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  ‘If I were you, Sherry, I’d send that rogue packing!’ said Prosper.

  ‘He doesn’t worry me,’ responded Sherry, handing him a glass of wine.

  ‘No! He don’t steal your property!’ retorted Prosper.‘When I think of the things of mine that rascal has walked off with – However, that’s not what I came to talk to you about! If you’re not mighty careful, my boy, you’ll find yourself under the hatches! What the devil takes you to 12, Park Place? Young fool! Frittering a fortune away at French hazard, eh?’

  ‘Fudge!’ said Sherry, colouring.

  ‘Fudge, is it? They tell me you’re seen about with that fellow Revesby. He take you to Park Place?’

  ‘What if he did?’

  ‘Thought as much,’ said Prosper, nodding. He sipped his wine, adding matter-of-factly:‘Got a strong notion they load the dice there.’

  Sherry stared at him. ‘It’s a hum! You know nothing of the matter!’

  Prosper gave an indulgent chuckle. ‘If any man in town is to be trusted to know when he’s playing with downhills it’s I!’ he said. ‘Think you’re up to all the tricks, don’t you, Sherry? Well, you ain’t!’ He finished what remained in his glass, and heaved his bulk out of the chair.‘Said all I want to,’ he grunted.‘Know why Revesby ain’t a member of Watier’s? They blackballed him.’

  This interview annoyed Sherry very much; and as Hero came in not ten minutes after he had seen his uncle off the premises, he naturally told her about it, expatiating at length on the folly of persons who held it possible for a fellow’s luck to continue bad indefinitely, and expressing some startling views on the correct measures to pursue when the dice were falling against one. Hero drank all this in, never doubting that every word he spoke was not only infallible, but represented his considered opinion; but she was a little alarmed by a glancing reference to Mr Stoke’s visit earlier in the week. No sooner had she been favoured with a scathing description of this gentleman’s errand than she conceived the notion of returning to the modiste who created them, two ball-dresses, one opera-cloak, and a delicious promenade dress, with gathered sleeves and a high, arched collar, which was designed to be worn with a Spanish lapelled coat of fine orange merino adorned with epaulets and a border of raised white velvet. Sherry, however, when she suggested this sacrifice, was horrified, and forbade her either to do any such thing or to bother her head over such matters. He then passed a few strictures on the household bills, wondered that she should not contrive better, and said that he had no doubt that Groombridge was drinking all the best champagne.

  So Hero nerved herself to remonstrate with the ruler of her kitchen. Such was her trepidation that Mrs Groombridge eyed her with overt contempt, and answered her in a very insolent manner. This was a mistake, for her mistress had a temper. The interview then proceeded on wholly unpremeditated lines, and ended with the abrupt departure of the Groombridges from Half Moon Street. As the master of the house was holding a bachelor dining-party there that evening, it was small wonder that Bootle, Jason, and the fat page-boy should have looked with as much dismay as respect upon their mistress. But however little Cousin Jane might have taught Hero of the ways of the world, she had unquestionably attended to the domestic side of her education. The page-boy was sent off with a note from my Lady Sheringham to my Lady Kilby, excusing herself, on the score of the headache, from attending a soirée that evening; the superior abigail above-stairs was staggered to learn that she was to assist my lady in the kitchen; Bootle bowed politely to a decree that he was to act as butler; and Hero penetrated the fastnesses of the basement regions, thereby frightening the kitchen-maid so much that she dropped a dish on the stone floor, and was of very little use for the rest of the evening. However, this was not felt to signify, since Jason, recommending her to stop napping her bib, offered his services to Hero in her stead, stipulating only that his livery should be protected by a belly-cheat. As soon as the assembled company had grasped that this elegant phrase was a euphemism for an apron, the desired article of clothing was produced; and the Tiger proved himself to be extremely expert amongst the cooking-pots.

  It was not until dinner was nearly over that the Viscount noticed that he was being waited on by his valet. Since the party consisted of Lord Wrotham, the Honourable Ferdy Fakenham and Mr Ringwood, he had no hesitation in demanding the reason for this departure from the normal, freely hazarding the guess that Groombridge was lying incapable on the pantry floor. Bootle, who disapproved of such unceremonious behaviour, returned a non-committal answer; but Jason, who was waiting to deliver the next course into his hands, put his head into the room and announced that both Groombridges having piked on the bean the Missus was cooking the dinner, and in bang-up style.

  Upon receipt of this amazing information, the whole party repaired at once to the kitchen, Sherry having the forethought to take the wine-decanter along with him, and Ferdy pausing only to secrete his watch-and-chain in one of the vases on the dining-room mantelpiece. Hero, delightfully unconscious of dishevelled tresses, flushed cheeks, and a smut on her nose, made them welcome. They drank her health, ate up all the apricot tartlets she had prepared, sampled the contents of the jars on the big dresser, and wondered that they should never before have had the happy thought of invading a kitchen. After that they swept Hero off with them upstairs, leaving the servants to wash up the dishes. Bootle and the superior abigail exchanged speaking glances, the kitchen-maid retired to indulge a mild fit of hysterics in the scullery, and Jason, seating himself at his ease at the table, requested the page-boy to flick him some panam and cash. This intelligent lad, who had for months been enriching an already varied vocabulary from Jason’s store, at once complied with the request by cutting the Tiger a large slice of bread and cheese.

  On the following day, Bootle, whose sense of what was due to himself would not allow of a repetition of the previous night’s performance, volunteered to find and install a respectable couple to fill the Groombridges’ places. He magically produced a cousin of his own, who, with his wife, almost immediately took possession of the kitchen. There was no noticeable diminution in the household bills, but since Mrs Bradgate grilled kidneys just as Sherry liked them, and always agreed smilingly with everything Hero said; and as Bradgate’s depredations on the cellar were too discreet to attract attention, the young couple were able to congratulate themselves on having made a change for the better.

  Sherry’s more personal affairs seemed to be on the mend too, his friends Revesby and Brockenhurst having counselled him to alter his habits a little. So instead of pursuing his ill-fortune at Watier’s, where they played hazard and macao for stakes varying from ten shillings to two hundred pounds, he began to patronise a snug little establishment in Pall Mall, which was presided over by a charming female of considerable address, and where rouge et noir and roulette were extensively played. Sherry passed several successful evenings in this house, and began to nourish the hope that he would soon find himself up in the stirrups again. His uncle, hearing of this new departure, cast up his eyes, and said he washed his hands of the boy.

  Others besides Prosper Verelst and Mr Stoke regarded Sherry’s gaming excesses with disfavour. Ferdy Fakenham, dining at Limmer’s Hotel with his brother and Mr Ringwood, actually said that something ought to be done about it, adding hopefully that he thought it might answer tolerably well if Gil spoke to Sherry. Mr Ringwood declined this office with great firmness, saying that he was not Sherry’s cousin.

  ‘George might drop him a hint,’ said Ferdy dubiously. ‘I wouldn’t set any store by what George said myself, but Sherry might.’

  ‘Where is George?’ asked the Honourable Marmaduke. ‘Thought he was dining with us to-night?’

  Ferdy sighed. ‘No. He’s gone off to the Cowpers’ ball. Poor fellow! Don’t like to tell him, but the odds are shortening at the clubs: the time was when you could get tens anywhere against Severn’s coming up to scratch, but no one’s offering better than evens now, and I shouldn’t be at all surprised if be
fore long it’s odds on.’

  ‘Ah!’ said Marmaduke profoundly.‘What are the odds against the Milborne’s accepting him, though?’

  Ferdy stared at him.‘Wouldn’t find a taker, Duke.’

  ‘Wouldn’t I, my tulip?’ retorted his sapient brother. ‘Let me tell you that that fellow, Revesby, is a good deal fancied by the knowing ones. They say he’s been making the running these last few weeks.’

  ‘You don’t mean it!’ said Ferdy, thunderstruck.

  ‘I never liked the Incomparable above half myself,’ said Mr Ringwood, ‘but I never heard there was any harm in the girl, and I don’t believe it. She wouldn’t have him.’

  ‘Just the sort of rum customer females take fancies to,’ said Marmaduke.

  Mr Ringwood considered this, and was obliged to agree that there was much in what his friend said.‘Not that I give a button whom she marries,’ he said, refilling his glass. ‘All I say is, it’s a pity Sherry has a fancy for the fellow. Got my reasons for thinking he’s badly dipped. Bad enough when he’s full of frisk; devilish dangerous when he’s aground. Wonder if that’s why he’s throwing his handkerchief towards the Incomparable?’

  ‘You know Mrs Capel’s place in Pall Mall?’ asked Ferdy.

  ‘Heard of it,’ replied Mr Ringwood.‘Sharps and flats.’

  ‘Well, Sherry’s taken to going there.’

  ‘He has?’ Mr Ringwood said, shocked.

  Ferdy nodded gloomily. ‘Plays rouge et noir there.’

  ‘Bad, very bad!’ Mr Ringwood said. ‘What the deuce does he do it for? Don’t mind a fellow’s gaming a trifle: do it myself ! but it’s getting to be a curst habit with Sherry! What’s come over him?’

  ‘Revesby,’ replied Marmaduke shortly. He pressed his thumb down on to the table. ‘Got Sherry there. Only has to crook his finger: Sherry’s off. Same with Tallerton. Saw it happen.’

  ‘Tallerton!’ exclaimed Mr Ringwood, staring.

  The elder Mr Fakenham bowed his head portentously. ‘You know what happened to Tallerton, Gil?’

  ‘He had an accident when he was out shooting,’ replied Mr Ringwood slowly.

  ‘Blew his brains out,’ said Marmaduke.

  ‘Perfectly true,’ corroborated Ferdy. ‘All to pieces, he was. Hushed it up, of course, but there it is. Plain as a pikestaff. Duke had it from Nat Tallerton. The thing is, can’t have Sherry doing the same. Dash it, cousin of ours! Besides – Sherry, y’know!’

  ‘Sherry wouldn’t!’ Mr Ringwood said positively.

  ‘No, because Revesby’s claws ain’t firm enough in him yet,’ said Marmaduke.

  Mr Ringwood sat up.‘What are we going to do?’he demanded.

  ‘Can’t do anything,’ replied Marmaduke. ‘If you don’t know Sherry, I do. Never would listen to reason, and the only time I tried to use my influence on him he went straight off and did the very thing we didn’t want him to do.’

  ‘That’s Sherry all over,’ agreed Ferdy.‘Obstinate! Like it from a child. No managing him at all.’

  ‘Lady Sheringham might contrive to check him,’ suggested Marmaduke.

  Mr Ringwood shook his head.

  ‘She’s his wife,’ insisted Marmaduke.‘Dare say he’d listen to her.’

  ‘Well, he wouldn’t,’ said Mr Ringwood, frowning at his glass.

  ‘I don’t see that. Taking little thing – still a bride! Stands to reason!’

  ‘No, it don’t!’ Mr Ringwood said curtly. ‘Got to think of something else.’

  ‘That’s it,’ agreed Ferdy.‘Open his eyes! Might tell him about Tallerton.’

  ‘He wouldn’t believe you. Tell you what, Ferdy:we shall have to think about it.’

  They were still – in their leisure moments – considering the problem, when fate took an unexpected hand in the affair.

  Fifteen

  EVER SINCE THE EVENING WHEN LORD WROTHAM HAD escorted Hero to Almack’s Assembly Rooms in his stead, Sherry had been careful to afford no other altruistic gentleman an opportunity for displaying his chivalry. If Hero were invited to attend the Assembly under some matron’s wing, he hailed this as a reprieve, and took himself blithely off on his own amusements; but if no matron came forward he offered himself up on the altar of duty with a very good grace, even going so far as to check any attempt on Hero’s part to convince him that she would be pleased to stay at home. Heedless his lordship might be, but however little, during the twenty-four years of his existence, he had been in the habit of considering any other desires than his own, he was not deliberately selfish, and he would have thought it a shocking thing to have condemned his wife to forgo a pleasure she obviously enjoyed merely because he himself would have preferred to have been disporting himself in quite another fashion. It was true that when he had so light-heartedly embarked on matrimony he had not bargained for the obligations attached to it; it was equally true that he had warned Hero that he had no intention of altering his habits to suit her convenience. He had moulded his ideas on the conduct of various sportive young matrons of his acquaintance, who certainly felt no overmastering desire to keep their husbands at their sides, but contrived – perfectly discreetly, to be sure – to amuse themselves without these complaisant gentlemen. But Sherry had realised early in his married career that Hero differed essentially from such worldly-wise ladies. Having neither the training that would have fitted her for fashionable life, nor relatives to whom she could turn, she was dependent upon her husband to a degree that would have alarmed him very much had he known at the outset how it would be. Within a month of their taking up their residence in Half Moon Street, it had been borne in upon his lordship that his wife was no more fit to carve her way through life than the kitten he called her. His lordship, who had never known responsibility, or shown the least ability to regulate his own career on respectable lines, found himself sole lord and master of a confiding little creature who placed implicit faith in his judgment, and relied upon him not only to guide her footsteps, but to rescue her from the consequences of her own ignorance. A man with a colder heart than Sherry’s would have shrugged and turned a blind eye to his wife’s difficulties. But the Viscount’s heart was not cold, and just as his protective instinct had one night made him search all night through the woods at Sheringham Place for a favourite dog which had dug deep into a rabbit burrow and had been trapped there, so it compelled him to take such care of his Hero as occurred to him. She had always looked up to him and adored him, and while he took this for granted he was by no means oblivious to it, and did his best to be kind to her. He was amused, but a little touched, to discover that no deeper felicity was known to her than to go about in his company; she would grow out of that soon enough, he supposed, quite forgetting that when she had shown a willingness to go out with Lord Wrotham the instinct of possessiveness in him had led him to discourage such practices in no uncertain manner.

  So the Viscount gratified his wife and all his well-wishers by appearing with staggering regularity at the Assemblies, causing even leading optimists, like Lady Sefton, to prophesy that his marriage would be the making of him.

  Another gentleman who had taken to patronising Almack’s more than was usual was that ladies’ favourite, Sir Montagu Revesby. Blackballed he might have been by his fellow-men at Watier’s, but for all their exclusiveness the patronesses of Almack’s were not proof against air, manner, and the easy address which characterised Sir Montagu. Had he been of plebeian birth, of course, no amount of air or manner would have availed him in those august eyes, but happily for himself his lineage was irreproachable. Such censorious remarks as were made by Mr Fakenham, and others of his kidney,were generally ascribed to jealousy, and not much heeded; and it was only the older and soberer members amongst the ladies who viewed with disapproval Sir Montagu’s increasing attentions towards Miss Milborne.

  For there could be no doubt that Sir Montagu’s sudden predilection for dancing had its roots in his admiration of the Incomparable. Until his entry into the lists, the knowledgeable had considered
Lord Wrotham to be his Grace of Severn’s most serious rival. But Wrotham had never succeeded in walking away with Miss Milborne from under his grace’s nose, and this was what Sir Montagu in the easiest manner possible contrived to do. It may have been that the Beauty did not altogether relish the certainty with which Severn claimed her hand for the German waltz; it may have been that she found Sir Montagu’s light touch a relief after the passionate earnestness of her younger admirers; certain it was that she bestowed her hand on him for the waltz, and left his grace discomfited. His self-consequence was too great to allow of his following George’s example of folding his arms and gloweringly watching Miss Milborne’s progress round the room. He led another lady out to dance, but his manoeuvres on the floor to keep Miss Milborne under observation were extremely diverting to several persons who had been watching the little comedy, notably my Lord Sheringham, who gave a spurt of laughter and bade his wife, with whom he was dancing, watch Monty cutting Severn out with the Incomparable! His grace was too pompous to be popular with the greater number of his contemporaries, and the notion of cutting him out himself occurred to Sherry. He entered into a wager with his cousin Ferdy that he would do it, backing himself for a handsome sum, and engaging not to make the attempt until the Duke was again soliciting Miss Milborne’s hand. He surrendered Hero to Mr Ringwood, who had come with them to the Assembly Rooms, and bore down upon Miss Milborne just as the Duke made her a formal bow, and began to say:‘May I hope, ma’am –’

  ‘’Evening, Severn!’ interrupted his lordship cheerfully. ‘My dance, Bella, I think!’

  The Duke eyed him frostily. ‘I was about to beg Miss Milborne to do me the honour of bestowing her hand upon me,’ he said.‘Ma’am –’