children visited?’ Her Ladyship finished her whisky. ‘As a matter of interest, would you have come?’
‘For Eliza’s sake, yes. Though to be honest, I’m not sure how it would have helped,’ Grayson said frankly. ‘I’ve no more interest in being part of your world than you have in being part of mine.’
‘You are quite correct. We understand one another perfectly.’
A Forbidden Liaison with Miss Grant Page 18
