April Lady Read online

  ‘If he doesn’t fail!’ Letty said. ‘I begged him most particularly to meet me here today, but it might not be possible, perhaps. If there is a press of business, you know, he might be detained all day at the Foreign Office. Only would he not have contrived to send me word?’

  Miss Thorne was strongly of the opinion that the violence of Mr Allandale’s feelings would outweigh all other considerations. She drew Letty to the window, to watch for his arrival, for she had formed the intention of running down to admit him into the house before he could advertize his presence to the servants by knocking on the door. ‘For it would be fatal if Mama were to discover that he had been here! If her suspicions were aroused, depend upon it, she would instantly go to your brother, for she likes the connection as little as he does. She was talking about it only yesterday, calling it a shockingly bad match, and wondering that Mr Allandale should be so encroaching! I kept my eyes lowered, and my thoughts locked in my bosom, but you may guess how I felt, on hearing such words from one whom I have believed to be all sensibility! Oh, my dearest Letty, I vowed to myself that if any exertion on my part could save you from the misery of being sacrificed to pride and consequence it should not be lacking!’

  Letty thanked her, but said in a more practical spirit that since it was very unlikely that Cardross would listen to her advice there was really nothing that she could do to achieve this noble end. Miss Thorne, who had embraced with enthusiasm the rôle of go-between so suddenly thrust upon her, was daunted. Upon reflection, she was obliged to own that the ways in which a young lady in her seventeenth year could aid a pair of star-crossed lovers were few. In the fastness of her bedchamber it was possible to weave agreeable romances in which she played a leading and often heroic rôle. ‘Noblest of girls! We owe it all to you!’ declared Mr Allandale, having been joined in wedlock to Letty upon the eve of her marriage to a nobleman of dissolute habits (chosen for her by her brother), by a clergyman smuggled into the house at dead of night through the agency of her devoted cousin. In these romances, Selina overcame all difficulties by ignoring them, but in the cold light of day she was not so lost in dreams as to be unable to perceive that in a world depressingly humdrum certain insurmountable obstacles stood in the way of her ambition, not the least of which was Mr Allandale himself. Though Letty would perceive in a flash the beauty of that marriage-scene in a dim room lit by a single branch of candles held up by her cousin, it would probably take a great deal of persuasion to induce the ardent lover to lend himself to such an improper proceeding. As for the indispensable cleric, not the wildest optimist could suppose that the Reverend William Tuxted, who happened to be the only clergyman with whom Selina was well acquainted, could be suborned by any means whatsoever into performing his part in this affair.

  Melancholy though they were, these considerations had not the power to depress Selina for long. Letty’s love affair might not attain the heights of drama, but it was still a very romantic story; and there was comfort in the thought that without her cousin’s assistance she would have been hard put to it to have contrived a clandestine meeting with her suitor. Selina’s good offices had not been required to promote her elder sisters’ espousals; and nothing, in her opinion, could have been more insipid than Maria’s marriage to Mr Thistleton unless it were Fanny’s betrothal to Mr Humby: an event which had taken place on the previous evening. Neither lady had encountered the least opposition, each gentleman being possessed of a genteel fortune, and a situation in life which made him a very eligible suitor. Fanny’s betrothal was perhaps more tolerable than Maria’s, Mr Humby having been unknown to the Thornes until he began to dangle after her. This, it must be allowed, was less deplorable than Maria’s marriage to John Thistleton, whom she had known all her life; but Miss Selina Thorne was going to think herself pretty hardly used if Fate did not provide for her a dashing lover of such hopeless ineligibility as must assure for her the most determined parental opposition, accompanied by persecution, which she would bear with the greatest heroism, and culminating in an elopement. Pending the appearance on the horizon of this gentleman, she was prepared to throw herself heart and soul into Letty’s cause. She found no difficulty in crediting Cardross with all the attributes of a tyrant; and if Mr Allandale’s propriety seemed at first to indicate that there was little hope of his engaging on any desperate action she soon decided that this was the expression not of an innate respectability, but of interesting reserve.

  She was giving Letty an account of the degrading congratulations which had greeted the news of Fanny’s betrothal when she caught sight of Mr Allandale approaching the house. She at once put her plan into execution, flying with such swift feet down the stairs that she reached the front door considerably in advance of him, and found herself inviting only the ambient air to come in and fear nothing. However, Mr Allandale soon arrived; and from having rehearsed (though involuntarily) her speech of welcome she was able to improve on it. ‘I knew you would not fail!’ she uttered. ‘I will lead you to her immediately. Do not fear that you will be interrupted! Not a soul knows of your coming! Hush!’

  Mr Allandale, already surprised to find the front door being held open by one of the daughters of the house, blinked at her. ‘I beg your pardon?’ he said.

  ‘Do not speak so loud!’ she admonished him. ‘The servants must not suspect your presence.’

  ‘But how is this?’ he demanded. ‘Is not Mrs Thorne at home?’

  ‘No, no, you have nothing to fear!’ she assured him. ‘She and my sister are gone into the City. If they should return, you may depend on me to warn you of their approach!’

  ‘I should not be here,’ he said, looking vexed. ‘It is quite improper for me to be visiting the house in Mrs Thorne’s absence.’

  She was somewhat daunted by this prosaic attitude, but she made a gallant recover. ‘This is no time to be considering the proprieties!’ she said earnestly. ‘Your case is now desperate, and strive though she may to support her spirits under this crushing blow, my cousin is in the greatest affliction! You must come to her immediately!’

  The thought of his Letty’s agony made Mr Allandale turn pale; but still he hung back. ‘I had not supposed that the assignation was of a clandestine nature,’ he said. ‘I cannot think it right! I assured Lord Cardross that such conduct was repugnant to me, and to be visiting your cousin behind his back, and in such a way, cannot be thought to be the part of a man of honour!’

  None of Selina’s romantic schemes had included a lover who had to be urged into the presence of his inamorata, and could she but have found a substitute to take his place in the drama she would then and there have thrust Mr Allandale out of the house. But since she knew of no substitute, and was rather doubtful of Letty’s willingness to accept one, she was obliged to make the best of the unpromising material to her hand. ‘I am persuaded you will not permit such trifling scruples to keep you from Letty’s side!’ she said. ‘Only consider her agitation! She is quite worn down by despair, and I should not wonder at it if her mind were to become wholly overset!’

  Mr Allandale was but human. The dreadful picture conjured up by these words took from him all power of resistance, and without further argument he followed Selina up the stairs.

  ‘I have brought him to you, dearest!’ announced Selina, throwing open the door into the drawing-room.

  Mr Allandale’s afflicted love, who had been trying the effect of a slightly different tilt to her fetching new hat, turned away from the looking-glass, and showed him a countenance glowing with health and beauty. ‘Thank goodness you are come!’ she said. ‘I have been quite in a worry, thinking that perhaps you might not be able to. To be sure, I should have known that you would contrive it by some means or other. Dear Jeremy!’

  Selina could have improved upon this speech, but she had no fault to find with the way in which Letty cast herself upon Mr Allandale’s broad bosom, and flung both arms about his neck. This was a spectacle which
might well have impelled Cardross to have consigned his ward to a strict seminary for the young ladies of quality but it afforded Selina intense, if vicarious, gratification. Lingering for long enough to see that Mr Allandale, his propriety notwithstanding, was returning this artless embrace with a fervour that made Letty squeak, and protest that he was crushing her ribs, she withdrew reluctantly, to take up a post of vantage on the half-landing.

  Mr Allandale, casting an uneasy glance over his shoulder, was relieved to see that she had left the room. Relaxing his hold on Letty, he said seriously: ‘You know, my love, this is not at all the thing! That cousin of yours – !’

  ‘Oh, do not mind her!’ Letty said. ‘She will never betray us!’

  ‘No, but for a girl of her age – why, she is not yet out, I believe! It is very shocking.’

  ‘Fiddle!’ said Letty, drawing him to the sofa, and sitting down beside him there. ‘We have so much to discuss, Jeremy! This dreadful news which you sent me! Six weeks! Oh, dearest, pray tell them you won’t go!’

  Mr Allandale was by this time pretty well acquainted with his love, but this ingenuous plea startled him. ‘Not go! But, my sweetest life – !’

  ‘It is too soon!’ she urged. ‘If you are to sail in six weeks’ time, only consider the difficulties that confront us! I have the most melancholy persuasion that I can never, in so short a time, prevail upon Giles to consent to our marriage.’

  He possessed himself of her hands, and sat holding them in a close grasp. ‘Letty, you will never prevail upon him to do so,’ he said heavily.

  She stared at him, her eyes round in astonishment. ‘Never? Oh, how absurd! Of course I shall! It is merely that this comes so suddenly, before he has grown accustomed to the notion, you know!’

  He shook his head. ‘He will do everything that lies within his power to prevent our marriage. I have been as sure as a man may be of that ever since the day I called in Grosvenor Square. Nor can I blame him. From the worldly standpoint –’

  ‘Well, I can blame him!’ Letty interrupted, her eyes flashing, and her colour considerably heightened. ‘If I do not care a fig for worldly considerations I am sure he need not! And if my happiness means so little to him I shall think myself perfectly justified in marrying you in despite of anything he may say!’

  He got up, and began to pace about the room, kneading one fist into the palm of his other hand. ‘If it were only possible! I do not know but what, with this appointment and my prospects, which I do not scruple to say are excellent, I too should think myself justified – But it is to no purpose! Circumstances have placed us wholly in his power.’

  ‘What?’ cried Letty. ‘No such thing! I am not in anyone’s power, and I hope you are not either!’

  ‘You are under age,’ he said gloomily.

  ‘Oh, well, yes!’ she conceded. ‘But if we were to be married he would be obliged to countenance it, because he would dislike excessively to make a scandal.’

  He was silent for a moment. When he did speak it was in a voice of deep mortification, and as though the words were forced from him. ‘In his power – because I am unable to support a wife. That is what renders my position so hopeless!’

  ‘I would try not to be expensive,’ offered Letty.

  He threw her a warm look, but said: ‘You are used to enjoy the elegancies of life. As my affairs now stand I cannot even offer you its comforts. To remove you from the protection of your brother only to place you in a situation where you would be obliged to practise the most stringent economy would be the action of a scoundrel! I must not – indeed, I will not do it!’

  ‘No, for I don’t think I could practise stringent economies,’ agreed Letty, considering the matter in an impartial spirit. ‘But we could live upon my expectations, couldn’t we?’

  ‘Borrow on your expectations? No! – a thousand times no!’ declared Mr Allandale, with every evidence of repulsion.

  ‘Well, it is what Nell’s brother does,’ argued Letty. ‘I don’t know precisely how he contrives to do it, but if he can I am persuaded I could too, for mine are much better than his, you know.’

  ‘Put it out of your mind!’ begged Mr Allandale, blanching visibly at the appalling vision of debt conjured up by her artless suggestion. ‘Nothing shall prevail upon me to take Lord Dysart for my model!’

  ‘No, very true!’ she replied, recalling his lordship’s unamiable behaviour. ‘I am sure he is the most ramshackle person – besides being excessively disagreeable! Only what is to be done, if you don’t think my allowance sufficient? I have five hundred pounds a year, you know, and I need spend very little of it on my dresses, because I have a great many already.’ She stopped, and her eyes brightened. ‘Yes, and besides that I have suddenly had an excellent notion! I can very well buy hundreds of ells of silk, and muslin, and cambric – enough to set me up for years, I daresay – and tell all the mercers to send their bills to Giles!’

  ‘Good God!’ ejaculated Mr Allandale, pausing in his perambulations to gaze upon her with starting eyes.

  She perceived that her suggestion had not found favour. ‘You don’t think that is what I should do? But consider, Jeremy! Even if he refused to pay – and I don’t think that in the least likely – they couldn’t dun me, because I should be in South America, and so all would be well.’

  It spoke volumes for the depth of Mr Allandale’s love that after the first stunned moment he recovered from an involuntary recoil, and realized that this ingenious solution to their difficulties arose not from depravity but from a vast and touching innocence. ‘That,’ he said gently, ‘would be dishonest, my dearest.’

  ‘Oh!’ said Letty.

  It was plain that she was unconvinced. Mr Allandale was aware that it behoved him to bring her to a more proper frame of mind, but he felt, at this present, unequal to the task, and merely said: ‘Besides, if I were to marry you out of hand there can be little doubt that Cardross would discontinue your allowance.’

  She was quite incredulous. ‘No! He would not be so shabby!’

  ‘He warned me that your fortune remains in his hands until you attain the age of twenty-five. How much of its income you may enjoy is at his discretion. I could not mistake his meaning.’

  ‘Twenty-five?’ gasped Letty. ‘Oh, of all the infamous things! Why, I shall be quite old! I declare I am excessively thankful that I can’t remember my papa, for if he served me such a trick as that he must have been a most detestable man! You would think he meant Giles to chouse me out of my inheritance!’

  ‘No, there is no question of such a thing as that,’ said Mr Allandale painstakingly. ‘It is only –’

  ‘Well, I don’t mean to be worsted by either of them, and so I promise you!’ Letty said briskly. ‘Depend upon it, I shall hit upon a way of bringing Giles about. But I must own, love, that it makes it very hard if you must sail so soon. Jeremy, pray do not!’

  ‘You don’t understand,’ he said. ‘I could not refuse such an adventitious appointment! You would not have me do so.’

  ‘Oh, no! Not refuse it, but could you not tell them that it is not perfectly convenient to you to go to Brazil so soon? Tell them that you will go in three months! I am persuaded we shall have come about by then.’

  This drew a slight, melancholy smile from him, but he shook his head. ‘No, indeed I could not do such a thing! Consider, dearest, how unwise in me it would be to offend my kind patron! I owe this advancement to Lord Roxwell, you know, and to give the least appearance of ingratitude –’

  ‘I have been thinking about that,’ she interrupted. ‘I daresay he was anxious to oblige you, only the thing is that he has quite mistaken the matter.’

  ‘How so?’ he demanded, looking bewildered. ‘He was good enough to say that he had my advancement very much to heart, certainly. I believe I told you that he held my father in great affection.’

 
‘Yes, you did, and it has given me a very good notion. You must go to him instantly, and tell him that you would prefer to be made ambassador!’

  ‘Tell him that I would prefer to be made ambassador?’ repeated Mr Allandale, in a bemused voice.

  ‘In a very civil way, of course,’ she urged, seeing that her notion was not having that success with him which it deserved. ‘You could say that now you have had time to consider the matter you feel that it would be better if you became an ambassador; or – But you will know just how to say it in an exceptionable way!’

  ‘No!’ said Mr Allandale, with a good deal of conviction. ‘I do not know! My dearest life, you don’t know – you have not the least conception – ! It will be many years before I can hope to be so elevated. As for asking Lord Roxwell – Good God!’

  ‘Should you prefer it if I were to ask him?’ enquired Letty. ‘I am not particularly acquainted with him, but Giles knows him, and we meet him for ever at parties.’

  Mr Allandale sat down again beside her, and grasped both her hands. ‘Letty, promise me you will do no such thing!’ he begged. ‘It is not to be thought of! Believe me, it would be quite disastrous!’