‘Oh!’ said Cressy doubtfully. ‘I see. That is, – yes, of course!’
‘I should perhaps explain to you,’ said Kit, in a kind voice, ‘that when Mama staked this bauble, for a cool monkey, she had forgotten that it was merely a copy of one of the pieces she sold years ago.’ He added, as she gasped: ‘But pray don’t think that Evelyn went off to Brighton so hurriedly at her instigation! Nothing could be farther from the truth! She considers that to redeem, for the sum of £500, a brooch worth only a few guineas is grossly improvident.’
Cressy struggled with herself for a desperate moment, but her feelings overcame her, and she went into a peal of mirth. ‘Of course she does! I can almost hear her saying it! Oh, was there ever anyone so absurd and enchanting as Godmama?’
‘Let me tell you, Miss Stavely,’ said Kit severely, ‘that this is not a diverting story! Are you ever serious?’
‘Yes, in my own home. Amongst the Fancots, never! No one could be! I have had a – a bubble of laughter inside me ever since I came to Ravenhurst, and you have no idea how much I enjoy it! And when I recall that Godmama told me once that you are the sober twin, and think of this crazy masquerade –’
‘But it is perfectly true!’ he assured her. ‘I am the sober twin! Mama would tell you that I am becoming prim and prosy, in fact, like my Uncle Brumby! The thing was, you see, that I couldn’t help myself: what else could I do than help Evelyn out of a scrape?’
There was a warm twinkle in her eyes, but she responded gravely: ‘Naturally you were obliged to do it. And did he recover the brooch?’
‘We don’t know. He certainly went to Brighton, and as certainly returned here, for one night. He then sent Challow off to Hill Street, with all but his nightbag, saying that he would follow him within the next two days. He left Ravenhurst for an unknown destination, driving himself in his phaeton – and that is the last anyone has heard of him.’
She was startled, and exclaimed: ‘Good God, what can have happened to him? Can you discover no trace?’
‘I haven’t tried to. When I came here it was with the intention of searching for him, not realizing what Challow lost no time in pointing out to me: that I’m hamstrung! So are we all. How can any of us set inquiries afoot for Evelyn while I am believed to be Evelyn?’
‘I hadn’t thought of that. But is there nothing to be done?’
‘Nothing that I can think of. I hoped I might be able perhaps to discover some clues from Mrs Alperton, but that scent was false, and leads only to Tunbridge Wells, where Challow has already hunted for him. Cressy, I haven’t thanked you for rescuing me from that harpy! I don’t know what I should have done if you hadn’t intervened – though I wouldn’t have exposed you to such a scene for the world! What made you come into the room?’
‘Well, I heard her ranting at you. I own, I suspected something of the sort when Norton looked so meaningly at you, and was so insistent that he must speak to you alone!’
‘Good God! Did you?’ he explained, surprised.
She smiled faintly. ‘Why, yes! I’m not quite without experience, you see. Oh, I don’t mean that I have associated with women like Mrs Alperton – though I did once have an encounter with a – a lady of easy virtue! But that was quite by accident, and Papa never knew anything about it. The thing was that when my mother died Papa wouldn’t permit any of my aunts to take charge of me, because he had always been so fond of me, and we were such good friends, ever since I can remember. So I stayed in Mount Street, with Miss Yate, who was my governess, and the dearest creature; and as soon as I was sixteen I came out of the schoolroom, and managed things, and looked after Papa – keeping him company, when he was at home, and comfortable, which he wasn’t, after Mama died. So I pretty soon grew to know about – oh, the things girls don’t, in general, know!’ She laughed suddenly. ‘If I had been the greatest nickninny alive, I must have guessed, from the veiled warnings of my aunts, that Papa’s way of life was not – not perfectly respectable! I believe they thought that he might, at any moment, instal one of his fancies in Mount Street! Grandmama knew better, and was a great deal more blunt, when she explained matters to me, and told me how very improperly gentlemen of even the first consideration too often conduct themselves, and exactly how a lady of quality should behave in all circumstances – however mortifying these might be! I must own,’ she added reflectively, ‘that it gave me a very poor notion of my grandfather! And although I dearly love Papa I do know now why my mother was subject to fits of dejection, and – and I would prefer not to be married to anyone of a rakish disposition!’
‘That’s dished me!’ observed Kit despondently.
‘Yes, I was afraid you’d be sadly cast down!’ she retorted. Her eyes narrowed in amusement. ‘I wish you might have seen your own face, when I came into the room! Did you think I might add to the confusion by falling into a fit of the vapours?’
‘Not quite that,’ he answered, smiling, ‘but I did think you must be very much shocked.’
‘Oh, no! I knew that Denville had been a trifle in what Papa calls the petticoat line! What I did feel was that since you were not Denville you might very easily have found yourself in a fix –’
‘Which I most certainly did!’ he interjected.
She smiled at him, and said, quoting his own words: ‘So what could I do but help you out of a scrape?’
He caught her hand to his lips. ‘Oh, Cressy, you are such a darling!’ he told her. ‘Don’t think badly of my twin! I know it must seem as though he’s a shocking loose-screw, but I promise you he’s not!’
‘No, of course he’s not! You can’t suppose that I believed the fustian nonsense Mrs Alperton talked, about his leaving Clara to starve! As for his having seduced her, I should think it very much more likely that it was Clara who seduced him! Kit, I know it is most improper of me to ask you, but who was the Marquis?’
‘My dear, I haven’t the least notion, and dared not inquire! I only know that he provided her with outriders, and stocked her cellars with wine from his own.’
‘And a carriage drawn by cream-coloured horses! I did venture to inquire, but she said he was a Duke now, and turned respectable, and that she bore him no grudge, and so wouldn’t take his character away.’
‘What a pity! I daresay we shall never know now.’ He sat frowning for a moment or two. ‘I wonder if Evelyn did go after Silverdale? He has a place somewhere in the north, I collect. No, I don’t think he would have done so without telling Mama.’
‘He didn’t. Sir Bonamy was talking about Silverdale yesterday, to Mr Cliffe – that is to say, he was talking about Brighton, and the people staying at the Pavilion. He mentioned Lord Silverdale: I heard him. Kit, cannot you think of any place where Denville might be? I do feel you ought to make a push to discover what has happened to him. You can’t maintain this hoax for ever!’
‘Oh, I shan’t be obliged to!’ he replied. ‘He’ll come back! Yes, I know it must seem odd in me not to be in flat despair: I think so myself, whenever I consider every appalling possibility; but I find, after conjuring up nightmares, that I don’t believe one of ’em. Evelyn could not be dead, or in distress, and I not know it. And when he does come – Lord, we shall still be in the suds! This is the very devil of a hobble, Cressy!’
‘But why? Of course it is bound to be a little awkward, but must it be so very bad? No announcement of my engagement to Denville has been made, and that horrid piece of printed gossip might just as well refer to you as Denville. Surely we must be able to contrive so that only our families need ever know that Denville made me an offer? Or if not that – I was forgetting that unfortunate dinner-party – at least my aunts and uncles need never know that you played that hoax on us all. We can tell the truth: that I met you, and found I liked you better!’
He smiled a little, but shook his head. ‘That’s not it. We are deeper in the suds than I think you know, lov
e. Even assuming that your father would give his consent –’
‘He will: Albinia will take good care of that!’
‘I daren’t assume so much. He must think me a poor exchange for Evelyn! I have neither his title nor his possessions, remember! His fortune is handsome; mine is merely genteel!’
‘Well, Papa can scarcely take exception to that, for my fortune is merely genteel too. Of course, he may be disappointed when he learns that I am not going to be a Countess after all, so let us immediately decide what title you mean to adopt when you are raised to the peerage, like your uncle! That should reconcile him, don’t you think?’
‘To be honest with you,’ he said apologetically, ‘no, I don’t! I can’t help feeling that he might even doubt my ability to achieve such a distinction.’
‘Papa is not very clever, but he’s not such a goose as that! You may not be as wealthy as Denville, but I haven’t the shadow of a doubt that you will make a much greater mark in the world than he will. Perhaps I ought to tell you that in preferring your suit to his I am governed by ambition. You, in course of time, will become the Secretary for Foreign Affairs –’
‘In a year or two!’ interpolated Mr Fancot affably.
Her lips quivered, but she continued smoothly: ‘– and I shall go down to history as a great political hostess!’
‘That’s much easier to picture! Do you think you could be serious for a few moments, little love?’
She folded her hands demurely in her lap. ‘I’ll try, sir!’ Then she saw that although he smiled there was trouble behind the smile, and she became grave at once, unfolding her hands to tuck one into his, warmly clasping it. ‘Tell me!’
His long fingers closed over her hand, but he did not immediately answer her. When he did speak it was to ask her an abrupt question. ‘What did Evelyn tell you, Cressy? You said that he had been very frank with you: how frank?’
‘Perfectly, I believe. I liked him for it – for not pretending that he had fallen in love with me, which I knew he had not. He did it charmingly, too! Well, you know his engaging way! He explained to me how uncomfortably he was circumstanced, and that Lord Brumby would wind up the Trust if he entered into a suitable marriage. I thought it very understandable that his present situation should chafe him beyond bearing.’
‘That was all he told you?’
‘Why, yes! Was there some other reason?’
‘Not precisely. His object was certainly to wind up that confounded Trust, which has irked him more than I guessed. But I know him, Cressy! – oh, as I know myself! – and I am very certain that he would never have proposed such a cold-blooded marriage merely to rid himself of shackles which fretted him. As I understand the matter, he was forced into this by the urgent need to get possession of his principal.’
‘Do you mean that he is in debt?’ she asked, considerably surprised. ‘Surely you must be mistaken! I had thought, from what Papa told me, that the income he enjoys is very large indeed? Could he have run so deep into debt that he must broach his principal?’
He shook his head. ‘No. Not Evelyn: Mama!’
She gave a gasp, but said quickly: ‘Oh, poor Lady Denville! Yes, I see – of course I see! I should have known – that is, – Pardon me, but I have heard gossip! I discounted the better part of it. You must be as well acquainted with tattle-boxes as I am! Detestable creatures! I was aware too, that Godmama was – was a little afraid of Lord Denville; and of course I know that she is amazingly expensive! She told me herself that she was so monstrously in the wind that her case was desperate – but in such a droll way that I thought she was funning. And when your father died I supposed – I don’t know why – that her affairs had been settled.’
‘They were not. In justice to my father, I believe he didn’t know in what case they stood. She never told him the whole – dared not! The blame for that must lie at his door!’
‘Indeed it must!’ she said warmly. ‘Pray tell me the whole! You may trust me, I promise you! I love her too, remember! Is it very bad?’
‘Do you think I would have breathed one word of this to you if I didn’t trust you? I do, most implicitly, but I can’t tell you how bad it may be until I’ve seen Evelyn. It would be useless to try to discover the answer from poor Mama, for I don’t think she has the smallest notion how much she owes. It’s plain enough it must be a larger sum than any of us suspected.’
She said diffidently: ‘Would not Lord Brumby see the propriety of discharging her debts?’
‘Yes, I think he would, but –’ He paused, frowning. ‘That was the thought that occurred to me. Not that she should have applied to my uncle, but that Evelyn might do so. But something she said to me – my uncle does not like her, you know – made me realize why Evelyn would not do that – or I either! It would be a betrayal.’ He glanced up, with a twisted smile. ‘We couldn’t do it, you see. She would never betray us, and – well, we love her dearly! So you see why I said we are in the suds.’
She nodded. ‘Very clearly! It is most awkward, and I don’t immediately perceive by what means we are to come about. Unless your brother would consent to offer for some other eligible female?’
‘That’s the only solution I can think of,’ he admitted. ‘Unfortunately, my dear, you are, in my uncle’s eyes, the most eligible of all females! He certainly knew that Evelyn meant to offer for you, and it may well be that Evelyn, or Mama, told him that he had done so, and had been accepted – subject to your grandmother’s approval! Whatever his opinion of Evelyn may be, he’s very full of starch, you know, and would find it impossible to believe that she would not approve of a marriage with the head of his house! He would be far more likely to think Evelyn incurably volatile, and by no means to be trusted with the control of his fortune. And even if he could be won over – No, I’ll have no hand in thrusting my twin into a marriage of convenience! I wouldn’t have furthered his engagement to you if I hadn’t known he was committed already. So – so there we are, my darling! At Point Non-Plus!’
She nodded, and sat thinking, quite as troubled as he was. After a pause, she turned her eyes towards him, and said: ‘You can do nothing till Evelyn comes back, can you? I understand that. And then?’
‘Between us we must be able to come about. If I knew just how badly scorched Mama is – but even if I did I couldn’t turn tail at this stage! Only think what a dust there would be if I were suddenly to announce that all this time I’d been hoaxing everyone! I can readily imagine your grandmother’s delight at receiving such tidings: I should be ruining myself as well as Evelyn!’
‘You might,’ she conceded. ‘One never knows, with Grandmama. She likes you, so that it’s possible she would think it a very good joke. She will have to know the truth in the end, after all!’
‘Yes, but not until Evelyn is here to explain why he was compelled – as I know he must have been – to behave so abominably.’
She thought this over. ‘No. I was wondering if we might not make up some tale – but we should very likely be bowled out if we did. And I can’t help feeling that it would be very much better if the Cliffes never do know that they were hoaxed.’
‘Very much better! And how they are to be got rid of presents us with another problem. I have an uneasy suspicion that they mean to spend the rest of the summer at Ravenhurst.’
She laughed. ‘Yes, but I am very sure Godmama won’t allow them to do so! Kit, how many persons know the truth?’
‘Besides those I’ve mentioned, only my old nurse, and Ripple. What made you find me out? Did I betray myself? Ripple, who has known me all my life, wouldn’t have done so if I hadn’t done something he knew Evelyn would never do.’
‘Oh, no! You didn’t betray yourself in any way you could help. I hardly know how it was – except that you are not quite like Evelyn, however much you appear to be his image. It puzzled me, when I first met you, but I thought yo
u were perhaps a man of several moods. I might not have found you out if I hadn’t seen that portrait, and if I hadn’t been present when Godmama started to say Kit, and changed it suddenly to Kind Evelyn!’
‘I thought you hadn’t noticed that slip. I yield to none in my devotion to Mama, but a more caper-witted creature I hope I may never encounter! Let me tell you, my love, that her latest brilliant notion – a gem of high value, this one! – is that if Evelyn should suddenly return to us he must pretend to be me!’
That sent her off into another fit of laughter. ‘Oh, she is so superb! Do you mean to tell her about this? I think we should, don’t you?’
‘No – emphatically!’ said Kit, drawing her back into his arm. ‘We’ll keep our secret until Evelyn comes home!’
Fourteen
The following day was not destined to be ranked amongst Mr Fancot’s happier memories. It included a picnic, arranged by Lady Denville for the entertainment of Cressy, Ambrose, the young Thatchams, the Vicar’s elder daughter, and Kit himself; a singularly unsuccessful dinner-party; and a letter from Lord Brumby.
This was addressed to Evelyn, and it did nothing to raise Kit’s hopes of being able to solve the problem which had kept him awake for a considerable part of the night. It was written in an amicable spirit, but it made Kit’s heart sink. Lord Brumby had seen the paragraph in the Morning Post, and, while he expressed himself austerely on the impropriety of it, he was glad to learn from it that his nephew’s affairs were prospering so well. He had received from his old friend, Stavely, a gratifying account of the excellent impression Evelyn had made in Mount Street; and he entertained no doubt that this must be strengthened during Miss Stavely’s stay at Ravenhurst. His congratulations might be premature, but he believed he need not hesitate to offer them, since it would be strange indeed if his dear Denville, who (as he was well aware), possessed the gift of being able to make himself very agreeable, when he chose to do so (underscored), should fail to win a lady already favourably disposed towards his suit.