The Secret Duke (41 page)

But what was the work?

Sheets were typeset and printed and then disappeared. Bella suspected they were in Lady Fowler’s room, but she couldn’t see how to retrieve the large stacks. She took some comfort from the fact that no news sheet had been distributed, but its existence hung over the house like the sword of Damocles.

The weddings hung in the air too. They hadn’t happened. As October drew to an end, Bella summoned Kitty and Annie and demanded a date.

The sisters exchanged glances. “It’s not quite convenient for us yet, miss,” Kitty said. “We do hope you don’t mind.”

“Why is it not convenient?”

More shifty looks. “We’re not sure we like the house!” Annie blurted.

“Two weeks ago, you said it was perfect.”

“It’s a bit dark,” Annie said. “We’re looking for others.”

Bella sighed. “Are you delaying because of me?”

They both looked down. “We don’t like to desert you, miss,” Kitty said.

“It’s more than we can bear!” Annie cried, looking at Bella with tears in her eyes. “After all you’ve done for us. Why aren’t you leaving London, like you said?”

“Hush, Annie,” said Kitty fiercely. “I’m sorry, miss. You take your time.”

Bella looked to the heavens for guidance. It would be more than she could bear to abandon the remainder of the flock yet, but she couldn’t have the girls putting off their wedding again and again like this.

“Two weeks,” she said, using a Bellona voice. “Fix the date for two weeks hence, and no backsliding. Peg and I can manage perfectly. Yes?”

“Yes, miss,” they muttered, but still reluctantly.

Bella went to hug them. “You are the dearest girls, and you’ve served me very well. I only want to see you happy. Promise me you’ll marry in two weeks and be happy.”

Both smiled, blushing pink. “No doubt of that, miss,” Kitty said.

She sent them back to their work and contemplated. Eventually she saw a solution. This house had only three bedchambers. One was hers, one was Peg’s, and the other was the sisters’. With them gone, she could move Clara and Hortensia into that room, and Mary could share her own big bed.

It would be a crush, but it would work, and at that point she’d end her association with Lady Fowler. She was doing no good, and could feel storm clouds gathering. She’d lingered only to help those she wanted to help. The Drummond sisters and those who’d chosen to support them could fend for themselves.

 

The wedding was a simple affair, but brimming over with happiness. Kitty and Annie had old friends from before their father’s death and new ones among the servants at nearby houses. With the family and friends of the two brothers, about twenty people packed into Bella’s house afterward for the wedding breakfast.

Bella was truly happy for the girls, but she had a hard time keeping a full smile. This only reminded her of what could never be.

She fought day and night not to think of Thorn, but the pain seemed to get worse rather than better. Daily she had to fight the urge to go to Dover and seek him out again. She’d not been able to stop herself from reading books about ships and navigation and even practicing knots.

She could be a good captain’s wife; she knew she could. She would endure the long times apart when he was at sea and make a cozy home for him when he came ashore.

He clearly didn’t think so, however, and she would not chase after him again. She would not.

When she thought about moving, however, about being somewhere he’d never been, she was tempted to let him know her new direction. He had given her a place to send a message: the Black Swan Inn, Stowting, Kent. Wouldn’t it be simple courtesy to send a letter to him there, giving her new location? Just in case he had need to find her.

Folly, but such folly possessed her, even as she waved off Kitty and Annie to their new lives. That night, she couldn’t help thinking of their marriage beds. She hoped their husbands were kind and able to show them the wonders Thorn had shown her.

Without the girls, the house felt empty, but she’d soon fill it. Before she could do so, she received notice that Mr. Clatterford was in London and would like to speak to her. She immediately invited him for tea, and took pleasure in becoming Bella for the occasion. She wore the pretty sprigged dress, and he took this as a sign that she’d ceased to be Bellona Flint. “I am most relieved, my dear. What I hear of Lady Fowler concerns me. A sad case. Lord Fowler was . . .” He shook his head. “All the same, I fear she may be connected with dangerous matters. I received a warning.”

“A warning?”

But he shook his head again. “It was very oblique, my dear, offered only when I mentioned your connection. But you have no more connection?”

Bella almost lied, but wanted to have done with deception. Even so, she would omit the idea of the women coming to live here.

“I will want to say farewells, sir, when I move. But I don’t know where I can live comfortably.”

“And now there’s your brother’s behavior to add to the pot,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m not sure if you’ve heard. . . . Most unsavory. Most.”

Bella’s face went hot. She hoped it was taken for embarrassment or anger. “Peg heard gossip from Cars Green. Hard to believe.”

“But true, my dear. I have that from most reliable sources. Quite shocking. Sir Augustus has always seemed so . . . otherwise.” He shook his head. “Of course, such a salacious story, and involving three magistrates, has spread.”

Bella had hoped it would be confined to one area, but as soon as Peg had received the gossip, she’d known that could not be. “I don’t suppose it makes much difference.” She sighed. “Dust on dirt.”

He put down his cup. “I have been giving your situation considerable thought, my dear. Considerable thought. Your father made much of your sin, but he was known for his stern and unforgiving nature. Given how impeccable your behavior has been since, many may doubt that old story, given encouragement.”

“My behavior was impeccable under duress, sir. And now there’s my time as Bellona.”

“We will forget Bellona Flint. You have simply lived very quietly for the past six months, recovering your health and constitution.”

“Will that be believed?”

“If there’s no reason to doubt it. Consider, you never committed a sin or caused a scandal under the noses of those who matter.”

Bella thought of the Olympian Revels, and of the Hart and Hare. But no one knew that had been Bella Barstowe.

“Most of the people who matter,” he continued, “have never heard of you.”

“They’ve probably heard of Augustus,” she pointed out.

“But can be persuaded to pity you the connection rather than apply his dirt to you.”

Bella wrinkled her brow. “Do you really think so?”

“I would not deceive you, my dear. Especially on such a matter. Lady Raddall would come back to haunt me. I do believe that if you present yourself to society again, and under the cloak of the right lady, you could be accepted.”

“Could be?” Bella queried, wary of hoping.

“It will take courage, and some of the bold spirit that put you in peril all those years ago, but also the same spirit that rescued you then.”

“Peg Gussage refers to that as my March- hare madness.”

“Does she indeed? But I would like to see you frolic.” He took more cake. “Delicious. Mistress Gussage is a treasure.”

“Yes,” Bella agreed. “But what lady would give her support to someone like me? Are you thinking of Athena? Her husband will never permit it.”

“Even if your sister were willing, Miss Barstowe, she does not have the stature. I have already broached the matter discreetly to some ladies I know.”

“Oh. Who?”

Perhaps he smirked. “The Trayce sisters. They were acquainted with your great-grandmother in Tunbridge Wells.” Yes, he was very satisfied with himself for some reason.

“Trayce. I believe Lady Raddall did mention them, but they seemed somewhat odd. One wears a huge red wig and another is dotty?”

“Your great-grandmother was odd in the eyes of many,” Mr. Clatterford pointed out. “The Trayce ladies are eccentric, to be sure, but not to be discounted. The very opposite. They are aunts of both the Marquess of Ashart and the Marquess of Rothgar, and though they rarely travel, or even gad about the Wells, they are copious letter writers and wield great influence.”

“But if they don’t go into society, what can they do for me?”

“Their mere smile would work miracles.”

“Really?” This was all sounding very unlikely to Bella, though something about the name was familiar. Then it came to her. “Trayce! They’re on the subscription list for Lady Fowler’s letter. Are they of her type?”

Mr. Clatterford chuckled. “Absolutely not, but I’m not surprised they receive the letter. They enjoy a juicy scandal sheet. You do realize that many of the subscribers to that letter do so for the enjoyment of the stories she shares?”

“I have come to, poor lady.”

“She has no idea?”

“By now, I doubt she has any idea about anything, but she used to see the letter’s growing popularity as proof that she was changing the world.”

He shook his head. “A sad case, but I believe your situation can be improved. Are you willing to move to Tunbridge Wells? To live with the Trayce ladies for a while? You can act as a companion to them, but you would be treated as a guest.”

Bella’s instinct was to refuse. She’d determined to cope on her own, but another sanctuary was very tempting. Just for a little while. Especially if it might restore her reputation.

Hopes stirred.

She quashed them before she sank back into sorrow.

“What of Peg?” she asked. “And there’s the boy, Ed Grange.”

“Ah,” he said. “I doubt it would be suitable to take them to your new home, my dear, but I would be loath to let Mistress Gussage go. She does have a wonderful way with cakes.”

Bella smiled. “I’m sure she’ll bake some for you whenever you visit, sir.” Bella was thinking. “I could afford to keep up this house, could I not?”

“If you wish.”

Bella didn’t tell him about the other ladies, but that meant she could give them the use of this house and escape with an easy conscience.

“Then Peg and Ed can stay here for now, and if the Trayce ladies will befriend me, I will go.”

“Excellent. Once you have spent some time with them, you will have entrée anywhere. Anyone of importance who visits the Wells pays homage at their house, and Lady Thalia and Lady Urania do go about the town a little. Once people have accepted your acquaintance there, they must accept it elsewhere, and, of course, they will soon see what an estimable young lady you are.”

Bella raised her brows.

“None of that. You are most estimable, my dear. There are also many eligible young men who visit the Wells,” he added with a twinkle. “It is time you thought of marriage.”

Bella blushed again. “I do,” she replied honestly. “But I will marry only for love.”

“Love joined with wisdom,” he advised, “so please don’t play the March hare in such matters. Consult me, Miss Barstowe, before commitment. There are many charming rascals about, and you do have a modest fortune.”

“A comfortable annuity.”

“But that ends at thirty, at which time you receive the complete inheritance.”

“Do I?” Bella asked, startled. “Perhaps you told me at the first, but my head was spinning. How much will it be, do you think?”

“Still in the region of fifteen thousand, for the interest is paying your income. Enough to tempt a patient rascal, however, so you must have settlements to protect you.”

Fifteen thousand, in her own hands, under her own control. It was alarming. “I promise you, Mr. Clatterford, I will only marry wisely.”

That was easy to say, for at the moment Bella couldn’t imagine marrying anyone other than Thorn.

“I return to the Wells in three days. Will you be able to travel with me?”

Bella would need to explain it all to Peg and arrange for the money to maintain the house. Then help the women to move here. “I have arrangements to make.”

“I find myself impatient to see you a fashionable young lady in Tunbridge Wells, accepted by society, dancing at balls. Attending masquerades . . .”

Bella almost jumped in her chair, but she managed a smile. “It sounds delightful.”

“You will come?”

Impulsively, Bella said, “Yes. In three days I will come.”

Mr. Clatterford assisted Bella with the practical arrangements, and she made the house ready for the women to move into after she left. Because there’d be more room then, she found two foundling maids to serve them. The girls weren’t as quick and clever as Kitty and Annie, but they were steady workers.

She claimed illness as reason for not visiting Lady Fowler’s house, for there was nothing she could do there. She stayed inside, readying the house and also making small improvements to her gowns, being Bella, not Bellona, every delightful day.

It was seven o’clock at night and she was packing the last few items for the next day’s journey when she heard the door knocker. She peered out of her window and saw a woman below. She knew the hat. It was Mary Evesham’s.

She ran to the head of the stairs and caught Peg on her way across the hall. “Say I’m not home!” she hissed.

Peg opened the door. “Yes, ma’am?”

“Miss Flint. I need to speak to her.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am. She’s not at home.”

“Not at home? I thought she was unwell.”

“She’s at the doctor’s,” Peg said.

“At this hour?”

Bella thought Peg might get flustered, but she should have known better.

“I can take a message, ma’am, and give it to her when she returns.”

After a moment, Mary said, “Very well. Please tell her it’s urgent. She’s needed. If she’s at all capable of it, will she please come to Lady Fowler’s? Matters are so very, very grave.”