She had been introduced to so many people in such a short space of time that Eliza had thought only the most annoying of them would stand out. But Lady Hanbury had stood out for the warmth of her introduction and her kind eyes.
“You have come from a fine home yourself, I realize, but does this not seem so very large?” Lady Hanbury was whispering a little conspiratorially and Eliza found herself warming to her all the more.
“Lady Hanbury, I cannot tell you the number of times I have lost myself in this place. I had always thought my father’s house had many rooms, but I am still to learn the skill of navigating my way from place to place with confidence,” Eliza admitted.
“Oh, goodness me,” Lady Hanbury said and laughed. “I must admit, this is the first time I have been to Lytton Hall. My husband is not very well acquainted with His Grace. They have met once or twice, and so I was very surprised when we received the invitation. But delighted, of course,” she added.
“And I am very glad that you came, Lady Hanbury,” Eliza said truthfully and looked to where Lord Hanbury was chattering happily with some of the other guests who he clearly knew far better than he knew her husband.
Why on earth would Augustus need to invite people he barely knew? After all, should a man of his standing not have more acquaintances of longevity than had arrived on that evening?
Eliza could not help wondering just how many of the other guests could easily admit to the same surprise as dear Lady Hanbury at receiving an invitation.
When the party was ushered into the dining room, the large table immaculately set out and decorated, Eliza felt her nerves become overexcited afresh.
She looked down to the opposite end of the table where Augustus was lowering himself down awkwardly into his chair, and she realized, with horror, that he was already drunk, or very nearly drunk at any rate.
Eliza could see that Lady Caroline Harker had been seated near the head of the table, close to the Duke, and that she had been put opposite a quiet-looking young man, whose name she could not remember, who looked most nervous to be perched so close to his host.
She could immediately see that Lady Caroline had struck up some conversation, exclusively with Augustus and effectively ignoring the young man opposite, although Eliza could not hear what she was saying. She only hoped that, whatever it was, it would not irritate the Duke whilst he had so much liquor already in his system.
As platter upon platter was delivered into the dining room by more footmen than she realized existed at Lytton Hall, Eliza realized that she had very little hope of eating much of it.
The first course was a spicy soup served from immense tureens, and it was so hot that it made Eliza’s eyes water.
She would have struggled to maintain conversation had it not been for the fact that the lovely Lady Hanbury had been seated as close to Eliza as Lady Caroline had been seated to Augustus.
“Goodness, this is lovely,” Lady Hanbury said encouragingly.
“I must admit, Lady Hanbury, that it is a little spicier than I would like,” Eliza said in a near whisper.
“There is so much food here, Your Grace. Did you arrange the menu yourself?”
“No, and I am bound to say that I would not have requested so much.” Eliza looked at the side table that was already crowded with silver platters of fish, potatoes, and seasonal vegetables for the next course. “Which is probably why my husband did not ask me to take any part in it.”
“Oh, I see,” Lady Hanbury said, kindly masking her surprise. “I must admit, I usually let my own cook get on with it. She has much more of a talent for putting together a menu than I, and so I let go of my ego and, as a result, always very much enjoy my meals.”
“What a wonderful way of looking at things,” Eliza said sincerely, hoping that this would not be her one and only meeting with Lady Hanbury.
As the second course was served, Eliza could see that Augustus was not only a little slumped in his seat, but that he was glaring at her down the table. As glad as she was not to be sitting at his side, Eliza felt instantly embarrassed by his very obvious disdain for her.
She could see Lady Caroline Harker continuing to chatter incessantly, her head tilting this way and that as if she were asking the Duke question upon question.
“Children?” the Duke said so loudly that the entire table of guests fell silent. “Children, Lady Caroline? Now that is a very good question, a very good question indeed,” he said and his volume increased. “Yes, a very good question, do you not think?” he said, turning his attention fully upon Eliza.
Eliza opened her mouth to speak but could come up with an answer at all. She could feel her cheeks blushing violently, and she wondered what on earth it was that Lady Caroline had said to upset Augustus so.
Whatever it was, Eliza certainly hoped that her own private business was not about to be aired loudly and drunkenly while she could do nothing but sit and bear witness.
“As always, nothing to say. No explanation to give to your husband for your failings.” He leaned his elbows heavily on the table, knocking his plate and sending the small, round potatoes rolling across the immaculate white tablecloth.
“My … my failings?” Eliza said and could feel her mouth opening and closing and every eye in the room upon her.
“Do not make any answer, my dear,” Lady Hanbury whispered hurriedly into her ear. “I beg of you, say nothing.”
In the absence of any other advice, Eliza could do nothing but heed the words of the kindly woman who had secretly reached out and taken her hand under the table. For all the world, Eliza wanted to rise to her feet and run, and it was clear to her that Lady Hanbury had perceived that she would want to do just that.
But the ageing lady held fast to her, keeping her in her seat. And Eliza knew it was not out of unkindness, but a sense of protection. Eliza was the Duchess of Lytton, and she could not simply get up and run away.
“I have told you before, it is time you concentrated a little better on your responsibilities. Any other young woman would have been with child by now,” Augustus slurred, and whilst he spoke with less volume, the absolute silence of his guests made every word audible to all. “What on earth is wrong with you? Why are you not like other women?” he said, and Eliza could have dissolved with humiliation.
At that moment, she hated him more than she had ever hated anybody. If she had been any closer to him than she was, the temptation to take a knife from the place setting and plunge it into his heart would have been one she might well have given into.
Almost all the guests looked desperately uncomfortable, clearly horrified by what they had seen and heard. After all, who would imagine that a Duke, a man of such title and responsibility, would allow himself to get so drunk and say such vile, crude things?
In fact, what man at all, title or no, would humiliate his wife in such a fashion and in front of so many people?
But as she looked down the table, her cheeks flaming and her eyes shining with unshed tears, Eliza realized that Lady Caroline Harker looked rather satisfied by it all. She bore a little smirk on her face which did not disappear until Eliza caught her eye and stared at her.
Lady Caroline immediately looked down, not keen to hold the gaze of the Duchess, and Eliza was left in no doubt whatsoever that it was Lady Caroline’s interference which had precipitated this vile outburst. Whether it had been intentional or otherwise was something Eliza might never know.
When the Duke leaned forward and rested his head in his hands as if it pained him greatly, Lady Hanbury turned to her once more.
“Now that he is quiet, you must strike up conversation with the others. Simply comment upon the soup or ask their opinions on the fish. It need not be much, just enough to get them speaking again.” Lady Hanbury squeezed her hand tightly once again and reassured her with those kindly eyes.
“Lord Harrington, tell me, is the fish to your liking?” Eliza said as brightly as she could manage, regretful that the poor man looked horrified to be expe
cted to be the first of the guests to speak. “I am very fond of trout myself, Sir, but I find this a little earthy,” Eliza went on, looking at him intently and hoping against all hope that he would play along.
“I am glad to say, Your Grace, that the earthier the better for me. I do like a nice strong tasting trout,” he said, and Eliza could have thrown her arms around his neck and kissed him.
The moment he responded, the little murmurs of conversation struck up once more, and within just a few minutes, it was as if the whole sordid episode had not happened at all.
But as relieved as she felt, Eliza knew that there would be nothing that could erase such an appalling incident, not from her own mind, nor the minds of her guests.
“Thank you kindly, Lady Hanbury,” Eliza said and turned to look at her rescuer, blinking hard so that her tears of gratitude did not fall. “I could not have managed at all had you not been here,” Eliza spoke in a whisper.
“But you managed very well, very well indeed.” Lady Hanbury smiled. “And if you ever need a friend, my dear, you must consider me chief among them. You are always welcome at Hanbury Hall.”
“I shall never forget what you have done for me,” Eliza said and hurriedly turned her attention back to the fish she knew she would never be able to eat.
Chapter 11
Once again, Daniel had not done a single stitch of work all morning. It had been but three days since the Duke had hosted a dinner at the hall, and already Daniel was well aware of the dreadful circumstances of it all.
Gossip in the town was nothing if not thorough, and he thought that he had heard every bit of conversation that had passed that night through one source or another.
He thought it little wonder now that Eliza kept herself out of the way. There had been no sign of her in the morning room, and in truth, he had not expected to see her there.
But he had not seen her anywhere, not in the corridors, not heading for the drawing room, not coming out of the dining room or breakfast room.
It was understandable, of course, for the entire household staff would also be well aware of every excruciating detail. It was reported that the room had been liberally sprinkled with footmen at the time of the Duke’s outburst, and so it seemed that Eliza was to have no respite from the wagging tongues of all around her.
Of course, apart from a bit of gossip, a Duke could more or less get away with anything, even berating his wife in front of a dining room full of guests. But to tackle her over something so personal was unforgivable. It was all unforgivable as far as Daniel was concerned.
If he had thought that Augustus Tate had diminished in his eyes when he had been foolish enough to take a young bride, it was nothing in comparison to what Daniel felt for him now. He could hardly believe that he had worked for the man for so long and not known for a moment that he could behave in such a way.
He knew he was bad-tempered, he had seen it before in the punishments meted out to his servants. But this was not simple bad temper, it was cruelty, and Daniel felt less and less inclined to remain faithful to one client in the future.
At midday, he rose from his desk and looked down scornfully at the papers he had barely touched all morning. With any luck, a little air would solve his concentration problems.
As usual, he decided to make his way out through the morning room. He only gave the door a light and cursory tap before opening it in and striding in, not expecting that Eliza would be there. But when she looked up at him startled, Daniel stopped dead in his tracks.
“Forgive me,” he said and bowed. “I had not expected to see you here; I hope I did not startle you.”
“Only a little,” she said with a smile. “Not so much that I will never recover.”
“Well, that is reassuring,” he said and returned her smile.
He wanted to ask how she was, how she was managing with the shock and humiliation, but he knew he could not. He wanted to tell her that she could speak to him, unburden herself, and that she could rely on his discretion.
But how could he tell the Duchess of Lytton that she could be assured of his friendship? How could he tell her that she could lean on him and it not be inappropriate?
“I can see that you are feeling a little awkward, Mr Winchester,” she said and fixed him with her golden-brown eyes.
“Well, yes. I am afraid I ought to have considered that you might be in here, Your Grace.”
“No, it is more than that,” she said quietly. “I can tell that you have already heard the details of the dinner that Augustus held the other evening.”
“I do not go in for gossip. I never have.”
“I am already convinced of that, Mr Winchester, and I did not suspect you. But just because one does not go in for gossip does not mean that one does not hear it.”
“Alright, you have me,” he said and shrugged and was pleased when she began to laugh.
“This is the first time I have sat in the morning room for days. I could not face being here or in the drawing room or anywhere else I might be seen. I have been haunting the library like a ghost, for nobody ever seems to go in there.”
“If you would rather I did not continue to use the morning room as a route to the terrace, you must say.”
“No, I have not been hiding from you, Mr Winchester. Well, not this time, at any rate.”
“So, you have hidden from me before?” he said and had that sense once again of stepping onto a path he ought not to be on.
Apart from slightly puffy eyes which told of a little sleeplessness, there really was no way of telling how Eliza felt about this latest trial. Her skin was as radiant as ever and her hair glossy and full of life.
She was wearing the ivory gown with little green embroidered flowers on it; a gown he had come to realize was her own favourite. And it was his favourite too, for its simplicity complemented her beauty.
“Yes, but through no fault of yours, I can assure you.”
“Then why?” It was not his place to question her, and yet he could not stop; he needed to know.
“I suppose I felt a little embarrassed. After all, the last time we spoke, I was tear-stained and emotional, and I am bound to say that it is not a state I am often in with anyone to bear witness.”
“You have no need to be embarrassed. I understand why you were so upset, and I cannot think there are many who would not be.”
“And then, of course, I have been so embarrassed by my husband’s behaviour. But then I realized that if I gave into my feelings of embarrassment, I might never come out of the library again, and it is one of the dreariest rooms I have ever entered in my life.”
“Yes, it is a very dull room,” Daniel said with a laugh. “But I am afraid that it is one that nobody goes into.” He stopped short of saying that Augustus Tate was not a particularly learned man, despite his advantages and his education.
But it was true that the Duke had always struck him as being something between a buffoon and a boorish sort of man. An idiot and a pig all at once, although it would appear that his piggish tendencies had become exacerbated of late.
“I can tell that by the books which are in there. There is nothing modern, not even vaguely modern. I cannot think that the collection has been added to in fifty years.”
“I would not be at all surprised.”
“Mr Winchester, would you mind sitting down?” she said suddenly, taking him by surprise. “It just feels rather strange to have a conversation like this, with me sitting and you standing.”
“Of course,” he said and sat down on the armchair opposite her, perching on the edge as if ready to hasten to his feet at the slightest noise.
Love Stories of Enchanting Ladies: A Historical Regency Romance Collection Page 9
