by Amanda Scott
“Exactly what I thought, myself,” Nell agreed. “And much as I deplore the necessity, I fear there is nothing for it but for you and the major to elope.”
“Elope!” Astonishment vied with excitement in Rory’s expression, and excitement won the day. “The very thing! Oh, Aunt Nell, think how romantic it would be! To ride off to Scotland with dearest Gideon at my side—Oh, it would be beyond anything wonderful!”
Nell’s conscience suffered a brief pang at these blithe words, but she calmed it by repeating firmly to herself that there was no other way. Time was the important factor. When she suggested somewhat diffidently that the major might not cooperate, Rory scoffed, insisting that while it might not be a matter of utter simplicity, she had no doubt that she could, as she inelegantly phrased it, bring him up to scratch.
“For I daresay he won’t quite like the notion at first,” she admitted candidly, “however, once he is brought to see how desperate is the case, he will do whatever I ask of him.”
Nell still had her doubts, especially when Rory suggested that it would perhaps be better to wait until she could see the major under natural circumstances rather than to risk setting up his back at the outset by sending for him. Since they expected to encounter him at Lady Blanchard’s ball on Thursday evening, Nell forced herself to agree to the slight delay. Huntley would surely be in London for some days yet, and Lady Agnes’s letter, sent off to Chatham by the morning post, could not bring Crossways and Clarissa down upon them for at least five days or more.
As it happened, they chanced to meet the major the very next day at Donaldson’s Library, but Rory had no opportunity for more than a brief private word with him before he was off again. Nonetheless, she told Nell she had no doubt now as to the outcome of her campaign.
“I told him I was utterly cast down,” she said when they had returned to Upper Rock Gardens, “that I had had the most distressing news and didn’t know where to turn. And do you know, he offered to send immediately to his commanding officer excusing himself from duty for the rest of the day just to help me sort out my troubles? Is that not promising, ma’am?”
“Indeed it is,” Nell agreed, “but why did you not encourage him to do so, Rory? We might have been well on our way to a solution to our difficulties.”
“Well, we wouldn’t,” returned that young lady in her frank way, “for he would be—in the cold light of day, you know—more than likely to say I must discuss the thing with Mama, and offer to speak himself to Papa. But that would not serve, Aunt Nell. You know it would not.”
“But will he not make the same suggestion tomorrow night?”
“No, for there will be a moon then, you see, and music in the background, and I shall be so very melancholy, and under circumstances such as those he would never deny me anything. You will see, Aunt Nell.”
Nell could not share her confidence, but after two days of listening to Lady Agnes’s plaintive comments on the thoughtlessness shown by her twin sister in choosing such an inauspicious moment to cash in her accounts, and to Kit’s bemoaning of the fact that he, too, would be forced into mourning just when he was beginning to find his feet among the beau monde, she found herself hoping against hope that Rory’s efforts would be successful.
Even Sir Henry, placidly reassuring, did little to lift her spirits. He had better luck with Kit, promising him that since he cared little for formal parties anyway, his activities would be curtailed very little in the event that he was, in fact, plunged into mourning again. Sir Henry even managed to cheer up Lady Agnes, though Nell hadn’t the slightest notion how he had achieved such a feat.
Thinking of her mother only gave Nell more qualms; for, if by some happy circumstance, Rory did manage to convince the major to elope with her, and if Huntley was not so furious with Nell herself for conniving at such an outrageous act that he refused to make her an offer—assuming, she reflected morbidly, that he would make her one under any circumstances—and if she accepted him, she would be leaving Lady Agnes to cope alone with the management of both the large household and Kit, as well. The thought disturbed her only briefly, however, before she thrust it aside, determined to deal with it only if and when the need arose.
Upon arriving at Lady Blanchard’s house on the Steyne Thursday evening, Nell found herself scanning the company quite as anxiously as her niece was doing, and it was with the profoundest relief that she saw the major coming to greet them. She knew that there was nothing whatever she could do herself to aid matters at this point. All her dependence must be upon Rory. Consequently, she accepted the offer to dance whenever it was made and was very gay, pretending she had not a care in the world beyond wondering who would be her next partner.
The look on Major Talcott’s face when he took polite leave of her some time later, saying he must return to his regiment, was not such as to encourage her to believe her niece had met with any great success. But Rory, when questioned in the carriage on the way back to Upper Rock Gardens, expressed airy confidence, informing her aunt that she had done the trick.
“But he looked as grim as could be when he left,” Nell protested.
“Oh, he was a little vexed, just as I thought he would be,” Rory returned carelessly. “But when I explained to him that there is simply no other recourse, he agreed to meet us on the Downs at noon tomorrow.”
“Us! Why does he not come to fetch you at the house?”
“Well, because … because I never thought of it,” she answered, speaking rather quickly. “Besides, if I am with you, no one will suspect a thing, will they? And later you can just say you don’t know where I’ve gone, and we shall be long gone before anyone suspects the truth. I could wear my boy’s clothes, I expect, and ride to meet him alone, like Phoebe Hessell went to her Samuel, but you would not like that, and I think he would not like it, either. Moreover,” she added with the air of candor that had become so familiar, “I think he is more likely to believe the situation is truly desperate once he sees that you have no objection to our elopement.”
“Oh, Rory, I don’t know about this,” Nell said, as all the horrors of what she was encouraging her niece to do began to come home to her. “An elopement is a very serious step to take, you know. Your reputation—”
“Pooh, I shan’t care a rap for that if I can have Gideon for a husband,” Rory retorted. “And I shan’t have to face Mama and Papa or Huntley until it is done, so that won’t matter either.”
But Nell knew that she would have to face them, and the thought gave her a sleepless night. Not that she was particularly worried about Clarissa or Crossways, but Huntley would be livid, and that fact did worry her. No matter how often she told herself that she had dealt successfully with his temper before, she could not convince herself that she would enjoy dealing with it upon this particular occasion. If she could be sure she was doing the right thing, it would be easier. But she could not. She knew perfectly well that Rory had little comprehension of the severe consequences that would attend a Gretna Green marriage. But Nell knew, and she was not at all certain she could reconcile herself with her conscience. Only the knowledge that all speed was necessary—and a lurking suspicion that Huntley would forgive her once he perfectly understood her reasons—kept her from throwing back her covers and hastening to inform her niece that she could not allow her to take such a desperate step.
The morning and Rory’s glowing, confident face helped a great deal. If the child herself was so certain of the rightness of her course, who was Nell to deny her the opportunity to seek her happiness? By eleven o’clock they were ready to depart. Nell ordered their horses brought around in the ordinary way, and if Joe wondered about the satchel his mistress ordered him to tie securely to her saddle, he said not a word. At last, their grooms trailing behind, the two ladies set out to meet the major.
Not until she actually perceived him riding up the hill from the wood did Nell truly believe he would be there. Nevertheless, when she realized that the look on his face was not one of pleased anticipa
tion but rather the opposite, she could not say that she was completely astonished. The two grooms fell prudently behind, and beside her, Rory gave a little sigh.
“Oh, dear.”
“Rory, I thought you said—”
“Well, perhaps I overstated his willingness a little,” Rory admitted in a small voice.
“By the look of him, I should say you overstated it by a great deal.”
Major Talcott, his brow furrowed in thunderous anger, was upon them in a trice. He spoke first to Nell, his voice under rigid control. “I am both glad and a little disappointed to see you here, Miss Lindale, for I didn’t believe her ladyship when she said you were party to this ridiculous start. I had no doubt, however, that she would come herself, and feared she would not have the good sense to provide herself with an escort, which is the only reason, believe me, that you find me here.”
He said nothing whatever of Nell’s good sense, but it was forcibly brought home to her that Rory had grossly misled her, that young lady having believed as usual that her own wishes would prevail over any opposition. In truth, the major had flatly refused from the outset to be party to an elopement that would most surely put an end to his promising military career. When he repeated that refusal in no uncertain terms and said he would escort them personally back to Brighton, Rory spoke up at last.
“Gideon! You could not be so cruel. Why, Aunt Nell’s very presence must prove to you that our case is desperate!”
The major’s response to this near wail was to favor her ladyship with a hard look before he dismounted, dropped his reins casually to the ground, and strode over to remove her without ceremony from her saddle. Setting her none too gently upon her feet and retaining a firm grip on her elbow, he glanced balefully up at Nell.
“I trust you will excuse us for a moment or two, Miss Lindale. I have something of a private nature to say to her ladyship.” She nodded without daring to speak, and watched as he practically dragged the reluctant Rory toward the nearby wood. Nell hoped he would not be too harsh, but the words that drifted back to her just before they entered the wood were scarcely encouraging. “You will be well served, young lady,” the major said, more sternly than he had spoken before, “if you find yourself across my knee!”
Rory’s dismayed protests faded into the distance, and though Nell strained her ears, she could hear nothing to indicate that the major had made good his threat. Nevertheless, when they returned at last, his fury had abated somewhat, and Rory walked with her head down, carrying a large white handkerchief clutched in her two slim hands. As Talcott swung her into her saddle again, Nell could see that she had been crying. There seemed to be nothing to say that might ease the situation, however, so she held her tongue and merely fell in beside them when Talcott had mounted his own horse. The two grooms, no doubt suffering agonies of curiosity, remained a discreet distance behind them.
It was clear that Rory had met her match at last, but the discovery did little to ease the pricking of Nell’s conscience. The major’s disapproval of their actions brought home to her more clearly than ever how rashly they had behaved. But even that mattered little, now that their plan had failed. For if it had succeeded, she realized that she would not have cared one whit whether it was proper or not. At the moment, all that mattered to her was that the future looked bleak indeed. Even the major would probably insist that Rory marry the earl. And even if he did not, surely Philip would not wish to marry a woman who had made so dreadful a mull of everything. He would no doubt retire to Huntley Green, thankful to have escaped a fate worse than … well, worse than anything else Nell could name at the moment. In any event, he would be furious with her, for it never occurred to her that he would not discover what they had attempted to do.
The whole story would come out the moment he returned from London. And the thought of his anger, no doubt greater even than the major’s had been, was a good deal more disturbing than she might have expected. Whenever the thought of his quick temper had chanced to cross her mind while the elopement was still in the planning stages, Nell had simply told herself that she would deal with it when the time came. But now, riding beside her niece and her niece’s angry would-be suitor, it seemed as if all she could think about was the fact that Philip would be angry with her, and that she did not wish him to be.
The ride back to Brighton was a dismal one at best, but they arrived at the tall house in Upper Rock Gardens at last to discover a large traveling coach drawn up at the flagway. Talcott, giving it a speculative look, swung down and handed his reins to a link boy, announcing flatly that he would come inside with them. Rory had not looked up or spoken during the entire ride, but at these words she glanced first at him and then at the coach, and her face went perfectly white.
“Papa and Mama are here!” She looked at Nell in dismay. “Whatever shall we do now?”
At that moment, the front door opened, and Pavingham put his head out, then seemed to jump back inside again, and a moment later, Kit hurried out followed by Lord Crossways.
“What the devil!” Kit exclaimed, hurrying up to them.
Major Talcott turned to help Rory down. “See to your sister if you please, Lindale. Then, perhaps we might go inside before we begin to discuss this matter.”
“Yes, by Jove, of course,” Kit stammered, looking him up and down. But he hurried to assist Nell, whispering as he did, “There’s the devil to pay and no pitch hot. They’re all here, and the brat left a note, so they’ve been stewing the past half hour over whether Crossways ought to set out after them or let them go. Whatever were you about to have let her go like this, Nell? Huntley is—”
“Huntley! He’s here?” Nell was certain her own face must have gone as white as Rory’s, and as Kit set her on her feet, her knees seemed to go weak. He steadied her, speaking lightly.
“He’s here, all right and tight, and I can tell you I’ve never seen the man so put out. I daresay he’s offended that the chit would prefer the cavalry over an earldom, but whatever it is, someone’s in for the devil’s own trimming when he gets his chance. And that’s a fact.”
XVII
KIT’S WORDS SEEMED TO echo in Nell’s brain as she went with him to meet Crossways on the stoop.
“A fine business this is,” declared his lordship, puffing out his cheeks in an expression of his vast displeasure. But his basilisk stare rested upon his daughter as he spoke, and Nell scarcely paid him any heed. Instead, numbly, she allowed Kit to take her upstairs to the drawing room.
As they reached the landing, Jeremy opened the double doors, and the sight that greeted Nell’s eye was such that a lesser woman might well have picked up her skirts and run. Upon seeing her come into the room, Lady Agnes looked up reproachfully from her favorite chair, vinaigrette in hand, a glass of hartshorn and water on the table beside her. She gave a watery gasp and dabbed at her tear-stained cheeks with the ubiquitous lacy handkerchief, causing Sir Henry Sinclair, at her side, after one reproving look at Nell, to lean over her ladyship’s chair and speak soothingly to her.
Clarissa, the train of her traveling dress caught up over one arm, gave the appearance of one who had been pacing anxiously back and forth before the fire crackling in the grate. But at Nell’s entrance, she snapped her head up, and the initial look of anxiety in her eyes changed at once to the light of battle.
“Eleanor Lindale, how dared you do such a thing as this! To encourage my darling girl to such atrocious behavior! That you could so flagrantly betray our trust in you! Surely, you must have known she would be utterly ruined by a Gretna Green marriage!”
Before she could reply, Nell was pushed aside as, with a gasp of dismay, Rory hurried past her to cast herself upon Clarissa’s broad bosom. “Mama,” she cried, hugging her, “pray don’t blame poor Aunt Nell. Indeed, I have been such a trial to her.” Realizing that Crossways had followed her into the room, she turned brimming eyes upward to include him in her plea. “I promise you, it is true, Papa. For truly and truly it was all my fault, and I coul
d not begin to thank her for all her kindness to me. I simply cannot permit you or Mama to scold her.”
“Very affecting,” observed Huntley grimly from his vantage point a little to one side of the doorway, where he had been standing. Nell’s attention having been drawn immediately to the group by the fire, she had not seen him. But now the others were forgotten as she whirled to face him, seeing at once that he was every bit as angry as Kit had warned her he was. Even as the thought registered, his eyes seemed to narrow more. “You have a good deal to answer for, my girl, and I doubt that your champion, however well-spoken she may be, will avail you much protection from your just deserts.”
“Oh dear,” Nell said faintly. “I was afraid you might be a little annoyed.”
“A little—!” His astonishment at the understatement seemed to rob him momentarily of the powers of speech, but he recovered rapidly, speaking in a tone very like a controlled growl. “To say that I am a little annoyed is to put the matter very—”
“Eleanor Lindale, you are not attending to me,” Clarissa cut in angrily, “though, I declare, I cannot find the words with which I might adequately describe my overwrought feelings. You were responsible for her well-being and must be held entirely accountable for this dreadful business. For despite what dearest Aurora may say to the contrary, you seem actually to have encouraged this appalling elopement!”
“Clarissa, please,” Nell pleaded, “there has been no elopement, as you can see for yourself, and if I have behaved badly, I beg your pardon, but I only did what I thought was necessary in order to save poor Rory from entering into a marriage that was clearly doomed from the outset. I knew perfectly well that there was no time to lose, because you and Crossways were sure to come post haste the moment you discovered the news about Aunt Agatha, and just as sure to do your possible to push her into marriage straightaway.”
