The Golden Songbird

by Sheila Walsh

  ‘Then if you are taken ill again, it will be no more than you deserve!’ She was lifted high and tossed unceremoniously on to the seat of the curricle. The greys shied nervously and had to be calmed.

  Hugo removed Lucia’s shoes, commented with cutting sarcasm upon their total unsuitability, and proceeded to rub her feet with considerable ‒ and to Lucia’s way of thinking ‒ quite unnecessary vigour, until she was obliged to hang on to the side of the curricle and grit her teeth to keep from screaming.

  From beneath the seat he produced a blanket which he wrapped round her feet and up to tuck in her waist. Before setting off, he looked down at her, his face grim.

  ‘I am sorry I am unable to offer you the comfort of a closed carriage, Miss Mannering. I came as I was, thinking time to be of the essence.’

  She turned her head away without speaking and in this manner they travelled home, at what seemed to Lucia almost breakneck speed. She sat very straight with her head averted so that Hugo should not see the silent tears that rolled down her cheeks to be childishly licked away.

  When they reached Portland Place, she suffered herself to be lifted down, and marched into the house head high, very conscious of the lively curiosity of the servants.

  In the drawing room Hetty sprang up on seeing her dear friend, apparently unscathed, and rushed to embrace her.

  Lucia put her gently aside. ‘It’s all right, Hetty. I am quite safe, as you can see.’

  Lady Springhope was blowing noisily into a large handkerchief. ‘I am very sorry, dear ma-am, to have worried you so. It was never my intention to cause so much trouble.’

  The old lady sniffed. ‘Ah well, dear child, thank God ‒ and Hugo ‒ that you are back, safe and sound. We will say no more.’

  ‘You are very kind,’ whispered Lucia. ‘Will you excuse me? I should like to retire.’ Her step faltered as she passed Hugo; for an instant their eyes met and he could clearly see the traces of tears. With a wan smile for Charles, she left.

  ‘I’ll come with you, Lucy,’ cried Hetty. Hugo’s voice froze her headlong rush upon the threshold.

  ‘I shall be here at ten o’clock in the morning, Hetty. You will present yourself promptly in the library.’

  She cast him an agonized glance and ran from the room.

  ‘Don’t be too hard on her, Hugo,’ said Charles quietly. ‘This has shaken her badly. I don’t believe she will ever behave so irresponsibly again.’

  ‘She won’t get a chance.’ Hugo’s expression was uncompromising. ‘She goes back to Mama the moment I can take her.’

  ‘Must you be so drastic?’

  ‘I’m sorry, Charles, but I am grown tired of Hetty’s capaciousness.’

  ‘Look, man!’ entreated Charles. ‘Would you agree to a formal engagement between Hetty and myself? I am confident she is ready to accept me and I will undertake to keep her in line.’

  Hugo stared. ‘You want to marry her ‒ after this?’

  ‘I love her.’

  A faint gleam came into Hugo’s eye. ‘Egad, Charles! You’re undoubtedly soft in the head, but who am I to try and talk you out of it. I confess it would be a profound relief to get Hetty safely settled … if you’re sure you know what you are taking on!’

  ‘Well ‒ now Hetty is disposed of,’ said Aunt Aurelia tartly, ‘perhaps we may learn what happened at Knightsbridge. Have you dealt with that creature Benedict?’

  ‘Unfortunately not, my dear Aunt. Lucia was before me.’

  She stared. ‘How do you mean?’

  ‘She shot him!’ he murmured succinctly.

  Lady Springhope fell back, total disbelief writ large on her face. ‘This is no time for jesting, Nephew!’

  Hugo took the pistol from his pocket and laid it on the table.

  Charles strolled across to pick it up. ‘Well, I’m damned!’ he exclaimed with a broad grin. ‘What a girl!’

  ‘Quite so!’ Hugo agreed grimly. ‘I doubt she will live to a ripe old age. Someone will strangle her ‒ probably me!’

  He gave them a brief account of what had happened and of a reluctant admission extorted from the injured Sir Gideon concerning the means by which he had induced Lucia to suffer his attentions.

  Aunt Aurelia confessed that she had always been uneasy.

  ‘Then it’s a great pity you didn’t think to mention the matter.’

  ‘Now don’t get on your high ropes, boy! I daresay we all thought it a little strange, but he never put a foot wrong. Ain’t that so, Charles?’

  Charles nodded ruefully. ‘I knew that you and he were not on good terms, but Lucia has always seemed so sensible and level-headed …’

  ‘Ha!’ snorted Hugo. ‘If she is so sensible, why did she not come and tell me the whole?’

  ‘Perhaps, my dear Nephew, because she knew that you would jump down her throat if she did!’

  ‘Nonsense! Lucia has never been in the least afraid of me!’

  Charles decided that a judicious turn of the conversation was necessary.

  ‘Benedict won’t make trouble?’

  The fire in Hugo’s eyes died. ‘And have it made known that he was shot by a girl? He would be a laughing stock! No, my dear Charles, I believe he is about to be urgently summoned to his ancestral home ‒ and I left him no illusions as to what would happen if he returned.’

  ‘Well, I should watch him none the less. He’ll be twice as dangerous from now on!’

  It was a very chastened Hetty who presented herself in answer to her brother’s summons. She had hardly slept and was sunk in despair. Hugo almost relented at once on seeing her white pinched face, but he decided that it wouldn’t do her any harm to be frightened a little more, so he put on his sternest face and gave her the worst dressing-down she had ever endured.

  At the end of it he paused. ‘I had intended to banish you straight home …’

  Her head came up slowly.

  ‘Oh, come here, Het!’ She flew into his arms with a great sob and he smoothed away her tears. ‘Charles has asked if I will favour him as a brother-in-law.’

  ‘Charles?’ Hetty stared, red-eyed. ‘Oh, but … Charles loathes me after …’

  ‘Charles loves you, little goose!’ Hugo shook her. ‘Come now ‒ will you have him?’

  ‘Will I?’ She reached up on tiptoe to fling her arms round his neck. ‘I’m sorry I’ve been such a trial! I promise I’ll never cause you a moment’s unease again!’

  Hugo disengaged himself and gave her one of his lazy smiles. ‘Don’t be too much of a saint, Het ‒ I don’t think we could stand the strain! Now go and pretty yourself up before Charles arrives. And, Hetty …’ He held out the package of I.O.U.s. ‘Destroy these if you wish, but I advise you to keep them as a reminder ‒ if ever you are tempted!’

  At the door she hesitated. ‘Hugo? Will you not extend your generosity to Lucy? What she did, she did for me.’

  His face at once assumed a shuttered look. ‘The circumstances, however, are quite different.’

  ‘Oh well …’ Hetty shrugged and closed the door. Outside, her happiness bubbled up again and she ran upstairs to spread the wonderful news!

  Lucia hadn’t slept very well either; she had been obliged to endure Chloe’s non-stop chatter; the silly girl’s relief concerning her mistress’s safe deliverance seemed to be mingled with a tendency to regard Hugo as some kind of knight in shining armour ‒ an image Lucia found excessively irritating!

  However, when Hetty arrived with her news, Lucia endeavoured to put her own feelings to one side and join in her friend’s rejoicing.

  And in all the celebrations which followed, no-one noticed that she and Hugo were scarcely speaking.

  Chapter Twelve

  At the beginning of May, Toby came home for a brief visit, looking very lean and fit and obviously brimming over with enthusiasm.

  ‘I daresay we shall be off again before long,’ he told Lucia cheerfully, his brilliant blue eyes crinkling up at the corners.

  In fact it was to be over two m
onths before he left. All through early summer, regiments were marching on Kent until, by mid-July, a huge force was encamped at Deal, awaiting orders to embark for an assault on the Dutch coast.

  Parties were got up amongst many of Lucia and Hetty’s friends to drive into Kent to see the great armada sail. Young Tom Bellingham had enlisted and the two girls were invited to accompany the family, who were going to see him off. Hetty agreed eagerly, but Lucia had no stomach for such a venture and went quietly down to Willow Park.

  Hetty wrote to her later, full of her splendid adventure. Lucy could have no idea what she had missed! It was just like an enormous pageant with all the different coloured uniforms. ‘We did not actually see Tom or Toby, for there were such thousands of soldiers, but such a gay affair! There were so many carriages and so many people we knew. We had a splendid view as the men were rowed out to the waiting ships; there was martial music playing and the people cheered … I wouldn’t have missed it for the world!’ Lucia smiled as she read the letter to her grandfather, but nonetheless, she was glad she hadn’t been there.

  By the third week in August the two girls were back in London. Town was empty of people and it was unbearably hot and oppressive, but Hetty was to marry in late October and there was much to be done. Charles had bought a dear little house to be decorated and furnished just to her liking, and there were bride clothes to be decided upon, in which respect Hugo had been most generous.

  The couple were to be married in the little church at Mandersely and Lucia was to be bridesmaid in company with Hetty’s two younger sisters.

  The girls were sitting over an early breakfast one morning discussing the finer details of Hetty’s bridal gown when they heard voices in the hall.

  The door was flung open and Hugo strode in, halting abruptly on the threshold. ‘Forgive me!’ he said. ‘I am interrupting your breakfast.’

  ‘Goodness ‒ that doesn’t matter. We’d quite finished, hadn’t we Lucy?’ Hetty gazed at her brother, intrigued by his unaccustomed air of urgency.

  ‘I must see Aunt Aurelia. The fact is …’ his eyes rested on Lucia for a moment with an unfathomable expression, then he continued tersely, ‘I leave for Dover immediately.’

  Lucia sprang up. ‘Toby? What has happened?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ He read her disbelief. ‘It’s the truth! I have a brief note from a Colonel Prendergast of the Warwickshire Militia stationed at Dover informing me that Toby is among a great number of sick men quartered on them. He thought I would wish to remove him as soon as possible.’

  Saunders came quietly to say that Lady Springhope would see Hugo. Lucia seemed suddenly to come back to life; without a word, she rushed past them up the stairs.

  Hugo stared after her, frowning. ‘I was afraid she would take it badly.’

  Aunt Aurelia sat bolt upright in bed, sipping her chocolate as Hugo explained.

  ‘I wondered if I might bring Toby here? My staff are more than capable, but I feel he may be more at ease amongst familiar faces. You wouldn’t need to be troubled … I’ll arrange whatever may be necessary in the way of nursing.’

  ‘Foolish boy! As though I begrudge any inconvenience! I shall have a room made ready at once.’

  ‘Thank you ‒ I have asked Dr Gordon to stand by.’

  ‘When may we expect you?’ asked Hetty.

  ‘That rather depends on what I meet at the other end. With any luck ‒ late this evening.’

  There was a knock and Lucia came in. They all stared, for she had on her bonnet and a light wrap. She was still pale, but quite composed.

  ‘Thank goodness!’ she exclaimed on seeing Hugo. ‘I was afraid you might already have left.’

  Hetty was puzzled. ‘Lucy! We are not going out?’

  ‘No, dear.’ Lucia turned to Hugo, pulling on a pair of soft kid gloves with an air of determination. ‘I am coming with you, my lord.’

  ‘The devil!’ he ejaculated. ‘Indeed you are not! I am travelling with all the speed I can make.’

  ‘I am quite used to travel, sir.’

  ‘But not with me.’ There was a curt finality in the words.

  ‘Hugo’s right, m’dear.’ Aunt Aurelia agreed. ‘It wouldn’t do. You shall help me to prepare.’

  Lucia might never have heard; as Hugo strode to the door, she barred his way. ‘You cannot refuse to take me.’

  His gauntlets jerked angrily through his hands. ‘Miss Mannering, I have no time to waste in argument. Kindly stand aside ‒ and just be told for once!’

  She stood before the door. He noted the stubborn set of her chin ‒ the appeal in the wide green eyes. ‘Please, my lord ‒ take me! I won’t be any trouble and you might be glad of help.’

  Hugo heaved an irritable sigh, looked to his aunt for guidance and finally said tersely, ‘Oh very well, child, come! But on your own head be it. I shall make no concessions to your presence.’

  He hustled her down the stairs and out to the waiting coach. Colbert tipped his hat to her with a grin, which earned him a sharp rebuke coupled with a curt order to let the horses go.

  Hugo settled Lucia and stretched out in the opposite corner contemplating her grimly. She flushed and looked away out of the window. Only an overwhelming concern for Toby had made her persist, but the prospect of spending so many hours alone in Hugo’s company was more than a little daunting.

  Since the affair at Knightsbridge they had scarcely exchanged more than the barest civilities. It was the longest time they had ever gone without some kind of reconciliation and it became apparent that he no longer had the least desire to affect such a reconciliation. She had finally put herself beyond the pale.

  There had been the embarrassing occasion of the Prince of Wales’s Grand Mid-Summer Fête, an event of exotic splendour. She had received the doubtful honour of being invited to sing and blushed even now remembering how Prinny had pursued her with distressing persistence and endeavoured to bestow upon her a most extravagant hair ornament, which he had ordered to be made in the guise of a singing bird, intricately worked in gold with tiny emeralds for the eyes. ‘A Golden Songbird for his Golden Songbird,’ he had said!

  Hugo had been obliged to extricate her from her predicament, giving His Royal Highness quite the wrong impression! He had nudged Hugo playfully, given him a knowing wink and hinted that he understood perfectly! The ornament might serve as a wedding present, what!

  As might be expected, this incident in no way served to mend matters!

  The coach was now out of town and rattling along at a frightening pace. Lucia sneaked a look at the Marquis, but he appeared to be asleep, his body swaying easily with every bump and jolt.

  At the first change he didn’t stir, except to open his sleepy eyes. They rested on Lucia with a disconcerting directness before closing again and then the coach was springing forward, as the fresh horses renewed the pounding speed.

  At the next stage Hugo sat up and stretched.

  ‘Comfortable, Miss Mannering?’ he enquired, with a slightly malicious smile.

  ‘Perfectly, I thank you, my lord,’ she replied, though in spite of the superior springing and sumptuous upholstery she was privately convinced that every bone in her body was being shaken loose.

  ‘Would you care to stretch your legs while the horses are changed?’

  She lifted her chin. ‘No thank you, sir.’

  Hugo regarded the stiff little figure ‒ and knew that the direst tortures would not drag any complaint from her. His smile deepened a little.

  ‘Miss Mannering ‒ do you think we might call a truce? I really cannot travel all the way to Dover with you glowering at me.’

  ‘I never glower!’

  ‘I have no wish to appear argumentative, but you are doing so now,’ he insisted gently. He stood up and held out a hand to her. ‘Come, Lucy ‒ a little fresh air will do us both good.’

  His unexpected use of the familiar ‘Lucy’ was her undoing.

  When they were back in the coach, Hugo tried to arrange the c
ushions to afford her a greater degree of protection. ‘I am sorry if you are feeling bruised, but I did warn you.’ He pulled a hamper from beneath the seat.

  ‘I don’t mind in the least if only we may get to Toby more quickly. I haven’t thanked you for letting me come.’

  Hugo eyed her quizzically and proffered a wing of chicken. ‘I wish you will tell me how I might have prevented you.’

  Lucia bit thoughtfully into the chicken. ‘I can be very stubborn.’

  His lips twitched. ‘I had noticed! By the way, I have some property of yours. I was in two minds whether to return it ‒ or not.’ He took the pistol from his pocket and handed it across to her. ‘It is cleaned, but not loaded, should you feel tempted!’

  Her smile flickered. She looked down at the gun and then her clear eyes lifted. ‘I believe I owe you an apology, sir.’

  ‘Again, Lucia?’ he mocked gently. ‘I seem to remember you saying something similar once before.’

  She flushed. ‘Yes ‒ well, you must bring out the worst in me. I have always been cursed with a lively temper; I suppose it is my Italian blood.’

  ‘And did your father never attempt to curb it?’

  ‘He used to laugh at me.’ Her dimple flashed out. ‘It worked very well.’

  ‘I will strive to remember next time,’ said Hugo dryly. ‘But I fear I can hold out little hope.’

  ‘I said some dreadful things that night. I was so overwhelmingly glad to see you ‒ and then it all went wrong.’

  ‘For which I must bear some part of the blame. However, we must try to avoid a repetition ‒ I should hate to figure in your memoirs solely as the man who first took a whip to you.’

  She chuckled ‒ and there was a companionable silence until Hugo said abruptly, ‘Lucia ‒ were you really so afraid of me that you could not tell me of Sir Gideon’s threats?’

  She coloured slightly. ‘At first you were not there ‒ and I thought I would manage it all without you.’ Her eyes flicked to his face and away again. ‘But later it all grew too much and I knew I must tell you. Only by then, we had established such a degree of harmony … I could not bear the thought of incurring your wrath and the longer I left it, the harder it became …’ she tailed off in confusion.