“It is an excellent place, a Seminary in fact for the daughters of reduced gentlefolk and you will be taught so that when you grow a little older you will be qualified to act as a Governess in some decent household or to occupy any other position consistent with your station.”
Elvina’s hands on the rail around the deck tightened until the knuckles showed white.
“I am very sensible of Lady Cleone’s kindness,” she said in a low voice, “but neither you nor her Ladyship could have realised that I am travelling to England – to find my sister. Lord Wye knows of this. It is the reason why he allowed me to accompany him in the first place.”
She knew without looking at him that Peregrine Howard’s face cleared.
“Oh, in that case there will be no need for my sister to trouble herself!” he exclaimed and his voice was light.
“Please convey my gratitude – to Lady Cleone,” Elvina said.
Peregrine Howard cleared his throat.
“I think I will go and tell her right away,” he smiled. “She will be pleased to hear the good news.”
He moved away and Elvina, looking after him, felt herself tremble with rage and indignation and then forced herself to give a little uncertain laugh.
Lady Cleone must be frightened of her, she thought, if she was in such a hurry to dispose of her. It was obvious that she would do anything to entice her away from Lord Wye’s side.
Peregrine Howard must have carried tales of how they had laughed at luncheon and dinner, how Lord Wye had seemed amused by her and how he would often caress her hair or put his arm around her shoulders to draw her close to him.
Peregrine Howard had been feeling so ill the last few days that he had not contributed much to the conversation.
But Elvina had learned, more by intuition than by anything said in words, that he and his sister were not as rich as they appeared.
Elvina suspected, and rightly so, that Lady Cleone had gone out to Sicily to visit her father in the hope of finding some aristocratic young Officer under his command who would be beguiled into offering her his hand and his heart.
Unfortunately, as only Lady Cleone and Peregrine knew, the only offers she had were one from an impecunious Subaltern, on whose part it was sheer impudence, and another from Lord Severn’s second-in-command that, to put it bluntly, did not include marriage.
Standing alone, looking out to where the outline of the English coast was already faintly visible on the horizon, Elvina felt a sudden fear of what lay ahead.
These last four days seemed, in retrospect, almost to have been very near to her idea of Heaven.
Never before had anyone sought her opinion, laughed at her jokes and told her in so many words that she was adorable. Granted all that she received from Lord Wye was the affection of a grown man for a child. But for the moment that was enough to content her.
She loved him! She loved him so much that every moment when he was not near was an agony of apprehension lest he should not return.
She loved him so that when he was there she was content just with his very nearness.
She asked for nothing more than that this voyage should go on forever.
She went to sleep thinking of him, knowing that in the morning she would rise as soon as she awoke so as to hurry on the moment when he would come on deck and his face would light up at the sight of her.
“Good morning, little one!” he would say. “I thought I would be here before you.”
He taught her to play piquet and they indulged in long-drawn-out battles together when if Elvina won she would clap her hands with delight and Lord Wye would declare it was unfair that the pupil should beat the teacher.
Once or twice they had arguments on serious subjects, but usually Lord Wye was the instructor and Elvina listened wide-eyed and utterly happy because she could hold his attention.
Now all that was to come to an end.
She thought of the mythical sister who had proved so useful for her story, first to Lord Wye and now to prevent Lady Cleone striving in so-called charity to put her in a Seminary.
“How dare she?” Elvina whispered to herself. “How dare she think of such a thing?”
And yet she knew that even Lord Wye might think it a kindly action on Lady Cleone’s part.
‘Whatever happens I must not get into her clutches,’ Elvina thought.
It seemed to her as if the sunshine had suddenly gone from the day and everything was grey and rather cold.
“Why are you looking so serious, little one?”
She heard Lord Wye coming across the deck, but she had not turned as usual to greet him because she was afraid that he would see the trouble in her eyes and question her.
“I was feeling – sad,” she answered quickly, “because this voyage must come – to an end.”
“You have enjoyed it so much?” he asked.
She turned then and saw how well he was looking and so smart in the blue coat of Peregrine Howard’s, which became him so well, the white cravat round his neck and tight breeches ending in black hessian boots that were polished until she could see the reflection of her own gown in them.
“I have loved – every moment of it,” she said in a low voice.
His grey eyes were tender as he smiled at her and at the sudden passion in her voice.
“I had no idea you were such a good sailor. I can see that I shall have to buy myself another yacht.”
She felt her heart leap at the implication of his words and then, gazing at the coastline growing nearer, Lord Wye said,
“I must travel at all possible speed to London. Heaven knows what the Prince Regent and the Prime Minister will imagine has happened to me. Will you come with me or will you travel more comfortably with Lady Cleone and her brother?”
“I must come with you. Please – take me.”
“It will not be a very pleasant journey,” Lord Wye cautioned.
“It will be pleasant enough if I can be with you. Promise me – please promise me, that you will not leave me behind.”
The anxiety in her little face touched him.
“Of course, if you wish to come,” he answered lightly. “But Cleone will think it is too much for you.”
“Do you believe that after all we have been through?” Elvina asked. “Did I go sick on that – long march? Did I complain? What does Lady Cleone know of – hunger and discomfort?”
There was such scorn in her voice that Lord Wye said rapidly,
“Now, now, Elvina! Lady Cleone was but thinking of you. After all you are but a child.”
“I am coming with you. You promised me and nothing shall – stop me,” Elvina asserted.
“As you wish,” Lord Wye said. “But I warn you, we have to travel fast.”
It could not be too fast, Elvina thought, to get away from Lady Cleone, but she did not say it aloud and she did not have a chance to say much more for at that moment Lady Cleone came on deck.
She was looking exquisite, even her worst enemy would have to concede her that. She was rather pale and the seasickness that she had suffered from had made her a little thinner, sharpening her beauty.
She was dressed in a travelling gown of soft blue bombazine with a bonnet trimmed with the same coloured feathers and a stole draped over her shoulders. Holding onto her brother’s arm, she was the very picture of fragile but alluring womanhood.
When she saw Lord Wye, she moved swiftly towards him, both hands outstretched.
“My Lord!” she exclaimed, her eyes raised to his imploringly. “How can I ever ask you to forgive me? I am so ashamed and so utterly humiliated, that I had to desert you. It was so miserable for me, yet what could I do? I was prostrate, utterly prostrate, until this morning. And now I can only crave your understanding.”
She looked so pretty making her apologies that it would take a heart of steel to resist her.
“My dear Lady Cleone,” Lord Wye answered, “there is nothing to forgive. We were only desolate at your absence, utterly and completely
desolate.”
‘It’s not true!’ Elvina longed to cry.
Instead she could only watch Lady Cleone press Lord Wye’s hands and murmur,
“You are too kind. If you only knew how angry I have been with myself.”
Lord Wye raised her hand to his lips.
“You are better now, which is all that matters.”
Lady Cleone turned to Elvina.
“And how are you, child?” she asked. “My brother has told me that you have been in good health. I only hope that you will not feel the reaction later.”
“I am very well,” Elvina answered, dropping a polite curtsey.
“Well, we will take great care of you,” Lady Cleone said. “You shall drive with me to London and we will not make the journey too arduous.”
“I am going with Lord Wye,” Elvina said quickly.
Lady Cleone raised her eyebrows.
“I do not think that would be at all a good idea,” she answered softly. “His Lordship will be in a hurry and will not wish to be held back by feminine frailty.”
She gave a little sigh.
“You will find, dear, that we women must often stand aside and let the strong male go his way alone.”
Elvina moved swiftly to Lord Wye’s side.
“You promised,” she said earnestly. “You promised.”
“Yes, that is true,” Lord Wye answered. “I am afraid, Lady Cleone, I have promised Elvina that she can come with me. She is used to hardship and will not find the speed that I have to reach London in too exhausting.”
Lady Cleone’s eyes were veiled as she responded,
“It must, of course, be as your Lordship wishes. I would have been glad of Elvina’s company as I feel a little weak and might be inclined to faint.”
Lord Wye hesitated and Elvina knew that this was an appeal that was far more likely to succeed than any that Lady Cleone had produced so far.
“I think her Ladyship would be wise to rest for a few days,” she said quickly. “If she went to the hotel, she would then have time to engage a maidservant and one would, I am sure, be far more useful than – I could ever be.”
“That is indeed a good idea,” Lord Wye said. “Your Ladyship must allow me to engage you rooms at The Saracen’s Head which, if I remember rightly, is the best hotel in Southampton.”
“Peregrine can do all that is necessary,” Lady Cleone replied and there was a sudden sharpness in her voice that Elvina did not miss.
There was also a glint of steel in her Ladyship’s liquid eyes as she looked at Elvina for one brief second before she placed her hand once more on her brother’s arm.
“I should like to sit down in the sunshine,” she said.
The gentlemen hovered around her, fetching a rug for her knees and a cushion for her back. She had lost the first round of her match with Elvina, but that did not say she would not win the next.
In fact before they arrived in Southampton, Lady Cleone had Lord Wye not only dancing attendance on her but arranging that they should meet the very moment she and her brother arrived in London.
“I have always been consumed with a passion to see the inside of Wye House,” Lady Cleone confessed. “My father and yours were, as you know, great friends and Papa has often spoken of your paintings. ‘One of the finest collections in England’ was how he described them.”
“I am most fortunate in the possessions I inherited,” Lord Wye answered. “But most of my pictures have been moved from London to my country seat, Combe Park, in Hertfordshire.”
“And dare I hope for an invitation to see them there?” Lady Cleone asked.
“The invitation is already at your feet. Combe Park invites you to visit as soon as it can possibly be arranged.”
“How kind you are,” Lady Cleone said. “For this time of the year I find London unbearably stuffy. I imagine that the Prince Regent himself will soon be going to Brighthelmstone.”
“He may be there now for all I know,” Lord Wye stated.
“Well, we must meet in London and make plans,” Lady Cleone suggested. “I will send a note to Wye House as soon as Peregrine and I arrive. We shall be staying with my aunt, Lady D’Arcy. Her house is not very comfortable and I assure you that the thought of a visit to Combe Park will fill my dreams with happy anticipation.”
‘She is clever,’ Elvina ruminated. ‘How very clever she is!’
With a little sinking of her heart she wondered how she could ever think for a moment of competing with anyone so experienced and so subtle as Lady Cleone.
At last they managed to say ‘goodbye’. It all took a great deal of time, to steer the frigate into the Harbour, to pass the Customs Officers and then go ashore.
Elvina more than once thought desperately that even Lord Wye would not be able to hasten things and they would be left to spend the night in Southampton with Lady Cleone.
Then, by some magic of his own and an authority that he seemed to exert so effortlessly and yet so autocratically that people flew to do his bidding, a curricle drawn by two fast horses appeared and, having lifted Elvina up beside him, Lord Wye took the reins himself.
There was a groom to sit behind, his arms folded, his top hat pulled firmly down over his ears as if he anticipated that they would be travelling fast and then they had moved away while Lady Cleone was still standing on the quayside, her luggage being carried to the shore by sailors.
Elvina saw her face as they drove away and almost laughed aloud. And then, almost immediately, she knew that in reality she had nothing to laugh about.
There was a determination in Lady Cleone’s tightly shut lips and there was something forceful in the set of her little chin that boded ill for the future.
The horses were fresh and Lord Wye let them have their heads. The afternoon was hot and sultry and it was a relief to feel the cool air on her cheeks, Elvina thought.
She had been lamentably conscious as they came ashore of how dowdy she looked beside the elegance of Lady Cleone. Her gown, made by the Portuguese seamstress, was, as she had anticipated at the time, pathetically out of fashion.
Her bonnet looked cheap and humble beside Lady Cleone’s concoction of ribbon, lace and feathers.
For a moment Elvina had felt like crying out,
‘Leave me behind! I am too shabby to come with you.’
And then, as they drove away, she was conscious of an absolute passion of gratitude towards the man at her side. She was not concerned with her looks.
He liked her just as she was and she could never thank him enough in her heart for giving her a confidence that she was sadly lacking in.
“This is surprisingly good horseflesh,” Lord Wye was remarking. “But wait until you see my greys. If we had them with us now, we would do the journey in half the time.”
He was silent for a moment as they came to a rather difficult turning and then he went on,
“I will have to teach you to hold the ribbons. It is not really a ladylike accomplishment, but you are young enough for it not to matter what people think.”
“I have never worried about them,” Elvina said quickly.
“Some women think of nothing else,” Lord Wye said and then he added, “But I had forgotten, you will be wanting to go to your sister, will you not?”
“I have to – find her first.”
“Oh, that should not be difficult,” Lord Wye replied. “What did you say was the name of your brother-in-law?”
“Thompson,” Elvina answered. “Robert Thompson.”
“And his Regiment?”
There was a little pause.
“It is – so silly of me,” Elvina stammered, “but for the moment I cannot remember it. It may have been the – Light Dragoons, but then again it might have been the – Hussars. There have been so many Regiments in Lisbon, I just cannot remember.”
“Try and describe his uniform,” Lord Wye suggested.
“He wore a r-red coat,” Elvina said hastily.
“Hmm! Sounds as if we have
not much to go on, but I will get someone to make enquiries at the War Office. They keep the Army Lists there.”
“Thank you,” Elvina said in a low voice.
“Until then you can stay at Wye House or come down to Combe Park. You will like my country seat. It is very beautiful.”
“I was already thinking that the country in England is so lovely,” Elvina sighed, looking around her as they drove through a narrow lane, the hedgerows covered with honeysuckle and the verges ablaze with wild flowers.
“To me there is nowhere as glorious as England,” Lord Wye said quietly.
Then he added,
“But, of course, you feel the same about your own country.”
Elvina longed to tell him that England was her own country too, but she was afraid to say too much. She wondered how long she must keep up the pretence and then knew that she dared not risk what she already had, because to lose it would leave her utterly bereft of everything that mattered to her.
They drove on until it was very late and stopped for dinner at a country inn, changed horses and drove on again until it was dark.
Elvina would not have complained for the world, but she was tired when finally she was shown up the oak stairs of a small inn by a fat landlady and ushered into a bedchamber that smelt of lavender and contained a large bed with a feather mattress.
Elvina had meant to lie awake thinking over the events of the day and of what she had said to Lord Wye and what he had said to her.
But the moment her head touched the pillow she fell asleep and awoke only when the curtains were being drawn back and the landlady was placing a cup of chocolate beside her bed.
*
“It is morning?” she asked in a sleepy voice, still hardly roused from her dreams.
“Only just,” the landlady said with a chuckle. “’Tis six of the clock and ’is Lordship be that impatient to be gone you’d think the Runners were at ’is ’eels. Breakfast will be on the table in a quarter of an hour.”
The mere words ‘his Lordship’ woke Elvina more effectively than anything else.
Love Under Fire Page 16
