The Aristocrat's Lady (Love Inspired Historical)

by Moore, Mary

  A guard stopped them, questioning their intentions.

  “Sir, we are here to listen to Lord Devlin address the House,” Nicole said in her haughtiest voice. She hoped it would intimidate the man.

  It did not.

  “Mum, you may enter to the left there. That door leads to the upper galleries. But if there is not enough room for all of the gentlemen who wish to attend, the women must make way.” The guard was insolent, even adding under his breath, “Women in Parliament! Next they’ll be asking to join the gentlemen at White’s!”

  “Toby, let us go. Be sure we are in very secluded seats, and we shall leave as soon as Lord Devlin speaks.”

  Her thoughts turned from leaving, however, as soon as they entered the indicated door. Nicole held on to Toby’s arm tightly, but excitedly whispered, “Toby, do you not feel awed? Tremendous decisions are made here that affect all of England.” Her tone was reverent and her senses heightened as she concentrated on the power that seemed to emanate from the room itself. Oh how she wished she could see it!

  “I’m more concerned with getting you settled, my lady, so don’t be distracting me with your talk of ’igh and mighty England.” Toby mumbled that the “upper gallery” didn’t seem that much safer than the crowd below. “I don’t know, Lady Nick, you can still see right good from back ’ere. What if one of them gents from down there notices you?”

  “Do not worry, Toby,” she said again as they settled into the hardback chairs. Nicole could smell the wood-paneled, hallowed halls of the famous room. She imagined the great and heated debates that had gone on there. A sense of wonder overwhelmed her.

  In the midst of her awe, she heard his voice from the floor below in a clear and powerful tone. She had not been listening to the much-regulated procedures of the institution so she missed his introduction. Unexpectedly, his voice made her tingle and the pride she felt in knowing him caused her heart to race.

  “Gentlemen,” Lord Devlin began in a deep baritone, “I am aware that the topic I am about to address is not important to most of you, so I will be as brief and concise as I am able. However, I shall do my utmost to make you understand my views. And I pray that after you have heard me, you will seriously consider voting for the veteran reform I propose for next month.”

  Devlin spoke in a voice she had never heard from him. He was obviously good at public speaking, and he sounded convincing and forceful. The resonance of his voice was masterful. She waited with bated breath for his expansion on the topic.

  Suddenly his words stopped, but she could hear him moving about, directing quiet comments to specific individuals. When he spoke again, he did not sound the least bit nervous, but authoritative and deliberate.

  “Many of you know my views on pension payments for the soldiers now returning home from the war in France.” His voice reverberated around the quiet room. The silence was almost immediately broken by groans from spectators below and around her. Truth to tell, she had a difficult time keeping a groan from escaping her own lips. She sat stunned, hoping against hope that he was on the side of the poor soldiers. She prayed he did not align himself with the many who felt the returning soldiers should cope on their own. She quickly turned her attention back to his speech.

  “All of us in this room owe our very freedom to the men who are returning now and who valiantly, and voluntarily, fought to keep that freedom. For too many years these brave men have been coming back to their homes and families who have tried to hold things together without them. I believe they should begin receiving a stipend from the government to help them get back on their feet.”

  Nicole’s heart thundered an applause that would have drowned out any actual ovation!

  But such an ovation did not occur.

  A male voice from the floor below interrupted her thoughts with a loud bellow. “You will break us, man! We have not the funds to pay men for doing duty they have already done. They were paid while fighting!”

  A gavel sounded while a stern voice reprimanded the gentleman who had interrupted. “Let me remind you, sirrah, that Lord Devlin has the floor.”

  Devlin patiently answered his detractor, “I am aware, my lord, that England’s coffers could not stand up to full pensions for all of our fighting men. What reason would I have to bankrupt England’s treasury? That is not my intention. Many who fought were your own younger sons and thereby had some wealth of their own to come home to. My bill is intended for those in need, and all I ask is that you read it and digest it before next month’s vote.”

  It irritated Devlin that these rich and powerful men begrudged stipends to the war veterans. However, now was not the time to show his disdain. He continued in an authoritative tone, “My proposal is for three separate groups of returning soldiers. The first group is men without families who come back whole and perfectly capable of working. In those cases, I propose we would not have to pay any pension at all. We would set up a government bureau to specifically get these men settled into jobs as soon as possible. We have such agencies to find middle-class females employment, yet we have no such provision for our men.”

  Nicole could not have moved a muscle if she tried, so intent was she on hearing his next words.

  “The second group will be those men who are whole and unhurt but have families who have been trying to keep their farms or businesses going while they were away. I propose in those cases, the families be paid a monthly stipend for six months to one year. It would be capital they could invest back into their living.” The members started to rumble once again. “Consider, gentlemen,” he had to speak louder over the din, “that many of these soldiers are tenants on our lands. That can only help us in the long run.”

  He must have felt the impatience of the crowd that even she could discern. He did not take a breath as he continued. “Gentlemen, you will need to read my proposal fully. When you read it, I believe you will conclude that my range of figures for the stipend amounts are well worth the effort these men gave us. All I ask is that we recognize that those men risked their lives for us all. Some of them have been gone for years at a time. I do not see that one year of monetary help from us would be too great a drain on our resources.”

  Nicole jumped as a voice very near to her in the upper gallery shouted down to Lord Devlin, “I can’t wait to hear your third part, Guv’nor. Do we give them all silver plates to eat on, too?” A riotous guffaw started in the gallery as merchants and businessmen slapped each other on the back in agreement.

  The gavel pounded several times along with a shout of the stentorian voice behind the bench: “Order, I want order, now!” As the crowd quieted, the voice continued, “We will have no more of these interruptions from the gallery, or it will be cleared immediately. Is that understood?”

  Toby nudged Nicole. “It may be time to go, Lady Nick. I think ’is lordship ’as seen you and ’e looks worried.”

  “Toby, he is worried because he cannot make this roomful of selfish fops understand his plan.” She didn’t give Toby time to start in again as she listened to the raised voices below.

  “Lord Devlin, are you going to continue?” the harsh speaker asked.

  “Yes, your grace, I apologize. The third part of my plan will be the hardest and most costly for England, yet I believe the soldiers have paid no less a price.” He paused for emphasis. “The third phase consists of two groups. First are men who will come home, but will not be whole in body. They will have lost limbs, or sight, or have been too seriously injured to work. The second are families of men who were lost in the war. Without the heads of their households, many have been thrown out into the streets, or worse, into debtor’s prison. In my opinion, these groups deserve pensions for life.”

  The uproar was incredible. It reverberated off the oak walls and seemed to echo back upon him. “For life?” one voice called over the tremendous noise. “You are mad!” cried another. A third yelled, “How are we supposed to pay for the problems we have in America if we are funding soldiers who are no longer fig
hting?”

  Suddenly one man stood up and the others quieted for him. “Lord Devlin, what you propose is outrageous. Why, on some of my estates, several poachers have already been caught because you give them the excuse of ‘not being able to find work.’” The “hear, hears” chimed in around the room. “What have you to say to that?”

  Nicole was so proud of him. He kept trying to convince a room full of opposition, while at the same time trying to still the crowd into reason. “I agree with Lord Faversham. Poaching has begun, and as far as I am concerned, a criminal is a criminal whether veteran or not. However, my hope is that this plan will keep the soldiers who cannot work from turning to a life of crime.”

  He seemed to recognize that they were losing their patience. He finished his speech very quietly. They had to lower their voices to hear him. “Gentlemen, I appreciate the time you have given me today and ask that you consider my words as you read my proposal. I spent some time with our soldiers on the continent and have personally seen the hardships they bear. I will not tax your patience with those details now, but I would ask that we not make them face conditions just as hard when they return to the home they fought for.” He turned and faced the bench. “I thank you for your time, and I bow before your grace and this House.”

  Conversation broke out everywhere, and Toby demanded they leave. Nicole was compliant; she had heard enough. Lord Devlin was not like the other men she had met in London. He was an honorable and just man who would fight for a cause, whether popular or not. In her eyes, that was much more important than handsomeness or charm.

  She kept hold of Toby’s arm, occasionally brushing into others because of her thoughts on Devlin’s speech. They finally entered the light of day, and Toby ordered their carriage before the bulk of the attendees had left the building.

  Nicole suddenly heard her name called through the milling crowd and recognized Lord Devlin’s voice as he neared them, almost out of breath.

  In a dangerously low voice and with tightly clenched teeth, Lord Devlin spoke to the pair. “Lady Nicole, what do you think you are doing here? Confound it, woman, no one knows when a speech will incite a riot. You should never have come.” He had her by the arm, and she could hear his anger very close to the surface along with what she thought was a tinge of concern in his voice. “Toby, why have you let her come here?”

  “Didn’t let ’er do anything, my lord. I told ’er myself she was asking for trouble. When Lady Nick gets an idea in ’er ’ead, it’s more than me that can stop ’er. Think I ain’t never tried?”

  “I should have found a way of stopping her,” Devlin muttered as he handed her into her waiting carriage and stepped in after her. “I will escort you home, ma’am. I still have a few choice words to say to you.”

  Toby chuckled as he climbed onto the top with John Coachman.

  Inside, Nicole clapped her hands then rested them against her heart. “You can be as angry at me as you want. I do not care. I would not have missed that for anything in the world. You were magnificent, my lord, and I am so proud of you. You fought for justice for your fellow man, and I know how hard that is to do in the face of rejection and disapproval.”

  “Nicole…”

  “No, listen,” she interrupted before he could berate her. “I was amazed at your understanding of the soldier’s plights. Will you tell me about your proposal in more detail? When did you visit France? I should like to hear about it. I always hear people glorifying war but I am aware it always seems to be done by men who have never actually experienced battle.”

  “I begin to understand Toby’s frustration. I must remember to apologize to him.” He ran his hand through his hair. “I am not going to get through to you how stupid it was to go there alone, am I?”

  “I was not alone. I had Toby and the Lord,” she said absently. She could not get her mind off his words, and she could only wonder at him for wanting to be her friend! Oh, how she wished she knew more of him so they could talk beyond the everyday platitudes. She felt they could be even better friends, eventually allowing her to reveal her own secrets to him.

  He continued his tirade with much less air in his sails than before. “You had a servant? And it was a lone servant at that.” Devlin ran his hands through his hair in frustration again. “Toby would not have been able to fight an angry mob and get you to safety at the same time, despite your hero-worship of him. And I have yet to see your God pop out of nowhere to stop an oncoming danger. Do you not understand how worried I was when I saw you in the gallery?”

  “But Devlin, none of that happened. We are all fine. You worried over nothing.” She clapped her hands again in delight. “You let me believe you were telling me all about yourself last night at dinner. I think it is I who should be angry at the moment!”

  Then he laughed in total surprise. “I only know of one other woman who would have done anything as harebrained as you have done.” His laughter ended, but his joy did not. “My grandmother is also the only other person who would have been proud of me for it.”

  “Devlin, those men must be convinced! They must believe the truth and necessity of your plan.” She chewed on her lower lip as she contemplated her own role in that endeavor. “Do you think it would help if I set about entreating their wives? They could then influence their husbands. Women are much more sensible, you know. They would understand completely the need for such funding.”

  “Nicole, I beg you, slow down.” She knew he was trying to curb her enthusiasm. “More likely, you would be given the cut direct for even discussing it. You have played least in sight this Season, so you do not know how few influential women are interested in politics. In all honesty, interference from the ladies might only put up their husbands’ backs. You must not get your hopes up. You heard them, almost no one agrees with me on this.”

  Nicole smiled knowingly. “You take such a defeatist attitude, sir!” Then she, too, grew more serious. “God can do anything, my lord. He can convince those men to do the right thing. He can change their hearts.”

  He smiled at her unshakable faith, thinking his grandmother would also have said that. “I will happily leave it in God’s hands, then, and no longer worry over the matter. But Nicole, my understanding of your God is that He also allows things that do not always coincide with our desires. If I must leave it in His hands, you must as well.”

  “It is as you say, my lord,” Nicole said with quiet dignity. “I thank you for reminding me God has many ways to accomplish His purpose.” She bit her lip and continued very seriously, considering her words carefully. “Devlin, may I ask… Do you think… Oh, botheration, the part about the criminals. The ones you mentioned that have been caught for poaching. It is usually their only means of food, you know. We cannot treat them the same as someone who steals as a trade.” Nicole’s voice was pleading at the end.

  “Nicole, you are the only woman I know who would have come to hear me today. Even my grandmother may have found it too tiresome. You are the only woman I know who would sympathize with me without waiting to see how others reacted before taking my side. I am very glad we share a common bond. You, Lady Nicole, are an indomitable force to be reckoned with!”

  She interrupted him. “Do you not see? Your solution would keep them from becoming criminals…it must pass.”

  “Nicole,” he said sternly, “I do believe we need to keep crime under tight rein. Therefore, the laws must be the same for all. We cannot allow motivation as an excuse. We have no way to determine the truth of someone’s state of mind. Therefore, we could not enforce laws if some were allowed to break them.”

  “Devlin, can we…I…pray about it now?” Nicole leaned forward and grasped his hands. “Do not worry, my lord, I will pray for both of us.” She lowered her head and closed her eyes as he watched.

  “Dear Father, Your sons are coming home from fighting a terrible war. We thank You for bringing them home, and we ask that You convince the hearts of these powerful men in Parliament as they decide the fates of man
y. We pray Your provision for them until this bill is passed so they will not need to resort to poaching to feed their families. Lord Devlin faces a foe in this battle no less fierce than Goliath, when David fought him. But David defeated Goliath to prove even the smallest of us has Your mighty power inside us.”

  Nicole talked to God as a friend.

  “We know You purpose what is best for us and for Your plan in this world. We close now in thanksgiving and praise.”

  She opened her eyes and addressed Devlin. “Thank you, my lord. It always gives me peace if I can pray when it is fresh in my mind.” She let go of his hands. “Now, where were we? Oh, yes, poaching! There is another thing that I have never understood. Why is poaching, a small crime, if a crime at all, punishable by death or deportation, when cheating a green youth out of all his money at the gaming tables is chalked up to teaching him a lesson for the future?”

  Sitting opposite him as they debated, Nicole was very glad she had put her fear aside to hear his speech. As they took the long way home, she began to think she would risk much for the friendship of this particular gentleman!

  The next day Nicole berated him. “Devlin, you purposely misunderstand me!” Nicole abruptly pushed back against the bench and crossed her arms in front of her in frustration. They were in Hyde Park discussing his speech of the day before.

  That morning a large bouquet of the palest mauve roses was delivered to the townhouse. Chelsea crowed in delight, seeing that the card was addressed to Nicole. She ran up the stairs two at a time, lifting her skirts high as she raced to wake her slugabed sister. Chelsea could not hide her pleasure at the thought of Nicky with a beau or her curiosity as to his identity. She knew who she wanted it to be, and she could not stand the suspense.