Annie Burrows - Courtship In The Regency Ballroom

‘Yes, Jye, but I didn’t invite them.’ Her eyes came to rest on the malicious smirk on Lionel’s face. Of course. He had known she would come straight here given the chance. He had dropped veiled hints from the first that he could make trouble if she did not play along with him. She had resisted him. So now she would pay.

‘Those ladies are my cousins,’ she explained to Jye and Lena. ‘Miss Julia Gregory, and Miss Phoebe Gregory. The gentlemen, Lord Jasper Challinor, Marquis of Lensborough, on the bay gelding, and his friend Mr Stephen Farrar are guests at The Holme. I am sure they mean you no harm.’

‘You have left Mr Snelgrove out,’Julia cried. ‘It was he who brought us here. He said he had a surprise for us, but I never expected it would be anything like this. This is the surprise, Mr Snelgrove?’she half-turned in her saddle to ask him. ‘This quaint little gypsy camp?’

Hester did not bother to wait for his reply. Lena had been tugging at her skirts to get her attention, and as she bent, the little girl whispered, ‘Is that the marquis you told us about? The one wot knocked you into a ditch and left you standing there in the road all muddy?’

‘Yes, dear,’ Hester confessed, ashamed now that she had spoken so heatedly about him that day, less than a week ago. But she had still been angry with him, and she had needed to explain to Jye, and the other gypsy elders, why she had come to them empty-handed. She couldn’t have borne it if they had refused her access to Lena.

‘But he didn’t mean to do it, you know. You don’t need to be afraid of him.’

‘I ain’t afraid,’ Lena declared, glowering at the offending horseman. Lady Hetty held one of her hands, and Jye the other, and she had complete confidence that these two could shield her from the wickedest of marquises.

One of the women sashayed across to where the girls sat their docile mounts, and held her hand out, palm upward.

‘Tell your fortunes, pretty ladies?’ she wheedled.

‘Oh, how thrilling,’ Julia trilled. ‘That is why you brought us down here, isn’t it, Mr Snelgrove? To have our palms read by a genuine gypsy fortune teller. How clever of you to think of such a diversion when we confessed how dull we all felt today.’

Phoebe cleared her throat nervously. ‘Do you think we ought, Julia? I am not quite sure Papa would like it. Lord Lensborough, what do you think?’

Lord Lensborough could not repeat out loud what he was thinking while Julia and Phoebe, in their innocence, could hear. There stood the woman he had thought he would marry, holding the hand of a little girl with a riot of dull copper curls that exactly matched hers, a sharp little nose spattered with freckles just like hers, while the expression of wary defiance matched that of the sullen, dirty gypsy who held her other hand. His lips curled into a derisive sneer. What a charming family tableau.

This resolved so many of the mysteries surrounding her behaviour. The guilt he had read on her face when he had encountered her in the stable yard, her resentment at his suggestion he ride with her and those flowers she had about her hat, that he had thought so girlishly whimsical—why, they were nothing more than a fanciful token from a penniless lover to his high-born mistress.

That was why her uncle had her horse removed and stabled with a neighbour, to prevent her from succumbing to the temptation of sneaking down here to meet with her gypsy lover and her illegitimate child.

‘I think,’ he finally managed to growl through clenched teeth, ‘that you should do just as you wish.’

How would the deceitful hussy brazen her way out of this situation? Did she think she could look to him for aid now? Let her think again!

‘Then I am going to have my fortune told,’ Julia declared. ‘After all, Hester is already here, so I am sure Papa can have no objection. Why should we not go where she does?’

Jye turned to Hester and gave her a look that his lordship could only interpret as a reaction to their guilty affair having been found out. And Hester’s face, as she gazed back at him, was deathly pale.

For all she cared, he might as well not be there—all her attention was on this other man, this dirty ruffian. This…this nobody!

He became dimly aware, through the darkness that seemed to be swirling round him, blotting out everything but the sight of the two guilty lovers, that Snelgrove was leaning over to take hold of Julia’s reins so that the silly chit could dismount.

‘Come close to the fire, then, pretty lady,’ the gypsy woman said, ‘and I will see what is writ in your hand.’

Julia giggled. ‘Oh, this is so exciting. I had no idea you got up to such larks under the pretext of visiting Em. Have you had your fortune told already?’

‘No.’ Hester darted forward. ‘Nor do I ever wish to.’

‘Why not?’ Julia’s brow wrinkled with perplexity.

‘If something good is going to happen to me, I would rather it came as a lovely surprise. And if something bad is to befall me, I would not want to live in permanent dread of its advent.’

Emily chose this moment to emerge from Jye’s caravan with the remnants of their ragged pupils and hurry to Hester’s side.

‘I must side with Lady Hester on this matter, Julia,’ she said sharply. ‘It would be the height of folly to do such a thing without your father’s permission. Does he even know you are here?’

‘Well, of course not. We did not even know there were gypsies camping on The Lady’s Acres until Mr Snelgrove brought us, so how could we have told him?’

‘I thought as much.’ Emily rounded on Mr Snelgrove. ‘Why must you always be so intent on stirring up mischief, Lionel? Don’t pretend you don’t know how Sir Thomas would feel if he were to learn you had brought his girls down here, never mind encouraging them to have their fortunes told.’

‘There is absolutely no need for him to know,’ Lionel retorted. ‘We can guard Hester’s little secret as well as you.’

Jye clenched his fists and took an involuntary step towards the sneering horseman. Swiftly, Hester reached out and grabbed at his arm. ‘Don’t, Jye,’ she cried. ‘You will only make it worse.’

Flinging herself in front of him, she rounded on Lionel. ‘You are very much mistaken if you think I have any secrets from Uncle Thomas. The first thing I shall do when I return home is to tell him exactly what has happened here today. And what passed between us last night.’

Lionel’s sneer turned to a furious scowl.

‘And if you—’ she whirled to face Julia ‘—have your fortune told I will tell him that also.’

‘There is nothing more despicable than a tale bearer,’ Lionel sneered.

‘N…no…’ Julia said, ‘Hester is right.’ Sadly she took one last look at the gypsy woman, before admitting, ‘I knew all along it was not quite the thing, and I know what Papa would say if Hester had to tell him.’ She added generously, ‘I quite see why she would feel she had to. Thank you, Hester.’

As Julia went back to her horse, the gypsy woman strode towards Hester, and with a ferocious glare, spat contemptuously on the ground at her feet.

‘Here.’ Stephen Farrar urged his mount forward a little, and tossed a handful of coins to the woman. ‘This should make up for losing the wages of your craft.’

‘Well, God bless you, sir.’The woman was all smiles again. ‘I would wish you luck, but you don’t need it. You have the desire of your heart within your grasp.’ Seeing his puzzled expression, she cackled, ‘At least, all you have to do is reach out, and you could touch it.’

Hester saw a tremor run through his entire frame just before he wheeled his horse towards the edge of the clearing, saying, ‘It’s frightfully cold out here, Lensborough. Don’t you think we ought to be getting the ladies home?’