Bad Miss Bennet (15 page)

‘Surely the prince will not see you cast down?'

He shook his head. ‘His Royal Highness cannot afford to be involved in any more financial scandals. He will disown me rather than incur the wrath of Parliament.'

I could not help reflecting on my bad luck once more. The only banker I had managed to snare had turned out to be a fraudster.

We took pity on Getheridge, allowing him to stay the night. His clothes were righted and he was offered breakfast. Miles called for a chair to convey him to the London Mail and I surreptitiously placed a few coins in his pocket. He did not ask for the return of the diamond and amethyst bangle, which I thought very sporting of him in the circumstances. We all retired to bed muzzle-headed and exhausted.

As if the lamentable scenes at Laura Place had not been enough to try us, the next morning, as I nursed a champagne headache of Napoleonic proportions, Miles brought more bad news. Having supervised Getheridge's departure he told us that we could not take breakfast in Sydney Gardens because a ruffian was at large in the grounds. Selena waved this excuse aside; she was furious with the servants and tried to prod her husband into action.

‘You must remonstrate with them, Miles. Their behaviour was disgraceful and we will be shunned by our neighbours from now on. If you cannot do that then we will immediately leave to breakfast in the gardens regardless. I will not eat another meal in this house!' Miles looked wretched; he disliked confrontation except on the battlefield.

‘Now, now, my love. As they are not our servants and this is not our house I can scarcely dismiss them.'

‘We paid them well,' Selena insisted, ‘and we deserve good service at the very least.' I tried to pacify my friend by pointing out that if the house was not ours then the neighbours were not our neighbours. Impasse resulted and we all departed for the gardens.

Chapter Twelve

We arrived at the gardens in tolerable weather although the general hubbub did little to restore my low spirits or assuage my pounding headache. Nevertheless, the spirit of the place catches at everyone as they enter, gazing at the mural of the god Apollo in the loggia.

Miles had purchased a season ticket for one guinea against Selena's wishes. My friend has become very unpredictable of late. First she wished to remain in Bath, her favourite city, and then she urged me to return to London – or even Paris as soon as possible. I wondered if Lord Finchbrook's attentions were unsettling her or whether she was anxious to curtail Miles's visits to a certain Miss Coleman, a lady chiropodist at No. 5 Abbey Churchyard. He swears that his corns need expert attention but Selena is not convinced.

We sat in a thatched booth sipping chocolate and trying not to think about last night's disasters. A thin, watery sun struggled through the treetops before expiring into the general greyness. Summer has decided to avoid the British Isles this year. Miles read his newspaper and we listened contentedly to the music playing even at this hour. A small boy appeared with a handbill advertising the appearance of Madame Naqui, an acrobat and tightrope walker, direct from Vauxhall. She was depicted perched confidently on the rope like St Simeon on his pillar.

Selena could not be persuaded to take a walk and so I set off in the direction of the labyrinth. I encountered few visitors as I wandered along. Most people were in the booths or gathered to hear the musicians at the hotel.

My melancholic thoughts about my situation in life, my feelings for Jerry and other missed opportunities oppressed me so much as I walked that I was forced to brush away a few tears. If only I could be indifferent to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. I have observed that those who care least for the outcome, whether in love, in cards or in life itself, are the most successful. It is a curse to be needy, but I am too passionate by nature to be indifferent to anyone or anything. I needed to meet the Count as soon as possible. Perhaps then my life would change for the better.

As I was immersed in these thoughts I heard a low whistle from the bushes on my right. Taking it for a simple bird call I continued on my way, but the whistle was repeated and was followed by my name called out in a low, throaty voice. I jumped several inches and felt my heart leaping about my chest. I walked slowly towards the bush, looking right and left to check that I was alone before peering into the boughs.

‘You took your time, madam.' A low voice was followed by the head and shoulders of Jerry Sartain. I gave a shriek and my legs turned to jelly. I clung to a willow branch for support as he urged me to keep quiet.

‘But you are dead!' I choked.

‘And I intend to remain that way as far as the world is concerned, my dear. With your able assistance, of course.'

‘I think I am about to faint.'

‘Don't be a goose, Lydia. I am alive, you are not being visited by a spook. Let us go into the labyrinth where we can wander undisturbed.' He emerged from the undergrowth enveloped in a dramatic cape and hood. I noticed that he looked pale and thinner than before and he had grown a small beard – or affixed a false one.

He took my arm and we entered the labyrinth as the sound of pan pipes floated over the garden. The band had been replaced by the Pandean Minstrels.

I was overwhelmed at being reunited with my highwayman lover although I knew my value to him was purely a monetary one. Taking a deep breath I blurted, ‘I want to help you but I have no money at present. I have not been lucky at cards of late.'

‘Never mind that, for the moment. There is the little matter of how your friends knew where we were, how they managed to apprehend us in the forest. Did you betray me, my dear?' His voice was still low but full of menace. He tightened his grip on my arm until I almost squealed with pain.

‘They forced me to tell them,' I cried. ‘I had no idea they would try to kill you. They were concerned for my reputation.'

‘How touching. And you left me for dead. I was forced to crawl through the forest, wounded, until I reached a hovel where a poor creature took me in until I was healed.' My eyes filled with tears. ‘I am so sorry, Jerry, they told me you were dead.'

‘Did you not hear that no body was found?'

‘No, we left almost at once for Bath.'

He moved closer to me, his eyes still shadowed by his hood so that I could not read their expression. His voice assumed a pathetic timbre that I wanted to believe was genuine. ‘You do not know how much your desertion pained me, Lydia. I thought of you constantly during my long hours of convalescence. When I remembered the ecstasy of our moments together in that bedchamber, I—'

‘Stop!' I moaned. ‘I cannot bear it. Forgive me.' His mood changed abruptly. He seized my arm again and asked sharply, ‘What of the jewels … did your friends keep them?'

‘Of course they did not. How can you think that? They were returned to the prince. Miles hoped for a reward, a financial one, but it was not forthcoming.' I decided not to mention the royal gift to me. Jerry would surely force me to hand it over.

‘It was a wild and witless scheme that could never succeed,' I continued. ‘Only a mad man would have attempted such a thing.' He suddenly released me and gave a growling laugh. ‘You are right, of course, sweet Lydia. It
was
a crazed scheme but it just might have succeeded – and had it, it would have been the crime of the century. Would you not have wanted to be part of that, my dear?'

I licked my dry lips and whispered, ‘I do not know. I have not … I am not as daring as you.' A small voice in my head was telling me that Jerry had little to lose. He was already an outcast from society while I was still clinging on by the skin of my teeth. He began to walk quickly, dragging me along with him. We had not paid any attention to the pathways since we entered the labyrinth and now we were lost. We darted to and fro unsuccessfully while Jerry said he would send me a message later. ‘But first we must get out of this confounded maze before we are seen together.'

‘Where are you staying?' I asked.

‘In a low rookery on Avon Street, where else?' He named a place in a district of the city notorious for every kind of vice.

At that moment we turned a corner and found an exit just as a crowd of people walked towards us. Jerry said that I should meet him tomorrow in the gardens. ‘And bring some money.' These were his last words before he slipped away into the shadows.

Tomorrow was Sunday. I would have to plead an indisposition while Miles and Selena went to the service in the abbey, for appearances' sake more than religious feeling.

I returned to the breakfast booth and found it empty. My friends had walked to the hotel to listen to the musicians. Selena had been too preoccupied to notice my long absence. I wondered what Jerry would expect me to steal next. The crown jewels?

Dinner that evening was a melancholy affair. Selena was obsessed with our presumed loss of reputation among the boring Bathonians in the neighbourhood. I was wrapped in thought about my position in Jerry's affections and my status in Society. I realised that the two things were precariously linked.

Miles found the atmosphere oppressive and escaped as quickly as possible to one of his drinking haunts. Selena barely noticed his departure as she chewed on a fingernail.

‘I am afraid that the Meyers and their friends will cut us if we appear at the Assembly Rooms. Word may have spread already,' she moaned.

‘Then we will not go there,' I replied. ‘What is the point? They are all half dead and of no consequence in society.' Selena ignored this and moaned on. ‘I dare not even contemplate attending divine service at the abbey.' I remembered my assignation in the gardens and hastily urged her to do her duty.

‘They cannot cut us dead in a house of worship. We must do the right thing and put on a brave face.' Of course I had to promise to accompany my friends. I would need to develop a sudden indisposition at some point so that I could remain behind and sneak off to the gardens.

In the event it proved difficult to evade Selena's commands. She assembled us all with military precision and led the way, chin held high, towards the abbey. I feigned a twisted ankle and insisted on returning to the house leaning on Adelaide's shoulder. That young woman was not fooled for a moment and said she would follow me at a distance as I made my way into the gardens, ‘for your own good, madam,' as she put it. That would not do at all so I insisted that she return to the house.

Once again Jerry popped up from the bushes like one of Mrs Radcliffe's lurking ghosts. He gave me an affectionate peck on the cheek and came straight to the point.

‘Do you have the money, my sweet?' I handed over my meagre winnings from the ill-fated card game while he complained at the paltry amount. I had kept back only a small part, dear reader. I urgently needed a new bonnet and Adelaide had not received her wages.

‘I must return to London forthwith if I am to capitalise on my ghostly status,' he declared as he stowed away the money beneath his cape. ‘Bath is too small, the pickings are slim these days.' He gave me his wicked smile. ‘How say you Mrs Wickham, shall I become Willy Raikes henceforth? The name has a certain ring to it. Or shall I be William Theophilus Raikes, gentleman's gentleman? That could be a useful profession.' I shook my head.

‘Are you not afraid of Captain Townshend, the Bow Street officer? He terrified me when we met. If he decided to investigate …' My voice failed. Jerry patted my cheek reassuringly. ‘He will not pursue Jeremy Sartain. That man is recently deceased, do you not recall?'

‘Your body was not found,' I reminded him. ‘Townshend is no fool, he will remember that.'

Jerry refused to be cast down, declaring that he did not fear the little man in his kerseymere breeches, ‘Although he is a sharp one.' Suddenly he broke off, mid-conversation, and peered out from under his hat at one of the servants from the hotel who was staring in his direction. ‘I believe that confounded rascal suspects something or has recognised me.' He took my arm and we walked rapidly in the opposite direction, passing the waterfall.

Visibly relaxed now that the danger appeared to have passed, Jerry picked me up, deposited me playfully in one of the swings, and soon had me soaring aloft, despite my protests. Soon there was a disturbance, as at least a dozen passers-by congregated around us laughing, pointing and shouting ribald comments. Two officials from the hotel pushed their way through the crowd, one seized Jerry and the other caught hold of the swing bringing me down to earth rapidly. I was all aflutter, clutching my bonnet to my head as the officials angrily demanded to know our names, telling us that we had flouted one of the local by-laws. The crowd agreed, chanting as one, ‘No swinging on Sundays!' as we were dragged away. Several more respectable looking couples turned away in disgust as we passed.

I was crimson with mortification and I knew instinctively that that I could not rely on any assistance from my companion. This proved correct when Jerry wrenched himself away from his captor. ‘I swear I'll spoil your daylights,' he said, before knocking the man to the ground. We were near the canal bank at that point and Jerry took a flying leap onto the passing London-bound boat, to the accompaniment of cheers from its occupants.

My captor unwisely released me and rushed to the canal bank shouting at the disappearing boat. I hitched up my skirts and fled towards the nearest exit. Adelaide was waiting for me in the street having observed my humiliation from afar. Fortunately she had not recognised Jerry, but I cannot imagine what she had made of the situation.

‘I was about to return to the 'ouse, madam,' she assured me as we hurried homewards, ‘when I had a feeling you was in trouble.' We had walked for barely five minutes when a carriage rattled past and stopped suddenly a few yards ahead of us. I was convinced that I was about to be arrested and exhibited in the stocks or some such fate when an elegant arm waved from the window of the coach followed by the head of a man with a mane of blond hair.