06.The Penniless Peer (The Eternal Collection) (13 page)

Already she had felt his knee trying to press hers under the table and he had squeezed her hand in a meaningful manner when she had greeted him on arrival.

It had been a mistake, she thought now, to have chosen a round table for dinner but it was so much more cosy to sit at the small table in the huge oak-panelled Banquet Hall than to use the long refectory which could hold twenty or more people.

Nevertheless it was a gay meal.

Lord Corbury was in good humour because Hetty was being so charming, and only Fenella realised that she was deliberately setting out to make Sir Nicolas jealous by paying more attention to Periquine than she did to the Premier Baronet.

But she would have been stupid had she not realised that Sir Nicolas’s eyes on the other side of the table dwelt on her with a sort of kindly expression, and that their secret of knowing who was providing the dinner seemed to draw them closer than if they had been mere acquaintances.

It was when the dessert was finished, and the port and brandy had been taken round deftly by Sir Nicolas’s servants, that Augustus said in his loud and bumptious manner,

“I congratulate you, Periquine. I did not expect to enjoy such a good brandy in this house.”

“I cannot think why you should be surprised,” Lord Corbury enquired.

“I understood you were slightly under the hatch, old boy,” Augustus replied. “But this brandy is better than what I drank last week at Carlton House. I will tell you one thing, if you purchased it in Brighton, I will wager my last sovereign it was smuggled.”

“Smuggled!” Fenella ejaculated.

“It is the only way to get good wine nowadays, without paying an exorbitant sum for it,” Augustus went on. “And the smugglers know their job! Why a chap was telling me at White’s last week that he has made over fifty thousand pounds smuggling in brandy and other luxuries.”

 “Fifty thousand pounds!”

Fenella heard Lord Corbury slowly repeat the words and felt her heart give a frightening leap.

“No! No!” she wanted to cry, but it was too late.

Lord Corbury was leaning forward across the table, his eyes fixed on Augustus, obviously much impressed.

“I call that extremely interesting, Augustus. Do tell us more.”

Augustus was only too willing to oblige. He launched into a long and complicated story of friends who had smuggled in silks, tea and spirits during the war; hidden it in Chapels or under hayricks, conveyed it by ponies to London, and made a fortune on every run.

As she saw Lord Corbury’s interest in listening to Augustus’s booming voice, Fenella felt the breath being squeezed from her body. She knew as surely as if he had said the words aloud, exactly what plan he was concocting in his mind.

To cause a diversion she suggested to Hetty that they should leave the gentlemen to their drinks. The two girls went upstairs.

“Periquine really gave us a very good dinner,” Hetty said condescendingly, “but I cannot think how he could afford all those elaborate dishes.”

“He gave the party for you,” Fenella said, evading the question.

“It is kind of him,” Hetty said in an affected tone regarding her reflection in the mirror and obviously very satisfied with what she saw.

On an impulse, without considering her words, Fenella said,

 “Be kind to him, Hetty.”

There was a smile of satisfaction at the corners of Hetty’s beautiful lips.

“I am kind to him,” she replied, “kinder than I have ever been to anyone else.”

“He loves you so much,” Fenella insisted, “and I would wish him to be happy.”

It was true, she thought, that if she could arrange for Hetty to marry Periquine, she would do so because she knew he believed that his happiness lay with her.

“You cannot imagine,” Hetty said, “that I could live here in this dreadfully dowdy and uncomfortable house?”

“Not in its present state,” Fenella agreed. “But if you really loved Periquine, money would not matter.”

Hetty gave an affected little laugh.

“My dear Fenella, you must have been reading some of those rubbishy romances which are written for housemaids. I assure you that money is very essential for happiness.

“If you imagine that I love Periquine enough to only have one gown, like you, or to sit about in the Priory year after year, without the money to go to London or to travel, then you must be to let in the attic.”

“You would be with Periquine,” Fenella murmured.

“I like being with Periquine very much,” Hetty said, a feline look in her eyes. “But I wonder if I should enjoy it so much if he were my husband? I would see him every day and all day. You know, Fenella, I have always enjoyed variety, especially where men are concerned.”

Fenella bit back the words she wanted to say. Instead she said,

 “Periquine may inherit some money from his uncle, Colonel Alexander Massingburg-Corbury ! He has always hinted Periquine would be his heir.”

“When I last saw the Colonel he was leading in the hunting field and took a five-barred gate like a boy of twenty,”

Hetty replied. “He cannot be many years over fifty and who would want to wait for a dead man’s shoes?”

There was no answer to this. Fenella felt she had done her best to further Periquine’s suit, but Hetty would not let her heart rule her head.

“Are you going to marry Sir Nicolas?” she asked quietly. “You will hurt Periquine if you do.”

“I might,” Hetty answered. “I have not really made up my mind.”

Even as she spoke Fenella was aware that Sir Nicolas had not yet asked her. But looking at Hetty’s beauty, it could only be a question of time.

Fenella could see her own reflection behind Hetty’s in the mirror. And she could see her outmoded, old-fashioned, home-made gown, and in front of it the sparkling, radiant Hetty. She was so lovely she was more like a painting than a human-being.

Finding the contrast unbearable, Fenella walked to the other side of the room, and tidied the brushes and combs that she herself had set out on the dressing-table.

“The trouble is,” Hetty was saying, in a slow satisfied voice, “I have so many beaux! I have already had four offers of marriage since the beginning of the year, but Papa’s turned them down because he did not think that the gentlemen in question were rich or important enough for me.”

She sighed almost ecstatically before she continued.

“Nevertheless, Fenella, I cannot help thinking that however old I grow, there will always be men who will fall in love with me.”

“You are very lovely, Hetty,” Fenella said with an effort.

“I know,” Hetty said. “Did I tell you what His Royal Highness the Prince Regent said the first time he saw me?”

Fenella had heard it about half a dozen times before, but she appeared attentive, while really she was thinking of Periquine.

She could not bear that he should break his heart over Hetty.

Having known her ever since they were children, she knew that Hetty was both hard and selfish. Although Periquine might be the first man to excite her, and perhaps had aroused her as no other man had been able to do, she would never make a sacrifice of any sort for his sake.

She would never give up one gown, one diamond or even one party to make him happy!

‘Perhaps,’ Fenella thought to herself, remembering Madame D’Arbley, ‘sooner or later I shall have to save Periquine from Hetty !’

Chapter Six

‘It is like being in a dream,’ Fenella thought to herself.

The boat was moving smoothly through the water and the only sounds were the creak of the rowlocks and the men’s heavy breathing as they bent their backs to the oars.

She could hardly believe it possible that in such a short time Periquine could have arranged everything and they were actually at sea.

Of course it was she who had found the right person for him to contact! Even when she gave him the name she had felt a little tremor of fear in case she was helping him into danger.

But she had known there was no denying his intention to make money by smuggling.

From the moment she had seen his eyes light up at the dining-room table and heard the eagerness in his voice when he asked Augustus to give him more particulars of his friend’s smuggling activities, there had been no chance of his turning back.

The idea must have been uppermost in Lord Corbury’s mind all through the evening.

As soon as the party from the Hall had departed and Hetty had said her last soft farewell, looking up into his eyes with an expression which no man could resist, the words had seemed to burst from his lips.

“Smuggling! Did you hear what Augustus said, Fenella ? That is how we must make some money!”

“It is very dangerous,” Fenella said warningly.

 “Everything we have done so far is dangerous, but they have still not caught us!” Lord Corbury retorted. “I re member now when I was in London hearing that the traffic of contraband across the Channel since the war ended has never been heavier.”

“Exactly,” Fenella agreed, “and that was why in January this year, when you were abroad, they appointed a Controller-General of the Preventive Boat Service. His name is Captain Hatchard and he was in the Royal Navy.”

“If other people succeed, there is no reason why we should fail,” Lord Corbury asserted.

“I heard Papa say that they reckon there are twenty thousand people smuggling contraband goods every year,” Fenella replied. “At the same time the Courts and Assizes are filled with those who have been caught and there are more prisoners being transported to Australia than ever before.”

“What is the matter with you?” Lord Corbury demanded angrily. “You are always trying to put a damper on me these days!”

“I am not, Periquine, I am not really,” Fenella answered. “It is just that I am afraid for — you.”

She knew as she spoke that it was her love for him that made her fearful. She could not bear to think that he might be in serious trouble with the authorities, or hauled before the Courts for a misdemeanour which could have serious consequences.

“Well, with your help or without your help,” Lord Corbury said roughly, “I am going to try my hand at bringing home a cargo. It cannot be so difficult if so many blockheads get away with it!”

Fenella did not answer and after a moment he said,

 “And that reminds me - who was waiting on us tonight? I do not remember ever seeing either of those men before.”

 Fenella hesitated a moment. She wondered if she should tell the truth, knowing it would incense Periquine, but at the same time she never lied to him.

“Sir Nicolas — lent us two of his — servants,” she said after a moment.,

“Waringham!” Lord Corbury ejaculated. “But why the devil should he do that? I have no wish to accept his charity!”

He thought for a moment, then added,

 “And I imagine it was one of his staff that was doing the cooking. Now I think of it, I cannot believe that Mrs. Buckle was capable of providing the dishes we ate at dinner.”

“No, of course she could not,” Fenella agreed, “and I assure you that Hetty would not have congratulated you on the food or on the success of the evening if I had not accepted Sir Nicolas’s offer of help.”

“Are you demented? Do you imagine I wish to be beholden to that stiff neck?” Lord Corbury asked furiously.

“Actually — he was not helping — you,” Fenella said in a low voice.

“Then who was he helping?” Lord Corbury enquired. “I cannot imagine that he wanted my dinner party to be a success, so that I could shine as a host in front of Hetty ! “

“He — was helping — me,” Fenella murmured. “You!”

There was no doubt of the astonishment in Lord Corbury’s voice.

“He discovered — by chance,” Fenella explained uncomfortably, “that I intended to cook the dinner for you. Mrs. Buckle could not do it, and you know as well as I do, Periquine, that old Barnes would never have managed by himself. He can hardly serve two people, let alone five, and he would undoubtedly have got in a terrible tangle with all the different courses.”

There was no denying the truth of this and the rage in Lord Corbury’s eyes faded a little, but his tone was still truculent as he said,

 “Well I think you should have consulted me before accepting Waringham’s offer, whatever his motive in making it.”

“There was no time to make other arrangements,” Fenella pointed out, “and I promise you, Periquine, that I was very worried about the evening from the very moment you told me it had been arranged. And you have to admit that Hetty enjoyed herself and that the food was delicious.”

Lord Corbury did not answer for a moment, and she knew he was finding it hard to sustain his anger knowing all too well that what she said was the truth and entirely logical.

Then petulantly he said,

 “Well it makes me more convinced than ever that I have to make money - one way or another! Things cannot go on like this, and our ill-gotten gains are certainly not going to last for ever.”

He paused a moment, then said,

 “Are you going to help me with the smuggling? I am sure you have some local knowledge about people whom I should contact.”

“Yes, I will — help you,” Fenella said with a little sigh.

She knew there was nothing else she could do, and she added almost pleadingly,

 “You will take every precaution, Periquine, and not do anything foolhardy? Like you, I do not wish to be transported.”

“There is no chance of that,” Lord Corbury said sharply. “This is a man’s job and you are certainly not coming with me across the Channel.”

Fenella laughed.

“Then how, may I ask, are you going to bargain when you reach the other side? I believe it is very important that one should buy cheap to sell dear. Perhaps your French has improved a great deal during the years you were in France, but you were never, with all your cleverness, very proficient at foreign languages.”

Lord Corbury grinned.

“I am told I am a most convincing gapster when it comes to making love.”

“That of course is very helpful!” Fenella said sarcastically. “Unless you are buying the brandy from a female which is not likely! Either I come with you, Periquine, or I will not tell you whom to contact in the first place. And if you go floundering around asking the wrong people, there is every likelihood of your making the authorities suspicious before you start.”