‘Morning, Bensthorpe. I’ve just come along Piccadilly with Lucius Radstock, and the poor fellow is not himself at all. I thought at first it was his ears.’
‘His ears? How can his ears make him look different?’
‘Look different?’ Lord Collingbourne frowned. ‘Looksjust the same as normal, if rather more serious. No, he’s not well, I tell you. I thought it was his ears, because he did not hear me ask a question, several times, but it is not that. Blocked ears would not stop him going to Epsom next week.’
‘But he has a colt running on the Thursday.’
‘That’s as may be, but he told me he was not attending. And,’ Lord Collingbourne added, as a clincher, ‘he said323that whether Sink or Swim can beat Twinkletoes was unimportant.’
‘Lucius Radstock said that?’ Lord Bensthorpe sounded suitably shocked.
‘He did. You know, he was so preoccupied, I wonder if he has had bad news. Notice to quit. I mean, if he had something infectious he would be covered in spots and not walking down Piccadilly.’
‘Dash it, Collingbourne, he looked fit as a fiddle only last week.’
‘Ah, but remember Launceston. He was the life and soul of the party one night, and cold as a leg of mutton next day.’
‘But that was an apoplexy.’
‘Before you all start buying black ribands for Radstock, perhaps I might suggest another reason for his, er, “malaise”?’ drawled a voice behind them.
They had not noticed the approach of Lord Easby. They eyed him with interest, if little pleasure.
‘And what would that be?’ enquired Lord Bensthorpe, with a trace of suspicion.
‘The departure of the oh-so-disdainful Miss Ashling from our midst.’
‘Good grief. I had not thought of that. Of course!’
‘I only put it forward as a theory, of course, not being, shall we say, one of his intimates, but it has more validity than Collingbourne’s assumption of some sudden deadly ailment.’ With which, having dropped this stone into the pool of conjecture, Easby bowed and moved away, leaving the two friends staring at each other.
324Sir Lucius did not return home to the solitude he craved. He was surprised to find his front door open, and a large number of trunks and valises being carried within. Sansom was overseeing this procedure, and beamed at his master.
‘Her ladyship has just arrived, sir. Her room is being prepared and you will find her in the Green Saloon.’
‘My mother? She gave no warning of descending upon me. I will go to her, of course. Has she partaken of luncheon? I know how little she eats before embarking upon a journey.’
‘She desired me to delay any repast until you arrived home, sir. I took it upon myself to say that you were expected back quite soon.’
Sir Lucius handed his hat and gloves to the footman, and took the stairs two at a time up to the Green Saloon, where he found Clarissa, Lady Radstock, seated near the window and surveying the street. He approached and bent to kiss her hand and then her cheek.
‘You should have warned me, Mama. I would have been here to receive you. Have you come to consult the doctor about your arthritis, or merely to condemn the latest fashions and then buy several charming new hats?’
He smiled at her, but she noticed that it was perfunctory. So the gossip was true. She had hoped that her friend Lady Ellesmere was making much of a mere lovers’ tiff, but she had not seen her son look so serious since his father’s death. Sir John’s demise had been totally unexpected, and had rendered her quite unable to deal with the legal and practical consequences. Lucius had returned to the ancestral home immediately, and taken everything into325his very capable hands, but there had been inquests and coroners and an awful lot of paperwork that he had had to go through with the family lawyer, whilst dealing with his own natural grief and concerns about her health, which had not been good. And yet this was not the serious look that came from burdens and care. This was different, and unsettling. He looked lost.
‘My arthritis is actually much better, I am glad to say. I hate being so “invalidish”, and walking with that stick as if I were seventy. No, I was merely in need of a little entertainment, and the last few weeks of the Season seemed likely to provide it. I hear that Monkwell is making a fool of himself over some schoolroom miss half his age, with no fortune and a harpy for a mother, and that Lady Kesteven is likely to present Kesteven with Montagu Westmore’s brat. It is a good job both he and Kesteven are fair and blue-eyed, but if the child has Westmore’s hook of a nose …’
‘You seem to know everyon ditalready, Mama.’ He paused. ‘So, have you come to find out if the gossip about me is true?’ There was a slight edge to his voice, and the eyes had hardened. He was deeply attached to his mother, but he had no wish to see her involve herself in this most private of problems, and one which, if soluble at all, was dependent upon only himself and Elizabeth Ashling.
‘Yes. I am your mother, so it is natural that I should wish to do so. However, if you think I am going to burden you with advice, you may rest easy, for I am not. If you are in a coil, it is of your own making, and you are the best placed to extricate yourself, one way or another.’ She eyed him shrewdly. ‘My ideas are a generation outmoded. I do326not understand the flouncy ways of the misses of today.’
‘Flouncy? Oh no, Mama, whatever else, Elizabeth isnot “flouncy”, if you mean she is blowing hot and cold, and testing my mettle. She is perfectly sincere in her beliefs. What I cannot fathom as yet is whether her professed loathing of me is based purely upon my own errors, or is still grounded in past events over which I can have no control. As I told you, I had thought we were in a fair way to an understanding, but then …’ He sighed. ‘I am perforce reduced to kicking my heels and waiting before I can do anything, and the waiting is intolerable. I fear you will find me poor company, Mama.’
‘I did not come so that you might dance attendance on me, Lucius. I shall do very well visiting my friends who are in Town, and perhaps organising a card party or two here, if I may. Should you wish for my advice, and I doubt that you will, I am here.’
‘You are the best of mothers.’ The smile was genuine this time.
327
