Camilla's Conscience

by Sandra Heath

  “William is everything to me, and I would do anything for him, except give him up,” Sophie declared vehemently.

  Camilla was uneasy. Just how far had the matter gone? “Sophie, forgive me for asking this, but have you and William...?” Oh, there was nothing for it but to be blunt. “Sophie, are you and William lovers in every sense of the word?”

  Sophie was indignant. “Lady Camilla, William would not do such a thing, for he is a true gentleman and respects me!”

  “I trust so.” Camilla looked at her. “How did you know where I live?”

  “I—I asked William.”

  “William? You’ve spoken to him since the music room?”

  Sophie fidgeted guiltily. “Yes, but only for a moment or so, truly. It was after Lord Ennismount and Lady Cayne lectured me, and told me William had agreed to leave straightaway for Scotland so he cannot see me anymore.”

  “Scotland?”

  “Sir George Oxforth has an estate there.”

  “Ah, yes.” Camilla lowered her eyes. Dominic said he’d give William a verbal drubbing, and seemed to have done just that. Nor can he have minced his words if the young man was going straight to Scotland!

  Sophie blinked back her tears. “I was so upset because I knew I would never see William again, so I ran to find him before he left Carlton House. We said only a few words before Lord Ennismount came after me.”

  “And during those few words you asked William where I lived?”

  “Yes.” Sophie looked reluctantly at her. “You see, I have decided to run away, and you are the only friend I have here in London.”

  “Run away? Oh, on no account are you to do that!”

  “I will not stay to see the Grand Duchess Catherine.” Sophie’s jaw was set rebelliously.

  Dire political consequences loomed on the horizon. Oh, the trouble this young woman could cause if she chose. Camilla felt very awkward. “I wish you hadn’t involved me like this, Sophie. I’m already in enough trouble because I fibbed for you earlier tonight, and apart from that I feel at fault for not saying anything to William’s sister. Lady Elizabeth is a close friend.”

  “I was sure you would understand.” Sophie sniffed unhappily.

  “I do understand, Sophie, but my advice is that you return to Carlton House right now. A ball as important as tonight’s is bound to still be in progress and your absence may not have been discovered. I can take you back—”

  “Oh, please don’t return me to Lady Cayne and Lord Ennismount!” Sophie cried, fresh tears springing to her eyes.

  “Be reasonable, Sophie. I can’t possibly hide you and say nothing. Besides, you won’t be at Ennismount House for long, as soon as the grand duchess arrives you’ll go to her.”

  “That is even worse.” Sophie sat down disconsolately on the sofa. “I—I thought that because you told a fib for me earlier on ...”

  “I’d do it again?”

  “Yes.” Sophie fiddled with a frill on her ballgown.

  “Well, I’m sure it seems very simple and straightforward to you, but I see it a little differently. Besides, I can’t with any honesty say I acted solely out of concern for you in the music room, and have to confess to an instinctive urge to thwart Lord Ennismount,” Camilla admitted.

  Sophie smiled then. “I like you more and more, my lady.”

  “You’re a mischievous minx, Sophie Arenburg,” Camilla observed dryly, and with masterful understatement.

  Sophie became more contrite. “I do not mean to be. Oh, my lady, I do not like the Grand Duchess Catherine, for she is the one who imposed this horrid match on me. I don’t want to go to her.”

  “I don’t think you’re in any position to refuse,” Camilla pointed out practically, wondering what she was expected to do about it.

  “They can’t make me do what I don’t want to do!” Sophie’s lower lip jutted again.

  Camilla had to look away, for now she’d been in Sophie Arenburg’s company a little longer, it was impossible not to see what a handful the girl was. Surely there could be no doubt Sophie was Czar Alexander’s illegitimate daughter, for she conducted herself with all the arrogance of a Romanov!

  Sophie looked urgently at her. “I cannot bear to go back to Lady Cayne, nor do I wish to go to the grand duchess.”

  “Sophie, you must be sensible about this,” Camilla pointed out a little wearily. This was getting nowhere.

  The girl sighed unhappily. “Lady Camilla, you are not so old you do not remember what it is like to be in love. Lord Ennismount knows nothing about the heart, for he does not have one, nor does his horrid aunt. As for the grand duchess ...” Words failed Sophie, and she sighed again.

  “I’m not quite in my dotage yet,” Camilla retorted a little huffily. Not so old? She was thirty-five not ninety-five, for heaven’s sake!

  “Please do not be offended, Lady Camilla,” Sophie begged.

  Camilla looked at her. “Enough of this chitter-chatter, miss, it’s time to get to the point.”

  “The point?”

  “Don’t look so wide-eyed, for you know what I mean. Why, exactly, have you come to me?”

  “I—I told you ...”

  “You’ve told me something, but not everything. You have another motive, don’t you?” Camilla held her gaze.

  Sophie’s eyes filled with tears. “I’m so unhappy, Lady Camilla,” she whispered. “I do not wish to cause trouble, truly I don’t, but I will not be able to help myself if I am made to go to the grand duchess.”

  “Everyone is capable of preventing themselves from causing trouble, Sophie,” Camilla replied trenchantly.

  Sophie scowled for she wasn’t used to being reprimanded, but almost immediately she realized the scowl didn’t assist her case and so resumed her heartbroken imploring. “Please let me stay with you. If—if you could just send word to Lord Ennismount and Lady Cayne, telling them I am safe and well...?”

  “It’s out of the question, for I can’t blithely sweep protocol aside without so much as a by-your-leave. Others are already responsible for you, Sophie, and anyway, I’m leaving for Gloucestershire the day after tomorrow.”

  “Gloucestershire?” Sophie’s eyes brightened perceptibly.

  “Yes. I’ve had more than enough of London.”

  Sophie was suddenly more determined than ever. “Please take me with you, Lady Camilla. I will be very good, truly I will, and if I am in the country with you, then I cannot make trouble with the grand duchess. Is that not so?” she added artfully.

  Camilla almost admired the girl’s audacity. “You sly minx!”

  “Oh, I admit it. I know I cannot defy the grand duchess and the czar, but I also know I can make things very awkward for the government here. All I want is time. I know how horrible Prince Ludwig is, and with luck the grand duchess might soon realize it too.”

  “So much for your impulsive decision to rush here to me. You’ve actually given this a great deal of thought, haven’t you?”

  Sophie gave a rather penitent smile. “Not a very great deal, Lady Camilla, but you see I grew up in St. Petersburg, and I learned how to use things to my own advantage. I must barter for my happiness.”

  “You barter very well,” Camilla said dryly.

  “Let me go with you to Gloucestershire,” Sophie pressed.

  “Even if I agreed, and the Prince Regent and the prime minister consent as well, what are the grand duchess and Prince Ludwig going to say?”

  “Ludwig? He doesn’t matter,” Sophie replied dismissively.

  “But he does matter; he’s going to be your husband, Sophie,” Camilla persisted.

  “He will not wish to meet me any more than I wish to meet him. At St. Petersburg he was only interested in actresses and women of easy virtue.”

  “Sophie!”

  “Well, it’s true. Everyone knew it.”

  “All right, if you don’t think the prince is of any importance, you at least have to concede that the grand duchess is a different matter. She won’t be in the
least amused if you aren’t in London to meet her.”

  Sophie wasn’t bothered about this either. “She can be told there is influenza where I am staying. She is terrified of illness, and will not wish me to be anywhere near her.”

  “You seem very sure.”

  “l am.”

  Camilla had to smile. “I’m beginning to feel sorry for Prince Ludwig if he has to marry you,” she declared. “I’m also beginning to wonder if William stood any chance at all once you’d set your scheming cap at him.”

  “I did not scheme to love him, Lady Camilla, it just happened,” Sophie replied simply.

  Camilla got up. Oh, drat the girl, she had a way of turning everything into a tug at one’s heartstrings. But whatever her faults, Sophie Arenburg held the trumps at the moment.

  Hawkins came in with the chamomile tea, and as he put the tray down Camilla decided to at least let Sophie stay for the rest of the night. “Hawkins, have the principal guest room made ready as quickly as possible, if you please, and tell Mary I wish her to attend Mlle Arenburg while she’s here.”

  “My lady.”

  Sophie’s eyes gleamed triumphantly. “Oh, Lady Camilla ...!”

  Camilla continued to look at the butler. “Then I wish one of the footmen to prepare to go to Carlton House with a message for Lord Ennismount. I haven’t yet decided the exact wording of the message, but will do so presently.”

  “My lady.” He bowed and withdrew.

  Sophie was victorious. “You are my friend, Lady Camilla!”

  “Actually, I have the uncomfortable feeling I’m more your gull than you friend.” Camilla gave her some of the chamomile tea. “Here, drink this, it will calm you a little, for in spite of your considerable guile you are most definitely overwrought.”

  Sophie accepted the cup. Cradling it in both hands, she smiled at Camilla. “I’m so happy I can go to Gloucestershire with you.”

  “Now, wait a moment. All I’ve agreed is that you can sleep here until Lord Ennismount is informed about your, er, bartering,” Camilla warned. “I can’t say whether or not you’ll get your way.”

  “But you are agreeable to what I ask?”

  “Yes, I’m agreeable, but I can’t speak for the prince and everyone else.”

  “If they refuse I will threaten to make scene after scene with the grand duchess, I will tell her the Prince Regent dislikes her personally, that he opposes many of the czar’s plans, that he and the British government have been advising me against marrying Prince Ludwig, that—”

  “You’ve made your point,” Camilla interrupted hastily. She wasn’t used to dealing with such single-minded, hotheaded, devious young women and it suddenly seemed an unconscionably long time since she’d been Sophie’s age herself.

  Sophie looked earnestly at her. “I do not want to say any of these things, Lady Camilla, but I must if I am to get my way.”

  Camilla didn’t know what to say to this undeniable logic. “Well, you’ve finished the tea and I think it’s time you went to bed.”

  Sophie allowed herself to be led from the room, and was soon installed in the guest room, with Mary fussing around her. She and the maid were much of an age, and as Camilla withdrew she heard them begin to chatter together.

  Camilla went to her own room and held the curtain aside to look out at the misty dawn. “I have the most awful feeling you’ve bitten off more than you can chew, Camilla Summerton,” she muttered.

  Chapter 5

  As it happened there was no need for the running footman to go to Carlton House, because Sophie’s disappearance had already been discovered and Dominic guessed where she might have gone. He’d overheard some of the snatched conversation with William before the latter left, and knew she’d asked where Camilla lived. When she then vanished, it was simple enough to deduce she’d gone to Cavendish Square, and so he set off in pursuit.

  The footman’s departure had been delayed because an alarm was raised when a burglar was seen climbing over the wall from the mews lane behind Camilla’s house. Heavy mist obscured everything as the intruder dropped down into the garden, and he wouldn’t have been detected at all if it hadn’t been for a maid returning to the house after spending the night with her family. She screamed and in a moment the whole household was aroused, but the burglar managed to scramble back over the wall and make his getaway in the mist.

  The neighborhood houses were alerted by the shouting, and by the time Dominic’s town carriage drew up at the door it seemed every servant in the square was out searching. Flaming torches smoked and flickered in the haze, and shouts rang around the houses as he alighted and stood toying with his cuff.

  “What’s going on?” he demanded of a passing groom.

  “Someone tried to break in at Lady Camilla Summerton’s, sir,” the man replied.

  Dominic hurried to Camilla’s door, and knocked loudly.

  Hawkins peered warily out brandishing a brass candlestick, and Dominic stepped hastily out of range.

  “For God’s sake take care, Hawkins! It’s me!”

  Hawkins recognized him from the days when he’d been a frequent and welcome caller. “Lord Ennismount? Oh, forgive me. There was a burglar, and—”

  “Is Lady Camilla all right?” Dominic interrupted quickly.

  “Oh, yes, my lord.”

  “Good. Now then, is Mlle Arenburg here?”

  “She is indeed, my lord. Her ladyship was about to send word to you. Please come in.”

  As Dominic entered, Camilla came down the staircase tying a frilled pink woolen wrap over her nightgown, and she halted in dismay to see him standing in the hall. For a moment she didn’t know what to say, but then she descended the final steps.

  “Since my footman has yet to leave for Carlton House, I must wonder why you’ve called at this address in your search for Mlle Arenburg, my lord.”

  A light passed through his eyes. “Before you leap to conclusions, Lady Camilla, I didn’t come because you are in suspicion, but rather because I overheard Mlle Arenburg asking de Marne for your address.”

  “I wish you to know I neither aided nor abetted her in this foolishness about running away.”

  “I have no reason to suspect you did, madam. May I see her?”

  “She has retired for the night.”

  “Nevertheless—”

  “She has retired,” Camilla said again, facing him squarely. “You may as well know she’s issued what I can only describe as an ultimatum.”

  “A what?”

  “An ultimatum, although she prefers to say she’s bartering.”

  “Does she indeed? Well, no doubt she’ll inform me in due course, but first I must take her back to—”

  “She doesn’t want to go,” Camilla interrupted. “She wants to stay with me, and accompany me to Summerton Park when I leave the day after tomorrow.”

  He stared at her. “That’s out of the question.”

  “Which is exactly what I said, but it’s what she wants, and if she doesn’t get it, she threatens to make as much trouble as she possibly can. Among other things, she threatens to tell the grand duchess the Prince Regent and the government have been actively advising her against the Prussian match, and she’s very capable indeed of doing just that.”

  Suspicion darkened his eyes. “I thought you understood that what I told you earlier was restricted information!”

  She drew back angrily. “Do you imagine I’ve put her up to all this?”

  “Let’s just say I find it hard to believe the contrary.”

  “No, sir, let’s just say that the young lady is a little more cunning than you’ve given her credit. She grew up in the St. Petersburg court and learned a trick or two about looking after her own interests!”

  “She’s a troublesome little baggage who’s being accorded far too much importance!” he snapped.

  “Possibly, but she has the whip hand right now.”

  He didn’t reply.

  Camilla exhaled slowly. “She’s in love, sir. Wh
at was that line from Herrick you were once so fond of quoting? ‘Gather ye rosebuds while ye may?’ Well, that’s how Sophie feels now, my lord. Her future has been mapped out for her, and she doesn’t like what lies ahead. She loathes Prince Ludwig and adores William de Marne, and she knows that unless she puts up a fight now, she’ll be lost forever in a match she despises. She’s gathering those rosebuds, sir, and if they’re proving a little thorny for the establishment, well, hard luck!”

  “How very impassioned you are, to be sure,” he murmured coolly.

  “And how unfeeling you are—to be sure,” she retorted.

  “Unfeeling? My God, that such a charge should hang on your lips, madam!”

  “A great many charges hang on my lips where you’re concerned, sirrah, not least that you could have saved Harry’s life if you wished,” she said quietly, her dark eyes very bright and challenging.

  He met her gaze without flinching. “I’m heartily sick of your tedious accusations. The trouble with you is your conscience isn’t as clear as you’d like it to be.”

  She was trembling. “I hate you,” she whispered.

  “The feeling is mutual, madam. Now then, are you going to let me see Mlle Arenburg now, or not?”

  “Not until she’s awake.”

  “I’m not leaving until I’ve spoken to her.”

  “Then you’ll have to wait.” She pointed to the double door across the hall. “There is the drawing room, my lord, I’m sure you’ll be comfortable on the sofa until Mlle Arenburg is able to receive you. Hawkins?”

  The butler had been standing close by throughout their bitter exchange, and gave a slight start as she suddenly addressed him. “My lady?”