To Win the Lady (19 page)

She reached out
and picked up the tiny vase containing the posy of marguerites and stood it on
the little table beside her bed where she could see them even when she was
lying down. She lay very still for a long time, gazing at them, studying each
petal. Tears welled in her eyes and slowly chased each other down her cheeks,
soaking her pillow, but she did not brush them away; they were washing away her
weakness.

Once she had
been assured that Georgie was getting well, Felicity lifted her self-imposed
ban on going out, but as her sister was not there to chaperon her and their
aunt was busy with preparations for shutting up the house the following week
she was left very much to her own devices. Most of the time she spent with
Juliette Hereward and Captain Melford, acting chaperon to her friend. When
Georgie asked her if she had been on any outings with Major Baverstock, she
said she had seen little of him.

‘He is too busy
over that silly wager, you know. John...’ She stopped and corrected herself
hurriedly. ‘Captain Melford says there is a great deal to do: the route has to
be gone over very carefully, extra horses have to be hired and places decided
for changing them.’

‘You have not
quarrelled with him, then?’

‘Oh, no!’
Felicity cried. ‘But to be honest I am becoming a little bored by all this talk
of horses.’

Georgie was
pleased to see her so much more relaxed and happy; she seemed to have suddenly
come out of her shell and Georgie supposed the few weeks her sister had had in
Society had done wonders for her self-confidence. It made it easier to leave
her and return to Rowan Park, which was what she had decided to do.

Lord Barbour
called every day to enquire about her health and ask when he might see her.
Aunt Harriet, bless her, had kept him out of her niece’s room, if not out of
the house, by saying she was still not up to receiving visitors and did not
want him to see her looking anything less than her best. He would have been
furious if he had seen Richard Baverstock being shown, one afternoon, into Mrs
Bertram’s small upstairs sitting-room where Georgie, up and dressed, was
receiving him.

‘You really
must allow him to visit you, my dear,’ her aunt had said when she had demurred.
‘He brought you home, you know, unconscious as you were and stretched out
across the carriage seat so that he was obliged to kneel on the dirty floor. It
made a dreadful mark on his riding breeches. He has called almost every day to
enquire about you. You really should thank him properly.’ She had paused.
‘Besides, I do believe he has another reason...’

‘What other
reason?’ Georgie had asked, starting up in surprise, hope flaring for a moment,
only to subside as soon as her aunt had spoken again.

‘Why, to be
sure, had you forgot he was going to offer for Felicity? He has come to ask for
your blessing. There was no opportunity before and he is too nice in his
manners to push himself forward when you were not well, but one can hardly
blame him for being impatient. Does that not show how well-bred he is?’

‘Yes, Aunt.’

‘Then may I
have him shown up?’

She could not
say no, but she was trembling when he stood before her, taking her hand and
enquiring how she did.

‘I believe I am
almost recovered,’ she said, withdrawing her hand because he seemed reluctant
to let go of it. ‘I must thank you for finding me and bringing me home; I do
not know what I would have done without your help.’

‘It was my
privilege, Miss Paget.’

‘And thank you
also for the flowers. Marguerites are my favourite.’

There was an
awkward silence, when they simply looked into each other’s eyes, unable to
speak of what was in their hearts and yet unable to utter banalities.

‘Major, may I
offer some refreshment?’ Mrs Bertram said into the silence. ‘I do believe it is
nearly time for the tea to be brought in.’

‘That would be
very acceptable, Mrs Bertram,’ he said, dragging his eyes away from Georgie to
answer her.

Unaccountably,
instead of ringing for the maid, Mrs Betram went in search of her, leaving
Richard and Georgie alone. ‘I am truly grateful to you,’ she told him. ‘It was
such a foolish thing to happen.’ She smiled suddenly. ‘It was such a poor beast
that I could do little more than canter. I was certainly not trying to put it
to the test or anything like that...’

‘I should hope
not!’ He grinned at her, making her feel so weak that she was glad she was
seated. ‘But why did you do it? Hyde Park is not Rowan Park, you know.’

‘Riding clears
my head. It always has done.’ Then she completely threw him by asking abruptly,
‘I collect the last time we spoke together you were going to approach my uncle.
Have you done so?’

His heart sank;
so much for his hope that he might change matters. She was obviously as set on
the match as ever she had been. ‘If you mean about your sister, no, I have
not.’

‘Why not?’

‘It hardly
seemed appropriate with you being ill. And I have seen so little of Miss Felicity
this last week...’

‘Whose fault is
that? I am told you have been preoccupied with that ridiculous wager to ride to
York. It is hardly a way to win a lady, is it?’

‘Who told you
that?’

‘Felicity
herself.’

‘Then I ask
pardon.’

‘It is not my pardon
you should request but that of my sister,’ she said, her torment making her
speak more sharply than she had intended.

‘Then of course
I will do it.’

Mrs Bertram
returned, followed by a maid with the tea-tray, and the conversation returned
to generalities, which surprised Georgie, for she had expected her aunt to push
for an early announcement. It was only as Richard rose to take his leave that
Georgie said, ‘Major Baverstock tells me he is going to speak to Felicity very
soon, Aunt.’

She was too
cocooned in her own misery to notice Richard’s little start of surprise or her
aunt’s eyebrows shoot up almost into her hairline before she collected herself
and turned to him with a smile. ‘I am glad to hear it, Major. There has been
too much speculation.’

He was
astonished that Georgie should have mistaken his meaning in that fashion, but
decided she had done it deliberately. He didn’t like being pushed, but it told
him one thing - she had no feelings for him or she would not be able to thrust
him at someone else. Perhaps it was her way of telling him that she had not
intended to respond to his kiss in the way that she had. He did not think she’d
been so deeply unconscious that she had not known what was happening. She had
dismissed him and what else was there for him to do but leave?

As soon as he
had gone Georgie sank back into the cushions of her chair and picked up the rug
she had discarded when he’d come into the room, putting it back over her knees.
They were shaking so much that she thought her aunt could not fail to notice.

‘So, he is
going to do it after all,’ her aunt said. ‘I had begun to wonder.’

‘Wonder what?’

‘If I had been
right to promote this match. He seemed not to be so sure as he had been.’

Georgie gave a
hollow laugh. ‘I cannot imagine anyone making him do something he does not want
to, Aunt. The rest is up to Felicity. My only aim is for her happiness; nothing
else matters and she must not feel she is being forced into a marriage she does
not want.’

‘Why do you say
that?’ her aunt asked, peering at her short-sightedly. ‘Felicity has been in
the Major’s company any number of times and she has never given the slightest
hint she does not want it, has she?’

‘No.’ She
paused and drew a deep breath. ‘Aunt, I would like to go home to Rowan Park as
soon as possible.’

‘But you must
wait for the announcement. It must be soon because the Colonel and I leave for
Paris at the end of next week.’

‘I do not think
it will be official until after that wretched race, Aunt. We can make the
announcement from Rowan Park just as easily.’

‘But Felicity
will not want to go with you. She has promised to spend a few days with the
Herewards at Richmond.’

‘Then of course
she must go. I can go home alone.’

‘No, you
cannot.’

‘I have Fanny
and Tom. It was how I arrived.’

‘That was
different. You were not getting over a serious accident. Also, you were not
half promised to Lord Barbour and Felicity had not yet met Major Baverstock,
all of which makes a great difference. I cannot allow it.’

‘The doctor
told me my recovery has not been as swift as he hoped and that the country air
will do me good.’

This was
perfectly true and the doctor confirmed it when asked by Mrs Bertram, but that
didn’t alter the fact that there was no one to accompany her home. And then the
doctor himself stepped in.

‘I have advised
Viscount Dullingham to go home for his health’s sake,’ he said, returning later
that same day. `He says he will be pleased to escort you and your maid back to
Rowan Park tomorrow. I believe the houses are only fifteen miles distant from
each other.’

Georgie did not
quite know what to make of this offer, but in view of her aunt’s delight at her
niece’s good fortune in being taken up by so illustrious a personage, and
because she had no reason to refuse, she accepted gratefully.

His lordship
was a pleasant companion and Georgie found him easy to talk to, once they had
settled themselves in his roomy carriage, with Wendens and Fanny, and with Tom
on the box beside the driver. Georgie’s own carriage had been left behind to be
used by Felicity when she returned home. Fanny and Tom would return by stage to
bring her back when her visit to Lady Hereward came to end. It seemed an ideal
arrangement and allowed Mrs Bertram to supervise the closing of her house in
Holles Street in peace. And Georgie managed to leave without encountering
either Lord Barbour or Richard Baverstock again.

While they were
in the coach in the presence of the servants the conversation was of general matters
- the war just past, their hopes for lasting peace, the harvest to come and the
price of grain, novels and music, horses and more horses. They passed through
Islington Spa, a picturesque village with a pond on the green overhung with
elms, then along the Holloway Road and up the hill to Highgate. East End was
soon passed and then they were on Finchley Common and she was glad she had
company for it was notorious for highwaymen. Once past the turnpike at
Whetstone she relaxed and very soon afterwards they drew up at the Swan in
Stevenage where rooms had been booked for the night.

His lordship
asked her to join him for supper in the dining-room and she gladly agreed.
Before long she was telling him all about her father and her life at Rowan
Park, even a few of her problems, and he told her of his son - not too much,
for it would not have been appropriate to speak of personal matters with one so
young, but it was enough for her to realise that he loved Richard very much and
regretted the wasted years. ‘I knew my wife was driving him away,’ he said.
‘And foolishly I did nothing to stop it.’ He asked her about her plans for the
stables and about Felicity. She answered as truthfully as she could and he
listened and learned. And what he learned worried him. He said nothing, for
what could he say? It was up to the young people themselves to come about, but
he hoped most fervently that it would not take too long and no lasting harm
would be done.

They were
crossing Royston Heath the following afternoon when their coach was brought to
a shuddering halt by the sudden arrival on the road of three horsemen with
covered faces and pistols at the ready.

‘High toby!’
exclaimed Wendens. ‘My lord, we are being held up!’

‘So I see,’ his
lordship said dryly as one of the highwaymen dismounted and flung open the door
of the coach. ‘Out, all of you.’

They thought it
wisest not to argue. The man had his pistol at the ready and one of his
companions was watching them with deep boot-button eyes; the other was covering
the driver and Tom.

Once they were
all standing in the road, their coach was searched, all their luggage turned
out and anything of value stowed in the robbers’ saddle-bags. ‘Make it look
good,’ one said to the others, a phrase which puzzled Georgie.

‘You will be
punished for this,’ she said, incensed by the sight of all her clothes in a
heap in the middle of the road and her trunk turned upside-down on top of them.
‘Do you think it is worth losing your life for a few paltry jewels?’

‘No, but that’s
not all we’ll get, you can be sure.’ He grabbed his lordship’s watch and put it
into his own waistcoat pocket.

‘Oh, I see. You
mean to hold us for ransom. Let me tell you there is no money for a ransom...’

The man put his
head back and laughed. ‘We ain’t interested in a long megs like you, miss, and
we could wish you in Jericho, for what we are to do with you I don’t know.’

‘Then it is Lor
-’ She stopped and glanced at the Viscount. If they did not know who he was,
she ought not to enlighten them.