“Is Lady Harriet to bring her brother?” Dulcie said, clapping her hands with glee. “It will be famous if she does. Think what a compliment it would be to you, Amy.”
“I cannot tell you, for she writes so much that I cannot make it out at all. There, can you make anything of it?”
The letter was passed from hand to hand but Lady Harriet had had so much news to impart that she had crossed her lines once, and then crossed them again, rendering most of her message unintelligible.
“Where was this sent from?” Belle said. “Oh, Drummoor, I can just make it out. But look, the letter was not franked, so the Marquess could not have been there.”
The sisters groaned in disappointment.
Ambleside came in, and then Lady Sara appeared, and other guests in twos and threes, almost all the principal inhabitants of the neighbourhood. Connie watched them arrive without enthusiasm. There were few single men amongst them, and those few were either too young or too poor to be of interest. She had turned her gaze on Lady Hardy, wondering whether the attractions of a fine house, a title and a large fortune that attached to Sir Osborne would overcome the disadvantage of daily intercourse with his mother, when the door was thrown open one more time. There on the threshold stood the most beautiful man Connie had ever seen. He had the face and figure of a Roman statue, his attire was in the finest of London fashions, his hair elegantly arrayed. He stood on the threshold, as if to be admired, his gaze raking the room. Every conversation died away.
“The most honourable the Marquess of Carrbridge, and the Lady Harriet Marford,” the butler intoned, into the silence.
2: Of Dragons And Highwaymen
Connie spent the meal gazing at the Marquess. She had never seen such perfection of form in one man. Since he sat beside Amy and his head was mostly turned in that direction, Connie had ample time to admire his profile, with its aquiline nose and strong chin. He spoke little, and smiled not at all, but that was natural. He must be accustomed to far superior company than anything found in their paltry neighbourhood. She was sure that beneath the stiff veneer he was all amiability, for what could be greater proof of it than his very presence here?
She turned over in her mind all his numerous attractions, quite apart from his face and figure, and his elegance of person and dress. He was very wealthy, that much she knew. She was not sure of his exact income, but it must be larger than Papa’s had been, and she felt certain it exceeded even Mr Burford’s, and he had five thousand a year now. Then there was the estate at Drummoor. It was reputed to be a fine house — she must look it up in the guide in Papa’s book room — although Amy said it was quite old-fashioned. Still, it would be an excellent project, to renovate and restyle the rooms.
Then there was the title. Connie had never dared to aspire to a title but oh, how wonderful to be a marchioness and wear ermine and be somebody at court. Even at the assemblies, the best seats were reserved for peeresses. How grand she would be! She would have a little carriage of her own, with the Marquess’s crest on the door, and bowl around the roads waving in a dignified manner to everyone curtsying and bowing as she passed by.
She laughed inwardly at such fanciful notions. Such a man was quite out of her reach, she was well aware, and she had too much pride to chase round after a man just because of a title and a fine estate. Still, it was pleasant to imagine what might happen if he were to fall in love with her, and he was, after all, so very, very handsome that she could not help thinking about the possibility just a little.
In such happy dreaming, the meal was over almost before she was aware of it. The ladies withdrew, and as soon as they were in the drawing room, and all the doors closed, a twitter of excited chatter broke out. Lady Sara serenely took a seat, as if unaware of the babble of noise, and the other matrons smiled and shook their heads, settling near the fire. Amy hesitated for an instant, then, with a longing glance at her sisters, demurely sat next to Lady Hardy and Miss Clarissa Hardy. The youngest wife, Cousin James’s bride Alice, nervously took a window seat, out of the way, and Belle went to sit beside her.
The rest of the young ladies congregated at the further end of the room in a big circle, plying Lady Harriet with questions about her brother.
“I do not know what is in his head,” she said, laughing. “He has never bothered to visit Great-aunt Augusta before. He was not even at Drummoor when I left there three days ago, but he arrived in his curricle a few hours ago as if the Devil were on his tail, and he will tell me nothing, odious boy!”
“You did not mention how handsome he is,” Grace said. “Why, he is like a Greek God!”
“Oh, do not say such things, and especially you must not flatter him to his face,” Harriet said. “He is quite puffed up enough in his own importance as it is, and struts about like a popinjay. Ever since he came into the title he has been unbearable.”
“A marquess is entitled to be a little puffed up, I believe,” Connie said. “A peerage, a fine house, a large fortune — yes, he may strut all he pleases, so far as I am concerned.” Especially when he looks so wonderful as he struts, she thought with a little smile.
The guests for the ball began to arrive, but as the group broke up, Grace whispered to Connie, “You should try if you cannot catch him, you know. For it would be a fine thing to have a marchioness in the family.”
Connie wondered how she was supposed to catch a marquess, for he must be used to the grandest ladies of the ton and she was a provincial nobody. Why, she had never even visited London, still less enjoyed a season there. She had not the least notion how to begin, so she decided that she would not even try. She would enjoy his company whenever she had the chance, but in time he would go back to Drummoor, or to London, and she would see him go without regret.
Besides, her little dalliance with Ambleside had taught her to enjoy her freedom. Papa had kept all his daughters on the tightest of reins, with every hour of the day assigned its due activities, and no variance permitted. Why, they were even required to dress alike, with only the colour of a ribbon to distinguish one sister from another, with the result that half their acquaintance could not tell one of them from another. How delightful it was to choose her own style of gown, and fill her days as she wished. She had no desire to relinquish such freedom to a husband, not for a very long time.
But if she could make the Marquess fall violently in love with her — well, that would be a different matter. Adoring husbands were both pliant and amiable, as she had seen with both Ambleside and Burford. Yes, a marquess head over ears in love with her might be able to tempt her into marriage.
Not long after, the gentlemen reappeared, and with the new arrivals, the drawing room began to feel uncomfortably full. Ambleside ordered the doors to the yellow saloon thrown open, and the musicians to prepare their instruments for the ball to begin. The gallery at the back of the house had been cleared of furniture, rugs and other impedimenta, and, together with the yellow saloon at one end and the music room at the other, made a very tolerable ballroom.
The Marquess led Amy out to head the set, and Ambleside claimed Lady Harriet. As other couples joined in, Connie realised she had been so absorbed in watching the Marquess, she had not thought at all about her own partner. She was rescued from the ignominy of being a wallflower at the very first dance by Burford.
“May I have the honour, Miss Connie?”
“Oh — would you not prefer to dance the first with Belle? You may dance with her as much as you like now, you know, and no one would think it forward of you.”
He laughed, but said, “I had planned to do so, but my so-called friend, Alex Drummond, got there before me.”
“Then I should be delighted to dance with you, Mr Burford.”
Burford was pleasant, if undemanding, company. Although he no longer blushed and stammered over every third word, he still said very little, leaving Connie free to talk or remain silent, as she chose. Mostly she talked about whatever was going on around her, but whenever the movement of the dance af
forded a glimpse of the Marquess, she lapsed into silence.
Her next partner was Alex Drummond, the schoolmaster living in reduced circumstances with his sister at Lower Brinford. He was a dreadful flirt, and Connie listened to his nonsense with a smile and a few shakes of her head. But after the Marquess had gone down the set with Belle, Drummond leaned forward and said archly, “He is worth looking at, is he not? And not just his person. With a title, and ten thousand a year, one might imagine that a man of such perfection would have every young lady in London setting her cap at him.”
“I am sure they do,” she retorted. “It is only that no one has caught his eye yet. Oh — ten thousand? Truly?”
“That is what the estate is worth, I understand, but sadly encumbered.”
“Encumbered.” They moved down the set together, and when they came to rest, she said, “What does that mean, exactly — encumbered?”
“The most common form of encumbrance is heavy debt.”
“Oh. Like Cousin Henry, you mean?”
“Exactly so. But the title is not encumbered, and a young lady of good fortune may be of the greatest aid to an encumbered peer of the realm.”
And he winked at her, with his mischievous grin.
She was forced to dance with Daniel Merton next, Sir Osborne’s friend, but then at last the Marquess led her onto the floor.
“You have set us quite a puzzle, Lord Carrbridge,” she said, as they waited for the set to form. “Here we have been waiting year after year for you to visit our humble corner of England, only to be repeatedly disappointed. And yet now, here you are! And, delighted as we all are to make your acquaintance at last, we cannot help but wonder what momentous event drew you forth so unexpectedly. For it must have been momentous, of that I am quite convinced. Nothing short of a quaking of the earth, perhaps. Was there a quaking of the earth at Drummoor, my lord?”
“If there was, I failed to notice it,” he said gravely.
He did not seem offended by her remarks, so she was encouraged to continue. “Well, perhaps it was not that. But what else could it have been? Ah, I have it! A fiery dragon descended on Drummoor, and you were forced to flee for your life — although with sufficient time to pack your box and hitch the horses to your curricle, luckily.”
His lips twitched, but he said, “A poor opinion you must have of me, Miss Constance, if you imagine I would slink away from a mere dragon, even a fiery one. I have a suit of armour on the stairs at Drummoor, let me tell you, and a pair of fearsome swords. Naturally I should have slain the dragon immediately.”
“Of course you would. How foolish of me to suppose otherwise. Well then, it must be that you have a secret life as a dashing highwayman, but now you are being pursued by the constabulary and must hide from the law.”
This brought a smile at last, but he replied, “Now your opinion of me is sunk even lower, I perceive. First a coward, and now a thief who steals their last coins from elderly spinsters who have never harmed a soul.”
There was a pause while the leading couple made their way down the set, but then she said, “I thought nothing of the kind, I assure you, my lord. Naturally you steal only from the very rich in order to give the gains to the poor. It is an act of charity.”
“Ah, I see now that you intended a compliment, and if ever I look for a career, I shall be sure to consider this possibility most carefully. Should you care to guess again?”
“Very well. I think you must be running away from a wealthy heiress who is relentlessly pursuing you to persuade you into matrimony.”
“Now I am intrigued, Miss Constance. I wonder why I might wish to escape from this lady, if she is indeed so wealthy?”
“Because she is exceedingly ugly.”
“Hmm. I might be prepared to overlook the ugliness for sufficient wealth.”
“And she has a glass eye and a wooden leg,” she said triumphantly.
He laughed out loud at that. For a few minutes their conversation was suspended as they moved down the set. When they came to rest, he said, “You are most entertaining, Miss Constance, but your earlier guess came close. There is indeed a fiery dragon about to descend on Drummoor, with her three dragonet sisters, and no sword can deter them, unfortunately. My grandmama and great-aunts have decided that I am sadly ramshackle, and they must come and set me straight. And although I should like to see myself as a bold dragon-slaying knight, in truth I fear I am a coward, for I could not face them. So I ran away to hide with Great-aunt Augusta, and by happy chance arrived on this very day to find a ball in prospect, to which I was already invited, although Hatty had shamefully neglected to tell me of it. And glad I am that I came, for I have been greatly entertained. I have rarely seen such lively dancing outside town. Who is the young lady who leaps so high?”
“That is Miss Drummond, my lord. She is newly arrived in the neighbourhood from Scotland. Her brother is the village schoolmaster and she keeps house for him.”
The dance ended and he led Connie to the side of the room, but showed no inclination to leave her side.
“I should not have set Miss Drummond down as a schoolmaster’s sister. Her gown is of the first style.”
“The Drummonds are from a long-established and respectable family,” Connie said politely, although tiring rather of the subject. “Their father died, leaving the family in difficult circumstances. Mr and Miss Drummond must make their own way in the world now.”
“Ah,” he said. “No money, then?”
“Not a penny piece between them, beyond a hundred a year each from their mother.”
“It is always unfortunate when that is the case,” he said.
She had no wish to talk about Jess Drummond, so she said quickly, “Do you really have a suit of armour on the stairs?”
“Indeed I do, but I may have misled you earlier when I talked of wearing it, for such a thing would be impossible. Our ancestors were much shorter than men of the modern era, seemingly, for the armour only comes up to here.” He waved a hand near his collar-bone. “Most of them are like that, although the Hepplestone one is an exception.”
“Is there one at Hepplestone? I did not know.”
“Have you never seen it? I would have thought your grandfather would have shown it to you.”
“We have never been to Hepplestone,” she said sadly. “Mama goes to stay sometimes, but Papa never went and we have never been invited, nor to Uncle Edmund’s house.”
“That is strange,” he said. “I daresay there is a good reason for it. Ah, supper!” he added, as there was a general movement out of the room.
But before he could offer to take her in, the Drummonds arrived in a swirl of merriment, as if sharing a joke. “There you are, Miss Connie,” Drummond said, beaming genially. “Are you enjoying the evening?”
Before she had done more than agree that she was, the Marquess patted her hand where it rested on his arm. “Miss Allamont, would you do me the honour of introducing me to your friends?”
And somehow, in the swirl of introductions and greetings and polite enquiries, it was Jess Drummond who was led into supper by the Marquess, and Mr Drummond who held out his arm for Connie. Without a word, she allowed him to take her through to the dining room.
3: A Visit To Willowbye
The sisters fell, happily exhausted, into their beds after the ball, so it was not until the following morning that they were at leisure to discuss the evening’s events. Hope shared her room with Grace, and Belle, Connie and Dulcie shared another.
“Is he not perfect in every way?” Connie said, as they sipped their chocolate in bed. No one needed to ask which precise ‘he’ she spoke of. “His appearance is all that is elegant and fashionable, and his manners! I have never seen such amiability and ease combined with such exquisite correctness.”
“Who could have foreseen such a state of affairs?” Belle murmured. “After all this time, and so much anticipation that made him certain to be a veritable paragon, how could we possibly have guessed that he woul
d in fact live up to our wildest imaginings?”
“He is quite charming,” Dulcie said. “And the proof of it is this — that he stood up for every single dance. What could be stronger evidence of his good nature?”
“And such a fine dancer, too,” Connie said.
“He seemed to like you very well, Connie,” Belle said. “He appeared quite content to stay by your side, until Jess Drummond whisked him away.”
“I think he liked Jess better than Connie,” Dulcie said. “All the gentlemen seem to like her very much, and I do not know why, for she has no fortune.”
“It may be that the Marquess feels safer with Miss Drummond,” Belle said. “She is not eligible to marry a man of his rank, and so he cannot be thought to be paying court to her. He must be constantly under siege from ambitious women, so he must be very careful not to be trapped into a betrothal.”
“She is very pretty,” Connie conceded.
“No prettier than you,” Dulcie said at once. “It is my opinion that Lord Carrbridge should be on his guard against Jess, for it seems to me that she is the ambitious one. She was very friendly with George Graham until Lady Graham warned her away. It would suit her very well to make the Marquess fall in love with her.”
“He is too clever to be taken in by her, never fear,” Belle said.
“I do believe you have a good chance with him, Connie dear,” Dulcie said. “Anyone might see how much he enjoyed your conversation with him during the dance. What did you speak of, might I ask?”
“Dragons and highwaymen,” Connie said, giggling. “I was trying to guess how it was he decided to visit his great-aunt. It was terribly silly, but perhaps I managed to amuse him. If he stays a while longer, perhaps I may try to attach him, if I can. I have no great desire for matrimony, but I must find a husband, so that my sisters may also have their chance. The Marquess will do as well as any other, I daresay.”
Connie (The Daughters of Allamont Hall Book 3) Page 2
