Stephanie Barron - Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor

“Countess,” he said, his voice as tight and cutting as a bowstring, “I would speak with you in private.”

Isobel's mouth had hardened, and her words, when they came, fell with the heaviness of stone. “You can have nothing to say to me tonight, Lord Harold, that cannot better wait until morning. A ball is hardly the hour for business.”

“And tomorrow, no doubt, will be no better once it dawns,” he replied evenly, and smiled. “I will not wait forever, my lady. “

“You will wait as long as I please.” Isobel's eyes never left his face. “Remember, my lord , that you wait upon my pleasure.” Two bright spots burned in her cheeks, but her pallor was extreme, and I feared she might faint in another moment.

It was Lord Payne, the Earl's nephew, who put a stop to the high pitch of nerves, by appearing like a shadow at Trowbridge's shoulder. The two are equal in height, though Lord Payne has the better of Trowbridge in gravity; his courtesy was perhaps the more offensive for being exquisite.

“Lord Harold,” Lord Payne said, bowing low, “we are fortunate indeed in your company this evening. But I fear I must tear you from the gentler influence of the ladies at the behest of my uncle. He requests that you join him in his study; and in this, as in all things, I do his bidding.”

A few sentences only, but conveyed in such a tone that it served the moment. Lord Harold gave Lord Payne a single look, bowed low to Isobel and me, and was gone as silently as he had appeared.

“Impertinent devil!” Isobel cried, clutching at Lord Payne's hand, “he will hound me to the ends of the earth!”

“I would that I could rid you of his presence entirely,” said Lord Payne, “rather than for so brief a space as he is likely to grant us.” He retained the Countess's hand an instant, gazing at her with an expression of care and worry, and then recovered himself. “I fear you are unwell, Isobel. I shall inform my uncle that you are briefly indisposed, and have sought your rooms.”

More than the surprising adoption of her Christian name, his tender look, when it rested upon his uncle's wife, brought me to my senses. That he was mastered by a feeling unwonted even in so near a relation, I could not doubt; and I recollected Tom Hearst's banter earlier that evening. He had declared Isobel to be chief among Fitzroy Payne's acquaintance; and what the Lieutenant would intimate I now understood all too well — the Earl's silent nephew, so inscrutable in his reserve, was better revealed by strong feeling; Lord Payne knew what it was to love.

“Pray speak to Frederick on my behalf, Fitzroy,” Isobel said faintly, turning away from us both, “but say that I retire only for a little. I would not have Trowbridge believe he has me in his grasp.” As if remembering my presence for the first time since Lord Harold had withdrawn, she looked at me then, and managed a smile; and so she left us.

I must set down something of my sense of Fitzroy, Viscount Payne, for I find him the very type to serve as a character in one of my novels [9] It is possible that Austen eventually turned Fitzroy, Viscount Payne into her most famous male character, Fitzwilliam Darcy, although strong evidence is lacking. First Impressions , in which Darcy is the main male character, was written in 1796, and rejected for publication in 1797. Later retitled Pride and Prejudice , it was revised substantially in late 1802 or early 1803, following Austen's visit to Scargrave, and again before publication in 1812. — Editor's note. . He is a tall, well-made fellow, strikingly handsome, with slate-coloured eyes set above sharply-moulded cheekbones. It is his hair that astonishes in one but twenty-six, for it is gone completely grey in a fashion not unbecoming to his grave countenance. All the charm of his person must be weighed, however, against his manner — for Fitzroy Payne is possessed of that reserve that some might mistake for aloofness and pride. That he has a right to be proud, possessed as he is of his father's considerable estates, and being as well the man likely to succeed the Earl in his title and riches, was everywhere acknowledged among the intimates of the Scargrave ballroom; but Lord Payne's haughty silences were no more admired for having a just complacency as their cause. Though many wished to win him, I found myself hard-pressed to find any among the assemblage who truly liked him; and so enjoyed my time in his company all the more. To be marked out by the singular is a caprice of mine; I would rather spend an hour among the notorious than two minutes with the dull.

“I must thank you, sir,” I said, “for relieving me in a desperate moment. I confess I was unequal to Lord Harold in Isobel's defence, lacking full knowledge of the particulars at issue.”

“You suffer no dishonour by being unequal to Lord Harold,” Fitzroy Payne said. His eyes swept over my head, searching, I fancied, for dark red hair above a daring green gown; but Isobel had quitted the ballroom.

After a pause, and some observation of the dance, which had just then commenced, I assayed another attempt.

“I suppose Lord Scargrave wished Lord Harold present, the better to converse with him in his library — for certainly Isobel was much surprised at the gentleman's arrival.”

“Did she have full knowledge of Trowbridge's descent upon this house hours before he effected it, she should still be made as ill,” Lord Payne said, with some bitterness.

“You share the Countess's dislike,” I observed.

To this sally I received no answer but a knitting of the brows and a heightened gravity.

“Perhaps we shall summon Lieutenant Hearst and have him challenge Lord Harold to a duel,” I suggested, in an effort at lightness. “The Lieutenant shall exercise his honour, and be of service to a lady — two pursuits in which I understand he excels.”

A chill smile, but again no word.

“I detect a similarity in the turn of our minds, Viscount Payne,” I persisted, in some exasperation. “We are both of a taciturn, ungenerous nature, and would rather be silent until we may say what is certain to astonish all the world.”

For this I won the barest moment of liveliness in his grey eyes, and the gift of an answer.

“From a better acquaintance with my own foolishness, Miss Austen, I must be silent; but of you I can readily believe a delight in astonishing.”

“There!” I cried. “My opinion is proved. You cannot even insult without phrasing it well.”

“I meant rather to praise than insult, and so my words could hardly fall ill.” He turned his dark eyes upon me with a penetrating look. “The desire to astonish may be considered a vice only when it lacks the wit to achieve its aim — but with wit, Miss Austen, you are clearly most blessed. And now, I fear, I must desert you for the office with which I am charged — that of informing my uncle of my aunt's indisposition.”

He bowed; I nodded; and a gentleman assailing me for a dance at that moment, I left Fitzroy Payne to find his way amidst the boisterous throng. But during the course of the evening I was made more sensible of Lord Payne's attractions. My subsequent partners were to prove less able in conversation, and less provocative even in their silences, than the Viscount had proved with a single sentence.

IT WAS AFTER A PARTICULARLY TEDIOUS EXCHANGE WITH such an one, that I bethought me of refreshment, and parting with my dubious suitor in some relief, betook myself along the gallery that led from the ballroom to the smallish parlour, where the supper was arrayed. The last of the dances being just then struck up, I found myself blessedly alone in my progress towards the wine punch. I had barely passed the first of the closed doorways lining the hall, when I was halted in my steps by the fierce eruption of argument near at hand. I turned and espied the entrance to the Earl's library, whence Lord Harold had disappeared but an hour before. From behind its closed door emanated the voices of two men, raised in strenuous argument. Lord Scargrave and Trowbridge? It could not be otherwise. I may perhaps be forgiven a woman's curiosity when I admit that, finding myself quite alone for the moment, I lingered along my way.