Mary Brendan - Regency High Society Vol 1 - A Hasty Betrothal / A Scandalous Marriage / The Count's Charade / The Rake and the Rebel

‘May I bring you a drink?’ he forced himself to ask Lady Butler, his natural good manners once more to the fore. ‘I see Pinter hovering with a tray and our Cousin Charles is always so reluctant to push himself forward—unlike myself. Lemonade, perhaps?’

She shook her head ungraciously, unfurling her fan and fluttering it affectedly to and fro across her fleshy cheeks—looking for all the world like some giant puce porpoise floundering on a rock, he thought ungallantly as he made his way across the room.

Harriet and Ridgeway were seated together at the pianoforte, attempting to construct a duet, the former never having had a lesson in her life and the latter unable to recall many of his. That they were managing to produce anything resembling a tune was due partly to Harriet’s excellent ear and, mainly, to Judith’s hastily mouthed instructions to Ridgeway. Much laughter ensued and Sandford pessimistically predicted that his appearance would be certain to create a damper.

To his astonishment, however, Harriet leapt at once to her feet as he approached and, taking him by the hand, pulled him over to the instrument, begging Ridgeway to relinquish his seat.

‘—for I now have a much more proficient partner in Robert!’ she cried gaily, apparently oblivious to the look in his eyes as he sat down beside her. ‘Come now, dearest. Show how it is perfectly possible for two to devise a tune between them. I shall choose the chords and you must add all the terribly clever trills and runs that you are so good at! We have done this on many occasions so I know that it is not beyond your capabilities!’

Not quite out of his depth, for he was a competent pianist,

Sandford waited until she struck her first chord, a C major and, thinking swiftly, he tentatively executed a few notes of a popular tune, hoping that the expected G would follow. It came on the beat without hesitation and so, between the two of them, the little ditty was rendered almost perfectly, to the delight of the two spectators, who clapped most heartily at its conclusion.

‘Now that you see how it is done,’ Harriet said to Judith, ‘you and Charles should do far better than we did, for you both have the benefit of a musical education and you, I know, play beautifully.’

So Judith and Ridgeway took their places and their little piece was performed with more zest than skill, due to the laughter that accompanied its execution, but they jubilantly managed to finish at one and the same time, just as Finchley entered to announce that dinner was served.

Judith insisted that, as their number was odd, formalities would be dispensed with and that they must all go directly to the dining-room without further ado; she herself would accompany Lady Butler. Several of the leaves had been removed from the large mahogany table, which enabled the small group to disport themselves within comfortable speaking distance of one another, and still allowed for the prodigious number of side dishes to be positioned within reach.

Judith took the head of the table with the two men seated, one on each side of their hostess, at the top, Lady Butler to Ridgeway’s left and Harriet to the viscount’s right.

Harriet, true to her word, gave a dedicated impersonation of a loving bride-to-be in addition to keeping up her cheerful bonhomie. She was momentarily disconcerted, at various intervals throughout the splendid meal, to find Lady Butler’s disapproving eyes upon her. However, all through the soup, fish, meat and game courses she continued with her amusing repartee, occasioning Judith to upset her wine glass because

she was laughing so much, and her friend’s mother to tuttut even more vigorously at everyone’s unseemly behaviour! Ridgeway, alternately grinning at Harriet’s witticisms and smiling into Judith’s shining eyes, was happy simply to be at his goddess’s table.

Sandford, on the other hand, was in a perpetual state of nervous tension. One minute he was laughing along with the others and the next finding himself contemplating Lady Butler’s rigid disapproval of the merriment at the dinner table. Most of all, however, he was acutely conscious of Harriet’s vivacious and captivating nearness, her deliberate and pointed use of his given name and the constant flashing of her smile in his direction. For which dedicated attentions, he reflected gloomily, he would surely be paying dearly before the day ended so he decided he might as well make the most of them and set about entering into her pantomime with gusto.

At last the desserts were brought in. The lively exchanges had continued through a widely ranging number of light-hearted topics, everyone carefully avoiding the more contentious issues of corn prices, royal scandals and the like, any of which could be guaranteed to depress the spirits. The latest novels were touched upon briefly and, when local matters arose, Sandford, catching the flicker of concern in Harriet’s eyes, was quick to steer the conversation away from her woodland escapade, in spite of Lady Butler’s prurient curiosity in that event. Instead, he regaled them with the story of his own confrontation with Josh Potter when the old man heard that Bottom Meadow cottages were about to be pulled down.

‘Such ripe language as he used is not for repetition in mixed company, of course,’ he concluded teasingly. ‘But I feel sure that, could he but walk the distance, he would do his utmost to disrupt the entire proceedings.’

Ridgeway and Judith joined in his laughter, but Harriet’s face became suddenly serious and she stared at them reproachfully.

‘Oh, but I can readily sympathise with his feelings!’ she exclaimed.

‘That much is clear, for the whole village is agog with your kindness to him.’ Judith smiled fondly at her friend. ‘It was such a—well—a Harriet sort of thing to do!’

Harriet blushed and lowered her eyes as the two men grinned at Judith’s choice of words. Lady Butler, however, pricked up her ears.

‘What kindness was this?’ she asked, in saccharine tones. ‘Do tell me more.’

‘There is really nothing to tell, ma’am, disclaimed Harriet hurriedly. ‘I merely returned one of his damaged possessions to him. He—he was a little effusive in his gratitude, that is all. Please do not laugh. It is a dreadful thing to lose one’s home. I, myself, know this only too well!’

In the ensuing silence Sandford, his eyes full of compassion, reached out to clasp her hand and she made no attempt pull away from him.

Her ladyship studied her thoughtfully for a moment then, turning to the viscount, she reverted to the topic of the cottages.

‘You intend to replace them or merely to clear the site?’ she asked. ‘I was under the impression that the new ones in the upper meadow were already a replacement.’

Ridgeway answered for his clearly distracted cousin. ‘That was the idea originally, ma’am,’ he said. ‘But as more of our lads return from the continent, we are finding that accommodation is scarce, especially for youngsters wanting to get wed and set up their own homes. And you know that Beldale likes to take care of his people.’

‘I should have thought it would be difficult to justify such an expense at the moment—I hear that Beldale is threatening to cut back as it is!’

She sat back in her chair, satisfied that her words had hit their mark.

Sandford looked ill at ease and, raising accusing eyes to his sister-in-law’s, he encountered her shocked and guilty expression.

‘I didn’t say ‘'cut back'', Mama,’ she said, in some confusion. ‘I merely mentioned that Robert and Charles were devising some sort of consolidation for the estates—at least—’ she turned to Sandford ‘—that is what I inferred from our conversation?’