By Eastern windows (36 page)

‘Oh, Elizabeth, you look divine!’ Henrietta exclaimed. ‘A vision of bronze and gold … beautiful and just
divine!
’

Elizabeth smiled her relief.
 

At the sound of a knock on the front door brass, Henrietta said quickly, ‘Now remember, dear, you must make every effort to capture a general or even a captain tonight. Dear cousin Lachlan simply cannot understand why no calling cards have arrived. And neither can I.’

‘Maybe Scottish girls are not in vogue this season,’ Elizabeth murmured.

‘Nonsense! Scottish girls are always in vogue!’ Henrietta Campbell replied crisply.

A maid showed Lachlan into the drawing room. He stared at Elizabeth, and then smiled in approval. ‘They'll be queuing in lines to dance with you.’

It was a military ball, held in Chelsea, and Elizabeth was indeed besieged by young officers requesting a dance. The wine flowed extravagantly and Elizabeth drank her fill, accepting as many dances as she could, determined to enjoy Hogmanay in true Scottish style – while `dear cousin Lachlan’ spent his time within a group of male friends which included his favourite officer who had returned home from India, General Balfour.

The next time Elizabeth caught sight of Lachlan he was waltzing with a very plump and blowsy dark-haired woman in a gown of startling red, who kept waving her plump arms in the air and gesticulating animatedly as she danced and talked at the same time.

Elizabeth suddenly realised her own partner was speaking to her. She turned her face to him – a jovial major with a pleasant smile, but very fat, tightly buttoned in a coat of the brightest red with loops of straining gold braid.

The major was paying her a compliment, she realised. She smiled, about to reply, when suddenly a female voice cried out in a high, delighted shrill: ‘
BENNIE!’

Elizabeth quickly glanced over her shoulder to see Lachlan and his partner only a few feet away, and the blowsy plump woman in red was staring with mouth open at the portly major.

Elizabeth's eardrum almost popped with the resulting roar. ‘
ROXIE!
’

Dancers swirled by as the two rotunds in red stood and stared at each other with ecstatic joy.

‘Bennie! I didna know
you
would be here tonight!’

‘Well – fire all my guns – Roxie Carmichael!
 
My, but you're a bonnier sight than ever ye were, Roxie!’

‘Oh, Bennie! Sakes alive! You always did say such lovely things to my own wee self!’

‘Dash it all, Roxie, but you're still a devil of a draw to a man!’

Elizabeth peeked at Lachlan from under a flutter of eyelashes and smiled with an exaggerated simper. ‘You will dance with me at least
once
tonight, won’t you, Colonel Macquarie?’

‘Miss Campbell, I will be happy to dance with you anytime,’ Lachlan replied, curving the chattering Roxie towards the chattering Bennie with one arm and sliding the other round Elizabeth's waist. ‘How about now?’ he said, leading her away in a swift turn.

They danced very close together, their hands clasped. Lachlan smiled as he looked down into her face. ‘I think you’re a little intoxicated, Elizabeth, I’ve never seen you so sunny and unrestrained.’

‘Sunny? Oh, it must be due to the gold colour of my gown,’ she laughed. ‘And the wine too, of course, but it
is
Hogmanay!’

They had only covered one circuit of the floor when the music stopped and the waltz was over. Before Elizabeth could even blink Captain John Buchanan was across the floor. ‘I believe this is my dance now, Miss Campbell.’

Lachlan smiled and pressed her fingers affectionately before moving aside, and left them to carry on, crossing the floor towards General Balfour and his friends, past Bennie and Roxie who were still standing wheezing reminiscences, the lack of musical accompaniment not troubling them at all.

Captain Buchanan claimed three more dances before Elizabeth could escape him, straight into the arms of General Balfour who led her very gracefully through a contredanse, then imperiously escorted her off the dance floor where she was immediately claimed by a young lieutenant who shyly led her back again.

Elizabeth wished she had not accepted the lieutenant who proceeded to blush at every word she said, and danced like a rabbit.

‘Lieutenant Kellyson, Lieutenant
Kellyson
,’ Elizabeth hissed in painful indignation,
 
`that again was my foot you hopped on!’

The lieutenant blushed self-consciously. ‘Oh p-please, Miss Campbell, call me F-Freddie.’

An hour later, all music and dancing ceased as the time arrived for the bells to ring in the New Year. Everyone stood in anticipated silence as the lone piper in a kilt played a beautiful tune, and then all joined in the counting as the chimes rang out the old year, and the room erupted with a roar of cheers and endless shouts of
 
‘Happy New Year!’

The success of the evening, and its enjoyment, surpassed all of Elizabeth’s expectations. Between the dances with her various partners, Lachlan had escorted her to the dining room to find them refreshment, and on their return they had sat at one of the small tables drinking wine and watching the dancers, exchanging humorous comments, until another gallant arrived to claim a dance from her. It had been a wonderful evening, glittering and glamorous, and she had enjoyed every minute of it.

The lamps suddenly flared up, brightening the ballroom.
 
It was late, and the tired and happy crowd began saying their farewells, dispersing to brave the coldness of the night.

‘Time to go, Macquarie!’ General Balfour called from the doorway. ‘Time to return to our hammocks!’

*

The night was cold and clear and the stars gleamed like diamonds. At Wigmore Street, Lachlan sprang out of the carriage and escorted Elizabeth to her door. As soon as the maid opened it, he again pressed her fingers affectionately and wished her a ‘Happy New Year,’ and then he turned down the steps and was gone.

Elizabeth stood watching the carriage as it slowly moved off, but it was only the old general who poked his head through the window and looked back, as if suddenly remembering he had not said farewell, calling back to her:
 
‘Happy New Year, Miss um, um ... what?’ His head disappeared for a second then re-emerged. ‘Oh yes –
Campbell!
 
Happy New Year, Miss Campbell! Cheerio!’

*

On the journey home General Balfour became talkative. ‘Frankly, Macquarie, I am inclined to agree with my friend General Stuart, it's high time you married again.’

Lachlan glanced at Balfour who smiled and cocked a twinkling blue eye ‘Miss Campbell looks quite suitable, what? She’s a nice-looking young woman.’

‘She is, sir.’
 

‘And she appears quite sound and reliable as well as charming. That’s the kind of woman you want, sound and reliable.’ Balfour pulled a face. ‘Not like that Italian Countess who had her eye on me tonight! She may have been a lady, but I got the distinct impression she was going to ask me for a loan.’

Lachlan smiled disbelievingly.

‘Not that I have anything against Italian Countesses,’ Balfour explained, ‘but three dead husbands hardly makes her trustworthy, eh what?’

The carriage slowed to a stop. Lachlan sprang out and held the door for Balfour. `Here we are, sir.’

Balfour remained seated, his face thoughtful. ‘She gave me her card and invited me to call on her at home tomorrow, for afternoon tea …
 
but no, I’m sure it’s for a loan.’

‘And what makes you think that, sir?’

‘Her non-stop talk about rubies and emeralds and all the other fine jewels we officers can pick up so cheaply in India, not to mention the handfuls we receive in prize money. Oh, she knew all about it. And you must remember, such things can make a man very attractive to a woman. ’

‘Then maybe it’s more than just a loan she is looking for,’ Lachlan grinned. ‘Maybe it’s
you
that should give some consideration to the subject of marriage.’

‘God forbid,’ Balfour said as he climbed out. ‘I’m off to Perth first thing in the morning. The carriage is arriving at six. Hardly worth my while going to bed, eh what?’

‘Goodnight, sir.’

‘Goodnight, dear boy.’

Later, upon entering his own quarters, Lachlan was surprised to find his manservant still up, waiting for him. ‘What is it, Joseph?’ he asked.

‘This dispatch, sir. It came just after you left this evening. It’s marked urgent.’

Lachlan threw down his cape and ripped open the dispatch. He read the contents quickly, and then read them again more slowly, a frown on his face. He looked around, nodding to his servant. ‘You may go to bed now, Joseph.’

‘Thank you, sir. Goodnight.’

Lachlan poured himself a glass of brandy, and sat down in an armchair thinking about the content of the dispatch, hardly able to believe it. That old humbug Balfour – the man was incapable of talking straight about anything! All the time they had spent in each other’s company tonight at the Ball, and then during the carriage journey home – all that nonsense about the Italian Countess looking for a loan. Yet not a word about
this!

Lachlan read the dispatch again, informing him of his immediate posting to Perth in Scotland – and to ensure that the arrival of himself and his commanding officer in Perth could be effected as speedily as possible, a carriage to convey them to Scotland would arrive the following morning at six.

‘Hardly worth my while going to bed, eh what?’ he mimicked Balfour as he pulled out his portmanteau and began to pack.

When the carriage arrived just after six, General Balfour was already seated comfortably inside. Lachlan climbed into the carriage, sat on the seat opposite and glared at him. ‘Why did you not give me any warning of this last night? And why does it have to be
me
?’

‘You? I had no idea it would be
you
accompanying me to Perth.’ Balfour gave him a wonderfully innocent stare. ‘No idea at all.’

‘Come, sir, the command would not assign you without informing you of the name of your staff officer. They would have told you that days ago.’

‘No … well, perhaps they might have suggested a few names … but none that I can recall.’

None that Balfour would accept, Lachlan thought. None that he was sure he could persecute with his favouritism. ‘Did you request me, sir?’

‘Request you?’ Balfour smiled with withering suavity. ‘My dear boy, of course I did not presume to request you.’ He shifted into a more comfortable position on his seat.
 
‘But, um … well … now that you mention it, I do seem to recall my pointing out your years of experience in India. So it must have been the Commander-in-Chief who decided that you would be a most suitable candidate for the job in hand.’

‘My experience in India?
 
Are we being posted back there?’

‘Unfortunately not – well, not immediately.’ Balfour relaxed back on his pillow, ‘But our knowledge of India is urgently needed now, because the soldiers stationed in Perthshire are about to embark on some extensive training, and their officers need our wise and experienced guidance …
 
before they all depart for Bombay.’

*

There had been no time to write a letter, so when Lachlan’s manservant called at the house in Wigmore Street later that day, the message he verbally conveyed to Henrietta Campbell was that Colonel Macquarie had left London due to his urgent posting elsewhere.

‘Where elsewhere?’ Henrietta asked.

Joseph had no idea, other than Colonel Macquarie had received an urgent dispatch, which required him to leave before dawn.

Elizabeth was so dumbfounded when Henrietta told her, she remained speechless for many long minutes as she tried to take it in. The
 
`elsewhere’ was India, she concluded. It had to be India. Didn’t he say General Balfour was already pining to go back there.

‘Oh dear, I shall miss his visits,’ Henrietta said sadly. ‘And you, Elizabeth, have lost your escort.’

When Elizabeth made no reply, Henrietta said gently, `Elizabeth, you are a very lovely young woman, so I’m sure we will get you a suitable man very soon, one that will make you a very good husband.’

‘But I don’t
want
a husband,’ Elizabeth responded angrily. ‘To be honest, I have always been more interested in finding suitable and fulfilling employment.’

‘Employment?’ Henrietta almost sprang out of her chair. ‘Elizabeth, are you forgetting that you are a first cousin to my son, the Earl of Breadlebane. What will people think if they hear that his young female cousin had to resort to seeking employment? And he’ll be coming home in a few months, you know that.’

Elizabeth nodded, but she was suddenly determined. ‘Then I will have to ensure that whatever employment I secure will not in any way disgrace him.’

TWENTY-TWO

Two months passed before Lachlan was granted any leave from his duties in Perth. During that time he had managed to get away and spend a day with George Jarvis in Edinburgh, but now that he had been granted seven days leave, he had decided to return to Mull to visit his mother.