Читать книгу The Westmere Legacy - Mary Nichols - Страница 8

Sylvester answered Bella’s knock on the door of the Earl’s apartments. ‘Please, tell his lordship Mr Trenchard, the Comte de Courville and Sir Edward have arrived, but he does not think Captain Huntley will have received his invitation in time to obey.’ She paused. ‘And warn him the Comtesse is here, too.’

‘Oh, is she?’ came a bellow from an inner room. ‘Well, I shall give her a right about, poking her nose in where it’s not wanted.’ He appeared at the door, dressed in a mulberry velvet jacket and matching breeches and clutching a walking stick. ‘Take my arm, girl. Let’s see what those young bloods are made of.’

‘Do you need me?’ she asked timidly. ‘Could I not wait in my room?’

‘No, you could not. Want to see their faces…’

‘But I don’t.’

‘Yes, you do.’

To which there was no answer, and they made their slow and stately way down to the withdrawing room. Before entering, the Earl stood in the doorway and surveyed the company gathered there. Edward bowed slightly, James gave a curt nod and Louis flung out his arm in an extravagant gesture and bowed low. ‘Your servant, my lord.’

The Earl grunted and, leaning heavily on Bella’s arm, made his way over to a high-backed armchair and lowered himself into it. Then he turned to the Comtesse. ‘What are you doing here? I do not recollect asking you to come.’

She dipped a curtsey. ‘An oversight, I am sure, Uncle. How do you do?’

‘Well enough. Not about to shuffle off, at any rate.’

‘I should hope not!’ she said with false brightness. ‘But if you are about to settle your affairs, then I must tell you it is not before time.’

‘What has it to do with you, madam?’

‘Louis is your heir.’

‘Is he? We shall see.’

‘What do you mean by that? My goodness, if you mean to try and disinherit him, it is as well I decided to come, too.’

‘You take too much upon yourself, madam. I wish you to leave us. Find something to amuse you while I talk to these reprobates.’

Elizabeth looked as though she were about to throw a fit, but then, realising he would not proceed while she stayed, flung her head up in disgust and sailed from the room. Bella, who was standing beside her grandfather’s chair, bent and whispered, ‘Should I go, too, Grandfather? She is truly upset and I could keep her company.’

‘No, you will stay here. Sit on that stool.’ He indicated a stool at his feet, then looked up at the three young men. ‘Sit down, you will give me a crick in the neck from peering up at you.’ And as they obeyed he added, ‘Edward, where is that cork-brained brother of yours?’

‘He was in Town when your letters arrived, my lord. I forwarded his, but he may not have received it in time to make arrangements to be here.’

‘More likely demonstrating his independence.’ He gave a grunt of amusement. ‘And he the least independent of the lot of you.’

‘He may yet come,’ Bella ventured, wondering where Robert was. She would not put it past him to keep them waiting on purpose, doing as her grandfather had suggested and asserting his independence. Or proving to her he would not be coerced by anything she had said. She wouldn’t put it beyond him to invite those argumentative labourers to join him in a glass of something at one of the many inns in Ely. ‘We could wait a little longer.’

‘I am not in the habit of waiting on ill-mannered jack-at-warts.’

‘My lord,’ Edward protested. ‘There is nothing wrong with my brother’s manners.’

‘Well, we shall proceed without him.’ He paused to look round at them, smiling slightly. ‘What a gaggle of fine geese you are, to be sure. But you are all I have, bar Bella. You don’t deserve her, not any of you, and if I had any choice I would not let her within a mile of you.’ He sighed heavily. ‘But my mind’s made up. One of you shall have her.’

Bella, who had been sitting looking at her feet, risked a glance at them. She was confronted by three open mouths, though no sound issued from any of them. They had obviously been struck dumb.

‘Well?’ the old man said. ‘Haven’t you anything to say for yourselves?’

‘What would you have us say?’ Edward was the first to recover. ‘Miss Huntley is a dear child. I am very fond of her but—’

‘That, at least, is a start. But are you so blind that you cannot see what is before your eyes? She is no longer a child. While you have been sowing your wild oats, she has become a marriageable woman.’

Edward turned to Bella, smiling to soften what appeared to be a rejection of her. ‘I beg your pardon, Bella, I meant no offence. You are beautiful and a man would have to be blind not to see that, but—’

‘But you do not like being coerced,’ she put in quickly, so that he might know it was not her idea. ‘And neither do I. Please, do not consider it.’

‘Then what is the point of this meeting?’

‘I’ll tell you, shall I?’ the old man said. ‘Isabella cannot have the management of a fortune, though I have no doubt she would make a better job of it than you, Louis.’ He looked at the young man’s extravagant clothes. ‘Your tailor’s bill alone would bankrupt the estate. I could appoint trustees until she married but I ain’t keen on the idea. I want to see her married before I hand in my accounts.’

‘Very laudable,’ Louis said. ‘But I shall choose my own wife.’

‘Indeed, I hope you may,’ Bella said, very near to tears, not at being rejected but at the humiliation of it all.

‘Bella, please, do not cry,’ Edward said. ‘There is plenty of time for you to make a good match whatever the old greybeard says.’

‘And I could rule you out for such impertinence.’

‘I have already ruled myself out, sir, but you forget my brother is not here to speak for himself.’

‘Who is to blame for that? I have told Bella she shall have her choice, but if she is sighing after that ne’er-do-well, she must find a way of bringing him to the mark.’

‘Grandpapa, I am not sighing after him. I am not sighing after anyone and I wish you would not speak of me as if I were not in the room. I might as well go and bear the Comtesse company.’ It was unlike her to be so bold but she was being driven beyond endurance.

‘Then it must be one of the others,’ he said, ignoring her.

‘I am your heir,’ Louis said. ‘But that does not mean you may dictate…’

The old man smiled. ‘You are sure of that, are you?’

‘No, of course he is not,’ Edward said. ‘The estate is entailed and must be handed down through the male line. And that means through Papa.’

‘Is that so?’ The old man seemed to be enjoying teasing them, although his tone was crotchety, as if he would quickly lose patience with them. ‘You are very quick to lay your claim, but I have not heard you offer for Isabella.’

James, who had been listening to this exchange with a bemused look on his face, suddenly came to life and looked from Bella to the Earl. ‘Are you saying that whoever marries Bella will inherit?’

‘Yes, but he must make a push. I said there was no time to lose and I meant it.’

‘You do not mean to say you have broken the entail?’ Edward said, shocked to the core. ‘You can’t have done. The only people to gain by such a procedure are the lawyers. You’d be left without a feather to fly with.’

‘And you are grasping at straws,’ his lordship said.

‘I don’t believe it,’ Louis said. ‘The old man is trying to gammon one of us into marrying the chit.’

‘I spoke first,’ James put in. ‘Miss Huntley, may I crave a moment alone with you?’

Everyone turned to look at the overweight farmer in his filthy clothes. He was not in the habit of making decisions in a hurry, but he knew that to be first in with his offer would be a distinct advantage.

‘Oh, Bella,’ Edward said, as Bella looked from one to the other, dismay written all over her face. ‘You do not have to accept him, whatever his lordship says.’

Louis, who had been silently watching her through his quizzing glass for some time, let it drop to dangle on its ribbon from his wrist and turned to James. ‘You do not, for a minute, suppose Miss Huntley will receive you looking like that,’ he said. ‘Or smelling like you do. Go home and bath and change.’

‘While you insert yourself in my place.’

Louis laughed in a high-pitched, effeminate way. ‘Lah, that is the last thing I would do. Insert myself anywhere you had been, I mean.’ He fetched a lace handkerchief from his pocket and waved it before his nose. ‘My lord, pray send him on his way.’

‘Bella?’ The Earl appealed to her. ‘Do you want me to send him away?’

Before she could answer, they heard a commotion in the hall and Jolliffe’s voice protesting loudly and another, even angrier, saying, ‘I am come to speak to Mr Trenchard and speak to him I will.’

‘Go and see what is happening,’ the Earl instructed Bella. ‘Tell Jolliffe to send whoever it is on his way. I will not have brawls in my house.’

Bella, thankful for the interruption, hurried to obey. A man of middling years in the working clothes of a labourer was standing in the hall, wringing his cap in his hands.

‘What is it, Jolliffe?’

‘He wants to speak to Mr Trenchard,’ the butler said in aggrieved tones. ‘I told him you were all about to go in to dinner…’

‘And lucky you are to have a dinner to go to,’ the man said, stung to anger. ‘You don’t think I wanted to come here, do you? It won’t serve me well when they hear of it.’

‘Who?’ asked Bella.

‘The Eastmere men, miss. They’re all over the place. They said they’d pull the barn down and wreck the house if Mr Trenchard don’t come and give them money.’

James had followed Bella into the hall. ‘What is it, man? Can I not leave you five minutes but you must come running after me?’

‘Mr Trenchard, sir, the men are rioting and they came to the farm. They want money. Fifty pounds they said on account of low wages and the price of bread.’

‘I wish I had fifty pounds to give them,’ James said morosely. ‘Tell them to go to the parish overseer—he is the one they should be applying to.’ Since the parish had adopted the Speenhamland system, the shortfall on wages had been paid by the poor rates, a far from ideal situation which meant that the farmers had no incentive to pay a realistic wage and their men were forced to go cap in hand to charity. They salvaged their pride by calling it an allowance which they should have as of right.

‘Sir, you must come, or they will burn the house down.’

‘Faith and Constance?’ he queried in alarm. ‘Where are they? Are they safe?’

‘Mrs Clarke is looking after them but she is afraid for her life…’

‘James, you must go at once,’ Bella said, appalled. Was this what the meeting in Ely had been about? The mob must have stopped talking in favour of action. But why pick on James? Where was Robert? Did he know about it? ‘I am sure the Earl will excuse you.’

‘Yes, I must.’ Then to his foreman, ‘I’ll ride on. Follow as fast as you can, I might need you.’ He was halfway to the door when he stopped and turned back to Bella. ‘Miss Huntley, I beg leave to return to settle the matter we were discussing.’

She nodded without answering, wondering if she could have done anything to stop the trouble with the labourers. Perhaps she should have warned James about them, but her mind had been too full of the coming meeting with her cousins to connect a crowd of men in Ely with her cousin and his farm. She returned to the drawing room to acquaint the Earl with what had happened. He seemed not to be concerned for James’s safety. To him it was inconceivable that a handful of unruly labourers could not be controlled.

‘Can’t think what the justices are playing at,’ he said. ‘I knew this would happen when they gave in to the mob in Suffolk last year. Now they are all at it. They should send for the militia to round them up—a spell in prison would soon bring them to a proper sense of their place.’

‘Grandfather, they are starving and driven beyond endurance,’ Bella said.

‘What is that to the point? A few discontented labourers will not make me change my mind.’ The Earl was more concerned with his own little drama than the greater one being played out in the villages and fields of East Anglia. ‘And you would do well to consider your own position. You can assume you have had one offer, at least.’

James, she knew, was desperately pinched in the pocket in spite of his grandfather’s small annuity, and if the mob destroyed his barn, it might well ruin him. She felt sorry for him, but she could not marry him. She could not. ‘My lord, please, do not make me take James.’

‘I am not going to make you, child. I should be unhappy if you had been too quick to say yes. He is not the only one.’

She was mystified. He knew whom he wanted to offer for her and yet he would not say. She looked at the other two men. Edward looked furious and Louis was smiling mockingly. What were they thinking?

Before anyone could give utterance to their thoughts, Jolliffe appeared again. ‘My Lord, Cook asks if you wish to keep dinner back.’

‘Oh, no,’ Bella said. ‘It will spoil if we do. Grandpapa, please, let us postpone this discussion.’

‘Very well. We cannot continue until James returns. Tell Cook we are going to the dining room now. And send Sylvester to tell the Comtesse.’ He allowed Edward to help him to his feet and then escorted Bella out of the room, across the vast hall to the formal dining room. It was a very big room and struck them as cold as they entered it. Bella shivered. She had wanted to dine in one of the smaller rooms, but her grandfather had overruled her. ‘I am going to show those upstarts how an earl entertains,’ he had said. ‘One of them will have to become used to it.’

The Comtesse joined them as they seated themselves at the long refectory table, with the Earl at its head and Bella at the opposite end. Elizabeth took her place on his lordship’s left. ‘This place is as cold as a tomb,’ she said, looking at the dismal fire. ‘And just about as cheerful.’

‘I am sorry, my lady,’ Bella said. ‘We do not often use this room and it is the first fire we have lit in here this year. I fear the chimney needs sweeping. I will see to it first thing tomorrow.’

‘Uncle, you need a proper housekeeper,’ Elizabeth said. ‘Isabella is far too young for such a responsibility.’

‘I think Bella does very well,’ Edward said. ‘I do not doubt that his lordship allowed her no time to prepare for such an unexpected influx of visitors.’

‘That would account for the state of my room,’ Elizabeth said, watching as Daisy, in a new dress and apron and shaking with nerves, brought in the first course with the help of a temporary footman from the village. ‘It is thick with dust and the fire is so feeble it is no better than a peasant’s.’

Bella did not think the Comtesse had any idea of what a peasant’s fire was like, or that the poor man would not think of lighting one in a bedroom.

‘Your own fault,’ the Earl put in. ‘We do not keep rooms ready against unexpected guests. It would be a criminal waste in these hard times. I suggest you change apartments with your son, whose rooms were prepared.’

‘Of course, Mama,’ Louis said, anxious not to quarrel with his great uncle. ‘I’ll have my things moved out as soon as we have finished our meal.’

Slightly mollified, Elizabeth turned to Bella. ‘Where is Miss Battersby? I would have expected her to have come forward to make me welcome if you were too busy, attending to everyone else’s needs.’

‘She is visiting her sick sister in Downham Market. I expect her back at any time,’ Bella explained.

Elizabeth was shocked. ‘My lord, surely you are not keeping a young unmarried girl here without companion or chaperone? There will be the most prodigious scandal if it gets abroad.’

‘Fustian!’ he said. ‘I am her grandfather and this is her home. Always will be…’

‘As to that, I am sure Louis is not such a pinchpenny as to deny her a home when he comes into his own, but it will hardly be proper for her to stay here while he is unmarried.’

‘You presume too much, madam,’ the Earl said, favouring her with a glacial look.

‘Oh, Mama,’ Louis put in. ‘His lordship is determined on Miss Huntley bringing forth an heir before he dies.’

‘What is that to the point?’

The Earl sighed. ‘Tell her, Louis.’

‘His lordship is determined on marrying her to one of us,’ Louis told his mother, his usually pale complexion suffused with colour. ‘It is to be a condition of inheriting.’

‘You mean he is trying to force you to marry Isabella?’ She looked at the girl as she spoke and her expression told clearly what she thought of that idea.

‘Or Edward. Or James. Or Robert,’ he said morosely. ‘Her child will take precedence.’

‘He can’t do it,’ she said. ‘She is a female and the estate is entailed.’

‘Would you like to put it to the test?’ his lordship said.

‘I own Edward might think he had a claim,’ Elizabeth conceded, ‘though he would be in error, but the other two…’ It was past belief and her voice rose as she appealed to her uncle. ‘I cannot conceive that you would ever consider them. One is a clodhopper and the other a scapegrace.’

‘I said Bella may have her choice and I shall hold to that,’ he said. ‘James has already indicated his intention to offer for her.’

‘You will never let her go to the muckraker? My goodness, you must be touched in the attic even to think it. James Trenchard in this house!’ She laughed loudly, though her laughter was a little forced. ‘Can you imagine it? He would keep pigs in the drawing room and chickens in the hall. I should hope Isabella has more sense than to consider such an offer. And as for you, Edward, you are already engaged to Miss Charlotte Mellish.’

‘Not precisely,’ he said laconically.

‘How so, not precisely? Either you are or you are not, and I have it on good authority it wants but the announcement in The Gazette. You will be the worst kind of rakeshame if you renege on it and deserve to be cut dead.’

‘For your information, ma’am, I have not yet made a formal offer and may be rejected.’

‘Oh, so you mean to make yourself so disagreeable to Miss Mellish that she will have no hesitation but to end the affair. Very clever.’ She turned to Bella. ‘You would be making a fatal mistake if you were to take him on those terms, my dear…’

‘I have not said I will have any of them,’ Bella said in an anguished voice. ‘I cannot think that all this quarrelling and argument can result in happiness for any of us. Grandfather, please, tell everyone you have been hoaxing them.’

‘I shall tell them no such thing.’ He turned to the footman who had brought in the second remove and signalled him to serve it. ‘Now let us finish our meal in peace.’

The Comtesse opened her mouth to speak again but changed her mind and began eating her fish course with studied concentration. Bella knew she would have more to say as soon as the meal was over and she dreaded it.

She looked up and saw Edward smiling at her. She was not sure whether he was laughing at her or sympathising with her. Did he really mean to turn his back on Miss Mellish and make her an offer for the sake of the inheritance? What would it be like, being married to him under those conditions, knowing she was second best? It would hardly be propitious for a happy marriage. And would he be faithful to her? How long before he neglected her and sought the arms of Charlotte?

The interminable meal dragged on, as course after course was placed before them, picked at and taken away. The ladies remained silent, but Louis became increasingly foxed on his lordship’s wine and even Edward seemed to have lost some of his haughtiness by the time they reached the fruit course. They seemed to have forgotten, or were ignoring, the reason they were there and spoke of every subject under the sun except the one uppermost in their thoughts. It was like a cat and mouse game. Bella was counting the minutes to her escape when Jolliffe came to tell his lordship that Captain Huntley had arrived.

‘Then he may go hungry,’ his lordship said. ‘We have nearly finished. Put him in the drawing room to wait for us there.’

‘My lord, he is…’ Jolliffe paused. ‘He is somewhat dishevelled. I believe he has met with an accident.’

Bella gasped and even Elizabeth looked startled. Edward put down his cutlery and rose. ‘Is he hurt? Where is he?’

Robert himself appeared in the doorway behind Jolliffe. His beautiful cloth coat was torn and muddied, his cravat askew and he had lost his hat. What was worse, he had a bad cut over one eye which was encrusted with dried blood and a great purple bruise below it. He bowed to Elizabeth at the same time as he managed a quirky smile for Bella, who would have rushed forward to help him if the look he gave her had not halted her in her tracks. It warned her to be silent and not invite her grandfather’s close questioning. ‘A thousand apologies, ladies. I will take my leave until I am more presentable. Excuse me, my lord.’ To Edward he said, ‘Help me to my room, Teddy. Need a bath.’ He limped out of the room on the arm of his brother.

‘Well!’ Elizabeth exclaimed. ‘Been brawling like a prize-fighter and dares to show his face in the dining room. What is the world coming to? No manners any more, no respect. Is it any wonder the lower classes defy their betters when they have no good example to live by.’

‘I am sure Robert has not been brawling,’ Bella said, wondering just what had happened. ‘No doubt he will enlighten us when he is feeling more the thing.’

‘Then let us retire to the drawing room, you and I,’ the Comtesse went on. ‘We shall have a comfortable coze, while his lordship and Louis talk business.’ And with that she took Bella’s arm in a very firm grip, curtsied to the Earl without relaxing it and almost dragged the girl to the drawing room.

‘Now,’ she said when they were seated and the teatray had been brought in, ‘tell me what has brought on this curious humour in my uncle. Have you noticed him behaving strangely lately? Not quite himself, eh?’

‘He has been perfectly at ease with himself, except for his gout. It troubles him a great deal but he will not take the doctor’s advice and refrain from drinking. He says gout has nothing to do with the claret and burgundy he consumes, but is caused by the wet weather we have been having. And he may be right. It has been the wettest spring anyone can remember and many of the fields are inundated, which does not make the labourers’ plight any easier. Farmers like James are in sad straits themselves and cannot pay their men who have to apply to the parish…’

‘Are you being purposely obtuse, Isabella? I care not a fig for the farmers, so long as they pay their rents on time. I am talking about this insane notion to marry you off for a legacy. I do believe old Hanson has put the old man up to it.’

Mr George Hanson was the Earl’s legal man. ‘Why should he do that?’

‘To try and disinherit Louis. He has never looked on my son with any favour. He sees him as a Frenchman and therefore to be viewed with suspicion, which is very hard on my poor boy who has spent almost his entire life in England and renounced his lands in France.’

‘Renounced them?’ Bella queried, dragging her mind from what was happening upstairs to pay attention. ‘I thought they had been taken from him by the Revolutionaries.’

‘They were, but there are moves afoot to restore them. They will be ruined and worthless by now, of course, and I do not wish to go back.’ She shuddered. ‘And if we are not careful the contagion will spread and we shall have revolution here, on our doorstep.’

‘Oh, no, surely not?’

‘I saw evidence on our journey here—ricks burned, barns pulled down and posters pinned to empty shops. “Bread or blood,” they say. It is how it started in France. We need steadfast people like Louis at the helm to prevent it. That is why it is so important his legacy should not be put up to auction.’

Bella would not have described Louis as steadfast, but she let that go. She smiled crookedly. ‘Is the notion of your son being married to me so distasteful, my lady?’

‘Oh, you are a pleasant enough chit but, tell me, what have you to recommend you to a man of the world like Louis? Tucked away in the country, the companion of an old man who has forgotten what it is like to be in Society, how can you possibly know how to go on? Louis needs someone from the ton, someone with presence, not a timid little mouse. The court is full of beautiful women and Colette has the ear of the Regent, who will advise us.’

It was not only the Regent’s ear Elizabeth’s daughter had, Bella thought irreverently. By all accounts she had been possessed of other parts of his anatomy on occasion. And Louis must be a poor apology for a man to allow his mother and sister to choose his bride for him. ‘I would not dream of coming between Louis and his aspirations at court,’ she said.

‘Good. Then we are agreed. You will refute this strange idea of the Earl’s and not choose any of them. I can promise you, on Louis’s behalf, that you will not be let starve.’

Bella supposed she was meant to be grateful for that, but before she could find a suitable reply his lordship and Louis had come into the room and she was obliged to busy herself, pouring tea for them. It was only when no one spoke that she realised both men looked furious. Louis was decidedly pink about the ears and the Earl’s face was almost purple. Bella was afraid he was going to have a fit of apoplexy.

‘Grandpapa, I do believe you have overtaxed yourself,’ she said. ‘Should you not go and lie down for a while?’

‘I will go when I am ready. Where are Edward and Robert?’

‘They have not come down again.’

He rang the bell furiously and sent the footman scurrying upstairs to summon the two young men. When they appeared, Robert had bathed and changed his clothes and was wearing a green frockcoat, pale brown pantaloons and tasselled Hessians, with a fresh shirt and a new cravat, though there was no disguising the injury to his face.

‘Well, what have you to say for yourself?’ his lordship asked when the young man had made his apologies for his earlier appearance.

‘I was on my way here when I was set upon by a mob,’ he said, seating himself and taking a cup of tea from Bella, who found her hand shaking so much the cup rattled in the saucer. ‘They were the equal of any bloodthirsty French soldiers I met on the battlefield. And I had no weapon, not that a gun would have availed me, there were too many of them. They pulled me from my horse and demanded my money.’

‘Where was this?’ Bella asked.

He turned to look at her, surveying her slowly, taking in the homely grey dress and heightened colour and deciding that her obvious effort to appear unattractive had had the opposite effect. She was lovely. ‘At the crossroads between here and Eastmere. They were marching and filling the whole road. I could not avoid them.’

‘I should hope you did not give in to them,’ Elizabeth said.

‘I would not be sitting here if I had not, but I did not submit without a protest, which is why one hothead dealt me a blow with the club he carried.’

‘Rabble,’ the Comtesse said. ‘Call out the militia. Hang the lot of them or we shall end up with our heads in a basket, just as it happened in France.’

‘Oh, I do not think so,’ Robert said mildly. ‘The cases are very different. These are simple men driven to excess. When I expressed my sympathy with them, they took the money I proffered and bade me proceed very civilly. They did not take other valuables, or my luggage, which is a blessing or I would have had nothing to wear but what I stood up in.’

‘Did you see Mr Trenchard?’ Bella asked.

‘No, should I have?’

‘He was sent for to go home. His servant said the labourers were threatening to pull his barn down and wreck his house.’

‘No, I did not see him. But he is not the only one to suffer—the mob I saw had been on the rampage for some time, most of ’em pot valiant. It will take the militia to make them return to their homes.’

‘Oh, dear, I hope there will no blood shed,’ she said. ‘The poor have been sorely tried, what with the price of flour and bread rising so high and wages so low.’

‘Your sympathy does you credit, Bella,’ Edward said. ‘But it does not give them the right to take the law into their own hands. Destroying the property of those they depend on will not serve.’

‘Did you demand their names?’ the Earl asked Robert. ‘I can send for the constable to have them taken up and charged.’

‘No, I did not. It is unlikely they would have furnished them if I had.’ He put down his cup and stood up. ‘Now, if you will excuse me, I am devilish hungry and as Edward has been so obliging as to replace the contents of my purse, I will repair to the local hostelry and bespeak me a meal.’

‘Oh, dear, how thoughtless of me,’ Bella said. ‘Robert, please, be seated again and I will ask Cook to find something for you…’

‘No need, my dear, no need at all. I shall do very well at the tavern.’

‘But do you not wish to know why his lordship has called us all together?’ Louis asked.

‘Oh, as to that, Edward has acquainted me with the facts of the matter. I am sorry to say it, but I think the whole thing is a fudge and I wish I had saved myself the expense of the journey to hear it. I might still be in possession of my purse. And this…’ He pointed to his eye. ‘This might be its proper size and colour.’

Bella was delighted by his answer and found herself smiling. He swept her an elegant leg and then moved forward to take her hand and raise it to his lips. His brown eyes, looking into hers above the hand he held, were full of merriment. She was glad someone could find humour in the situation. ‘My apologies, dear Bella. I do not mean to disparage you, but you must see that any marriage based on coercion will not serve. Besides, however much I might wish to, I cannot enter a contest against my brother. He has a right, I do not.’

‘Right!’ Louis exploded furiously. ‘If anyone has a right—’

‘Oh, please, do not quarrel,’ Bella intervened. ‘I cannot bear it. Grandpapa, please say something…’

He simply smiled and rang for Sylvester to help him to his room. As soon as he had gone Elizabeth bade Louis follow her upstairs to see if the servants had obeyed their instructions to change their rooms and, no doubt, to talk about what they would do next, leaving Bella facing Edward and Robert. She looked from one to the other in despair.

‘I am so sorry,’ she said. ‘This is none of my doing. I cannot think what has got into Grandfather…’

‘Touched in the attic,’ Robert said. ‘Must be. Not fair on you, not fair at all. Edward thinks so, too, don’t you, Teddy?’

Thus appealed to, his brother agreed wholeheartedly. ‘If he is thinking of your future, as he says he is, then he could easily secure that with an annuity or a good dowry.’

‘But don’t you see?’ she cried. ‘My dowry is to be Westmere.’

‘I am not sure he can legally do it,’ Edward said.

‘Oh, how I wish Papa were still alive,’ she said. ‘There would be no argument and none of this would be happening.’

‘If it is any comfort, you have our support,’ Robert said. ‘I promise you neither of us will offer for you.’

It was all too much and she fled to her room, where she flung herself across the bed and sobbed. How could her grandfather be so cruel? How could Robert think it would give her comfort to know that he would not offer for her? He still saw her as the young cousin he had sometimes condescended to amuse as a child, the little girl he had taught to ride and fish when he had visited Westmere on his summer vacation from Cambridge. But as her grandfather had pointed out, she had gown up and was now at a marriageable age. Oh, how she wished Miss Battersby would come home. She needed her.

Ellen Battersby was a little dotty, given to romantic notions and great sighings over the novels she read, and would insist on using their characters as examples of how to behave or not to behave. Bella humoured her, which was more than the Earl did. He was often so outspoken as to be rude to her and consequently the poor woman avoided his presence as much as possible. Perhaps that was why she had stayed away so long. But Bella needed her.

If Miss Battersby could not come home, then she would go to her and seek her out. It was only a short ride to Downham Market, and if no other remedy for her troubles presented itself, then she would stay away, find a way to earn her own living. She rose and changed into her riding habit. She did not want to meet any others of the household for they would surely want to know where she was going, so she carried her boots in her hand and crept along the upper gallery towards the back stairs.

It was gloomy and smelled damp in this unused part of the house, and she shivered a little, as if the ghosts of previous Huntleys were following her progress. She was glad when she found the small door at the back of the oldest part of the building and slipped out into the fresh air.

Bella stopped to put on her boots, gathered up her skirts in her hand and sped to the stables. The stable boys were all busy elsewhere and the head groom was, no doubt, sleeping off his dinner in the room above. She spoke quietly to Misty to stop her snickering while she saddled her, then she led the mare out and, mounting from the block by the stable door, rode down the drive and out onto the road, where she turned towards Downham Market.

Absorbed by her own problems she had not given a thought to the riots or whether she might be riding into danger, but it became apparent the minute she entered the small hamlet of Eastmere, which was on the road to Downham Market. A crowd of angry men and women were marching down the street, carrying pitchforks and clubs. Two of them held a banner. ‘Bread or blood,’ it said in crude black letters.

She reined in and pulled Misty to one side to allow them to pass, but there were so many and they were so angry. They pushed and shoved and frightened the mare so much she snorted and pranced and was in danger of injuring those nearest to her. Her rider hauled hard on the reins but the horse, objecting to this unaccustomed harsh treatment, reared up so violently that Bella was thrown down among the trampling feet.

The first person she saw when she opened her eyes was Robert. He was kneeling beside her and she had her head in his lap. ‘Thank the good Lord,’ he said. ‘I thought you were done for…’

‘Misty threw me…’

‘I know, it was lucky I saw it happen, though I could hardly believe my eyes. After what happened this morning, how could you be such a ninny as to ride out alone?’

‘I am not a ninny.’ Her hat had fallen off and her hair had come down. She was acutely conscious of the picture she must present and struggled to sit up but, overcome by dizziness, she collapsed back into his arms.

He looked down at her, torn between scolding her and comforting her. ‘Are you hurt? Any bones broken?’

It was strange how warm and comforting his arms were and how safe she felt, even though the tumult still raged about them and they were in grave danger of being trampled underfoot. ‘No, I do not think so. My head aches.’

Robert put his hand gently behind her head. ‘I am not surprised. There is a bump the size of an egg here and it’s bleeding.’ He looked about him, wondering how to get her safely away. The furious fenmen were out of control and he did not think it would serve to appeal to their better nature, especially if they recognised him. The encounter he had had with them earlier that day had been enough to convince him they meant business.

There was an inn across the road which had only minutes before been swarming with rioters but, having drunk it dry, they had now moved on. It was hardly the place to take a delicately nurtured young lady, but there was no help for it. He scrambled to his feet and retrieved her hat, which he put it into her hands, before stooping and picking her up in his arms as easily as if she were a child. Kicking the door of the inn open, he carried her inside and sat her on a settle, seating himself beside her. ‘Better rest here until the furore has died down.’

It was a dingy, low-ceilinged room, its paintwork blackened by smoke and with an all-pervading smell of stale beer, which caught in her nostrils and made her choke. No one came to serve them, which was not at all surprising, but a young lad of eleven or twelve stood in the doorway of the back room, staring at them with curiosity. ‘Sixpence if you catch the grey horse and bring it here,’ Robert said. ‘And another for bringing the black stallion you will find tethered in the yard of The King’s Head.’ The boy disappeared with alacrity.

‘He might bring the rioters back with him,’ Bella murmured.

‘No, they are too intent on what they are doing.’ He left her and returned with a glass of water. Sitting beside her, he helped her drink it. Then he took the glass away and fetched a bowl of water. ‘I couldn’t find a clean cloth,’ he said, taking a linen handkerchief from his coat pocket and dipping it in the bowl. ‘Let me see how bad that injury is.’

Robert’s fingers were very gentle as he washed the blood from her hair and the back of her head. ‘It’s not as severe as I first thought,’ he said, moving his hand from the back of her head and stroking her cheek with his forefinger. ‘My poor Bella, you are as pale as a ghost.’

She tried not to think of what his gentle touch was doing to her, making her go hot and cold all over. Or was it the shock of being thrown from her horse? How fortunate it was that he had been on hand or she would have been trampled to death. ‘I am only a little shaken,’ she said. ‘I shall be right as ninepence by and by, thank you.’

‘My pleasure.’ He was smiling, which made the purple swelling below his eye more pronounced. She wondered if it hurt him as much as her head hurt her. She supposed it did, though he gave no indication of it.

‘Robert, what are you doing here?’

‘Looking after you.’

‘No, I do not mean that. I meant in Eastmere.’

‘I came to see if I could be of any use to James. They were talking about him in The King’s Head where I had my dinner. It seems they think he is the most likely to hand over money without putting up too much resistance on account of his children.’

‘Do you think he is in danger?’

‘Hard to tell, but he would be well advised to give them what they want.’

‘Or they will give him a taste of what they gave you.’

He smiled ruefully, touching his bruised cheek. ‘Something like that.’

‘Did it happen in Ely, after I left?’

‘Ely, Eastmere, what’s the difference?’ he said enigmatically. It would not help the situation if she felt she ought to be grateful to him. Gratitude was not what he wanted. ‘The whole countryside is in ferment.’

‘You don’t think the Comtesse is right, do you? About revolution, I mean.’

‘No, I do not. But as soon as I have seen you safely home, I will go and see James. I might be able to help.’

‘I am not going home.’

‘No? Where were you going?’

‘I was on my way to Downham Market to find Miss Battersby.’

‘Old Batters? Why?’

‘I need her advice.’

‘Oh, I see.’ He knew what she meant and questioned whether the elderly servant would offer wise counsel, but he did not say so. He grinned impishly. ‘Riding into a riot and being knocked senseless was preferable to choosing a husband, is that it?’

‘It is no laughing matter.’

‘The riot or choosing a husband?’

‘Both.’ Bella paused, wishing she did not feel so dizzy. ‘I don’t know what to do about it. Grandfather is not at all well, and if I defy him he might have a seizure. I am very fond of him…’

‘Of course you are, my dear, but he has been excessively unkind to you. While other young ladies of your age are being taken to Town for a Season, going to balls and soirées and picnics, you are stuck in the country with an old skinflint who thinks more of preserving his lands and estate than the sensibilities of his granddaughter.’

‘He is not a skinflint,’ she said, staunchly defending the Earl. ‘It is just that he is getting old and plagued by gout, which makes him crotchety. And he is worried about what will become of me when…’ She could not bring herself to end the sentence.

‘Loyal as always, my dear. I would not blame you if you damned the lot of us.’

‘It is not your fault.’

‘No, nor Edward’s either. Fond of old Teddy, aren’t you?’

She looked up at him, startled by his tone. ‘Yes, of course, but I am fond of you, too…’

‘Nice of you to say so,’ Robert said laconically as the sounds of rioting faded. It was now uncannily quiet and he assumed the men had moved on. Soon it would be safe to leave and he would have to take Bella home. It would be the end of their delightful tête-à-tête. ‘But I am persuaded there is a difference. He is the rightful heir and I do believe his lordship is being perverse just to amuse himself.’

‘I do not find it amusing.’

‘No, of course you don’t. But stands to reason that he expects you to choose Edward. There is no alternative.’

‘Edward is engaged.’

‘No, he has not yet offered.’

‘You do not mean he would repudiate it? Oh, Robert, I cannot believe that of him—he is an honourable man.’

‘A title and great wealth are powerful arguments. I am glad I do not have to make the choice.’

She said nothing for a minute while she thought about what he had said, which only served to convince him he had been right—it was only Edward’s previous attachment which was holding her back. ‘You should think of yourself sometimes, you know,’ he went on. ‘Why don’t you ask his lordship to give you a Season in Town, see you launched properly? You might meet someone else more to your liking. Someone eligible.’

‘Oh, that would be wonderful. But how could I go? There is no one to bring me out.’

‘Mama would do it,’ he said. ‘She is taking a house in Town for the Season.’

‘Grandfather would not let me go. He will not let me go anywhere until I have said which one of you I will marry.’

‘Then we are at a stand.’

Her head was clearing rapidly and she was suddenly possessed of an idea which was so audacious and yet so simple that she wondered why she had not thought of it before. ‘There is something you could do for me,’ she said slowly.

‘Anything, my dear Bella. Anything in my power.’

‘If Grandfather could be convinced I had made my choice, he would drop the subject.’

‘Naturally he would.’

‘Then, please, offer for me.’

‘Me?’ He could not believe his ears.

‘Oh, do not look so shocked. I do not mean it to be a real engagement, but if we could only pretend…’

He was puzzled and intrigued, too. ‘And what purpose would that serve?’

‘What I need is time and it would give me that and…and a little freedom to be myself for a few weeks. If we told his lordship we had come to an understanding, he would agree to let me pay a visit to your mama, wouldn’t he? If Cousin Henrietta would be so kind as to invite me. I truly cannot think properly while I am at Westmere. Being away might help.’

‘Bella, I do believe that knock on your head has addled your brains. Have you thought about how you will bring it to an end, even if I should agree? I’m not the sort to make and break engagements, you know. It’s just not the done thing. The whole ton will cut me dead as soon as it is known. I will not be received in any respectable hostess’s drawing room. And Lord Westmere will be furious, not to mention Edward.’

‘Why should he mind?’

‘Bella, think about it. He knows he should be the heir and we both agreed we would not play his lordship’s game.’

‘Please, Robert. We do not need to make a public announcement of our engagement, then your pride will not be hurt when it comes to an end.’

‘Then what is the point of it?’

‘To satisfy Grandfather.’

‘To gull him, you mean.’

‘There is no one else I can ask. James would certainly not take me to London. He wants a housekeeper and mother for his girls, nothing more. And if I went to London on the arm of Louis…’

‘Yes, I see your point,’ he said, smiling a little. ‘Be taken for one of his ladybirds, I shouldn’t wonder. Not the thing, not the thing at all.’

‘Then you will do it?’

‘Bella you are a dear girl but…’ He paused. The temptation to gamble with his own happiness was there, but he could not take it. He was sure the Earl meant Bella to marry Edward and that was only right and proper. Edward could give her so much more than he could and ensure that she remained at her beloved Westmere. It was simply the Earl’s way of bringing the two together. He would not consider Miss Mellish an obstacle. ‘Do you think you can ride now?’

She felt immeasurably saddened. For one brief moment she thought she had seen a way out, but he was right—it was a hare-brained scheme. ‘Yes, I think so.’

‘I will go and see if that boy has brought our horses.’ He took his arm from about her shoulders and left her to her muddled thoughts. And they were muddled. How could she have made such an outrageous suggestion? It had put Robert in an invidious position, and after he had been so kind to her, too. He was right, of course, it would not answer. But why could she not let it go? Why did she long to get away, to have a little enjoyment?

She stood up and wandered round the room. At the window she stopped and looked out. The street was quiet; there was no one in sight except Robert and the boy, who was leading Misty and the black stallion towards the inn. Robert was lucky it had not been stolen, she thought as she watched him give the boy a coin and take the horses from him. She went to the door as he approached. She was suddenly aware of how tall and muscular he was, how ruggedly handsome with his tanned face and laughing brown eyes. It unnerved her.

‘Is the riot over?’ she asked.

‘The boy says they’re all in the market-place, listening to the magistrates, but if they don’t get what they want they’ll be up in arms again, you can be sure. The sooner you are on your way home the better.’

‘But Miss Battersby and James…’

‘I will go and see how they are after I have seen you safely back at Westmere,’ he said, helping her to mount.

‘Thank you, Robert, but I do not need an escort,’ she said more sharply than she intended, though she was more angry with herself than with him. How could she have been so forward as to ask him to offer for her? It was enough to give him a complete aversion to her. ‘It is more important for you to find out what has happened. Fetch Ellen home. Bring her sister, too, if she wishes to come.’

‘Nevertheless, I insist. There is no knowing what you will meet up with on the way.’

‘Fustian! I have been riding these roads all my life.’

But it was only a token protest and they rode side by side in silence until they reached the outskirts of Westmere village. Here, the northernmost wall of the estate ran alongside the road. ‘I am almost home now, Captain,’ she said, stopping at a small gate. ‘I can take a short cut through the wood. Thank you for your timely rescue.’

It was a definite dismissal and Robert thought about arguing but changed his mind. Bella was an excellent rider and he was confident that she would come to no harm on Huntley land. Besides, he did not fancy going back to the leaden atmosphere of Westmere Hall and her silent reproaches because he had not seen fit to accede to her wishes. Secret engagement, indeed!

He dismounted and opened the gate for her to ride through. She smiled and bowed slightly from the waist as she passed him. He had no hat to remove but, instead, doffed an imaginary one, making her laugh. He watched until she was out of sight among the trees, then shut the gate and remounted. He did not think Ellen Battersby would leave her sister, but he would try to persuade her for Bella’s sake. And there was James, who might need his help. Suddenly, with the prospect of a little action, he felt more cheerful than he had done since he had left the battlefield at Waterloo.