Sally James (9 page)

“If she in any way resembles Mr Morris, yes! How any woman could bear to have so foppish a creature as a friend, I cannot tell!”

They were to meet Mrs Standish the following day. Once more Mr Morris approached them, but this time to beg them to allow him to introduce his dear friend to them.

“Mrs Standish does so wish to thank you for protecting her ewe lamb from the ferocity of that abominable cousin of hers,” he said as Mary and Caroline crossed the room to where Mrs Standish sat awaiting them.

She was a faded blonde, her hair dressed in childish ringlets, and her complexion owing a great deal to art. She extended a plump hand to Mary when they were introduced, and beamed on her.

“My dear child’s saviour! How can I ever thank you for preserving her? My dear Miss Wyndham, you were heroic, indeed you were. Heaven only knows what would have happened to my baby if Ingram had caught up with her before she had reached the haven of your arms!”

“I cannot think he would have harmed her, Ma’am,” Mary replied soothingly.

“Oh, you do not know him as I do. I am the most unfortunate of women to have been left with him the arbiter of my fate. He is a monster, my dear, with no finer feelings! He has no appreciation of the trials of a widow, no care for my comfort, no notion of how a mother feels when her only child is tortured and threatened and she has no power to prevent it! And he would have me deliver my precious baby into his power to an even greater extent by permitting her to marry him! Rather would I cast myself from the dome of St Paul’s!”

“Where is Teresa, Ma’am?” Mary asked faintly, as this spate of complaints came to an end. Mrs Standish looked about her vaguely, as though suddenly recalled to her surroundings.

“Are they not here? Rodney, where is Teresa? Has the naughty one slipped away with Mr Wyndham? Oh, well, girls will be girls! It is a fortunate chance that Aunt Hermione is not here this morning! But that puts me in mind of something. I am so glad to have seen you, Miss Wyndham, for when Mr Morris informed us you were in Bath Aunt Hermione said that you were to be sure to come to her party tonight. Just a small affair, you know, for her acquaintances that are in Bath. Mrs Grafton, you are to come too, of course. We have taken a house in Great Pulteney Street, and will be delighted to welcome you there. Oh, there is dear Sir Bernard! Rodney, pray desire Sir Bernard to step across and speak with me. Goodbye, then, dear Miss Wyndham, and Mrs Grafton, until tonight!”

They edged away, speechless, avoiding one another’s eyes, and did not dare to comment until they were safely outside the Pump Room.

“Oh, Mary, my sides are aching with trying not to laugh!” Caroline gasped. “She and that precious Mr Morris are indeed well matched! How
could
Teresa have a mother like that?”

“She had little say in the matter,” Mary laughingly pointed out. “Oh, yes, she is comical, but surely there must be something against Sir Ingram for her to be so vehement against him!”

“I have no doubt she has imagined it all and has influenced Teresa against him!” Caroline declared roundly. “I wonder what Aunt Hermione is like? If she is anything like those two I shall be hard put to it to behave in a seemly fashion!”

“None of them appear to be chaperoning Teresa properly,” Mary said worriedly, but Caroline laughed at her.

“What nonsense! In Bath! It is the most sedate of places, my dear. What harm can there be if they do slip away for a quiet talk on occasion? No doubt they merely walk in the parks.”

“Nonetheless it will cause comment, and I cannot feel it wise of Matthew to flout convention so. It will most likely offend Sir Ingram on whose good offices he must depend if he is to gain permission to marry Teresa.”

She found she had even greater cause to be concerned that evening, for Matthew, when he arrived at Mrs Leigh’s party soon after Mary and Caroline, immediately attached himself to Teresa and remained determinedly at her side. Mary had no opportunity to intervene, however, for Mrs Standish swept down on her and carried her off to be introduced to Mrs Leigh, who sat enthroned in the drawing room. Aunt Hermione looked magnificently autocratic, but Mary immediately warmed to her when, on being introduced by a dithering Mrs Standish, Mrs Leigh waved that lady firmly aside and patted the seat beside her invitingly.

“Do sit down, my dear. I have wanted to thank you for behaving so sensibly when little Teresa came to you. You would seem to have more wit in your little finger than the child’s mother and that mincing nincompoop that trails after her put together!”

Mary could not forbear laughing as she sat on the sofa, carefully avoiding the spreading skirts of stiff brocade that Mrs Leigh, faithful to the fashions of her youth, still affected.

Mrs Leigh nodded, the tall ostrich plumes in her hair waving vigorously.

“Yes, I can read between the lines from what Teresa told me. Your brother must have more hair than wit to have carried her off in that addle-pated fashion! Not the best way to get Ingram to agree to a match, for he’s a stickler for the proprieties! I’ve warned him what would come of it, but Teresa hasn’t the spirit to rebel properly!”

She chuckled at Mary’s astonished look and wagged a bony finger at her.

“You would scarce advocate rebellion, surely, Ma’am?”

Mrs Leigh grinned at her, her bright eyes gleaming with mischievous amusement.

“You young folk cannot seem to get it into your heads that my generation has not always been gouty and in need of taking the waters! We have lived too, in our day, and in my youth we had more guts than young people have today. You’ll find it hard to credit, no doubt, but I assure you that Mr Leigh and I managed our elopement a great deal better than this pair did! Oh, yes,” she went on, chuckling as she saw Mary’s startled glance, “I eloped too, but I succeeded in getting married as well! Mr Leigh was the younger brother of the Sir Ingram of the time, this one’s grandfather, and his family disapproved of me because my father had made his money in India. Very high in the instep, they were! A connection with trade would sully their family name, they thought - though most of them have not since allowed that connection to deter them from sponging on me whenever it suited them!
That’s
no dishonour! Not Ingram, for he’s a good boy, and in any event has a fortune as big as mine, but all the rest of the brood! Tell your brother that if he behaves properly Ingram will be bound to come round. Even though Mr Wyndham hasn’t shown a deal of sense so far, I like him. He’ll deal well with Teresa, for he’s a good, straightforward lad, and she’s not overburdened with sense anyway. She’d drive a more sensible man to distraction within a se’night!”

Mary was tempted to ask whether the old lady thought it possible that Sir Ingram wished to marry his cousin. He did not appear to need her fortune, and was undoubtedly a sensible man. Before she could frame these questions, however, Mrs Leigh was dismissing her, saying she wished to speak with one of her friends, and so Mary had to give up her seat to the next favoured guest.

Thoughtfully Mary moved away. She had taken an immediate liking to the forthright Mrs Leigh, and was grateful for her muted praise of Matthew. However, was she chaperoning Teresa effectively? When she delegated the task to Mrs Standish, as she had that morning, it did not appear as if Sir Ingram’s intentions were being adhered to. In addition, Mary was concerned that the history of Mrs Leigh’s youthful elopement would merely prove to be an added spur to Teresa. It would most decidedly not convey to her how reprehensible her own behaviour was.

Caroline was occupied talking to some friends, so Mary went to look for Matthew and Teresa. She rather doubted whether her remonstrances would be effective, but she felt bound to make an attempt to reason with the lovers. They were not in the drawing room, and she went downstairs to a parlour where some of the younger guests had gathered. There she discovered them, sitting together near a window at the far end of the room, and so absorbed in their low-voiced conversation that they paid no heed to the group gathered about the harpsichord, singing, nearer to the door.

They looked up when Mary spoke, and as she halted before them Matthew rose to his feet and offered her his chair. With an understanding smile she took it.

“I’ve been talking to your aunt, Teresa. She seems hopeful that Sir Ingram will relent in due course.”

Teresa looked at her sceptically.

“She gave me a shocking scold earlier,” she replied despondently. “Just because she had heard, from one of the inquisitive old pussies that came to visit her this afternoon, that Matthew and I had been walking in Spring Gardens without mama.”

“Well, it is not wise of you to attract gossip,” Mary said calmly. “That is not the way to win Sir Ingram’s approval.”

“Confound Sir Ingram! He is opposing Teresa because of his own wicked designs!”

“Oh come!” Mary laughed uncertainly. “I find it difficult to believe that.”

“You do not know him!” Teresa declared. “He wants to marry me, or if he cannot gain control of my fortune in that way, he will murder me!”

“Do not be ridiculous!” Mary exclaimed. “You put me out of all patience with you when you make such wild accusations. All those so-called attempts on your life were but accidents!”

“I am enchanted to discover that you, at least, Miss Wyndham, do not condemn me for a black hearted villain!” a deep, amused voice said, and they all turned in astonishment to find Sir Ingram standing beside Mary’s chair, regarding them with a sardonic look.

Mary flushed, and as she encountered his disturbing glance, looked hastily away. Matthew seemed uncomfortable, but Teresa was the least perturbed of the three.

“What brings you here?” she demanded pettishly. “I thought I was free of you for a while!”

“A charming welcome from my so delightful cousin,” he responded mockingly. “Are you not delighted to see me?”

“No, for you have doubtless come to spy on me!” she replied frankly, and he raised his eyebrows, grinning at her.

“You make the mistake, my dear, of considering your own affairs as absorbing to the rest of the world as they are to you.”

“If people are not concerned, why do they spend all their time tittle-tattling!” Teresa asked, annoyed.

“Do they, indeed? From that I infer you have been giving cause for gossip,” he rejoined.

Teresa flushed in annoyance. “Then why are you here?” she repeated.

“Oh, I have matters of my own to attend to,” he replied, aggravatingly. “It seems fortunate, however, that I will also be able to undertake my share in the task of controlling you. Aunt Hermione is not so well as I had hoped, and needs more assistance than Miss Wyndham can provide.”

“I am not responsible for Teresa now!” Mary interjected, annoyed.

“Oh? I had rather hoped you might be persuaded to take an interest in her welfare,” he replied smoothly, smiling down at her.

She could not interpret the expression in his eyes, but it discomposed her, and she looked hastily away.

“Do you mean to stay here?” Teresa persisted.

“No, my dear. You shall not be constrained to suffer my company at breakfast! I mean to take rooms.”

“For how long?”

He shrugged. “Who can tell? Until my affairs here are concluded satisfactorily, no doubt.”

Teresa glowered at him, and he laughed, then turned to Mary.

“Miss Wyndham, I have yet to pay my respects to my aunt, for she did not expect me this evening. Will you honour me when I return, and have supper with me?”

Mary scarcely had time to murmur a surprised acceptance before he had bowed himself away. Teresa broke into immediate complaints, interspersed with fruitless speculations as to what motive Sir Ingram could possibly have for coming to Bath other than to persecute her. Matthew did his best to soothe her, but she refused to be consoled, and Mary was relieved when, in a surprisingly short time, Sir Ingram reappeared to lead her away to the dining room where a buffet supper had been spread.

He chatted easily as he helped her to lobster patties and jellies, poured wine for her, and installed her at one of the small tables scattered about the room. The tumult of emotion, which she decided was due to surprise mingled with apprehension, subsided as he talked, commenting amusingly on the people at the party, and asking who else she had met during her few days in Bath. She responded to his lead, and they were soon laughing as she told of their encounter with Mr Morris at the Assembly Rooms.

“My uncle was not an especially sensible man,” he remarked, “but Aunt Cecy was truly devoted to him. What she sees in this nincompoop is beyond me. You understand now why I have problems in ensuring that Teresa is properly cared for!”

“She is young, and afraid of you, I think,” Mary ventured.

“You evidently discredit her wilder charges as to my villainy?”

“She is too imaginative, seeing herself as the persecuted heroine of some romance. I doubt if she really believes them herself,” Mary replied.

Before he could answer, Mrs Standish joined them, and there was no further opportunity for private talk. Soon afterwards Mary and Caroline left the party, and Caroline, noting her friend’s abstracted air, smiled to herself and confined her remarks to innocent chatter about the people she had met, and her impressions of Mrs Leigh.

Mary, having had time to consider this new development, decided she was relieved at Sir Ingram’s arrival since he could now undertake the task of chaperoning Teresa. The following morning, when she had been forced to listen to two elderly dowagers casting severe strictures on Teresa’s behaviour, she began to think he had come just in time to preserve his cousin’s reputation by exercising a control no one else seemed capable of.

She extricated herself from this conversation, and was crossing the Pump Room towards Mrs Wright, when she heard her name called. Turning, she found Paul Ward at her elbow.

“Miss Wyndham! How pleasant to meet you so soon.”

“Mr Ward! I had no notion that you were in Bath.”

“No, we arrived yesterday. My parents decided to come here this year instead of Tunbridge Wells, and they have taken a house in the Royal Crescent. Belinda will be pleased to find some friends here.”