“Did you know the men were Cawntons?” Lady Skerrit demanded.
“Not until afterwards,” Richard admitted. “But it wouldn’t have made any difference. I dislike injustice in any form, and I couldn’t have stood by and watched.”
“They could have killed you.” Miss Terry was nearly breathless, apparently thrilled by the idea of such danger.
He smiled at her, a particularly warm smile for his society manner. “But they didn’t. I sent them off, and they went quite willingly in the end.”
“They may take it amiss, my lord,” Lady Skerrit warned him.
Richard lifted his hands in the air in a gesture of despair, reminiscent of his brother’s gesture earlier. “The whole county seems to be in thrall to these villains.”
Gervase put his hand to his eyes and groaned. “Not another cause, Richard, please.”
Richard looked across at him. “Not yet. I have other business first, but the matter should certainly be looked into.” Another cause? What on earth did Gervase mean?
Lady Skerrit shook the heavy lace ruffles lying on her arms, drawing attention to their lavish splendour. “The gangs are large and well organised.”
“And what is a little free trading?” Mrs. Terry queried. “I believe they run goods across our land, because we have found a barrel or two outside our door sometimes.”
Richard frowned. “Apart from the fact that it’s a violation of the law, these people create terror in the countryside. I cannot approve.”
Miss Terry glowed, looking up at him, through her lashes. “You are a hero, my lord.”
“You think I should take them on single-handed?” Amusement crept into his voice. “It might have been acceptable to knights of old, but then, they had armour to protect them. There’s little I can do on my own, but I might ask some people I know to help me. But not yet.” He glanced at me and smiled. I smiled back, an easy social smile, but I wasn’t entirely at my ease. I glanced at Gervase. I smelled a secret, perhaps the same secret Richard had promised to enlighten me about the day before.
“We have nothing to do with them,” Lady Skerrit said. “I love this county, but the smugglers are a slur on our good name. They don’t pass over our land, to my knowledge.”
Martha agreed. “Nor ours.”
“You may find you have a little more influence with your change of fortune,” Richard pointed out. “If Lord Hareton takes his seat in the Lords, he’ll most likely find friends there.”
Martha regarded him with interest. “I hadn’t thought of that. I shall certainly speak to him about it.”
Mrs. Terry pursed her mouth. “Do you really think that’s necessary? They do no harm, you know, and they do bring some prosperity to the county.”
Richard leaned back in the window seat, every inch the man of leisure, not at all the sort of person who might run another through with his sword without hesitation. “Men can die on the beach as easily as they can die in the fields.”
Martha’s head turned sharply, but the Terrys didn’t seem to notice anything amiss. Mrs. Terry never noticed anyone she chose not to, and that included everyone from servants down. Her perception was selective.
“I’m only glad Derbyshire has no such prosperity,” Richard commented, apparently bored with the subject in hand. Mrs. Terry took his opening. “Derbyshire? Is your house near Chatsworth at all?”
“Quite near,” he admitted.
“Do you see much of the dear duke?”
“You know him, then?” Gervase took the conversational baton, which gave Richard a chance to sit back and observe. The Kerres and the Cavendishes socialised, but were not close.
“We met him a little while ago.” Mrs. Terry’s tone turned to honey. “Such gracious manners.” I couldn’t think where they could have met. I’d certainly never met a duke in Exeter Assembly Rooms.
Gervase agreed without a tremor. “They spend most of their time in London. My father prefers the country, on the whole, so we see little of each other.”
“I’ll wager you prefer the excitement of the city, my lord. Mama says that we will pay Bath a visit this year. Shall we see you there?” Eustacia looked from one to the other of the twins eagerly. Either she had forgotten Richard’s reason for being here, or she chose to ignore it.
Richard shook his head. “Probably not this year. Gervase, do you plan to go?”
“I hadn’t planned it, but I might take a look. You’ll have to tell me when you’re to visit,” Gervase added to Eustacia. They were playing the girl, passing her from one to another. The sport was mild, otherwise I would have stopped it, but in all honesty I had to admit she provided a tempting target.
“Oh yes,” breathed Eustacia.
Richard stretched an arm along the back of the sofa, behind Eustacia’s carefully curled hair. “Meantime, we may go a fair way towards making Exeter fashionable. You’ll find Exeter Assembly rooms more populated than usual, at least for the next month or two.” If I didn’t know what he was doing, his arrogance would have appalled me. He was drawing Eustacia further into his trap, tempting her with the availability of fresh meat in the marriage mart.
Georgiana turned shining eyes to her mother. “May we go, Mama? Would that be possible?”
“We thought we might attend this Friday,” Lady Skerrit admitted.
“Then we shall go too.” Mrs. Terry beamed. “We have to uphold the county, don’t we?” by “the county” she meant her sort, the few families that made up her social circle. I knew she would muster her friends. The whole of the Assembly Rooms would be packed and agog. Last year in the wilds of Yorkshire I had dreamed of showing off my betrothed at the Assembly Rooms, the scene of so many frustrations and humiliations for me in the past. Now I wasn’t so sure, especially with the mischief I knew Richard was planning. I was suspicious of his motives, but also afraid I could do little to divert him from his purpose.
Morning visits were supposed to take half an hour. After that time Lady Skerrit stood, thus forcing the others to stand. “So good to see you out of mourning.” She embraced Martha warmly. If the Terrys hadn’t been there, she would have stayed longer, and been welcome. Martha left with them, to see the guests to the door.
Left alone with Gervase and Lizzie, I pleaded with Richard. “You won’t drop Miss Terry in the middle of Friday’s Assembly Rooms, will you?”
“He’s planning some game with that harpy?” Lizzie clapped her hands together in delight. “Famous!”
Richard smiled at her. “A woman with my own sense of justice.” He gave her a bow. “I shall first see how far she is prepared to take matters. If she retreats, then so will I. On the other hand, if she chooses to flirt—”
“Richard!” from Gervase.
“Oh, my dear brother, not that. Granted, I have amused myself in the past, but not with a young innocent. In any case, anything more than flirting would hurt Rose. No, I’ll not go that far. In fact, I’m not sure what I will do, exactly.” He smiled at me. “I promise I won’t let her down too badly, if she needs a set-down. And, in any case, if you hadn’t noticed, I didn’t make most of the running.” I had to admit that was true.
“She has all the tricks of the coquette,” said Lizzie. “She doesn’t need encouragement. It will do her good to receive a set-down.”
“Offer her a carte blanche,” suggested Gervase. The idea that Richard should offer her his protection without his name made Lizzie gasp in appreciative delight.
Richard laughed. “Good God, I thought I had the reputation. If I did that, her father might well call me out.”
Gervase agreed. “Once upon a time you would have done it.”
Richard frowned. “Perhaps. But she’s only silly, not malicious, and she doesn’t deserve it. My natural inclination is to ruin her, at least in the eyes of society, but I will be magnanimous and merely set her down a trifle.”
“Can it be Rose has taught you some humanity?”
“A little,” he admitted. “But I shall strive to overcome it.”
Chapter Eight
The following Wednesday we decided to go into Exeter. Richard and Gervase had an errand there, and Lizzie wanted to shop. It took us an hour and a half to get there in the carriage from Darkwater. Gervase, Lizzie, Richard and I went down the steps of the Manor to the new landau with the Hareton arms emblazoned on the shiny black painted doors. It was so unlike our previous all-purpose vehicle, it made me smile.
Richard helped me into the carriage, Gervase helped Lizzie and then the maid scrambled up after us. We felt the usual jolt as the horses stirred into action, and then we were away.
Richard pulled a note from his coat pocket. “Mother says she wants somewhere secluded. It shouldn’t be too difficult. The agent says he has six properties in mind.” They were to search for a house that the Earl and Countess could hire during their stay here for the wedding and a week or two beyond.
“I hope we don’t have to look at them all,” Gervase grumbled. “It would take all day.”
I produced a similar note from my pocket. “With all these things we have to buy for Martha, we may have to separate.” Gervase and Lizzie exchanged a fleeting glance, and a smile. I wondered what private joke they were sharing, but I didn’t think about it too much. “Martha’s glad to get us out of the house for a while. None of the things on her list are essential. It’s all embroidery threads, ribbons and the like.”
“Well now we’re out of mourning,” said my sister, “I’m beginning to realise how much I need to supplement my wardrobe.”
That made me laugh. I looked over to my charming sister, not a golden hair out of place, dressed in a brand new light green silk gown. It was much more becoming to golden beauty than Miss Terry’s crimson of the other day had been to hers. The maid sat between Lizzie and Gervase, pretty in her serviceable cotton print. She was a young girl, excited at the prospect of a trip to Exeter instead of her usual morning duties.
“You have so much,” I said to my sister. “Surely you don’t need any more.”
“I must get a new fan for the Assembly on Friday. I have nothing to go with the gown I plan to wear.”
It was an overcast morning, the sort of grey, drizzly weather that is so frequent when spring is trying to break through. The sun filtered through the early rain clouds when we arrived in town, but it began to clear up as the day went on.
We went straight to the house agents’ and waited in the carriage while the keys were brought out to us, together with a note of the location of the houses. We declined the services of the agent, only too delighted to show us round, but busy. He brought the keys out to us himself.
We set out for the first house. “I think,” said Gervase, “that we probably have the best of the bunch here. The agent is bound to know why his business has increased so rapidly the past month or two.”
We went straight to the first house, but we didn’t stay there long. It was a fine house, but too close to the main thoroughfares to afford any privacy, and the rooms at the front were too easy for any curious passerby to peer inside. We decided to leave the others until later. Lizzie and I directed the driver to take us around Exeter, mostly for Gervase’s benefit, as the city contained many old buildings. I didn’t care where we went. I was with Richard, and that was enough.
Exeter was a fine old town, with much evidence of its ancient past still extant, including several fine half-timbered buildings. I gave my guidebook to Gervase, who loved it all. The older the better for him. He drank in the history and told us much more than we needed to know, much more than the author of the guidebook seemed to know. It was as much as we could do to stop him getting out at each monument we passed. As it was we had to stop at the Cathedral Close for half an hour.
We stood on the path leading through the grass lawn to the great Cathedral. Gervase decided there and then to stay on after the wedding, to explore Exeter at his leisure. “I believe Mother has decided to go to Bath this year, so I can join them there later.”
“If the young hopefuls hereabouts leave you alone,” commented Richard.
Gervase grinned. “I can always go incognito. I wouldn’t be the first member of the family to do that.”
“Keep on dreaming,” said Richard. “Once you came home any hope I had for passing unnoticed vanished, just as yours did.”
“Separately we’re unremarkable enough,” Gervase replied. Twelve years apart had given each twin a sense of their own identity, although their faces were still so similar as to be remarkable.
“We’re known. If they know you’re here, they won’t leave you alone.”
“I can try.” Gervase gazed in rapt wonder at the myriad statues ranked on every level outside the Cathedral. He dug his hands in the pockets of his serviceable but well cut brown coat, forgetting all fashionable poses in his trance.
Richard must have seen something in me because he turned to look at me properly and at once put his hand over mine. “What is it, my love?”
“This isn’t for me, I can’t get married here. It’s too grand, too magnificent.” I had a morbid dread of appearing foolish, something I had achieved more than once in my life, and once the dread arrived I found it hard to shift.
“You will marry me if I have to drag you here.”
The thought of my wedding day made my stomach turn with nerves. I didn’t think I would enjoy the wedding ceremony. I hated to stand out from the crowd. “Everybody will be looking at me.”
I wasn’t aware I’d spoken out loud, but Richard answered me. “So they will. And me too.”
I took my attention away from the great church and looked at him instead. A much more reassuring sight. “Yes.”
“Come, Gervase,” Richard said abruptly. “We have much to do.” Reluctantly, his twin turned away and we went back to the coach.
We went to the fashionable shops and after a great deal of pleasurable discussion, found Lizzie her fan. I bought one too, and then we bought one or two other trinkets, and did Martha’s shopping. We saw a great many people we knew, some of whom we merely bowed to, while with others we stopped to pass the time of day.
Lizzie was in her element. Devonshire society considered her one of its beauties, and she was expected to make an excellent match even before our recent change of fortune. Even now, although she planned to make her come-out in London in the near future, some local swains still held high hopes. They stared at me with curiosity, the overlooked sister of the family, and then at Richard with frank astonishment and admiration. I must be getting used to his magnificence, because I thought he wasn’t particularly grandly dressed today, but as usual everything he wore was of the best quality, and he held himself with elegance and style. His coat was a drab green, his waistcoat cream silk lightly but expertly embroidered. Waistcoats, he had informed me, were the epitome of a fashionable man’s style, and his always reflected that. The only jewels he wore were a ring on his finger and the diamond solitaire pin at his throat. I wore my pearls, unexceptionable for day wear but finer than anything else I had, and another new gown, this time of deep soft pink silk, with a little cloak of a slightly deeper pink over the top.
Lizzie was captured by one of her more persistent swains, Mr. Humphrey Thomas, a short, well-upholstered man, who had paid her court ever since her Exeter come-out. He held her hand while he conversed with her, paying her compliments that became further and further divorced from reality.
A man, his head lowered and seemingly in a great hurry, pushed past Richard, jostling him in the process.
Gervase stared after him. “Good Lord, Was he a pickpocket?”
Richard felt in his pockets. “Nothing’s missing.” He shrugged and let the incident pass.
After we had made our purchases, we returned to the carriage and went to the second house on our list. This appeared much more promising, being on a quiet street in the midst of other, similar houses. It also looked slightly larger than the first.
Richard helped me down, and then turned back to help Lizzie, but she stumbled and fell
, crying, “Oh, my ankle!”
Richard immediately lifted her back into the carriage and put her on one of the seats. I climbed up and drew her skirts back a little to see the nature of the injury. The maid followed and sat opposite, waiting for instructions. Lizzie bit her lip and winced when I touched her foot, but I couldn’t see or feel any swelling. “I don’t think there’s any serious hurt.”
“I ought to go home.” To my surprise, she instantly turned to Gervase “Will you take me, sir?”
He opened his mouth, thought better of it, and closed it again, his expression an odd mix of fascination and amusement. Then he tried once more. “I would be honoured, ma’am.”
“We’ll send the carriage back for you when we reach home,” Lizzie promised.
Richard touched my arm. Dazed by the speed of events I stepped back out the carriage with him and watched while the stairs were folded up and the carriage driven away. The whole thing happened so quickly, and I was so concerned to ensure my sister had suffered no serious injury I hadn’t thought to question anything until I saw the vehicle roll away from us.
“Shall we?” said Richard, smiling, and we went up the stairs to the front door.
Richard closed the door behind us. The sound echoed through the empty house. As it faded away, silence fell, a stillness, as if anticipation itself awaited us. The noises of daily activity outside became more muted.
I took a couple of steps, very aware of the sound of my rustling skirts in the quiet. I felt the eeriness of an empty house for the first time. When Richard didn’t follow me, I turned around to see what was wrong.
To my astonishment, I saw him leaning against the front door, helpless with silent laughter. As I turned, he made a small sound, and felt in his coat pocket for his handkerchief, still using the front door for support. He wiped his eyes and looked up to see my reaction.
I was curious to know what had amused him so much and not a little cross. If the vase on the pedestal nearby had been mine, I might have picked it up and threatened him with it.
He dabbed his eyes. “You should really tell your sister to remember which ankle she was supposed to have twisted.” He put his handkerchief away and straightened, watching me, his eyes gleaming with amusement.
Devonshire: Richard and Rose, Book 2 Page 9
