The Elusive Earl

by Anne Herries

‘It is a pity that you have made no impression these past two weeks,’ her mother went on, ignoring the look of pain in Merry’s eyes. ‘Your cousin has already made an attachment. I should have thought you might have some news to tell me before this.’

  ‘I am sorry, Mama, but we have only been in town just over two weeks.’

  ‘Is there no one who has shown a particular interest?’

  Merry thought of the Earl of Sutherland. She had hoped for a time that he might quite like her, but his sudden decision to leave town had quashed her hopes.

  ‘No, Mama, no one I like.’

  Lady Standen’s eyes narrowed. ‘Then there is someone. I hope you will not be stubborn, Meredith. Marriage is a question of money and property. If you are to be well settled, you must find a suitable gentleman and encourage him to propose. His appearance is not important for you will grow used to him in time, and once the children come he will probably find a mistress and seldom bother you. Money and consequence is necessary for a comfortable life. Goodness knows, you don’t want to marry a man of insignificant fortune – and take care that he is not a gambler. You will rue the day you took him if you ignore my warning, believe me.’

  ‘Is that what you have done, Mama?’

  ‘Be quiet, girl!’ Her mother’s eyes snapped with temper. ‘It is not for you to question me. I am your mother and you will do as I tell you. I wish to know the name of the gentleman who has shown interest in you.’

  ‘There is no one, Mama,’ Merry said for she would rather die than be forced to accept Sir George Rowe.

  ‘You ungrateful girl!’ Lady Standen cried and struck her on the cheek. ‘If you will not tell me I shall ask your aunt. She will tell me, be sure of that. It looks as if Jane will be engaged very soon and she will not wish to remain in town dancing attendance on you. If you imagine that I shall continue the visit once she returns home, you are mistaken. This is your only chance for if you let me down I shall send you to an institution for wicked girls.’

  ‘Mama, you would not?’ Merry was shocked for she had never seen her mother quite this angry. ‘Please…do not say such a thing. Papa would never have said anything like that to me.’

  ‘Your father was too easy with you,’ her mother said. ‘If he had left his money to me instead of tying most of it up for you…It is your own fault, Merry. You should have made yourself agreeable as Jane has. I have no patience with you.’

  ‘Mama, you are unkind…’ she cried, tears stinging her eyes.

  ‘Merry…’ Lady Melbourne’s entrance into the room put an end to her sister’s bitter tirade. ‘Is something the matter?’

  ‘It is this ungrateful child of mine,’ Lady Standen said. ‘I cannot afford the expense of racketing about the town as you do, sister – and she will not oblige me by telling me the names of her suitors.’

  ‘Merry is very popular,’ Lady Melbourne said. ‘You must not badger her, Ellen. I am sure she will have several proposals before we go home.’

  ‘But you will not stay once Jane is engaged?’

  ‘Jane will have her full season as I promised her,’ Lady Melbourne said and frowned. ‘Merry is more than welcome to stay with me – unless you insist on taking her away?’

  ‘You know that is impossible in the circumstances. If you are to stay there is not so much hurry, but I am disappointed that she has no admirers.’

  ‘Of course she has admirers,’ Merry’s aunt said and smiled at her. ‘One or two of them have been quite attentive. You are too impatient. I have told Jane that she must take her time, even though I approve of her choice – and even if they become engaged I shall not allow them to marry before the autumn at the earliest.’

  ‘Well, I shall not stay above two weeks,’ Lady Melbourne said. She was somewhat mollified by her sister’s reassurance but still annoyed with her daughter. ‘I hope that I shall see some improvement in your situation, Meredith.’

  ‘Yes, Mama,’ Merry said and shot a grateful look at her aunt. She had been reprieved for the moment, but she knew it would be short. Her mother would return to the fight at her earliest opportunity.

  * * *

  ‘I have not seen the Earl of Sutherland for some days. He is truly elusive, just as they say,’ Annabel said to her that evening. They were attending one of the many small dances given for young ladies having their come out, and though it was well attended it was not as exciting or crowded as some of the more important balls had been. In fact, there were hardly enough gentlemen to go round, and some of the girls had sat out at least one or two dances. ‘You have not seen Viscount Wrexham, have you?’

  ‘No, not for several days,’ Merry said, and witnessed the disappointment in her friend’s face. ‘He is promised to us for my dance at the end of the week so perhaps he will come then.’

  ‘Yes, perhaps,’ Annabel said and then pulled a face as she glanced across the room. ‘Do you see that man with the reddish brown hair…over there by the window?’

  ‘Yes, I see him. I have not noticed him before, have you?’

  ‘Yes, too often,’ Annabel said. ‘His name is Mr Steven Forrest, and wherever I go he seems to follow. I do not like him, and I have heard that he has run through a fortune. I think he now looks for another – and he thinks that I am a good way to replenish his pockets.’

  ‘You cannot think so?’ Merry was shocked. ‘You would never marry a man like that?’

  ‘Certainly not,’ Annabelle said, ‘but my aunt is impatient for me to make an attachment. She complains that she is too busy to spend more than a few weeks in town.’

  ‘Yes, I know,’ Merry said, sympathising. ‘Mama says that I should be more like Jane, and she was very angry with me for not having a white gown for this evening.’

  ‘But you look lovely in yellow,’ Annabel said. ‘Oh, dear, he is coming this way. I do not know how I shall escape him for I have three spaces left on my card. I almost wish I had not come this evening.’

  ‘I also have two spaces,’ Merry said and took her arm. ‘Shall we find somewhere to hide until he has given up looking for you?’

  ‘Yes,’ Annabel said. ‘We must go now – where do you suggest?’

  ‘I think the library is as good a place as any,’ Merry said and smiled. ‘I hide there for a few minutes sometimes if I need a little peace.’

  Laughing together, they left the ballroom, to the frustration of Annabel’s admirer and Sir George Rowe. But while Mr Forest gave up his pursuit for the moment, Sir George made his way determinedly towards Merry’s mother. He spent the next twenty minutes talking to her, and when Merry returned to the ballroom, her mother beckoned her over.

  Merry went with a heavy heart. She could see from the determined gleam in Lady Standen’s eyes that she was not to be allowed to escape from the duty of dancing with him this time.

  ‘Sir George was telling me how very much he admires you, dearest,’ Lady Standen cooed. ‘Surely you have one dance left for him?’ She held out her hand for Merry’s card, discovering that there was still one space left, and that the one before supper. ‘Yes, I thought so. She wrote his name in herself and beamed at him. ‘We shall be delighted to accompany you to Vauxhall next week, sir. Please take tea with us tomorrow and we shall make a firm date.’

  Merry’s heart sank for it was clear that her mother though the match very suitable. Sir George was not perhaps the high-born aristocrat she had hoped for, but he was wealthy, and as he seemed to get on well with her mother, she probably believed that he would pay handsomely to get the wife he wanted.

  A cloud hung over Merry for the rest of the evening. She had kept that dance back in case the Earl of Sutherland should put in an appearance, but he had not, and she wondered now if he would return in time for her dance, despite his promise.

  There was just one chance of escape for her. The letter from Lady Rutledge had been an invitation to take tea with her the next day, and as the lady was influential in the best circles, it was possible that her mother would allow her to keep the appointmen
t.

  * * *

  ‘Well, I do not like it,’ Lady Standen said when Merry told her that she had already promised to wait on Lady Rutledge that afternoon. ‘You know that I have invited Sir George to take tea with us. However, it would not do to disoblige Lady Rutledge, therefore you may go. I shall arrange for Sir George to take us to Vauxhall one evening next week – and you will make yourself available for that, Meredith.’

  ‘Yes, Mama, of course,’ Merry said. She knew that the promised trip would be unpleasant, but for the moment she had a slight reprieve.

  She dressed in a green striped gown of cool linen for the afternoon was very warm. Since Lady Rutledge lived only a few streets away in one of the more exclusive squares, she had chosen to walk with her maid for company. The birds were singing in the gardens as she approached the house, and she saw that a nurse was walking her charge there, the small boy playing with a hoop and laughing as his nurse ran to keep up with him.

  She was admitted to Lady Rutledge’s home and shown up the stairs to the large but comfortable drawing room. Three other ladies and two gentlemen were already seated, but they were all some years older than Merry and she wondered why she had been invited to be one of the company. However, she smiled and went forward, dipping a little curtsey to her hostess and then the other ladies.

  ‘My dear Miss Hamilton,’ Lady Rutledge said and looked pleased. ‘I was not sure that you would come. It is very kind of you to humour an old lady, my dear.’

  ‘I was very pleased to come,’ Merry said truthfully. ‘She would far rather be here than forced to entertain Sir George Rowe at home. It was kind of you to invite me.’

  ‘I must confess that I have an ulterior motive,’ her hostess said, a twinkle in her eye. ‘You must understand that we have formed a group for the relief of young, homeless mothers and their children. We have decided to buy a property to accommodate them at times of crisis in their lives, and it is my intention to ask my godson to secure that property for us. He has one of the best business brains I know – but he will see it from the point of view of value for money and soundness. We need a lady’s eye to view it with the purpose we have in mind, and it should be a young lady. None of us is truly able to get out and about as we would wish these days.’

  ‘I should be delighted to help you,’ Merry said, ‘but I believe the earl has left town for the moment. He had to visit his estate on a matter of urgent business.’

  ‘And forgot to tell me,’ his godmother said with a frown. ‘Well, never mind, he can make an appointment with you when he returns -–if you will oblige me in this, Miss Hamilton?’

  ‘Yes, of course, ma’am. I should be quite happy to do anything I could to help such a charitable notion.’

  ‘Just as I thought, a sensible girl,’ Lady Rutledge said with a satisfied smile. ‘Sutherland told me it was so, and he generally does not have much to say for gels of your age. Yes, it will do very well, my dear. You must not wait for an invitation to visit me in future. I shall always be pleased to see you.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Merry said, ‘but I do not know for how long we shall stay in town, ma’am.’

  ‘Oh, you will return,’ the old lady said, a twinkle in her eye. ‘I am perfectly certain this is not your last visit to town…’

  Merry thought about that twinkle as she walked home later. She suspected that Lady Rutledge was up to something – possibly match making. Sutherland had told her that both his sister and godmother had been trying to marry him off for years, and it seemed that she was the latest in a long line of candidates they had selected for him. She wondered if he had guessed what his family had in mind – and if that was why he had taken himself off to his estate.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Annabel and Merry were shopping together the next morning when they met Viscount Wrexham coming from one of the gentleman’s clubs that flourished in the fashionable part of town. It was a club well known for its sporting pursuits and the viscount was alone as he left. He saw the girls looking in the window of a milliner’s shop, hesitated, and then came towards them, raising his smart beaver hat. Dressed in a coat of blue superfine with tight-fitting pale grey breeches, he was the kind of gentleman who turned heads, and several ladies passing by spared him more than one glance.

  ‘Good morning, ladies,’ he said. ‘Are you intending to purchase something from this shop? If you are I can recommend that green velvet for you, Miss Hayes – and the pink straw would suit you, Miss Hamilton.’

  ‘You are very kind to interest yourself in our toilettes,’ Annabel said for she was a little piqued with him because he had not been at any of the affairs she had attended of late. ‘But I do not care for that shade of green…’ It was a lie for she had considered buying it until he spoke. ‘We have not seen you of late, sir?’

  ‘I was called home,’ he told her with a frown. ‘My father is elderly and frail. I visited him and would have stayed longer had he not insisted that I return for I doubt that he has many years left to him. To be honest, I do not care so much for society affairs, though there are pleasures enough to be had here if one has the money and leisure to enjoy them.’

  ‘You are a spotting gentleman perhaps?’ Merry said, because she could sense that Annabel was upset about something.

  ‘Yes, Miss Hamilton,’ he replied and smiled at her. ‘I have been going a few rounds with a professional pugilist and I must admit I find it a good way to work off my energy. You see, I had been used to hard work all my life and now I do nothing but amuse myself.’

  ‘I…see,’ Merry said. She had heard rumours about him, for some people were angered that the Marquis of Rotherham had chosen to foist his lowborn bastard on society. It would not have mattered so much had he been born a bastard to a lady of quality, but the tale was that his mother had been a gypsy girl and that was considered beyond the pale. ‘Do you play any other sports? My father was a keen cricketer and he liked to ride to hounds for the exercise.’

  ‘Harry wouldn’t approve of foxhunting,’ Annabel said and then flushed as she realised what she had said.

  ‘Papa wasn’t interested in the kill,’ Merry said and looked thoughtful, ‘but he liked a good hard ride, that’s what he told me once anyway.’

  ‘It is still a cruel sport,’ Viscount Wrexham said. ‘Fun for those who follow the hounds, perhaps, but not for the fox.’

  ‘No, you are very right, sir,’ Merry said, ‘but they can be a nuisance in the country and must be kept under control – do you not think so?’

  ‘In a humane way perhaps,’ he said and then smiled at her. ‘But I would not wish to quarrel with either of you. I am perhaps unusual in my view of these things.’

  ‘Yes, you are,’ Annabel said. ‘But I agree with you, sir.’ She smiled at him, breathtakingly beautiful of a sudden. ‘You know, I think you may be right. I shall try on that bonnet.’

  ‘You should buy it,’ he said and gave her such a wicked look that her heart caught. ‘I hope to see you both at Miss Hamilton’s dance. Please excuse me now. I have an appointment.’

  Annabel watched as he walked away, her face wearing a wistful expression, which made Merry think she must like him very much. Perhaps too much for it was unlikely that her father would permit the marriage.

  ‘You like him, don’t you, Belle?’

  Annabel looked at her and for a moment her feelings were writ plainly upon her face. ‘Yes, I do,’ she said. ‘I have liked him for a long time – long before he became Viscount Wrexham. He rescued a fox-cub once in my father’s woods and…’ She shook her head, blinking hard. ‘But it would not do…for my family.’

  ‘Would it do for you?’ Merry asked, her eyes intent on the other girl’s face. ‘You know that there are some who will not receive him, though I think most would if he cared to accept their invitations. He is perhaps too proud to flaunt his new status.’

  ‘Yes, I think he is very proud,’ Annabel said and her mouth softened with what Merry thought must be love. ‘You ask if he would do for
me …I would risk anything, a breach with my family, if he asked it of me, but I am not sure he likes me.’

  ‘He likes you, Belle,’ Merry said. ‘Perhaps he knows that your family would not accept him, but I am perfectly sure that he likes you very much.’

  ‘Oh, Merry,’ Annabel said and hugged her arm. ‘I am so glad that we were at school together. If it were not for you and Samantha…’ She shook her head. ‘I am being foolish. Do you know I think Viscount Wrexham was right, I shall buy that bonnet…’

  * * *

  The evening at Vauxhall was made bearable for Merry, because Lady Melbourne had expressed an interest in visiting the pleasure gardens herself and the party had become much larger than had been anticipated. In the end, Mr Hythe, Annabel and Lady Mitchell were invited to swell their numbers, much to Merry’s relief, and Sir George’s annoyance. He had hoped to get Merry to himself for a part of the evening, but it proved impossible.

  ‘This is most pleasant, sir,’ Lady Melbourne told him when they were having supper in the booth that he had taken for them. ‘A fine evening at Vauxhall is always agreeable to me. I am glad you thought of it. And it is nice for the gels to meet acquaintances in such a situation – do you not think?’

  Sir George ground his teeth and muttered something polite. His plans had gone awry for they had met several of Lady Melbourne’s close friends, and he had not had one moment alone with Merry, who stayed close to Miss Hayes and her cousin. Even when they walked in the grounds, he found himself ousted from his position at her side. It was almost as if everyone had conspired against him.

  ‘Do stay with me,’ Merry had whispered to her cousin and Annabel earlier. ‘I do not wish to be alone with him…’

  ‘Then you shall not,’ Annabel declared, and when Sir George tried to come between them a moment or so later, she took his arm, smiling at him brightly. ‘Will you not show me where they are to hold the fireworks later?’ she asked, fluttering her eyes at him. ‘You must know that this is my first visit to the gardens and I find it all fascinating.’