‘He will not get the chance to,’ said Durant
‘Murder is also agin the law, begging yer pardon,’ grinned the little man.
‘Is there anything we can do for you in return, Mr Mosely?’ said Mr Fenton.
‘There maybes is, sir.’ Fenton reached into a capacious pocket for his purse, but Mr Mosely waved it away, ‘No, no, yer honour. I’m flush with yellow-boys as it ‘appens. But sometimes I might need to meet a man, for my investigations, you understand. Not of my own class, ye reckon, and while I have some very good contacts in the Beau Monde these days,’ he said with somewhat of a flourish, ‘they might not know the man I want.’
‘I think I can speak for anyone here and say, if such a thing occurs, apply at once.’
‘I’ll be going now, yer lordship. It was nice to meet you and if you was to need a problem solved, of an investigative nature that is, come to Mosely. A note to Mr Rigby-Blythe, lawyer, of Beltane Buildings, will find me. Cheerio!’ He turned to go, but Lady Letitia and Felicity danced forward to thank him once more and he cheekily pinched Felicity’s chin. ‘No, thank ee ladies, for the most interesting day I’ve had in a month. And what a story you do tell, miss’ he added to Felicity, ‘it was real treat, what I could follo’ ‘o it.’ He looked at Lady Letitia for a moment, then turned back to Felicity, ‘I don’t think much o’ the black-hearted lady title, she was more of a sad young lady, thinks I. And a beauty, to boot.’ Lady Letitia hugged him briefly to the intake of breath from the company.
‘You have been the Knight-errant of this tale, Mr Mosley, sir, and I salute you!’ she said, in the humblest voice Durant had ever heard her use.
‘Well, miss, I’d go on my knee and offer you my hand as such fellas do, if I didn’t think you was ‘aving a joke with me. But the missus wouldn’t like it.’ He winked and bowed and took his leave of the august company, whistling.
The party broke up after some more gentle chatter, and some refreshments of cake and wine. As those not resident in Grosvenor Square were leaving, a private conversation took place in the vestibule where Anne Clarence and Durant found themselves alone at last.
‘Anne!’ said Durant urgently to her. ‘My dear, I must—’
She turned to him with her humorous look and held his cheek. ‘Durant, you are free. We could never be more than the very best of friends.’
He looked at her and bent and kissed her hand.
‘Go to her!’ she said.
He turned and headed back into the room. He had already asked Letitia if she would go home with Miss Althorpe and she had been very glad to do so. She hugged him once more. ‘I know, Tish, I can see you are sorry,’ he’d said, when she opened her mouth again. She smiled, and left.
Now, Lady Sumner joined him, having just fetched a shawl for Felicity from her room. They both stopped in the doorway as they saw Mr and Mrs Fenton standing watching as Benedict whirled Felicity around, her feet from the floor, in joy. Genevieve’s voice caught in a sob that only Durant could hear, and she turned and ran back up the stairs once more.
No-one knew what, but something in this movement from the door alerted the Fentons and Felicity, and they turned, laughing, to see Durant, who now wished himself anywhere else, caught standing in the doorway.
‘My boy,’ said Mr Fenton, cheerfully. ‘You must be the second to be told.’ He smiled, and Durant attempted one also, but it felt like a rictus on his face.
Lady Aurora added, ‘We have made Felicity our heir. And our home will be hers from now on. There will be no more talk of becoming a governess.’
‘And I’ll be willing to bet that when the world hears of it, many rumours will suddenly be discounted, said Benedict, joyfully. ‘I shouldn’t wonder if there will be a deal more morning callers now.’
‘Probably,’ drawled his uncle.
Durant found his breath and regained the use of his legs all at one. He moved forward and said. ‘Is that the joyful news? I thought it was that you were to be wed.’
‘Don’t be silly,’ said Felicity, ‘It’s Benedict!’
‘Yes, pretty near to be a brother, or a cousin or some such, and we don’t marry cousins in our family.’
‘And,’ said Durant significantly, holding Benedict’s eye. ‘I think Lady Sumner believed so also, when she saw you just now.’
‘But she can’t—’ said Benedict, ‘She must—’
‘She was most upset.’
‘She was, was she?’ said Benedict darkly. ‘Which way?’
‘Upstairs.’ Benedict left at a run.
‘I think, Mr Fenton, that I must go up to my room to lie down after the excitement of this day.’ Said Lady Aurora, with a significant glance, ‘Will you offer me your arm?’
Fenton gave a stately bow, ‘My lady,’ he said proffering that appendage to her.
They left the room.
In the street, Mr Joyce awaited Miss Clarence. He smiled as she came down stairs from the house. ‘We shall have to walk, unless you think Lord Durant will grant you space in the landau.’
‘Oh, I shouldn’t think so. He’s been detained.’
Mr Joyce took her hand and placed it on his arm. ‘We don’t walk so in Little Clarence. The parishioners would talk.’
‘Many hearts would be broken.’
‘Whose heart?’ he asked.
‘Mrs Belville’s for a beginning.’
‘Oh, well, I have always held a candle for Mrs Belville, it is true. As I suppose her husband did, before he died forty years ago.’
‘What direction are we going?’
‘I have no idea. I think I am heading to my brother’s home. Is your direction elsewhere? Should we turn about?’
‘No, I suppose I should meet him.’
‘Who? The Almighty? Why? I assure you, he is not half so amusing as I.’
‘I might want to decide for myself. In fact, I ought to meet him before I say what I have to say to you.’
‘Why?’
‘Well, I might prefer the older brother. We may make a match of it.’ This was said in her usual railing tone, but he could only give a hollow laugh. ‘Mr Joyce, what are you really doing in London?’
‘I hardly know. Getting a new coat from my brother it seems,’ he said lightly.
‘Please tell me.’ Her tone was serious and he could not offer her another joke.
‘I hardly know.’ Then he looked at her direct. He breathed, ‘It is where you are.’
Anne sighed and grasped his arm a little tighter with her fingertips. ‘I know I have to be the one to do this, because of our positions…’
‘Because I have nothing to offer you…’ he said quietly, not pretending to misunderstand.
‘I am not going to be a viscountess. And I cannot get you preferment. That is, I do not wish to, if it will take you away from our home. You offer me everything I want in this world every time I see you. I came to London to say so to Durant. When you followed me, I was so full of you, so complete, for my love was here. Will you marry me and live with me and be my love?’
‘Anne Clarence. Did you have to ask me in the street? How am I to kiss you, my very best friend?’
With great aplomb, Anne hailed a hackney. When once they were in it, Mr Joyce took her into his arms and held her. ‘I told him to go to the Tower of London.’
‘But that is quite in the wrong direction,’ she said.
‘I know, my darling. That is just what the purpose is.’ He kissed her thoroughly once more.
‘Oh, Mallory. I’ve wanted this for so long.’
‘Then why did you get engaged to a dashed viscount then? One with lots of hair and a square chin.’
She laughed. ‘I thought it was sensible. I knew you would never ask, and I did not know what to do. But as soon as I saw your face when I told you, I knew how perfectly ridiculous that was. And I have been inspired by the remarkable resourcefulness of the younger generation today.’
‘Ah, the vase to the head? Or telling your tale to a Bow Street Runner?’
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‘Whichever. The power of independent action. I have been too long in a household role to be a new woman.’
‘You have singlehandedly run an estate and a large household for all the years I have known you. With great aplomb, I should say. How I have longed to be able to help you on those days when the burden was extreme.’
‘And now you may,’ she said, with her head on his shoulder.
‘Yes. But I wish to remain the curate too, though perhaps Mr Bigelow could take on some of his own duties after this.’
‘My dearest love, do you have money for this hackney?’
‘Not a sou!’ he admitted, stretching his long legs on the opposite seat and holding her closer.
‘Ah,’ she sighed, ‘I have always longed to marry a fortune hunter.’
Benedict took the stairs two at a time, to the butler’s disgust, and entered Lady Sumner’s chamber without knocking. She was prostrate on the bed, face in a pillow, but she rose quickly, put her back to him and exclaimed, ‘What—!’
Benedict stayed where he was, only closing the door. ‘What is wrong with you, my lady? Do you have a headache?’
‘Just for a moment. It has passed now.’ She turned to him, her face its usual placid self, only the red at the tip of her nose indicating that she had been crying. ‘What do you mean by bursting into a ladies chamber without permission? I may have been dressing.’
‘You didn’t have time. Durant had the idea that you were upset.’ Benedict walked forward a step gently, as though not to frightened a wounded animal.
‘No. Merely suddenly unwell,’ she said, maintaining her upright demeanour.
‘Ah!’ he said, taking another step forward, ‘I have some news.’
He saw her straighten even further and tense her body, as for a blow. ‘I trust it is good news. We have had our fill of worrisome excitement today.’
‘We have,’ he came forward another step, a practice that Lady Sumner was regarding with some trepidation, but she held herself still. ‘It is about Felicity.’
She turned her head a little, and put her hand out to straighten a silver candlestick on a table nearby. ‘Oh,’ she said gaily, ‘Am I to wish you happy?’
He covered the remaining distance in two long strides, and gathered her in his arms. ‘Only if you say yes, Jenny.’
She buried her face in his coat to hide the tears that fell, and clasped the fabric to her. ‘I am very happy for you, Benedict. Indeed I am.’ She muttered into his coat.
‘I can see you are. I’m not going to marry Felicity, you goose. You are the only woman for me.’
‘No Benedict,’ she said, still unable to raise her head. ‘That is absurd. We are only friends. You needed me right now, with everything that has happened to you—’
He managed to lift her head with difficulty and had first to dislodge the desperate fingers that clutched his coat. ‘Of course I need you, I believe we need each other.’
‘Yes, my dear,’ trying for the voice she used to use to chide a younger Benedict. But his arm around her showed he was not that boy. ‘But only as friends.’
‘Then why did you come up here to cry when you took it into your head that I was going to marry Felicity.’
She broke away from him. ‘I didn’t—’
‘Jenny!’ he said severely. ‘You do not lie to me.’
‘If I have felt rather closer to you, my dear boy, it is no wonder. Only your letters got me through the worst of things. And I felt I was able, in some little way, to help you—’
‘You did. Your letters were the light of my life.’
‘But I knew that it could never be more than that. Look at me, Benedict. I am a plain woman. I have always known it, and never minded it. You are younger —‘she held up her hand as he wanted to protest. ‘—and so handsome that half the ladies in London are at your feet—’
‘You say you are plain. Then why can I not see you without being mesmerised by your beauty? Your honest eyes, your grace, I am bewitched. I believe I have always loved you, Genevieve.’ He laughed. ‘Now that Lady Aurora has made you elegant of dress, I have had some friends beg me for an introduction.’
‘You did not introduce me,’ she said with a little frown.
‘Of course I did not. Do you think me mad? What if you had preferred one of them?’ She laughed and he held her eyes. He moved towards her, took her back in his arms and this time she looked up at him. ‘I love Oswald, and I love you. Will you marry me, Lady Sumner?’
She twisted from his grip suddenly and said, ‘No, no, I can’t!’ and put her head into her hands.
The smile dropped from his lips. He had been so near to—. ‘Why?’ he asked gently.
‘I am not the stuff wives are made of. Frederick told me many times.’
‘Bosh!’
‘No, no Benedict, you do not know what I mean. It is indelicate — but I must explain. Our wedding night — I hated it. And all subsequent nights like that. It was quite dreadful. And he told me again and again that it was my fault. I have no ability— I cannot—’ her hands went back to her face, blushing with shame.
‘If he was not dead I would kill him.’ He took her in his hands gently, and bent and kissed her neck. ‘Did he do this Jenny?’ She moaned a little and looked up. ‘Trust me, it won’t be like it was with him. You’ll be wonderful with me because we belong together. And if it never was, I would still wish to be with you. My best friend and my love.’
‘Benedict, my darling,’ she said and he bent and kissed her properly. Everything in her stirred and she shook in his arms.
‘It is settled then.’ He said looking at her in his old merry way. ‘Dickie and Jenny together at last! I would celebrate by running my fingers through your hair, my Genevieve, but I fear in that thicket I would never find them again.’
She hit him and they collapsed on to a little sofa, laughing.
‘We must go down stairs presently, or there will be a new scandal brewing.’
‘Mmmm,’ he answered, kissing her neck again.
‘I still think Felicity would have made you an excellent wife, you know,’ she said presently, emerging from his embrace.
‘I think Durant would have something to say to that,’ remarked Benedict, idly playing with her fingers.
Felicity stood smiling at Durant in a way that made his head spin, unembarrassed since she was still in the grip of her good news. ‘Isn’t it wonderful?’ she said. ‘Not about being an heiress, you know, but by really being part of the family.’
‘It is wonderful. I am so pleased for you.’ He said. ‘Miss Oldfield, I have to say—’
‘Pray do not,’ she begged.
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘You are always apologising to me. And thanking me. It is becoming quite tedious, you know’ she added laughing.
‘I am no longer engaged.’ He said stiffly.
‘Oh,’ she said, suddenly realising they were alone. ‘I am so sorry to hear so.’
‘You should not be. It was in the nature of an arrangement between us. I believe it would not have worked.’
‘I see,’ said Felicity, wondering why he was confiding in her in this strange way.
‘I am now free to do what I have long wished to. Miss Oldfield, will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?’
‘I— I— no, of course not!’ Said Felicity, angry.
‘Of course not?’ said the Viscount, insulted. ‘Is this how I am to be answered?’
‘I am so sorry to have phrased it thus. But I am not replying to an offer of marriage for anything but honour and guilt, and all those meaningless things.’ She paced around the room angrily. ‘I am so tired of all of that. You should be grateful really, she added with a laugh, ‘I answered the last such offer by laughing.’
‘You don’t understand—’ said Durant.
‘I understand that you are kind—’
‘That is not what is said of me,’ he said.
‘And honourable—’
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��I hope I am that at least, but I was not thinking of your honour when I stole you from the inn yard.’
‘You were not thinking of anything besides completing the purchase and perhaps beating Letitia.’
‘You are right. Letitia is a brat and I was not going to be trounced by her starts like my aunt often is.’
‘But I think what she almost did to herself by eloping has truly sobered her. She has felt very alone since the death of her parents, you know, and she has reacted to it by becoming selfish, and loving her consequence instead. She told me that when she saw all my dear friends gather around me to try to repair the damage her careless tongue had done, she realised for the first time that she had no such friends of her own. And that it was, perhaps, her own fault. It made her very unhappy, and then you were so angry with her and she had no one to talk to. She is really a very different person than I thought. Mr Mosely made us laugh a great deal on the journey and it helped us get to know each other a little better. She was very entertained to know the names that my friend Miss Fleet and I had ascribed to you all from our novels, she found it most amusing.’
‘She used to be a joyful child. I fear I have neglected her. Another of my faults.’
‘Perhaps, but gentlemen are not accustomed to pay attention to children,’ she said, ‘My papa was so.’ She smiled, ‘But he was most attached to me, I assure you.’
‘How could he not be?’ Felicity trembled a little. ‘What position had I in the novel of your life?’
‘Oh, wicked abductor, of course,’ she smiled.
‘Ah, that is what Mosely referred to. I suppose I deserved the name.’
‘But it was given as a joke, you understand, as it was also to dear Mr Fenton, the same title. And you cannot believe that I ever thought of him as wicked.’
‘You’ll quite ruin his reputation if you ever say so in society, he thrives on a reputation for wickedness.’
‘Oh, I never should. But you are right, I met so many gentlemen that feared Mr Fenton, and I could never quite believe it.’
‘Before his marriage to her ladyship, he had the name of a fop, and a bon-vivant. But there was always the rumours of danger around him He did not suffer fools, your Mr Fenton. But this is not what I wish to speak to you about. I doubt you could believe in the wickedness of anyone.’
Felicity and the Damaged Reputation: A witty, sweet Regency Romance Page 23
