Джорджетт Хейер - A Civil Contract

“I won’t breathe a word to a soul,” promised Adam. “Alderman Chawleigh! I must say, I like it!”

“You think it sounds well, my lord?” asked Mr Chawleigh anxiously.

“Very well! I can fancy myself saying my father-in-law, the alderman, too. We shall be all odious pretension — and quite insufferable when you become Lord Mayor!”

Mr Chawleigh was so much delighted by this sally that he was still chuckling when Adam took leave of him.

It was four o’clock when Adam reached Fenton’s again, and, in his valet’s opinion, much too late to set out on his journey. “For we shan’t be at Fontley before two or three in the morning, my lord, not travelling by night, and everyone will be abed and asleep!”

“Yes, but if I put off the start until tomorrow my guests will have left before my arrival, and I shall never be forgiven,” argued Adam. “But if they know that I travelled all night to make my apologies in person they will look on me with much more kindness — I hope! Good God! They won’t have heard the news! Oh, that quite settles it! I shall be instantly absolved! And, in any event, I want to go home!”

It was a little before nine o’clock on the following morning when Jenny called Come-in! to a knock on her door. She was seated at her dressing-table, while Martha Pinhoe set the final pins in her smooth braids, and it was in the looking-glass that she met her errant husband’s guilty but laughing eyes. Her own twinkled in spite of herself, but she said severely, as she turned in her chair to face him: “Well! A pretty way to use me, my lord!”

“I know, I know!” he said penitently, coming across the room to kiss her. “But even if I’d remembered what the date was, which I own I didn’t, I couldn’t have come! Have you heard the news?”

She put up a hand to clasp his shoulder for a moment. “I should think everyone in the house has heard it by now. When did you arrive?”

“Just before three. I drove into the yard so that I shouldn’t rouse you all. My dear, I do beg your pardon! Infamous of me to have abandoned you! Did you desire Lambert to take my place?”

“He wasn’t here,” she replied. “Or Charlotte, or your mama!”

“Oh, good God!” he exclaimed, aghast. “You don’t mean to say that Charlotte is confined already?”

“That’s just what I do mean to say. And not a word of warning to me — not that I blame her for that, because she was in the very act of stepping into the carriage when she felt her pains begin. Lambert sent over one of the grooms directly, of course, but there we all were, sitting in the Long Drawing-room, and expecting every minute to see the Membury Place party walk in. And the end of it was poor Lydia hadn’t one member of her own family at her engagement party!”

“Except you!”

That’s different. Well, it was a sad disappointment to her, but she behaved beautifully — except for saying, right in front of everyone, that it would have been worse if Charlotte had had the baby in the middle of the party! Did you ever? We must send over to find out how Charlotte does. Why did Papa wish you to go to town, Adam?”

He glanced over his shoulder, to be sure that Martha had left the room. “He wanted me to sell my Consols. There was something of a panic in the City, you see. He and Wimmering were in the deuce of a pucker!”

Her eyes searched his face. “I’d a notion it might be that. I’ll be bound you didn’t sell, however, not feeling as you did!”

“No.” He laughed suddenly. “Though I didn’t feel very confident on Tuesday! Jenny, I have such a piece of news for you! It was as much as I could do not to wake you up when I came in, to tell you! I bought stock, and I think we shall find ourselves richer by twenty thousand, or near it! Now am I forgiven?”

“Good gracious!” she ejaculated. “Oh, my goodness, no wonder I thought you looked as if you was in high croak!” They were interrupted by an impetuous footstep on the corridor, and by the entrance of Lydia, hard upon a perfunctory knock. “May I come in? Oh, so my dear brother is here, is he? How delightful! And how very obliging of you to have come in time to say goodbye to your guests, dearest Lynton!”

“Now, I won’t have him scolded!” interposed Jenny. “Didn’t I tell you he wouldn’t have failed if he hadn’t had good reason to? Well, he’s been making his fortune on ’Change, love!”

“Making his fortune? Adam, you’re cutting a wheedle!”

“I’m not, but don’t cry it from the housetops! And where did you learn that excessively vulgar expression?”

“From Brough,” she replied, making a face at him. “Well, I’m very glad, even though I can’t help detesting you! Oh, Adam, it was the shabbiest party! You can have no notion! I don’t mean that the Adversanes are not the greatest dears, but to have only them, and the Rockhills — ! And to make it worse Julia behaved in the most odious manner!”

“She had the headache, love.”

“Having the headache is no excuse for saying you have a premonition of disaster at a betrothal-party!” retorted Lydia. “Particularly when she must have known Brough’s brother was engaged in the war, and the Adversanes dreadfully anxious, though they never spoke of it! And for my part I don’t believe she had the headache at all! People who have the headache don’t sit down at the pianoforte and play dreary tunes.”

“It does seem to have been a dismal party!” said Adam. “Indeed, I’m very sorry, but do you think my presence would have enlivened it? And I wasn’t responsible for the absence of the others!”

“No, but — Oh, well, I dare say it doesn’t signify, and at all events Brough and I laughed ourselves into stitches over it! Jenny, shall you object to it if I go away with Lady Adversane? The thing is that Lord Adversane and Brough mean to post up to London immediately, to see if they can come by any news of Vernon at the Horse Guards, but they don’t care to leave poor Lady Adversane alone at such a time, so of course I asked her if I might go with her to bear her company, and she said she would be very glad to have me, but only if you could spare me — which I told her I knew you would.”

“Yes, to be sure I will,” Jenny answered, getting up. “Is Lady Adversane down already? Adam, we must go downstairs at once! Oh, dear, as if it wasn’t bad enough that you weren’t here yesterday without me not being in the breakfast-parlour before the visitors!”

“Well, she isn’t down yet,” said Lydia. “She soon will be, however, because she was very nearly dressed when I went to her room. And Julia is having tea and toast in bed, which I’m heartily glad of. The gentlemen are in the parlour, but they are reading the newspapers Adam brought from London, so you needn’t trouble your head about them. I’ll go and tell Anna to pack up my clothes.”

She hurried away. Jenny, snatching up the handkerchief kid out on the dressing-table, and thrusting it into her reticule, said: “Well, I only hope her ladyship don’t think this the most ramshackle house she ever was in! We’ve to breakfast early because she was wishful to be at home by noon, you know. Where are my keys? Oh, never mind! For goodness’ sake, my lord, go down to the parlour!”

The gentlemen were still eagerly reading the London journals when Adam joined them. He made his apologies, but was assured he had no need to make them. “My dear Lynton, it would have been rather too much to have expected you to leave London before the result of this battle was published!” Adversane said. “We are very much obliged to you for having posted down to bring us the news so quickly. A great victory, is it not?” He smiled understandingly, and added: “You have been wishing yourself with the Regiment. We have searched for mention of it in the despatch, but the Duke merely commends Major-General Adam, amongst the other generals. You knew that the 52nd was a part of his Brigade, of course?”

“Yes, sir, I knew that, but very little more, I’m afraid. We were certainly not engaged on the 16th or the 17th. What part we played, or any of Clinton’s Division, at Waterloo I can’t discover — though I have a feeling that Hill’s Corps was not in the thick of the fighting. The centre was held by the 1st Corps, the Prince of Orange’s: I don’t think there can be any doubt of that.”

“Enlighten our ignorance!” Rockhill said. “Mine, I blush to confess, is profound. Why is there no doubt?”

“Well, didn’t you notice that the names that are mentioned in the despatch all belong to the 1st Corps? I don’t mean, the list of commendations, but in the Duke’s account of the action? And I can’t but think it significant that amongst the list of generals who were killed or wounded there’s not one from Hill’s Corps. Old Picton killed; Orange, Cooke, Alten, Halkett all wounded! That tells its own tale: they were standing the shock, not Hill’s people.”

Lord Adversane began to look rather more hopeful. The ladies came in, and in the general exchange of greetings, and comment on the news, Brough seized the opportunity to draw Adam a little aside, and to say, in his lazy way: “Very soothing, dear boy: I’m obliged to you. Did you mean it?”

“Yes, I promise you I did.”

“Pretty heavy, our losses, ain’t they? Ever known so many generals to be hit? Looks bad to me.”

“Of course it’s bad! Douro calls our losses immense, and if he uses such language as that — ” Adam broke off. “Well, we shall see when the lists are published!”

Brough nodded. “Just so! All well with you, Dev?”

“More than well. I’ve been repairing my fortune: I’ll tell you about it later.”