Anna Jacobs (6 page)

Johanna nodded. She wouldn’t have dared disobey Odette’s commands, even if her own fashion sense hadn’t told her the same thing. “That’s exactly my opinion,” she agreed, “but it won’t do for the court dress.”

“Certainly not!” Odette’s eyes gleamed. “For that, we shall need more elaboration, or it will be taken as a lack of respect for Her Majesty.”

“Do I have to be presented?” pleaded Beatrice, though she knew she had little hope of escaping this ordeal.

Two shocked faces were her only answer.

She sighed. “I shall feel so ridiculous! Hoops! And feathers on my head! I shall seem six feet tall! I can’t bear to think of it.”

Johanna shook her head. “My dear, we all go through it and we all survive. And hoops are not nearly as much trouble as you might expect, since you won’t be sitting down in them, even on the carriage ride. Sitting down really is difficult to manage elegantly.” She saw Beatrice’s mouth open for another protest and held up one hand. “No! Not another word!” She turned to the modiste. “Odette, we shall leave the design of the court dress entirely up to you. White, of course.”

“Bien sûr.”

Beatrice sighed again. She had forgotten about being presented in her anxiety about her aunt’s list of eligibles. Now it loomed before her as yet another ordeal to be faced, perhaps one of the worst. She was quite sure she’d make a fool of herself, as she had in her encounter with Mr Serle. And why she kept thinking of him, she couldn’t imagine.

* * * *

The next day she wore the new apricot dress as she sat with Johanna in the salon, it being her ladyship’s day to receive visitors. Her natural serenity lent her the gentle dignity which best suited both her looks and nature, but she was completely unaware of how well she looked, for she was concentrating on trying to remember people’s names and on learning what sorts of topics ladies discussed when they went out and about in society.

Justin Serle arrived just as the last visitors were leaving. He was apparently a frequent caller, being a friend of Johanna’s son-in-law. An expression of obvious surprise crossed his face as he gazed at the transformation of the foolish woman in crumpled travelling clothes whom he’d met a few evenings previously and whom he had dismissed out of hand as a nonentity.

Beatrice could easily guess what he was thinking and felt her indignation rise. How dared that man judge her by appearances? What a frivolous creature he must be! She gave him only the tips of her fingers to shake and removed her hand from his as quickly as politeness allowed, turning away and giving him no encouragement to linger by her side.

When he crossed the room to sit next to Jennice, who was in high fettle today, Beatrice retreated to sit in the bay window and stare down at the street. She had found the last hour or so rather tedious. Did no one talk about anything but parties and fashions and the latest gossip here in London?

The sun was shining outside, but no one seemed to wish to go out and enjoy it. Poor men from Manchester were so hungry that a group of them had tried to march on London to demand help, but no one cared. The newspapers seemed glad to see the Blanketeers dispersed by troops, but the sufferers had all her sympathy.

The doings of Princess Charlotte had been the main topic of conversation for several of the ladies that day. Beatrice had already seen Her Highness in the distance, driving past in a carriage: a plump young lady with yellow hair and undistinguished features. She had been extremely disappointed by the appearance of the much-fêted Heiress of England.

Across the room, Justin stared at her. He hadn’t missed the look of disapproval on Miss Dencey’s face as she took his hand, or the way she turned away from him as soon as she could, and he decided that even if his first impression of her as a country dowd had been wrong, he had not been mistaken in her character, which was serious to a fault. She would definitely not take in town, with that prim expression, and she was certainly not to his taste, however well she looked now.

Putting her firmly out of his mind, he began to flirt outrageously with Jennice whom he had known all his life and who therefore knew better than to take him seriously. When he glanced sideways again, he saw Beatrice’s look of disapproval deepen and felt a sense of triumph.

“So, Justin, how do you find this year’s crop of young ladies?” Jennice demanded, lounging back on the sofa in a manner which the Dowager would have condemned instantly as hoydenish.

He pulled a face. “Much the same as last year’s. Sweet, innocent and deadly dull.”

“I vow you’re too demanding. The poor girls haven’t got a chance with you! It’s time you took a wife, for you’re past thirty now. “‘Tis your duty, sir, your solemn duty!” She wagged one finger at him in mock reproof, but her laughing eyes belied her words.

He bent his head for a moment as if in shamed acceptance of her reproof. “I admit it and I have tried, believe me! But if a girl possesses one good quality, she inevitably possesses two bad ones. And surely it’s not too much to ask that a wife should be pleasant in appearance? You will note I do not stipulate beautiful. That would be to ask too much of Providence.”

“Well, there are any number of pleasant-looking girls for you to choose from!”

“Yes, but I require one or two other qualities. Absolutely insist on them, in fact.”

“Such as, sir?”

“A soft voice, a modicum of intelligence and the capacity to act as my hostess and châtelaine without tittering like a laundry maid.”

As Beatrice listened, she watched them enviously, admiring the dexterity with which Jennice handled the light-hearted repartee and wishing she were similarly skilled. She could maintain a conversation, for that had been part of the Dowager’s training, but not with such verve and lightness. Indeed, she felt herself to be extremely dull and prosaic by the standards of her Cousin Johanna’s set.

In the middle of Mr Serle’s visit, Lord Boris Newthorpe arrived at last to confront his errant wife, and since he was boiling with rage and was acquainted with or related to all the persons present, he did not scruple to start a quarrel in front of them.

He struck a pose in the doorway, one hand on the door frame, the other on his hip, and waited until all eyes were on him. “So, Madam, I find you here at last, do I?”

Beatrice could only gape, for she was not aware that Lord Newthorpe was given to a melodramatic turn of phrase when his ire was roused.

Jennice tilted her nose upwards and allowed a few moments to pass before saying sarcastically, “Since I left a note to tell you I was coming to visit Mama and since I was with you only two days ago, I cannot understand either your difficulty in finding me or your tone now, Sir!”

The aggrieved husband ground his teeth quite audibly. “You know what I mean, Madam.”

“I’m sure I don’t! I never do when you get on your high horse, Boris! And - if you’ve been so very worried about me - why has it taken you two days to get here?” She tossed her head at him.

“Majesty had sprained his fetlock! I had to see that it was properly tended. You know how ill-tempered he is with anyone except me.”

“I’m well aware that that horse is more important to you than I am!” Jennice stood up, turned her back to him and pretended to study her reflection in a mirror, patting a curl into place while watching him from beneath her eyelashes.

He glared at her and turned to bow coldly to his mother-in-law, who took the opportunity to reintroduce Beatrice to him. But his thoughts were clearly not on the introductions. As soon as he had bowed over the visitor’s hand, stared blankly at her and said through gritted teeth how delighted he was to see her, he turned back to his wife. “Kindly instruct your maid to pack your things, Madam!”

Jennice spun round, mouth open in shock. “Certainly not!”

“If you don’t,” Boris was growing redder in the face by the minute and rapidly losing his dignified tone, “then I shall give Susan the order myself.”

Jennice’s dignity also began to slip. “Well, she won’t obey you, so there! She’s my maid and she answers only to me!”

“In that case I shall be compelled to turn her off and find a maid who does recognise her master, shan’t I?”

Jennice lost the rest of her elaborate poise abruptly and took a step toward him. “You wouldn’t dare!”

He put one hand on his heart and struck a noble pose. “I dare do anything to protect my unborn child!”

“My dears, pray calm down!” murmured Johanna, who was finding it hard to conceal her amusement. Neither of the combatants paid her the slightest attention.

“I never heard of anything so mean in all my life!” declared Jennice, both hands clasped at her bosom and tears sparkling on her eyelashes. “Threatening to turn away Susan, who has been with me for years just because you’re miffed! You’re a beast, Boris Newthorpe, an absolute beast! What sort of a father will you make? Oh, my poor baby!” She pressed her hands protectively over her stomach.

“You have only to obey your husband’s lawful commands, Madam, and the woman may stay on as your maid!”

“Obey your commands! Obey your commands! I never heard anything half so gothic! And that from a man whose horse is more important to him than his wife!”

Boris scowled at her and abandoned his pose. “Dash it all, I explained about that, Jen. If it had been any other horse than Majesty...”

She sniffed scornfully. “Anyway, you deserved that I should leave. Ordering me about like that and then going off to look at horses and leaving me on my own! What sort of husbandly care is that, pray? And who do you think I am anyway - your slave?”

“You’re my wife and have promised to obey me.”

She brushed that away with a careless gesture of one hand. “Oh pooh, whoever means that? It’s just words.”

He drew himself up again and tried to regain lost ground. “Madam, I insist that you do as you’re told!”

“Well, I won’t! And I think you’re a beast to call me ‘Madam’ like that. And if you dare to even begin to carry out your threat about Susan...” Jennice was unable to think of anything dire enough to threaten him with in return, so she hid her dilemma by bursting into tears, which usually brought him to heel.

This time, however, all the tears elicited from her husband was a scornful, “Hah!” and another dramatic pose, this time with arms folded.

Beatrice, by this time scarlet with embarrassment and distress at the public nature of their altercation, felt a gentle touch on her arm. Mr Serle was standing beside her.

“May I suggest that we leave them to complete their quarrel in private and go out for a stroll round the square, Miss Dencey?”

His eyes were brimming with laughter as he kept an eye on the tragicomedy being played in front of them, but he had noticed that his hostess’s cousin was genuinely upset by the quarrel and for some strange reason that had touched him. She must have a very tender heart and be very naïve about the games husbands and wives played. Well, that was better than some of the brass-faced harpies you met in town, who cared for nothing but themselves. In fact, for some strange reason Miss Dencey reminded him of his grandmother, whom he had loved dearly and who had also been very tender-hearted. “We’re certainly in the way here,” he added quietly, offering her his arm.

She stood up quickly. “Oh yes! They must wish to be alone!”

He rather doubted that, since both the Newthorpes loved playing to an audience, but he didn’t voice his disagreement.

Jennice sobbed twice as loudly when Boris didn’t rush to her side, then, after looking at him covertly, sank gracefully onto the sofa and demanded that someone bring her a vinaigrette before she fainted quite away. “Oh, how did I come to marry a monster like you?” she declaimed, one arm covering her eyes. “What a father you will make for my children! You will care more for your horses than for my poor babies!”

Beatrice took Mr Serle’s arm and let him guide her toward the door.

Johanna turned her head away for a moment, shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter, but her guest didn’t notice that.

Justin left Beatrice waiting in the hall and went back to whisper in his hostess’s ear.

Johanna nodded permission. She knew it would be a while before Boris could be brought to heel and Jennice calmed down, and although she thoroughly enjoyed watching the minx’s antics, she could see that her young cousin was suffering from acute embarrassment. Poor Bea had always been oversensitive about quarrels, while Jennice and Boris enjoyed theirs thoroughly - not to mention the tender reconciliations that always followed them!

Beatrice stood in the hall with Mr Serle, waiting for her new velvet spencer to be brought down.

When Tilly had assisted her mistress to don it and a simple straw bonnet, the butler stepped forward to open the door for them.

“I think,” Justin told him quietly, “your mistress will not wish to receive any other callers this morning.”

Jennice’s sobbing was quite audible even from the front door. A shriek of rage punctuated it suddenly, making Beatrice gasp, but the butler didn’t flinch. “Quite so, sir,” he said. “Miss Jennice does get a trifle upset at times. Lady Newthorpe, I should say.”

“We’ll just take a walk round the gardens here in the square. You can send someone out to fetch us when the fireworks are over.”

“Certainly, Mr Serle. Fine clement weather we are enjoying, are we not, Miss? The spring flowers are just coming out nicely in the gardens. I fancy you’ll enjoy the displays.”

Not until they were outside in the weak spring sunlight did Beatrice realize that Jennice’s quarrel with her husband had thrown her into close proximity with someone who was almost a complete stranger and to whom she had taken a strong dislike. She stopped abruptly. “I - er - should we be...” and couldn’t think how to phrase her question without sounding impolite.

“If you mean is it proper for us to be out walking together without a chaperone, yes, it is, that is as long as we keep to the public gardens here. I’m sure you’d prefer to be out of the house while those two continue their quarrel. My friend Boris can be a trifle arrogant at times, but I think he’s more than met his match in Jennice. Do you know why he’s so eager to take her away from town? I had thought they were planning to come up here for the whole season. They usually do.”