All for Love (18 page)

‘No.’ His face was set. ‘She began this. She must see it through.’

No use to stand there arguing. Juliet tapped on the closed door of her room. ‘Jo, let me in.’

‘And about time too.’ Josephine must have heard the carriage draw up. She flung open the door as if she had been waiting behind it, then paused, open-mouthed, at sight of Hyde. ‘You!’ And then, viciously, to Juliet, ‘Traitor.’

‘Calmly, my dear.’ Hyde ushered Juliet into the room and relocked the door behind her. ‘Let us not make more of a Roman holiday for the servants than need be.’

‘You mean they know? You’ve told them too?’ Josephine’s glittering gaze was all for Juliet. ‘And curried favour with them, as I well know. Gifts for the children! Sugar for the old! Don’t think I haven’t seen what you were trying to do. And as if that was not enough, now, I take it, you have told my husband God knows what kind of a lying tale. Well!’ she sat down in a flurry of taffeta, ‘so much for our bargain. You can work your passage home for all of me.’

‘Sit down.’ Hyde’s reassuring arm had sustained Juliet throughout this tirade. Now he placed her, firmly, in a chair across the room from her cousin and stood, himself, leaning against the chimney-piece, between them. ‘As for you,’ he turned to Josephine. ‘There are a few things you need to know. First, your cousin has never betrayed you. I saw through the trick all the time.’

‘You what?’ She could not believe her ears.

‘I must say,’ his tone was tolerant. ‘I’m surprised at you, Josephine. That your cousin should have thought me so gullible is understandable enough. After all, she had never met me. But what in the world made you think me such a fool? No —’ He threw up a hand. ‘Don’t tell me. I think it’s best I should not know. After all, like it or not, we have our life to lead together, you and I.’

‘Ah!’ Some of the tension went out of Josephine. ‘At least you admit that.’

‘Well, of course. We married, did we not, for better, for worse? There is nothing about this crazy scheme of yours to release me from the bond.’

‘More’s the pity?’ Angry colour burned through her rouge. ‘Don’t think I’ve not known what was going on between you two. But what I’m doing is more important than any of us. It’s not a crazy scheme,’ she turned her rage, now, on Hyde. ‘It’s going to work. I’ve got my ship. I’ve got my crew waiting at Charleston. Nothing is going to stop me.’

‘Oh yes it is,’ said Hyde mildly. ‘I am.’

‘You? How?’

‘You can take your choice. By laying information against you, if you push me to it. Our government, you know, is on friendly terms with Louis XVIII. They would never allow of such a venture setting forth from one of our ports.’

‘And you’d do that. To me?’

‘If you make me. You must see that I would infinitely prefer to let the whole mad project dwindle into the moonshine it really is.’

‘Mad! Moonshine!’ She was almost beside herself. ‘And you —’ she turned back to Juliet. ‘I suppose I have you to thank for convincing him that my plan is mad.’

‘I wish you would allow me the use of my own intellect,’ said Hyde wearily. ‘Of course it’s mad. I don’t know what kind of captain you’ve got for your ship — the
Liberty
, is she? Nor what kind of crew. But just assume them capable of finding their way to St. Helena, how do they propose to free Napoleon from his guards? And, if they do, how could they possibly get him safe back to Europe, where, frankly, I think he would be most unwelcome, even in France. No, no, my dear Josephine, I fear you must give up this idea of yours, though. I confess I cannot help respecting you for what you have done. So: here’s a bargain: give it up; I will forget the trick you have played on me. Juliet, who is nothing if not generous, will forgive you the foolish things you have said —’

‘And do what?’ Josephine’s voice was still dangerous.

‘I sail on the
Savannah
,’ said Juliet.

‘Her expenses paid by me,’ put in Hyde.

‘As well they might be!’ Juliet quailed at the fury in Josephine’s voice. ‘I’m not quite a fool,’ she went on, ‘though you two choose to think me so. Suppose I choose to divorce you, sir, on the evidence before my eyes?’

Juliet’s heart gave a great leap. Her eyes met Hyde’s. ‘Nothing,’ he said, ‘would please me more. We may have to fabricate the evidence, it’s true, but if you are agreeable, my love,’ to Juliet, ‘I certainly am.’

‘So it’s come to this.’ Josephine spoke through her teeth. ‘Purchis of Winchelsea will be dragged through the courts ... My God, what a scandal that would be for the old Savannah harpies! Lord, it’s tempting. But, no,’ she flashed a glittering, vengeful glance from one to the other. ‘I wouldn’t dream of doing that to you, Hyde. Of course I take your word that nothing has happened between you of which even Aunt Abigail would not approve. In fact,’ her voice rose a note, ‘I actually believe you! It’s just like you two. So — there is nothing in the way of our happy ending.’ She held out a graceful hand to Hyde. ‘If I have said anything you did not quite like, remember the strangeness of my situation, and forgive me. And as for you,’ she turned to Juliet, ‘I suppose it is my own fault if you have proved a more adequate substitute than I intended. But, now, the substitution is over. When does the
Savannah
sail?’

‘Not until about May 20th.’ Hyde answered her, his voice absolutely devoid of feeling. ‘We had decided, Juliet and I, that she should spend the intervening week or so at Winchelsea. Safest so.’

‘Yes. And the sooner she gets there the better. You’ll tell Aunt Abigail?’

‘No,’ Hyde answered. ‘It would kill her. Juliet will have to hide in the old wing. I hope you understand what you have done to her, Josephine?’

‘I believe I am beginning to.’ No mistaking the satisfaction in Josephine’s voice.

Chapter Fifteen

‘Perhaps I might have the use of my own room?’ Josephine’s glittering gaze travelled from Hyde to Juliet. ‘It’s time I thought of changing for Mr. Scarbrough’s party. Best if you help me, Juliet? This is the safest place for you, I suppose, until it is dark enough to leave for Winchelsea. Is my green silk fit to be worn? I feel in a mood for emeralds.’

‘Of course it is.’ Juliet moved over to the bedroom door, as much to hide her anger as to obey the implied command. ‘Alice has seen to that,’ she added over her shoulder.

‘Alice! I won’t have her anywhere near me. I warn you, Hyde, we’ll have to make a clean sweep of the servants. I collect, from their behaviour today that they are all in the know. I’m not having them here to gossip and titter behind my back about what’s happened.’

‘No?’ Juliet knew, if Josephine did not, how near Hyde was to losing control. ‘Before we discuss that, there is something we have forgotten to tell you. You are being blackmailed.’

‘Blackmailed? I?’ No question about her amazement. ‘But what in the world about?’

‘That is precisely what we do not know, and why Juliet felt it necessary to hand over your sapphire necklace to the blackmailer.’

‘My sapphires! You did that!’ She looked ready to fly at Juliet.

‘Control yourself! It’s safe back.’ He moved into the alcove where the jewel box stood.

‘
Enfin
!’ All three of them swung round at the voice from the window. Standing there, in the entrance to the wide second storey verandah, Tarot could see only Josephine, since Hyde was concealed by the alcove and Juliet by the bedroom door. ‘Denied even to me,’ he went on mock reproachfully. ‘I’m too old for this Romeo-trick of window climbing.’ And then, ‘
Mon
Diu
, ‘Phine!’ He caught her as she fainted.

For a few moments he was too busy laying Josephine on her
chaise
longue
and chafing her hands to notice the other two occupants of the room, who gazed at each other, speechless. Then, ‘Her smelling salts,’ said Hyde.

‘Yes.’ Juliet withdrew into the bedroom, found the little bottle and returned to hold it to her cousin’s nose while Tarot supported her in his arms and called on her, with many a French endearment, to pull herself together. He took the bottle from Juliet’s hand without a glance, and waved it under Josephine’s nose.

‘I never meant to frighten you,
chèrie
.’ And then, taking in, belatedly, what he had heard, he looked back over his shoulder at Hyde. ‘
Tiens
, the husband.’

‘Just so,’ said Hyde.

Tarot shrugged. ‘Time for you later, monsieur. But why she should faint now, my lion-hearted Josephine, is more than I can comprehend. Some burnt feathers, perhaps?’ He looked up, at last, at Juliet. ‘By God!’ Was it the measure of his amazement that he spoke in English? Then down at Josephine, still lifeless on his arm. ‘
Nom
d’un
nom
…’ And back to Juliet. ‘It was you, all the time.’

‘Yes,’ said Hyde. ‘But before we come to explanations, I really think it might be worth trying burnt feathers. An old fan, perhaps?’

‘No need.’ Juliet had been watching her cousin. ‘She is beginning to stir. The smelling salts a little closer, sir. They’re not something I use much myself. They may not be of the freshest.’

‘Two of you.’ He moved the bottle more closely under Josephine’s nose but kept his eyes, now, on Juliet. ‘So like and yet —’

‘So unlike,’ Hyde finished it for him.

‘Ah.’ A slight movement turned all his attention to Josephine. ‘She’s coming to. Lie still, my little love. I have you safe.’ And then, across her to Juliet. ‘
Peste
! No wonder you did not fall into my arms, as I expected. My apologies, madame, though I confess I do not quite understand …’

‘No more do we,’ said Hyde. ‘Who are you, sir?’

A look, almost comic, doubt visible, played across his face, then he came to a decision.
‘Rien
ne
va
plus
,’ he said. ‘The game’s over.’ He looked down at Josephine, who was breathing more easily, laid her gently back among velvet pillows and rose to his feet. ‘Claude Hercule Simon de Joinville, M’sieur, and entirely at your service.’

‘Enchanted.’ Hyde sounded puzzled.

‘
Tiens
,’ he slipped back into French. ‘I might have known, the little devil. She did not tell you about me?’

‘Not a word. What should she have?’

Josephine stirred, put a hand to her brow, and pulled herself up among the cushions. ‘What happened?’ And then, on a note Juliet had never heard before, ‘Claude! It’s true! I wasn’t dreaming: you’re alive!’

‘Well, naturally, if a trifle the worse for wear after three long years in Russia. You despair too easily,
ma
mie
. At least —’ He looked from her to Juliet, then back to Hyde. ‘Forgive me, sir, but which one is your wife?’

‘Josephine.’ Hyde’s voice was toneless.

‘She’s not, you know, she’s mine.’ And, as the silence lengthened, he bent down, pulled Josephine into his arms and kissed her roundly to prove it.

Over their heads, Hyde’s eyes met Juliet’s in a long, deep exchange. ‘So that’s it,’ he said at last. And, to Tarot-Joinville, ‘No wonder you thought you had a likely subject for blackmail.’

‘
Touché
.’ Very gently, Joinville put Josephine back among her cushions. ‘Believe me, monsieur, I would much rather have my wife.’

‘Or best of all, perhaps, both?’

He laughed. ‘You’re right, of course. We’ve always lived by our wits, my Josephine and I. In so far as we have had an “always”. And, do you know, sir, I begin to think there is hope for us yet.’ His bright, intelligent eye travelled from Hyde to Juliet and back. ‘Silence is golden,
n’
est
ce
pas
?’

‘It is indeed,’ Hyde’s voice was dry. ‘But, before she comes fully to herself, perhaps I should tell you what your wife has been busy about.’

‘Your wife too,’ reminded Joinville.

‘Precisely. Our mutual problem. Do you know, I find myself delighted to meet you, sir. I am glad to know that it is your charm, not my lack of it, that made my marriage to your wife so disastrous a failure. However,’ Joinville had been about to interrupt, but he held up a hand for silence, ‘you do need to know what she has been doing to console herself for her disappointment in me.’

‘Yes.’ Joinville’s smile could be surprisingly charming. ‘Nothing my little devil does can really surprise me. You should have seen her when we first met. But this is no time to be indulging in reminiscences. As you so justly observe —’ Settled beside her on the sofa, he gathered Josephine into a still firmer embrace, ‘while she is, miraculously, still silent, I had best know what she has been doing.’

‘Just trying to free Napoleon from St. Helena, that’s all.’

‘To free Napoleon!
Tais
toi
!’ Josephine had sat up and tried to speak. ‘Have you run mad,
ma
mie
? If you could do it, which I doubt, he’d be hissed out of France, the poor man. No, no, that dream’s over. We must think of a new one, you and I.’ His speculative eye was fixed on Hyde. ‘I think I begin to see it take shape already.’

‘I’m sure you do,’ said Hyde. ‘But perhaps I should warn you that Josephine has spent most if not all of the large sum I settled on her when we were “married”. On a ship.’

‘To fetch Napoleon! What a little idiot.’ And then, with a flashing upward glance at Juliet, ‘My congratulations, madame, you had me entirely convinced you were dependent for every
sou
on your husband.’

‘Well, so I was,’ said Juliet reasonably. ‘Since I could not very well forge Josephine’s signature to get at her bank account.’ And then, ‘Good gracious, Hyde! You had realised that too. That’s why you gave me money, let me win at cards …’

‘Well, of course.’ He brought forward a chair for her. ‘I said you had underestimated me, you two. But, come, there is a great deal to be decided, and very little time. My wife and I must appear at Mr. Scarbrough’s dinner for the President.’

Josephine pulled herself out of Joinville’s arms. ‘I must start changing at once!’ And then, ‘Oh, my God!’

‘Precisely. You are beginning to see, at last, how the case is altered. I take it there is no question about your marriage, Joinville?’

‘Not the least in the world. Religious and civil. I was taking no chances, in that chaos before Waterloo.’

‘So —’ Josephine looked from one to the other with large eyes.

‘You’re a bigamist, my dear,’ said Hyde. ‘I don’t rightly know what the penalty is ... Some term of imprisonment, I expect. Judge James would be able to tell us. He will undoubtedly be at the dinner tonight.’

‘But you won’t — you wouldn’t —’

‘No. At least, not if you are reasonable.’

‘And that means?’

‘That you disappear, as you had intended Juliet to do. I am sure we can leave the details in the capable hands of your husband. Oh’ — as an afterthought — ‘I was sorry to hear you got so poor a price for the sapphire necklace, Joinville.’

Joinville spread out his hands in a deprecatory gesture. ‘You know everything, it seems. Yes, he did me, that miserable Scot; he smelled something odd about the whole business from the start.’ He laughed. ‘This has been a mismanaged affair throughout. Frankly, I’m ashamed of myself. Can I be losing my touch?’

‘No, no,’ said Hyde soothingly. ‘You could hardly be expected to allow for twins. I take it Josephine did not tell you, as she did me?’

‘We had other things to talk about. But the devil of it is,’ he and Hyde were addressing each other almost like old friends by now, ‘you see me before you penniless, or as near as makes no difference. And you —’ he turned with loving fury on Josephine, ‘you must go and squander a fortune on a ship. What in the world are we to do with a ship?’

‘I think you had best sell it to me,’ said Hyde. ‘That, with what remains of the future I settled on your wife should see you well started in life. In Europe, for choice.’

‘In Europe, of course. I’ve always thought, had I but the capital, that I could make a fortune out of a gambling house. With a hostess to run the place, of course.’ He smiled lovingly at Josephine. ‘What do you say, my torment?’

‘Oh,
yes
!’ said Josephine. ‘And we’ll sail on the
Savannah
, as you meant to do, Juliet. It will be the greatest thing!’

‘You’ll do nothing of the kind,’ said Hyde. ‘You’ll travel in complete secrecy and at your best speed, overland at least as far as Norfolk, better still to New York, and take ship from there. I’m not chancing some stray Savannahian spotting the resemblance at this eleventh hour and giving the game away!’

‘The game!’ Joinville slapped Josephine’s thigh delightedly. ‘You mean you intend to play it out! Sir, I salute you. How glad I am I decided not to call you out and kill you. You’re positively a man after my own heart. You’ll brazen it out here, with —’

‘My wife.’ Hyde’s tone was quelling. ‘As soon as I can make her so.’ His smile melted Juliet’s bones. ‘Forgive me, my love, this must be the strangest proposal upon record.’

‘And a pretty belated one at that,’ said Josephine sharply. ‘Not but what I’m glad, of course, that you intend to make an honest woman of my cousin. Ouch!’ Joinville had slapped her sharply on the cheek.

‘You forget yourself,’ he said. ‘Apologise, at once.’ And, to Hyde, ‘My apologies too, sir, but it seems to me that you have let her get deplorably out of hand.’

Hyde had looked dangerous for a moment, but now he recovered himself and laughed ruefully. ‘I can hardly boast that I ever had her
in
hand. I am only delighted to see that I can trust you to honour our bond.’

‘Oh, yes,’ said Joinville. ‘She’ll do what I tell her. Your apology,
‘Phine
.’

‘I’m sorry, Ju.’ It came out sullenly, and with a little spiteful laugh, ‘I should have known the two of you better. Such patterns of perfection.’

‘That’s enough,’ said her husband.

‘Quite enough.’ Hyde looked at his watch. ‘Time’s passing. We must dress for Mr. Scarbrough’s dinner. I suggest you two remain in my study until full dark. I’ll give orders for you to be set across the river then. After that, I rely on your discretion, Joinville. One breath of scandal about this, whether it’s your fault or not, and the deal is off. You will have to take the
Liberty
(Josephine’s ship) for her dowry. But if all goes well, her price shall be paid to any agent you name — in New York, next month.’

‘And my Frenchmen?’ asked Josephine. ‘My faithful followers?’

‘Will disband themselves fast enough when they get no news of you. But still, if you like, and to make assurance doubly sure, you had best tell me how to get in touch with their leader. What did you call yourself, by the way?’

‘Madame de Joinville, of course.’