Janet Aylmer - Julia and the Master of Morancourt

Freddie was as good as his word and came rushing in that evening to change, ready to take them to the Sadler’s Wells Theatre. During the journey across town in the Brandons’ carriage, he gossiped about life in the city, the many entertainments available for the visitor, and the places of interest that they were passing along the streets.

Mr. Grimaldi was the most expressive clown that Julia had ever seen. His face was painted with a coloured triangle on each cheek and that, along with all his facial contortions and athletic visual tricks, kept his audience on tenterhooks throughout his performance. To her surprise, he encouraged the audience to join in by shouting out, and Freddie did so, although Emily and Julia were content to watch the fun. Julia tried to store everything in her memory, so that she could tell Sophie and Harriet all about it when she got home.

On their journey back to the square, Julia took the opportunity to ask Freddie about Dominic’s account of what had occurred in Spain during the war.

“I don’t think that my brother is very proud of what happened,” he said.

“Why is that, exactly?” asked Julia.

“Well, as you know, Dominic and David were in the same regiment in Spain. My brother was with his men outside the fortress at Badajoz, waiting for the assault on the French to begin. His commanding officer knew that he had been in the area before, and asked him to be ready early the next morning to lead a group through very dangerous terrain towards breaches already made in the castle walls. That night, as usual, he had been drinking heavily with his friends. The following morning when he was roused from sleep by his servant, he was much too drunk to get out of his bed.”

“Oh,” said Julia, “how dreadful!”

“It is not so unusual,” said Freddie, “for officers to get drunk the night before a military advance, but not that drunk. Anyway, his commanding officer realised that somebody else would have to lead the assault. So he asked David to go instead, although he did not know the locality at all. But your brother agreed to go in Dominic’s place.”

Julia could just imagine David doing that; he would have been keen to get involved in the action as soon as possible.

“When your brother left the camp with his men and they began to make their way up a narrow gully towards the rear of the fortress, an enormous mine left by the French soldiers exploded. They were all killed instantly.”

Julia closed her eyes for a few moments—it was so easy to imagine, and so very painful.

“Dominic told me afterwards that, if he had led the patrol himself, he would have kept to the higher ground, because he knew that mining a gully was a favourite French tactic. But he had not been able to remind David about that because he was so drunk that morning.”

“So,” said Julia slowly, “Dominic feels guilty about my brother’s death because if he had not been drunk, he would have led the troops himself; or if he had told my brother about the French practice of laying mines, David would be alive today? Oh, now I see.”

“As you can imagine, his commanding officer was not at all happy about what had happened at Badajoz. It wasn’t the first time that Dominic’s behaviour had caused problems. When my brother returned to London, he decided that army life was not for him, and he bought himself out of his commission as soon as he could.”

He hesitated. “Emily, did you tell Julia about Dominic and Christina?”

She nodded. “I did, a little, but not everything.”

“Since he came back to town, I suspect that Dominic has been seeing the girl again regularly, without my parents’ knowledge. You probably know that they will not allow an engagement, but they can’t stop him from doing as he likes whilst he’s in London. And I guess that he is losing so much money at the gaming tables that he must be in dun territory, very short of money, but I can’t do anything about that.”

It is just as well, thought Julia, that Freddie and Emily are such good friends of mine, so that I know about all this. Otherwise, I could have been pushed by Mama into marriage with Dominic in ignorance of everything, and found myself in a very difficult situation for the rest of my life. Indeed, I still could. Mama believes that anyone with a title is a worthwhile catch as a husband, however unfaithful he would be.

In her bedroom that night, Julia thought about what she had learnt. It seemed to be very unlikely that the information about Dominic’s behaviour in Spain would be of any consolation to her mother, and nothing could bring David back. It might, she reflected, be in her own interest for her mother’s opinion of Dominic to be damaged, but she would have to keep that idea to herself as a last resort.

The following morning, the two young ladies went shopping at Wilding and Kent in New Bond Street for fabric to have made up into new gowns when they returned to Derbyshire.

“The Countess has told me to charge her account with a length of French silk for you as well,” said Emily.

Julia demurred, not only embarrassed at this unexpected generosity, but anxious not to do anything that might imply a closer connection with Dominic Brandon.

Her friend was not deceived. “Julia, the Countess is very generous, and would not want me to purchase for myself without getting something for you. Forget about Dominic, this has nothing to do with him.”

“Can you tell me, please, whether this is genuine French silk?” Emily asked the assistant.

“Of course, Madam, all our silk fabrics are French.”

Julia chose a length of pale blue, and it was not until they had taken their purchases and were on the way to the carriage that her friend continued, “What that girl didn’t say was that the silk must have been smuggled into the country, because of the blockade in the Channel.”

“Oh!” said Julia, horrified. “Should we have been buying something illegal?”

“Everybody else does, so why not us?” said Emily, quite unconcerned.

Freddie had a business appointment in the afternoon, but he had arranged for the carriage to take the two friends to Somerset House in the Strand, where the Royal Society’s annual exhibition of paintings was on display.

“There are said to be nearly a thousand pictures on the walls this year,” said Emily, “although with this throng of people we shall be lucky to see a tenth of them!”

Julia silently agreed, for the noise and hubbub were so great that she could hardly hear her friend speak. For people of quality, there was a great deal of pushing and shoving going on in the galleries, so that the busy road outside seemed quite peaceful when they finally emerged and found the carriage waiting for them in a side street.

To celebrate their last night in London, Freddie had been persuaded by Emily to take them to the famous Vauxhall Gardens. Julia had heard so much about these pleasure walks and entertainments. They both put on their best evening attire, Emily in pink and Julia in palest green. Freddie wore his full regimentals and looked very grand. It cost them a full two shillings to enter, which he kindly paid for each of them.

The gardens were alongside the river and were planted with beautiful trees arranged in lines. On the paths around the gardens was every kind of person— people of quality walking in groups, all dressed in the latest fashion, but also ladies whose raiment proclaimed them to be looking for more intimate attention from the many young single gentlemen roaming the paths, seeking an assignation for the night. Julia was glad that they had Freddie to escort them.

There were musical groups playing in each corner, illuminated fountains, fireworks, and magicians performing tricks to deceive the eye. Freddie said that the gardens attracted people from all levels of society, from English royalty to shop boys and their sweethearts. In between the musical events, people paraded along the walks in their finery.