A Gentleman of Means (12 page)

During times such as this, Claire could find it in her heart to be grateful for her mother’s training in the social graces. She had hated every moment of it when she had lived under Lady St. Ives’s critical eye, but now, as
Athena
descended gracefully to her moorage at the Carrick Airfield on the south bank of the Thames, she clung to it as she clung to her own principles. How else was she to face Andrew for the last time without breaking down?

“There’s Snouts!” Tigg waved as the ground crew jogged out to the mooring mast, and the lanky, foreshortened figure gave an answering wave. “Seven, cut engines, and Eight, vanes full vertical, please. How did they know we were coming? I expected we’d have to tie off our own ropes.”

“I sent a pigeon last night, silly.” For Snouts had above all to be informed about the change in her marriage plans, so that neither he nor Lewis or any of the other children would let slip a remark in public that would increase her pain or that of Andrew. “He is most anxious to see you.”

“And I him.” His attention on the landing, Tigg said almost offhandedly, “Could be Lewis can put out the word about our Gloria and see what turns up at the Gaius Club, and I can do the same among the aeronauts’ haunts in town.”

“An excellent plan. Since we have hardly any information to begin with, even a hint to a possible direction would be helpful.”

“And speaking of direction … here we are.”

Athena
shivered as her ropes were secured, and in a moment Claire and Tigg were surrounded by a joyful crowd as Snouts, Lewis, and several of the Carrick House orphans stormed the gangway to welcome them home. In the joy of their reunion, it would have been easy to allow Andrew to slip away as he disembarked from
Swan
, but when had Claire ever allowed any of the children to choose what was easy over what was right? She could do nothing herself but what she required of them.

And so, as he shouldered his rucksack after making arrangements at Toll Cottage to have himself and his trunk delivered to Orpington Close, she laid a hand on his arm as he was about to board the ramshackle landau in which they conveyed passengers into town.

“Claire,” he said, his eyes in shadow under the goggles he had already pulled on. “I trust you had a good journey?”

“I did. Will you come to Carrick House for dinner? Alice, Jake, and Ian have all accepted, and our party would not be complete without you.”

My life will not be complete without you. Oh, Andrew—

“I think not. I have been gone so long that I will likely have to spend the evening battling the rat population for my bed. Best to get that over with sooner rather than later.”

“Gaseous capsaicin is very effective in such cases.”

Oh, why are we talking about rats, of all things?

“I still have your recipe. Well … good-bye, Claire. I expect I shall see you at a meeting of the Royal Society of Engineers one of these evenings.”

“Perhaps,” she said faintly.
To shake your hand and politely discuss the latest developments in steam-driven automata? I think not.
“Good-bye. I will let you know when we locate Gloria.”

He muttered something about perdition, and then without another word, climbed into the landau and commanded the driver to be off.

Claire was still standing there watching the plume of steam dissipate on the breeze when Tigg came to stand at her shoulder. “All right, Lady?”

“No, dearest. I do not think it will be all right ever again.”

“Chin up. Mr. Malvern loves you. He’ll come round.”

“Dear Tigg.” She touched his face, the tears so close to the surface that her lips trembled. “I hope you will never have to experience this.”

He shook his head, and offered her his arm, clad in khaki since any flying time meant he was on duty. “I’ve known Liz most of her life. I know her faults, and she knows mine. I know we won’t pass through life without a quarrel, but all the same, I can’t imagine living without her.”

Neither could she imagine a life without Andrew. But she supposed she would have to bring herself to do so. Even the thought of not loving him was so painful that her heart contracted with it. How did one bring oneself to set out on the road to such a state on purpose?

“Lady—I know this might not be the right time—but—” He stopped their leisurely amble toward
Athena
, his face flushing. “Never mind. Of course it isn’t.”

“If there is something on your mind, then you must tell me. We have a minute yet before we must join the others.”

“It’s terrible to ask this when you and Mr. Andrew—forgive me—”

“Tigg.” She stopped, the skirts of her raiding rig swinging against her ankles. “Spit it out, as Snouts would say.”

“Very well. Do you think that the day after she matriculates is too soon to ask Lizzie to marry me?”

The surprise of it nearly caused a huff of laughter. Hastily, she schooled her face to the solemnity appropriate to the occasion. “I think that you will know the right moment when it comes. But certainly you are wise to wait until after she has finished this stage of her education. But Tigg … if she writes the entrance examinations, she may choose to go on to university. What of your plans then?”

“I’ve already thought of that. At the end of four years I’ll almost certainly have a first engineer’s bars, and will be able to afford a home for her. In any case, we will have to wait until then, and she has already told me she is willing.”

“Then it sounds as though my advice is hardly necessary.”

“It will always be necessary, Lady. I wouldn’t think of taking any step of which you didn’t approve.”

“You already have my blessing, darling. Lizzie will be seventeen in March, and quite able to make up her own mind about her future. If you marry when she is twenty-one, then all will be as it should.”

Snouts had already unloaded her landau from
Athena
, and was beckoning for them to hurry.

“Thank you, Lady. I’ll go fire up the old girl, shall I? And Alice and the captain can ride with you. I’ll go with Snouts to make sure he doesn’t overturn and do in all the kids. He hasn’t been piloting as long as we have.”

Smiling, she watched him lope away.

Still smiling, she saw her friends loaded into the landau along with as much luggage as could be tucked in, and headed off along the familiar roads to their home in Wilton Crescent.

And under the smile, her heart cracked, her life as formless and directionless as the steam left behind after Andrew’s departure.

*

The children under Claire’s care had proven time and again to be a balm to her spirits, and tonight’s homecoming was no exception. Charlie had gone to extra effort with the orange cake, knowing it was her favorite, even somehow managing to write
Welcome Back Lady Claire
in wavering letters of drizzled honey on the top. Kitty, who at the age of eight had come to them when her seamstress mother had drowned, had proven to be skilled in that art. She gave Claire a handkerchief whose stitching, in Claire’s opinion, rivaled anything a professional modiste could have done. Benny Stringfellow lorded his employment as a middy over Robbie and Dickie, who, at only ten, were feeling cast down in any case at not having a gift ready for the Lady’s unexpected return.

“But you have gathered eggs for my breakfast, for which I am every bit as grateful,” she said, gathering them close for a hug, and pretending not to notice their subsequent stealthy departure for the walking coop to collect the eggs from Holly and Ivy and the other hens before anyone else did.

When the little ones went upstairs to bed, chivvied thither by Alice, who could not resist the novelty of seeing them bathed and tucked in for the night, Claire went to the sideboard and poured sherry for those who remained.

“Thank you all for making this such a lovely homecoming,” she said, offering the tray of tiny glasses to Ian, Jake, Tigg, Snouts, and Lewis. When Alice came in a moment later, flushed and smiling, Claire was not the only one to notice that it was Ian who made certain she had a glass from the tray.

“Thank you for offering us a kip for the night,” Captain Hollys said. “My, this vintage is excellent.”

“That would be Lewis’s doing,” she said with a smile at that individual, who flushed with pleasure. “He has developed quite an acquaintance among the merchants who supply the Gaius Club, I understand.”

The captain toasted him and turned his attention back to Claire. “So you are resolved on finding Gloria, then?”

She nodded, and set her glass aside. “I am. Tigg has already told me that he and Snouts will put the word out among their wide acquaintance—”

“Meaning they’ll tip the street sparrows and flashmen, then?” Jake translated with a laugh. “If the Famiglia Rosa are in London, they won’t have been able to keep a low profile. A proud, saucy lot, they are, and inclined to be above their company.”

“Just so,” Claire agreed. “Lewis, I depend upon you to keep an ear open at the club. One never knows what gems may drop from inebriated lips.”

“Of course, Lady,” he said. “Though I’ve heard no whispers lately of Miss Meriwether-Astor. Mostly it’s been betting on the sex of Princess Alexandra’s next baby, and whether young Lord Mount-Batting will lose again at the balloon races.”

“Is there any way we might see that he does?” Claire asked, whimsically.

Lewis gazed at her, one eyebrow raised. “Of course, Lady, if you wish it.”

When she realized he was quite serious, she shook her head. “No, no. I was merely joking. Please do not, or I shall have yet more upon my conscience.”

A little silence fell, until Ian said, “Claire, I have been thinking. We know so little—only where Gloria has been, not where she is going. Even that young scamp at the Barnacle in Gibraltar could only say she had been there, and was subsequently recaptured. I suppose I am relieved that we did not have to scan every valley between Munich and the Rock, but all levity aside, how do you propose to find her?”

With relief, Claire turned to wrestle with a problem she might actually have a hope of solving. “We know one or two things, other than that she is certainly in the hands of Captain Barnaby Hayes once again. And that they cannot mean to return
Neptune’s Fancy
to Mr. Meriwether-Astor without risking being put to the rack to tell him where she is. Therefore, it seems that they will have to come ashore somewhere—likely along the Cornish or Devonshire coasts. And if they do, they will be seen.”

“That seems a vague proposition, with too many variables,” Alice said. “We’d do better to start with a known factor. What do we know of this Captain Hayes?”

“A good question,” Snouts said. “What are his habits? His weaknesses? What does he value and where is his home?”

They looked at one another. “You are quite right. These are questions that I suppose we must answer,” Claire said slowly.

“I can assist there,” Captain Hollys said. “If he is English, and a captain in the colonial fleet—undersea or not—then there will be a record of him at the Admiralty. He
is
English, is he not?”

“He is,” Claire confirmed. “An Englishman serving in the colonial fleet. I wonder how he came to be there?”

“I only hope he is a gentleman, and treating her well,” Alice said. “I can’t bear to think of her going hungry, or being cold wherever they’re holding her.”

“I shall make it my business to find out what I can of him.” Already there seemed to be more liveliness in Ian’s face. “If it is humanly possible to bring Gloria home to her friends, then we will do it.”

As the light came into his face, it faded from Alice’s, and she looked away, ostensibly to pick up her glass. Claire moved to fill it, with a smile. “So we may have your company for a few days longer, then?” she asked. “You will not fly to Hollys Park before Sunday?” It was Thursday. Surely they would see at least a few straws to indicate which way the wind blew by then.

“If there is anything to be found at the Admiralty, I will have it by tea-time tomorrow,” Ian assured her.

“While you are doing that, perhaps Alice and I might make some calls in town,” Claire suggested, thinking aloud. “My former schoolmates have not proven as useful as I had hoped, so I will widen my net. I wonder if Peony Churchill is in London? We could call in Chelsea.”

“You don’t need me for that,” Alice said. “I would rather go with Ian to the Admiralty.”

Claire paused, rather taken aback. “You wouldn’t have to dress up,” she said at last. That was usually what kept Alice from many forms of social interaction. “These would merely be polite social calls.”

“It’s not that. I have an errand there, and now is as good a time as any to do it.”

“An errand?” Ian repeated. “At the Admiralty? What business could you have there?”

“As a mere colonial?”

“Alice, forgive me,” he said. “Of course I did not mean that. I only meant that—well, it seems strange, that is all.”

“It might seem strange to you,” she said with a lift of her chin, “but it’s my business. If I get the answers I’m looking for, I’ll share it with you all, but until then, it’s my nevermind and no one else’s.”

Goodness. She was in a fair way to becoming offended. What had upset her so suddenly that she was willing to pick a fight rather than allow anyone to see it? Claire nodded in encouragement. “You must do as you see fit, Alice, of course. I shall take Kitty with me as a kind of shield. Everyone will be so astonished at the sight of me with a child that I will be able to ask impertinent questions quite unmolested.”

Snouts had leaned forward as if to add something to this, when Mr. Stringfellow came in bearing a folded piece of paper. “Lieutenant Terwilliger, sir, a boy come from the airfield with this for you. Says it came to
Athena
.”

“For me?” He exchanged a glance with his captain. “Perhaps the Dunsmuirs are in a greater hurry for our services than we thought.”

“They are in the habit of sending a tube,” Ian pointed out. “Though since I informed them we were to leave Prussia,
Athena
would be the logical choice.”

Tigg unfolded the note and scanned it. His mouth dropped open and so much color faded from his face that he looked positively gray.