Louise Allen - Regency Pleasures and Sins Part 1

‘What do you mean—“tonight”?’ Her heart was beginning to thud. He could not mean …? No, surely not.

‘A legal marriage requires two things Miss Cunningham. A wedding ceremony and the consummation of the union.’

Katherine felt the blood draining out of her face and the room began to swim. She staggered and his hand was under her arm. She blinked, steadied herself and withdrew from him. ‘I must speak to my brother.’ Turning, Katherine stalked across the room and took Philip firmly by the arm. ‘Outside, please, and you too, Arthur. Excuse us, Mr Rawlings, Reverend.’

The corridor outside the office was deserted. Katherine turned on the two men, her voice shaking with outrage. ‘You did not tell me this wedding would have to be consummated! What are you thinking of? How can I possibly give myself to a man I do not know, a convicted criminal? Am I supposed to retire to his filthy cell for the night? Is that what you expect? Because if that is the case, let me tell you, you are far and away out!’

‘Katherine, please calm down.’ Arthur took her hand. Furiously Katherine swatted him away. ‘The moneylenders will have their spies in here. This is not an uncommon occurrence. If they can find grounds to contest the marriage and pursue their money, believe me they will.’

‘And they promised me he will have a bath and a shave first,’ Philip added, flinching at the look his sister sent him. ‘And a nice cell …’

‘A nice cell? And what does that consist of, pray?’ She had to keep her anger fuelled or otherwise she was going to give way under the wave of fear and embarrassment that threatened to swamp her. ‘House-trained rats and tasteful sackcloth hangings?’

‘No, it is a proper room, Katy, like a room in a good inn, I promise you. It has just been vacated by one of the better-off debtors.’

Katherine took a few hurried steps away from them until she could rest her forehead against a bookcase that stood in the corridor. Behind her she heard Arthur say, ‘Leave her for a moment.’

The tears welled up in her eyes and she blinked them back, but not before two escaped and ran down her cheeks. She scrubbed them away and tried to think. What was the alternative? To end up in this place herself with no prospect of release? Put like that, the choice seemed relatively simple.

She supposed a young lady should be prepared to die rather than surrender her virtue in such circumstances, but was it so very different from the young girls whose families married them off to men old enough to be their fathers, or to some dissolute rake for money or dynastic reasons? Like them, she would be married. And, for some reason she could not define, the condemned man in the other room made her feel ridiculously safe.

‘Very well.’ Do it now, an inner voice urged. Do it while you have the courage of your anger. Without looking at the two young men, she threw open the door into the office and went in to find herself in the middle of an argument between the prisoner and a very flustered chaplain.

‘The name on the licence is incorrect, I cannot proceed.’

‘That is my name.’

‘Your name is Jack or John Standon.’

‘That is what they call me.’ The prisoner reached out a hand, fetters clanking, and laid it on the Bible which the chaplain had placed on the desk. ‘I swear upon this book that what is written there is my true name.’

There was sincerity in his voice, which appeared to convince the clergyman almost as much as the oath had done. ‘Very well, we will begin. Let us go down to the chapel.’

The ceremony passed like a strange dream for Katherine, who was aware only of the hand holding hers as Philip stepped forward to give her away, the tall presence next to her and the sudden shock of hearing his real name.

‘Will you, Nicholas Francis Charles Lydgate, take Katherine Susanna Cunningham …’

‘I do.’ It sounded as though he meant it.

‘With this ring …’ the chaplain began, then paused, looking expectantly from one man to another. Philip and Arthur looked confused, then anxious. Katherine found her hand being released as the prisoner tugged the signet ring off his finger and handed it to the priest. It felt odd on her hand; warm from his, smooth and old from long wear. She glanced down, but the engraving was worn and unreadable. The fruit of some robbery?

Then her mind was jerked back to the present as he repeated, ‘With my body I thee worship …’ She shivered convulsively and the filthy fingers tightened around hers for a moment. Strangely reassured, she tried to force herself to concentrate on the rest of the ceremony; it was, after all, a sacrament and she should be suitably attentive.

The chaplain droned to the end and then began, apparently out of habit, ‘You may kiss the—’ He broke off at a warning cough from the Assistant Governor. Beside her the prisoner—her husband, for goodness’ sake!—made a small noise that might have been a chuckle. Katherine found her hand lifted and her knuckles were brushed by his lips. The heavy beard obscuring most of his face felt strange on the soft skin on the back of her hand.

Before she could say anything, thank the clergyman even, Philip’s hand was under her arm and she was swept towards the door. She heard Mr Rawlings say, ‘At about eight this evening, then, Mr Cunningham?’ and Philip’s muttered acknowledgement before she was out of the chapel.

‘That went off very well, I think,’ Philip announced when they were once again sitting in the old family coach and it began to move off up the Old Bailey.

Katherine simply gave him a long look and he subsided into sulky silence. What has he got to sulk about? she thought. If he had said one word that showed he understood how devastating this is for me, it would help. At least Arthur seems to feel it as he ought.

She gazed out of the coach window at St Giles’s church. The journey home was taking longer than it might, for they only had the single pair of horses, which somehow her scrimping and saving allowed them to retain. Still, it was a useful punctuation in this unreal day. Time, perhaps, for some practical planning. Anything was better than dwelling on what she had just committed herself to.

The Assistant Governor had promised them a decent room. Well, she would take her own bed linen and candles. And he had promised that Mr Standon—no, Mr Lydgate—could have a bath and a shave. Not that that would do much good if he had to put those revolting clothes back on again. Now, where could she get some the right size? Philip and Arthur were striplings by comparison. Of course, John was the answer.

John Morgan their coachman turned general factotum was up on the box now, an impressive broad-shouldered figure in his old caped coat and cocked hat. He would be able to spare one outfit that would fit the highwayman, surely. He would have to go straight back to the prison as soon as she had packed a parcel.

Katherine fished in her reticule and found her tablets and a pencil. Clothes, soap, shaving tackle —Philip could sacrifice some of his— candles. She would take the bed linen and some food with her when she returned at eight o’clock. Should she take Jenny with her? She watched the maidservant covertly as she sat silent in one corner of the coach. No, better go in with John; Jenny had been horrified by what she had seen already, there was no point in making her spend a night in that place, always assuming there was somewhere suitable for her to wait the time out.