Fall From Grace

by Wendy Soliman

  ‘It was diverting but it’s time for a change. London will be my home, at least for now.’

  ‘I am sure you will be as much in demand as ever.’

  ‘I cannot believe you were unaware of my widowed status,’ she said, pouting. ‘I’m told it was the only subject of conversation in all the best salons.’

  Jake offered her a guarded smile. ‘I seldom listen to gossip.’

  ‘No, you prefer to create it.’

  Jake knew she was attempting to pick a fight with him, just as she always had in the past, but he was in no humour to oblige her. ‘If you say so.’

  ‘It took me a while to finalise my husband’s affairs in Paris, which delayed my return.’ She looked at him expectantly. ‘But I am here now.’

  ‘Paris’s loss is London’s gain,’ he said in a flat tone.

  ‘Tosh, Jake, stop being so polite! Do you not see? We were always supposed to be together. We were childhood neighbours and…well, we always intended to marry.’

  ‘Until you transferred your affections to my brother.’ And damned nearly broke my adolescent heart.

  She tossed her head. ‘We were young and foolish.’

  ‘No, Miranda. You wanted a title and all that went with it. But when you discovered just how debauched Edward actually was, and that he had only taken up with you because he couldn’t bear to see that you preferred me, even you were not prepared to put up with his behaviour. And so you married Southcott on the rebound and probably managed to convince him that you were still the innocent virgin you pretended to be.’

  Miranda’s bosom swelled with indignation. ‘What a thing to say!’

  ‘You raised the subject, not I. We both know that Edward had his fun with you before casting you aside. Your pride was hurt because you couldn’t risk telling anyone what had happened and I wouldn’t take you back. Edward would somehow find a way to make you appear to be the guilty party if you spoke out. After all, you did respond to his flirtatious overtures in public.’ Jake ran a hand through his hair, regretting having received her. Wondering what had possessed him to do so. ‘But you got what you wanted in the end. A title, all the riches at Southcott’s command and a man whom you could lead about by the nose.’

  ‘It wasn’t like that.’

  ‘I really don’t care. Much as I resented Edward at the time, I would now thank him if I could for my lucky escape.’

  She winced. ‘That was uncalled for.’

  But Jake was angry and didn’t apologise. ‘If it was, then you must put it down to astonishment. After all this time and all the history between us, you appear at my door and calmly suggest that I am marrying the wrong woman. Even if that was true, you are the last person I would select to take her place. I do not take another man’s leavings. Especially not my brother’s.’

  Miranda’s face reddened and then turned deathly white. ‘You once loved me to distraction.’

  Jake lost patience with her and stood. ‘I don’t see any profit in continuing with this conversation, Miranda,’ he said. ‘If you came simply to insult my future wife, then we have nothing more to say to one another.’

  ‘I apologise.’ Miranda looked suitably contrite but Jake was not deceived by her performance. She was a consummate actress who fell back on that skill to get what she wanted. And she wanted something from him, that much was evident. Unfortunately for her, her wiles had long ago lost their ability to enthral him. ‘This is not easy for me to admit,’ she said, looking down at her hands and nervously lacing her fingers together. ‘I am well aware that I behaved badly towards you and am not proud of myself for being coerced into…well, into behaving indiscreetly with Edward. I thought afterwards that I might have been increasing. I had to face the fact that Edward wouldn’t marry me if I was and would claim the child was not his. I couldn’t bear to disappoint my family, to create a scandal from which it would not recover, and so, you’re right, I didn’t tell them what Edward had done to me.’

  ‘And then you used Southcott’s adoration to your own advantage.’

  ‘Why not?’ she asked with a flash of defiance. ‘Edward had used me.’

  Jake’s expression reflected his disgust. ‘Edward used everyone. You didn’t have to fall to his level.’

  ‘I don’t expect you to believe me, but I have always regretted the way I treated you.’ She glanced up at him, her thick fringe of lashes glistening with tears. ‘And have never stopped wishing that I could turn back time. That’s partly why I persuaded Southcott to remain in Paris whenever he talked of returning to England. I watched the newspapers, expecting every day to see news of your betrothal and couldn’t bear to see you bestowing your affections on another.’ She spread her hands. ‘And then I did return at the precise moment when you make that announcement. It seemed as though you had waited for me to be in the country before finally making your choice so that I could stop you.’ She lowered her damp lashes. ‘I will admit that I have no right to be jealous. I ought to wish you joy, but I cannot when you are making a mistake that you will live to regret.’

  This time Jake was convinced that she wasn’t acting. The Miranda he had once known would never humiliate herself by admitting to false jealousy. What she expected to gain from so doing was less evident but was, Jake suspected, at the root of her reason for calling on him.

  ‘You can make a fresh start,’ he said, perching one buttock back on the chair he had just vacated. ‘You are still young and society will embrace you with open arms.’

  ‘It won’t be that easy,’ she replied, again not meeting his gaze.

  ‘Why ever not? You adore being the centre of attention and your widowed status gives you both respectability and the freedom to do as you please.’

  ‘I have no money,’ she said, so quietly that Jake thought he must have misheard her.

  ‘But…but Southcott was one of the richest men in all of France.’ Jake didn’t attempt to hide his shock. ‘How did he lose it all?’

  ‘He did not but…well, when I married him it was against the express wishes of his children from his first marriage. He has two sons who are both older than me and two married daughters who have never spoken to me.’

  ‘I know you married Southcott for his money. I doubt that even you could fool anyone into believing otherwise but if you made him happy, why should his children object?’

  Damn it, Jake!’ She threw up her hands. ‘This is embarrassing enough as it is. Don’t ask such searching questions.’

  ‘You told me you have no money. What did you expect my response to be?’

  She took a deep breath, clearly humiliated, which made her broaching such a delicate subject that much more surprising.

  ‘Very well,’ she said, ‘I suppose you ought to know.’

  Jake couldn’t see why, and was highly suspicious of her reasons for raising the subject when it had absolutely nothing to do with him. Be that as it may, curiosity got the better of him.

  ‘I tried to convince Southcott’s children that it was not their father’s money that attracted me and that I would sign away all rights to it upon his death if that would help to convince them.’ She gave a wry little smile. ‘I didn’t expect them to hold me to that promise, but those were the papers I signed before the ceremony. If however I gave Southcott a son then generous provision would be made for both him and me.’

  ‘But you did not?’

  ‘No.’ She fiddled with the handle of her stocking purse. ‘Your brother’s brutality has made it impossible for me to bear children.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Jake said softly. ‘You did not deserve that.’

  ‘Well anyway, I thought his children would come round in time. Unfortunately his son and heir caught me in a compromising position with another man not long after our marriage.’

  Jake shook his head. ‘Oh, Miranda!’

  ‘Stupid, I know, but what’s done is done. Anyway, I have a very small annuity upon which to live and I will get nothing from Southcott’s sons, partly because most of his fort
une is gone.’

  ‘How?’

  Miranda lifted a shoulder. ‘Bad investments. India, I think.’

  Jake’s body jerked upright. India again. He didn’t ask Miranda to elucidate because he was fairly sure she wouldn’t have any useful information to impart. If father and sons invested in India, they would almost certainly not have spoken about those investments to her. Charles would be able to find out more.

  ‘What will you do? Your brother will likely help you.’

  ‘We don’t get on and I cannot abide his sanctimonious wife. That’s why I thought that you and I…well, I hoped…'

  It beggared belief. Miranda was short of blunt and seemed to think that Jake would jilt Olivia in her favour.

  ‘Sorry to disappoint.’ He stood again. ‘But you will fall on your feet, Miranda. You always do.’

  She didn’t stand but glanced up at him with a combination of resolve and agitation in her expression. ‘A small annual income is all I require. I do know how to economise when the need arises.’

  Jake’s mouth fell open. ‘I cannot believe you just asked me that. Of course I will have to decline. Go to your brother or find yourself another rich fool to marry.’

  ‘Your family owes me something,’ she replied stubbornly. ‘Edward ruined my life. It’s all thanks to his…to his depravities that I cannot bear children. If I had, things would be very different.’

  ‘Edward was a vile degenerate but you must take your share of the blame for what happened. If you had not encouraged him and allowed yourself—a young unmarried girl—to be alone with him, he could not have done what he did.’

  ‘Even so, I couldn’t know how bad he actually was.’ She shook her head. ‘I thought he was a gentleman and would behave as such.’

  ‘You had best leave, Miranda.’ Jake knew his brother was to blame for compromising Miranda, but Miranda had allowed him into her bedchamber when she was staying at his family’s estate in Torbay. What had she imagined he intended to do? ‘This conversation is embarrassing for us both.’

  Finally she stood and fixed him with a look of firm resolve. ‘I know how Edward died,’ she said.

  Jake failed to mask his astonishment. ‘I beg your pardon.’

  ‘I believe you heard me. Oh, I know what the official version is but I also happen to know the truth. Not that I blame you, of course, and I am sure you didn’t mean to commit fratricide. But that is not how it will look to society. When Edward died you inherited his title, this house and the estate in Torbay.’ Her eyes sparkled with malice. ‘You might just survive the scandal associated with your precious Mrs Grantley and lend her respectability along with your name when you marry her. But that name will be tarnished beyond recall if the truth about Edward’s death comes out.’ She picked up her purse. ‘Think about it, Lord Torbay. Surely my silence on the point is worth a modest annuity? I shall be staying with the Hepplewaites when you are ready to discuss the matter. Good day to you.’

  ***

  Charles accepted his greatcoat, hat and gloves from the club’s doorman. He donned the garments and turned up his collar against the biting wind as he stepped outside. He had intended to hail a Hansom but the streets were jammed with traffic that moved slower than he did on foot. A brisk walk to Leadenhall Street, where the headquarters of the East India Company were housed, would give him time to think about all he had just learned from Fordham. There was a senior clerk of many years’ standing who knew all there was to know about the various players with influence. Charles had cultivated his friendship, aware that he had a large family to feed and that could be relied upon as a source of surprisingly accurate and highly sensitive information for a small consideration.

  Charles could have used his diplomatic status to discover what he needed to know, but decided against it. This was a delicate situation and Megan’s father could well be embroiled in it. On the assumption that he was still alive tact was essential, if only for Megan’s sake. The corridors of Whitehall leaked worse than the rusting hulks moored in the Thames that housed wretched prisoners in cramped conditions. It would be better to keep this unofficial.

  He found Rutherford seated on a tall stool, diligently scratching away in a ledger. His senior status afforded him a small office of his own with windows that gave him an unimpeded view over the small army of junior clerks who answered directly to him. One or two glanced up as Charles cut a swathe through their ranks but knew better than to neglect their duties for more than a second or two. Rutherford had a reputation for having eyes in the back of his head and wasn’t slow to dock the wages of those he caught malingering.

  ‘How is the family?’ Charles asked, closing the door behind him and greeting Rutherford warmly.

  ‘The fourth grandchild is expected any day,’ Rutherford replied without much enthusiasm. ‘Another mouth to feed. It seems like I shall never be in a position to retire.’

  ‘Surely you don’t have to take responsibility for the next generation, too?’

  Rutherford just shrugged. ‘How can I be of service, my lord?’

  ‘What can you tell me about a man in Goa by the name of Warburton?’

  Rutherford put his quill aside and gave Charles his full attention. ‘A very interesting individual. British by birth, he went to India as a boy in his father’s company and, to the best of my knowledge, hasn’t set foot back in England in all the years since. He married a native girl who died giving birth to their son. He never remarried, has the ear of the Raja and the two of them have all the trade in their area sewn up between them.’

  Charles nodded, impressed as always by Rutherford’s encyclopaedic knowledge and succinct manner of expressing it. ‘I thought he and the Raja worked in competition with one another.’

  A brief smile touched Rutherford’s thin kips. ‘Think again.’

  ‘What about the son? What do we know about him?’

  ‘Destined to inherit the Warburton empire and just as sharp as his father. He won’t fritter it away, that’s for sure.’

  ‘He isn’t married?’

  ‘Not so far as I am aware but I dare say there’s more than one who’s tried to tempt him.’ Rutherford dropped his voice. ‘They will be wasting their efforts. The rumour is that he prefers his own sex.’

  ‘I see.’ Charles ground his teeth, thinking that if Rutherford knew that, then so must Mardon, and yet he’d still wanted to marry Megan off to him. ‘Does Warburton have any children born on the wrong side of the blanket that you know about?’

  ‘A couple of girls, I believe, and a son who acts as an agent for his father. The heir wouldn’t lower himself to mix with the hoi-polloi.’

  Charles nodded, his suspicions confirmed.

  ‘Any idea what business Mardon had in Goa, or where he is now?’

  ‘He was after a spice contract with Warburton…well, that’s the official version.’

  ‘And the unofficial one?’

  Rutherford shook his head, either unaware or unwilling to share more.

  ‘Is he still alive? No one’s heard from him for over a year.’

  ‘No more have we.’

  Charles rubbed his chin. ‘I thought the Company kept their traders in its sights.’

  ‘How? India is a vast country. We try to ensure that they don’t make deals behind the Company’s back, but it would be naïve to say that it never happens. The people out there wanting to do business with Company connections seldom tell us everything and if they want to take risks with their own lives, we have neither the authority nor the will to prevent them.’

  ‘Are you saying you don’t know where Mardon is?’

  ‘That’s what I’m saying. But I’m also saying that we are not overly concerned.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘There are some things I can’t share with you, my lord. They are more than my position’s worth.’

  ‘I understand.’

  ‘Railways, Lord Charles,’ Rutherford said, as Charles adjusted the tilt of his hat and turned to leave. ‘That’s
all I’m willing to say, and I should not even say that much.’

  ‘Thank you very much, Rutherford,’ Charles replied, extracting a guinea from his pocket and handing it to the man. ‘As always, you are a mine of useful information.’

  ‘I live to serve, my lord,’ he replied, pocketing the coin and picking up his quill.

  ***

  Parker showed Miranda out and returned immediately to the library.

  ‘You didn’t tell me that Southcott had turned up his toes,’ Jake said, pouring whisky into two glasses and handing one to Parker. ‘I imagine you knew.’

  Parker shrugged. ‘It was reported in the newspapers. I assumed you’d seen it.’

  ‘You know better than to assume.’ Jake resumed his chair in front of the fire and motioned Parker towards the one that Miranda had just vacated.

  ‘I can see that she’s riled you. What did she want?’

  Jake took a moment to harness the anger that Parker had noticed, aware that angry people seldom made rational decisions, and then related Miranda’s threats.

  ‘Good God! How did she find out? No one knows.’ Parker scowled. ‘I assume she does and isn’t just trying to assuage her jealousy by taking shots in the dark.’

  ‘How would she even think to suggest such a thing if she didn’t know for sure?’

  ‘She knew you and Edward didn’t get along.’

  ‘She also knew I had no desire to assume his title and position.’

  Parker shrugged. ‘Well, someone’s obviously said something.’

  ‘I didn’t confirm her suspicions. Although, I suppose by not denying them, or asking her what she was talking about, I did actually confirm them. Not like me to be so transparent but then she took the wind right out of my sails.’

  ‘Let’s not panic,’ Parker said, sipping his drink in a contemplative manner. ‘Let’s think it through rationally. What does the fragrant Miranda have to gain by spreading rumours about Edward’s death and your hand in it?’