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And making the astonished Whittleton his deepest bow, he swept out, head high. It was a moment of high triumph, and greatly to be savoured, although he knew there would be a price to be paid for it later.
26: A Suitable Girl
Will had not taken three steps away from White’s when he heard himself being hailed from across the road, and turned to see Lord Albury weaving his way at speed between moving vehicles.
“Fletcher! Forgive me for my abruptness, but I cannot tell you how glad I am to see you. How is Miss Whittleton this morning? She is too brave a lady to be prostrate for long, I am certain, but with such a shock, it is hardly surprising that she was momentarily overcome.”
“She is greatly recovered, I am happy to tell you. Thank you, my lord, for your concern.”
“Great heavens, Fletcher, give me no‘my lords’,I beg you. Surely we are on better terms than that. I would have you use my name, like the friend I hope you are.”
“I hope so, too,” Will said equably. “And perhaps more than merely friends in time, if your courtship of my sister should come to fruition.”
“Courtship? Perhaps you see it so. For myself, I should rather say that— But your sister is not a topic for conversation on the street. Will you come to my club and we can discuss it further? Or perhaps you prefer your own club?”
“My own—? Oh, you mean White’s? I am not a member, nor ever likely to be now. I have just told my future father-in-law that I would not wish to be a member of any club which counts him amongst its number.”
Albury burst out laughing. “Oh, a famous tale! But you had better not repeat it too widely, for Whittleton is a favourite in some very high places, and his wife even more so, or used to be, I should say. They have both set society by the ears once too often, perhaps, and certain doors are closed to them now. But do come to Boodle’s and tell my father of it, for he has no great love for Whittleton, or Lady Penelope, either.”
Will discovered that Boodle’s, just a few steps away from White’s, was, if anything, even more elegantly appointed, but he felt less like an interloper. With Lord Albury at his side, doors opened, stewards smiled and the path was smooth. Lord Faulkbourne was located, and greeted Will affably enough, but with a distance in his manner as if he looked down at the world from a great height. And perhaps, as an earl, he was entitled to do so.
The story of Will’s rejection of White’s was recounted, and there was a definite softening in Lord Faulkbourne’s manner. “Are you aware, Fletcher, of the great rivalry between Boodle’s and White’s? If you had taken up Whittleton’s offer, you would never be accepted here.”
“I am resigned to the prospect of never meeting the requirements of entry for any of the most exalted clubs,” Will said, smiling. “Nor does that thought dismay me. When first I came up to town, the height of my ambition was to belong to one or other of them. White’s. Brooks’s. Watier’s. Boodle’s. I would have taken any one of them, for the opportunity to mingle with the great men of the age. But when I find men like my future father-in-law counted amongst them, a man who— But I should not recount his ill deeds, I suppose, whatever anger I may feel on behalf of my betrothed.”
“We all know what he did,” the earl said pensively. “No right-thinking person condones it, and if society were ordered on lines of proper justice, he would be excluded for his sins, and his daughter would not be obliged to meet him in company. Unfortunately, now that he is respectably married—“
“Respectably!” Will cried.
The earl’s lips twitched, as if he meant to smile but was not quite sure of the way of it. “Marriage washes away all stains, so they say, and his wife is a powerful lady, with connections to many of the great families, even the greatest in the land. You know who she is, I take it?”
“Not at all, except that she isLadyPenelope, which tells me something of her lineage.”
“She was born Lady Penelope Heaman, sister to the present Marquess of Barrowford. She was married young to an old man, Lord Rowsham, who doted on her and let her make a complete fool of him. When he died, leaving every penny not entailed to her, she took up with Whittleton. And that is truly all that needs to be said about her.”
“Perhaps she has reformed,” Lord Albury said quietly. “A wild youth need not condemn anyone to wildness in perpetuity. Perhaps she is now ready to settle down and become a good wife to her husband.”
“And a good mother to her children,” Will said.
“Children,” said Lord Faulkbourne, with a soft exhalation that might have been a sigh. “Pen Heaman a mother. What a strange idea. But I see Devonshire over there, waiting patiently to talk to me about this new bill of his. I must bid you a good day, Fletcher, but I am glad to have seen you.”
“My lord.” Will rose politely as the earl strode away, ramrod straight.
Albury called a steward over to refill their glasses, and then leaned forward, an earnest expression on his face. “Fletcher, may I talk to you about your sister? I should like to explain my position to you, so that there is no misunderstanding.”
“Of course,” Will said, but warily. Was this a declaration, or a withdrawal? Albury’s expression gave no clues.
“Let me begin by explaining our position. My father’s title is an old one, for he is the fourteenth to hold it, but our lands are not as extensive as they once were. We chose the wrong side once or twice, and fell out of favour for a while. Two hundred years ago, our star was in the ascendant and so we built Chaseley Court to impress the world. Now it is slowly falling into decay, and needs a great deal of work — very expensive work — to prevent it from falling down altogether. We are not poor, precisely, but an infusion of capital would be the greatest relief, especially with so many of us to be settled. I have seven sisters, Fletcher, and two brothers, so you may imagine the juggling that must be done to make provision for all the younger ones, and the various indigent relations whom my father is obliged to house and feed and clothe.”
“It must be an expensive business, being an earl,” Will said, trying to infuse his voice with sympathy, although he was growing impatient with this tale of woe. He could see where the story was heading, after all.
“True, and one must cut one’s coat according to one’s cloth,” Albury said, his lips quirking into the same almost-smile as his father. “My duty, of course, was clear — to marry a woman of substantial fortune. But I am not the sort of dashing and lively man who attracts females, unlike you, Fletcher. You cannot imagine how envious I am of your effortless stylishness. I am no Corinthian, tooling about in a curricle, wearing the latest styles with aplomb, the epitome of the every girl’s dream beau.” Will’s eyebrows rose a little, but he made no comment. “I never seemed to have much luck with ladies. They liked the title well enough, but the bearer of it was less appealing. But then came some intriguing news. My Aunt Bellingham wrote to us of a new family in Hertfordshire.”
“Sir Hector Bellingham’s wife? She is your aunt?” Will said, surprised, then gave a burst of laughter. “Of course, in your world, everyone is connected to everyone else.”
There was that quirky smile again. “In very roundabout ways, sometimes, but yes, it is true. My mother’s sister, in this case. Anyway, Aunt Bellingham told us of the interesting family from the north, and that the eldest unmarried daughter was a girl of quiet demeanour and rare beauty, claiming a dowry of fifty thousand pounds. You may imagine the interest such a description aroused. A quiet girl would suit me admirably, and the dowry would suit my father. Aunt Bellingham told us also of your brother at Cambridge, and happily my brother Anthony is also a Fellow at St John’s and knew him. Thus we were able to meet him, and thereby makeyouracquaintance in town, and through you your sister’s also. You look disapproving, Fletcher, but I assure you, this is how marriages are arranged amongst the nobility. A suitable girl is identified and a man then gets to know her.
“Or tries to. I confess, even after many weeks of acquaintance, I cannot say that I know her at all well. She is always so calm, so composed, her expression so unvarying… and she is so quiet! That is an attraction for me, certainly, but it does make it hard to deepen the acquaintanceship, as it must be deepened if it is to lead to something more. Nor could I determine whether the public mask is merely a shield to protect her deepest feelings from the world, or whether there are no deeper feelings to conceal.
