An Indelicate Situation (The Weymouth Trilogy) (11 page)

Maggie quickly donned her
spencer and
a ne
a
t
little
small
-
brimmed
bonnet
and, parasol at the ready, slipped out
of the heavy front door and
into some glorious August sunshine
outside
. She
blinked in the unaccustomed brightness
and
sniffed the sea air appreciatively
. The greatness of the outdoors, with the clear blue of the sky and the vast
twinkling
sea across the road, provided a stark
and instant
contrast to the dingy closeness of the world in Grosvenor Place
. It was just like escaping a prison
and she suddenly felt a great surge of happiness and freedom as she stepped lightly down the road
way
. At one point she crossed over and stood for a moment, staring out to sea, watching the children as they played happily together on the broad sandy beach
and eyeing up the curious octagonal bathing machines
which stood idly along its edge
, their work apparently over for the day
.

It was as she was standing there, lost in herself for a moment, that she suddenly became aware of a movement next to her and the touch of a hand upon her arm. She looked round and her eyes were immediately confronted by the eyes of
Mr Wright
looking smilingly at her and, next to him, those of Mr Staveley doing exactly the
self
same thing.

Mr Wright
’s face
crinkled
a little
.

‘A pleasant
surprise
, Miss Owens.’

It appeared that the
two
gentlemen had been drinking.

Maggie bobbed a little curtsy in their direction.

‘I find myself at leisure for a few minutes, Mr Wright. I am come to Harvey’s in order to buy some provisions.’

‘Ha – then you must come along with us,’ said
Mr Wright
, boldly
. ‘Mr Staveley and I were just about to take a look through the telescope
there
. Mr Staveley
is hoping to identify the ships in th
e bay,’
here
Mr Wright
gestured vaguely in the direction of the far horizon on which, just visible, Maggie could see a number of indeterminate small dots which could, indeed, have been ships. ‘Have you looked through the telescope, Miss Owens? It is much to be recommended, I can assure you.’

Maggie acknowledged that she had never had the pleasure of looking through the telescope, which was apparently housed on an upper floor of the library, and
in another minute
she found herself being taken by the arm
,
propelled
into Harvey’s and
directed
immediately up the stairs.

‘Here,’ Mr Wright
was saying, finding a vacant position in a corner a
nd guiding her towards it
. ‘Allow me to set it up for you, Miss Owens.’

William fiddled about with the telescope for a moment, although, perhaps due to the
slight
ly intoxicated state of his brain just then, he did not appear to be having much effect. It was probably fortunate, therefore, that Mr Staveley – although demonstrating a similar level of incapacity to that of his cousin – was a good deal more familiar with the workings of a telescope than his co
mpanion
was. Whilst William indulged himself – and, to be fair, Maggie as well – by ensuring that she was in just the position to see through the lens
– a situation which required her to stoop a little in order to achieve a proper view
-
Mr Staveley obliged her by taking her
commentary
and undertaking
the task of
focus
ing
it
on
her
behalf
. As he did so Maggie became aware that
Mr Wright
had taken the opportunity
provided by his close
proximity to allow his hand to discover her bottom, where it was now in the process of a surreptitious exploration which involved  a lingering appraisal of its curves.

Now Maggie well knew that, fuddled or not, it was not at all proper for her employer to be
investigating
her person in quite so familiar a manner
. She similarly knew that, as a young lady of respectable upbringing and impeccable credentials, she should immediately stand
herself
up
right
, remove herself from the vicinity and even, perhaps, slap the gentleman in the face for his trouble. She knew all of this very well. But she also knew that – well, that she was enjoying the sensation that William’s touch was eliciting, that she was enjoying the knowledge that she was attractive to him – and that she was finding it singularly difficult to tear herself away.

She managed it in the end, however – although, sadly, more by dint of a singular lack of success with the teles
cope than through any real conviction
of what it was right
for her
to do. Standing up straight once more and turning, blushingly, to face him, she had to admit that
unfortunately
she would not have the time that day to acquire the skill that was apparently involved in
successfully utilising
a telescope, and begged leave of both him and his companion to resume her errands on the floor below.

‘For your daughter’s
music
lesson must end in an instant, Mr Wright,’ she reminded him, as her employer looked inclined to
try to
d
etain her. ‘It would be most inappropriate
for me to be absent when it does.’

The gentlemen bowed gravely.

‘It is a pity that you must go, Miss Owens,’
conced
ed William,
slurring ever such a little
,
‘though I can see in those pretty eyes of yours that you are determined to do so. But
before I allow you to slip away entirely
I require a solemn promise from you that you will
honour me with another visit when your time is more your own.’

In saying this he tried to catch her by the hand to prevent her from escaping
before
making the
required
promise. In this, however, she was just too quick for him. Giggling and blushing, she sprang away and surveyed both gentlemen
a little impishly
.

‘You will need to do better than that to exact
such
a promise from me, sir,’ she assured him
, tossing her head just a little. ‘Though
I find the
thought of some further exploration
mo
st
alluring
, I can assure you
.’

Maggie bobbed both gentlemen a little curtsy
and sl
ipped off down the stairs, an appreciative smile just lingering on
Mr Wright
’s
handsome
face.

Mr Staveley was not the only young gentleman to escort his lady to the as
sembly rooms
later
that
same
evening
. Mr and Mrs Berkeley, both of whom were extremely fond of dancing
,
ha
d also engaged to attend with Captain
and Mrs John. Much to the amusemen
t,
and not a little teasing
,
of their friends,
the Berkeleys
always
insisted on dancing together for far more dances than was generally th
ought desirable
, and when they were finally
prized apart by the
ir
reluctant acknowledgement
of other claims to their attention they attempted, by any means possible, to remain in the same set as
each other
at every opportunity.

This evening, however, Kathryn being a little tired and her brother
-
in
-
law not being a great dancer, she suggested that her husband might like to treat his sister to a turn about the floor whilst she sat down
for a
quarter hour
with
Captain Wright
. It was as she did this that her attention was suddenly caught by a little drama which was then being enacted before her very eyes. For
standing close enough for her to touch him, thoug
h totally oblivious to her pres
ence, was the familiar, careless form of
a young gentleman
who appeared to be watching Mr Staveley dancing with Miss Brewer with the air of someone who would rather be doing the self same thing himself. Not that
this particular young gentleman
would have looked quite so cumbersome as Mr Staveley did. No indeed. Despite now approaching his thirtieth year he retained the athletic frame, dark curls
, silver ear
-
rings
and compelling eyes that Kathryn remembered from
a
brief acquaintance with him several years before
,
and she had no doubt of his ability to throw himself about a dance floor with an exquisite,
if
somewhat careless, grace.
For the young gentleman in question was none other than Mr Augustus Rowley
-
Jones, the Ca
ptain of a particularly comely p
rivateer,
who had once lodged with Captain and Mrs John whilst his boat was berthed on the quay. Now Mr Rowley
-
J
ones was memorable to Kathryn for
being a gentleman who had played some role in ensuring her own happiness in this life. For
, having materialised
just when Mr Berkeley had foolishly become entangled with Miss Brewer
and
been induced into
ask
ing her to be his wife, Mr Rowley
-
Jones
had very quickly managed to
introduce her to
the
more
exciting potential offered by a
rich and adventurous
gentleman such as himself to a fascinating young lady such as she, as opposed to the distinct lack of potential offered by
a former landscape engineer who had tied up all his capital in developing the town.
In persuading th
e
young lady of the error of her ways Mr Rowley
-
Jones had succeeded in establishing himself for ever in Kathryn’s mind as a gentleman
worthy of a good deal of gratitude. And indeed, at that moment she was thanking God
for his
surfeit of prize
-
money
-
ever of prime interest to the selfless Miss Brewer
-
his adventurous spirit
and his dark, seductive eyes
– the same seductive eyes that
were still fixed admiringly on the vision of loveliness that he could obviously see before him
.
Poor Mr Staveley possessed none of the advantages of Mr Rowley Jones, and yet it was he who, just at that moment, was clasping Miss Brewer’s delicate hand in a desperate attempt to
main
tain his p
osition
in the set
.

Captain Wright
having wandered away for a moment in order to find her some lemonade,
Kathryn was able to watc
h the three protagonists at her leisure
, which she d
id with a good deal of interest.
She could see that Mr Staveley was perfectly innocent of Mr Rowley
-
Jones’ presence not four yards from where he was
currently
standing – but that Miss Brewer most certainly was not. She could also see that Miss Brewer was flirting outrageously with her bear
-
like companion – fluttering her fan
tremendously
, half smiling as she lowered her eyelids when he happened to look in her direction (which was not often, to be sure, as Mr Staveley was finding it necessary to
study
the couple
before
him for most of the time in case
he should show himself up and quite lose his way), and
taking his hand for a moment longer than was strictly necessary,
at every opportunity. 
And before her brother
-
in
-
law had returned to her side, lemonade duly acquired, she had fully determined that the charming Miss Brewer was makin
g
good
use of Mr Staveley in a most un
generous
attempt to gener
a
te some jealousy in the hitherto unconquered heart of Mr Rowley
-
Jones. Kathryn saw and determined all of this inside five minutes and it came as quite a surprise to her to realise that none of the other p
rotagonists
appeared to have t
he slightest inkling
of what was going on
at all
.