He grew paler. ‘Your note alarmed me. Good God, what is it?’
Miss Winwood pressed her handkerchief to her mouth. ‘Lord Rule was with Mama yesterday – in this very room.’ She raised her eyes imploringly to his face. ‘Edward, it is all at an end. Lord Rule has offered for my hand.’
A dreadful stillness fell in the shadowed room. Miss Winwood stood with bowed head before Mr Heron, leaning a little on the chair-back.
Mr Heron did not move, but presently he said rather hoarsely: ‘And you said – ?’ But it was hardly a question; he spoke it mechanically, knowing what she must have said.
She made a hopeless gesture. ‘What can I say? You know so well how it is with us.’
He took a step away from her, and began to pace up and down the room. ‘Rule!’ he said. ‘Is he very rich?’
‘Very rich,’ Elizabeth said desolately.
Words crowded in Mr Heron’s throat, hurt, angry, passionate words, yet not one of them could he utter. Life had dealt him her cruellest blow, and all that he could find to say, and that in a numb voice which did not seem to belong to him, was: ‘I see.’ He perceived that Elizabeth was silently weeping, and at once came to her, and took her hands, and drew her to a couch. ‘Oh, my love, don’t cry!’ he said, a catch in his own voice. ‘Perhaps it is not too late: we can contrive something – we must contrive something!’ But he spoke without conviction, for he knew that he would never have anything to set against Rule’s fortune. He put his arms round Elizabeth, and laid his cheek against her curls while her tears fell on his gay scarlet coat.
After a little while she drew herself away. ‘I am making you unhappy too,’ she said.
At that he went down on his knee beside her, and hid his face in her hands. She did not make any effort to pull them away, but said only: ‘Mama has been so kind. I am permitted to tell you myself. It is – it must be goodbye, Edward. I have not strength to continue seeing you. Oh, is it wrong of me to say that I shall have you in my heart always – always?’
‘I cannot let you go!’ he said with suppressed violence. ‘All our hopes – our plans – Elizabeth, Elizabeth!’
She did not speak, and presently he raised his face, flushed now and haggard. ‘What can I do? Is there nothing?’
She touched the couch beside her. ‘Do you think I have not tried to think of something?’ she said sadly. ‘Alas, did we not feel always that ours was nothing but a dream, impossible to realise?’
He sat down again, leaning his arm on his knee, and looking down at his own neat boot. ‘It’s your brother,’ he said. ‘Debts.’
She nodded. ‘Mama told me so much that I did not know. It is worse than I imagined. Everything is mortgaged, and there are Charlotte and Horatia to think for. Pelham has lost five thousand guineas at a sitting in Paris.’
‘Does Pelham never win?’ demanded Mr Heron despairingly.
‘I don’t know,’ she replied. ‘He says he is very unlucky.’
He looked up. ‘Elizabeth, if it hurts you I am sorry, but that you should be sacrificed to Pelham’s selfish, thoughtless –’
‘Oh, hush!’ she begged. ‘You know the Fatal Tendency in us Winwoods. Pelham cannot help it. My father even! When Pelham came into his inheritance he found it already wasted. Mama explained it all to me. She is so very sorry, Edward. We have mingled our tears. But she thinks, and how can I not feel the truth of it, that it is my Duty to the Family to accept of Lord Rule’s offer.’
‘Rule!’ he said bitterly. ‘A man fifteen years your senior! a man of his reputation. He has only to throw his glove at your feet, and you – Oh God, I cannot bear to think of it!’ His writhing fingers created havoc amongst his pomaded curls. ‘Why must his choice light upon you?’ he groaned. ‘Are there not others enough?’
‘I think,’ she said diffidently, ‘that he wishes to ally himself with our Family. They say he is very proud, and our name is – is also a proud one.’ She hesitated, and said, colouring: ‘It is to be a marriage of convenience, such as are the fashion in France. Lord Rule does not – cannot pretend to love me, nor I him.’ She glanced up, as the gilt time-piece on the mantelshelf chimed the hour. ‘I must say goodbye to you,’ she said, with desperate calm. ‘I promised Mama – only half an hour. Edward –’ She shrank suddenly into his embrace – ‘Oh, my love, remember me!’ she sobbed.
Three minutes later the library door slammed, and Mr Heron strode across the hall towards the front door, his hair in disorder, his gloves and cocked hat clenched in his hand.
‘Edward!’ The thrilling whisper came from the stairhead. He glanced up, heedless of his ravaged face and wild appearance.
The youngest Miss Winwood leaned over the balustrade, and laid a finger on her lips. ‘Edward, c-come up! I must speak to you!’
He hesitated, but an imperious gesture from Horatia brought him to the foot of the stairs. ‘What is it?’ he asked curtly.
‘Come up!’ repeated Horatia impatiently.
He slowly mounted the stairs. His hand was seized, and he was whisked into the big withdrawing-room that overlooked the street.
Horatia shut the door. ‘D-don’t speak too loud! Mama’s bedroom is next door. What did she say?’
‘I have not seen Lady Winwood,’ Mr Heron answered heavily.
‘Stupid! L-Lizzie!’
He said tightly: ‘Only goodbye.’
‘It shan’t be!’ said Horatia, with determination. ‘L-listen, Edward! I have a p-plan!’
He looked down at her, a gleam of hope in his eyes. ‘I’ll do anything!’ he said. ‘Only tell me!’
‘It isn’t anything for you to do,’ said Horatia. ‘I am g-going to do it!’
‘You?’ he said doubtfully. ‘But what can you do?’
‘I d-don’t know, but I’m g-going to try. M-mind, I can’t be sure that it will succeed, but I think perhaps it m-might.’
‘But what is it?’ he persisted.
‘I shan’t say. I only told you because you looked so very m-miserable. You had better trust me, Edward.’
‘I do,’ he assured her. ‘But –’
Horatia pulled him to stand in front of the mirror over the fireplace. ‘Then straighten your hair,’ she said severely. ‘J-just look at it. You’ve crushed your hat too. There! Now, g-go away, Edward, before Mama hears you.’
Mr Heron found himself pushed to the door. He turned, and grasped Horatia’s hand. ‘Horry, I don’t see what you can do, but if you can save Elizabeth from this match –’
Two dimples leapt into being; the grey eyes twinkled. ‘I know. You w-will be my m-most obliged servant. Well, I will!’
‘More than that!’ he said earnestly.
‘Hush, Mama will hear!’ whispered Horatia, and thrust him out of the room.
Two
Mr Arnold Gisborne, lately of Queens’ College, Cambridge, was thought by his relatives to have been very fortunate to have acquired the post of secretary to the Earl of Rule. He was tolerably satisfied himself, employment in a noble house was a fair stepping-stone to a Public Career, but he would have preferred, since he was a serious young man, the service of one more nearly concerned with the Affairs of the Nation. My Lord of Rule, when he could be moved thereto, occasionally took his seat in the Upper House, and had been known to raise his pleasant, lazy voice in support of a Motion, but he had no place in the Ministry, and he displayed not the smallest desire to occupy himself with Politicks. If he spoke, Mr Gisborne was requested to prepare his speech, which Mr Gisborne did with energy and enthusiasm, hearing in his imagination the words delivered in his own crisp voice. My lord would glance over the sheets of fine handwriting, and say: ‘Admirable, my dear Arnold, quite admirable. But not quite in my mode, do you think?’ And Mr Gisborne would have sadly to watch my lord’s well-kept hand driving a quill through his most cherished periods. My lord, aware of his chagrin, would look up and say w
ith his rather charming smile: ‘I feel for you, Arnold, believe me. But I am such a very frippery fellow, you know. It would shock the Lords to hear me utter such energetic sentiments. It would not do at all.’
‘My lord, may I say that you like to be thought a frippery fellow?’ asked Mr Gisborne with severity tempered by respect.
‘By all means, Arnold. You may say just what you like,’ replied his lordship amiably.
But in spite of this permission Mr Gisborne did not say anything more. It would have been a waste of time. My lord could give one a set-down, though always with that faint look of amusement in his bored grey eyes, and always in the pleasantest manner. Mr Gisborne contented himself with dreaming of his own future, and in the meantime managed his patron’s affairs with conscientious thoroughness. The Earl’s mode of life he could not approve, for he was the son of a Dean, and strictly reared. My lord’s preoccupation with such wanton pieces of pretty femininity as La Fanciola, of the Opera House, or a certain Lady Massey filled him with a disapproval that made him at first scornful, and later, when he had been my lord’s secretary for a twelve-month, regretful.
He had not imagined, upon his first setting eyes on the Earl, that he could learn to like, or even to tolerate, this lazy, faintly mocking exquisite, but he had not, after all, experienced the least difficulty in doing both. At the end of a month he had discovered that just as his lordship’s laced and scented coats concealed an extremely powerful frame, so his weary eyelids drooped over eyes that could become as keen as the brain behind.
Yielding to my lord’s charm, he accepted his vagaries if not with approval at least with tolerance.
The Earl’s intention to enter the married state took him by surprise. He had no notion of such a scheme until a morning two days after his lordship had visited Lady Winwood in South Street. Then, as he sat at his desk in the library, Rule strolled in after a late breakfast, and perceiving the pen in his hand, complained: ‘You are always so damnably busy, Arnold. Do I give you so much work?’
Mr Gisborne got up from his seat at the desk. ‘No, sir, not enough.’
‘You are insatiable, my dear boy.’ He observed some papers in Mr Gisborne’s grasp, and sighed. ‘What is it now?’ he asked with resignation.
‘I thought, sir, you might wish to see these accounts from Meering,’ suggested Mr Gisborne.
‘Not in the least,’ replied his lordship, leaning his big shoulders against the mantelpiece.
‘Very well, sir.’ Mr Gisborne laid the papers down, and said tentatively: ‘You won’t have forgotten that there is a Debate in the House to-day which you will like to take part in?’
His lordship’s attention had wandered; he was scrutinizing his own top-boot (for he was dressed for riding) through a long-handled quizzing-glass, but he said in a mildly surprised voice: ‘Which I shall what, Arnold?’
‘I made sure you would attend it, my lord,’ said Mr Gisborne defensively.
‘I am afraid you were in your cups, my dear fellow. Now tell me, do my eyes deceive me, or is there a suggestion – the merest hint – of a – really, I fear I must call it a bagginess about the ankle?’
Mr Gisborne glanced perfunctorily down at his lordship’s shining boot. ‘I don’t observe it, sir.’
‘Come, come, Arnold!’ the Earl said gently. ‘Give me your attention, I beg of you!’
Mr Gisborne met the quizzical gleam in my lord’s eyes, and grinned in spite of himself. ‘Sir, I believe you should go. It is of some moment, in the Lower House –’
‘I felt uneasy at the time,’ mused the Earl, still contemplating his legs. ‘I shall have to change my bootmaker again.’ He let his glass fall on the end of its long riband, and turned to arrange his cravat in the mirror. ‘Ah! Remind me, Arnold, that I am to wait on Lady Winwood at three. It is really quite important.’
Mr Gisborne stared. ‘Yes, sir?’
‘Yes, quite important. I think the new habit, the coat dos de puce – or is that a thought sombre for the errand? I believe the blue velvet will be more fitting. And the perruque à bourse? You prefer the Catogan wig, perhaps, but you are wrong, my dear boy, I am convinced you are wrong. The arrangement of curls in the front gives an impression of heaviness. I feel sure you would not wish me to be heavy.’ He gave one of the lace ruffles that fell over his hand a flick. ‘Oh, I have not told you, have I? You must know that I am contemplating matrimony, Arnold.’
Mr Gisborne’s astonishment was plain to be seen. ‘You, sir?’ he said, quite dumbfounded.
‘But why not?’ inquired his lordship. ‘Do you object?’
‘Object, sir! I? I am only surprised.’
‘My sister,’ explained his lordship, ‘considers that it is time I took a wife.’
Mr Gisborne had a great respect for the Earl’s sister, but he had yet to learn that her advice carried any weight with his lordship. ‘Indeed, sir,’ he said, and added diffidently: ‘It is Miss Winwood?’
‘Miss Winwood,’ agreed the Earl. ‘You perceive how important it is that I should not forget to present myself in South Street at – did I say three o’clock?’
‘I will put you in mind of it, sir,’ said Mr Gisborne dryly.
The door opened to admit a footman in blue livery. ‘My lord, a lady has called,’ he said hesitatingly.
Mr Gisborne turned to stare, for whatever Rule’s amusements abroad might be, his inamoratas did not wait upon him in Grosvenor Square.
The Earl raised his brows. ‘I am afraid – I am very much afraid – that you are – shall we say – a little stupid, my friend,’ he said. ‘But perhaps you have already denied me?’
The lackey looked flustered, and answered: ‘The lady bade me tell your lordship that Miss Winwood begs the favour of a word with you.’
There was a moment’s silence. Mr Gisborne had with difficulty checked the exclamation that rose to his lips, and now affected to arrange the papers on his desk.
The Earl’s eyes, which had narrowed suddenly, to his servant’s discomfiture, were once more bland and expressionless. ‘I see,’ he remarked. ‘Where is Miss Winwood?’
‘In the smaller saloon, my lord.’
‘Very well,’ said his lordship. ‘You need not wait.’
The lackey bowed, and went out. My lord’s gaze rested thoughtfully on Mr Gisborne’s profile. ‘Arnold,’ he said softly. Mr Gisborne looked up. ‘Are you very discreet, Arnold?’ said his lordship.
Mr Gisborne met his look full. ‘Yes, sir. Of course.’
‘I am sure you are,’ said his lordship. ‘Perhaps even – a little deaf?’
Mr Gisborne’s lips twitched. ‘Upon occasion, amazingly deaf, sir.’
‘I need not have asked,’ said the Earl. ‘You are a prince of secretaries, my dear fellow.’
‘As to that, sir, you are very obliging. But certainly you need not have asked.’
‘My maladroitness,’ murmured his lordship, and went out.
He crossed the wide marble paved hall, observing as he passed a young woman, obviously an abigail, seated on the edge of a straight chair, and clutching her reticule in a frightened manner. Miss Winwood, then, had not come quite unattended.
One of the lackeys sprang to throw open the massive mahogany door that led into the small saloon, and my lord went in.
A lady, not so tall as he had expected to see, was standing with her back to the door, apparently inspecting an oil painting that hung on the far wall. She turned quickly as he came in, and showed him a face that certainly did not belong to Miss Winwood. He checked for a moment, looking down at her in some surprise.
The face under the simple straw hat also showed surprise. ‘Are you L-Lord Rule?’ demanded the lady.
He was amused. ‘I have always believed so,’ he replied.
‘Why, I th-thought you were quite old!’ she informed him ingenuously.
‘That,’ s
aid his lordship with perfect gravity, ‘was unkind in you. Did you come to see me in order to – er – satisfy yourself as to my appearance?’
She blushed fierily. ‘P-please forgive m-me!’ she begged, stammering dreadfully. ‘It w-was very r-rude of m-me, only you s-see I was surprised just for the m-moment.’
‘If you were surprised, ma’am, what can I be but deeply flattered?’ said the Earl. ‘But if you did not come to look me over, do you think you could tell me what it is I am to have the honour of doing for you?’
The bright eyes looked resolutely into his. ‘Of c-course, you don’t know who I am,’ said the visitor. ‘I’m afraid I d-deceived you a little. I was afraid if you knew it was not L-Lizzie you might not receive me. But it was not quite a lie to say I was Miss W-Winwood,’ she added anxiously. ‘B-because I am, you know. I’m Horry Winwood.’
‘Horry?’ he repeated.
‘Horatia,’ she explained. ‘It is an odious name, isn’t it? I was given it on account of Mr W-Walpole. He is my godfather, you understand.’
‘Perfectly,’ bowed his lordship. ‘You must forgive me for being so dull-witted, but would you believe it? – I am still quite in the dark.’
Horatia’s gaze faltered. ‘It is – it is very difficult to explain it to you,’ she said. ‘And I expect you are horridly shocked. But I did bring my m-maid, sir.’
‘That makes it far less shocking,’ said his lordship reassuringly. ‘But would it not be much easier to explain this very difficult matter to me if you were to sit down? Will you let me take your cloak?’
‘Th-thank you,’ said Horatia, relinquishing it. She bestowed a friendly smile upon her host. ‘It is not anything n-near so difficult as I thought it would be. Before you came in my spirits quite f-failed. You see, my M-mama has not the smallest n-notion of my being here. But I couldn’t think of anything else to do.’ She gripped her hands together, and drew a deep breath. ‘It is because of L-Lizzie – my sister. You have offered for her, haven’t you?’
Slightly taken aback, the Earl bowed. Horatia said in a rush: ‘C-could you – would you m-mind very much – having m-me instead?’