Frederica

‘Well,’ said his lordship, succumbing to the promptings of his particular devil, ‘he thought I was the best of my family.’

‘Oh, did he?’ snapped Lady Buxted. ‘No doubt! It is precisely what he would think, for a more rackety, ramshackle, care-for-nobody I hope I may never see! I remember him! A handsome ne’er-do-well! What he must have cost his parents I shudder to think! And, to crown all, when they had contrived to arrange an advantageous marriage for him, what must he do but run off with the daughter of some paltry provincial! They washed their hands of him, and I don’t wonder at it. Not that I was ever acquainted with them, but it was one of the on-dits of the town. I believe he came into the property later, and I don’t doubt he gamed that away too. As for leaving his family to your guardianship, it’s of a piece with the rest! I strongly advise you to repudiate them!’

‘Nothing would give me greater pleasure, but I can’t, in honour, do that,’ he answered smoothly. ‘I owed him a debt, you see, which I never found the opportunity to repay.’

‘You owed Merriville money? Fiddle! He never had sixpence to bless himself with, while as for you –’

He interposed, and in accents of distaste. ‘You should have married a merchant, Louisa. I feel sure he would have admired you: I do not! Do you never think of anything but money? Is it quite beyond your power to understand that there are more important obligations than monetary ones?’

Her eyes shifted under the contempt in his, but she said angrily: ‘Yes, it’s all very well for you to talk in that imposing style, as rich as you are! If you stood in my shoes, you would sing a different tune!’

‘Don’t pitch that gammon to me!’ he said. ‘You forget that I was one of Buxted’s executors! He left you very well to pass, my dear sister. No, don’t fly into one of your pelters! Really, I didn’t come to break a straw with you! Indeed, I’m willing – if you lend me your aid in the matter of the Merrivilles – to grease the wheels of Jane’s come-out for you. I imagine you mean to present her at one of the Drawing-rooms?’

These beautiful words checked Lady Buxted on the brink of giving free expression to her wrath. They could only mean that Alverstoke was prepared to defray the shocking expense of a Court dress for his niece. If he gave at all, he would give handsomely; and her ladyship, doing some rapid calculations in her head, realised that the cost of such a Court dress as she had herself worn at her presentation could be made to cover the additional expense of several crape and muslin dresses, suitable for a maiden to wear at Almack’s, in her first season. This reflection, though it did not slay her resentment, made it possible for her to swallow the unwise words hovering on her tongue, and to say, with mere pettishness: ‘I can’t conceive what Merriville can have done to put you in his debt!’

‘That, Louisa, is something I prefer not to divulge,’ said the Marquis. Mindful of his instructions, and with a demon of mischief lurking in his eyes, he added: ‘Particularly not to my sisters!’

She was not perceptive, but it was perhaps fortunate that she was not looking at him. All she said was: ‘I collect he helped you out of some disgraceful scrape. So now you feel obliged to further his children’s interests! It must be the first time in your life you have recognised any obligation! To be sure, one might have supposed that there were others, nearer to you, and with greater claims upon you, who would have excited your benevolence – How many children did you say he had?’

‘Five. Three sons and two daughters – orphans, residing at the moment in Upper Wimpole Street, in the care of their aunt, who, I understand, assumed this charge upon the death of Merriville’s wife, some ten years ago. The eldest son is of age, and at Oxford; but it is his sister who – unless I very much mistake the matter! – rules the roast! I think she is some four-and-twenty years of age, and –’

‘Means to hang on to your sleeve! I wish you joy of your obligation! Do you mean to support all the family?’

‘I don’t mean to support any of the family, nor have I been asked to do so. You can’t imagine, Louisa, how refreshing I find this! With the boys I have nothing to do. All that Miss Merriville requires of me is that I should render what assistance I can to introduce her, and her sister, to the ton.’

She was eyeing him narrowly. ‘Indeed! No doubt Miss Merriville is very beautiful? But I need not ask!’

‘Quite a well-looking young woman, but I should hardly describe her as beautiful,’ he replied indifferently. ‘That don’t signify: she’s not on the catch for a husband. Her ambition is to achieve a respectable marriage for her sister, who is the prettier of the two. Whether she can contrive to do it I think doubtful, her fortune being small, but that’s not my concern: my debt will have been discharged when I – with your assistance – have launched the pair of them into society.’

‘Pray, what do you expect me to do?’ she demanded.

‘Oh, nothing very arduous! You will introduce them at my ball, as our cousins, escort them to Almack’s, when you take Jane there, and –’

‘Almack’s, indeed!’ she exclaimed. ‘I wonder that you should not have warned your protégée that she is aiming at the moon! Or do you mean to procure cards for her, perhaps?’

This piece of heavy sarcasm glanced off his armour. ‘No, I couldn’t. But you can, Louisa, with two bosom-bows amongst the patronesses – as you have so frequently informed me!’

‘Procure cards for Fred Merriville’s daughters? You are asking a great deal too much of me! A couple of penniless girls, living in Upper Wimpole

Street, who are not our cousins! I think it the outside of enough that you should include them in a ball to mark Jane’s come-out, and as for taking them to Almack’s – No, Vernon! I don’t wish to be disobliging, but –’

‘My dear Louisa, say no more!’ he interrupted, picking up his hat. ‘I wouldn’t, for the world, ask you to do anything you dislike! Forget the whole affair – in fact, forget that I came to see you today! I’ll take my leave of you now.’

She started up, temper and alarm fighting for supremacy in her. ‘Wait, Alverstoke!’

‘No, I’ve stayed too long already. Think of your daughters, left to kick their heels in the carriage!’

‘That doesn’t signify! But you must –’

‘Well, it doesn’t signify to me, I must confess. What does signify is the waste of my own time. I really can’t be expected to spend the whole day on this tiresome business, so, if I want to see Lucretia before she retires to her sofa, to recruit her strength after the morning’s exertions, I must go immediately.’

She caught his arm, digging her fingers into it. ‘No! Vernon, if you dare to appoint That Woman as your hostess – !’

‘Unhand me, sister!’ he said flippantly. ‘I do dare, and such is my amazing mettle that your threats have no power to daunt me. By the way, why should they?’

‘I would never forgive you! Never!’ she declared. ‘Only consider for a moment! What concern of mine are these wretched girls? Why should –’

‘No concern at all,’ he replied, removing her clutch from his arm.