An Indelicate Situation (The Weymouth Trilogy) (2 page)

The fact that Mr Wright
had managed to persuade his wife into a move to a town which might not, under normal circumstances, have appeared very highly on her
list of
preferred destination
s
may have had less to do with his own powers of negotiation and more to do with the financial situation in which they had soo
n discovered themselves to be. For d
espite the comforting size of Mr Wright senior’s bequest to his eldest son, that son and his dear wife had been living beyond their means for several years prior to his demise, not helped at all by an ever
-
growing family and the demands of maintaining appearances within the circle in which they would ideally like to have moved. Having seen the extent of the kelter requested for vastly inferior properties elsewhere in their preferred location
s
, and the very decent accommodation to be secured for a fraction of that price in Weymouth, they had undertaken some rapid calculations together and determined that, of all places, Weymouth was most certainly the most attractive place to be. Even better,
it soon turned out that
by acquiring a large property on a long lease they were able to secure an even more advantageous
situation
than the
y
had previously
expected
. The widow of Mrs Wri
ght’s uncle
being much on her own, and becoming increasingly less able to cope on her own as the months went by, they had determined on providing a small apartment within their new property for her sole use in return for a (particularly sizeable)
contribution to the purchase price and an (equally sizeable) rent
. Mrs Staveley, indeed, was not entirely alone in the world
although, at least in her niece’s mind if not
exactly
in her own, she may as well have been
. For s
he had remaining to her one son, by name of Frederick
-
a somewhat burly, bear
-
like individual of slow
movements
and slower
mind
who had been entered into the navy
to become
a midshipman at the tender age of fourteen and who
had
subsequently spent most of his time at sea. Indeed
,
it had
only
been very
recently, after
an apprenticeship of
more than
twelve years on the water
,
that this son had
finally
managed to pass his lieutenant’s e
xamination
at the fifth time
of trying and
was now shortly expected to visit his mama whilst
living more in
the
hope than
the
expectation of achieving a dep
uty command position in an unrat
ed sloop or frigate
and
thereby
playing a minor
but important
role in that great institut
ion known throughout the country
as
the
Royal N
avy
of His Majesty the King
.

Mr Wright may have had other, more tender, reasons for selecting Weymouth as the site of his future home
,
for his family
had originated within the count
y of Dorset and one of his brothers
was
already resident
with his wife
in a small but pretty and reasonably genteel little townhouse on the edge of Weymouth quay. Having a large and growi
ng family of his own, Mr Wright
was becoming increasingly convinc
ed of the value of family ties
and, in particular, of the value of family ties where the members in question had shown no sign of producing heirs of their own, even after seven long years of marriage.
He felt convinced that Mrs
John Wright, the sister
-
in
-
law in question, and
Captain Wright
himself
-
whenever he was at home, which was, to be fair, not very often, as he, too, was a naval man and spe
nt many months each year at sea -
would be absolutely delighted at the prospect of acquiring several charming nephews and nieces to add to their current collection.
Indeed, he would go so far as to have
expressed
the utmost confidence that the extent of this delight would be so great as to make them
feel no compunction
whatsoever
in rewarding the
said children’s
papa and mama with plenty of presents, plenty of company, and plenty of introductions to the cream of Weymouth society with whom, Mrs
John
being the sister of one of the
leading lights herself, he felt convinced they would be perfectly acquainted.

So, as if to reassure himself
,
and his lady
,
of the sagacity of their decision to take up residence in Grosvenor Place at the town end of Weymouth Esplanade,
Mr Wright
decided to celebrate t
he King’s birthday and his own
-
they happened to be on the same date
-
with an intimate but elegant dinner party for his main family member
s and their immediate friends.
Sadly, and much to his chagrin
,
although of no consequence
whatsoever
to his
ever
-
loving wife
, these noble intentions were somewhat thwarted for a time by the inconvenient and constant engagements of the guests in question and it was to be some w
eeks after the actual birthdays
before the grand celebration could actually take place.

Mr Wright
had given strict instructions that Maggie should join the party after dinner and leave the children to pester their nursemaid
, Susan,
for a while. To be sure, Maggie was half pleased to have the opportunity of a little diversion for a change, and, more particularly, to have the somewhat guilty pleasure of watching her employer as he acted host to his family, but she was also a little
anxious that her presence might be unwelcome in such august company as she had been led to expect that evening.
However, it was
Mr Wright
who
had given the decree and as she ha
d no wish at all to gainsay him
the former sensation
quickly
triumphed over the latter
and she determined on obeying his behest
to attend
. S
he
decided to
time her entrance into the drawing room for an hour at which the full party would most likely already be assembled
. This
, hopefully,
would ensure that they were
so
absorbed by the conversation then ensuing
that
she could slip in via the
door
from the music room
unnoticed by them all.

The plan effected,
and garbed most soberly in a dove
-
grey muslin
chemise
gown and slippers,
Maggie took
the opportunity provided by the
safe haven
of
a pillar
close to the rear door
to eye up
,
and reach her own conclusions about
,
the dinner guests as they
took their coffee together
after
their meal. She had already met
two
of them
before
–
Captain
and
Mrs John Wright, her employer’s
brother and
sister
-
in
-
law
-
Captain Wright
tanned and whiskered, Mrs John
pretty with her blonde curls and smiling eyes
, though maybe a little plump in her white muslin gown
– but  she had never
met
the other two before. These she took to be Mrs John’s brother and sister
-
in
-
law, Mr and Mrs Berkeley, who lived in
Belvoir
House
nearby
. Maggie had been long enough in Weymouth to know that Belvoir House was reputedly
one of
the finest mansion
s in the area
and
,
had she
thought of it at all, which, lucki
ly, she had not
,
she would probably have
expected its current residents to be as proud and haughty as Mrs
William
had proved to be
. But as soon as she set eyes upon them she could instantly tell that this was not the case at all. Mr Berkeley appeared to be a smiling, jovial individual with much natural elegance and a most polite manner, but it was his wif
e who immediately grabbed all
Maggie’s attention. She knew that Mrs Berkeley must be nearing thirty, as she was quite of an age with Mrs John, but had she not
known this
she would easily have taken
her to be scarcely out of her teens. Slim, elegant in
a
white muslin
gown and scarf,
with
a simple bandeau
around
her head
, a single gold bracelet upon her arm,
she boasted
dark ringlets and dark brows fram
ing
a broad, intelligent
-
looking forehead
which was
set off by as fine a set of dark eyes as Maggie had ever had the privilege to se
e
. Her nose was straight, her lips rosy and held at that moment in a slight smile which
gave her the
air of knowing something which she was finding slightly amusing but which she was far too polite to reveal.

Maggie saw all this in a glance but she could also see a good deal more. Above all their mutual physical attractiveness, and
totally
dwarfing it
into insignificance
– above
all
the
elegance and refinement,
above all the fine clothes and graceful air
s
,
s
he could see that Mr and Mrs Berkeley shared something very special
that she had never, to her know
ledge, ever had the privilege of
witness
ing
before
. She could see that they shared
a love so intense, so unconscious, that though it was delightful to behold she could not prevent
herself from feeling
just a tiny tinge of jealousy
as well. The way in which they regarded
each other
across the room
–
it was as if, even when they were entirely focused on some
thing or somebody
else, they were constantly aware of where the other was and what the
other was
doing. The way in which
Mr Berkeley
paid
particular
attention to his wife – not a fussy, not an
ostentatious, not an imperious
attention imposing itself
arrogantly upon
her but a perfectly natural
effortless
regard for her, as if
somehow he knew instantly of
her every wish
, and
as if
her every wish
were his
delight to fulfil
-
and
h
er attention to him – quiet, respectful, adoring
-
not adoring like a puppy of its master, not
doe
-
eyed and
sickly sweet but, rather, an adoration based on su
ch an absolute
understanding of and need to provide for
him
– all this made
Maggie
feel that she
could not even begin to imagine how they might ever
have
survive
d
this life
apart.
She wondered whether, perhaps, they had not
long
been married, whether
perhaps
this
love of theirs was so intense through it
s
still
being
fresh and new.
Perhaps
they had discovered it relatively late in life, and valued
it all the more for being totally
unexpected.
She thought that it must be
so
. Certainly she had never even considered that so compelling
a mutual regard
could
possibly survive for
very
long.