Читать книгу Regency Pleasures: A Model Débutante - Louise Allen - Страница 14

The next day Zenna accompanied Tallie to see first Mr Dover the solicitor and then to Martin and Wigmore, the bankers Nick Stangate had recommended. Tallie found herself expected at both sets of offices and at both of them found herself making decisions and issuing orders, which, if she gave herself time to think about it, seemed the stuff of fairy tales. Eventually they emerged blinking into the watery sunlight on the corner of Poultry and Queen Street, an obsequious clerk at their elbow to hail them a carriage.

‘We were received with the most gratifying degree of attention,’ she observed to her friend once they were alone and the cab was crawling down Cheapside towards St Paul’s. ‘But I still cannot believe that I was sitting there, making decisions about bank deposits and gilts, and being lectured on the absolute necessity to make my will.’

‘You and your money were what was receiving the attention,’ Zenna retorted. ‘What a lowering thought that men who would have scarcely noticed us yesterday hung upon your every word and wish today, simply because of your acquisition of wealth.’

‘That is the way of the world, I suppose.’ Tallie looked sombre for a moment, then smiled wickedly. ‘But reprehensible though it may be, I fully intend to enjoy it—we have been prudent and sensible too long, Zenna. We deserve a holiday!’

‘We? But I have my plans for the school to draw up and house-agents to see, as well as my pupils to attend to,’ Zenna protested.

‘You cannot do both, not efficiently at any rate. Zenna, why do you not give notice to the parents of your pupils and concentrate on the school. No, hear me out.’ She raised a hand as Zenna opened her mouth. ‘This school is an investment—a joint investment—is it not? Then I should be investing in your time to set it up, and you should be concentrating on house-agents, and interviewing teachers and drawing up a curriculum and so on.

‘Stop frowning, Zenna!’ She laughed at her friend’s dubious expression. ‘I understand all your scruples. We will talk to Mr Dover and ask him to draw up a partnership agreement, then all will be set out and fair. Now agree, do, because I have lots of other plans I want to discuss with you.’

‘Very well,’ Zenna agreed with the air of someone being persuaded to do something they wanted to do, but felt they should not. ‘I will be guided by Mr Dover, he does seem a very rigorous lawyer and will make sure I am not taking more than my fair share in this agreement.’

Tallie nodded decisively. ‘And I have had another brilliant idea for investing my money. It concerns Mrs Blackstock. What if I should buy a town house or two? She could run them as select boarding-houses. I am sure she would soon be making a handsome profit for me and thereby a good income for herself.’

‘An excellent idea,’ Zenobia approved, grabbing the hanging strap as the cab once again jolted to a halt. ‘What a crush! I had not realised the City would be so busy. What about Millie? I confess, I have not observed Mr Hemsley in her company again, but I know she is receiving notes from someone, for she blushes and hides them under her table napkin when the morning post arrives.’

‘That is difficult,’ Tallie agreed, peering out of the window. ‘Why, no wonder the street is in such chaos, some yokel is driving a herd of sheep through! But I do not think it will be any faster to get out and walk, so we had better stay where we are. I had thought that if Mrs Blackstock was busy with the new boarding-houses, Millie might stay at home to help her. But she loves the stage—it is not as if she is doing it because she needs the money. Then I thought of giving her a dowry in the hope of attracting some respectable person to marry her, but I cannot think of a tactful way of doing that, so I confess I am somewhat at a stand.’

‘Hmm. No doubt something will occur to us. What are you doing this afternoon? Shopping?’

A roll of banknotes had been burning a hole in Tallie’s reticule for the past hour, but she wanted to take Zenna shopping with her when she went. Tallie had a plan to buy her friend some clothes so she could be invited to parties too. That was going to take some tact and cunning and Zenna was engaged that afternoon with pupils.

‘I must go shopping tomorrow, for I cannot arrive at Lady Parry’s with my wardrobe in the state it is. I am sure she will recommend me to all the right modistes once I am with her, but until then I need your advice, Zenna. Are you free tomorrow? Because if you are, we can look at house-agents as well.’

Zenna agreed, attempting to look as though she would enjoy the experience. She produced her tablets and began to add to her endless lists, while Tallie brooded on the interview with Madame d’Aunay she had resolved on having that afternoon.

She had already written to her employer, apologising again for her absence, giving a carefully edited account of her change in circumstances and informing her that she would be stopping work as soon as she had finished the hats on which she was working. She expected Madame to be unhappy about this, but she was unprepared for the atmosphere that greeted her when she arrived at the shop that afternoon.

The first shock was the fact that Madame curtsied as she entered the salon and ushered her through to her inner sanctum, the elegantly appointed private room reserved for the best clients.

‘I must apologise, Madame …’ Tallie began, only to be silenced by the expression of forced affability on Madame’s face.

‘Do not mention it, Miss Grey. Naturally you will wish to dissociate yourself from this establishment immediately. I have your outstanding wages here.’ She reached for an envelope, a slight flush staining her neck.

‘Goodness, no,’ Tallie protested. ‘I have given you no notice, I cannot take that.’

‘Very well, ma’am.’

Tallie blinked. Had her former employer called her ‘ma’am’? ‘The hats on which I am working—’

‘Sarah will take them over, Miss Grey.’ There was an awkward pause. ‘I will naturally be sorry to lose Lady Parry’s business, but—’

‘But why should you?’ Tallie felt distinctly disorientated.

‘I understood that you would be living with Lady Parry, Miss Grey, and naturally assumed—’

‘Oh, good heavens, no!’ Tallie realised her former employer thought she would be making the hats directly for her patroness from now on. ‘Obviously if Lady Parry needed a trim changing or something of that nature … but I am sure she will wish to continue purchasing her hats from you.’

‘I see.’ Madame looked even more uneasy. ‘I believe you said you will be making your come-out this Season, Miss Grey?’

‘Indeed, yes, and I will need several hats …’

‘What a pity that this salon produces hats so much more fitting for the older lady,’ Madame said expressionlessly.

‘But …’ Tallie gathered her wits together. So, suddenly she was an embarrassment to Madame: neither a lady nor an employee, but someone who might prove a liability if there was a scandal when she made her début. Society ladies might take exception to the fact that one of Madame d’Aunay’s artisans had the presumption to move above her station.

She glanced towards the door into the workroom. ‘The girls are very busy, Miss Grey,’ the milliner said hurriedly.

‘I am sure they are, Madame.’ Tallie got to her feet. ‘I must thank you for having given me a chance when I needed employment: I will not forget that. Please be assured that I will do nothing to dissuade Lady Parry from continuing to buy hats here.’

She swept out, head held high before she saw whether she was receiving another curtsy or not. When she found herself on the pavement outside the shop she hesitated, unsure which way to turn along the crowded street, unable to think clearly about what she should be doing next.

Anger, sorrow and insecurity fought within her. Was it going to be this difficult with everyone she met in her new life?

‘Miss Grey, good afternoon.’ The cheerful voice at her elbow jerked her back to the present and an awareness that she was still standing on the pavement with passers-by flowing around her.

‘Lord Parry. I do beg your pardon, I was woolgathering.’ Tallie pulled herself together with an effort and managed a smile. William was regarding her with unaffected delight and she was irresistibly reminded of a large retriever puppy. He seemed painfully young and, she suspected, was rapidly reaching the stage when young ladies were proving a mysterious, but irresistible, source of interest.

‘May I escort you anywhere?’

‘No, I thank you, but I was just going to … to walk home.’ She supposed that would be the best thing to do. She hardly felt inclined to go window-shopping in her present distracted frame of mind.

‘I say, that is rather a long walk, isn’t it? Let me call you a hackney carriage.’

‘I … no … thank you. I think I would like the fresh air.’

To her surprise, for in Tallie’s experience youths were often far too self-absorbed to take much notice of anyone else’s emotional state, William shot her a sharp glance, tucked her hand firmly under his elbow and began to steer her towards the end of Berkeley Street.

‘Are you feeling a little out of sorts, Miss Grey? Never mind, I know just the thing.’

‘What, my lord?’ Half-amused despite her battered feelings, Tallie meekly allowed herself to be guided along the crowded pavement.

‘Ice cream. I will take you to Gunter’s and you can have a nice lemon ice and a wafer and a cup of chocolate and you’ll soon feel right as rain.’

Tallie suppressed a smile. Of course, food and the sweeter the better—the answer to distress for every very young person. ‘That is extremely kind of you, my lord.’

They arrived at the fashionable tearooms in a slight lull and found a choice of tables available. ‘Would you like to sit in the window?’ William suggested. ‘There is more to look at.’

And everyone can see us, Tallie thought, allowing herself to be seated. She could hardly feel that her presence in her drab pelisse was adding much lustre to young Lord Parry’s carefully cultivated image. His clothing was immaculate, if a little on the exaggerated side when it came to cut, his hair was ruthlessly pomaded into elegant curls and his neckcloth, although lacking the exquisite folds achieved by a certain gentleman Tallie could think of, was highly creditable.

‘I see you are admiring my neckcloth,’ he confided, dropping his voice.

‘I beg your pardon,’ Tallie said hastily, ‘I had no intention of staring …’

‘Not at all.’ He fairly glowed with pride and Tallie concluded that if his lordship was twenty years old his birthday must have been very recent indeed. ‘My cousin Nick showed me how to tie it. I was trying for a Waterfall and making a complete mull of it, so he taught me this.’

‘You are close to Lord Arndale?’ Tallie enquired, moving her napkin to allow a water ice and a cup of steaming chocolate to be set in front of her.

William became quiet, obviously unused to discussing his feelings. ‘He’s the best of fellows,’ he managed after some thought. ‘Like a brother, only he doesn’t lecture. Leastways, I don’t have a brother, but I hear what the other chaps say and older brothers sound like the very de—are very strict. Always lecturing.’

‘And Lord Arndale does not lecture you?’ Tallie enquired, surprised. It seemed unlikely from what she knew of him that Nick Stangate would tolerate the foolishness of youth.

‘No.’ William took a large spoonful of vanilla ice and paused with it halfway to his mouth. ‘He looks sometimes.’

‘Looks?’

‘Yes, just looks. And then you feel uncomfortable and wonder if whatever you are doing is a good thing. You know?’

‘No, but I can imagine.’ Tallie took a reviving sip of chocolate.

‘You’ll see, once you come and live with us.’

‘Do you mind me moving in, my lord?’ Tallie asked abruptly. This was an unlikely conversation to be having with a very young man who was virtually a stranger to her, but William with his natural confiding friendliness did not appear to find it so.

‘No, of course not. It’ll be like having a sister and Mama is having a wonderful time already. You will call me William, won’t you?’ He ate some more of his ice and demolished his wafer, then, with the frankness that Tallie was beginning to associate with him—so unlike his cousin—said, ‘Are you feeling better now?’

‘I … yes, thank you.’

‘Good. What was wrong?’ Then he blushed scarlet. ‘Lord! I am sorry, it is just that it is so easy talking to you I just didn’t think. Forget I asked.’

Perversely Tallie, who ten minutes ago would have walked on hot coals rather than reveal her wounded feelings, said, ‘No, it is quite all right to ask. I had just had a very difficult conversation with Madame d’Aunay, who used be my employer.’

‘Um?’ William nodded encouragingly. ‘Old tartar, is she?’

‘It isn’t that. She is embarrassed because a day ago I was a milliner and her employee; now she thinks she has to treat me like a lady and is afraid that if I make a scandal it will reflect on her business. I do not think I know what I am any more.’ To her horror a lump appeared in her throat.

‘Oh, I say!’ William whisked out a large pocket handkerchief and, leaning across the table, held it out to her. ‘You aren’t going to cry, are you, Miss Grey …? I feel an absolute clod …’

Tallie ducked her head and shot a rapid glance around the still half-empty room. No one appeared to have noticed them. ‘Thank you, William, I am quite all right, truly. And I’m not going to cry, it is just that I do not know whether I am angry or hurt or what I feel.’

His hand still hovered with the linen, and she put up her own hand to touch his wrist and silently urge him to put the handkerchief away. As she did so a movement outside caught her attention. Lord Arndale was watching them through the glass, one dark brow raised in chilly incredulity.

‘Good afternoon.’ He appeared at their table with what seemed to Tallie to be supernatural speed. Glancing at William’s face, she saw he had turned as red as she knew she had. The pair of them must have presented a perfect picture of guilt surprised.

This was ridiculous. William might be an awkward adolescent, but she was five and twenty and a woman of the world. She was certainly not going to allow Nicholas Stangate to put her out of countenance.

‘Good afternoon, my lord,’ she said affably. ‘Will you not join us? Lord Parry has been treating me to the indulgence of an ice. I can certainly recommend the lemon, although I believe the vanilla is equally delicious.’ William was rapidly collecting himself, stuffing the handkerchief back into his pocket and rising to move around the table and offer his cousin his seat.

‘Thank you, William. No, nothing for me.’ Nick waved away the hovering waiter with a careless hand and regarded Tallie with what she could only interpret as scepticism. ‘It appeared that my cousin, far from treating you to afternoon tea, had reduced you to tears.’

‘Oh, I say …’

‘Did it appear so?’ Tallie took another tiny taste of ice and smiled. ‘A mote of something flew into my eye and Lord Parry was kind enough to offer me his handkerchief.’ She smiled warmly at the youth, who blushed again, this time with pink-cheeked pleasure.

Lord Arndale was watching the byplay with little sign of either belief or approval. Tallie decided it was time to distract him from his cousin. ‘I deserve a little indulgence, my lord. I have spent the morning in the City, paying close attention to Mr Dover and the gentlemen at the bank, just as you recommended me to.’

The dark brows snapped together. ‘You went alone?’

‘Certainly not, my lord.’ Tallie managed a tone of modest outrage. ‘Naturally I was accompanied by Miss Scott, as I told you I would be.’

‘Ah, yes, your governess friend.’

‘And my business partner,’ Tallie corrected gently, watching him from under demurely lowered lashes.

‘And what business might that be?’

‘It is far too early to divulge the details,’ Tallie said repressively, dapping her lips delicately with the napkin.

‘If you are going to plunge into dubious investments, Miss Grey, I must tell you as your—’

‘As my what, my lord?’ Tallie gathered up her reticule and smiled at William. ‘Do you know, I think I would like you to call me a hackney after all, Lord Parry, if you would be so kind.’ She waited until he rose and went to the door before turning back to his cousin, who was watching her with smouldering eyes. ‘You may be Lady Parry’s trustee and you may be Miss Gower’s executor, my lord, but you have no role in my life.’

William was on the pavement, head tipped back, obviously asking the driver of the hackney carriage drawn up at the kerb to wait. ‘What a thoroughly nice young man Lord Parry is,’ she added, without thinking. ‘His mama must be very proud of him.’

‘He is indeed,’ Nick Stangate said close by her ear as he pulled back her chair for her. ‘Very nice, very young, very titled and very rich. And he is in no need of a wife, or any other romantic liaison at the moment.’

Vehement, furious denial rose to Tallie’s lips, but she controlled it—just. Only a hesitation as she rose betrayed the anger that lanced through her. That he thought she could entertain the slightest desire to flirt with, let alone set out to ensnare, a lad five years her junior for the sake of title and wealth was utterly insulting and she half-turned to hiss a furious response. Then a wicked thought flashed through her brain and she bit her tongue.

She calmly straightened her skirts and turned to smile into the darkly handsome face so close to hers. ‘And what were you doing when you were twenty, my lord? I cannot believe that romantic liaisons were very far from your thoughts. I am sure Lord Parry is quite old enough to know what he wants. I am so looking forward to getting to know him better.’

She kept her temper under control as she thanked William prettily for her treat and for the hackney and sat stock-still while the vehicle rocked and bumped over the cobbles back to Upper Wimpole Street. She could hardly give way to her feelings in the middle of a public street. But when she got back to the house and found the parlour empty, she seized a cushion from the sofa and pummelled it until feathers started to leak from one seam.

‘Insufferable man!’

‘Let me guess.’ Zenna appeared in the doorway, quill in one hand and Latin primer in the other. ‘Lord Arndale.’

‘Yes.’ Tallie threw the cushion back onto the sofa and sat on it with emphasis. ‘I declare, Zenna, that man has the most appalling effect on me. Did you ever know me to lose my temper before? Did I not always try to be calm and philosophical in the face of setbacks? Would I have stooped to mockery and deception in order to annoy another person? Was I able to sleep at night?’

‘No, yes, no and usually,’ Zenna said with a grin. ‘Now, what has he done? Has he tried to kiss you?’

Tallie glared at her. ‘I do wish you would stop this jesting of yours, Zenna. First you say you expect him to propose, then to kiss me. The wretched creature is suspicious of me, that is all. He knows I have something to hide and is busily investigating me. And now he accuses me of setting my cap at his cousin.’

‘Lord Parry? But how old did you say he was? Sixteen?’

‘Twenty, and a very young and very charming twenty-year-old at that. I met him in Piccadilly and he took me for an ice cream and we talked until who should arrive but Nick Stangate, looking like the wrath of God.’

‘Tallie!’

‘I am sorry, I did not intend to blaspheme. He is like one of those Greek gods. You know, thunderbolts and eyes that turn people to stone,’ she added wildly.

‘I think you are getting thoroughly confused with your Greek myths and need a nice cup of tea.’ Zenna put her head out of the door and called to Annie, then came back in and sat down.

‘I don’t think I can drink anything, thank you. I am full of lemon ice and hot chocolate.’ She tried not to think about the episode in Gunter’s, but it kept insisting on being worried at, like a sore tooth. ‘Why should he think anything so foolish as that? William is five years younger than I am.’

‘Perhaps he’s jea—’ Zenna caught herself and bit off the word. ‘Perhaps he is just abnormally suspicious,’ she said soothingly. ‘Tell me all about Gunter’s, I have always wanted to try one of their ices.’