Jane Austen Mysteries 10 Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron (13 page)

But Lord Moira was already searching beyond my head for the Royal figure, so vast and magnificent, with its dyed locks carefully arranged a la Brutus; its fobs and seals and various puffery orders displayed upon its vast expanse of bosom; its elaborately tied cravat and its ponderous thighs. And as I observed Lord Moira's countenance, it underwent a change; a suffusion of pleasure overcame the thickened cheeks.

"Mr. Austen!" the Earl cried. "My dear Henry! I have blockaded your sister here by the lobster patties, and must engage your support in overcoming her blushes! She protests she cannot meet the Regent! For shame! Why else is she come to the Marine Pavilion, indeed?"

"To gawk at all the
ton
in their summer pleasure ground, my lord. For you must know that Jane possesses as exquisite a taste as Beau Brummell--she holds the Regent in absolute abhorrence."

The Earl's expression of dismay was a visible reproach; poor Eliza should never have repaid his attentions so ill, and my conscience smote me. Henry's shot at levity had fallen too wide of its mark. We were both of us in danger of offending an old friend, and one who had every reason to expect our gratitude, in having procured the evening's tickets. There seemed no other recourse in such a
crise
but the lady's constant friend--the fainting fit--and so without hesitation I swayed dangerously where I stood, fluttered my eyelids helplessly, and said in a failing voice: "My lord--the
heat--
"

Immediately, Lord Moira's hand was at one elbow; Henry supported the other, and a path was cleared through the fashionable throng at the Earl's insistence. There is something to be said for buff and blue livery, when it may cut so swift a line through a crowd of gentlemen and ladies hell bent on pleasure. I was carried off to an airy, high-ceilinged structure filled with greenery: the Regent's Conservatory, I collect, where every manner of fragrant bloom, tropic palm, and sinuous vine trailed among the pillars. I could almost suspect a primordial snake to slither out at my feet, hissing its most seductive favours.

Tho' my eyes were half-closed, in pretence of swooning, and my head lolled like a doll's on my brother's shoulder, I was not so far lost in high drama as to ignore the presence of others, half-hidden amidst the serrated leaves of a verdant fig: the whipcord figure of a man, crushing like an inverted flower the delicate form of a girl, bent to ravishing point at his embrace. He had pinned her arms behind her narrow waist; his mouth was buried in her white throat; her head was tilted backwards. She looked for all the world like a doe caught in the slavering jaws of a hound.

"Henry!" I hissed, as Lord Moira halted in abrupt confusion.

The man swung round. George Hanger, intimate of the Regent and more than sixty if he was a day; and the girl--crumpling to the floor as he released her--

Was none other than Catherine Twining.

9
Thomas Kemp owned most of the land in Brighton at the end of the eighteenth century; his son, Thomas Read Kemp (1782-1844), built Kemp Town in 1823, a significant Regency-style architectural neighborhood between the Royal Crescent and the racecourse on the Downs. The project eventually bankrupted him, and he died on the Continent, unable to meet his creditors' demands.--
Editor's note
.

10
Although the Prince of Wales underwent a ceremony of marriage with the devoutly Roman Catholic commoner Maria Fitzherbert in 1786, he did so without the royal consent of his father, George III, and the marriage was thus regarded as illegal--by all but Maria Fitzherbert, presumably. The Prince's subsequent arranged marriage to his royal cousin, Caroline of Brunswick, was regarded as the legitimate union. The Prince's detractors continued to refer to him as a bigamist, however
.--Editor's note
.

11
Jane's description of the Marine Pavilion appears almost quaint to a present-day reader, reflecting as it does a simpler palace long since razed. The Chinese wallpaper she mentions, however, is credited with having inspired the Regent's subsequent renovation of the Pavilion into the present exotic folly.--
Editor's note
.

12
Francis Rawdon, then the second Earl Moira, had been appointed governor-general of Bengal in 1812, and left England later in 1813 without repaying the loans he had drawn on Henry Austen's bank.--
Editor's note
.

CHAPTER EIGHT
The Girl in Boy's Clothing

S
UNDAY
, 9 M
AY
1813
B
RIGHTON

"C
OLONEL
H
ANGER
!" L
ORD
M
OIRA CRIED
. T
HE
E
ARL'S
heavy jowls trembled with emotion--outrage or uneasiness, I could not tell. "The young lady--I trust she has not been overcome by the heat--Miss Austen, you perceive, is in a similar case--"

"Miss Austen," Catherine Twining repeated faintly; her eyelids fluttered as tho' she roused from a dream. "Again you are my salvation!"

"Shhhh," I murmured, kneeling down beside her and shaking my head once, sternly, in mute admonition. It would not do to make a scene--any hint of scandal in such a place should damage Colonel Hanger not at all, but should leave Miss Twining's reputation in shreds.

"Allow me," Henry said gently, extending his hand to assist the girl. "Are you all right?"

The lace ruff at the edge of Catherine's bodice was torn and dangling; observing this, her cheeks were suffused with scarlet. Her fingers fluttered at the scrap ineffectually.

"Perhaps a pin," I suggested hastily, and searched in my reticule for one I kept there against just such a need.

My brother turned coldly on Colonel Hanger. "Sir, I have not the honour of your acquaintance, and must leave it to others more closely connected with Miss Twining to question your conduct--"

Hanger grinned, displaying a lamentable set of wooden teeth. "The General, d'ye mean? He's not likely to cross a brother officer over a bit of muslin, even if she
is
his daughter. From what I remember of her ma, there's not much virtue in the female line."

"Sir! You forget yourself!" Henry said fiercely.

Hanger's eyes narrowed. "Think you're entitled to teach me conduct, do you?" He stepped pugnaciously towards my brother. "And what if I slapped your face with my glove, you damnable mushroom? Would you accept the honour of my acquaintance then? The girl encouraged my attentions, if you must know--and led the way to this secluded spot!"

Henry stiffened, and I feared for the issue. "Sir, your imputations are insupportable! Pray step outside, where we may discuss this in greater privacy!"

Hanger strode like a bantam cock towards a pair of great iron doors that let out from the Conservatory onto the Pavilion's grounds. "Lead on, my fine fellow! I should be happy to draw your cork for you!"

I looked in desperation to Lord Moira, who shouldered his way between my brother and his unusual adversary. "George, if you do not take care, you will bring all of Brighton down upon us--and I cannot think you wish that! You have too many creditors among the townsfolk, ha! ha! And in any case--His Highness sent me in search of you. He desires you to attend him in the Blue Saloon."

"Does he, indeed?" Hanger eyed poor Catherine, huddled under my wing, with hungry chagrin. "I had forgot what I was about. It was the Regent who was wild to make your acquaintance, my dove, only I tarried too long in presenting you. But don't cry--we shall have other opportunities--and the Prince was never one for little girls, nor dark-haired ones, neither. He prefers them billowy and blond. I should know--I was ever Prinny's procurer."

"George," Lord Moira breathed warningly. "Have a care!"

Hanger smirked. "You're a diplomat born, Francis, for all you're so hopeless at cards. You'll do very well among the savages and Nabobs--you shall indeed. I wish you at Bengal right now, truth be told; or at the Devil--whichever you will. It's all one to me."

"I dare swear you're foxed, George," Lord Moira returned despairingly.

Hanger bowed in Catherine's direction. "Pleasure, Miss Twining--one I hope to have often repeated."

Henry surged forward, but I placed a restraining hand on his arm; we could not endure a meeting at dawn with such an opponent. Hanger might very well be foxed--his whole person reeked of brandy--and Henry might have the advantage of him in years; but the Colonel was known for an excellent shot. Catherine Twining's honour was not my brother's to defend.

As Hanger swung out of the Conservatory with the arrogant stride of a man half his age, Lord Moira, without requiring to be told, had the good sense to draw Henry aside and speak to him very sensibly on the subject of our late Eliza. I busied myself with tucking up Miss Twining's torn lace, using the least number of pins.

"How came you to be in such a sad case?" I enquired in a lowered tone. "Where is your father? Why are you all unprotected?"

"I am here at the invitation of a neighbour," she murmured, "Mrs. Silchester. I do not think she knows where I am. It was she who introduced me to the Colonel, at his particular request. He said he wished to present me to the Regent. I am sure Mrs. Silchester thought there could be no objection. Only that
odious
man carried me directly here, where I am sure the Regent has not been at all!"

"You ought not to have walked off with a strange gentleman alone, Miss Twining. That is considered to be very
fast
, you know. Let us hope it has not excited comment."

I glanced up, and discovered tears on the poor girl's face. I added firmly, "Tho' in such a crush, how could the movements of any one person be remarked upon? I am sure we need not refine too much upon events. Dry your eyes, lest Mrs. Silchester be in a quake, and escort you home too soon to your papa! You would not wish him to receive you in moping looks! But I am glad to know he allowed you to come this evening--he was so very stern when we met at the Camp, with his talk of beatings and locked doors. Shall I restore you to your party?"