As usual, he was richly, if somewhat negligently dressed. Miss Challoner, incurably neat, wondered that a carelessly tied cravat and unpowdered hair could so well become a man. Not a doubt but that the Marquis had an air.
Sophia was blushing and peeping through her eyelashes. His lordship possessed himself of her hand, kissed it, and placed it on his arm.
‘Oh, my lord!’ Sophia murmured, casting down her eyes.
His smile was indulgent. ‘Well, child, what?’ he said.
‘I did not think to meet you,’ Sophia explained, for her sister’s benefit.
The Marquis pinched her chin. ‘You’ve a short memory, my love.’
Miss Challoner with difficulty suppressed a chuckle. My lord disdained the art of dissimulation, did he? Faith, one could not help liking the creature.
‘Indeed, I don’t know what you mean,’ Sophia pouted. ‘We came expressly to meet Eliza Matcham and her brother. I wonder where they can be got to?’
‘Confess you came to meet me!’ the Marquis said. ‘What, was I really forgotten?’
There was a toss of the head for this. ‘La, do you suppose I think of you all day long, sir?’
‘Egad, I hoped I had a place in your memory.’ Miss Challoner broke in on them. ‘I think I have just seen Miss Matcham cross the end of this walk,’ she remarked.
His lordship glanced down at her impatiently, but Sophia said at once: ‘Oh, where? I would not miss her for the world!’
Miss Matcham, with her brother James, was soon overtaken, and Miss Challoner at once perceived that their mission was to engage her in talk while the Marquis and Sophia lost themselves. This friendly office was frustrated by the exasperating behaviour to their quarry, who refused to be separated from her sister.
Since neither the Marquis nor Sophia put themselves to the trouble of including her in their conversation, and Miss Matcham was wholly engaged in keeping the hem of her muslin gown from getting wet on the grass, she had ample opportunity to observe her sister’s lover. A very little time was enough to convince her that love, as she understood it, was felt by neither. Her sister, she thought, would bore his lordship in a week, and as she listened to him, and watched him, she found herself wondering again how Sophia could imagine that he felt any more than a passing fancy for her. Certainly he wanted the chit; he was of the type that would go to any lengths to get what he wanted, and, unless she was much mistaken, Miss Challoner was sure that once the prize was won, he would cease to desire it. Then woe betide Sophia with her artless ideas of shaming him into marriage. Why, thought Mary, one could never shame my Lord Vidal, because he did not care what was said of him, and had already given the world to understand, beyond possibility of mistake, that he would do exactly as he pleased on every occasion. Scandal! Mary almost laughed aloud. Lord, he would carry off anything with that insolent high-bred manner of his, while as for being afraid of public opinion, he’d raise those black brows of his in faint surprise at such a notion.
These reflections occupied her mind till the expedition broke up. From something the Marquis said to Sophia in a low voice at parting she gathered that a future assignation had been made, but Sophia did not tell her where it was to be. Her smiles vanished with the Marquis, and on the way home she complained ceaselessly of her sister’s lack of tact in remaining at her side all the morning.
As for the Marquis, finding himself with time on his hands, he strolled round to Half Moon Street to visit the most congenial of his relatives.
Although it was past noon, he found this worthy still attired in a dressing-gown, and without his wig. The remains of breakfast stood upon the table, but my Lord Rupert Alastair seemed to have finished this repast, and was smoking a long pipe, and reading his letters. He looked up as the door opened, and made a grab at his wig, which lay conveniently on the sofa beside him, but when he saw his nephew he relaxed again.
‘Oh, it’s you, is it?’ he said. ‘Here, what the devil do you make of this?’ He tossed over the sheet of paper he had been perusing, and tore open another of his letters.
Vidal laid down his hat and cane and came to the fire, running his eye over the note he held. He grinned. ‘Ain’t it plain enough, O my uncle? Mr Tremlowe would be gratified by the payment of his bill. Who the devil’s Mr Tremlowe?’
‘Damned barber,’ growled Lord Rupert. ‘What’s he say I owe him?’
The Marquis read out a startling total.
‘Pack of lies,’ said Lord Rupert. ‘Never saw so much money all at once in all my life. Damme, what have I had from him? Nothing at all! A couple of wigs (a Crutch and a She-dragon, and I never wore the Crutch) and maybe a bottle of Pomatum. Blister it, does the fellow think I’m going to pay him?’
The question was purely rhetorical, but the Marquis said: ‘How long has he known you, Rupert?’
‘Lord, all my life, curse his impudence!’
‘Then I don’t suppose he does,’ said Vidal calmly.
Lord Rupert pointed the stem of his pipe at Mr Tremlowe’s missive. ‘I’ll tell you what it is, my boy. The fellow’s dunning me. Put it in the fire.’
The Marquis obeyed without the slightest hesitation. Lord Rupert was scanning another sheet of paper. ‘Here’s another,’ he exclaimed. It went the way of the first. ‘Never see anything but bills!’ he said. ‘What’s your post bring you, Vidal?’
‘Love letters,’ promptly replied his lordship.
‘Young dog,’ chuckled his uncle. He disposed of the rest of his correspondence, and suddenly became solemn. ‘I’d something to say to you. Now what the plague was it?’ He shook his head. ‘Gone clean out of my head. Which reminds me, my boy, I’ve a piece of advice to give you. I was dining with Ponsonby last night, and he said you was bound to him for Friday next.’
‘Oh, God, am I?’ said the Marquis wearily.
‘Don’t touch the brandy!’ his uncle adjured him. ‘The burgundy’s well enough, and you can swallow the port, but the brandy’s devilish bad.’
‘Give you a head, Rupert?’ inquired his lordship solicitously.
‘Worst I’ve had in years,’ declared Lord Rupert. He stretched his long legs out before him, and lay looking up somewhat owlishly at his nephew. It seemed to dawn on him that the hour was an unusually early one for the Marquis to be abroad. ‘What brings you here?’ he asked suspiciously. ‘If you want to borrow money, Vidal, I tell you plainly, I’m cleaned out. Lost a milleleva last night. Never seen anything like the run of the luck. Bank’s won for weeks. Burn it, I believe I’ll give up pharaoh and take to whist.’
Vidal leaned his shoulders against the mantelpiece, and thrust his hands deep into his pockets. ‘I never pursue forlorn hopes, uncle,’ he said sweetly. ‘I’ve come for the pleasure of seeing you. Can you doubt it?’
His lordship shot out a hand. ‘Now don’t do that, my boy!’ he said. ‘Damme, when you start talking like Avon I’m off ! If you’ve not come to borrow money –’
‘Boot’s on the other leg,’ interrupted the Marquis.
Lord Rupert’s jaw dropped. ‘Ecod, was it you lent me five hundred pounds last month? When did I say I’d pay?’
‘Judgment Day, belike,’ said his undutiful nephew.
Lord Rupert shook his head. ‘Won’t be before, if the luck don’t turn soon,’ he agreed gloomily. ‘If you stand in need of it, my boy, I might ask Avon for a trifle.’
‘Lord, I could ask him myself, couldn’t I?’ the Marquis said.
‘Well, I don’t mind telling you, Vidal, that’s a thing I don’t do till the tipstaffs are after me,’ confessed Rupert. ‘I’m not saying Avon’s mean, but he’s devilish unpleasant over these little affairs.’
The Marquis glanced down at him with a glint in his eyes. ‘Sir, I am constrained to remind you that his grace has the honour to be my sire.’
‘Don’t do it,’ roared
his uncle. ‘Look’ee, Vidal, if you’re going to look down your nose, and turn into the living spit of Justin, you’ve one friend the less. I’m done with you.’
‘My God, could I survive?’ mocked the Marquis.
Lord Rupert started to get up, but was thrust back again. ‘Easy now,’ said his nephew. ‘I’ve done.’
Rupert relaxed again. ‘Y’know, you’ll have to watch it, Dominic,’ he said severely. ‘One in the family’s too much already. Avon’s got a damned nasty way with him, and if you fall into it you’ll find yourself with a whole pack of enemies.’ He stopped and scratched his head. ‘Not but what you’ve got them already, ha’n’t you?’
Vidal shrugged. ‘I dare say,’ he replied indifferently. ‘I don’t lose sleep over them.’
‘Cool fish, ain’t you?’ said Rupert, eyeing him. ‘Ever let anything trouble you?’ The Marquis yawned. ‘I’ve never found anything worth troubling over.’
‘H’m! Not even women?’
The thin lips curled. ‘Least of all women.’
Lord Rupert looked solemn. ‘Won’t do, y’know. Must care about something, Dominic.’
‘Sermon, uncle?’
‘Advice, my boy. Damn it, there’s something wrong with you, so there is! Never see you but what you’re after some wench or other, and the devil’s in it you don’t care for one of ’em –’ He broke off and clapped a hand to his brow. ‘That’s got it!’ he exclaimed. ‘Put me in mind of what I had to say to you!’
‘Oh?’ A faint interest sounded in Vidal’s voice. ‘Have you found a charmer, Rupert? At your age, too!’
‘Fiend seize it! D’you think I’m in my dotage!’ said his lordship indignantly. ‘But that’s not it. This is serious, Dominic. Where’s the burgundy? Take a drop, my boy; it won’t do you a mite of harm.’ He picked up the bottle, and poured out two glasses. ‘Ay, it’s serious this time, I warn you – What do you think of the wine? Not so bad, eh? Forget where I got it.’
‘It’s good,’ said the Marquis positively, and poured out two more glasses. ‘You had it from my cellar.’
‘Did I so? I’ll say this for you, Vidal, you’ve inherited your father’s palate. It’s the best thing I know of either of you.’
The Marquis bowed. ‘We thank you. What’s your serious warning?’
‘I’m just about to tell you, aren’t I? Don’t keep breaking in, my boy; it’s a devilish bad habit.’ He drained his glass, and set it down. ‘That’s cleared my head a trifle. It’s that yellow-headed chit, Dominic. Filly you had on your arm at Vauxhall Gardens t’other night. Can’t remember her name.’
‘Well?’ said his lordship.
Rupert reached out a long arm for the bottle. ‘Avon’s got wind of her.’
‘Well?’
Rupert turned his head to look at him. ‘Don’t keep on saying “Well,” burn you!’ he said testily. ‘I’m telling you Avon’s heard things, and he ain’t pleased.’
‘Do you expect me to break out in a sweat?’ asked Vidal. ‘Of course my father knows. It’s a habit with him.’
‘And a damned bad habit, too,’ said Rupert feelingly. ‘You know your own business best, or, at any rate, you think you do, but if you take my advice, you’ll go easy with – what in hell’s the girl’s name?’
‘You can pass over her name.’
‘No, I can’t,’ contradicted Rupert. ‘I can’t go on calling her girl, filly, chit, yaller-head; it throws me out.’
‘Just as you please,’ yawned Vidal. ‘You’ll forget it in five minutes. Sophia.’
‘That’s it,’ nodded my lord. ‘Never could stand the name since I got entangled with a widow called Sophia. D’you know, boy, that woman well-nigh married me?’
‘That wasn’t Sophia,’ objected Vidal. ‘That was Maria Hiscock.’
‘No, no, that’s a different one,’ said Rupert impatiently. ‘Sophia was years before your time. And she devilish nearly had me. You be warned, Dominic.’
‘You are kindness itself,’ answered Vidal politely. ‘I can only repeat what I seem to have said already several times; I do not at this present contemplate marriage.’
‘But ain’t this Sophia a thought different from the others?’ asked his lordship curiously. ‘Daughter of a cit? Lay you odds you stir up trouble there.’
‘Not I. If it were the sister now – !’ Vidal gave a short laugh. ‘That’s one of those enemies of mine you spoke of, or I’m much mistaken.’
‘Didn’t see the sister, did I? The mother will do what she can to see you tied up in wedlock. ’Pon my soul, if I ever set eyes on a worse harpy!’
‘And the sister would send me to the devil,’ Vidal said. ‘I don’t please Miss Prunes and Prisms.’
Lord Rupert cocked an eyebrow. ‘Don’t you, begad? And does she please you?’
‘Good God, no! We don’t deal together. She’d spoil sport if she could.’ He showed his teeth in a rather saturnine smile. ‘Well, if she chooses to cross swords with me, she’ll maybe learn something in the encounter.’ He picked up his hat and cane, and strolled to the door. ‘I’ll leave you, beloved. You’re becoming damned moral, you know.’ He went out and the door shut behind him before Lord Rupert, astonished and indignant at the charge, could think of a suitable reply.
Four
My Lord Carlisle having discovered that his sedate protégé had an incongruous passion for gambling, thought he could do no better for him than to introduce him to the newest of the hells. The young man seemed to have plenty of money at his command, and if he chose to lose it over the dice, it was no business of my lord’s. Of late Mr Comyn’s face had worn a very serious expression, and my lord had no hesitation in laying this at Miss Marling’s door, that sprightly damsel having been bundled off to Paris in charge of her brother.
‘Hang all women!’ Carlisle said blithely. ‘Why, man, there’s not one worth the half of these glum looks of yours.’ Mr Comyn eyed him calmly. ‘You are merry, sir, but you mistake,’ he said politely. ‘I believe I have a natural gravity which perhaps misleads you.’
‘Devil a bit,’ said his lordship. ‘I know all about you, my friend. Gone to France, hasn’t she? I see young Marling’s back again.’
Mr Comyn compressed his lips. My lord laughed. ‘Don’t like him, do you? Well, it’s a dull dog.’ He clapped Mr Comyn on the shoulder. ‘You’ll forget the fair Juliana over a bottle. Tell you what, I’ll take you to Timothy’s.’
‘I shall be happy to accompany your lordship,’ bowed Mr Comyn.
‘You’re not in society until you’ve crossed that threshold,’ Carlisle went on. ‘It’s the newest of the hells. Vidal and Fox made it the fashion. The play’s high; you’re not the man to mind that, I take it. All the same,’ he added thoughtfully, ‘I’d not play at Vidal’s table if I were you. The pace he sets is a trifle too hot for most of us. Don’t know if you’ve run across the Devil’s Cub yet?’
‘I had the honour of meeting his lordship at the drum last week,’ said Mr Comyn. ‘I shall be happy to renew my acquaintance with him.’
Carlisle stared. ‘Will you, by gad?’ he said.
Timothy’s was a discreet-looking establishment in a street off St James’s. An unobtrusive individual, casually strolling up and down the road, was pointed out to Mr Comyn as the orderly-man, engaged to give warning if any constables approached. The windows were thickly curtained, but when a funereally clad porter admitted my Lord Carlisle and his protégé, Mr Comyn fairly blinked at the blaze of lights within the house. The porter, who was clothed in black, rather startled him, but on the way upstairs my lord explained that this sombre livery was a whim of Mr Fox’s, who was given to such conceits.
‘Surely, sir, Mr Fox is not the owner of a gaming-house?’ said Mr Comyn, greatly surprised.
‘Oh no, but he’s Vidal’s crony, and Timothy, so
I’m told, was in the Duke of Avon’s employ until he discovered in himself a genius for this sort of thing. Thus, you see, what Vidal or his intimates want is all that signifies to Master Timothy.’
They had reached the head of the stairway, and Lord Carlisle led the way into the first of the gaming-rooms. It was somewhat crowded, and was apparently given over to pharaoh and deep basset.
My lord passed through it, exchanging a greeting here and there, and led Mr Comyn through an archway into a second and smaller apartment. The rattle of dice sounded here, and Mr Comyn’s eye brightened. There was only one table, and that occupied the centre of the room, and was surrounded by a fair number of onlookers.
‘H’m! Vidal’s bank,’ grunted Carlisle. ‘Shouldn’t play if I were you!’
Mr Comyn perceived my Lord Vidal at the end of the table, a glass at his elbow. His cravat was loosened, and a strand of lightly-powdered hair had escaped the riband that tied it in his neck. He wore a coat of purple velvet, heavily laced, and a flowered waistcoat, one or two of the buttons of which had come undone. He looked pale in the candle-light, and rather more dissipated than usual. He glanced up as Mr Comyn drew near the table, but his eyes, which seemed unusually brilliant, betrayed no recognition.
Carlisle tugged at Mr Comyn’s sleeve. ‘Better play pharaoh,’ he muttered under his breath. ‘Vidal’s in a wild humour by the look of it. See who’s at the table? Oh! you wouldn’t know! Fellow beside Jack Bowling – red-faced fellow in a bag-wig. His name’s Quarles. There’s something of a bone lies between him and the Cub. There’ll be trouble before the morning. Best out of it.’
Mr Comyn regarded the red-faced gentleman with interest. ‘But I hardly suppose, my lord, that I could be concerned in the trouble,’ he said precisely.
‘Oh lord, no! Just some pother over a wench that Vidal snapped from under Quarles’s nose.’
‘I apprehend,’ said Mr Comyn, ‘that most of my Lord Vidal’s quarrels owe their existence to a female.’