Black Sheep's Daughter (18 page)

 Lord Danville bowed. "Cousin Teresa, you remember Lady Mary Hargreave. We met in the park this afternoon."

 The two young ladies nodded to each other, then Lady Mary leaned closer to his lordship. "So dull for you, having to escort your country cousin," she whispered, quite loud enough for Teresa to hear. Then she began to chat about people Teresa could not possibly know.

 For two or three minutes Teresa felt more and more uncomfortable as Lady Mary, with practised skill, edged Lord Danville away from her. Cousin Tom, however, was equally adept at avoiding such manoeuvres. Bowing, he took Teresa's arm and said, "Pray excuse us, Lady Mary. I must make my cousin known to Miss Kaye."

 The daughter of the house was a pert blonde, short and a trifle plump but nonetheless pretty. She had a deplorable tendency to giggle at all remarks addressed to her, all very well if they happened to be amusing, otherwise somewhat disconcerting. Though she fluttered her blackened eyelashes at the viscount with as much abandon as had Lady Mary, she was friendly towards Teresa. "We shall have a comfortable coze after dinner," she promised, giggling, "while the gentlemen are at their port."

 Dinner was announced. The duke, as highest in rank, led their hostess into the dining room, while Lord Kaye took the duchess. The rest of the guests were left to sort themselves out. Lady Mary materialised beside Lord Danville with an expectant look.

 His lordship offered Teresa his arm. Lady Mary shot her a venomous glance, and even amicable Miss Kaye pouted a little. Teresa began to understand why her cousin was attracted to Muriel Parr, who was already betrothed.

 Yet another hopeful debutante sat on the viscount's other side at dinner. He conversed with her politely, but when the courses changed he turned to Teresa with such obvious relief that she nearly laughed aloud.

 She had noticed, sitting at the far end of the table, the man her cousins had declined to introduce to her in Hyde Park. "I am surprised to see Lord Carruthers here," she said in a low voice.

 "He has entrée everywhere, I fear, for his manners are impeccable—in company--and his family long established. Nothing definite is known to his discredit, save his excessive gambling, and who does not gamble?  I hope you will heed my advice though, cousin, and avoid him when possible."

 "I do not like his face," said Teresa decisively.

 "I daresay he will be at Mama's ball next week."

 "Ball!  I had thought it was to be a small soirée!"

 Cousin Tom grinned, and once again she thought him quite the most handsome man she had ever met. "Her Grace is quite incapable of giving a small soirée," he explained. "Her guest list starts with forty names, and then she keeps adding those to whom she owes an invitation, those who will be bitterly offended not to receive one, those who happen to cross her mind. I can guarantee you a full scale ball, and I doubt there will be fewer than four hundred in attendance."

  "I shall never remember all their names!"

 "No, but they will remember you, cousin, and not only because the ball is in your honour."

 Though aware that he intended a compliment, she said with a laugh, "Yes, for I shall probably commit some dreadful
faux pas
before half the Ton. I should have preferred a small party for my début."

 When the ladies withdrew, the duchess summoned Teresa to be introduced to two or three matrons. All seemed disposed to be amiable, and Teresa pondered again the benefits attached to her relationship with a peer of the highest rank. She could not deny that it was excessively pleasant, yet she thought the situation she had been brought up with more equitable. In Costa Rica a man's worth was judged by what he had managed to create out of raw jungle.

 A wave of homesickness swept over her as she glanced, a lost look on her face, around the elegant drawing room with its beautifully dressed, mannered ladies making polite, meaningless conversation.

 Miss Kaye trotted up to her. "Teresa
...
May I call you Teresa?  And you must call me Jenny for I vow we are going to be friends
...
Pray come and meet Daphne Pringle, she is the sweetest creature and quite longs to know you." Chattering away she bore Teresa off willy nilly to join in a discussion of the best place to buy French lace.

 Lady Mary Hargreave was not a member of this cozy group. She sat at the pianoforte, idly turning over the music with an uninterested air, picking out a tune here and there. She brightened as soon as the gentlemen arrived. Somehow, without appearing to hurry, she reached Teresa's side before Lord Danville, who came straight towards them. He brought with him a couple of young gentlemen who, he claimed, had begged to be introduced to his cousin.

 After a few minutes of general conversation, Lady Mary turned to Teresa. "Will you favour us with a tune upon the pianoforte, Miss Danville?" she enquired.

 "You must excuse me, I do not play," Teresa said warily.

 "Ah, the harp is your instrument!  I will beg Lady Kaye to have the harp brought out. No?  Then you sing!  I shall be happy to accompany you."

 "My voice is nothing out of the ordinary, Lady Mary, and I know only Spanish songs, but if you will support me with an accompaniment upon the guitar, I shall do my poor best."

 Lady Mary flushed, but made a quick recover. "The guitar is a peasant instrument," she declared. "I am certain Lady Kaye has no such thing in her house."

 "Oh but she does," Jenny broke in with a giggle. "My brother was in Spain with Wellington, Teresa, and he brought back a guitar. He plays it, too. What a pity he is not here tonight."

 "Nor is it a peasant instrument," added one of Lord Danville's friends indignantly. "I, too, was in Spain, and the gentlemen serenade their ladies with guitar music. Quite delightful, though it does grow a little tiresome around two in the morning."

 "Rolled up, horse, foot and artillery," the other gentleman murmured in Teresa's ear as Lady Mary flounced off. "I'll tell you, Miss Danville, she only wanted to be asked to play herself. Her performance upon the pianoforte is generally judged superior, but I believe you have spared us that tedium for this evening."

 "Thank you, Sir Toby," Teresa said laughing, "and thank you, Jenny, Mr Wishart, for coming to my defence. But I hope one of you will ask Lady Mary to play, for I quite long to hear it. I do not know of a single pianoforte in Costa Rica. Indeed, the transportation would be impossible and I daresay the climate would ruin it."

 Instead of asking Lady Mary to play, they all besieged her with questions about her native land.

 When the party broke up, Teresa realised happily that she had several new friends. In the carriage she asked her aunt whether any of them had been invited to their soirée.

 "The Kayes will be coming of course," said her Grace. "As for the others, I cannot possibly remember who is on the list, but I shall show it to you tomorrow and you may add whom you will."

 "Thank you, aunt," said Teresa, exchanging a glance of amusement with her cousin.

* * * *

 The next morning she rose early to go riding in the park with Lord John. Well aware of his usual habits, she took the precaution of sending a message via Annie and his valet before she dressed. Leaning out of the window to check the air, she felt the nip of frost and put on a pelerine over her habit.

 Her cousin stumbled downstairs, rubbing his eyes, a mere five minutes late. "I did remember to send a message to the stables yesterday," he said sheepishly. "Devil of a night, last night, begging your pardon, cousin."

 "You can go back to bed when we return," she suggested, smiling. "It is by far too beautiful a day for me to excuse you. It may rain tomorrow."

 "The horses are waiting, miss, my lord," announced Boggs. He shook his head in wonder as they went down the front steps. It was years since Lord John had risen at such an hour, except in direct response to a command from his father.

  He closed the door and went back to his preparations for the ball, for he knew, as well as did Lord Danville, that her Grace's small soirée was to be the great event of the Little Season. Miss Teresa's arrival was turning the household upside down, he thought indulgently, and he was thoroughly enjoying it.

 Teresa and Lord John warmed their horses with a short trot, then galloped wildly along the edge of the Serpentine, sending ducks and swans flapping for the safety of the water.

  At last Teresa drew rein, laughing with exhilaration. "It has been too long since I had a good ride," she exclaimed. "And poor Gayo has been cooped up inside as well. Do you think I could safely bring them to the park, if we came early when there is no one about?"

 "I cannot see the harm in it."  Lord John had taken to visiting the parrot in Teresa's dressing room, bringing him  tidbits. "Dashed if I'm getting up early again just to exercise your bird, though."

 "Of course not. I shall bring Annie. Oh look, is that not Sir Andrew?"

 Her cousin waved and hallooed. "Graylin!  Well met. Don't tell me you make a habit of rising at this ungodly hour."

 Andrew rode up on a superb chestnut gelding. "Good morning, Miss Danville, Lord John. Yes, I usually ride at this hour."

 "There you are then, Teresa. No need to spoil my beauty sleep, Graylin will be delighted to escort you in future. Better bring a groom though."

 "You brought no groom?" Andrew looked around with a frown. "John is my cousin," pointed out Teresa, feeling slightly guilty as she recalled that Lord Danville had said she ought to take a groom. "And besides, I have my protectors under my cape."  She touched her hip.

 "In Hyde Park!  Teresa, if anyone saw them..."

 "Your protectors?" interrupted Lord John. "Some fierce jungle creature I have not yet met?"

 "My pistols," Teresa explained, laughing. "Just in case we are set upon by footpads."

 "Females don't shoot."

 "This one does," said Andrew, "and better than most men. However, I beg you will not demonstrate in Hyde Park, Teresa," he added hastily. "It really will not do."

 "I'm accounted something of a crack-shot," Lord John announced, a glint in his eye. "We'll have a match some time, cousin."  He caught Andrew's minatory glance. "Not in Hyde Park, of course. Somewhere private."

 Andrew decided it was time to change the subject. "Do you care to ride with me tomorrow morning, Miss Danville?" he asked.

 "Oh yes!" she accepted with a joyful smile. "That will be delightful. And I promise to bring a groom."

 On the way home, Teresa remembered that she had intended to take Gayo to the park the next day. She mentioned it to Lord John, and he suggested that instead she should take him to the small garden behind Stafford House. As it was private, he could go at any time of day.

 "And it has high walls, so he’s not likely to fly the coop. Deuced if that isn't the place to have our shooting contest too!"

 "But not at the same time, John!"

* * * *

 Teresa ate a hearty breakfast, then collected Marco from the library and went with him to her uncle's study, where she had arranged to see him at eleven. Sitting behind his huge oak desk, he dismissed his secretary, waved them to seats, and enquired as to how he might help them.

 Teresa told him the whole story of the capture of the
Snipe
and the rescue of the slaves.

 "And my sister is a heroine, sir," said Marco when she finished, "whatever the tattlemongers may make of it."

 "She is indeed, lad," agreed the duke, "but you are right to fear the rumour mill. Is there any reason why it should become the latest on-dit?  Are the—ah, the Parrs likely to spread the tale, or your abigail?"

 "Annie will not say a word, uncle, nor, I believe, will the Parrs. The only problem is the trial."

 Marco explained what he had read in the newspaper.

 "I shall not permit my niece to be called as witness," the duke said, a hint of steel visible beneath his usual affability. "You need have no fear of that. I shall have to consider whether it will be wise to allow your maid to testify, or even Marco. I should prefer to keep the family name out of it altogether."

 "But I wish to testify!" cried Marco. "Harrison deserves hanging, or at least transportation. Besides, if he goes free we may be in danger for he made the most dreadful threats."

 "Graylin's testimony may well be enough," his Grace reassured him, "and the captain of your ship probably left a deposition when he sailed."

 "There's Rowson too," Teresa reminded her brother. "Sir Andrew's servant," she explained to her uncle.

 The duke sat back, satisfied. "Very well. I shall consult Graylin and, I believe, the prosecutor, but I doubt it will be necessary for any of my household to appear. I am gratified, my dear, that you came to me with this problem."

 "Thank you, uncle, I am very glad we told you."  Teresa curtsied, then gave way to impulse and rounded the desk to drop a kiss on his cheek. "Papa always said you were the best of brothers."

 Marco bowed, and said hopefully, "If you please, sir, may I at least attend the trial, if I am not to be a witness?"

 "Certainly, my boy. Ought to be a part of any gentleman's education. Take your tutor, what's his name? Netherdale, with you."

 As soon as the study door closed behind them, Teresa said, "Since you have escaped from Mr Netherdale for the nonce, will you come out with me and Gayo?  Cousin John says there is a garden behind the house where he can go free for a while, and I have a couple of hours before I meet Muriel."

 Marco agreed with alacrity. A footman showed them the way to the garden, through the ballroom, and they inspected it to make sure it was really suitable. It was surrounded by the house on two sides and a twelve-foot brick wall on the other two. Though Gayo could easily fly out, Teresa thought he was unlikely to go far from her in a strange place.

 There was a stone terrace off the ballroom, with steps down to a lawn crossed by brick paths. In the centre grew a spreading chestnut, now losing its golden leaves, with benches about its base. Chrysanthemums and a few late roses bloomed in the flowerbeds round the edge of the lawn.