The Regency (77 page)

‘
He will get them, I know he will,' Rosamund says. 'I heard
him talking about it to Bobbie yesterday when we were
watching the steam-engine in St James's Park, and Bobbie
said —'

‘
Rosamund, you really must stop this dreadful habit of
listening to other people's conversations,' Hippolyta said. 'It's
very bad of you. Aunt Lucy would be shocked if she knew.'

‘
Well, how else am I to find things out?' Rosamund said
reasonably. 'I'm the only one stuck away in the nursery, and
no-one tells me anything, and you two are so hateful you never let me join in anything. Anyway, if you're so pious
about it, Pol, I shan't tell you what I heard Mother saying to
Hicks this morning about the dinner-guests for Saturday.'

‘
I don't want to hear,' Polly said firmly. 'I don't want to
know what you've learned by such methods.’

Rosamund was not deterred. 'Oh yes you do! She said that as the Knaresboroughs were coming, she was going to invite
the Sales, too — Lord Wyndham, and Lord Harvey Sale. And
as you're nutty on Lord Harvey, I should think you'd be very
interested.’

Hippolyta looked vexed. 'I am not nutty on him. Don't beso vulgar. And stop kicking the chair-rail.’

Rosamund grinned. 'Nutty on him! Marcus says Georgy
Wyndham's a conceited ass, but Lord Harvey's a trump card;
so I wish you might get him, Pol! He has a capital bay horse, a
right 'un, fit to go, Marcus says —'

‘
Marcus says, Marcus says,' Fanny mocked. 'How we do
love those words!’

and Mr Brummell says he might get the reversion, so
then. you'd be a Marchioness one day,' Rosamund went on
undeterred.

‘
Mr Brummell didn't say any such thing,' Fanny said
shrewdly.

‘
Well, he said to Mama that Georgy Wyndham was the
dullest young man in London, and the only unwed man in the
country that even Lavinia Fauncett wouldn't marry. So that
means he'll stay single, and
that
means Lord Harvey will get
the title when his pa and his brother are both dead.’

Hippolyta's alabaster complexion was growing agitatedly
pink, with a mixture of vexation at Rosamund's manners, and
embarrassment at having her private feelings so ruthlessly handled; but at that moment Miss Trotton came in, having
finished her letter, and looked around the room.

‘
I'm ready for you now, Rosamund. What have you been
up to? Have you been annoying the young ladies? Really, you
are an impossible child!'

‘
No I'm not, Trot — I'm quick and clever, and you love me
best, you know you do,' Rosamund said, twining her arms
round Miss Trotton's waist and giving her a sweet smile. 'You
always felt you were wasted on Polly and Minnie, because
Polly was born good and didn't need you, and Minnie is too
stupid ever to learn anything.'

‘
Be silent, abominable girl,' Miss Trotton said sternly, but
she did not rebuff the caress, 'Young ladies, Lady Aylesbury
has come back, and will be up in a moment, so you will be
able to take your drive very soon.’

Rosamund dashed to the window to see if she could see the
horses being led away, and peering down into the street, saw
instead a familiar cockaded hat pass below. 'Here's the
postman! He's coming up our steps, too!’

Thus alerted, they could hear the double rap of his staff on
the front door, which always annoyed Hicks, who would
ostentatiously inspect the paintwork for damage before deign
ing to receive any letters from the bag. Still craning her neck,
Rosamund said, 'There's Hicks come out now. Oh such fun! He's taken out his handkerchief and he's polishing the door,
and the postman's as cross as two sticks! I wish I might hear
what they're saying to each other. Hicks has taken the letter
now. Oh, he's having to pay! I wonder who it's from?'

‘
Rosamund, come away from the window now. It's time we
started our lessons,' said Miss Trotton.

The door opened and Lucy came in, and Rosamund moved
extremely rapidly across the room to stand dutifully at her
governess's side. Lucy favoured her with a frowning glance as
she said, 'I shall be a quarter of an hour, girls, changing my
clothes, and then we can go out. I heard the postman just
now. I wonder if it might be a letter from your father, Polly?'

‘
Oh no, Mama, for I saw Hicks paying him, and Captain
Haworth's letters would be franked,' Rosamund said.

Lucy looked at her coldly. ‘Go to the schoolroom,
Rosamund.'

‘
We were just leaving, your ladyship,' Miss Trotton said quickly, taking Rosamund's hand and heading for the door.
She passed Hicks in the doorway, who had brought the letter on a tray. It was a single sheet of common paper, folded and
crudely sealed.

‘
Thank you, Hicks. Have the barouche brought to the door
in fifteen minutes, please.'

‘Yes, my lady.’

Lucy broke the seal as she walked across to the window to
get the better light. She unfolded the letter, read it through,
and cried out, 'Good God, now what's to do?’

The three young women looked at her enquiringly. Lucy
sat down on the window-seat and read the letter again, and
then looked up at Hippolyta.

‘
It's from your sister,' she said. 'What the deuce has she
done now?'

‘
Is she ill, ma'am?' Polly asked. For answer Lucy handed
her the letter to read.

It was short and to the point. 'Dear Aunt,' it said, 'I cannot
bear it here at school, so I am running away. Please do not
worry about me, as I know where to go and what to do, and I
shall be quite all right. I am sorry to be disobedient, but I
know Papa would approve if he knew, because he always liked
me to be independent. When he comes home I shall tell him
everything. Your humble obedient niece, Africa Haworth.'

‘
Humble! Obedient!' Lucy said. 'What has the idiotic child
done?'

‘
I expect she's run away to sea, Aunt Lucy,' Fanny said
promptly. 'She was always talking about it at Morland Place.
She wanted to be on a ship with her father.'

‘Run away to sea?'

‘Like you did, Aunt Lucy,' Fanny added sweetly.

Hippolyta frowned a warning at her, and said quickly,
‘Aunt, is it certain she has gone? Perhaps she may have changed her mind, or been prevented; she may yet be at
Queen Square.’

Lucy stood up, looking worried. 'Yes, that's the first thing to find out. I'll send Parslow to Bath at once with a letter —'
She stopped, deep in thought. 'No, that's no good, it will
waste time. If she has gone, a search must be made at once. I
shall have to go myself.' She walked to the door and called
back the butler, who had been walking very slowly down the
passage in the hope of overhearing who the letter was from.
‘Hicks! Send someone out to hire a chaise and the fastest
horses they have. I am going at once to Bath. Tell Parslow he's coming with me, and send Docwra to my room to pack
me a valise. I shall want to leave in fifteen minutes, no more.'

‘Yes, my lady. And the barouche?'

‘
The barouche?' She glanced round at the expectant girls.
‘Oh, I think you may still take your drive. There is no point in
keeping you within doors. Moss shall go with you, and you
may drive around the Park, but you must stay in the carriage.
Polly, I look to you to see that you all behave exactly as if I
were there.'

‘
Yes, Aunt Lucy,' Polly said, and prayed fervently that
Fanny would hold her tongue and not say anything provoca
tive until her aunt had gone. But Fanny, though her eyes were sparkling at the thought of an unsupervised outing,
knew her own advantage, and said nothing.

*

Half an hour later the barouche was proceeding at the
correctly sedate pace along the main carriageway in the Park,
and the three girls were looking around them with a delight
freshened by the fact of being out alone. Moss, the maid who
attended to Minnie's and Polly's clothes, sat in the drop-seat
very stiff and formal, her hands folded in her lap, her eyes gazing rigidly past the feather in Lady Flaminia's hat. Her
presence was the official guarantee of propriety, but they all
knew that there was nothing she could or would do to stop
them enjoying themselves, provided they remained in the
carriage.

‘
Now we shall have some fun!' Fanny said. 'I wish it
weren't so deuced early — there's hardly anyone about!'

‘Fanny, don't swear,' Polly said quietly. 'It isn't nice.'

‘Aunt Lucy says "deuced" all the time,' Fanny pointed out.

‘
Anyway, there are lots of people about,' Polly said, realising
the futility of that particular argument. 'Look, here comes
Mrs Edgecumbe's carriage. Now do be proper, or she'll tell
Aunt Lucy.'

‘
Oh, don't worry, Pol, I know how to behave to dowagers.
Watch this.' And Fanny screwed up her mouth and fluttered
her eyelashes, and when the carriage came opposite and Mrs
Edgecumbe bowed, she placed a hand at her breast as though the honour was too overpowering, and she was about to faint
away.

Despairingly, Polly tried to mask her with her body, and
bowed politely and said, 'How do you do, Mrs Edgecumbe?
How do you do, Miss Edgecumbe, Miss Tulvey? Isn't it a fine
day, ma'am?'

‘
Miss Haworth,' Mrs Edgecumbe said grudgingly, casting
her sharp eyes over the occupants of the carriage. 'How come
you girls are out without a chaperone?'

‘
We have our maid with us, ma'am,' Polly said in her
gentlest manner. 'Lady Aylesbury was called away on urgent business just as we set out, and did not want to deprive us of
our fresh air.'

‘
Oh yes, she always was one for fresh air,' Mrs Edgecumbe
said, 'All you Morlands are. You'll be at Lady Tewkesbury's
tonight, I suppose? Miss Tulvey is to open the ball with Lord
Somercott. It will be a match at last, you mark my words.
Lady Flaminia, the button of your glove is undone. Attention
to detail, child, that's the way to succeed in life. Good
morning.’

The carriages parted.

‘
Hideous old witch,' Fanny said as soon as they were out of
earshot. 'And why does Violet Edgecumbe always wear fawn
and pink? It doesn't become her. It makes her look like a plate
of brawn.'

‘
I suppose Miss Tulvey was with them to keep her out of
her mother's way,' Polly said. 'Lady Tewkesbury must have a
great deal to do before tonight.'