by M C Beaton
‘Come here and I’ll show you.’ He leered at her and she backed away, repulsed.
‘I will call on Miss Pym tomorrow,’ said Lady Beatrice quickly. ‘But you cannot expect me to ask her any favours right away. I must, you will agree, forge some sort of friendship. The whole of Brighton will be trying to cultivate her society.’
‘Don’t be too long about it,’ he said.
Lady Beatrice turned and left the room. She almost ran to her bedchamber and then rang for the maid and told her that her bags were to be packed and delivered to her house in Brighton. Then, swinging a cloak about her shoulders, she went downstairs.
The butler loomed up just as she was making for the door.
‘I am afraid the master has not given you permission to leave, my lady,’ he said.
‘That’s all right, Foskins,’ said Sir Geoffrey’s voice from the stairs. ‘Lady Beatrice may go.’
Lady Beatrice looked up at him, at his thick gross body and heavy face, and then turned quickly away. The butler held open the door and she walked out, trying hard not to run. After she had gone a little way away, she stood and breathed in great gulps of fresh, salty air.
Hannah was becoming alarmed. The following day, there were so many people clustered outside her flat that she was frightened to go out.
By the afternoon, Benjamin was kept busy turning away visitors, saying that Miss Pym was ‘not at home’.
‘There is something badly wrong here,’ said Hannah. ‘I cannot look out at the sea, for when I try to, I find myself staring into the eyes of so many watchers. Enough is enough, and you are looking shiftier and guiltier by the minute. There is no reason for so many people to try to call, now is there? Out with it, Benjamin. I shall find out sooner or later, you know.’
‘You promise not to turn me off?’ said Benjamin desperately.
‘Oh, very well, for I would do anything now to get at the truth.’
‘Modom, I did it to get you that ball gown. I told Monsieur Blanc that you was a foreign princess …’
‘Heavens!’
‘There’s worse.’ Benjamin’s head sank lower. ‘I told him that you were the Prince of Wales’s latest fancy.’
‘WHAT? Benjamin, this will reach the ears of the prince and we shall both be in the Tower. Oh, you silly fool. What am I to do? I cannot go to that ball now. And you must take that gown back immediately and tell Monsieur Blanc that you were lying. And tell anyone else who will listen.’
‘They won’t believe me,’ said Benjamin gloomily. ‘You’re supposed to be incognito, so they’ll think you’ve instructed me to lie to everyone. You see, they would rather believe the lie.’
Hannah began to pace up and down the back parlour. ‘I need help,’ she said. ‘This is appalling. Oh, there’s the knocker again. Send whoever it is away.’
Benjamin opened the door to Lady Beatrice. He recognized her immediately. ‘I am afraid Miss Pym is not at home, my lady,’ he said.
Lady Beatrice calmly walked past him and then into the drawing-room. Benjamin slammed the door on the watching crowd and followed her.
She was standing by the fireplace, drawing off her gloves. ‘I will wait,’ she said.
Benjamin was about to say that Miss Pym was not expected back till midnight when the lady herself walked into the room.
‘It is all right, Benjamin,’ said Hannah quietly. ‘You may leave us. Pray be seated, Lady Beatrice. Before you begin to speak, I must tell you that I am not of royal blood, nor have I ever met the Prince of Wales.’
‘I suspected as much,’ said Lady Beatrice with a little sigh.
‘I wish I had never come to Brighton,’ said Hannah passionately. ‘First, on the road down, I had a mad idea that you were being abducted, and now, because of my footman, lies about me are circulating all around Brighton and I dare not show my face out of doors.’
‘Why did your footman start such rumours?’ asked Lady Beatrice.
‘I do not want to tell you for reasons of pride.’ Hannah blinked away the tears that had come to her eyes. ‘Oh, I may as well tell you all. I will never see you again, but it will give me some relief to unburden myself. I am plain common Miss Hannah Pym, formerly housekeeper to the late Mr Clarence of Thornton Hall, Kensington. He left me a legacy and so I found myself a lady of independent means. After you had left the coach, I met by chance Lord Alistair Munro. The coach went off and left me behind and Lord Alistair took me in his carriage so that I might catch up on the coach. And so we did. But on the journey, Lord Alistair graciously offered to take me to Lord Southern’s ball, and Lord Alistair knows exactly who I am. I was elated. I went to Monsieur Blanc, the dressmaker, to see if he had a gown already made up, which he had, and it was a perfect fit.
‘Alas, the price was eight hundred guineas, almost a fifth of my small inheritance. I refused. My footman went back, saying he had left his gloves, and spun the dressmaker a parcel of lies about me being of foreign royalty and that I was the Prince of Wales’s latest amour.’
Lady Beatrice felt like laughing. She realized in the same moment she had not felt like laughing until she had met Hannah Pym.
‘But I was under the impression your footman was deaf and dumb?’
‘Oh, I wish he were!’ cried Hannah. ‘But that is another story and so very long. You may take your leave now, Lady Beatrice, and if you have a spark of compassion in you, you will tell as many people as possible that I am a fraud.’
‘I do not think they would believe me,’ said Lady Beatrice. ‘You are supposed to be incognito, you know.’
‘Then I shall leave Brighton this very evening!’
‘And not go to the ball? Miss Pym, you have been very frank with me, and so I must be frank with you. You did not imagine I was being abducted.’
To the amazed Hannah she told of her forced engagement and her parents’ threat and how she had only secured her brief freedom from Sir Geoffrey and his mother by promising to try to get Miss Pym to use her influence on Sir Geoffrey’s behalf to get him a title.
It was no use, Hannah reflected, to protest that parents did not force their daughters into marriage, when there was ample proof of it almost every day. Marriages were mostly business deals, and money was at the root of all such arrangements.
‘And you have no money of your own?’ asked Hannah.
‘No. My husband gambled away a vast fortune and left me debts. My parents paid those debts and settled a generous allowance on me. I naïvely thought my worries were over.’
‘But have you no aunts, uncles, other relations to appeal to for help?’
‘My parents are elderly now: my aunts and uncles are dead. I have two nephews, both in India, that is all.’
Hannah twisted her fingers in distress. ‘My dear Lady Beatrice, if I thought I could get away with this masquerade which has been thrust upon me, I would for your sake. For when you tell Sir Geoffrey that it is not true – and he is bound to believe you, knowing that you have every reason to hope it to be true – then you will be forced to return to his mother’s house.’
‘Perhaps not,’ said Lady Beatrice. ‘He was not so sure of me until my parents’ letter reached him after we had arrived in Brighton. In it, they assured him that they would turn me out into the street if I did not wed him. But as to your problem, I do not have the ear of the Prince of Wales, but Lord Alistair Munro does. I do not know him very well, but I know he is much admired. Why not send for him and tell him all?’
Hannah looked at her with hope dawning on her face. ‘Will he not think me ridiculous?’
‘I shall be amazed if he does. Most of society, on the other hand, is ridiculous. He has probably heard the gossip already.’
Hannah went to a desk in the corner and pulled forward a sheet of paper. ‘I shall send Benjamin with a note. Oh, how I wish you could stay, for I dread to think what he will say.’
‘I will stay,’ said Lady Beatrice. ‘No doubt Sir Geoffrey has one of his servants stationed outside this house to report how
I am faring. When he hears that I spent a long time with you, he will be in alt. I have no intention of disabusing him. Let him find out for himself.’
Benjamin was sent with the note and Hannah went through to the kitchen to make tea, happy that as Lady Beatrice knew her circumstances, she did not have to pretend to have a host of servants tucked away. She clucked angrily when she saw that the twenty-two-pound sugar loaf which Benjamin had brought in that morning was still sitting there, looking as hard as granite. She then reflected that Benjamin had not been trained and therefore did not yet know his duties, and she chipped off the required amount, pounded it into granules, and put it into a sugar-bowl.
When she went back into the parlour, she found that Lady Beatrice had fallen silently and soundlessly asleep in her chair. Hannah set down the tray of tea-things on a table, wondering whether to wake her, wondering why the chilly Lady Beatrice had elected to stay. She did not look hard or cold in sleep, but young and vulnerable.
A log fell on the hearth and Lady Beatrice awoke instantly and blinked and looked around.
‘I am sorry, Miss Pym,’ she said, ‘but I have not slept well since I arrived in Brighton.’
Hannah poured tea. ‘I must warn you, Lady Beatrice,’ she said awkwardly, ‘that although Lord Alistair has been extremely kind to me, he does not appear to approve of you.’
‘How so? I barely know the man.’
Hannah hesitated.
‘Out with it. We have both been so frank with each other, ’twere a pity to dissemble now.’
‘Lord Alistair, I regret to say, damns you as a heartless flirt.’
‘What ails the man? We all flirt. ’Tis the fashion.’
‘He had a friend, a captain, and he said you encouraged his advances, only to break his heart.’
‘Fustian.’ Lady Beatrice coloured and turned her head slightly away.
Hannah heard a key turning in the front door. ‘That is Benjamin,’ she said. ‘Let us hope he brought Lord Alistair with him.’
Lord Alistair strolled into the parlour and put up his quizzing-glass and stared for a few moments at Lady Beatrice. Then he turned to Hannah. ‘You wished to see me, Miss Pym?’
‘Yes, please, my lord. I am in the most dreadful difficulties. But pray be seated and have some tea.’
Lord Alistair sat down in an armchair and crossed his booted legs. His golden hair gleamed in the firelight, but his blue eyes were alert and watchful and Hannah knew that he did not like the presence of Lady Beatrice.
But she needed help and so she told the whole story of Benjamin’s deception. Lord Alistair carefully placed his cup on the table and leaned back in his chair and laughed and laughed.
‘It is no laughing matter,’ said Hannah distractedly. ‘What am I to do?’
Lord Alistair wiped his eyes and then grinned at Hannah. ‘I think your main worry is that the prince himself should get to hear of it and send someone over from the Pavilion to read you a lecture. I shall call on Prinny and hope your story amuses him as much as it has amused me.’
‘I wanted Lady Beatrice to go around telling everyone that it is all untrue, but she said she would not be believed.’
‘But I will be,’ said Lord Alistair, ‘for everyone knows I am a confidant of the prince. Your worries will soon be over, Miss Pym. By tomorrow, there will be no one at your gate.’
‘Thank you, my lord,’ said Hannah, and then turned red.
‘There is something else?’
‘It all started with that gown. It will need to be taken back. I do not have a ball gown.’
‘That is no problem,’ said Lady Beatrice. ‘We are of the same size in height and both slim. I will send my maid round with something suitable which she can alter to fit you.’
Lord Alistair gazed at Lady Beatrice in surprise. ‘You amaze me, madam,’ he said. ‘I thought you cared for neither man, woman, or beast.’
‘You do not know me,’ retorted Lady Beatrice haughtily.
‘Evidently not.’ Lord Alistair rose to his feet. ‘Miss Pym, the ball is on Wednesday. I shall call for you at eight.’ He bowed and left.
The Prince of Wales was studying plans that would turn his Marine Pavilion into an oriental palace. When he was told that Lord Alistair Munro was demanding an audience, he rolled up the plans and gave his permission for that gentleman to be ushered into the royal presence.
Lord Alistair had managed to remain a friend of the touchy, sensitive prince by always being amiable, and always available to play cards, run races, gamble, or talk lighthearted nonsense.
He was always cautious to be as formal as possible. Other men, regarded as friends of the prince, had over-stepped the mark in the past by being too familiar and had fallen from royal favour.
‘We heard you were in Brighton,’ said the prince. ‘What news?’
He waved a plump beringed hand to indicate that Lord Alistair had his permission to sit down. Lord Alistair was not feeling so easy in his mind as he had led Hannah to believe. The prince, with luck, would be amused. On the other hand, he might be furious.
‘I have some gossip that concerns yourself, sire.’
‘Indeed!’ The royal face crumpled in displeasure.
‘I trust it will amuse you.’ Instead of telling the prince simply about Hannah’s predicament in Brighton, Lord Alistair began at the beginning, describing the adventures of Miss Pym on the Exeter road, the Bath road, and the Portsmouth road, and the prince listened with delight. Even when he got to the real point of the story, Lord Alistair thought it politic to twist it slightly. He said the gossips had it that Miss Pym was not only a member of some foreign royal family, but besotted with the Prince of Wales.
The prince thought this was a famous joke. Lord Alistair had shrewdly guessed the touchy prince might not have found it so amusing if he had known that it was he who was said to be enamoured of Miss Pym.
‘So now,’ went on Lord Alistair, ‘our poor Miss Pym cannot even leave her dwelling because of the vulgar crowd at her gate. I shall put the truth about.’
‘Quite a character, this Miss Pym,’ remarked the prince, in high good humour. ‘Shall we see her?’
‘I am escorting her to Lord Southern’s ball. If it pleases Your Highness, I will point her out to you.’
‘By all means.’
They talked of other things and then Lord Alistair took his leave. He had been just in time. The gossip about Miss Pym was being poured into the royal ears by all his cronies that evening, who were startled when the prince laughed and said he knew all about Miss Pym and was looking forward to meeting her at Lord Southern’s ball.
The gossip about Hannah’s true identity reached Monsieur Blanc the next morning, and shortly after that, Benjamin arrived, bearing the gown.
‘I’m surprised you got the cheek to show your bleeding face in ’ere,’ said the dressmaker.
‘And I’m surprised you’ve got the cheek to look me in the eye,’ said Benjamin, unruffled. ‘You opened that trap o’ yourn arter you swore not to. Did I mention you was nothing more but a common Englishman, wiff the emphasis on common? Nah. But I will now. So take this poxy dress and stuff—’
‘’Ere now!’ cried Monsieur Blanc, alarmed. ‘No need to be ’asty.’
Benjamin put the dress box down on a chair and made for the door.
‘Did I say I wanted it back?’ pleaded Monsieur Blanc. ‘Did I now?’
Benjamin turned round, one eyebrow raised.
‘Look, don’t go around saying as how I’m plain Mr White or you’ll ruin my trade. You can keep that there dress for the ball and bring it back next day. ’Ave we got a deal?’
Benjamin grinned. ‘It’s a deal.’
Mrs Cambridge’s friends clustered around her, all mock sympathy. ‘Poor Letitia. To be so misled by that charlatan. For Lord Alistair Munro knows the creature. He is even taking her to Lord Southern’s ball! She is Miss Pym of nowhere in particular, or so I believe.’
Mrs Cambridge forced a light laugh. ‘I kne
w she was common the minute I set eyes on her. But, my dears, you must forgive me. I could not help having a little fun at your expense. Of course, the silly creature is getting quite above herself with all the attention. I shall take pleasure in cutting her at the ball.’ The friends, disappointed that they had not managed to tease her as they had hoped, vowed that they, too, would cut the dreadful Miss Pym, forgetting in their toadying to their social leader, Mrs Cambridge, that it is very hard to cut someone who does not know you from Adam.
4
When a woman isn’t beautiful, people always say, ‘You have lovely eyes, you have lovely hair.’
Anton Chekhov
Hannah found the very next day that the front of the house was free of sightseers. She went out for a walk, enjoying exploring the little dint-cobbled town with Benjamin behind her. They went for a long stroll along the chain pier, Hannah staring fascinated at the waves surging below. The sun was shining and brown-sailed boats were scudding before a brisk breeze.
‘Do you think, Benjamin,’ she called over her shoulder, ‘that I should try sea bathing?’
‘No, modom,’ said Benjamin. ‘I wouldn’t go in that nasty stuff, not if you paid me.’
‘But many ladies go sea bathing. And there is always an attendant. I should be in no danger of drowning.’
‘You wouldn’t get me in there,’ said Benjamin with a shudder. ‘Not ever.’
They had reached the end of the pier when Hannah saw Lady Beatrice approaching with her maid.
‘I called at your home,’ cried Lady Beatrice as she came up to her, ‘and saw that the crowd had gone. Lord Alistair appears to have been successful.’
‘Good for me,’ said Hannah, ‘but not for you. Has Sir Geoffrey found out yet that I am of no importance whatsoever?’
‘Not yet. He will no doubt call on me as soon as he does.’
‘When is this wedding to be, my lady?’
‘In a month’s time.’
