Carola Dunn (14 page)

He swung round wildly. “Leave me alone. For pity’s sake, leave me alone!” His emotions in a tumult, he rushed from the room.

Jessica heard the front door slam. She reached for the bracelet and turned it this way and that, catching the light. “Oh dear,” she said again, sighing, as Miss Tibbett entered the dining room.

“Where is Sir Nathan off to in such a hurry?” Tibby enquired, taking her seat.

Jessica shook her head.

“There’s been summat of an upset, madam,” Hayes explained in a discreetly lowered voice, pouring tea.

Miss Tibbett nodded, glanced at the gleaming bracelet, and proceeded to spread marmalade on her toast with her usual calm. “Mr. Pearson, I assume?”

“Yes. I fear I was startled into revealing that Mr. Pearson is, or was, in trade. If I had guessed that Nathan had still not the least notion,” said Jessica wretchedly, “I should have prepared him for the shock.”

“That certainly explains Nathan’s abrupt disappearance, but not the—ah—ornament you are holding.”

“A present from Mr. Pearson, to express his gratitude, I collect. For precisely what I’m not sure. I must send it back, of course, and the sooner the better.” Replacing the bracelet carefully in the box, she closed it and hooked the clasp. “Hayes, I need some new string, and please ask Tad to put his livery on to run an errand.”

“I am inclined to think, Jessica, that you ought to return it in person. It appears to be an extremely valuable gift, and you will not wish Mr. Pearson to suppose that you are rejecting his gratitude, however inappropriate his mode of expressing it.”

“No, but I had much rather not see Lucy. How can I possibly explain Nathan’s reaction?”

“I see no need for you to disclose Nathan’s reaction, so there can be no question of your attempting to explain it. If the boy has not come to his senses by the next time he sees Miss Pearson,” said Tibby in her most severe governess voice, “then it will be for him to make any necessary explanations.”

Jessica smiled wryly. “I keep forgetting that he’s not a boy any more. Very well, I shall take this back myself.”

“Shall I order a chair, Miss Jessica?” the butler enquired.

“No, I shall walk. It will give me time to work out just what I have to say to Mr. Pearson. You’ll go with me. Aunt Tibby?”

Miss Tibbett looked conscious. “As a matter of fact, I had arranged to meet my friends at eleven. I could send a message...”

“No, don’t do that. You cannot hold my hand while I talk to Mr. Pearson, after all. Hayes, pray tell Sukey to be ready to go with me in half an hour.”

As Jessica and Sukey passed Lord Stone’s house, Matthew came out of the front door, hat in hand. Seeing his smile of greeting, Jessica was aware of a sense of comfort. She banished it instantly. Since Nathan refused to marry Lucy it was up to her to save Langdale, and Matthew Walsingham could not help her.

Nonetheless, she found herself accepting his escort.

“I saw Nathan dashing off down the street earlier with a face like a thundercloud,” he said, walking at her side along North Parade. “I hope there is nothing serious amiss?”

“Nothing serious.” She was not quite successful at keeping the trouble from her voice.

“If there is anything I can do to help, Miss Franklin, you have only to ask.” He looked down at her gravely. “In some ways, I believe, a few years service in the army postpones the attainment of maturity. Your brother is suddenly having to grow up and accept a quite different kind of responsibility from that of leading men in battle. It is not an easy process, to that I can attest. He has a good head on his shoulders, though; you need not worry that he will not find his way.”

“That is very reassuring.”

“Would you like me to speak to him?”

“No! Thank you, no, I think not.” She could imagine few possibilities more disastrous than Nathan discussing with Matthew his refusal to marry an heiress. “It is a sensitive matter and I fear he might blame you for interfering.”

“Then let us put his problems behind us for the present. I have been reading some of the novels you recommended, and I wish you to tell me if Fanny Price is not a sad little mouse. The lively heroine of
Pride and Prejudice
is more to your taste, is she not?”

Miss Austen’s works were thoroughly dissected as they walked up through the town. The weight of the bracelet in Jessica’s reticule reminded her that she ought to be deciding how to return it to Mr. Pearson without offending him, but Matthew was at his most entertaining. When they reached the top of Gay Street she still had not prepared a speech.

“Would you like me to wait?” Matthew asked, as they turned into the Circus. “If you and Miss Pearson are going shopping I shall be happy to relieve Sukey of your parcels.”

Though tempted, Jessica regretfully declined. “I’m not sure how long I shall be.”

He knocked on the door for her, waited until the haughty butler admitted her and her maid, then went off whistling.

“Miss Pearson is still above stairs,” the butler told her, “but she left orders as she’s always at home to Miss Franklin. I will send to inform her of your arrival.”

“It is Mr. Pearson I wish to see—privately.” She was gratified to note that she had succeeded in surprising the impassive servant. One of his eyebrows twitched.

Followed by Sukey, a determined chaperon, Jessica was ushered into the sitting room to be greeted by a beaming Mr. Pearson.

“Miss Franklin, what a pleasure....” His voice died away as she held out the package to him. For a moment he looked even more surprised than his butler.

“Sir, I cannot accept this. You are too generous....”

“Bah, a mere bauble! You needn’t think I mean anything improper by it, I just want to thank you for your kindness to Lucy. Yesterday, when she came home from the picnic, she was telling me all about such fun as she’d had. I haven’t heard her laugh so carefree since I don’t know when.”

Jessica set the parcel on the table in the window. “I don’t wish to offend you, Mr. Pearson, but indeed I cannot keep the bracelet. It simply is not
comme il faut
to accept valuable presents.”

“Ah, well, if you’re going to start spouting French at me, ma’am, I know when I’m beat.” He sighed, yet he seemed oddly pleased. “And I’m right sorry for it. But won’t you sit down, Miss Franklin, and take a dish of tea? I daresay you walked all the way up that long hill. Lucy’ll be down in a trice, I make no doubt.”

Glad that he was not affronted, Jessica agreed that tea would be welcome and took a seat at the table. He rang the bell, ordered tea, and joined her.

“Afore my girl comes in,” he said, with a suddenly decisive air, “I want to assure you, ma’am, that if your brother was to ask me for her hand in marriage I’d not stand in his way.”

It was Jessica’s turn to be surprised, or rather, astonished. “I... but you have never met Nathan....”

“I’ve met you, and I’ve heard a deal about Sir Nathan from Lucy—and others,” he added obscurely. “I don’t mean to press him, mind, nor her neither, and it may be I’m reading too much into what she says. She’s naught but a child when all’s said and done, but I’m not getting any younger myself. I married late in life, and I don’t hold with it.”

“I daresay you are right, sir, but you must see that I cannot speak for my brother.”

“Nay, the lad has his pride, of course, and I don’t think any the worse of him for that. I’d not have said a word to you, Miss Franklin, if it weren’t that I’m not happy about that Lord Alsop as is making up to Lucy, not at all happy. I’ve found out a bit about his fine lordship since you mentioned his name to me, and it’s not to his credit.”

“What have you discovered?”

“The man’s already been married twice, and it seems his second wife was forced to wed after he compromised her. He’s a gamester with expensive tastes—ran through both wives’ fortunes, mortgaged his estate to the hilt and let it go to rack and ruin. Well, the nobs’ll put up with a lot if a man’s born a gentleman, but Alsop ain’t above marking the cards, which is what got him thrown out of his clubs. And after he refused a challenge from his second wife’s brother, why, he daren’t show his face in Town. Not that I approve of duelling, mind, but he’s altogether a nasty piece of work.”

“Good gracious, he is, is he not? If his estate is in ruins, I suppose he lives now by gambling?”

“By fleecing pigeons.”

As a sheep farmer Jessica enjoyed the image conjured up by his mixed metaphor, but she was not certain what he meant. “Fleecing pigeons?”

“Swindling young men with more money than sense.”

“Nathan called him a Captain Sharp.”

“I heard Sir Nathan saw through him pretty quick, and it didn’t do him any harm in my opinion, I can tell you.”

The last thing Jessica wanted was to return to discussing her brother, so she was glad when Lucy and Mrs. Woodcock came in, followed by the butler with the tea tray.

* * * *

Jessica did not see Nathan again until just before dinner. He was crossing the hall as she descended the stairs after changing her gown.

“I must talk with you,’’ she said.

“Oh, very well, but only for a moment. I’m dining with friends and I’m already late.”

She led the way into the drawing room. “I took the bracelet back to Mr. Pearson.”

“Was he vexed?” Nathan sounded uninterested.

“Disappointed, in a way.”

“In a way?”

“Well, I thought he seemed almost pleased, but that doesn’t make sense. At least he did not press me to keep it. He told me all about Lord Alsop. He’s a thoroughgoing scoundrel.”

“Yes, I asked Lord IIfracombe about him today.” His voice held a hint of concern, Jessica thought, but it had vanished when he added impatiently, “Is that all you wanted to say?”

“Mr. Pearson is worried about Lord Alsop paying his addresses to Lucy, but he has no objection if you want to marry her.”

“Has he not! I’ll thank you both to keep your noses out of my affairs, you and that damned vulgar toad-eater!” Nathan flung from the room and a moment later the front door slammed behind him for the second time that day.

Jessica sank into the nearest chair.

“Has your brother gone off in a miff again?” Miss Tibbett enquired, coming in. “One might argue that such sensitivity means he is in love.”

“If so, he has a poor way of showing it.” Jessica told her everything. “I don’t know what to do,” she ended, shrugging helplessly.

“You cannot force him to offer for Miss Pearson,” Tibby pointed out, “so there is no sense in worrying about it.”

“None at all, only I cannot help thinking about poor Lucy—and Langdale.”

Nathan did not return to escort them to the concert at the Octagon Chapel after dinner. Jessica was of two minds whether to go, but the prospect of spending the evening brooding at home was even less enticing. Her brother was not the only gentleman missing from the audience; in fact, none of the gentlemen of their particular circle were present.

It was a blushing Kitty Barlow who explained the dearth, in an excited whisper as the musicians tuned their instruments.

“Lord Peter invited them all to dinner and cards. He’s going up to London tomorrow to inform his family of our betrothal.”

“You are betrothed? My felicitations, Kitty dear.”

“It’s not official yet, not until he returns. He says that when we are properly engaged he will have neither time nor desire to entertain his male friends, so he is giving them one last party.”

Knowing Lord Peter’s inability to put two words together, Jessica rather doubted that he had ever expressed so complex a sentiment. Silent devotion was more his mark. He and the loquacious Kitty would probably do very well together.

“Bob is
aux anges,”
Miss Barlow went on, “for once I am married he can wed his Mary. Her parents will not allow it until all his sisters are settled, you know.”

Jessica had not known, and she was astonished. The music started so she was unable to explore the subject, but she was ashamed to think how she, and others, had misjudged Mr. Barlow. Friendly and obliging, he had been presumed a fortune hunter when all the time he had a sweetheart waiting at home.

Whereas no one seemed to doubt her own respectability, or Nathan’s or Matthew Walsingham’s, whose fortunes were all imaginary.

The strains of a Mozart piano trio banished Jessica’s woes for a while, but they returned with the interval. Lucy came up to her, looking anxious.

“I noticed that Sir Nathan is not with you. Is he unwell?”

“He is spending the evening with friends. A party for gentlemen only, I collect.”

Lucy blushed. “Oh, how silly of me. Of course, Mr. Barlow and Lord IIfracombe are not here, either. But perhaps they will come soon? I saw Mr. Walsingham come in just now.”

Jessica looked round and there he was, obviously making towards her in as straight a line as the chattering crowd permitted. For a moment she was overwhelmed by a yearning to tell him everything and ask his advice.

There were too many people around them. The second half of the concert began. By the time he walked home beside her sedan chair, the urge to confide had fled.

When he found out she had no fortune, would he seek elsewhere for a rich bride? Perhaps he would turn to Lucy, and Nathan would be jealous and realize how much he loved her.

She woke the next morning to a sense of
déjà vu.
Sukey was standing there with her hands on her hips, just as she had when she reported that Matthew had been disinherited. The maid’s first words reinforced the impression.

“Tad says...”

“Don’t tell me Tad has been gossiping at the Pig and Whistle again,” said Jessica crossly.

“No, miss. It’s the master, he’s gone off to London. Left at first light, he did. He gave Tad this note for you.”

“To London!” She sat up, unwillingly took the paper and unfolded it. “Jess,” it read, “I’m off to Town with Glossop. My regiment is back in England and I want to see my friends. Don’t know when I’ll be back. N.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Matthew did not enjoy the performance of
A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
It was not the players’ fault. Had he been sitting beside Jessica he would have thought it an excellent production. Instead, she was in the front row of the box, on the far side of Lord Ilfracombe, while he sat behind Miss Tibbett and next to a Mr. and Mrs. Fitzroy, friends of his lordship who happened to be passing through Bath.