“How was your journey from London, my lady?” he enquired as he held her arm gently as they moved up the main staircase.
“It went fairly smoothly, Kittleton Place seems much improved, both inside and out Xavier.”
“The decorators have finished decorating your rooms, I hope you find them exactly as you wished. I can’t remember the house ever being this clean before. My father did not care much about his surroundings. It makes me realise how negligent he was of the house.”
“Having been brought up as a cit, I must say I much prefer it clean, I will remember to thank Mrs Fretwell, her team have done a wonderful job.”
“Behold,” Xavier opened the door to her newly redecorated private sitting room, “I think it looks much better with the new wallpaper and drapes. The cream and lavender is a change from the dingy pink that was there originally. I wasn’t sure it would work, but I must say it looks charming. Your taste is excellent.”
“Thank you, Xavier. I do think it looks well. I don’t think that pink had been changed for nearly fifty years.”
“You may be right, I believe my grandmother chose the décor when she was a young bride. I will have to work out how long ago that was. I ordered hot water for your bath, when I saw the carriage enter the drive. Will dinner in an hour be acceptable?”
“Yes certainly Xavier, send my apologies for the delay to Antoine for me please,” Amy arrived with the footmen carrying both her luggage, but also the hot water for her bath.
“Certainly my lady, I will leave you to your toilette.”
He bowed over her hand and kissed it before leaving her to organise her various assistants for her bath.
***
Fifty minutes later Lady Celestina descended having dressed for dinner. The veil in some ways allowed her to keep her hair simply styled and simplified dressing for dinner. Waiting at the bottom of the stairs was her husband, wearing the royal blue evening coat she had ordered made for him. Her breath caught as she saw him, she could not imagine a more handsome man had ever existed. She must try and keep her secret from him, he must never know how much she loved him or she would lose control completely.
He offered her his arm leading her to the smaller dining room, before taking his seat at the head of the table. Since Hector’s return to London, Matthew Bayliss had moved into the Brook farmhouse, where he was busy supervising its redecoration in anticipation for his marriage, they would sup alone. Xavier had asked that they be seated at one end of the table together rather than at the opposite ends. As the table conveniently seated sixteen it would be make it more pleasant to talk to each other.
***
Xavier having discovered his butler had tried to seat them at either end of the table early that afternoon, promptly had the table re-laid. Now Kittleton Place was running relatively smoothly it looked once more like the home of a nobleman, his employees were becoming very precious about the importance of his rank. They were proud of working for a titled family and disliked Xavier doing anything for himself. He would see a job which needed doing and start to correct it. Then an employee would come along and tell him respectfully, it was their job and hustle him away. They had discovered a large silver sculpture which had been among some of the presents which had been regularly appearing from London and placed it in the centre of his dining table. He had had it removed and placed on the sideboard instead. He suspected it was supposed to portray Daphne being chased by Apollo and while he thought it an exceptional rendition of the subject, he would rather not try to hold a conversation across it.
Now his bills were paid and the estate was now running more smoothly, he regularly exercised his new stallion, Xerxes. He would find some minor excuse to revisit the haunts of his youth and ride through the surrounding area. Some of his neighbours had decided that they should visit and reintroduce Xavier to the local society, now he was married and financially acceptable once more. Most of the local society had dropped contact with Xavier when his closeness to bankruptcy had become embarrassing to all. Those invitations he had received, tended to be from neglected wives when their husbands were far from home. However Xavier had tried to avoid those invitations from neighbouring ladies. He had not wanted to fall out with his neighbours.
He suspected the offspring of two other, more distantly situated, peers might be of his get, but as they had been accepted into the family, he had done nothing more than check on the appearance of the boys, for his own interest. Both had a shock of black hair and classical features, he did not doubt their heritage. One of the theoretical fathers had made it a point to talk to him about his son. They had formerly been friends, but Xavier thought his remarks were politely warning him off. His friend had gone to the trouble of visiting Xavier in his lodgings in town.
“My wife, Katherine, gave birth to a fine, handsome boy, three weeks ago, Xavier. I’m grateful to you that she has finally had a healthy boy. He even looks enough like me. Three girls and puking weaklings she’s born me before; there’s my cousin hanging around hoping for my decline into ill health. At least now she need not worry about the entail. Proud of my wife, beautiful woman, but I trust we are not going to fall out over this?”
Xavier had assured him that they would not and had made no further assignations with his lady. However she did visit once more with her nursemaid and thriving beautiful son. Xavier had been jealous and wished he could acknowledge the baby. After he had admired the baby, she dismissed the nursemaid and child to the grounds and had simply thanked him.
“Don’t think badly of us, Xavier. It was George’s idea, he was the only son out of eight girls and none of them was exactly stout, the doctor warned me I could not risk many more confinements.” She had kissed him once and then fled, they had never met again.
Xavier had not been heartbroken and had little to leave a son himself at the time, but his name. As his debts increased, he became increasingly unwelcome with his heavy drinking and shabbier appearance. However cards were now being left and he was receiving invitations for a number of events in the area. Most of these invitations included his wife, about whom the local society was particularly intrigued.
A number of the local dignitaries and nobility had even called while Xavier had been at home. He now appreciated his wife’s determination to improve his working clothes. He would have been thought of very badly, if he had received people in the clothes he had worn to work, before his wife had provided him with his new working clothes. Now his visitors might assume that he was intending to go shooting or fishing in the grounds, when dressed in his new working uniform, rather than to add his muscles to the building of the new cottages, but at least his clothes had not shamed his wife. He was not sure what expectations Celestina had about socialising and being introduced into the local society. Her frequent absences from Kittleton Place and her determination to remain veiled made normal contact with their neighbours complicated.
Xavier had made a point of seeking out any former workers who still survived, and making sure pensions or back pay had been paid to them. He had not made any approaches to his neighbours, even to leave his card in return for their tentative gestures of friendship. Involvement in the community was a matter which was troubling Xavier’s mind. There were no local friendships he particularly wished to reinstate. Those local acquaintances he had spent most time with were hard drinking men who enjoyed cards and other games of chance. He had no intention of breaking his contract with Celestina. But he could not exclude all visitors from Kittleton Place, so if they chose to visit, he must be seen to be welcoming.
He had not forgotten their desertion during his years of poverty and self- neglect; then they had been grateful he had absented himself. Yet now he had been rescued from destitution, they were anxious to welcome the black sheep back into the fold. He accepted he had not always been good company, but money cured all social stigma. He doubted they really wanted to see him, but was sure they were very interested in his wife’s fortune. So to avoid morning visitors, he was gone from t
he house as early as possible and if he could not find work, went riding around the area, viewing farm land which surrounded his estate. He made suggestions to Matthew Bayliss about some land to the west of his estate which would be auctioned the following week. The land was not particularly good for arable and was being sold field by field. Some five fields in all were available. Bayliss had promised to inspect the fields and they would attend the auction together.
The successful recreation of himself and Kittleton Place was now bringing other problems he would have to discuss with his wife. Some of the subjects so far, he had found fairly difficult to bring up. Tonight he intended to try a new tack. The servants brought in a pile of covered dishes and laid them on the table; then he dismissed them from the room. Beside where his place had been laid, lay a black velvet mask, except that this one had been made without any eyeholes, he had discovered it in a box during the general clear out and refurbishment of the house. It had belonged to Xavier’s unlamented father who had worn the mask to enable him to sleep during carriage journeys. This now Xavier donned.
“I have asked the servants to leave us alone tonight, unless we call. You may therefore eat without wearing your veil which must be very inconvenient for you. I cannot see your face and we will not be disturbed. However, I will have to ask you to serve me my dinner, my lady.”
“Oh it was not necessary, I can eat with the veil.”
“I thought it might be easier when we are alone. Shall we eat?”
“Yes, of course, what would you like to eat, there are some chicken crepes in a cheese sauce I believe and mushroom croquettes. Or some mutton stew if you prefer?”
“Dish me up a little of each, I am not particularly fussy about what I eat. Could you pour me some of the lemonade? I fear I must talk to you about the local gentry.”
“Are there problems concerning them? You have never mentioned them before. If you have further debts that need to be dealt with, I will see that they are paid.”
“Now that the news of our marriage and solvency has reached them, they have decided we should be welcomed into local society. There have been several visitors who have left their cards. Invitations to various country events for us both have been received.”
“So far I do not understand how that should be a problem. Accept or refuse whichever invitations as you wish.”
“If I accept invitations from the gentry, then I will have to entertain in return. Two of the visitors have caught me at home when they called. I greeted them politely, but I could only offer them some rather inferior wine to drink, although Antoine provided some excellent pastries to consume. If we are to entertain we need to restock the cellars. You need not fear that I will drink strong spirits or gamble. I intend to keep my promises.”
“I realise you are keeping them Xavier, you have had plenty of opportunity to buy liquor if you chose to. It is obvious even to me that you are remaining sober. You need not drink lemonade with dinner. You could have joined me in a glass or two of wine.”
“The wine that remains in the cellar is so inferior that I am ashamed to serve it to you my lady and I think I should donate it to Antoine to cook with, or to turn into vinegar. Personally I prefer to drink the lemonade.”
“So what you are asking permission for is to replenish the cellars, so we can entertain? I grant you permission to resupply as you think best. I will even allow that when there are such visitors you may join them in one glass of spirits.”
“I think it is easier for me to stay sober if I stick to a simple glass of wine. But if I were to entertain, I can only invite the men without you being present as a hostess, which will encourage heavy drinking. Do you wish to cultivate the local gentry? None of them will be particularly useful to you as business contacts, nor are you likely to find them especially good company. I doubt if any of them have read anything of note since they left school or their tutors were retired. They talk mostly of hunting and fattening pigs. Their wives converse almost exclusively of fashions and their children’s doings.”
“I thought society was supposed to be witty, spiteful but entertaining.”
“Some select groups of London society are very erudite, but also rather unforgiving. In the country the gentry is scattered so you cannot really be selective. Please decide whether you wish us to entertain or not. Some events will be expected to be reinstated, even though they have not taken place for many years. Kittleton Place used to host a Christmas party for the workers, their families and the nearest villagers who were then our tenants. I’d like that to take place on a smaller scale. The January ball I have no great desire to reinstate. When the house and grounds are fully restored, I think we ought to bring back the open day combined with a fete normally held in July, where the proceeds went to the local church and some other local charities.”
“I think those are reasonable, but I don’t really have any experience of what would be involved. Do you think you could arrange the Christmas event and work out a budget for both events? I was intending inviting you to stay at my new town house in London for the season. I thought you might wish to see friends, perhaps attend the house and we might go to the theatre together. I don’t really expect to be accepted in society. Were there other matters you wished to discuss?”
“Will you be taking any time off over Christmas?”
“When Jeremiah Blighton was alive, he used to insist we closed down the factories for three days over Christmas. I only personally took Christmas Day off last year, although I gave my companies’ workers the three days off. I do pay for some workers extra to watch over my establishments to prevent theft or deliberate damage during the closure.”
“I would appreciate if you could attend the staff party as Lady Kittleton, but the roads are very bad to travel back in winter, so you might be advised to come a little early. I can arrange the presents to be distributed to staff and pensioners, but I thought I should mention the extra expenses before expecting you to pay for them. I was hoping we could at least be seen together at Church.”
“I ought to make the acquaintance of the local gentry, but I would prefer to wait until after the season.”
“Then I will postpone any serious socialising, explaining that Kittleton Place is not yet ready to entertain and that our intentions are to wait until next summer before we get involved in local affairs.”
Xavier wiped his mouth with his napkin and stood up. “Will you escort me up the stairs to bed, my lady?” He said holding out his arm for her to take.
Chapter Fifteen –Fall
The rest of autumn in London passed swiftly but Celestina made reasons not to visit Kittleton Place. She was busy dealing with the affairs of the Wellmouth Chandleries as well as those of Blighton Holdings, but she knew she was deliberately avoiding her husband. Celestina had found Xavier’s tender lovemaking too much on her last visit. She had tried to resist enjoying his caresses, but he had won from her an ecstatic response and when she had left her sleeping husband, she had sought her own bed to cry herself to sleep. She had never felt so confused about her emotions. She no longer doubted her love and desire for Xavier, yet she continued hiding her identity and treating him as if he had been at fault. She believed he had kept his promise, very late admittedly, but argued he could have sent her a letter.
Her father’s reaction, she feared, would have been serious disapprobation. His unmarried daughter receiving a letter from a man she had not been formally introduced to would have thoroughly shocked her irascible father. She suspected her father would have taken a stick to her, or threatened to disown her for wantonness. Although she still missed her family, she had been unable to pretend her father had not been very puritanical and stern who had allowed her brother far more freedom than she herself had been given. She believed if his parish had been more affluent she would have been more restricted, as he could have employed live in staff to tend to the family’s needs.
***
Hector had been fully occupied trying to trace the dishonestly appropri
ated funds which Claud Gamp had stolen from the chandleries. Gamp insisted Mr Wellmouth was mistaken, even when presented with the evidence of his thefts by Hector. Neither Gregory nor Hector were convinced by his florid protestations of innocence. During repeated interrogations he denied any wrong doing and would not implicate his co-conspirators or the instigator who was behind the swindles. The courts however believed the evidence Hector produced, together with the evidence of Gregory’s eldest son William, concerning the false accounting, for Gregory was not yet well enough for an appearance in court.
Hector had spotted a pattern to Gamp’s racket. There were many payments where the amounts mostly ended in either zero or a seven. The payments varied in what they had supposedly paid for, but none of those payments had supporting invoices and the names and addresses of the payees were unknown to either Hector or young William. After extensive searching, none of the companies or individuals had been found to be real personages who could be brought to defend Claud Gamp.
Gamp looked like a hard-worked clerk, scrawny with stooped shoulders and a skull like face with hooded eyes. He had stood arrogantly servile in the dock and had argued he had been an innocent dupe of a number of charlatans who had misled him. His slightly sinister appearance worked against him in the eyes of the jury. Thomas Erskine, who was representing Gregory Wellmouth’s interests, drove the nails into his coffin as he effectively questioned him.
The Purchased Peer Page 14
