The Loving Spirit Page 16

  ‘I can’t wait for my ball, and my court presentation,’ Charmaine said excitedly. ‘Oh, you should see my court dress. It’s going to be so magnificent.’

  Kate asked some polite questions about her activities, and in this way they covered the gap until they could all go to bed. As they climbed the stairs, everyone felt that the meeting had gone better than it might have done. Everyone, that is, except Charmaine, who noticed nothing except what affected herself.

  Chapter Nine

  Breakfast, next morning, was interrupted by the delivery of a note to Justin, who read it with surprise and very little pleasure.

  ‘Lady Havering announces that she will visit us this morning,’ he said.

  ‘I didn’t know the duchess was in London,’ Millicent observed. ‘She has left no cards.’

  ‘My grandmother is a law unto herself,’ Justin said wryly. ‘She declares her intentions and everyone is expected to comply. We shall all have to be here.’

  ‘But I can’t,’ Charmaine objected. ‘I have a fitting for my court dress this morning.’

  ‘I’m afraid it will have to be postponed,’ Justin said.

  Before Charmaine could protest, Millicent said sweetly, ‘Of course, nothing is too much trouble for the dear duchess.’

  ‘My mother was her daughter,’ Justin explained to Kate. ‘She’s very old now and hardly ever leaves the country.’

  ‘Such a very great lady,’ Millicent said. ‘The highest possible stickler on all matters of etiquette and good ton. Charmaine, my dear, you must be on your very best behaviour. If the duchess were to decide that you were ‘not quite the thing’ you would be finished in society before you had properly begun. Her visit is an honour that we must all appreciate.’

  ‘She would be delighted to hear you say so,’ Justin declared drily. ‘I believe her greatest pleasure in life is terrifying her relatives.’

  Millicent smiled at Kate. ‘You mustn’t be too upset if she snubs you. It’s her way.’

  ‘Never fear,’ Justin said quickly. ‘I’ll draw her fire. She’s snubbed me more often than I can remember.’

  Kate had detected Millicent’s sly pleasure and guessed that this formidable woman was descending on them to meet the jumped-up governess, with the intention of pronouncing her ‘not quite the thing’. She would face her bravely, but in this society full of subtle nuances, there was only so much that courage alone could achieve.

  Halfway through the morning a magnificent, ancient carriage, bearing a ducal coat of arms on the panel, drew up outside. It was accompanied by postillions and outriders, as though the occupant feared to be robbed by footpads during the journey of five streets. Two powdered footmen rode behind, one of whom descended to let down the steps and open the door.

  A claw-like hand reached out to rest on the footman’s arm. Then a tall woman, so old as to appear timeless, appeared and slowly stepped down. Kate was beside Justin in the hall as the front door was opened, and the butler announced Her Grace, the Duchess of Havering.

  Justin welcomed his grandmother with quiet affection, and was greeted with the words, ‘I hope you haven’t come to London smelling of the stable.’

  ‘No, ma’am,’ he said, smiling.

  Lady Havering’s acknowledgement of Kate was civil enough, but she regarded her through her lorgnette with eyes that missed nothing.

  Millicent simpered forward. ‘Had I known you were in London, duchess, I should have called on you before this.’

  ‘Had I wished you to call I would have informed you I was in London,’ Lady Havering declared bluntly.

  Kate actually felt sorry for Millicent. And soon it would be her turn.

  When Charmaine had dropped a modest curtsy and been looked up and down until she was out of countenance, they all proceeded to the library for the ceremonious consumption of sherry.

  ‘So you’re Justin’s wife,’ Lady Havering said suddenly, and it seemed to Kate that the word ‘wife’ cut like a whiplash. ‘I’ve heard a good deal about you, one way and another.’

  ‘The circumstances were unusual,’ Millicent hastened to say. ‘And in such cases I’m afraid malicious tongues...’

  ‘I didn’t say what I’d heard,’ Lady Havering interrupted her. ‘You’d better go, Millicent, you give me the fidgets. Go on, all of you, go. You, too, Justin. Don’t stand there looking like a bear in a glass-house.’

  ‘You make me feel like one, ma’am,’ he replied with a grin. ‘Kate, will you be all right?’

  ‘Of course she will,’ the duchess said at once. ‘I’m not an ogre. Besides, she don’t look like she’s scared of much. Are you?’ The last two words were rapped out suddenly.

  `No, ma’am,’ Kate responded quickly.

  When they were alone, Lady Havering raised her lorgnette again and stared at Kate frankly.

  ‘Very well,’ she said at last. ‘Tell me how you came to marry my grandson within hours of his wife’s death. I’ve heard it from others; now I’ll hear it from you.’

  Under this blunt treatment Kate relaxed. The duchess was fearsome but not in the lofty way she’d dreaded. Simply and clearly she told the story of her strange wedding.

  ‘She was as dear to me as a sister, and this was the first thing she’d ever asked of me after all her years of kindness,’ she said. ‘She was dying. How could I refuse?’

  ‘Would you have refused if you could?’

  ‘Well, at that time I didn’t like...’ She stopped.

  ‘Didn’t like him, eh? I don’t blame you. He’s not an easy man. He’s had a cruel life. Grace was my daughter and I loved her, but she was a selfish, greedy woman, a bad wife and a neglectful mother. She twisted Justin’s nature out of its true shape. It’s only consideration for me that makes him keep her portrait in place on the stairs.’ The old woman sighed. ‘They say she died of smallpox. She didn’t. She died of disease brought on by her excesses. Let her go. There’s nothing more to be said about her.’

  She gave a sigh, looking suddenly very tired, but before Kate could say a word she sat upright again and barked out, ‘So you’re ‘My dear Kate’.’

  ‘I...beg your pardon, ma’am?’

  ‘That was what Amelia called you. I loved Amelia. We corresponded, and she often mentioned you. You’re everything she said you’d be. So, you kept faith with her to the end, eh?’

  ‘Yes, ma’am.’

  ‘Good. And she wanted the marriage to protect her children from Millicent. Very sensible of her. Amelia wasn’t bookish, but she was no fool about people. So now, how do you and Millicent deal together?’

  ‘I think she has trouble accepting me,’ Kate said, choosing her words carefully.

  ‘I dare say? She’s a remarkably silly woman, but she knows her way around in society and you can safely leave Charmaine’s come out to her. But don’t let her squash you. Take your own place in society.’

  ‘I think that will be a very retiring place, ma’am.’

  ‘Stuff and nonsense! You are Lady Farringdon. Act like it!’ She rang a small bell on a table beside her, and when the footman appeared she commanded him to fetch the others.

  When everyone had assembled the duchess handed down her opinion from on high.

  ‘Your wife will do very well, Justin, although she’ll need a little instruction before she can be presented at court.’

  ‘Presented at court?’ Millicent echoed, and Kate could see that she was drawing on all her reserves of artifice not to let her anger show. ‘I’m sure dear Kate has no thought of...’

  ‘What Kate thinks or don’t think is of no account. I’m telling you what I consider appropriate for this family and I will be attended to. Justin, I expect you to agree with me.’

  ‘I should never dare do otherwise, ma’am,’ he assured her. ‘My wife’s debut in society will be performed even to your exacting standards.’

  Kate laid a hand on his arm. ‘But Justin, I really don’t want a court presentation.’

  He touched her fingers briefly. ‘I u
nderstand, my dear, but my grandmother is right. It’s necessary.’

  ‘But...’

  ‘And I wish it,’ he said firmly.

  This was the old Justin, proud, autocratic, expecting to be obeyed. But the next moment his face softened as he said, ‘And you will do it to please me, won’t you?’

  ‘Yes, of course,’ she said, but reluctantly. She was wondering what was happening to her. To be a part of society was one thing, but she hadn’t reckoned on this. Somehow she’d been caught up in the wheels of a juggernaut.

  ‘That’s settled then.’ Lady Havering rose and condescended to pat Kate’s cheek. ‘You have promise, my dear, but you’ll need better clothes. I’ll send someone to help you.’

  ‘I shall, of course, be happy to assist dearest Kate in any way I can,’ Millicent forced herself to say.

  ‘You’ll have your hands full with Charmaine,’ Lady Havering said flatly. ‘I’ll tell you when you’re needed.’

  It was flattering to meet with the approval of such a fearsome lady, but Kate wished the old woman had been a little less blunt in her dealings with Millicent, whose simmering resentment now had another cause.

  That same afternoon saw the arrival of a female, almost as imperious as the duchess herself, who announced that she was Lady Farringdon’s new dresser. Her name was Pennistone, and she proceeded to take charge of Her Ladyship’s wardrobe and apartments. At first Jane was inclined to take umbrage at this usurpation of her position, but, as Pennistone pointed out, Jane’s skill had been polished in the country.

  ‘All very well if you wish My Lady to look like a provincial dowdy,’ Pennistone said with brutal frankness. ‘But here she needs more town bronze than you’ll ever give her, my girl. Now watch me and learn, for I won’t be here forever.’

  And Jane, to Kate’s astonishment, meekly acquiesced.

  Pennistone then proceeded to carry out Kate’s threat to make Justin regret his vow to spend a fortune on her. She had no idea of economy. Possibly she’d never heard of it. She carried Kate off to a fashionable modiste in Bruton Street, explaining to the proprietress that My Lady needed a complete wardrobe, very fast. Questions of cost were simply waved aside.

  The result was a stream of bandboxes carried into Farringdon House at all hours of the day, and another stream of bills that appalled Kate. If she was astonished that a pair of kid gloves could cost six guineas she was mortified to discover that she had spent fifty guineas on a shawl and nearly four hundred on one gown. The bill for her court dress she couldn’t even look at. Justin merely grinned and paid up.

  On the great day, she allowed Pennistone to attire her in the regulation gown with its wide skirt, draped over hoops, with ostrich feathers in her hair. It was cumbersome and, in Kate’s opinion, hideous, but she bowed to Pennistone’s insistence.

  After she and Charmaine had been formally presented to Queen Charlotte they were both officially ‘out’, except that Charmaine would also have a ball to launch her on the world.

  Kate received an invitation to a Drawing-Room, at which she met the Prince Regent and achieved an unexpected success. For all his excesses and grossness of appearance, Prinny was a cultivated man. He soon discovered that Lady Farringdon was a scholar. Far from being shocked, he offered her a Latin quotation and was delighted when she capped it. He was even more delighted when she offered one that he was able to cap.

  He could never hide his admiration of a woman, and the word went out that a new beauty was in town. She was a blue stocking, but suddenly that was the thing to be.

  For all that, Kate couldn’t like him. This was the man who’d helped Justin’s mother break his heart when he was a child, and she would never forgive him for it.

  Justin’s own behaviour in the prince’s presence was correct if slightly stiff. He was pleased with his wife’s success, for her sake, but he was glad to depart.

  ‘What did you think of him?’ he asked in the carriage.

  ‘Disgusting,’ she answered frankly.

  ‘Shame on you, ma’am! Is that the way to talk about your Prince, especially when he’s just made you all the rage?’

  ‘That’s very kind of him, but I still think he’s disgusting.’

  Justin squeezed her hand, but for once she was hardly aware of him. She was thinking of dear Papa, who had taught her Latin, and wishing that he could have seen her tonight.

  As Justin had prophesied she became all the rage, to Millicent’s fury and Charmaine’s youthful bewilderment. Lady Jersey, one of the patronesses of Almack’s, called and bestowed vouchers for them both, for that exclusive establishment.

  For her first dinner party, Kate was nervous, but knew that she would do her husband credit. Pennistone’s work was bearing fruit, and she was stylishly attired in a dinner dress of pale blue, trimmed with bands of satin, satin buttons, roses, and rouleaux. A long lace scarf, elegantly draped over one shoulder,

  completed her ensemble. On her ears and about her neck she wore Justin’s recent gift of turquoises.

  She found herself seated next to Lord Hampton, a middleaged man of timid demeanour. He was ill-at-ease in fashionable society because his tastes were intellectual, and he was happiest in his library. Once Kate had discovered this, and he had found her of like mind they were soon excellent friends.

  Two days later, she met him again at a small private dance. As they danced together, he said, ‘I checked those lines by Horace and you were perfectly right.’

  His company was doubly welcome because Kate had quickly discovered that, after the first excitement, society could be very tedious. It was flattering to have a mantelpiece groaning under invitations, but these functions seldom interested her once she was there. Dinner parties were the worst. To a woman raised as a scholar it was dull work sitting between titled nonentities talking about nothing. Lord Hampton’s conversation came like manna in the desert.

  At the next dinner, they weren’t seated together, but when the gentlemen joined the ladies afterwards he came straight to her and they resumed what had become an almost continuous conversation. He was a widower whose wife had died the year before. He wished to marry again, but felt lost in the marriage mart where all the candidates were so young. In Kate’s company he relaxed and became witty. She was laughing at one of his sallies when she happened to look up and see Justin’s eyes on her. She almost gasped. Her husband’s face was deadly pale, and his expression was one of anger and disgust.

  Soon afterwards he declared that Lady Farringdon was tired, and removed her from the side of the bewildered Lord Hampton with the barest minimum of courtesy.

  ‘I wish you hadn’t done that,’ she said as the carriage rumbled home. ‘I was enjoying myself.’

  ‘So I saw,’ he said in a hard voice.

  ‘What does that mean?’

  ‘It means that you were enjoying yourself rather too much. A wife who flaunts her pleasure in another man’s company under the eyes of her husband...something I never expected of you. You’ll think me very gothic, no doubt, but I cannot laugh it aside as some husbands do.’

  ‘Laugh what aside?’ Kate echoed, aghast. ‘You speak as though I was causing scandal. I spent an agreeable hour in talk with a knowledgeable man.’

  ‘Not for the first time.’

  ‘True. I’ve met him at other houses, I’ve danced with him, once, and talked to him...’

  ‘And smiled at him.’

  ‘I dare say. In my pleasure at being able to discuss subjects that I can speak of with nobody else I may very well have smiled at him.’

  ‘To be sure, madam, it’s well known that your husband cannot match your intellectual attainments,’ he snapped, ‘but are you wise to advertise the fact?’

  ‘Justin, what is this nonsense? Intellectual attainments! It isn’t you that bores me...’

  ‘You’re kind to say so.’

  ‘It’s them. You know those parties. Endless small talk about nothing. But Lord Hampton takes an interest in serious things, and can talk well about t
hem. The changes he’s making on his land, the irrigation schemes...it’s the way of the future.’

  ‘And were you talking about irrigation tonight?’ he asked sarcastically.

  ‘No, his library. It’s full of the most fascinating books in many languages, some of them quite rare. He’s promised to show it to me.’

  ‘The devil he has! Then let me make it plain to both of you that you never set foot in his house, much less his library. Is that clear, madam?’

  ‘What is becoming clear,’ she said, her temper rising, ‘is that there’s a side of you that’s worse than I dreamed and I don’t like it. Don’t try to bully me, My Lord. I’m not planning an expedition of debauch. It will be a respectable visit to a respectable house.’

  ‘It will be no such thing, since you won’t go.’

  ‘Would you like to wager against that?’

  ‘Understand me, I will not tolerate opposition on this matter. Or any other matter.’

  ‘Well, of all the unspeakable, overbearing, high handed...why don’t you lock me up in a tower, or better still, a dungeon, and chain me to the wall?’

  ‘Now you are being absurd.’

  ‘Indeed! Well, the absurdity of my words is as nothing to the absurdity of accusing me of scandal with that poor little man. How dare you!’

  ‘We have arrived home, madam. I suggest you save your abuse of me until we can be more private.’

  ‘I have nothing further to say to you...certainly not until you stop calling me ‘madam’ in that nasty way.’

  She stormed into the house without waiting to see if he was following. He wouldn’t of course. He would storm off too, and spend the rest of the night in some horrid drinking parlour. A moment later she heard the carriage on the cobbles and knew that she had been right.

  Her heart was hammering. This wasn’t like their old arguments in the weeks following Amelia’s death. This had been a bitter, cruel quarrel, and she’d seen something in her husband’s eyes that had shocked her.

  Jane was waiting to help her disrobe and brush out her hair. Kate dismissed her as soon as possible and sat despondent. What had possessed her to flare up at Justin, however unreasonable he was being? After all, she knew the demons that drove him to act in such a way. She should have returned him a soft answer.