Engagement of Convenience

by Georgie Lee

  ‘I find it hard to believe you dislike one another. You’re so much alike.’

  ‘No need to insult me,’ James laughed.

  ‘I meant it as a compliment,’ she teased, happy to see the light return to his eyes.

  They approached the old stone prison, the morning sun just beginning to rise over the tops of buildings. Giltspur Street Compter seemed strangely situated next to shops, its uninspiring façade dotted with rows of windows. A parade of women and children wandered in and out of the iron gates. The more fashionable ladies buried their faces in white handkerchieves, crying over the loss of a dowry or their only source of income while the common women carried large baskets of food or dragged crying children into the prison.

  James signalled for them to dismount, then handed her his reins. ‘Stay here while I speak with the guards.’

  ‘I want to come with you.’

  ‘No. We can’t leave the horses unattended or some desperate person might steal them. Don’t worry. It isn’t as bad as you think.’ He cuffed her under the chin, then hurried across the street to talk to the guards lounging on either side of the main door. She watched them perk up when he slipped them a few coins before they ushered him inside.

  She stood with the horses, cautious of the people walking the streets. Shady characters eyed the horses with appraising interest and she wondered how many of them would gladly slit her throat to steal the animals. Clutching the reins, she worried as she waited, imagining Paul lying in some dank cell, his wounds uncared for and at risk of infection. Once James had freed him, she’d take him straight to the London town house and call for Dr Childers. Hopefully, she was not too late. She didn’t know what she would do if she lost him to gaol fever or gangrene.

  * * *

  Finally, James emerged from the jail and if it weren’t for the horses, she’d have rushed across the street to meet him. Instead she waited, her fears receding some when he came to stand next to her.

  ‘I spoke with the warden. He’ll summon your brother’s creditors, then I’ll settle the debt.’

  ‘I brought money.’

  He held up his hand to silence her. ‘Allow me, please. I’ve dealt with these matters before and will not be cheated.’

  She nodded, embarrassed once again at how unprepared she was for London. At Knollwood she was master of her realm; here she found herself at the mercy of others. ‘Can I see Paul? I want to make sure he’s all right.’

  ‘Yes, I’ve made arrangements.’

  He paid a guard to attend to the horses, then escorted Julia inside. The stench of unwashed bodies and damp stone rivalled the smell outside and Julia covered her nose with her hand.

  He led her into a small office off the main entrance. Inside a large man wearing a dirty wig sat behind an old desk, poring over paperwork. Julia took a deep breath, the dusty smell of the office preferable to the noxious odours outside.

  The gruff man ignored Julia in favour of James and what he knew to be a large and generous purse. ‘You want to see him?’

  ‘The lad wishes to see him, older brother and all. Mother wants to make sure he’s being treated right.’

  ‘A visitation will cost ya,’ the warden finally acknowledged her, his wig slipping off to one side of his bald head.

  ‘Cost?’ Julia’s voice came out high and she covered it with a cough. ‘Cost?’ she repeated, trying to deepen her voice.

  ‘You’ll have to excuse him—he’s young.’ James fixed her with a reprimanding glare, then slid two coins across the desk. ‘He doesn’t understand things the way we do.’

  ‘Young officer needs to learn this is a business. A man has to make a living.’ The warden stuck two fat fingers on the coins and drew them to him. He dropped them in his dirty pocket, then nodded to the man standing behind Julia. ‘Harvey there will take you back. Captain stays here to discuss the financial arrangements.’

  ‘But—’ Julia started, but James waved her off.

  ‘Not to worry, Julius. The warden here is a sensible man. He knows the value in making sure no harm comes to you.’

  The warden raised a greedy eyebrow, grasping James’s meaning. ‘Of course. Harvey will see nothing happens to the lad.’

  ‘Yes, sir.’ Harvey opened the door, hustling Julia into the hallway. ‘This way.’

  Julia followed him deeper into the prison, worry helping her ignore the eye-watering smell. At every cell they passed, a man’s hand jutted out between the bars, his hoarse voice begging for money to buy food, his own cell or freedom. They reached the day rooms where children of various ages ran circles around men and their wives, who sat nursing babies.

  ‘There are families here?’ she asked, astonished.

  Harvey grunted at her ignorance. ‘Them that can afford it lives in the Rules of the Compter.’

  ‘Rules?’

  ‘Three miles ’round the Compter. Them that can’t stay here.’

  Taking in the wretched conditions, Julia fell silent, afraid of what she’d find when they reached Paul. He might already be sick, lying in squalor at death’s door with no one to even bring him water.

  Finally they reached a small row of cells near the back of the jail. The accommodations here weren’t nearly so dirty, but Julia wouldn’t call them ‘clean’. A rat scurried across their path and she jumped back with a high squeal.

  Harvey laughed, the key ring in his hand jingling. ‘You wouldn’t make it long on a ship.’

  ‘How is my brother?’ Julia adjusted her coat, following him to the last wood-and-iron door.

  ‘Doing as well as ya can imagine. Here ya are.’ He slid a large, black-iron key into the lock. The grating sound of metal against metal filled the hall before he threw open the door. ‘’ave a visitor for ya, Lieutenant.’

  Julia stepped forwards, steeling herself for the worst and caught off guard by what she saw inside. The room, by no means palatial, was tidy and better appointed than the one she’d slept in last night. A wooden bed with white linens took up one wall while a well-built writing desk occupied the other. In the centre of the room, in a cushioned chair, Paul sat with a book in his lap, reminding her very much of a pirate captain surrounded in a cave by his sumptuous loot. Only the angry red cut on his forehead kept her from laughing.

  He started at the strange sight in front of him, then rose, taking in the uniform with a lopsided grin.

  ‘Well, fancy this. I didn’t expect you of all people to rescue me, especially not like this.’

  ‘Rescue you—’ Julia balked, looking around at the cell ‘—I should have known you’d arrange the best accommodations, even in gaol.’

  ‘Right crafty, this one,’ Harvey mumbled. ‘Wouldn’t mind if we had more like him.’

  Despite the humour, the emotions of the last day combined with the exhaustion of the night and her relief to find Paul overcame her. She threw herself into his arms, hugging him tight, quite forgetting herself and her disguise.

  ‘Now then, lad, I know the ship has missed me, but really.’ Paul patted her back, attempting to maintain the charade.

  A deep, raspy laugh rolled out of Harvey. ‘No point pretending. She ain’t the first to come here dressed like that.’

  ‘She’s my sister,’ Paul protested and Harvey laughed harder.

  ‘Ain’t the first to say that, too.’

  Paul hugged Julia close while she cried into his dirty coat. It smelled of smoke and gunpowder and the scratchy wool reminded her of James. ‘Now then, what’s all this? You’ve never been this excited to see me.’

  ‘I was so worried. They said you were injured.’ She reached up to touch his head and he caught her hand. ‘What happened?’

  Julia and Paul sat down on the bed and Harvey stepped out of the cell and closed the door, giving them a little privacy.

  ‘After the bat
tle, we were rescuing French seamen. We should have left the scoundrels to drown. They were so thankful, they tried to take over HMS Pickle. We beat them back, but not before one of the French dogs got hold of a sword and rushed at Lieutenant Lapenotiere. I stepped between them, running him through just as he brought down his sword. He caught me here.’ He touched his wound and winced. ‘I was out for a while and bled like a stuck pig. Lieutenant Lapenotiere thought I might die, but the surgeon patched me up. Said all I needed was rest and I’d be back to fighting form in no time, though I’ll have a scar to show for it. Lieutenant Lapenotiere was so grateful, he invited me to accompany him back to London.’

  ‘Thank heavens.’ She hugged him again, but he leaned back.

  ‘Now, what are you doing here and dressed like that?’

  ‘You have no idea what’s happened this last week.’

  ‘Then tell me all about it.’

  She described at length the events of the last week, telling him everything except her very intimate encounter with the captain last night. Paul might listen without judgement, but she knew even he had limits where her honour was concerned. A few moments after she finished her story, Harvey pulled open the door.

  ‘Come on. It’s time for you two to go.’

  They followed Harvey out of the cell and back down the halls.

  ‘Paul, Dr Childers said you never arrived at his office. What happened?’

  Paul rubbed his neck, a shamefaced smile spreading across his face. ‘I’m afraid I didn’t go straight to Dr Childers, though I wish I had.’

  ‘Yes, it would have saved us all a great deal of trouble and worry,’ Julia chided. ‘Where did you go?’

  ‘I was on my way to Dr Childers when I ran into an old friend and he invited me to a card party.’

  ‘Paul, how could you?’ She wasn’t sure who she was more angry with: Paul for being so silly or Charles for being right. ‘You were supposed to rest.’

  ‘I spent the last two weeks of our voyage back to England resting. I needed a little fun. I saw the Wilkinses there. Mr Wilkins was bragging about selling Cable Grange for more than it’s worth. I’m sorry you weren’t able to get it. You’d have really made something out of it.’

  She offered him a half-hearted smile, not wanting to think about it.

  Harvey stopped at a small sitting room across from the main office. ‘You can wait here while the captain finishes settlin’ your accounts. It’s the warden’s private room.’

  ‘Thank you, good man. We’ll have cake with our tea,’ Paul ribbed.

  ‘I’ve changed my mind. I’m glad to be done with ya,’ Harvey grumbled, closing the door.

  Paul walked leisurely about the shabby room, fingering the chipped porcelain knick-knacks probably left behind by some long-ago tenant. ‘Now that Cable Grange is gone, what will you do?’

  ‘I’ll stay with you.’

  He leaned against the thick windowsill, crossing his arms over his chest. ‘You can’t stay with me.’

  ‘What other options do I have? I can’t go back to Knollwood, not under these circumstances.’

  ‘You could marry Captain Covington.’

  ‘Haven’t you heard anything I’ve told you?’ Julia threw up her hands, for the first time in her life frustrated with Paul.

  ‘I heard it all, which is why I think you should simply admit you’re in love with him and put all this business behind you.’

  ‘I don’t love him.’ Julia threw herself into a nearby chair, a puff of dust escaping from the threadbare fabric. New tears fell down her cheeks, leaving small watermarks on the dingy chintz. ‘I did love him, but not any more.’

  Paul sat on the chair’s matching ottoman, taking Julia’s hands in his. ‘I think you still love him very much. Do you know how I know?’

  She shook her head, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

  ‘Because I’ve never seen you cry.’

  ‘Of course I cry.’

  ‘Not like this.’ He pulled a stained handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her.

  ‘Well, what do you expect? I’m not a statue.’ She wondered if she shouldn’t have taken Charles’s advice and left Paul in London.

  ‘Come now. Why the tears?’

  ‘Because he doesn’t love me.’

  ‘What makes you think he doesn’t love you?’

  ‘Mrs Wilkins.’

  ‘He explained why he was there.’

  ‘He was lying, like all Navy men.’

  ‘Captain Covington may be a Navy man, but he’s no liar. He’s also not a man of whims. If he didn’t love you, he wouldn’t have come to London to help you, especially not to help me. I think he loves you just as much as you love him. He just needs to get around to telling you so you’ll finally believe him.’

  Julia twisted the handkerchief, unable to deny his logic. The captain had followed her to London, saved her from Wilkins’s servant and helped her find Paul, but she’d continued to doubt him because of her own fears and because he hadn’t said the words. Could the answer be so simple? Her head ached from trying to figure it all out. ‘What about your recommendation?’

  ‘I understand why he wrote it. At the end of my first year, we were in Portsmouth waiting for our orders. It was rather dull there and I got into some trouble with a parson’s daughter.’

  ‘Paul, you didn’t.’

  ‘Unlike your captain, I am a typical Navy man. But I wasn’t the first officer she’d taken long walks with in the woods. I just had more money than the last bloke. The next thing I know she tells her father I ruined her and the parson complains to my superior officer.’

  ‘Captain Covington.’

  ‘Of course. Well, it’s his first ship so he’s a real stickler for rules and orders me to marry her.’

  ‘But you refused.’

  ‘I wasn’t about to introduce a girl like her to Mother, or Charles for that matter. Luckily, before Captain Covington could bring me up on charges, her fiancé comes in to port. His ship took a frigate off the coast of Africa, so now he has money and they run off to Gretna Green.’

  Julia clapped her hand over her mouth to cover a laugh. This was just the kind of trouble and escape Paul always managed to find. ‘Once the truth came out didn’t Captain Covington understand?’

  ‘He did, but I’d still disobeyed a direct order. Caused him quite a bit of embarrassment.’

  ‘So now, all these years later, he writes a poor recommendation. Seems rather petty.’

  ‘I don’t blame him. Besides, he’s more than made up for it now.’

  He patted her hands, then the door opened and James entered the room.

  * * *

  James took in brother and sister. She clutched an old handkerchief, watching him with large, red eyes glistening with tears. He could only imagine what she’d told her brother and wondered how his old crewmate would react. He didn’t relish the idea of a duel.

  To his amazement, Paul crossed the room, holding out his hand in greeting. ‘Captain Covington, thank you for getting me out of this pinch.’

  ‘You have Miss Howard to thank.’ James hesitantly took his outstretched hand and Paul pumped it heartily.

  ‘Don’t be so modest. I know you played a part in it. My sister told me all about your exciting journey last night.’

  ‘Did she?’ James tightened his grip and Paul matched the hold with a smile. The man is as arrogant as ever, James thought, determined to make Paul relent first, despite the numbness in his fingers.

  ‘Come now, Jim.’ Paul leaned forwards, dropping his voice. ‘We both love the little lady, so why not put the past behind us?’

  James released Paul’s hand, flexing his fingers to bring the blood back. What had she told him?

  ‘Now, if you’ll both excuse me.’
Paul moved towards the door. ‘I have some private business with the warden and you two have a great deal to discuss.’

  ‘Paul, wait.’ Julia jumped to her feet, but Paul didn’t stop, winking at her before slipping out of the door.

  * * *

  A small porcelain clock on the mantel ticked off the long seconds of silence. James stood unmoving, his eyes watching her with honest longing. Could Paul be right? Did he really love her? She searched for the words to ask, the right phrase to confirm everything in her heart and cross the chasm of uncertainty dividing them, but words were unnecessary. He marched across the room, swept her into his arms and kissed her.

  All the worry about her actions and future disappeared. Pressing close, she surrendered more now than she had in the late hours of the night, giving him her heart, soul and life, knowing he would guard them as faithfully as he’d guarded her through this entire journey, binding their hearts together so nothing could ever separate them again.

  Their lips finally parted and she felt the rough stubble of his cheek against hers. ‘I love you,’ he whispered.

  ‘I love you, too.’ She buried her face in his jacket, revelling in the peace and comfort of his beating heart. She’d never felt this happy or content and it filled her with a new energy and the eager anticipation to begin their life together.

  ‘There’s plenty of time to make it to Gretna Green,’ she suggested, tracing a brass button with her finger.

  ‘Nonsense. If I know George, he’s convinced your brother not to cancel the wedding.’

  ‘I’m surprised Charles hasn’t hurried after us with a vicar already.’

  ‘Then I know the wedding will still take place. We just have to get there on time.’

  The clock chimed eight o’clock.

  ‘Then we’d better hurry or we’ll never make it.’

  * * *

  Outside the jail, Paul waited with the horses, winking at a young woman sauntering past.

  ‘I’m glad to see you’ve resolved your differences.’ He laughed as Julia and James approached.