Georgette Heyer - [Alastair 02]

by Devil's Cub

  Mr Comyn said gravely: ‘Your lordship is mistaken in Miss Challoner. I can explain –’

  ‘No, no, don’t do that, my boy!’ said Rupert hastily. ‘We’ve had enough explanations. What we want is dinner. Where’s that rascally landlord?’ He went to the door, but as he opened it he bethought himself of something, and looked back. ‘Burn it, if we do get rid of Vidal’s wench there’s still that silly chit Juliana. What’s to be done with her?’

  Juliana said in a small, dignified voice: ‘I am here, Uncle Rupert.’

  ‘Of course you’re there. I’ve eyes in my head, haven’t I?’ said his lordship testily. ‘Though why you’re here the Lord only knows. Well, there’s naught for it: you’ll have to marry young Comyn here, unless Vidal will have you, which I don’t think he will. Lord, was there ever such a family?’

  Mr Comyn was regarding Juliana fixedly. She did not look at him, but blushed, and stammered: ‘I do not want to – to marry Mr Comyn, and he does not want to marry m-me.’

  ‘Now don’t start to make a lot more difficulties!’ begged his lordship. ‘You can’t go chasing all over France with a man, and leaving silly letters for a born fool like Elisabeth, and stay single. Why, it’s unheard of !’

  ‘I did not go with a – a man!’ said Juliana, blushing more deeply still. ‘I went with my cousin.’

  ‘I know you did,’ said Rupert frankly. ‘That’s what’s bothering me.’

  The Duchess was pondering over her own worries, but this caught her attention, and she fired up. ‘It is perfectly respectable for Juliana to go with my son, Rupert!’

  ‘It ain’t,’ said Rupert. ‘She couldn’t have chosen a worse companion. Now don’t be in a heat, Léonie, for God’s sake! I don’t say the chit wasn’t as safe with Vidal as with that devilish dull brother of hers, but there ain’t a soul will believe that. No, we’ll have to set it about that she went off with Comyn, and you can tell Fanny, for I’ll be damned if I do.’

  Léonie glanced from her niece’s hot face to Mr Comyn’s intent one, and drew her own conclusions. ‘Juliana shall not marry anyone at all if she doesn’t want to, and no one will make a scandal because I am here, and so it is quite convenable,’ she said. ‘Go and order dinner, Rupert. Me, I must at once find Dominique before he does anything dreadful.’

  She pushed his lordship, protesting, out of the room, and looked back to say with her roguish smile: ‘M. Comyn, I think it would be a very good thing if you gave this foolish Juliana a big shake, and then perhaps she will not be foolish any more. Au revoir, mes enfants.’ She whisked herself out of the room, but before she had time to shut the door she heard Mr Comyn say in a low voice: ‘Miss Marling – Juliana – I implore you, listen to me!’

  Léonie took Rupert’s arm confidingly. ‘That goes very well, I think. We are doing a great deal, you and I, n’est-ce pas ?’ She gave a gurgle of laughter. ‘We have made Juliana a mésalliance, which will enrage poor Fanny, and perhaps Monseigneur too, and now perhaps we shall keep Dominique away from that girl, and that will please Monseigneur, and he will forgive us. Let us find Dominique.’

  Lord Rupert professed himself to be utterly without desire to find his nephew, and went off to the kitchens to order and inspect his dinner. Léonie heard her son’s voice raised in the courtyard at the back of the house, and looked through a window to see him giving instructions to his groom. She promptly hurried out to him, and demanded to know what he was doing.

  He looked at her with a trace of impatience in his face. He was rather pale, she thought, and there was a frown in his eyes. ‘Madame, Mary has run from me to hide herself in France with naught but an odd guinea or two in her pocket. I must find her. It touches my honour, not my heart alone.’

  ‘Do you know where she has gone?’ Léonie asked. ‘I do not want any girl to be ruined by you, but –’ She stopped, and sighed.

  ‘I don’t know. She was not seen to leave the inn, unless by one of the abigails, who, curse the wench, is gone off to visit her mother. She can’t be far.’

  ‘It seems to me,’ Léonie said slowly, ‘that this Mary Challoner does not at all wish to marry you, mon enfant. What I do not know is why she does not wish it. If it is because she loves you, then I understand very well, and I am infinitely sorry for her, and I think I will help you – unless I do not like her. But perhaps she does not love you, Dominique, which is not incomprehensible if you have been unkind. And if that is so, then I say you shall not marry her, but I will arrange something. You see?’

  ‘Good God, madame, what arrangement is possible now? In the eyes of the world I’ve ruined her, though I swear to you I did not seduce her. What can I do but give her my name?’

  ‘It is very difficult,’ admitted the Duchess. ‘But you cannot force her to marry you, Dominique.’

  ‘I can, and I will,’ he replied grimly. ‘After – it shall be as she wishes. I am a fiend and a brute, no doubt, but not such a fiend that I would force more than my name on her, be sure.’ His groom came out of the stables, leading a riding-horse. He caught his mother’s hands in a tight clasp. ‘Forgive me, maman!’ he said. ‘I must marry her.’

  Her fingers clung to his. ‘Oh, my dearest dear, you shall do anything you like, but when you have found her bring her to me, and I will arrange it, and then perhaps Monseigneur will not be so very angry with you.’

  He hesitated. ‘I’d do it, but I don’t desire his wrath should fall on you, maman.’

  She smiled, and shook her head. ‘He will be angry with me a little, perhaps, but he will forgive me because he knows that I am not at all respectable, au cœur, and I cannot help doing outrageous things sometimes.’

  ‘I wish you had not come,’ he said. He released her hands, and turned away from her to order the groom to lead his horse round to the front of the inn. He glanced back at Léonie to say briefly: ‘I must get my riding-whip,’ and disappeared into the house.

  She followed him down the passage to the private parlour. He went in quickly – too quickly for Juliana and her Frederick, who were seated hand in hand on the settle by the fire.

  The Marquis cast them a cursory glance, and picked up his whip and greatcoat. Juliana said radiantly: ‘It was all a mistake, Vidal! We do love each other, and we have been monstrous unhappy, both of us, but we shall never, never quarrel again.’

  ‘You affect me deeply,’ said Vidal. He nodded to Comyn, and there was a glint of humour in his eyes. ‘Do you expect me to felicitate you? My God, I had her on my hands for three days. I should beat her if I were you.’

  He turned to go out again, but the way was blocked by his uncle, who came in with a dusty bottle in one hand, and a glass in the other.

  ‘Is that you, Vidal?’ he said jovially. ‘’Pon my soul, I’m devilish glad we came to this place, though I’ll admit I was against it. That fat rogue there has six dozen bottles of this in his cellar. I’ve bought the lot, and as good a port as ever I tasted, too. Here, wait till you roll this round your tongue, my boy.’ He poured out a glass of the burgundy, and gave it to his nephew.

  The Marquis tossed it off, and set down the glass. ‘Quite tolerable,’ he said.

  ‘God bless the boy, that’s no way to treat a wine like this!’ said Rupert shocked. ‘We’ll broach the port after dinner, and if you throw that down your throat as though it was nothing in particular, I’ll wash my hands of you, and so I warn you.’

  ‘I’m not dining,’ the Marquis replied. ‘Out of the way, Rupert, I’m in a hurry.’

  ‘Not dining?’ echoed his lordship. ‘But Vidal, there’s a capon and a trifle of veal, and as sweet a game-pie in the oven as you could wish for.’ His nephew put him firmly aside, and strode out, leaving him to shake his head in great disapproval. ‘Mad!’ he said. ‘Stark staring crazy!’

  ‘It is you who are mad,’ said Léonie with conviction. ‘You have bought all those bottles of wine, which is a great madness, for how in the world can you take them to England? I will not sit in a chaise with six dozen bottles o
f burgundy. It is not at all comme il faut.’

  ‘I can hire a coach for ’em, can’t I?’ retorted Rupert. ‘Now don’t start arguing, Léonie: I’ve been dragged all over France on as silly an errand as ever I heard of, and never a word of complaint out of me. I’ll admit you were in the right about Dijon. If you hadn’t insisted on coming here I’d not have found this burgundy. And now I’ve found it, damme, I’m going to carry it back to London with me!’

  ‘But Rupert, it is not so important –’

  ‘It’s a deal more important than Vidal’s silly affairs,’ said his lordship severely. ‘There’s some sense in coming to Dijon to pick up wine like this.’

  Mr Comyn, who had been gazing at him in wonderment, ventured to say: ‘Hire a coach to carry wine?’

  ‘Why not?’ said his lordship.

  ‘But –’ Mr Comyn could not go on.

  ‘Eh bien, if you hire a coach for it I do not mind at all,’ Léonie said, satisfied. ‘It seems to me a very good notion.’

  Mr Comyn suddenly bowed his head in his hands and gave way to mirth.

  Eighteen

  Miss Challoner had much time for reflection during the stage-coach’s slow progress to Pont-de-Moine, and not many miles had been covered when, her first impetuous impulse to fly having abated, she became extremely fearful of the consequences of her action. Her purse was now woefully slim, and she supposed that the cost of a night’s lodging would make an end of the few remaining coins lent her by Miss Marling.

  She did not know what to do, a state of affairs repugnant to one of her orderly habit of mind. To be stranded in the middle of a strange country seemed to her the worst fate that could befall any young female, and no amount of sensible argument could convince her that it was no worse than to be stranded, penniless, in England.

  She first bent her mind to the problem of reaching Paris, but after some consideration she decided that her determination to return there was without reason. Having no acquaintance in Paris, and no intention of claiming assistance from the English Embassy, there could be little point in striving to get to the capital. It might even be better for her to seek employment in some smaller town. She reflected that if my Lord Vidal still sought her he would suppose Paris to be her objective, in which case anywhere in the world would be preferable to her.

  The Duchess of Avon’s words continued to ring in her ears. Well, the Duchess need not suppose that Miss Mary Challoner was going to thrust herself into the noble family of Alastair. She would rather die – no, that was absurd. She did not wish to die in the least. Lord, she was becoming like Juliana, and falling into a habit of foolish exaggeration! She gave herself an inward shake. Her situation, though disagreeable, was not desperate. Though it seemed unlikely that she could obtain genteel employment without proper credentials, there must be some work to be found, and to be sure she had no right to be over-nice after the adventures she had passed through. The realization of her sudden and undeserved loss of character provoked a dismal frame of mind which was hard to shake off. She began to consider the several occupations open to her, and by the time she had run through such depressing trades as milliner, seamstress, serving-maid, and washerwoman, she was feeling very doleful indeed. On the whole, the life of a serving-maid seemed to be the most agreeable of those debased professions. She thought that she would endeavour to find a suitable post, and as soon as she had saved enough money to pay for the journey she might go back to England, where more congenial employment might, with a little ingenuity, be found. Even if she had the means at her disposal she would not return to England yet, for no doubt the packet would be watched for some time to come, if not by the Marquis, certainly by her own family. Later, when all hue and cry had died down, and she was in a fair way to being forgotten, it would be safe to venture back, though never, she determined, to within reach of her own people.

  Having made up her mind to become a serving-maid, she found herself without anything much to think of except the events of the past few days, and she was soon confronted by a fresh alarm: that the Marquis, upon discovering her flight, would pursue her immediately. She at once perceived that to board the Paris stage had been an act of supreme folly, for my lord would naturally suppose her to be escaping to Paris, and would have not the slightest difficulty in catching up with the slow-moving coach. At the same time, no one had actually seen her set forth, although one abigail must have a very good notion whither she had gone. It was possible that his lordship might first scour Dijon and the surrounding countryside, which would give her time to hide herself. There was also the Duchess to be reckoned with, and Miss Challoner, during the days of her journey in his lordship’s company, had been led to believe that her wishes were very nearly paramount with him. From what she had said upon seeing him, it seemed certain that she would exert all her influence to induce him to abandon his unfortunate liaison. There was the tall man, too, who, Miss Challoner guessed, was probably his lordship’s uncle. Between them they should be able to hold the Marquis in check.

  Her hand crept up surreptitiously under her cloak to feel the wound on her shoulder. The Marquis’s fine handkerchief was still knotted round it. She thought she would keep that handkerchief always, in memory of one brief moment when she had been sure that he loved her.

  Tears stung her eyelids; she forced them back, casting a timid look round the coach to see whether anyone was looking at her. The stout woman was asleep, with her jaw sagging; two farmers were earnestly conversing opposite her, and judging from his stertorous breathing she thought the man on her left was also asleep.

  Well, that one moment’s conviction would comfort her in the lonely future. He had called her – but, after all, it was dangerous to recall his words, or the look on his face, or the gentle note in his voice.

  She had thought – it seemed a long time ago now – that if only he had loved her she could marry him, but she had not considered then what it would mean to him to marry one so far beneath him. Perhaps his father would cast him off; it might even be in his power to disinherit him, and from all she had heard of his grace he was quite capable of doing that. She did not think that his love would survive exclusion from his own order, nor could she for an instant contemplate dragging him down to the society of lesser men. She thought, a little sadly, that she had seen too clearly how a man could sink to be able to cheat herself into supposing that the Marquis would maintain his position. Her own father had been disowned by his father, and he had ceased to associate with his old friends, because he had been looked at askance, as one who had committed the unforgivable sin. If the Duke of Avon had it in his power to disinherit his son, the Marquis would soon find himself condemned to the society of Miss Challoner, and Uncle Henry Simpkins, and their like. The very notion was so incredible that had her heart been less heavy she would have smiled at it.

  It had grown dark inside the coach and very chilly. Miss Challoner drew her cloak more tightly round her, and tried to ease her cramped limbs. It did not seem as though they would ever arrive at Pont-de-Moine. At every halt, of which there were many, she waited hopefully to be set down, but though one of the farmers had alighted, and two other persons entered the coach, no summons had yet come for her. She had no means of ascertaining the time, but she felt sure she had been travelling for many hours, and had begun to wonder whether the guard had forgotten her, and long passed Pont-de-Moine, when the coach stopped again before a well-lighted inn, and the door was pulled open.

  The guard announced Pont-de-Moine in a stentorian voice which woke the fat woman with a jerk. The child, drowsing in her arms, set up a whimper, and Miss Challoner descended thankfully on to the road.

  The guard, who apparently took a friendly interest in her, jerked his thumb towards the open door of the inn, and said that she had best bespeak a bed for the night there. She looked at the inn doubtfully, fearing from its well-kept appearance that it might be beyond her means to stay there, and inquired whether there was not some smaller hostelry to which she could repair. />
  The guard scratched his chin, and ran his eyes over her thoughtfully. ‘Not for you, there is not,’ he said bluntly. ‘There’s only a tavern, at the end of the village, but it’s not fit for a decent woman to enter.’

  Miss Challoner thanked him, and rather recklessly pressed a silver coin into his hand, thereby depleting her slender hoard still further.

  She watched the guard climb on to the box again, and feeling somewhat as though she had lost her only friend in all France, she turned, and walked resolutely into the inn.

  She found herself in a small well-hall, with the stairs running up a couple of galleries on the first and second storeys. The place was lit by swinging lamps, and had several doors leading out of it, on one side. On the other an archway afforded a glimpse of a comfortable coffee-room.

  Out of this apartment the landlord came bustling, a lean man with a sharp face, and a habit of sniffing. He came bowing, and rubbing his dry hands together, but when he saw that his visitor was quite unattended, his manner changed, and he asked her in a curt way what she wanted.

  She was unaccustomed to meet with incivility, and instinctively she stiffened. She replied in her quiet, well-bred voice, that she had alighted from the stage, and required a bed-chamber.

  Like the guard, the landlord eyed her up and down, but in his glance was no friendliness, but a distinct look of contempt. Solitary females travelling by stage were not wont to put up at his inn, which was a house catering for the nobility and gentry. He asked warily whether her abigail was outside, with her baggage, and perceived at once, from her sudden flush and downcast eyes, that she had no abigail, and probably no baggage either.

  Until this humiliating moment Miss Challoner had not considered her extremely barren state. She knew quite well in what a light she must appear, and it took all her resolution not to turn and run ignominiously away.

  Her fingers clasped her reticule lightly. She lifted her head, and said calmly: ‘There has been an accident, and my baggage is unhappily left behind me at Dijon. I expect it to-morrow. Meanwhile I require a bed-chamber, and some supper. A bowl of broth in my room will suffice.’