The Accidental Marriage (6 page)

‘That one looks like the British coat of arms,’ Sir Carey said. ‘And now the Russian. How ingenious.’

After a while Fanny began to shiver, and they went back towards the ballroom. On the way they met Prince Metternich and his wife, who stopped and said a few gracious words.

He was tall and elegant, with blond curly hair. He was, Julia had been told, an excellent horseman and a good swimmer, though she doubted he would be swimming in the River Danube just now. Julia could understand why so many women seemed attracted to him, despite his reputation for being stiff and condescending. His wife Eleonore was small and plain, but she had been possessed of a large dowry, and Metternich’s family estates in the Rhineland had been lost during the wars. She seemed gentle, but her smile was wistful and Julia detected a sad expression in her eyes.

Fanny was overcome, commenting as they moved away on how charming they were.

‘I don’t know how she endures his affairs,’ Sir Carey said. ‘He is so blatant over them.’

Julia glanced at him. She felt instinctively that he was not the sort of man either to have affairs, or, if he did, to flaunt them.

He asked Fanny to dance, but she excused herself, saying she was feeling tired and would prefer to sit quietly at the side and watch.

‘Shall I go and find Frederick?’ Julia asked. Not that he would be of much use, she thought, but at least she might persuade him Fanny ought to go home. It was long after midnight, and she was looking pale and exhausted.

‘No, dear, you dance. This is an occasion you will want to remember all your life. You must make the most of it.’

So Julia danced once more with Sir Carey, and then with various other men, mostly Austrian officers who had been present at the victory parade earlier that day in the Prater, and were full of pride at the splendour of the show and the hospitality their city was providing for so many important people.

From time to time Julia went back to Fanny, and was relieved that her sister had been joined by Mrs Pryce and a few of her older friends. They seemed content to sit and gossip, so Julia gave herself up to the pleasure of the occasion. She would never again, she was sure, be involved in such a spectacular party. She’d overheard more than one person saying it put even the Hofburg parties in the shade.

At last, however, Fanny admitted she was tired, and Julia went with her to order the carriage. Frederick was nowhere to be found, and he, she told herself, could walk home. It was what he deserved for his neglect of Fanny. They hadn’t seen him all evening.

There was a tremendous crush of departing guests, but eventually Julia found a footman to send for their carriage. These were arriving in an endless line, but Julia could see it would be an hour or more before their own appeared. She glanced round. There were so many people on the huge flight of stairs she wondered it did not give way. Many of the people, wrapped in cloaks, were sitting on the stairs, and she turned to suggest to Fanny that they make their way to the side and do the same.

Fanny was even paler than before, and as Julia caught her arm, she uttered a faint moan and sank to the floor, swooning.

Julia exclaimed in dismay, and bent over her sister.

‘Fanny, are you all right? Oh, please, give her room,’ she said to the people crowding round her. ‘She needs air.’

‘Let me.’

It was Sir Carey, who had miraculously appeared beside her. He bent down and with no apparent effort lifted Fanny in his arms. Julia, almost unconsciously, noticed the muscles in his arms and legs as he straightened up. He forced a way through the crowd, uttering apologies, and carried Fanny down the stairs to where there was more space. Julia followed in his wake, clutching the reticule Fanny had dropped, in which she knew there were smelling salts.

At the bottom of the stairs Sir Carey spoke to one of the footmen, and a lady just entering a coach, overhearing, turned towards him.

‘Lift your wife in here, sir, and we will convey her to your home. It could be hours before your own carriage can be brought up.’

Fanny was passed, like a parcel, Julia thought rather hysterically, into the coach, and Sir Carey helped her in too, then sprang in himself after giving the coachman the direction. Julia had the smelling salts in her hand, and Fanny soon revived, rather tearful, and bewildered to find herself in a coach with strangers.

They turned out to be a German count and countess from a small duchy north of Bavaria, who brushed aside Julia’s thanks.

‘What else would anyone do? It was a magnificent occasion, of course, but there were so many lights the ballroom and the entrance were far too hot. It is not surprising the lady swooned.’

By the time they reached their building Fanny was able to walk, and after thanking her rescuers, she was helped by Julia and Sir Carey to climb the stairs to their apartment.

‘Sir Carey, you’ve been so kind.’

‘Nonsense. If you will be all right now I’ll go back and find Sir Frederick. he must be wondering what has happened to you.’

I doubt that, Julia thought as she and Maggie helped Fanny into bed. Frederick cared only for his own enjoyment. He was more likely to blame Fanny for causing an incident which might have been embarrassing to him.

Fanny was unwell for several days, keeping to her room. She confided to Julia that she had overheard Mrs Webber at the Metternich ball speculating about Julia, saying she had heard rumours that Julia had been wise to leave England because of some scandal attached to her.

‘What on earth could she have meant?’

Julia laughed. ‘You said she was an incorrigible gossip. She’s also a crony of Frau Gunter, and that old witch threatened I’d be sorry for opposing her. I wonder if there is any connection? How else could Mrs Webber even pretend to know anything about me? We’ve never met before.’

Fanny seemed satisfied, though annoyed that Frau Gunter could be so vindictive, and Julia dismissed it from her thoughts. She was more concerned about Frederick’s behaviour and the misery this was causing her sister.

Frederick had arrived home long past dawn after the Peace Ball, but to Julia’s surprise, made no mention of their own journey home. From Frederick’s coachman, Evans, she learnt that, on his finally reaching the point for picking up passengers, and finding no one there, he had been moved on by the footmen. Retreating, he had awaited another summons, assuming the first had been a mistake, but when none came, and there were barely a dozen carriages left, he had returned home.

So Frederick had not wanted his carriage, Julia thought. Had he been off again with his Russian mistress? Julia was utterly convinced that the Countess Tania was indeed his mistress, since he spent very few nights at the apartment, and offered no explanations as to where he had been.

She attempted to distract Fanny by talking about the Congress. Mr Pryce seemed to know many of the English delegation, and almost daily he brought Fanny and Julia news of what was happening in the negotiations.

‘The Tsar and Metternich had another confrontation,’ he said a few days after the Parade. ‘You heard how the Tsar insulted him at Metternich’s own ball, saying soldiers such as he had to be shot because of the decisions taken by the diplomats?’

‘We heard of it afterwards,’ Fanny said. ‘But what now?’

‘Alexander sent for him, and raged at him for two hours, blaming Austria for the Polish question not being settled. He even threatened him with a sword.’

‘Not very regal behaviour,’ Julia said. ‘What happened then?’

‘Metternich offered to resign. He is distraught, they tell me. He has not been himself since the affair with the Duchess of Sagan ended. He took that badly. Now most of the German states are blaming him, saying he ignores their claims in favour of a confederation led by Austria and Prussia.’

‘So what will happen? Is this Congress going to last for ever?’ Fanny asked, sighing. ‘We’ve been here for six weeks or more, and nothing has yet been decided, it seems.’

‘The Emperors and King Frederick are to visit Budapest soon. Perhaps, with them safely occupied, the Ministers can get down to some detailed negotiation.’

‘Let us hope so,’ Fanny said. ‘I am so weary of living in these cramped conditions, with no notion of when we will be able to go home. If we don’t leave soon we will not be at Greystones for Christmas, and then no doubt we’ll be kept here for months afterwards if the roads are impassable due to snow.’

‘Can you not persuade Sir Frederick to leave?’ Mr Pryce asked. ‘He has no official position, he does not have to stay.’

Fanny shook her head. ‘He has no desire to go home,’ she said quietly. ‘We will be here for months.’

‘Has Prince Metternich cancelled the costume ball he planned?’ Julia asked, anxious to change the subject, for she could see that Fanny was on the verge of tears.

‘Not as far as I have heard. I doubt he will. He may be exceedingly unpopular, blamed for the failure to agree on Poland, and suffering at the loss of the Duchess, but he’s a strong man.’

* * * *

The costume ball went ahead soon after the Rulers returned from Budapest. The women were to wear ethnic dress, and Julia was delighted that Fanny’s spirits lifted as they pondered on what might be called an ethnic English costume.

‘I think I’ll go as a milkmaid,’ Julia suggested.

‘The churns they carry would be a nuisance while you were dancing,’ Fanny said, giggling.

‘Mm, yes. But what are we best known for?’

‘If we were Welsh we could wear red cloaks and those tall pointed hats. That is what they wear, isn’t it?’

‘I know! The English are known as sailors and soldiers. I’ll go as a Jolly Jack Tar and you can be a soldier. It should be easy to borrow suitable clothes. And I’ve always wanted to wear trousers!’

‘Frederick would never permit it.’

Julia bridled. ‘He has no control over me, to tell me what I may or may not wear!’

In the end they compromised by going in the simple kind of gowns worn by village girls and maidservants, made of gingham, with plain white aprons and mob caps. When Fanny saw Julia as they were about to set off, she shook her head, scandalised.

‘Julia, you are showing your ankles!’

‘But Fanny, how am I to go harvesting, or scrubbing the front doorstep, in a gown that touches the floor?’

She refused to do anything about it, threatening to kilt her gown even higher. ‘As the village girls at home did when they were working,’ she reminded Fanny.

There was no time to insist, as they knew there would be another crush of carriages in the Rennweg, so Fanny gave way.

If anything, this occasion was even more glittering than the Peace Ball. Everyone of importance was present, and there was a great deal of variety in the gowns. Julia gazed with envy at the pretty and colourful costumes from the different countries, and when she asked one Austrian lady about them, was told that every region had its own variation.

Then she heard a few titters and turned to see what was so amusing.

‘Isn’t that Lady Castlereagh just coming in?’ she whispered to Fanny. ‘What on earth has she got in her hair?’

‘Disgusting,’ someone behind her said. ‘It’s a mockery, disrespectful!’

‘It can’t be!’ Fanny said, shaking her head. ‘She wouldn’t dare!’

‘Dare what?’ Julia demanded impatiently.

‘It’s exactly like the Order of the Garter. But surely Lord Castlereagh would not permit it?’

It seemed he had, judging by other shocked comments Julia heard from the English guests.

‘Emily Hobart always was fat and dowdy,’ one woman said. ‘I never could understand what he saw in her.’

‘But they say he’s devoted,’ another replied.

‘Heaven knows why! Did you hear, they employed a special dancing master to give them lessons,’ the first tittered. ‘I’m longing to see whether the poor fellow managed to make her any more graceful.’

Julia turned and stared at them, and saw it was Mrs Webber, who had been at Fanny’s party. She frowned. This sort of sniggering gossip had been rife during her only Season, and she had hated it then. Her refusal to join in with other debutantes, busy tearing to shreds the faces, figures and reputations of those not in their particular circle, had made her unpopular then. They’d called her a prude, and mocked her. She’d been thankful when she’d been able to go back to the country, and had lost no time finding herself a position where she did not have to meet such people.

‘Charmingly rustic,’ said Sir Carey, coming up to them.

Julia promptly forgot the gossips, and turned to him, smiling. ‘Why can’t we have a proper English national dress?’ she asked. ‘Most of the English have not bothered to use their imaginations. Especially the men,’ she added, grinning up at him.

‘I admit it! Should I have worn a footman’s livery? Or come as a chimney sweep or butcher?’

‘With dirty clothes? Why, no one would have cared to dance with you! But you must admit men have a wider choice of costume, so I think it ill of you not to have bothered!’

He laughed. ‘As I am not dirty, come and dance with me.’

‘Is there ever to be any progress?’ she asked later, when they were sipping champagne. ‘From all we hear the Congress is falling apart.’

‘Don’t despair. It’s always difficult when so many different people all want contradictory things. But we can’t afford to fail.’

* * * *

During November and December the negotiations went on. Julia followed the twists and turns with interest, but Fanny was sunk too much in misery to want to know all the intricacies of the different alliances and the quarrels, particularly between the Tsar and Metternich. Frederick spent only half his time at the apartment, and he did not bother to deny that he spent the rest of it with the Countess Tania. Occasionally Fanny roused herself to take some interest in the entertainments Vienna continued to offer the visitors, but she refused more invitations than she accepted, saying she felt too weak to want to face the crowds at balls and receptions. Julia suspected she wanted to avoid Mrs Webber’s vicious tongue. Fanny was unable to ignore gossip as she did herself.