My Lady Ghost

by June Calvin

  There was cause for hope, though. Allison scolded herself for despairing. After all, she had taken on two new private pupils in the last week. If she could but stay healthy, she would soon be earning an adequate living for herself and her mother. Adequate! She bit her lip. Could she ever earn enough to provide the kind of table that would tempt her mother's finicky appetite?

  As she stared moodily out the window, she became aware that a fine coach-and-four had pulled into the carriageway below. This in itself was not unusual, for some of Miss Purvey’s pupils came from wealthy families, and their parents enjoyed displaying this wealth at every turn. But this particular carriage! Even through the failing light, the crest was plain to see.

  Thorne! Why has he come? Allison knew by the thrill of pleasure that flooded her that she must steel herself to resist temptation once again. The carriage door opened and a tall figure emerged, brushing away the footman’s umbrella impatiently. But it wasn't Thorne. Allison didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed to see that it was James Betterton who raced the raindrops into the entry.

  She hastened down to the parlor. Miss Purvey had extremely strict rules about her teachers entertaining male visitors; it would never do for him to seek her out tete-a-tete in the music studio.

  “Jamie!” She held out her hands to him. “How kind. You’ve come all the way from London to take me home.”

  To her surprise, instead of laughing at her jest, James studied her features gravely. “Of course I have,” he responded. “Can’t let my future wife get her feet wet.”

  “Future wife? What May Game is this?”

  “May Game, is it? Why did you never hint to me of this grand passion? Why had I to learn of it from Thorne? At least now I know why he seems to despise me more each day.”

  Allison dropped his hands. “You speak in riddles and conundrums.” She glanced at Mrs. Purvey, who was observing this reunion with disapproval from her seat by the fire.

  “Let us leave. We can be private in the coach.” She raced ahead of him, gratefully accepting the umbrella that James had disdained. Once settled in the coach, she turned to him anxiously. “Now tell me what this is all about.”

  James took her hand in a gesture at once pitying and loverlike. “Poor dear. We shall be married as soon as may be. You only had to give me a hint, you know. Devilish fond of you, always have been. Never thought of you in just that way, of course, but—”

  She snatched her hand away. “Stop talking nonsense. To marry you would be to marry my brother, for as such I have always regarded you.”

  James straightened away from her, beginning to look relieved. “So I had always thought, but Thorne said ...”

  “Is Thorne trying to make a match between us. Oh! Of all the things! Will he never stop meddling in my life!”

  “I wouldn’t exactly say he was trying to make a match. Expressly forbade me to see you, in fact.”

  “Forbade you to see me! Worse and worse. But how on earth did you conclude that I am in love with you?”

  “It came about because he called me in to ring a peal over me about my debts. I’m all rolled up, you know. Thorne auctioned all of my unentailed property and still could not cover them all.”

  “Oh, Jamie. No!”

  “Yes. He bought Fairmont in the sale. Says he’ll give it to me some day if I walk the straight and narrow. Give my own property to me! The devil fly away with him.”

  Allison had never seen James seething with fury before.

  “Then had the gall to tell me if I would marry and assure the succession, he would pay my debts straightaway as a wedding present.”

  Allison thought this rather generous, but held her tongue on that point. “But I still don’t see ..

  “So I told him to get himself an heir, because I’d never marry so long as I was under his thumb. Asked him why he didn’t marry you. No, don’t look so angry. Needed to be asked. Smelling of April and May, the two of you, before you left London.”

  “I collect he told you he didn’t love me, nor I him. But I think I shall go quite mad if you don’t explain how this gave you the notion I had a secret tendre for you?”

  “Not what he said at all. Let me see. Can’t remember his exact words. Something like thanks to me, he couldn’t marry you, no matter how much he might want to. I put it to him directly. Tve come between you and Allison?’ And he said yes. So I said I’d propose to you immediately, and he forbade it. Told me I must go to Fairmont as his paid overseer and learn to manage it. Orders me about like a child.” James ground his teeth.

  Allison felt miserable for the two of them. Thorne took his role as James’s guardian as seriously as he took all of his other responsibilities. It was understandable, though, that James should resent being controlled by one so near his own age.

  After taking several moments to compose himself, James asked her, “So you aren’t dying of unrequited love for me?”

  “No, silly. I love you like a brother.”

  “Dashed queer then! I don’t understand. Why did he say I was preventing him from marrying you? Wish you would tell me what your quarrel was about. Perhaps that would shed some light on matters.”

  Allison had told no one but her mother that Thorne had offered to make her his mistress. What James might do with this information she could but guess, but she feared he might force a duel upon Thorne. The very thought of either of them injuring or killing the other was anathema to her. She blushed and turned her head. “I don’t think it has any bearing on this subject, which is quite inscrutable to me. We parted with a very clear understanding that we would not suit. You never came into it.”

  “Smoky business,” James said, shaking his head wonderingly. “He as good as admitted he loves you.”

  “I always thought Thorne a man of high character, but he has lied to you, or he has lied to me. A man who is in love doesn’t turn his back on a woman because she quibbles with him occasionally.”

  “Quibbles? You mean all that argufying over things like phlogiston and electricity and mesmerism, and politics and the like?”

  “Yes. He said he wanted peace and quiet in his home.”

  “But last season he told me he found you challenging. Said it admiringly.” The wondering tone in James’s voice made Allison smile. “Always thought he waited so long to marry because most women bored him. I’m going back to London and thrash it out with him.” James took her hand in the brotherly fashion he had always employed with her. “You’ve been made most unhappy by all of this. Only think, Allison! What if there is some silly misunderstanding. You do love him, I think?”

  Allison shook her head. “For a time l thought I did. but l have concluded that I don't really know him well enough to love him. Never would I have guessed that he would lie to one of us.” Never would I have guessed he would offer me carte blanche, she added to herself, not daring to express this thought to her volatile relative. “Well, I intend to find out the truth.”

  “I beg you will not confront him. It would humiliate me. Whether he is playing some sort of game with you, or you were mistaken in what he said, I wasn’t the least mistaken. Your may ask Mother. She became so indignant she sent him away with a flea in his ear.”

  James reluctantly agreed. “Then I suppose I must push on to Fairmont. I am completely without funds. It seems that I, like you, must earn my bread.”

  “You don’t mean to go tonight?” Allison gestured to the carriage window. Twilight gathered outside the coach.

  James took out a pocket watch and consulted it. “Not tonight. Let Thorne pay for another night’s lodging. He deserves it!”

  “Won’t you stay with us? It might cheer Mother up.”

  “I could see when I called at your cottage that she was not in plump currant.”

  “No, indeed!” Allison grimaced. “She seems to have a permanent case of the megrims. She spends all of her time in bed or lying on the sofa, and hardly eats anything.”

  “I doubted Bristol would agree with her.
It doesn’t appear to agree with you, either, now I think on it.” He studied her in the dim light of the carriage. “Pale and thin. And that dress!”

  “It is what the instructors at Miss Purvey’s academy are required to wear.”

  “Black and long sleeves I can understand, but why the poorest dressmaking it has been my displeasure to behold?”

  “If you must know. Mother and I made it.”

  “Oh, Lud.” James clapped his hand to his forehead. “Have you sunk that far? The two of you together used to muddle the hemming of a handkerchief. Beastly of Thorne to play the skinflint with you, but what I’d expect from him.”

  “He offered to house us and continue the generous allowance that we thought was from the residue of Father’s estate. Turns out his debts were much worse than Thorne told us. Mother is a complete pauper. That’s why my cousin William was so unhandsome to us, refusing to repair the dower house or establish an annuity in lieu of housing Mother there. He was furious that there was nothing to inherit along with the title.”

  “So all you have is Charles’s pension, which can’t be much.” James shook his head wonderingly. “And yet you turned down further assistance from Thorne.”

  Allison lifted her chin. “Of course. Once I knew the whole, I could not bear to be the object of his charity. Can you blame me?”

  “You make me ashamed that I have done so.”

  “It isn’t the same thing. You’re his true cousin and heir. He and I are only distant relations.”

  “Still, I should have been a man, long before this, instead of drinking and gambling and hanging about London. I have certainly fulfilled my father’s worst fears.” James looked as if this notion had just occurred to him. “Thing is, bad habits are hard to break.” Allison patted his hand understanding^. “Carousing and gaming are so much more attractive than poring over tracts on drainage and crop rotation, I make no doubt.”

  He smiled. “Just so. I should follow your example and do something for myself. Suppose I’ll have to go up to Fairmont and learn all about being a farmer, after all. Lud, that it should come to this!”

  Allison could not help but smile at the chagrin in his voice. “Poor Jamie! Though I almost envy you the country. Right now I wish I could go with you to Fairmont. Bristol is the most wretched place in the world in the rain!” The carriage had reached their cottage. “Do stay, Jamie,” she pleaded with him.

  The carriage door swung open, and the footman set the steps before assisting her out of the carriage. Her pattens made a decided splash as she did so. From the door of the cottage she watched James argue with the coachman, who at last drove away.

  “Not half pleased with me, is old Hepden. He'd be even less pleased if he knew Thorne had forbidden me to come here.”

  “However did you manage it?”

  James grinned. “The noble marquess was rushing to Parliament to give a speech, so after ordering me to my kennel, he left without giving Hepden explicit directions on my destination, else I’d have been taken straight to Fairmont, you may be sure. I'd give a monkey to see Thorne’s face when he gets the bills for this trip!”

  Chapter Six

  “Yes, m’lord, to Bristol to call on Mrs. Weatherby.” Mr. Hepden, Thorne’s venerable head coachman, turned his hat nervously in his hands. “Was that wrong? Hadn’t no orders from you, m'lord, so what was I to do?”

  “You did as you must, of course. Thank you for reporting to me.”

  After Hepden left, Thorne threw down his pen and jumped up to pace before the bow window. What the devil did l say to him? Why did he run to her with it?

  Thorne had been enraged when James approached him with a hare-brained scheme to locate the treasure of Silverthorne using a maid who supposedly had the ability to see ghosts. He had advanced the idea as a way out of their difficulties for both himself and Allison. Thorne had shouted at his young relative. “Is it not enough that I lost my father and younger brother to that so-called treasure? Are there not enough ghosts haunting that ancient relic without you adding yours?”

  All his patience had long since worn out. Not giving James a chance to reply, Thorne had ordered him to retire to Fairmont. “No further advances shall you have from me! You must learn to manage your estate profitably, else how can you ever hope to manage my vast holdings?”

  James’s response had completely demolished his self-control. “It isn't my estate anymore, is it? And I don’t want to manage your holdings. Stupid notion, anyway. I’ll likely stick my spoon in the wall long before you. Why in the name of heaven don’t you marry and get yourself an heir, so we can be free of one another? I made sure you would marry Allison, before your quarrel. She’d make you an admirable marchioness. Then I could join the army, which is what I’ve always wanted.”

  Thorne shook his head. What did I say to him then? I vaguely remember saying that because of him. I could not marry Allison. Before I could explain myself what did he do but say he 'd never guessed, and would propose to her on the instant.

  Learning that James had in fact gone to Bristol deeply disturbed Thorne. After I expressly forbade him to do so. If he repeats my words to her. she can't fail to realize it is her barrenness I referred to. What purpose would be served by reporting my words to her? In spite of his low opinion of James, Thorne knew his cousin would never knowingly hurt Allison, whom he loved like a sister. As for James marrying Allison, it was unthinkable. Thorne felt ill at the thought of her in any other man’s arms.

  You had best get used to it, he told himself. She will remarry eventually.

  Not James, he debated with himself. Not a gamester. Not...

  Someone you know, so that you have to be reminded of what your cowardice cost you?

  Cowardice? Thorne shook his head at the unwelcome thought. Wisdom! To marry for love is to become a woman s fool.

  That he could not resolve this internal argument did not matter, for James’s reckless behavior seemed unlikely to improve. Which meant he had spoken the truth with no varnish on it, when he blamed James for the fact that he could not marry Allison, for it appeared he would have to marry to ensure the succession.

  What did James say to her? Is she going to marry him? These questions tormented him so much that he found himself planning a trip to Bristol to see how matters stood.

  It's time I called on them, anyway. That footman I sent to work for her does not write very informative reports. Thorne drew out the latest opus from Ian McDonald, which Hepden had delivered along with his account of James’s truancy. “Mrs. Weatherby takes a hackney cab to school when it rains. Lady Catherton seldom goes out. Peterson thinks she has gone into a decline. The piano tuner said the sounding board was cracked, which distressed the ladies very much.” This last item especially concerned Thorne. He knew Allison had taken on some private music pupils; a defective piano might make that impossible to continue, and she probably couldn’t pay for expensive repairs.

  Allison stood in the doorway to her cottage, watching her last private pupil leave without a lesson. She blinked away bitter tears. Just as the brougham that had brought the child pulled away, Allison saw a familiar coach bearing down upon her. Why has James come hack? How has he convinced Hepden to wander about England this way?

  A few days ago she had received a letter from him telling her not to worry, that he had a plan to solve both their problems once and for all. He had been deliberately mysterious, but she found herself growing more cheerful, until she realized her piano’s poor performance was the result of something far more serious than merely being out of tune.

  She stood in the doorway, watching, wondering what scheme James had hatched. Fancy him keeping the carriage for so long. Thorne will be livid. She almost smiled at the thought, but remembering James’s penchant for wild starts sobered her. Let it not be some mad gamble, she prayed, watching the carriage door anxiously. She realized the minute the masculine leg emerged that it did not belong to James. His were not so long, nor so muscular.

  Oh, heavens! Th
orne! She ducked back into the house. “Deny me to all visitors, Peterson,” she cried as she fled. But the sound of heavy booted feet behind her told her she was too late.

  “Good afternoon, Peterson,” a deep voice intoned. “No need to announce me.”

  How dare he sound amused, Allison thought, hastily scraping her cheeks dry with the palms of her hands before turning around. She stood and waited for Thorne to come to her. He stopped two feel away.

  “You’ve been crying.”

  “What do you do here, Thorne? If you will recall your last visit, my mother said you were no longer welcome in her house, a sentiment with which I heartily agree.”

  “I will explain the purpose of my visit after I have paid my respects to Lady Catherton,” Thorne replied with a manner of supreme self-confidence, which was somewhat undermined by the embarrassed flush that darkened his face.

  “She is resting with the headache. I really do wish you would leave. This is rather a bad time for a visit.”

  “I think it is very good time. What is wrong?” He leaned forward and traced a tear track down her cheek.

  “Nothing that I can’t correct on my own.” She tossed her head. “That is, if you will leave. I am very busy.”

  “Busy turning away your pupils? Or did you contrive to have your piano mended?”

  “How did you . .. oh! You exasperating man. I’ve suspected all along that Ian was a spy. I should have known so strong and capable a young man would not have agreed to work for what I could pay him!”

  “You did it out of consideration for Peterson.” He smiled tenderly at her. One of the things that endeared her to him was her kindness and regard for her servants.