Intrigue (Daughters of Mannerling 2) (15 page)

Lizzie’s face was hard. ‘Mama has gone into a decline before and got over it. Listen, I must tell you something.’ She related how Honoria had tricked her.

‘I know all that,’ said Jessica. ‘Robert . . . Mr Sommerville . . . told me.’

‘And you do not hate me?’

‘Lizzie, it was my own ambition and folly that got me in this mess. Nothing is your fault. But how can I cancel the wedding? People have sent gifts.’

‘Not many gifts, Jessica, and not many people. It was to be a quiet wedding. And in a hand-me-down wedding dress of Isabella’s, too. And Mama had a letter from Isabella only this morning. She is about to go into labour and cannot risk the journey. Please, please, speak to Miss Trumble. She will think of something.’

‘How she will despise me!’

‘She will despise you the more if you go through with it. Come with me now.’

But at that moment Lady Beverley came into the room, exclaiming in surprise that Harry had left. ‘Such a fine man, Jessica. You are the luckiest of girls.’

Jessica opened her mouth to say she could not go through with the wedding but then suddenly felt she could not bear the scene that would result from such a statement. Better to speak to Miss Trumble first.

It was evening before Jessica could get Miss Trumble to herself. The governess listened quietly and without surprise to Jessica’s story of how she had decided she could not go through with the wedding.

‘Then you must go to him and tell him quietly that you have made a mistake.’

‘I am frightened of him. He is sending the carriage for me tomorrow.’

‘Then I will go with you. Do not say anything to Lady Beverley. I will simply get in the carriage with you. Besides, you may not have to go through the ordeal of telling him. We will speak to Mr and Mrs Devers first.’

‘It will cause such a scandal,’ said Jessica.

‘I do not think so. I think people will realize that at last the Beverleys have come to their senses.’

At that moment Robert Sommerville was driving back towards Mannerling, at times cursing himself for being a fool. Such a visit could only bring pain. He would find the whole place in a bustle of wedding preparations, a happy Jessica, and he would feel bitter and sad.

He had more or less resolved never to see Mannerling or Jessica again, but he had received a letter from his sister, Honoria. In it she had said that as soon as Jessica Beverley was wed, he would come to his senses and give up this mad idea of buying a separate property. It was a wicked waste of money and a cruel thing to do to his own sister. All he had to do was to realize his folly. Had they not been comfortable before? It was those wretched Beverleys who had spoiled everything. And how he could ever have formed a tendre for such as Jessica Beverley, who was nothing more than a mercenary jade, was beyond her.

And Robert, who had also wondered why he had been so smitten and had in his heart damned Jessica as mercenary, found he bitterly resented any criticism of her. There was a dim little hope in his mind that she might decide not to go through with it. Surely the estimable Miss Trumble would not let her. But as he approached Mannerling and saw the great building lying there under a lowering sky, he thought that there lay his rival, not Harry.

And he wished he had not come.

Of beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock The meat it feeds on.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Lady Beverley protested most strongly when she caught Miss Trumble on the point of departure for Mannerling the following day. ‘If anyone is to accompany Jessica, it should be me,’ she complained.

To her surprise, Jessica paid no attention to her and neither did the governess. They both climbed into the carriage and Jessica called to the coachman to drive on.

Miss Trumble pressed Jessica’s hand. ‘Now, you must not look so pale and worried. We shall speak to Mr and Mrs Devers. I will speak to them privately first. It will be short, sharp, and nasty, but then you will be able to return, a free woman again, and take up your life.’

But both received a shock when the butler informed them that Mr Harry was above stairs in the drawing room and that Mr and Mrs Devers had gone to visit friends on the other side of Hedgefield. ‘Did not Mr Harry say we were expected?’ demanded Miss Trumble.

‘No, miss, he said nothing about it.’

‘You must not be alone with him,’ murmured Miss Trumble as they went up the stairs together. Jessica nervously squeezed her hand by way of reply.

Harry glared when he saw the slim, erect figure of the governess. He had carefully planned it so that he would be alone with Jessica. ‘I do not entertain servants,’ he said with all his parents’ haughtiness.

‘Then you must bear with my company until Jessica has said to you what she came here to say,’ said Miss Trumble. And all in that moment, Harry knew he was going to be jilted. He masked the burning rage he felt.

‘Pray be seated.’

Jessica and Miss Trumble sat side by side on a sofa.

‘Courage. Go ahead, Jessica,’ said Miss Trumble.

Harry stood in front of the fireplace, looking as bland and friendly as he could.

‘I cannot marry you,’ said Jessica. ‘I am so very sorry. I fear we should not suit.’

He gave a merry laugh. ‘You must not look so frightened, my dear. Bless me, what a weight off my mind, for I had just come to the same conclusion myself.’

Unfortunately, sheer relief restored to Jessica all the beauty that had so recently been faded with worry and misery. He felt a surge of lust added to the black rage in his heart.

‘Oh, then we can all be comfortable,’ said Jessica. ‘I was so very frightened of coming here and telling you. But what will your parents think of me?’

‘In truth, and I do not want to hurt your feelings, they’ll be deuced relieved. Always wanted me to marry an heiress. Miss Trumble, you will appreciate that I would like a few words in private with Miss Jessica. We have to discuss the best way to break it to Mama and Papa. As I say, they will be relieved, but they will be irritated as well because of all the letters of apology they will have to send out. Only a few moments, Miss Trumble. If you can be so good as to wait in the little morning room downstairs? Jessica will join you shortly.’

‘I shall only be a short time,’ said Jessica, still happy with relief.

Thus appealed to by both, Miss Trumble felt she could hardly refuse.

‘Come along,’ said Harry, as soon as they were alone. ‘I want to show you where I practise my fencing. I am a good swordsman.’ He held open the door of the drawing room. Glad to have been let off so lightly and anxious to please him, Jessica walked through the door, along a corridor and into a long room where she and her sisters had played games on wet days. No sooner was she inside than, to her dismay, Harry locked the door behind them and pocketed the key.

‘Now we shall not be disturbed, my sweeting,’ he said.

‘Miss Trumble is waiting,’ said Jessica, now becoming frightened. ‘What is it you want to discuss? We will all help with the letters of apology. We will . . .’ Her voice died away, for Harry had picked up a fencing foil, flipped the button off the end, and was pointing the sword towards her.

‘Now we will have some fun,’ he said, advancing on her. ‘Who are you, you greedy little bitch, to turn down such as me? Dreaming of your precious Robert? Did you know he was here, at Mannerling? But he cannot come to your aid, for I sent him off to see a sick tenant to keep him out of the way. Off with your clothes, and let me see the goods before I have ‘ ’em.’

‘You will have to kill me,’ said Jessica.

‘Oh, no, that would be such a waste. Very well, I shall take what I want.’

She opened her mouth to scream, but he leaped towards her and clamped one hand over her mouth while the other tore at her gown.

Miss Trumble waited uneasily in the morning room and then nervously rose to her feet and hurried back upstairs to the drawing room. When she found the door locked, she rattled the handle fiercely and then turned and called for the servants.

Robert, returning, heard her shout and ran up the stairs. He had ridden only a little way away from Mannerling when the thought had struck him that Harry must be scheming to get Jessica alone. He had been amazed to see Mr and Mrs Devers driving off. He was sure Harry had thought up a story to get him out of the way, and he had the uncharitable thought that Jessica deserved everything that might be happening to her, although Robert, to do him justice, had not once thought of rape.

‘The door’s locked,’ cried Miss Trumble, ‘and Jessica is alone with Harry!’

Robert turned to the butler and said, ‘Fetch the spare key.’

‘I cannot, I dare not,’ said the butler. ‘Mr Harry said he was not to be disturbed for any reason, and whoever did so would lose their employ.’

‘Fool,’ snarled Robert, and drove his riding-boot hard against the lock of the door. But the doors were well made, and he had to kick out savagely several times before the double doors splintered open.

The drawing room was empty. ‘The far door,’ he said, running towards it. He pulled it open, and just as he did so, he heard Jessica scream.

Terror had lent Jessica a strength she did not know she possessed. She kicked furiously at Harry, glad that she was wearing serviceable half-boots rather than the usual light slippers she wore in the summer. He winced but kept that hand clamped over her mouth. Summoning all her courage, she pulled back a little and bit down on that hand as hard as she could. ‘Vixen!’ shouted Harry as Jessica, finding her mouth free at last, screamed for all she was worth. He slapped her hard across the face and she fell, sprawling on the polished wooden floor.

‘Open up!’ came a shout. Robert’s voice.

Jessica stumbled to her feet. ‘You will hang,’ she said.

‘When did a man ever hang for pleasuring a wench?’ he jeered. ‘The door is locked.’

He was about to approach her again when he heard heavy blows on the locked door. Some dim thought that he was well and truly in disgrace and may as well be rewarded for it made him ignore the savage onslaught on the door and grab hold of Jessica and bear her down onto the floor. She twisted and writhed and screamed.

At that moment the door burst open, hanging crazily on broken hinges. Harry leaped to his feet and backed away as Miss Trumble helped Jessica up, crying in dismay at the sight of the girl’s bare breasts spilling out of her ripped gown.

Robert advanced on Harry, his fists clenched. Harry seized up his sword again and flipped another one to Robert. ‘Try to defend yourself, milksop of a professor,’ he jeered.

Miss Trumble tried to lead Jessica from the room, but she said, ‘Stay. If he kills Robert, then I will kill him – somehow, someway I will kill him.’

The triumphant anger in Harry’s face faded as he realized this professor was playing with him, was the better swordsman by far. He began to lash out wildly until Robert, who had knocked the protective button off his own foil, feinted, went under Harry’s guard, and pinked him in the shoulder. More feints and more parries, and Robert drove Harry towards the wall and then flicked the sword out of Harry’s hand.

‘You cannot kill me,’ panted Harry. ‘You would need to flee the country and never see your dear Jessica again.’

Robert, his eyes blazing, stabbed the point of his sword straight into Harry’s shoulder. ‘There!’ he said. ‘That might disable you for a while.’

Harry clutched at his bleeding shoulder, his face white. ‘You’ve killed me,’ he whispered through blanched lips, and then he fell in a dead faint on the floor.

Robert swung round and looked in contempt at the servants clustered in the doorway. ‘Go about your duties. Mr and Mrs Devers shall hear on their return how you were prepared to stand by and let a young lady be nearly raped. Off with you! You disgust me!’

‘Come, Jessica,’ said Miss Trumble gently. ‘It is all over here. Let us go home. I shall make you a soothing posset, and you shall go to bed.’

‘Do as she says,’ said Robert wearily. ‘I had best get a physician to attend to this churl. I have no wish to hang because of the death of such a whoreson.’

Jessica allowed herself to be led away. It was not at all like romances, she thought in a dazed and muddled way. Robert should have taken her in his arms, not just stood there, looking tired and disgusted with the whole sorry affair.

‘I do not know that I will ever forgive myself,’ mourned Miss Trumble on the way home. ‘What was I about, to believe he meant you no harm? But even in my wildest dreams I did not for a moment think he would dare to go so far in a house full of servants, and with me waiting downstairs.’

‘He’s mad,’ said Jessica with a shiver.

‘You are safe and free of him. It will take some time to recover,’ said Miss Trumble, pulling the shawls she had collected from Mannerling to cover Jessica’s ripped gown closer about her.

Lady Beverley was not much help to Jessica, for she wept and screamed and then went into strong hysterics when she heard what had happened and was only stopped when Miss Trumble slapped her smartly across the face. Jessica’s sisters listened in stunned silence to Miss Trumble’s story.

‘I will go and sit by the side of Jessica’s bed,’ said Miss Trumble, ‘so that I can be there when she awakes.’

When she left the room, there was a long silence. Then Lizzie said, ‘I am glad she is safe. I am glad it is all over. Not only is Harry Devers mad, but we have all been driven crazy by Mannerling.’

‘Leave me,’ said Lady Beverley faintly. ‘No, not you, Rachel and Abigail. Stay with me. The rest of you go away.’

When she was alone with the twins, Lady Beverley said, ‘I find it all very hard to believe.’

Rachel said, ‘But we saw her. You saw how he had ripped Jessica’s gown.’

‘You do not understand the gentlemen, my dears. Look at it this way. Miss Trumble – who, I may add, takes too much upon herself – said that they had both gone to Mannerling to tell Mr Harry that the wedding was off. Mr Harry, I admit, is a man of very strong passions. He was madly in love with Jessica, and yet she tells him two weeks before the wedding that she does not want to marry him. His passions were understandably inflamed.’