The Gamble

by Joan Wolf

He shot a look at Lord Winterdale. Then, with palpable reluctance, he smiled, nodded, and took himself off to Catherine.

  As soon as he was out of earshot, Lord Winterdale demanded of me, “Are you planning to make all of your partners dance with Catherine?”

  “If it looks as if she needs my help, then I will help her,” I replied tartly. “Unlike some people, I don’t want to see her standing around partnerless. It is humiliating for her.”

  His eyes were on Mr. Loveday, who was now speaking to Catherine. Lady Winterdale was beaming. “And you don’t think it will be humiliating for her to learn that you have forced all of your own admirers to dance with her?”

  “There is no reason for her to know that. I certainly have no intention of telling her.”

  He turned back to me. “Miss Newbury, London’s male society is a very small world. We get together at our various clubs, at Tattersalls, at Jackson’s, at Angelo’s. We talk to each other, Miss Newbury. It will not be long before word is out about what you have done. And let me tell you, that will be far more humiliating to Catherine than being a wallflower could ever be.”

  I frowned at him. He looked back, his eyes incredibly blue in the poorly lit grimness of Almack’s ballroom.

  “Do you really think so?” I asked doubtfully.

  “I know so.”

  I felt very distressed. “But what can I do to make sure that Catherine has partners? Her mother has bought her a whole collection of dresses that do not become her at all, and she makes her wear her hair in that dreadful style. And Catherine is shy. She needs help.”

  There was a pause. The musicians were getting ready to play. Lord Winterdale said resignedly, “I will make sure that Catherine has partners, Miss Newbury. And unlike you, I will do it in a way that will not humiliate her.”

  I gave him my warmest smile. “Thank you, my lord. That is very kind of you. I am grateful.”

  He looked back at me and a muscle twitched in the corner of his jaw. “It’s nothing,” he said.

  “There you are, Miss Newbury,” said the familiar voice of Lord Henry Sloan. “I thought that this corner of the room was glowing more brightly than the others.”

  I laughed and turned to greet Lord Henry, and while I was doing that Lord Winterdale walked away.

  Halfway through the evening, the moment arrived that I had been preparing for all afternoon. Lady Sefton, one of the patronesses, appeared in front of me with a gentleman who had attended our own ball, and presented him to me as a partner for the waltz.

  My partner’s name was Lord Borrow. He was very big and very burly—a huge bear of a man. I thought that if I got my foot under his by mistake, I was going to be in serious trouble.

  As we went out to the floor I said a little nervously, “I have only just learned the steps of the waltz, my lord, so I am afraid I might be a little clumsy.”

  “Nonsense, nonsense,” he said. He smiled down at me from his great height. I could not imagine dancing with this huge creature. Lord Winterdale, whose height was but five or so inches above my own, suited me far better.

  Fortunately, the waltz did not go as badly as I had feared. Lord Borrow was lighter on his feet than I would have thought possible, and I managed to perform all the steps correctly.

  “Just as I thought,” Lord Borrow beamed at me when we had finished. “You are lighter than a feather, Miss Newbury.”

  “Thank you, my lord,” I said a little breathlessly.

  I saw Lady Winterdale beckoning me from across the room and I excused myself from Lord Borrow and made my way over to my chaperone.

  “Georgiana,” she said, “I should like to present Mr. Howard to you. Mr. Howard tells me that he is a friend of some distant cousin of yours and would like to meet you.”

  Charles Howard, I thought with a flash of panic as I recognized the name. This was the man who had been forced to go to the moneylenders in order to pay Papa his blackmail money.

  Dear God, I thought in dismay. I hope he, too, does not want his evidence back.

  “I wonder if I might take you in to supper, Miss Newbury,” Mr. Howard said courteously. “That would enable us to exchange information about our mutual friends.”

  “All right,” I said a little helplessly. I looked around for Lord Winterdale, but at the moment he was nowhere in sight. I had seen him earlier, dancing with Miss Stanhope. In fact, I had noticed him dancing twice with Miss Stanhope, an act which I understood was a signal of particular attention. He had also danced with Catherine.

  He hadn’t asked me to dance once.

  I don’t need Lord Winterdale, I told myself crossly. All I am going to do is sit and have supper with Mr. Howard. There is nothing wrong with that.

  With these thoughts in mind, I accompanied Mr. Howard into the room next door, where tables were set up and food was being dispensed.

  The food was on a par with everything else about Almack’s. It was dreadful. I had tepid lemonade, stale cakes, and a thin slice of bread and butter. My mind was not on my tasteless supper, however, but on Mr. Howard, who began to talk as soon as we were seated.

  “I received your letter, Miss Newbury, and I must confess that it did little to reassure me. In short, I would much prefer to have the papers your father was holding over my head in my own possession than to rely on your word that they have been destroyed.”

  Mr. Howard was a thin, fair young man with droopy blue eyes. His fingers picked nervously at the bread and butter on his plate. “I have had to go to the moneylenders to pay your father, and the interest is killing me,” he said desperately. “I don’t see how I am to pay them back. I absolutely refuse to pay you any more blackmail, Miss Newbury. I just want to make that clear.”

  “I don’t want any blackmail money from you, Mr. Howard,” I said sharply. “Please believe me when I say that. In fact, if Papa had left any money, I would have tried to pay you back. But he did not leave any money, unfortunately, and so you are going to have to deal with the moneylenders yourself. You can rest assured, however, that you will be receiving no further demands from me.”

  He did not look reassured. “Your father left you with no money?”

  I sighed. “Not a penny, Mr. Howard. That is why I have come to London without observing a period of mourning. I need to find a husband.”

  Twin spots of color stained his thin cheeks. “If you don’t find a husband, you can always fall back on blackmail, can’t you, Miss Newbury?”

  “No, I can’t!” I glared at him. “I burned the evidence. What do I have to do to convince you of that?”

  He stood up. “You can’t, Miss Newbury. I knew your father too well to believe anything his daughter might say. But you may believe me when I tell you that I will pay you no more. Good evening.”

  He rose from the table and departed from the room, leaving me sitting alone. I was very upset.

  Lord Winterdale had been right, I thought with dismay. I should never have burned that evidence.

  CHAPTER

  nine

  LORD WINTERDALE DID NOT RETURN TO GROSVENOR Square with us but went on to Brooks’s with a friend. Lady Winterdale, Catherine, and I went home together in the carriage sans our gentleman escort.

  “I must say,” Lady Winterdale pronounced as the Winterdale town carriage rolled along through the deserted London streets, “I am more pleased with Philip than I can ever remember being. He was actually quite attentive this evening, introducing a number of eligible young men to Catherine. It was quite obliging of him.”

  Catherine said with a distinct shudder, “I wonder where they found that orchestra. The music was terrible.”

  Lady Winterdale surged on, ignoring Catherine’s remark and commenting extensively on all of the various men with whom her daughter had danced. It amazed me how she knew almost to the penny how much each of those men was worth.

  When finally she stopped to take a breath, I managed to interject, “What do gentleman do at Brooks’s anyway?”

  Lady Winterdale turned to answe
r me with distinct disapproval. “They drink and they gamble, Georgiana. That is what gentleman do when they are in London. When they are in the country they ride and shoot as well as drink and gamble. Gentlemen, unfortunately, have very limited interests.”

  I sighed. I didn’t like men who drank and gambled. My papa had been very good at both those things, and I had always sworn that I would never marry a man like my papa.

  Like it or not, I thought gloomily, I was going to be associated with men who gambled. Already two of Papa’s victims had sought me out and while neither Sir Henry Farringdon nor the Earl of Marsh had been present at our ball or at Almack’s this evening, I was very much afraid that I would be making their acquaintance as well.

  I thought of Lord Winterdale’s comment about the Earl of Marsh being a dangerous man. I thought of the ugly innuendos in my father’s file about the man and shivered. I did not want to meet the Earl of Marsh alone.

  Perhaps, I thought, I had better speak to Lord Winterdale about this. After all, I was living under his roof. He was supposed to be my guardian. Wasn’t it his duty to protect me? He could scarcely do that if he spent all his time drinking and gambling at Brooks’s.

  * * *

  As I got ready for bed at two in the morning, I realized that Lord Winterdale had not invited me to join him in the morning for his regular ride in the park. I attributed the stab of disappointment that went through me to the fact that I had enjoyed the exercise extremely.

  Perhaps he had thought that I would not like to arise regularly at such an early hour after being out so late the night before.

  I decided that when the opportunity arose, I would mention to him that I didn’t mind getting up early at all. I would tell him that the fresh countrylike air had been invigorating. Perhaps then he would invite me to ride with him again.

  As it was, we ladies breakfasted at ten and by eleven a group of gentlemen were sitting in the front drawing room, conversing and drinking the tea Lady Winterdale offered. Instead of a drive in the park that afternoon, however, Lord Henry Sloan invited me and Catherine to a three o’clock concert at his mother’s.

  “My mother is quite musical, and she puts these small concerts together for a few friends who enjoy music as well,” Lord Henry said lightheartedly. “I thought that you and Lady Catherine would enjoy it, Miss Newbury.”

  Catherine’s fingers were pressed together so tightly that they were white. “I should enjoy it very much, Lord Henry. Thank you,” she said.

  I gave him a glowing smile. “We will be delighted to go,” I assured him. “Thank your mother very much for inviting us.”

  The usual light luncheon was served at one and there was still no sign of Lord Winterdale. We were just finishing at the table when I heard the sound of the knocker and then the faint creak of the heavy front door as a servant opened it.

  Lady Winterdale frowned. “I must instruct Mason to have that door attended to. It should not squeak like that.”

  The dining-room doors were open and so we could hear Mason’s own voice as he said in his most cold, formal, and disapproving fashion, “Yes, madam? May I be of service to you?”

  “Is this Lord Winterdale’s house?” came a voice with a distinct Sussex burr.

  My heart leaped into my throat.

  “Yes, madam, it is,” Mason replied, his voice even colder and more disapproving than before.

  “I want to see Miss Georgiana Newbury,” the voice said firmly. “It is very important.”

  I pushed back my chair, almost knocking it over in my haste, jumped up, and ran out into the hall. Two people were standing on the doorstep, a small, square woman with a gray bonnet tied firmly under her round chin and a tall, slim girl with glorious golden hair and the face of an angel.

  “Nanny!” I cried. “Anna! What are you doing here?”

  “Oh Georgie!” Anna slipped by the butler and came running down the hall to throw herself into my arms. “That man came and I didn’t like him at all. I wanted you!”

  I held my seventeen-year-old sister in my arms and soothed her with the skill of many years of practice. She was actually slightly taller than I, but her bones were so fragile that she felt like a child.

  I looked around the golden head toward Nanny. “What man?” I said.

  “Your cousin, the new Lord Weldon, arrived to take possession of his inheritance. He was not pleased to discover that you were gone, and he was not very kind to Anna.” Nanny’s face was ferocious. “Anna was very upset, and I decided that the only thing to do was to take her away. You had written me to say that everthing was going well for you here in London, Miss Georgiana, so this is where I decided to come.”

  By now Lady Winterdale and Catherine had come out into the hall from the dining room.

  “Who are these persons, Georgiana?” Lady Winterdale asked in an ominous-sounding voice.

  “My sister and her nurse, Lady Winterdale,” I said in as pleasant a voice as I could manage. “Apparently there has been some trouble at home. Perhaps we could all go into the drawing room and sort it out.”

  Lady Winterdale’s eyes lingered pointedly on Nanny, who was not the type of person her ladyship was accustomed to entertaining in her drawing room, but I shepherded my two visitors firmly forward and into the room, where we could have some privacy from the ears of the servants.

  As soon as the door was firmly closed behind us, I said, “First of all, Lady Winterdale, allow me to present my sister, Anna. Anna, make your curtsy to Lady Winterdale.”

  With all the naturalness and prettiness of a young child, Anna curtsied, and said softly, “How do you do, Lady Winterdale. I am happy to meet you.”

  Lady Winterdale gave Anna a long, hard look. Her voice was stiff as she replied merely, “Thank you.”

  “And this is my friend Catherine, Anna,” I said next.

  Catherine gave my sister the warmest smile I had yet seen upon her face. “How lovely to meet you, Anna,” she said. “What pretty hair you have.”

  Anna beamed. She was very proud of her hair, which was like spun gold. “Thank you, Catherine,” she said. She turned to me. “I like Catherine,” she said. “She’s nice.”

  I was immensely grateful to Catherine. “Yes, she is.”

  There was the sound of a step in the hall and then the drawing-room door, which I had closed so firmly, opened and Lord Winterdale stood upon the threshold. His eyes went directly to me, and there was a frown line between his black brows. “What is this I hear of your sister arriving in Grosvenor Square?”

  “She just arrived a few moments ago, my lord,” I said.

  I spoke with a semblance of calm, but my heart began to thud with fear that his hard, sarcastic manner would hurt Anna’s sensitive feelings. I reached for her hand. “My lord, may I present my sister, Anna.” Reassuringly, I squeezed the slender hand that rested within my own. “This is Lord Winterdale, Anna. I have been living here in his house while I have been in London.”

  Anna looked from me to Lord Winterdale. She was never very comfortable with men and now she whispered a little nervously to me, “Is he nice, Georgie?”

  I saw the look of shock that came across his face as he realized the situation with Anna, but it was gone as quickly as it had come. He smiled and came across the room to stand in front of her, but he did not come so close that he would frighten her. “Miss Newbury never told me that she had such a pretty sister,” he said easily.

  She gave him a tentative smile, and then she curtsied.

  Thank God he wasn’t a bear of a man like Lord Borrow, I thought thankfully. Anna would have been terrified.

  I said, “And may I also introduce Mrs. Pedigrew, whom we always refer to as Nanny.”

  He looked at the little gray wren of a woman who had been such a rock of support to me over the years. “I am very pleased to meet you, Mrs. Pedigrew,” he said. “How nice that you have decided to visit Miss Newbury in London.”

  Thank you, I thought with a combination of surprise and profound gr
atitude. Thank you.

  He looked back at my sister. “I have an idea, Anna. Would you like it if Catherine took you upstairs and let you pick out which bedroom you would like to have for yourself? Once you have done that you can come back downstairs and tell me and I will have it all arranged for you.”

  “Won’t that be fun, Anna,” Catherine said enthusiastically. “I will show you my bedroom and Georgie’s bedroom and then you can decide which bedroom you want for yourself.”

  Anna was intrigued by this prospect and held out her hand to Catherine with simple trust. The two of them walked out of the room. Lord Winterdale went over and closed the door. “Now,” he said, “we can talk.”

  “My God,” said Lady Winterdale with horror, “is she simple, Georgiana?”

  Anger ripped through me. It never got better. Everytime that question was asked, I wanted to murder the person who had asked it.

  Nanny said in her Sussex burr, “There was nothing at all wrong with Miss Anna when she was born. It was an accident that made her the way that she is, poor lass.”

  Lord Winterdale asked me, his voice very quiet, “What happened?”

  I said, without expression, “She was on the back patio at Weldon Hall, playing with a hoop, when one of my father’s big wolfhounds came galloping along and knocked her over. She hit her head on the edge of the stone. She was unconscious for a week. She was four years old when it happened, and her mind has never grown any older since then.”

  “What a tragedy,” he said. His words were spoken without any overt fervor but for some reason I could feel tears sting behind my eyes.

  “Yes.” I added what I always said when this subject came up. “My only consolation is that she seems to be content.” I gave him an anxious look. “But it is very important that her tranquility not be disturbed, my lord. She is happiest in surroundings that are peaceful and familiar. If people stare at her, or make remarks, she knows that something is wrong and it upsets her.”

  “Which that miserable man was doing,” Nanny put in angrily. “Would you believe it, Miss Georgiana? He had the nerve to say that Anna was a booby. Right in front of her he said it!”