The Chaperone Bride

by Marina Oliver

  Joanna laughed. 'Are they so bad?'

  'Not bad, but inclined to lead my two into mischief whenever they meet. I prefer they meet other than in London.'

  He told her more of his family, and she came to realise his childhood had been happy, as they roamed the moors, climbed trees, fished the nearby streams, and rode out all day. It was the sort of childhood she would dream of for any children she had. Then she suppressed a sigh, for she would have no children.

  They halted twice on the journey, and drove into London late on the third afternoon. Firbank was waiting for them as the coaches drew to a halt outside the house in Upper Brook Street.

  Sir Kenhelm had explained he kept just a few servants at the town house, and had decided not to send many more this time, as he did not expect to remain in London for much longer than a month or so, until the end of June.

  'Firbank will have hired a chef, I trust. Cook would never manage here,' he said, laughing. 'She is accustomed to having most of our food straight from the farms, and could never deal with buying from London tradesmen.'

  Joanna was interested to see the house. The twins had never before seen it, and as soon as they could they raced up to the nursery floor to lay claim to bedrooms. Brigid and Sally followed them, and Mrs Aston appeared to show Joanna to her room.

  As at Rock Castle, it was connected through two dressing rooms to Sir Kenelm's bedroom, but there was also a small boudoir leading from Joanna's room and overlooking the garden.

  'It's quieter than the street side,' Mrs Aston said. 'I hope the noise won't keep you awake, it seems to go on all night with folk making their way home from some ball or other.'

  'I think I will sleep,' Joanna reassured her. 'I was used to far worse conditions in the Peninsula.'

  'We have fewer saloons here, my lady, just the two drawing rooms and a morning room, but you can be private here in your boudoir whenever you wish. I'll send up a tray of tea straight away, no doubt you are longing for one. Dinner will not be until eight. I've no doubt in the next few days we'll have many morning callers anxious to make your acquaintance.'

  And to see what sort of nobody Sir Kenelm has married, Joanna thought ruefully as she sat in the boudoir. She had heard some of the girls at the school talking about their families and tracing their connections to cousins and even more remote relatives. No one would be able to do that for her family. Which, she acknowledged, was perhaps as well, after what her father had been. She began to prepare evasive but polite answers for anyone who attempted to enquire into her antecedents, and was grinning at some of the more unlikely when Sir Kenelm knocked on the door and came in.

  'May I join you for some tea?' he asked. 'Mrs Aston tells me she is sending some. Then we can discuss what we mean to do. There was a stack of invitations, for news of our coming has spread already.'

  *

  To Joanna's surprise Sir Kenelm suggested they drove in the Park the following day.

  'It will serve to notify my friends I am in town, if they have not already heard. Then you must visit some modistes. I think I will ask Sophia to take you, she is by far the most modish of my sisters.'

  'But I have so many clothes already,' Joanna protested. 'You have been so generous to me.'

  'Nonsense. You will need more, and there are no doubt many other things you will wish to purchase, and here they are far more fashionable than you can find in Leeds.'

  Joanna wondered whether he was ashamed of her gowns, most of which she had made herself, but the prospect of new clothes, particularly some new hats, was enticing.

  'We were only planning to stay a few weeks,' she reminded him.

  'If you had seen the amount of clothes my sisters regarded as essential when they were presented, you would consider your existing wardrobe totally inadequate,' he said, laughing. 'Put yourself in Sophia's hands. As for how long we stay, it depends on what that monster in France does. I may wish to remain for longer.'

  She made no more protests, and on the following afternoon when they were to drive in the Park at the hour when most of the ton would be there, donned her best walking gown of pale grey muslin, and a darker grey pelisse, with a matching hat trimmed with lavender ribbons and a lavender ostrich feather. Sir Kenelm had sent some of his horses and grooms ahead, as soon as he had determined to visit London, and Potts drove a smart high perch phaeton round to the house. He kept the carriage in London, even though he used it so rarely, Sir Kenelm explained as he assisted Joanna to climb into it. He climbed in and took the reins, nodding to Potts that he would not need him.

  Although Joanna had lived in Kensington, she had very little knowledge of fashionable London, and looked about her in delight at the smart houses of Mayfair, and the many carriages in the streets, but when they turned into the Park she gasped to see the throng of people driving, riding or walking there.

  'It's all of London.'

  'Not quite, London is thin of company this year, as so many of the ton are in Brussels. They flocked to Paris and Brussels after Napoleon was sent to Elba, even to Vienna, and some of them are now fleeing home, expecting him to attack the Low Countries any moment.'

  He had to stop then to greet an elderly lady and a simpering young one riding in a barouche, and they halted so frequently to speak to people there was little opportunity for further private conversation.

  'Do you know everyone?' Joanna asked during a pause when they moved away from the latest barouche containing two dowagers who had peered, she thought in annoyance, somewhat impertinently at her.

  'Not quite!' He laughed. 'There are many people I never met when I spent the Season here. Mamas with daughters to bring out, men and women who were probably in the schoolroom ten years ago. There are many old friends, though, and as I do spend the odd few days here I keep up with my particular friends.'

  'I shall never remember their names!' Joanna said despairingly as they drove back to Upper Brook Street.

  'You will the ones we meet often.'

  That evening, after dinner at the fashionable hour of eight, Sir Kenelm excused himself, saying he wished to visit White's and try to discover what was happening in Paris and Vienna, where the Congress was still, he said, staggering on.

  Joanna was weary, and soon went to bed. The noise of carriages in the street kept her awake though, despite her room being at the back of the house, and it was almost dawn before she heard Sir Kenelm come in.

  Had he been at his club all this time? Or, and the notion sent a fierce pang of agony through her, had he some mistress she knew nothing of in London, and had been to visit her?

  *

  She was able to push the thought to the back of her mind the following day when Sophia appeared. She was a lively young matron, dressed in the height of fashion, and to Joanna's relief made no enquiries about her marriage. Had Sir Kenelm told her the truth, or warned her not to ask?

  'I have the carriage, we will go immediately to order you some gowns, and then, I think, Bond Street for hats and shoes and shawls and other necessities. I know how impossible it is to buy anything modish in places like Leeds, which are so antiquated.'

  Joanna was whisked away, and very soon gave up protesting that she really did not require yet another evening gown, or more walking dresses, and to purchase that outrageously expensive Norwich silk shawl just because she had admired the pattern was too extravagant.

  Sophia just laughed at her.

  'Kenelm is wealthy, my dear, and he has had no one to spend his blunt on since Maria died. If he can't spend it on his new bride, who will he spend it on?'

  Perhaps a mistress, Joanna thought, but pushed it aside. With Sophia's encouragement she had been inveigled into the pleasure of shopping without counting the cost. She rapidly abandoned any notion of keeping to the half mourning colours of grey and lavender, for the gowns were too attractive and the colours too gorgeous to resist. Few people would know the date of her father's death, and she rather guiltily realised she did not truly mourn him. She had not known him well, and he had no
t treated her as she expected a father to behave, when he deliberately flaunted her in front of rich men he wanted to entice into a card game.

  There were several gowns she had been able to buy which did not need alterations, plus hats and slippers and a dozen other items. When the carriage arrived in Upper Brook Street and the purchases were carried into the house she looked at Sophia in dismay.

  'I hadn't realised I had bought so much! And there are still all the gowns which have to be altered! Oh, I must have been mad!'

  'Nonsense. This is only a fraction of what you will need for the rest of the Season. But we will wait a few days until we have another expedition. Now you must rest, you are coming to dine with us tonight.'

  *

  There were just two other couples at Sophia's that evening. They all knew Sir Kenelm and made Joanna feel welcome, congratulating him on at last finding a pretty bride for himself after his years of being alone. One of the men, Sir Randolph Curtis, had been in the army until losing an arm, the other, John Bloom, was a former naval captain who had served with Nelson at Trafalgar. Most of the talk revolved round the Congress and the threat of Napoleon and more battles.

  Sir Kenelm was concerned with what he had learned the previous evening at White's.

  'The army is assembling, but Wellington does not have enough troops, and those he has are mainly inexperienced. He keeps asking for more, but the Government is afraid to call out the militia because of the objections of the opposition. And they are trying to insist the veterans be discharged, as was the plan, when what the Duke needs most is experienced men.'

  'I hear from my brother, who is in Brussels, that the Prussians are quarrelling amongst themselves,' Sir Randolph said.

  'Gneisenau dislikes Wellington, and has positioned the Prussian troops at Namur, which is too far from Brussels, and leaves a gap in the line of defence,' Bloom added.

  'And leaves the road between Charleroi and Brussels open,' Sir Kenelm said. 'However, Blücher is in charge.'

  'Isn't he mad?' Lady Curtis asked. 'Did he not believe himself enceinte a few years ago?'

  Mrs Bloom tittered. 'With an elephant, I heard.'

  Sir Kenelm shook his head. 'Whatever delusions he had then he is a brave soldier. I would depend on him more than many others.'

  'Like Slender Billy?'

  'The Prince has been forced to concede Wellington is in charge, which has infuriated him, but he is too inexperienced and impetuous to trust completely.'

  'Some of the troops have returned from America, I believe. They are experienced.'

  'He needs them, and more experienced staff officers.'

  *

  When the ladies withdrew the talk of war was abandoned for more domestic concerns. Mrs Bloom told Joanna how pleased she was Sir Kenelm had remarried.

  'You know about his first wife, I expect?'

  Joanna tried to be discreet. Was the woman probing for gossip?

  'Yes, he has told me about his first marriage,' she said calmly.

  'So sad she died when giving him the twins,' Lady Curtis sighed. 'I don't believe that vicious rumour.'

  What rumour? And how was it vicious? Joanna frowned, but decided she must not show either ignorance or knowledge. Somehow she would discover what the woman meant.

  'However, no doubt you will be giving him more children soon,' Mrs Bloom added.

  Did she hint Joanna might die in childbirth? Was she being deliberately obtuse, or malicious? Was this connected to her reference to a rumour? But many women died in childbirth. However, Joanna thought with an inward smile, as she would never have children the prospect of such a death did not arise.

  Sophia then asked them what they thought of the new bonnets which were becoming so fashionable, and the talk remained on these matters until the men rejoined them. Joanna breathed a sigh of relief. If this was a foretaste of the sort of inquisitive questions she could expect, she would have to learn a few tricks of turning the conversation, or prepare some uninformative answers without, if possible, offending people.

  'Don't be concerned,' Sophia said quietly as she was wishing Joanna farewell later. 'They will have forgotten everything in the morning.'

  Could she ask Sophia about that rumour? She decided she must wait until she knew Kenelm's sister better.

  'I will invite other people next time. I asked these because they and Kenelm have interests in common.'

  'The prospect of more fighting?'

  'Yes. They both have younger brothers in the army, and are naturally concerned, as we all are for Matthew.'

  'Have you heard from him?'

  'A letter came a few days ago. He is eager for the fighting to begin, of course. Why are men like that? Kenelm was mad to join the army after he left Oxford, but Papa was very ill, and in fact did die a few months later. As the eldest he accepted Papa's decree that he had to stay at home and secure the succession.' She laughed. 'To hear Papa you would have thought it was a great dukedom to be carried on instead of a minor baronetcy! And there were two other sons if Kenelm failed!'

  *

  Chapter 13

  As they were having breakfast the following morning Brigid came to say she was taking the children to walk in the Park.

  'They are mad to see everything. Would you have any objection if I took them to Astley's one day? Amelia has heard about the trick riding and the acrobats. I suspect she aims to emulate them!'

  'Astley's? I went there several times as a boy,' Sir Kenelm said. 'Joanna, my dear, did you ever go?'

  Joanna shook her head. 'I was at school when I came back to England, and I don't think Miss Benson would have allowed it, then my father took me away.'

  'Then let us all go. I will arrange it,' he told Brigid. 'Where else do those scamps want to see?'

  She laughed. 'All the most gruesome, from cells in the Tower where famous people were imprisoned, to Newgate, Tyburn, to where the great fire started, and where King Charles was executed. I will have little difficulty in amusing them, and at the same time instilling a little history, which until now they have deemed tedious and irrelevant.'

  Sir Kenelm laughed. 'Take the carriage whenever you wish. I will tell Potts to go with you.'

  'Thank you. But won't you need it sometimes?'

  'I won't use it in town, unless we are all going somewhere. My phaeton and the chaise are enough.'

  Brigid left them, and Sir Kenelm turned to Joanna.

  'I must teach you to drive the phaeton. It is rather different from the gig you have been driving in Yorkshire.'

  Joanna's eyes gleamed. 'I thought ladies were frowned upon if they drove sporting carriages?'

  'Not if they do it with sufficient dash. Tomorrow we will drive out to somewhere quiet where you may begin, without the ton viewing your first attempts. I must see my lawyer this morning, but we will drive in the Park later and I will begin the lessons.'

  He clearly intended to spend some time with her, at least to begin with, Joanna thought thankfully. She had yet to meet his older sister, Elizabeth, and her family, but if they were as friendly as Sophia, she would feel less alone in London.

  *

  Unless Joanna was to make one of a party arranged by Sophia, or was to be accompanied by her or Elizabeth, Sir Kenelm made sure he was free to be with her. He had detected her nervousness at Sophia's dinner party, and knew his old friends were busy comparing her with Maria. His first wife had been vivacious, too much so at times, but she had been brought up in the ton, she knew everyone, had dozens of friends and relatives she could call on for company, and a number of enslaved men who were always willing to escort her to parties, dance with her, drive and ride with her. As her husband, he occasionally thought with considerable bitterness, he had been necessary only to provide her with pin money and pay her bills.

  Sophia had been helpful and friendly. Elizabeth, despite her preoccupation with her daughter's come out, had invited Joanna to several small parties where she came to know more people. So he really did not have to be in her comp
any as much as he was. He enjoyed teaching her to drive his phaeton, and she was an apt pupil, so much so that he intended to let her drive in the Park on their next outing.

  When not with Joanna he spent his time visiting old friends, or at White's, attempting to glean information about Napoleon's movements. Little that was reliable was known there, however.

  'The Duke's intelligence service is, I believe, less than accurate,' one former Guardsman told him. 'They have, I hear, already sent him incorrect information. How can a commander plan if he can't trust what he is told?'

  'He can't trust the Belgians, since so many of them have fought in Napoleon's armies,' an elderly General confided. 'And there are all sorts of rumours circulating in Belgium.'

  'Napoleon has shut his borders, there is very little news getting through of what is happening in Paris,' a Member of Parliament said.

  'At least he now has a few of his old staff with him, men he knows and who know him,' another said.

  'I hear all he does is attend balls and make love,' a decrepit Viscount said, sniffing. 'He's supposed to be commanding the army, not enjoying himself with all these social engagements.'

  'He believes in not causing panic,' an infantryman on crutches protested. 'There will be plenty of time for the cowards who don't have faith in him to leave Brussels, if necessary. I wish I could be there!'

  'A good many have left already. I hear the packets are full with people returning to England.'

  'I wish we had news of Matthew,' Sir Kenelm said one night at dinner. 'It is weeks since he has written to any of us. Henry talks of coming to London, he feels cut off in Yorkshire, not knowing what is happening. Little does he know we have no more accurate news.'