Letters to a Lady (16 page)

Diana smiled warmly. “Thank you, Harrup,” she said, and took his hand. Harrup squeezed her fingers tightly, and before he left, he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it.

She mistrusted the sparkle in his eyes. “I hope you feel the same after you learn his post,” he said, and left quickly.

Diana was on nettles, waiting to hear from Ronald. She wrote a note to Lady Selena requesting her help in arranging the party before she started writing the invitations. Lady Selena arrived so promptly, one would think she had been waiting with her pelisse and bonnet already on.

“It was kind of you to ask me to come.” The lady smiled shyly. Looking all around the entrance hall, she added, “Is Ronald here?”

“No, he isn’t,” Diana replied. “The cards are in Harrup’s office. Shall we begin writing them?” In the commotion, it hadn’t occurred to her that Ronald and Selena would be thrown together. She would send Ronald off as soon as she learned his position.

He arrived within half an hour, smiling from ear to ear. “You’ll never guess what, Di! I am to be Harrup’s special assistant!” he crowed. Then his happy eyes fell on Lady Selena and glossed over in a surfeit of good fortune.

“Congratulations,” Diana said, but already she foresaw considerable difficulty in this scheme. Although it was kind of Harrup to give Ronald such a good post, it seemed unwise in the face of Ronald’s devotion to Lady Selena. This was why Harrup’s eyes had been sparkling when he left.

Why had he done such a mischievous thing? She had warned him of the danger.

“Papa thought you were very clever last night,” Lady Selena confided softly to Ronald.

“I would have been a deal more clever if I hadn’t been trembling in my boots,” he admitted.

“We are very happy for you, Ronald,” Diana said.

“And now, I’m afraid we must ask you to leave. Lady Selena and I have a hard morning’s work before us.”

“I am to help you,” Ronald told her happily. “Harrup most particularly asked me stay here today and give you any assistance I can for the party. It is my first assignment as his special assistant. Till he gets a desk and office fixed up for me, you know, I cannot do much at Westminster.”

An angry buzzing sounded in Diana’s ears. What was that wretched man up to? He knew Lady Selena would be here all day. He knew she would be too busy to ride herd on them as she ought to do. She lifted her chin and said coolly, “In that case, perhaps you should speak to Mrs. Dunaway and see what needs doing while Lady Selena and I write these cards.”

“Oh, I’ll help with the cards,” Ronald said, and pulled a chair close to Selena’s. “That is the first thing that needs doing. There is no point in arranging a party without guests. Why, Di, you haven’t put RSVP on the bottom.”

Mrs. Dunaway poked her head in the doorway and said, “The musicians are all booked up for tomorrow evening. I don’t know what his lordship was about, thinking to throw together a scrambling do on such short notice. How can we have a rout without music?”

Ronald perked up his ears. “I might be able to round up a couple of fellows. Cuthbert’s sister knows some chaps that fiddle for her parties. They’re a new group just turning professional. They know all the new tunes, and I know where they practice.”

“You’d best go after them,” Diana decided.

Lady Selena bounced up from her chair. “I’ll go with you, Ronald.” She smiled.

“No, no! I need your help here, Selena,” Diana said firmly.

Lady Selena looked abashed, but soon recovered. “I have the megrim, Miss Beecham. When I have the megrim, Mama always sends me out for a drive in the fresh air. I shall be back to help you very soon.”

Diana stared helplessly while Ronald and Selena went off together, unchaperoned. She couldn’t abandon her job, and even Peabody couldn’t be spared to go with them. Someone had to help her write the cards.

“I am so annoyed with Harrup I could happily wring his neck,” she complained to Peabody. “First giving Ronald the post as his special assistant, then sending him here to be underfoot with Selena all day.”

Peabody stared. “You never mean he made our Ronald his special assistant, and you not telling me! Why, that is excellent news, Di. Aren’t you happy for him?”

“Of course I am, but—oh, Peabody, it is too complicated. Here, you take this stack of cards. And don’t forget to put RSVP on the bottom.”

An hour passed, ninety minutes, and still Ronald and Selena did not return. What could possibly be taking them so long? Between worry and the rapid writing of the cards, Diana’s head began to ache. As she finished the last card and added it to the stack, the front door opened and Ronald and Selena came in, laughing and talking happily.

Diana stormed into the hall, ready to rip at them. She looked at their smiling faces and felt like a jailer. They looked so right together, so happy—so much in love. “Did you manage to hire the musicians?” she asked in a tolerably patient voice.

“Yes, by Jove, and at an excellent price, too,” Ronald assured her. “We had them play a few jigs for us so Selena could judge whether their music was suitable. It’s very easy to dance to. Of course Selena is so light-footed...”

Diana fixed him with a sapient eye. “Is that how you construe your new duties, Ronald?” she asked coldly. “I didn’t know you counted caper merchanting amongst your skills. Perhaps you would be kind enough to have these cards delivered.” She handed him the stack. “And I don’t mean for you to deliver them yourself. Give them to a footman.”

The cards were just being piled into Ronald’s arms when the door opened and Harrup entered. His eyes flew first to Diana’s glowering face, from where they quickly flitted to Ronald and Selena. “All my helpers are hard at work, I see,” be said heartily. Then he turned to Lady Selena and said, “Good morning, Selena. You are looking charming. as usual.”

“Thank you,” she said, but her face and expression were like thunder.

“May I see you for a moment in my office, Selena?” Harrup said. “There are a few things I wish to discuss about this evening.”

Selena cast an imploring look to Ronald, who looked back helplessly as Harrup held the door for his fiancée. Selena entered with drooping shoulders and sullen lips. Diana was aware of a strong wish to put her ear to the keyhole and thought Ronald felt the same. Harrup obviously intended to try his hand at a spot of lovemaking. She had urged him to be kind to Selena and wondered why she should feel so incensed that he was taking her advice.

“You’d best get those cards delivered,” she said to her brother. “In fact, you can deliver them yourself. Use Harrup’s carriage.” There was no danger of Selena accompanying him now.

“But Selena—” he said, looking to the closed door.

“Immediately,” Diana added, and stared till Ronald walked away with the cards.

It was a quarter of an hour later when Selena came out of Harrup’s office. She looked extremely unhappy. “Where is Ronald?” she asked Diana.

“He’s gone. Is there something I can do for you?”

“No,” the girl said sullenly.

Diana sought for words to discover what had passed in the office without sounding too encroaching. Obviously Harrup had used too heavy a hand in his lovemaking. “Is everything all right about this evening?” she ventured.

It was enough to set Selena off on a series of complaints. “He says I must stand in the welcome line with him and greet his guests. There will be cabinet ministers and possibly even the prime minister, Miss Beecham,” she lamented. “And he has written this list with the title of each one, which I am supposed to memorize, and ask them questions or compliment them on their accomplishments.”

Diana felt her head whirl. Was this his notion of conciliation? “Harrup and your parents will be with you, Selena,” she pointed out. “You will not be expected to carry the whole burden yourself. You must be familiar with these gentlemen. I’m sure they have visited your house any number of times.”

“They’re all horrid.” The girl pouted. “And I never can remember whether Castlereagh is the dandy little gentleman who flirts or the great fat one who looks like a hippopotamus. Harrup says it is very important that I not make any mistakes. It could jeopardize his career,” she added, tears brimming in her eyes.

“You have the whole afternoon to learn the list,” Diana said.

“I am going home, Miss Beecham. Pray tell Lord Harrup I have the megrim.”

Lady Selena demanded her pelisse, and as her skirts whisked angrily out the door, Diana’s whisked into Harrup’s office. She cast a withering stare at Harrup, who looked back uneasily.

“I cannot believe you are such a flat,” she began angrily. “Selena has just flounced off home with that list you gave her to memorize. Are you trying to frighten the life out of her?”

Harrup mounted his high horse and stared Diana down.

“Not at all. My wife will have duties to perform. This is an excellent time for her to begin learning them.”

“You can’t expect her to learn the workings of government in one day, Harrup! And furthermore, what do you mean by making Ronald your special assistant, then sending him here when you knew I was asking Selena to help me?”

“I wanted to give you every assistance. It happens my office is in confusion at the moment, and I had no work for Ronald. I hope he proved useful to you?”

“Remarkably useful! He took Selena off to dance the morning away.”

Harrup stared in bewilderment. “What?”

“Ronald undertook to hire musicians when Mrs. Dunaway could not engage your regular group. Selena went with him.”

“I made sure the redoubtable Miss Beecham would keep a tight rein on the children for me,” he mocked.

“I have no authority over the girl. I asked her to stay and help me. She said she had the megrim, and I might add she has it again. You may count yourself fortunate if she doesn’t take to her bed with another this evening. I, for one, would scarcely blame her.”

“Evils do come in threes, folks say,” he agreed.

Diana felt better after venting her spleen and asked more mildly, “Speaking of evils, was there any mention from York about last night?”

“The
on-dit
at Whitehall is that the royal duke is at home with a bad cold, which had the curious effect of darkening his daylights.”

“Then he’s keeping mum,” she interpreted. “Have you heard from Mrs. Whitby?”

No.” There was a sound of wheels on the street. Harrup strolled to the window. “Perhaps this is her note coming now.”

Diana joined him, looking through the sheer curtain. “That’s your own carriage. It must be Ronald delivering the cards.” But she knew Ronald would be blocks away by now if he hadn’t been hanging around, waiting for Selena. Even as she spoke, Lady Selena flew into the street and hurled herself into the carriage.

“Ronald will see her home safely,” Harrup said.

“The devil he will. She’ll be jaunting all over London with him, delivering those cards. You’ll have to stop her.”

Harrup looked serenely indifferent to this. “Did Ronald not assure you he meant to behave as a gentleman in this matter?”

“Yes, and to be fair, I think he will try, but that girl has no more notion of propriety than one of her own kittens. Ronald is not forceful enough to deny her anything.”

He turned a black, accusing eye on her. “I can feel with Ronald in that predicament. How I ever let you talk me into going to Mrs. Whitby’s!” Then he crossed his arms and considered the matter a moment. “I see no impropriety in my fiancée and my special assistant delivering invitations to my little rout. Even Groden would be hard pressed to discover any mischief there. The only person who might reasonably object is myself, and I have complete confidence in them both. Now shall we have some luncheon, Diana? I must return to work for a few hours this afternoon.”

Her nostrils flared in indignation. “I am not at liberty, Harrup. Someone must arrange this demmed rout of yours, and it is clear that no one else will do it.”

She stalked from the office and went to the ballroom to oversee the placement of vases for the flowers. The afternoon was taken up in discussions with Mrs. Dunaway and the servants regarding refreshments and other arrangements for the party.

Lady Selena did not return with Ronald, who arrived several hours later. “Is Harrup here?” were Ronald’s first words, uttered with a telltale unsteadiness of the eyes that spoke of guilt.

“No. Where’s Selena?”

“I left her at home. It is unconscionable the way that man treats her, Di.”

“Standing at the door and welcoming his guests is hardly a punishment,” she defended.

“No, but the way he spoke to her—so harshly. Telling her she must read up on politics and not make a cake of herself by appearing ignorant of what passes in the world. She said he reminded her of her papa, talking nothing but politics. He told her the attorney general’s wife must circulate and play the hostess, putting his guests at their ease. His lady, he said, was not expected to sit on the sofa like a cushion, as she did the other night at Groden’s dinner party. You know how shy Selena is, Di. It will be torture for her. If I didn’t know better, I would think Harrup was trying to give her a disgust of him.”

“Nonsense, he is only showing her how she must behave after they are married.”

Ronald stood irresolute a moment; then he straightened his narrow shoulders and spoke firmly. “There is such a thing as pushing people too far. ‘My foe may provide me with arms.’ That is all I have to say.”

“Might I suggest you say it to Harrup?” she replied. “There is no point in complaining to me, Ronald. I don’t rule the roost here.”

Ronald’s courage did not go quite that far. He was going to Whitehall to see if his office was ready yet, but Diana knew he wouldn’t speak to his patron on personal matters. It wasn’t Ronald’s style.

The newspapers had several stories on Harrup’s appointment, some of them giving a detailed history of the family. Peabody brought the papers to Diana, as proud as though Chuggie were her own son. “I always knew Chuggie would amount to something.” She smiled dotingly. “Such a clever boy as he was. We will see him prime minister yet, Di. Mark my words. And he’ll carry our Ronald along with him to the top. You may have your wish of lording it over them all in London yet.”