Drury Lane Darling (22 page)

“When you weren’t in London, I scanned the itinerary of the traveling players. People usually go home during times of crisis. You have told me more than once that other actors are your real family. Those at Chatham were the closest. Naturally you would want to be near enough that you could read of your disappearance in the newspapers the day they were printed.”

“I even knew Tuck’s players were there!” Pamela exclaimed. “I saw them perform
The Beggar’s Opera.”

“And survived? I compliment you, Mees Calmstock. So you weren’t fooled by my little trick?” the marquise asked, turning to Breslau.

“I own I was confused—for a while. How long did you plan to remain away?”

“Not past Saturday. You didn’t think I’d let Rose have the busiest night of the week! Her sudden rise to eminence hastened my return,” she added with an astringent look. “Did you plan to announce her as your leading lady tonight?”

“Only if you failed my summons, Fleur. I thought those announcements might bring you back.”

Her fine eyes flashed with fire. “It was all a trick? You haven’t offered Rose the part?”

“Not yet.”

“And the other announcement—Max?” she asked hopefully.

“Lady Margaret is visiting friends in Surrey. Max is desolate at his own laggardly behavior. You might get a proper offer, if you play your hand carefully.”

“I hardly dare to ask…John—Mr. Spiedel?” Fleur’s theatrical manner deserted her. It was genuine concern that glowed in her eyes now. “Is it true he’s going to Covent Garden?”

“Your son has various avenues suddenly open to him.”

“Ah, you figured out he is my son. You are too clever for me, Wes. What an abominable husband he will make you, Mees Calmstock. You should do as I planned to do, and marry a foolish man. So much more comfortable. Well, it is only fair Spiedel’s father do something for him. I admit I have been active on his behalf. Which one—”

“Three, to date. He tells me Sir Aubrey has offered him cash, Lord Alban a position.”

“A position? He usually gives cash.”

“Yes, a fair bit of it over the past six months. Mr. Spiedel hasn’t seen much of it, has he?” Breslau asked. “A Mr. Webb is also eager to do something for the lad. What have you against his going into the theater, Fleur? It’s done pretty well by you.”

“You call this well?” she asked with a haughty stare. “Having to trick a man like Maxwell to marry me? I, a marquise? In England, the stage is not respectable. It is otherwise in France, where people have a proper understanding of the theater. But then the stage there is ennobled by such geniuses as Racine and Corneille.”

“You omit the great comic writer, Moliere,” Breslau added with a laughing eye.

“Back to your old hobbyhorse. I will not be limited to comic roles, Breslau. Did tonight’s performance not show you I am capable of greater things?”

“You have an undeniable talent for melodrama.”

“For tragedy! Which is not to say I couldn’t be persuaded to do
The Amazing Invalid,
if the price is right…” She looked a question at him.

“I might convince the directors to go as high as thirty-five.”

“Siddons got fifty. I couldn’t accept less than forty-five.”

“Forty it is,” he agreed, with a good understanding of Fleur’s strategy.

“And a promise of a tragedy for my next role.”

“Your next role will be Lady Chamaude. Nigel is hot at the task. It is for you to decide whether that is tragedy or farce.”

“My life? He stole that from my memoirs! He won’t get away with it.”

“Royalties to be hammered out before production.”

The marquise wore a pensive look. “My life should be dramatized. It is true I’ve had a very—dramatic existence. As to tragedy or farce—it is reality, Wes. We shall advertise it as theatrical realism. By the by, I shan’t take a
sou
less than fifty percent of the royalties. Raleigh will rifle my book for his dialogue. I have a great deal of unforgettable dialogue in the memoirs. What lines I wrote for the Prince Regent!”

“That will be for you and Raleigh to decide with the publisher. I have only one other stipulation. No more blackmail, Fleur.”

“Blackmail? You mistake the matter. Each of my gentlemen friends was in alt to hear he had fathered a son. Men are such egotists. I demanded nothing. I merely went and gave a performance that showed how much I had done for our son, and how little the father. All my friends were gentlemen, sir. No blackmail was necessary.”

“Sir Aubrey appeared less than happy.”

“No, only less than wealthy. I could have made something of the man, had I met him before he was married to his Methodist. It is fitting that John have a chance in life.”

“Perhaps you’re right, but he has his chance now. No more blackmail. And now it is time to rejoin the gentlemen from the press. Better put on your veil. The kohl on your eyes is running.”

Fleur drew out a handkerchief and mirror and attended to this detail. “Did my disappearance cause much disturbance at Belmont?”

“Not as much as the disappearance of Lady Raleigh’s bracelet. Sir Aubrey will want to buy it back, I fancy. He’s at the Reddleston Hotel now.”

“What is he doing here?”

“He came to see Mr. Spiedel. Who is Spiedel’s father, Fleur? Do you know?”

Fleur gave a Gallic shrug. “It’s difficult to say. But I know who his mother is. He’ll not want while I am alive.”

“He doesn’t know he’s your son?”

“I was afraid he’d want to follow my footsteps into the theater if I told him. I had him adopted by friends, the Spiedels, to hide his illegitimacy, but I have always kept close to him. Since his coming to London, we have grown closer. He thinks I am a friend of his mama’s.”

She stopped at the doorway. The aura of the actress fell away again, and she looked like a worried, lonesome woman. “Do you think I should let him join the theater? He has great talent, you know. The theater hasn’t done so badly by me.”

“Would you really want to be in any other line of work?”

She shook her head. “No, with all its ups and downs, there is no life like it,” she said musingly. “There is a part in
The Amazing Invalid
—the heroine’s younger brother… It might make a suitable debut for John. The role would have to be padded. He only gets a dozen lines.”

“That’s not impossible.”

“I wouldn’t want him to go to the Garden. We would end up rivals. It would be such a pleasure to work with him, to teach him the subtle nuances—he tends to rant when the lines require no more than a whisper. An amateur’s failing—you know what I mean. It is the way Rose Flanders played Emily tonight. It would be such a consolation to me to have him near. Yes, I’ll do it,” she decided.

Her harried air fell away, and a smile of relief seized her mobile countenance. “He’ll be another Garrick! A Kean! Kemble is nothing to him. Let me tell him, Wes.” An expression of noble grief replaced the smile. She was back in her role of the Flawless Fleur. “If I can’t tell him I’m his mother, let me play Lady Bountiful at least.”

On this sad speech, she turned toward the door.

“You forgot your sling!” Pamela called.

“You
ruined
my exit!”

After the door had slammed, Pamela sighed. “Isn’t she wonderful?”

“Flawless.”

“She would be wasting her time to marry Maxwell.”

“She won’t marry him. She may accept an engagement to lend her respectability, and to have the pleasure of jilting him. Since she’s going to let Spiedel go on the stage, I believe this lust for respectability will fade. It was for him she wanted it really.”

“I can’t imagine why anyone would want to be respectable when she could be an actress instead. How did you figure out that Fleur was just playing off a stunt?”

“The escapade smelled suspicious from the start. There was no evidence of violence in her departure. No body in the grave, yet no one seemed to have come along to prevent burial. The Maxwells saw the carriage but didn’t go into the spinny. Why not use the grave then, since it was dug? The grave began to look like a stage prop, no more.”

“And that called to mind Fleur.”

“After a process of elimination, it began to look that way. Maxwell obviously knew nothing, Sir Aubrey appeared innocent—of murder, I mean,” he added with a laughing eye. “Halton, who spirited her away, was a friend, with no reason to kidnap or murder her. There was no demand for ransom—fancy Fleur forgetting that! But then the Frenchies weren’t after money, only Fleur to carry home for a trophy.”

“She has a wonderful bent for fiction.”

“It comes from practice. Her whole life since leaving France is laced with fiction. Anyway, it began to look like a voluntary disappearance. Her maid was too ill to accompany her to Belmont, but had recovered amazingly the next day. Her butler was missing. When I had a description from Newman’s two hours ago of the man driving the rig, I felt confident I was on the right track. And she was furious with Max at the assembly. I knew she’d wreak some revenge on him. When I realized she wanted to pressure certain parties to do certain things…”

“Spiedel not to go on the stage, and Maxwell to marry her…”

“Also the alleged fathers to feel remorse for having neglected their son. She didn’t mention that, but it was bound to tweak their consciences when they read of her disappearance. And let us not forget Breslau. She wanted me to give her a raise, and a crack at tragedy.”

“The funny thing is, her plan worked, but—I mean she’s going to let Spiedel go on the stage after all. And you don’t think she’ll marry Maxwell. All she really got is ten guineas more for a performance. Speidel’s the one who profited more.”

Breslau reached down and lifted a piece of straw that had attached to his jacket. “Ten guineas per performance ain’t hay. It adds up. I hope the publicity draws enough people to cover the extra expense. Helping Speidel wouldn’t weigh lightly with Fleur. He is the one person outside of herself she truly cares for. But the stunt did more good than that. It has made Fleur take a good hard look at her life, and decide what role she really wants to play.”

“The one I feel sorry for is Rose Flanders. She thinks she’s going to have the lead in
The Amazing Invalid.”

“Cut to the quick that you could think so badly of me, Pamela. Rose is to have the lead in a light farce we’re working on. Settling that was one of my errands this morning when I left you at home to read the newspaper. Rose confirmed that Fleur has friends in Tuck’s players. Halton’s mentioning Kent to Meg Crispin made me look in that direction. Rose’s new role is to be announced tonight as well.”

“Surely that didn’t take all day. What were you and Maxwell doing the rest of the time?”

“Max mentioned writing to his mama about marrying Fleur. Such a composition will take him an age. I made a quick dart to Chatham.”

“To confirm that Fleur was with Tuck’s players?”

Breslau gave her a surprised look. “That, too. It’s been a busy day.”

“It’s not quite over yet.”

“I am aware of that.” A glow entered his eyes. “The best is yet to come.”

Pamela felt the warmth of his glow and said in confusion, “Should we not go back to the greenroom?”

“Let us give Fleur her solo moment of glory. We don’t want an audience for what we have to discuss, Pamela.” He sat beside her, frowning at her masculine getup.

“The excitement is all over then,” she said sadly, peering hopefully from the corner of her eyes. “Tomorrow I shall go to Fosters’.”

“It tugs at the heartstrings to see you relegated to such respectability.”

“You don’t have a heart!”

“I do, but there are strings attached.” He drew the tie from her hair and flung it aside. “It’s hard enough trying to propose to a lady wearing breeches. At least let us see your hair.”

“Propose!
Breslau!”

“I am not so lacking in propriety as you imagine. I mentioned going to Chatham… Your papa was uncommonly relieved to receive a firm offer for you. Oh, and your mama sent along the rose gown. I see
that
cheers you up.”

He looked hopefully to hear her proclaim the true cause of that bewitching smile that possessed her. “Papa cannot know you are involved in the theater if he gave his permission.”

“I wore the face reserved for relatives. Actually he has no idea
you
harbor a thespian streak, either. I know you would prefer being an actress to dull respectability, but I assure you it is not dull respectability I am offering.” His fingers rested on the warm nape of her neck, and began massaging it with suspicious expertise. When the tension left her neck, his fingers moved to her hair, stroking, curling it round his fingers. While his hands performed these intimate familiarities, his voice cajoled her. “The theater is part of my life. It will be part of yours as well, if you’ll have me.”

She swallowed convulsively. Her eyes blinked in belated astonishment. “I never gave a minute’s thought to marrying you. How could I possibly?” Her voice was breathless and uncertain.

His head inclined toward hers, and his voice lowered to a whisper. “If it is your indeterminate sort of half engagement to Nigel…”

“I wouldn’t let that stop me!”

“Nor I.” His lips hovered above hers, just brushing them. “He mentioned you have chosen the church.”

“Ye—” He silenced her with a kiss that began as a tentative touch and increased to passion as his arms crushed her to him.

His assault stirred visions of a delightfully disreputable future. It was obvious a man who kissed like Lord Breslau had no notion of respectability. Pamela forgot all her mother’s injunctions of the proper behavior of a young lady as she returned every scandalous embrace.

It was several moments later that Pamela sat with her head resting on Breslau’s shoulder. “Someone will have to tell Nigel,” she murmured.

“I’ve already told him.”

She smiled softly. “What did he say?”

“Kiss me.”

“An odd thing to say to
you!
He never said it to
me!”

“Now!”

“Never once, now that I consider it.”

“Pamela!”

“Don’t be such a gudgeon, Wes. This is no time for lovemaking. Let us go to the greenroom.”