Charlotte: The Practical Education of a Distressed Gentlewoman (15 page)

Freddy ground his teeth for a
moment, and then said, “Excuse me, I feel the need for a dance.” He
walked out to the dancing area and tapped the man on his shoulder.
“May I cut in?”

The man's drunken response came
quickly, “Why not? She's not in the mood for any fun.” He stepped
away from his partner and managed to bow without falling
over.

Freddy bowed to the woman, who was
too shocked to do much more than gasp, “Thank you.”

They started to waltz, but unlike
her previous partner Freddy behaved with decorum. This turned the
dance from an untoward pawing into a mutually pleasurable
experience.

“
Miss De Vere, I
presume?”

“
How did you know?”

“
I asked Lady Chalfield where you
were. It seemed you were in distress.”

“
I don't know you, but thank
you.”

“
You don't? I'm
surprised.”

When the dance was over, Charlotte
studied her partner's masked face carefully. “Mr. Talbot? Is it
you?”

“
Alas yes.”

“
I didn't know you attended common
things like this.”

“
My sister insisted that I attend.
By the way,” He scanned the crowd, “I wonder where she's off
to?”

“
Behind you. I went to see if I
could find Lady Chalfield again. She's scarpered off somewhere. I
was going to let her know about how good a chaperon I thought she
was, but now I can't. I have no idea where she is.”

Charlotte asked Elizabet, “So you
think she's a good chaperon?”

“
Charlotte, don't take me at my
words. I was being sarcastic.”

The orchestra began to with the
initial chords of another waltz. Charlotte gave Freddy a quizzing
look, which he noticed. “So you young minx, you'd like another
dance, would you?”

“
Could we?”

Elizabeth groaned as they went off.
It would be another long and lonely evening for her. She called,
“Waiter! A bottle of hock, please?”

She watched her brother dance with
Charlotte with mixed emotions. Pleased that Freddy was having some
fun, and rather annoying that she was sitting here alone. As she
emptied her second glass, and prepared to pour another, she heard
someone say to her, “Miss Talbot, it's not good if you drink alone.
May I join you?”

“
Sure, please sit. I feel a bit
strange, woozy.”

“
Don't you care who I
am?”

“
Company. That's good enough for
me.”

Freddy and Charlotte eventually
returned to find an inebriated Elizabeth sitting in the company of
a man.

“
My God! Phelps, is that
you?”

“
Sir! I thought it best to follow
you and Miss Elizabeth. The pleasure gardens are not a place to let
down one's guard as Miss Elizabeth has.”

Elizabeth rather blearily looked at
him, “Phelps, I did not let down my guard.”

“
You let a strange man keep you
company, didn't you?”

“
I wouldn't call my brother's
valet strange, and besides you behaved with perfect manners, so why
should I object to your company?”

Freddy rarely, if ever, ventured
into gambling hells, and it was only at the urging of his sister
Lizzy that he accompanied her to Lady Luttrel's house. “Freddy, I
so much want to see one of these Faro houses.”

“
Lizzy, I'd rather you not. The
odds in the games are always rigged for the house, the wine is poor
and the food vile. The company is tedious, ill-tempered, noisome
and noisy at best.”

“
So? Charlotte has told me so much
about it. I thought just once wouldn't be too awful. She said she
would be at Lady Luttrel's tonight. I'm worried about
her.”

“
I'm not going to make good your
losses.”

“
Freddy! I'm not going to gamble,
at least not much, where's the fun in that?”

In the end, they didn't make it
into the house. There, sitting on the stoop, crying, was Miss De
Vere.

Lizzy stopped and asked her,
“Charlotte, what is it?”

“
I'm completely rolled up. I've
lost everything I had, no it's worse than that. I owe as much
again. There's no way I can ever pay it, and Mr. Strot has hinted
that maybe I can earn my keep down at Gropecunt lane
ⁱⁱⁱ
.”

Lizzy was shocked at what her
friend said, but somehow Freddy wasn't. “Miss De Vere, look at
me.”

Charlotte turned her tear-streaked
face to him and looked up at his face. “Do you promise not to
gamble again? I know it runs in your family, but can you
promise?”

“
Yes-s, I'll promise
anything.”

“
I don't want 'anything'. I want
you to do this one thing in specific.”

“
Yes. I won't gamble
again.”

“
Good, I'm sorry Lizzy but you're
not visiting the hell this time. Please keep Charlotte out of
trouble while I sort things out.”

“
Freddy!”

“
Mr. Talbot, please
don't!”

He didn't listen any of their
objections but entered the hall. After he presented his card, Lady
Luttrel greeted him as yet another fat pigeon fit for plucking.
With the Talbot's, even detaching a couple of feathers was worth
the game. “Mr. Talbot, how pleased I am to see you. May I show you
to the faro table, or is piquet your game?”

Freddy rather rudely replied,
“Neither. I understand Miss De Vere has some gambling losses that
need to be paid. Can I see the books?”

Lady Luttrel put her nose in the
air and assumed a patrician attitude, “Books? This is an affair of
honor.”

Freddy, as usual when confronted by
members of the tinsel aristocracy, was not impressed. “I fail to
see the honor in skinning a young woman of her last
savings.”

“
What business is this of
yours?”

“
It's mine because I make it mine.
Miss De Vere is under my sister's protection and therefor under
mine.”

“
Why? She's just another silly
female.”

“
She's a friend of Miss Talbot's.
That is enough reason.”

“
We don't keep books in this
house, I'm sorry, but her debts are between her and the other
members of the ton.”

“
Do you really think I'm a flat?
Before I lay evidence,” at which words a pair of rather muscular
and decidedly menacing gentlemen approached him on either side and
momentarily interrupted his conversation. “I presume you keep track
of your winnings somewhere. I need to see the records.”

“
You bloody clerk, you're sticking
your nose where it doesn't belong.”

“
If you don't have records of her
debts, then I'm leaving. If anyone menaces her, you will hear from
a magistrate. I have more than one friend on the bench.”

The gentleman on his right moved
between Freddy and Lady Luttrel and gathered his hands into fists.
“Do you want some of this?” He stood there and shoved his face into
Freddy's. He was breathing heavily with his nostrils flaring in and
out at each breath. He was prepared for a fight, and hoped to
intimidate this young gentleman into striking first. The other
moved behind him, ready to stop Freddy from returning any punches
once the 'fight' started.

Freddy calmly looked at him and
replied with deep disdain in his voice. “Please. Physical violence
will only add to the charges against you. I didn't come here
alone.” The standoff continued for a few moments, when Freddy
continued, “So Madam, what will it be? Do I see Miss De Vere's
vowels or do I talk to my friends at the Old Bailey?”

“
Bloody bastard!” Lady Luttrel
nodded to her assistant. “Get Mr. Strot and tell that lazy bugger
to bring the books.”

“
Thank you.”

It only took a few moments in the
end. Satisfied that the debt was properly totaled, he peeled a
monkey from his billfold and handed it to Lady Luttrel. “I would
like a receipt please. Miss De Vere will not be bothered about this
again. Do you understand?”

“
Yes, damn you.” Lady Luttrel
stormed at her two muscular gentlemen. “Make sure that neither Miss
De Vere nor this Mr. Talbot ever darkens my door again.”

“
I assure you I have no intent of
ever entering your,” he paused to show his distaste for the place,
“house.”

With that he turned sharply and
left. Once outside he addressed Lizzy and Miss De Vere, “Come, let
us find a cab or a chair, and leave this verminous
neighborhood.”

“
Mr. Talbot?” Charlotte began to
ask, “did you fix-”

“
You debts. Yes.”

“
How much do I owe
you?”

Mr. Talbot refused to say. Instead,
he hailed a hackney carriage and bundled the two of them into it.
He told the coachman to take the women to the house on Portman
Street. Miss De Vere objected to his high-handed treatment. “Mr.
Talbot, I would like to go to my own place.”

“
Where? You were staying with Lady
Chalfield, weren't you?”

“
Yes.”

“
Where is she?”

Charlotte pointed to the 'faro
house' behind them, “In there.”

“
Then you will go with Miss
Talbot. Lizzy, have a footman send a message to the Chalfield
residence when you arrive.”

Lizzy intently studied her
brother's face. While he could hide his emotions most of the time
from most onlookers, she could still read them. He was clearly
upset, but putting on his best marble face to hide it. She
whispered to her brother, “Freddy, are you well? There's room in
the cab for you.”

Freddy smiled at her, “Thank you,
but I'll walk. The exercise will do me good. Don't worry, I'll be
fine.”

It wasn't until the two women had
arrived back in the Talbot's house at Portman square that Charlotte
summoned the courage to ask Elizabeth something that had been
bothering her, “Miss Talbot?”

“
Yes.”

“
Your brother, did he really just
settle my debts for me?”

“
That's what he said he did. He's
generally honest about things like that.”

“
What does he expect me to
do?”

“
Nothing. It would be nice if you
said thank you.”

“
What do you mean by
'nothing'?”

“
Exactly that, nothing. He would
probably dislike it intensely if you tried to repay him, or even if
you mention it again, other than to quietly say thank
you.”

“
I don't understand.”

Elizabeth studied her acquaintance,
“You don't understand us, do you? My father and Freddy, for that
matter probably me as well, have a talent for business. It's a
blessing, much nicer being rich than poor, but it's also a
curse.”

“
A curse?”

“
Do you remember how Freddy
dressed when we met?”

“
What a lark, he was dressed up to
the nines in the latest fashion. He almost looked silly”

“
And now?”

“
So sober. What of it, tastes
change?”

“
He dresses like that because of
his responsibilities. He has to look serious if he wants to be
treated seriously.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
There are many people who depend
on him making the right decisions. If it were just us Talbot's,
well, we have more than enough in the four-percent’s to live high
for a long time. It's just there are others who depend on the firm
for their livelihoods. He can't just leave them to
starve.”

“
But?”

“
If you really want to repay him,
help him to laugh. Make him happy. He needs relief from the
difficulty of being the one man in charge.”

Charlotte stood there speechless.
This way of looking at Mr. Talbot hadn't occurred to her. He was
usually so stiff and distant, or at least had seemed so, almost
from the day she met him. She remembered the exceptions, when he
paid her attention, and felt an odd stirring in her stomach.
“Lizzy, do you think he likes me?”

“
I don't know, but I wouldn't be
surprised if he did. He's very private about things like
that.”

Charlotte smiled and said simply,
“Oh.”

Elizabeth continued, “It's late and
I doubt Lady Chalfield will be home before dawn. There are probably
more pigeons for her to pluck. I'll ask my maid to set up the spare
bedroom for you.”

“
More pigeons? I'm not a
pigeon.”

Elizabeth laughed, “No, Charlotte,
more of a silly goose. How did you think Lady Chalfield supports
herself?”

“
I thought by her inheritance,
maybe from her estate, but you're saying by gambling?”

“
Not just gambling, but bringing
young inexperienced ingénues to the table. It's called 'plucking a
pigeon'. I've been told it's very lucrative.”

“
I'm confused.”

“
You're tired, it will be clearer
in the morning.” Elizabeth made good on her suggestion to find a
bed for Miss De Vere. Then she returned to the front parlor await
for her brother's return. Mrs. Radcliffe's latest would do to keep
her occupied until he returned.