The Emperor (84 page)

‘
She is. I came out of the merest idleness, having nothing
better to do. But now I have met you, we can go home and
have a comfortable chat.'

‘
Come to Brook Street, then,' said Roberta, 'and see
Bobbie. He has grown so much over the past few months,
you'll hardly know him.'

‘
I shall be delighted to. Here's my curricle, you see. You're not afraid to be driven by me? Docwra, you can
walk back to Brook Street with Sands.’

Roberta settled herself in the curricle beside Lucy, who
glanced over her shoulder to see that Parslow was up, and
sent her horses forward.

‘
How was your business in the draper's?' she asked
politely. 'Did you find some pretty materials? There's an
apple-green silk I've seen that would suit you to perfection.
Light greens are so difficult. Madame Genoux tried to get
me to wear it, but I told her that only a true golden blonde
would look well in it. I sometimes think she has no sense at
all. She certainly has no idea of what colours suit me. I have
a battle with her every time.’

Roberta regarded her with an indulgent smile. 'Then why
do you go to her?'

‘
Oh, well, she is a very good dressmaker. Her seams are
always neat and strong, and she sets a sleeve so that I can lift
my arm. Besides, I'm too lazy to change. As long as I'm firm
with her, the results are well enough.'

‘
You always appear killingly smart to me,' Roberta said.
Lucy glanced sideways at her as she turned her pair into
Berkeley Street.

‘
And you,' she replied, 'are looking more than usually
pretty, I believe. Has something pleasant happened, to put
you in such good looks?’

Roberta blushed. 'No, nothing, of course. How can youhe so absurd? I believe I am glad to be in London, that's all.’

At the house in Brook Street, Lucy was received very
kindly by Roberta's father, who had been promoted to
General on his retirement, and was keeping himself
occupied by advising the Minister for War on the best way
to dismantle the army and bring the troops home. Lucy had
been in the drawing-room only long enough to exchange
civilities with him, when the door opened, and young
Bobbie came running in, followed more sedately by Mr
Firth. The boy had certainly grown, and was promising all
his mother's golden beauty.

‘
I knew it was you, Mama,' he cried, running to embrace her, 'but Mr Firth said it couldn't be, because you had gone
out on foot, not in a carriage.'

‘
Now, Bobbie, remember your manners,' General Taske
said. 'Don't you see we have a visitor?'

‘
Sorry, Grandpapa,' the boy said, and turning to Lucy,
executed a short scrape and a rather jerky how, and said
gruffly, 'How d'e do, ma'am? Your most obedient.’

Roberta burst into laughter, and Mr Firth said with a
rueful smile, 'I beg you will not believe, ma'am, that this is
the sum of my teaching!'

‘
Was that not right?' Bobbie said, turning an innocent
face up to his preceptor. 'It's how Great-uncle Bertrand
does it. But Uncle Horace does it like this!' And he laid a
hand on the hilt of an imaginary sword, smirked, and
doubled himself willowily.

‘You are an abominable child,' Roberta said. ‘Mr Firth is supposed to be your pattern.'

‘
Yes, Mama. I can do it like Mr Firth as well, if you wish,'
said Bobbie, and was restrained from the demonstration by
his tutor's firm hand on his shoulder.

‘
He has such a talent for mimicry,' Roberta explained to
Lucy. 'He has us in whoops of laughter, though I sometimes
wonder whether it is quite a proper talent for an earl.'

‘
Was it your carriage we heard, ma'am?' the boy now
asked Lucy eagerly. 'It sounded like a curricle to me — you
can't see down into the street from our window. Is it still
outside? Is Parslow walking the horses? Might I go and see
them?'

‘
Yes, Parslow is there, but you had best ask your Mama,'
Lucy said, and watched with interest as Firth looked at
Roberta, and various messages passed between them with a facility which suggested a well-established sympathy. As a
result, Firth took the boy outside, and a few minutes later
General Taske excused himself, to walk off to his club.

‘
Is there any news yet of Captain Weston?' Roberta
asked when they were alone.

‘
My last news was from Gibraltar,' Lucy said. 'The
Thames
was going from there to Malta with the garrison's
pay, and then coming home, so I expect to hear at any
moment that he is arrived.'

‘
And then what? Is the
Thames
to pay off?' Roberta
asked.

‘
I don't know. Only a very few ships are being kept in
commission, and I haven't been able to discover whether the
Thames
is to be one of them.'

‘
And what of Harty? He is still with the Revenue Service,
I suppose?'

‘
Yes, and commands his cutter as if it were a seventy-
four, so I'm told,' Lucy laughed. 'He sank a boatload of
owlers last month off the Sussex coast, because they did not
heave-to when he hailed them. The reverberations are still
shaking Whitehall. Nobody seems to know whether to
prosecute them for smuggling or compensate them for the
loss of their boat.'

‘
I wish Harry may not find himself in trouble,' Roberta said. 'By what one hears, he was lucky to get the commis
sion when the
Semele
paid off.'

‘
He's a good sailor,' Lucy said, 'and Admiral Harvey
spoke up for him. There's so much smuggling since the war
ended, it seems likely that the Revenue Service will be
expanded still further. I imagine Harry is secure in his
position.'

‘
It seems hard that the younger captains should be
favoured over the older ones,' Roberta said. 'Harry and
Captain Weston both employed, while William and Captain
Haworth are on the beach.'

‘
It's understandable,' Lucy said with a shrug. 'The big
warships were the first to be laid up after the armistice, and
the fighting captains are less adaptable to peace-time duties.
But I don't think Captain Haworth wanted another ship –
not immediately, anyway. He was happy enough to stay on
shore, and set up his house, and have time to spend with his children. He has his half pay, and his prize-money invested
in the Funds – enough to live on.'

‘
I often think about little Africa,' Roberta mused. 'It
must have been very strange for her, to be on shore for the
first time in her life.'

‘
I think it would have frightened a less bold-spirited child
into fits,' Lucy said, 'suddenly to find all that space around
her, and solid green grass instead of rolling blue sea. You
know they spent some weeks at Wolvercote when the
Africa
paid off? We had the deuce of a job keeping track of that
child!'

‘Yes, I imagine you would, in a large house like that.'

‘
The devil of it was that in the ship, she was free to
wander where she would. She couldn't get lost, of course,
and wherever she went, she had six hundred besotted sailors
to see she came to no harm. So of course she couldn't
understand our wanting to confine her – and added to that,
she's as agile as a monkey, and completely fearless. The very
first day she wandered off, and we found her on the leads, if you please, proposing to climb the chimney to see what was
inside!’

Roberta shuddered. 'Imagine if she had slipped!'

‘
Yes, but she never does, you know. She climbs as easily
as she walks – in fact I don't think she distinguishes at all
between forward and upward progress. She won't wear shoes, either, so she clings on to things with her feet –
exactly like a monkey, in fact. Poor old Farleigh is torn
between adoration, and despair that she will ever make a
lady of her.'

‘
She must have been glad to have Hippolyta back: she's
such a ladylike child.’

Lucy frowned. 'Yes, she was, but of course Polly didn't
remember her, or her Papa. I'm not at all sure it was the
right thing to do, for Haworth to take her away when he set up his house in Southsea. Of course, she's his daughter, and
he has the perfect right to, but she and Minnie are so fond
of each other, and they've been together ever since Minnie
was born.'

‘
Did she seem upset when Captain Haworth took her
away?' Roberta asked.

‘Well, no, not really, but then Polly's such an obedient,
well-behaved child, she never makes a fuss about anything.
Flaminia cried for hours. I think Haworth should have left Polly at Wolvercote, but now he's settled down on shore, I
can see that he'd want his children with him.'

‘
Well, there's nothing more you can do about it,' Roberta
said comfortingly, 'and children soon adapt. They'll have
forgotten all about each other in a few weeks.'

‘
I suppose so,' Lucy said. 'How were things at Morland
Place? Did you visit much when you were at Shawes?'

‘
Oh yes,' said Roberta. 'There was a great deal of visiting
and entertaining. Mrs James Morland seems a very enthus
iastic hostess.'

‘
I suppose she's bent on making her mark in the district,'
Lucy said. 'Now that the men are back from the war, and
the shortages are over, there'll be a plenty of chances for her
to shine. Are she and James on terms?’

Roberta blushed at being asked so very direct and
personal a question. ‘To say true,' she said hesitantly, 'I
didn't see very much of your brother James. He was often out when I called, and away a good deal, when there were
dinners and balls being held.'

‘
So they are not upon terms,' Lucy said grimly. 'I believe
their trip to Paris was not a great success — Edward said that
they both looked extremely fagged when they came back, and I know what
that
means. How does Mrs James get on
with Mrs Smith? I was never more surprised in my life than
when William took her home to Morland Place, except
when Edward allowed her and her child to stay! Mother
would turn in her grave. I'll warrant Mrs James didn't like it
above half, having William's mistress under her roof.’

- Roberta picked a careful way through the social hazards
of the conversation. 'Edward likes Mrs Smith very much.
She's a very respectable-seeming woman, quietly spoken,
well-mannered, and she doesn't put herself forward.
Edward seems to enjoy her company, and often sits with her
 
in the evening.'

‘
By which you mean that Mrs James loathes her,' Lucy
grinned, 'and Edward's put his foot down and insisted she
stays.'

‘
I believe William is undertaking enquiries to find Mr
Smith,' Roberta said, 'to discover whether there is any
possibility of his divorcing her, so that they can be married.'

‘
Well, he's fair and far off there, for she's a Catholic, so it
don't signify if Mr Smith divorces her ten times over, she
still can't marry William. Of course, he may be dead by
now. That would answer.'

‘
Yes, I believe that he was considerably older than her,'
Roberta said.

Lucy looked thoughtful for a moment. 'I must say, I
think it the outside of enough for William and Edward to
foist Mrs Smith on Mrs James, however agreeable she may be. James, of course, would do nothing to help. I expect he
just stands aside and stirs everyone up for the fun of it.' She
saw from Roberta's expression that she had guessed
correctly. 'And then there's the child. Mrs James won't like
Fanny and Henry sharing the nursery with a bastard.’

Roberta made no comment. It was too thorny a subject
for discussion, and she greatly wished to get away from it.