An Indelicate Situation (The Weymouth Trilogy) (12 page)

‘I can see that there will be some heartbreak
t
here,’ she remarked to her husband, once the dance was over and he was safely restored to her side. ‘Poor Mr Staveley is no match for the likes of a Rowley
-
Jones and yet she is leading him on
quite
tremendously. The wretched man can hardly believe his luck. It doesn’t seem quite fair on Miss Brewer’s part.’

Andrew had managed to catch the eye of Mr Rowley
-
Jones and they were just then in the process of exchanging familiar little bows.

‘Oh, I shouldn’t worry about it over much, my dear,’ he assured his wife airily. ‘
Mr Staveley will quickly get over his disappointment, that’s for sure.
It is Mr Rowley
-
Jones who perhaps
deserves your sympathies the more. After all, if you are right and Miss Brewer really
has
set her cap at him then the poor man will need to look to himself if h
e is going to survive the onslaught
. Now – would you
care to
do me the honour of
standing up for
the next dance with me, or would you prefer just to call it a night
and go
along
straight
home
?’

In recognition of her largesse in welcoming them twice into her dining room, Mrs William was soon possessed of an invitation from Mr and Mrs Berkeley to
take her place amongst the guests at
a
garden
party in the grounds of Belvoir
House.
It is probably not necessary to report that Mrs William was
overjoyed
by this attention, which, for her, marked her family’s acceptance into the highest echelons of
the
society
that remained
in
Weymouth
now that Royalty no longer
patronised the town,
although this rapture was muted somewhat by the explicit inclusion of Miss Owens in the Wright family inv
i
tation. Indeed, had it been left entirely to her Mrs William would most definitely have refused permission for Maggie even to think of attending. After all, this was exactly what she had feared by including her in the dinner party at Grosvenor Place
in the first place
and was guaranteed to give the wretched girl a sense of importance that she patently did not deserve
. B
ut sadly
, and rather unaccountably,
her husband seemed
to be
of th
e opinion that Mr and Mrs Berkeley
would take it as a personal insult should Maggie be refused the opportunity to attend and so, albeit with little attempt at good grace, his gentle wife finally agreed to be persuaded
as to the
absolute necessity of her participation,
and Maggie wa
s to go to the event after all.

Mrs William’s excessive joy might well have suffered some mitigation had she been party to the conversation which had immediately preceded the issue of the Berkeleys’ invitation, the jist of which had been ‘how they could provide the return invitation to the Wright family that politeness demanded whilst exposing themselves as little as possible to the lady’s unpleasant and overbearing presence.’
The idea of a garden party having been immediately hit upon as being just the thing, as it would enable them to reward not only their immediate friends and relatives but also the wider community of Weymouth of which Mr Berkeley, in particular, formed a valuable part, Kathryn had straightway set about organising and arranging it with the utmost care
but
the minimum of fuss.

The day of the garden party dawned bright and sunny. Maggie dressed carefully, delighted that
Mr Wright
had intervened on her behalf
, although maybe a little nervous
at the thought of actually attending the event itself
.
Given the grandeur of the occasion
i
t was
extremely
fortunate that many of her old gowns still fitted her. She had been reckless enough to order
a number of them
on going to school
several years before
, and her father, despite his own concerns, had done nothi
ng to prevent her. It was equall
y fortunate that fashions had altered o
nly marginally in the ensuing
years and that her own sewing ski
lls, though utilised with little enthusiasm
, were sufficient to effect the slight changes required to bring them reasonably up to date – some taking up
of trains
here, some extra flounces there. She hoped that Mrs William would
not disapprove of her selection
. Maggie had
always
been careful to dr
ess modestly and soberly whilst carrying
out her official dutie
s but
she reasoned to herself
-
not altogether successfu
lly
–
that
her employer
should actually have no reason to complain about
her
garbing herself a little more attractively on her very occasional day off.
The selected garment was a
pale pink muslin gown with a darker lavender overdress
and tiny puff sleeves,
which Maggie considered to reveal the excellence of her figure in a subtle sort of a way without it coming across as at all saucy
or immodest
.

Be that as it may, Mrs William did eye her askance as she appe
ared in the hallway to await Mr Brewer’s
carriage at
Grosvenor Place
on the afternoon of the Berkeleys’ party
.
The offer of this carriage
was the happy result of Miss Brewer
’s kind consideration, the Wrights not maintaining an
equipage
of their own
. Needless to say, the offer had
been most
readily and
spee
dily accepted by Mrs Wright, not least because it allowed her the gratification of an outing
in a very smart
landau
at absolutely no expense to herself
at all
.
Although there was a shorter pedestrian route to Belvoir House along a
track
way
leading
up
from the brewery square, the distance there from Grosvenor Place by road was probably a couple of miles or so on the other side of the river
-
certainly far too far for a lady of Mrs William’s sedentary habits to attempt
on foot
in
the heat of a summer’s
day. On the other hand
, as the distance was
not too excessive
it had been determined that
the one
carriage
would be able to undertake
two trips, with Mr and Mrs William with Mrs Staveley and Mr Brewer in the first iteration, and Freddy, Maggie and Miss Brewer in the second. This being the case, and the carriage just then appearing, Mrs William was
whisked into it by her husband
-
who had given Maggie
a much more appreciative appraisal
than his wife had done
-
and Miss Brewer equally swiftly whisked out of it,
before she had too much time to complain.

Mrs William was not the only lady to eye her with disapprobation that afternoon, for no sooner had Miss Brewer appeared with her papa and seen him off in the carriage than she spotted Maggie without immediately recollecting who she was
. She was just
on the point of favouring her with a slight nod when, remembering just in time that she was little better than a servant (and wondering at the
egalitarian leanings of the B
erkeleys
in deigning even to
think of
invit
ing
a governess to so grand an event as this one) she immediately rectified her error by transferring her look to Mr Staveley and bestowing a
devastat
ing smile upon him instead.

Miss Brewer was similarly unimpressed by travelling arrangements which necessitated sharing the forward
-
facing seat with such a lowly individual
as the governess
and thus deny
ing
her the opportunity of a
tête
à
tête
with Mr Staveley
as she had planned
. Indeed, had she got her way it would have been Maggie and not Freddy who travelled with her back to the horse
s
but Mr Staveley, despite his awkwardness, at least knew his manners. Governess or not, Maggie was still a female and had been included quite specifically on the B
erkeleys’
invitation, so, in his m
ind if not in that of his lady
, she should therefore be accorded the honour
-
and comfort
-
of the forward
-
facing seat.

They set off through the busy streets and across the bridge to the southern side of the town from whence, after negotiating the narrow main street close to the harbour, they emerged into undulating open country which was fresh and green after some persistent summer rain.

‘I find a carriage ride quite charming on a warm afternoon, when one can sit comfortably with the hoods quite down a
nd enjoy the breeze without becom
ing chilled.’

Mr Staveley felt obliged to agree
, despite struggling manfully to ignore an unpleasantly queasy feeling
elicited by the rocking motion of the carriage on the road
and exacerbated,
in all probability
, by the stench of soot and grease emanating from the folded hood to his rear
.

‘And where b
...
better
than to enjoy a ride through Weymouth,
Miss B
...
Brewer,’ he volunteered,
trying to look as if he meant what he was saying. ‘
The countryside round here is quite m
...
magnificent, would you not agree?
Although I
must say that
the state of
the
roads
hereabouts is quite app
...
appalling.’

Maggie noticed that Mr Staveley’s features were gradually taking on a rather unpleasant greenish tinge. She thought that she should rescue him.

‘Oh dear,’ she said, coughing a little into her handkerchief. ‘I’m afraid that I must agree with you about th
e state of the roads. I wonder
-
I am so sorry
-
could you possibly ask the coachman to stop for a moment please, Mr Staveley? I regret that I am much in need of some respite from the rocking.’

Miss Brewer, obviously unimpressed by her enforced companion’s delicate sensibilities, tossed her head in annoyance and emitted an irritated ‘Tut’.
Mr Staveley
, however,
executed Maggie’s
request with
some
alacrity and was kind enough to offer to step down with her
from the carriage
for a moment
as well
. This was a little much for Miss Brewer, who determined on following suit
and offered him an elegantly gloved
hand for assistance in descending the steps
. In a way the moment was well chosen, for the coach had stopped
at the
brow
of a slight incline
just next to the start of a little
track
way
which, when they ramble
d
along it for
only
a very few yards, opened up a
glorious
sparkling
vista of
the Dorset coast which would otherwise have quite passed them by. Even better, now that they were in a position to see ahead of them, it was apparent that the small incline which they had just surmounted was the precursor to a much longer, steeper hill which the coachman assured them would require the gentleman to clamber up on foot.

‘Then I shall m
...
meet you at the top,’ said Freddy, trying not to look too pleased. ‘I cannot think that it will b
...
be so very
much further after that.’

The carriage had been a little l
ater
than expected
in returning
for its second trip
by dint of the crush of several carriages all turning up
at Bel
voir
at exactly the same time
, and what with the unscheduled stop and the need to await
a puffing
Freddy as he followed the carriage up the hill it turned out that the three of them
were
amongst the last
of the
guests to arrive
.
They
arrived at
the iron gates to the driveway at last, however, and were
immediately
rewarded by a
most
delightful view
of Belvoir House and its extensive
grounds f
ramed in t
he brillian
ce of a
clear blue sky
.
Maggie fell in love with it as soon as she saw it.