Apple Blossom Bride

by Marina Oliver

'Ripon? Ripon? Is your father Sir Frederick? Who scandalised his family by becoming a priest?'

  Eve suppressed her sudden spurt of laughter. 'My father is a Rector in the Church of England, Ma'am. I didn't know his family were scandalised. There are none of them left now.'

  'They all no doubt died of shame. Are you going to marry a clergyman?'

  'No!' Eve said, rather too vehemently, and the Countess laughed.

  'I will ask you to tell me more later, child. But first you must all meet my niece, Talia Melikov.'

  The younger woman, perhaps a year or two older than Eve, now laid aside her own embroidery, and rose to her feet, coming to shake Caroline's hand. She was a tall and stately blonde, handsome rather than pretty, Eve decided. Her smile was slight, and when the girls were introduced simply inclined her head before retreating to her chair and picking up her embroidery again.

  Caroline was ushered to a seat beside the Countess's chair, as the butler brought in tiny glasses of rafatia holding scarcely a mouthful, while the girls were waved to a small sopha beside Talia, who simply looked at them without speaking.

  Amelia blinked. 'Do you live in England?' she asked, in her best society manner.

  Talia shook her head. 'I am here only because my aunt wishes me to marry an English nobleman. Russian nobles, you understand, are less wealthy than they used to be.'

  Eve raised her eyebrows. That was plain speaking, but, she thought, it was what most girls wanted, a wealthy husband. She ought not to despise Talia for being blunt.

  'Which part of Russia do you come from?' she asked, knowing it was her duty to participate in the conversation, but unable to think of a suitable comment about marriage.

  'You would not have heard of it. I find English girls are badly educated about my country.'

  'Really?' Eve felt her temper rising at this incivility. 'Then I assume it is not Moscow or St Petersburg? Or even Vladivostok? How much do Russian girls learn about English geography?'

  'They do not need it. Most will never come here, and if they do all they need to know is about London, and perhaps Brighton and Bath. As for the peasants, they don't go to school, like they do here in England. You are educating them for no purpose.'

  'Not all of our peasants go to school,' Eve said, 'though I think it would be advantageous if they did!'

  'Eve teaches the children in her village,' Amelia said, 'but they only have time to attend on Sunday. They are working the rest of the week.'

  Talia stared in amazement at Eve. 'How virtuous of you. So why are you both in London? Is it to catch husbands?'

  Eve had to struggle to control her temper. This girl was far too blunt. 'That is not my main aim in life!'

  Talia smiled rather contemptuously. 'It's the main aim of every sensible woman.'

  Amelia was looking mischievous. 'I wonder what it would be like to be married to a Russian nobleman? Do they have estates miles and miles away from Moscow, in the frozen wastes? I must discover whether there are many in England, perhaps at your embassy. No doubt Justin could discover it for me?'

  'Justin? Is that the Earl of Newark? My aunt tells me he would make a suitable husband for me, but until I have met him I cannot judge whether I would want him or not. A title and wealth are not my only requirements in a husband.'

  Eve found her irritation had vanished, and instead she was amused at the Russian girl's supreme confidence. She glanced at Amelia, and saw her friend was trying to suppress her own amusement.

  'I think his lordship might have his own opinion on a choice of a wife,' she managed.

  Talia shrugged. 'Perhaps. But any woman of character and determination can mould a man how she wishes.'

  'Then good luck to you,' Amelia said rather sharply. 'Have you met many English nobles yet?'

  'I have been in England for a few days only, but my aunt plans to introduce me to the ton as soon as I have recovered from my journey. It is rather a long way from Berlin, where I was staying with an uncle and his German wife. I am not fond of Germans.'

  'I do hope I am there when she first meets Justin,' Amelia said, laughing, as they were in the carriage making their way to another morning call, and began to tell Caroline about Talia.

  Caroline looked concerned. 'Do you think she meant it? And was she the kind of girl Justin would like?'

  'Not at all. At least I don't think so. I want to see how he behaves towards her, and I hope he gives her a thorough set down, though he is always so polite he probably won't!'

  *

  The Earl and Sir Peter often worked together at the War Office. They had been friends at Eton, and even though they had attended different Oxford colleges, they had remained in touch. Then they joined the same cavalry regiment and served together during the early Peninsular campaign, until first Sir Peter, then the Earl, had been sent back to work in London and deploy their special expertise.

  That day they were reviewing the consequences of Wellington's first move into France itself, and the victory on the other front at Leipzig.

  'The weather helped,' Sir Peter commented. 'If they hadn't had that thunderstorm the previous night the crossing of the Bidassoa might have been better defended.'

  'You can depend on old Nosey to know when he can take advantage. But the rains continue.'

  'That might help our troops. And we need all the help we can find since Wellington sent those marauding Spanish back home. They would have deeply offended the French peasants, but it reduces his army.'

  'But very necessary. If they had been permitted to go on plundering we'd probably have found the whole country against us. As it is, many of them have welcomed us.'

  Sir Peter nodded. 'Was it a mistake to allow the Spanish to take San Sebastian? Did it make them over-confident?'

  'They always were, without cause before. But I trust Nosey's judgement, even though the crossings of the Nive and others may have been made more difficult.'

  'What's the news from Leipzig?'

  'Good, and the French morale has been weakened. I predict we'll see a good deal of progress from now until Christmas.'

  *

  When Justin left the War Office he went to Manton's shooting gallery in Davies Street. Since being back in England he felt his skills were stale, and he wanted a few shots to convince himself he could still hit a target.

  He found several men he knew there, and they all wanted to know what the latest news was.

  'Go out and volunteer,' he said, grinning.

  'You know the men in the ranks are the last to get to know anything,' a man with one arm in a sling said. 'Why, I swear when I was in Spain the only way we got to know what was happening was to hope a recent copy of The Times might arrive soon.'

  They all laughed. Justin looked round at them. Some were eldest or only sons, probably persuaded by anxious parents not to endanger the succession. A few, like the speaker, had been in the army but were wounded and had been sent home. Others seemed to have no such excuses, but unlike many of his fellow army friends, he refused to condemn them as cowards. No doubt some were, but he could not know what persuasions had been used to keep them safely at home.

  'So what is happening?'

  Justin knew he would not be permitted to lift his pistol until they had been satisfied, so he told them briefly how the war was progressing.

  'Wonderful! We'll be in Paris for Christmas!'

  'Easter, perhaps,' Justin cautioned.

  'Oh, you are too pessimistic! Now Nosey is on French soil he'll race up the country.'

  Eventually Justin was permitted to take his pistol and try his skill. Challenged to a match with the best of them there, he laughingly agreed to a wager, knowing he was likely to lose a thousand pounds. Rather to his surprise he didn't lose by as large a margin as he'd feared.

  'So if you meet a highwayman, on England's peaceful roads, you'll be able to deal with him,' they joked.

  *

  Eve was puzzled when she got back to Albemarle Street after another visit to Bedford House to buy yet more t
rimmings, and Katie came to tell her there was a large parcel waiting for her in her room.

  'It came by carrier, Miss Eve, but he couldn't say where it was from. I took it up to your room.'

  'Then let's go and see,' Amelia said.

  When Eve unpacked the large parcel she gasped in surprise. 'More gowns! But where can they have come from?'

  Amelia was pulling out some of the gowns. 'Here's a letter. That will no doubt explain.'

  Eve scanned it. 'It's from Rachel. These are some of her gowns from last Season, she says, which she has altered for me, to make them more fashionable. How kind! And,' she added, grinning, 'she tells me to leave them in Upper Brook Street, not take them home. How very sensible of her. I'll do that with all the gowns you and Caroline are giving me too. I dare not let Papa see them, he would most probably throw them into the fire. But, with all that you and Caroline are giving me, and the new ones I'm having made, I shall have so many gowns I'll never be able to wear them all.'

  'Of course you will,' Amelia said. 'But your main problem will be selecting which to wear.'

  Laughing, they went down to the breakfast room where they normally ate a small luncheon of fruit and cold meats. Sir Bernard had gone to the War Office, Caroline told them, to discover the latest news, predicting that now Wellington had crossed the Pyrenees his troops would sweep through France.

  'What was in that huge parcel?' she asked. 'Katie had to ask Francis to carry it upstairs for her.'

  'It was some gowns Rachel sent me, hers from last Season which she has trimmed to make them look different. Everyone is being so very kind to me.'

  'We all love you, my dear.'

  All, Eve thought sadly as she peeled a peach, except her father, who didn't love any of his children. But she had a loving sister, and good friends, and she would not think of him unless she must, such as when she had to go and see the churches he had recommended. When, she suddenly asked herself, had he ever been in London to see them himself? She was sure he had not visited the capital during her lifetime. Perhaps he had visited as a young man. Somehow, she could not imagine her father as young. He had always appeared old and staid and fixed in his prejudices. And she would do as Rachel suggested, leave her new clothes at Viscount Benson's house, which would protect them from his rage and fulminations against modern fashions, and perhaps protect her from his anger.

  *

  It was several days before they met Talia again. Meanwhile they made more calls, attended a breakfast and a rout, went to the theatre, and drove out with the Earl and Sir Peter. This time Amelia insisted that Eve drove in the phaeton with the Earl. It was exciting, Eve admitted, to be so high off the ground, but she was not afraid. The Earl's driving was excellent, and he was able to maintain a conversation even while negotiating the narrowest possible gap between a laden coach and a post chaise drawn by a team of fretting horses.

  'Has Peter lent you that book he mentioned, about cider making?' he asked.

  'Yes, he brought it round to Albemarle Street the following day, but I confess I have not had much time to read it yet. We have been so very busy.'

  He laughed. 'Reading novels, perhaps? And with Caroline's busy social round?'

  'Do you despise novels?'

  'No, I read them when I have time. My mother buys all the new ones and tells me which she thinks I would enjoy.'

  'Does your mother come to London?'

  'Not now. She does not enjoy good health, and lives at my hunting lodge near Market Harborough. But you have been invited to many parties?'

  'Now people know we are in London, it seems we have more than one invitation for every evening.'

  'In the Season you will have half a dozen. People have to decide on the order in which they attend balls and routs. You will be staying with your sister, I understand?'

  'Rachel has invited me, if her husband permits.'

  'She is not here now?'

  'No, she is at their home in the country. I believe Lord Benson does not especially like London, and comes here reluctantly.'

  'Then let us hope he agrees to come in the spring. Peter tells me you have a wish to see St Paul's and Westminster Abbey?'

  Eve sighed. 'I must. My father told me I had to take the opportunity of seeing them, and he would be furious if I disobeyed him.. There are other places I would prefer to visit.'

  'Then shall we borrow Caroline's carriage, and Peter and I will escort the two of you?'

  'Amelia as well? I'm not sure she wants to visit them. She must surely have seen them before, they come to London every year, and though she was not out, she usually spent a few weeks with them.'

  'She'll come,' he said, and grinned.

  Presumably, Eve thought, Amelia would take advantage of the opportunity of being with the Earl, and he was aware of it. How she hated men who were too conscious of their appeal to the female sex.

  'My brother wishes to go to a different tutor,' he said, changing the subject as they entered the Park. 'Will it offend your father greatly? Will he consider it a slur on his tutoring capabilities?'

  Eve shook her head. 'He will merely consider you have made a bad decision. His tutoring capabilities, as you call them, he considers second to none. If he had not become a clergyman and married Mama, he has often said, he would have become a don at Oxford. If they would have had him!'

  The Earl laughed. 'You are severe.'

  'No. I have decided I no longer wish to hide the truth about my father, and I will speak my opinion. Not to everyone,' she added, 'I would not speak ill of him to the Bishop, or people I know would seek to do him harm. I received a long letter from him yesterday, with tedious details of how I must behave myself in London. He thinks I should not have any pleasure, but should endeavour to improve my mind every second of the day. I sometimes wonder if he was ever young! I am sure your brother will enjoy being with almost anyone else. I am simply sorry that James will lose his company. They were – are – good friends.'

  'Yes, that is a pity, but within a short time James will be at Oxford, and have more freedom.'

  'It's many months before he can enjoy it!'

  'Young boys are resilient. And then he will be free. Has he any ambitions for his future? Will he go into the Church?'

  'My father expects it, but James never will. He wants to join the army, before the war ends. Whether he would wish to be a soldier afterwards, I don't know. Probably, if it enabled him to escape from home.' She sighed. 'There is no such escape for females, unless by becoming a governess, or into marriage, and both of those, it sometimes seems to me, would be just as much prisons.' Especially if she married a clergyman, she thought, and at home she rarely met other men.

  'Not all girls consider marriage so. I would hate to think any girl I married would consider me a gaoler!'

  'Not all men are like you.'

  Amelia would not view marriage as the sort of trap she was envisaging, Eve thought, and sighed. The Earl changed the subject, asking who she had met so far in London. For some reason Eve did not mention the Russian girl, but she described their activities, and gave some pungent descriptions of her new acquaintances that had the Earl laughing. They returned to Albemarle Street in high spirits, and Eve had forgotten her father's unwelcome letter, and was even looking forward to visiting St Paul's.

  *

  Before that visit could be arranged, however, there was Eve's first ball. Caroline gave her a sumptuous ball gown, of shimmering white sarsnet heavily decorated round the hem with ruched pink ribbon and Brussels lace. More ribbon of the same shade of pink edged the low neck and the short sleeves. The dressmaker made a pair of pink satin shoes, and Eve felt that no one else could match her. It didn't matter that the gown was last year's fashion, she loved it.

  It was to be a small ball, Caroline told the girls as they made their way in the carriage to Berkeley Square. 'In the Season there will be four hundred people at the largest balls, but tonight there will be no more than a hundred, and I hope you will know enough of them not to fee
l like strangers.'

  The ballroom walls were lined with pale pink silk, gathered so as to make it look like a tent, and troughs of flowers were arranged to divide the outer parts of the room into secluded alcoves where, Caroline explained, some of the dowagers would hold court.

  'There is the Countess,' she added, indicating an alcove half way along the room.

  Sir Peter and Talia were also there, and Sir Peter nodded to them. He turned to speak to Talia, and the two of them began to cross the room towards Caroline's party, just as the Earl entered the room and came towards them.

  Talia immediately asked him who he was, and Sir Peter introduced them.

  'An earl? Isn't that below a duke?' Talia demanded. 'I cannot remember this English aristocracy.'

  'Yes, earls come below dukes and marquesses,' Justin replied, laughing, 'but we're above viscounts and barons.'

  'And baronets, like me,' Sir Peter added. 'We are the lowest.'

  'I see.' She handed Justin her dance card. 'You may dance a quadrille and a country dance with me.'

  Looking rather startled Justin took the card, with the little gold pencil attached, and scribbled his initials.

  'What is your income?' Talia then demanded.

  Before Justin could reply, Sir Peter spoke. He sounded rather strained, as though he were stifling a laugh. He managed to speak. 'Talia is looking for both a title and a fortune.'

  'Oh, then I'm not your man. I'm quite poor,' the Earl said hastily. 'I have just a few acres and the rents from a couple of small farms.'

  Eve suppressed a grin. She knew that he had hundreds of acres, and dozens of farms as well as estates in several parts of England. When Amelia began to speak Eve kicked her on the ankle and interrupted her.

  'Have you met many people yet, Talia?'

  'A few, but no one interesting. My lord, you may drive me in the Park tomorrow.'

  'Er – I'm sorry, I'm afraid I have to go out of London tomorrow,' the Earl said. 'It's my work, you see,' he added, sounding genuinely apologetic. 'I work at the War Office.'

  'Oh, then I will find someone else to drive me in the Park tomorrow, and you may drive me there when you are free. Why do you work? Is it because you need the salary?'