A Sister's Secret (18 page)

‘Oh, a blush or two sits sweetly on young ladies. What came out of your talk with Cumberland, apart from your distracted escape?’

‘I confess he has a way of dissembling that is very frustrating. But I did point out that if they were too dis-honourable, even sons of the King might walk in fear of assassination.’

‘Ah, you did make that point, did you?’ said Captain Burnside, allowing the pair to amble lazily.

‘I don’t think he liked it. He looked shocked for a moment.’

‘Did he question you?’

‘No.’ Annabelle wondered then if she should tell Captain Burnside about the strange conversation she had overheard. No, she could not. One should not talk about something one was not supposed to listen to. Also, it would be disloyal to the duke. ‘He laughed it off, Charles.’

‘So he would. And although you were firm, he made no marriage proposal?’

‘He said I was under his serious consideration.’

‘Well, I don’t doubt he’s seriously considering bedding you …’

‘Charles, oh, you dreadful man, must you say such things?’ Annabelle gasped.

‘To you, dear girl, yes, for you’ve a sweet nature and a delicious sense of humour, and enjoy laughing far more than sulks.’

‘But I am not laughing.’

‘Somewhere I fancy you are,’ said the captain. ‘Do you want to go back for your parasol?’

‘I surely do not,’ she said, and added unthinkingly, ‘I vow that would return me to the lion’s den.’

‘So he sprang, did he? Has it made you doubt him?’

‘Oh,’ said Annabelle, liking her sister’s friend very much, ‘I confess he fascinates me, but I know I must think more sensibly about my weaknesses and his intentions, and not be alone with him so much. I am very happy to have you as my caring friend, and beg you will not tell Caroline I visited the duke, but spent the afternoon driving with you, which is almost true.’

‘Almost,’ said the captain.

‘Annabelle?’ Caroline intercepted her sister as Annabelle glided through the hall towards the staircase. The hall, its floor laid with black and white tiles, its walls painted white and hung with landscape paintings, offered a bright introduction to the handsome house. ‘You’re back from your drive? But where is Captain Burnside?’

‘Already in his room, I dare say,’ said Annabelle. ‘He was in a hurry to change and to go out again.’

‘He has another appointment? Another?’ Caroline repressed indignation. She could not be angry, not after his achievement in securing the letter.

‘I really don’t know,’ said Annabelle. In the bright hall, she was a summery prettiness in her blue finery, Caroline spectacular in her silken primrose. ‘He could perhaps be thinking of cutting a dash with strolling ladies. He wore his uniform for our outing as a compliment to me, and I swear he caught the eye of every lady we passed. I vow he looked so exciting that I could not count the many who glanced at him, and I should not be surprised to find he has arranged to meet those whose eyes were boldest.’

‘Tush and nonsense,’ said Caroline, suspecting the
captain had worn his uniform further to impress Annabelle. She tried to be convincing as she added, ‘He is a gentleman. He would not take you out for a drive if his intention were to attract the eyes of other young ladies. I shall send word up to him to join us for tea. Do you wish tea?’

‘Oh, yes, but not for twenty minutes,’ said Annabelle. ‘I must freshen up and change first.’

‘Twenty minutes, then,’ said Caroline.

Captain Burnside appeared in the drawing room five minutes later, clad in quiet grey, with a neat white cravat. ‘Marm? You sent word for me to join you. Do excuse me, for—’

‘No, I am not going to excuse you,’ said Caroline, seated on the chaise longue. ‘I have not seen you all day. We shall take tea together in fifteen minutes, when Annabelle will join us.’

‘Frankly, marm, I’m pressed for time,’ said the captain, conscious of the soft ripple of primrose as she gestured for him to seat himself. ‘I assure you, I’ll be back for supper.’

‘No, it won’t do, sir.’ Caroline braced herself for a new battle of words. The challenge was there, in his presence and his assumption that he could go against her. ‘It was agreed at the outset that you would do as I directed. I direct you now to seat yourself and answer some questions.’

‘I’ll answer a hundred later, marm.’

‘No,
now
, sir.’

‘Oh, egad,’ muttered the captain.

‘I am afraid I did not catch that,’ said Caroline.

‘A frog in my throat, marm.’

‘Please sit down, Captain Burnside. I really do not think the business that seems to be calling you can take priority over your agreed commitment to me.’

Resignedly, he seated himself in a gilt and blue tub chair. ‘Your servant, marm.’

Excessively poised and grand, and also uncommonly ravishing, Caroline bestowed a kind smile on him. ‘Well, that is not incorrect, is it?’ she said. ‘But come, I am determined to be gracious, not quarrelsome, for I cannot forget the wonder of your accomplishment last night. I am greatly in your debt, as is my friend, Lady Russell, although you are an unknown figure to her.’

‘Oh, a remittance for half the agreed fee will make us quits, marm, and no more need be said about it. However, should Lady Russell, or her husband, ever require my services directly, I trust you’d recommend me. Ah, you are sure I must stay for tea?’

‘I am sure you must continue striving to bring about the required change in the feelings of my sister,’ she said, although she was coming to favour this less and less each day. ‘You dazzled her by wearing your uniform this afternoon, and she has stopped sighing over her infatuation with Cumberland. She is no longer mooning and languishing. However, please tell me how you managed to obtain the letter from Cumberland.’

‘Ah, yes,’ he said, and fully resigned himself to his patron’s refusal to allow him to depart.

‘Well?’

‘You’ll recall my suggestion that it would be useful to have a friend in the camp of the enemy? I’m happy to inform you the sweet puss proved an invaluable help.’

‘Spare me, please, the endearments you bestow on the wench,’ said Caroline, disliking intensely the thought of what went on between him and Cumberland’s trollop of a maidservant.

‘In short, marm, with Betsy’s assistance, the letter came to my hand.’

‘How, sir, how?’

‘I opened Cumberland’s private writing desk, marm, and filched it.’

Caroline winced. ‘Captain Burnside, you entered his suite, broke open his writing desk and stole the letter?’

‘Tricky, marm, I agree, and there was also the risk of being nabbed and topped.’

‘Nabbed and topped?’

‘Well, it was Cumberland’s house, d’you see, and his private correspondence, and he’s fifth in line to the throne. He’d have had me dangling from Tyburn Tree if—’

‘Oh, dear God,’ gasped Caroline, shocked, ‘I did not ask you to commit yourself to the crime of burglary in the house of a royal duke, nor would I.’

‘Well, I’m a professional, marm, and as such I’m as nimble-fingered as the best. All in a day’s work for a patron, I assure you.’

Caroline rose in agitation and swept about, silken gown and underskirt rushing and rustling. ‘Captain Burnside, I don’t wish to be assured that such actions are all in your day’s work for me. I don’t wish to hear you are a common thief as well as an adventurer.’

‘Oh, I don’t count myself a common thief, marm. I can simply claim to being versatile.’

‘Have you no shame, sir, none at all? Are you also a footpad and a highwayman?’

‘A footpad?’ Captain Burnside looked askance at her. ‘A dark alley, an unsuspecting victim, and a blow from a cudgel? That’s a wounding question, marm. But I won’t say I couldn’t turn highwayman if a patron’s fee were encouraging enough. It’s a risky business, d’you see, with some coach drivers quick to try blowing your head off with a blunderbuss. Regarding Cumberland’s writing
desk, marm: rest assured there was no damage. I merely picked the lock.’

Caroline stopped sweeping about and drew needed breath. ‘I shall pray for you, Captain Burnside. I shall pray for you to come to an honest turn in life, to use your many talents for the good of society and your own self. I beg you to change your ways, for the sake of your gentle mother and out of respect for the memory of your late, devout father.’

‘A kind thought, marm, and a shipping clerk’s work could well be for the good of society, but I ain’t too set on boring myself to death.’

Caroline confronted him. He sat at his ease, the scoundrel, his expression that of a man in deferential respect, but she thought she caught a glimmer of amusement in his grey eyes.

‘Sir,’ she said, the warmth of South Carolina in her voice, ‘I vow you a monster of prevarication. I do not believe you filched the letter, that you broke into Cumberland’s private rooms and opened his writing desk. You are amusing yourself at my expense. I won’t have it. The truth, I declare, is that you prevailed on Cumberland to exchange the letter for the IOU. Come, confess it.’

‘The truth, marm, is exactly as I presented it to you,’ said the captain affably.

Caroline vibrated. ‘Then I must pray for you,’ she breathed, ‘for, conscienceless reprobate though you are, I cannot forget you brought blissful relief to Lady Russell, and I am unable to bear the thought that one day you will end up being hanged.’

‘It don’t make me feel too comfortable myself, marm.’

‘Oh, you are a clown, sir, an idiot, senselessly wasting your talents,’ she cried, out of all patience with him. Captain Burnside silently remarked the splendour of her
renowned beauty, her figure a tribute to the fertile nature of the American South, which bestowed lush ripeness on its lovelier female blooms. Caroline, fiery, was seized with a desire to slap his face again, not because of his impudent eyes, but because she wished to shock him into an awareness of his idiocy. But she controlled herself. A little shakily she said, ‘Captain Burnside, see, I will lend you sufficient money to set yourself up in a business of your own choice, a business that will not be boring to you. No, do not dismiss the offer out of hand, but give it sensible consideration, I beg.’

‘Very well, marm. I should be churlish beyond anything not to consider such generosity.’

‘There, I shall regard that as a promise from you, and perhaps from now on we might do away with a pretence of friendship, and strive to make it sincere.’

‘Well said, marm,’ murmured the captain, ‘although it’s a strict principle of mine, in my relationship with a patron, to—’

‘Oh, a pest on your silly principles, sir! Your talents are proven, yes, but your principles are tush and taradiddle. I wish our relationship to be more friendly, and shall constantly press you, as a friend would, to turn over a new leaf and become an honest and worthy person, with aspirations even to become a gentleman. Do not look down your nose, sir, there is much to be said these days for becoming a gentleman. England, I know, has never lacked its sturdy yeomen and brave soldiers, but there is presently a regrettable lack of true gentlemen. You, sir, as an adventurer, are no worse than many persons of the quality in your pursuit and deception of innocent young ladies, or in the company you keep with baggages and trollops. I declare, sir, because of what you have done for Lady Russell, that I shall not only pray for your
redemption, but do my utmost to discourage you from further promiscuity and even cure you of it.’

‘Faith,’ said Captain Burnside in honest admiration, ‘you’ve a deal of determined Christian goodness in you, marm, and I ain’t too sure I’ll be able to resist being saved. You, marm, are—’ He checked as the door opened and Annabelle came in, looking very refreshed. She had changed into a light muslin gown of cream ivory shade, and there was a peaceful smile on her face, as if she had collected her thoughts and analysed her confusions to her satisfaction, at least for the moment.

Seeing Caroline standing before Captain Burnside, she said demurely, ‘Caroline is giving you a lecture, Charles?’

Captain Burnside, acknowledging her arrival by coming to his feet, smiled. ‘A lecture, Annabelle? Not by any means. We’ve been enjoying a delightful conversation concerning friendship, and the pleasant obligations of one friend to another.’

‘Obligations?’ said Annabelle. ‘How dull.’ Reaching the captain, she tapped him lightly on the shoulder with her fan. ‘Charles, I would much rather have you wicked than dull. Why, I cannot conceive how you managed to be dull at all, for of all things you are the most entertaining of men.’

‘I ain’t remarked too much dullness in you, either,’ said Captain Burnside.

Annabelle laughed. Abruptly, Caroline turned away and pulled on the bell-sash to signal her servants that tea could now be brought in. In the kitchen, the bell rang loudly and demandingly, jerking angrily on its spring.

Turning again, Caroline saw that her sister and the captain had seated themselves on the sofa, a light, delicate Hepplewhite original that was not outshone by the rest of the furniture, all French. Annabelle was close
to the captain, turned to him, her smile signifying the pleasure she found in his company. Caroline felt her own company was now unrequired. She also felt that Captain Burnside was not far from accomplishing the remaining part of his venture. All too visibly, Annabelle was as responsive to him as she could be at this stage. Their conversation was a lightness, she slightly teasing, he proof against all teasing in his imperturbability, and therefore that much more of a challenge. He really seemed to make no effort with Annabelle. He neither flattered her with his tongue, nor caressed her with his eyes. He returned her teasing remarks with the driest of comments, arousing gurgles of laughter in her.

The silver tea tray arrived and was set down.

‘Your Ladyship?’ said Helene, Caroline’s senior maidservant.

‘You may go, Helene. I will pour.’

‘Yes, milady.’

A few moments later, acknowledging herself
de trop
, Caroline said in her cool voice, ‘I have letters to write, and will take my tea into the library. You may serve Captain Burnside and yourself, Annabelle.’

Captain Burnside was up at once, to open the door for her. He also accompanied her to the library door, and opened that for her.