Mrs. McVinnie's London Season (12 page)

What he could not
imagine never came to light. Captain Summers interrupted, and his
words were like knife edges. “I have already told you that I prefer
to be called Captain Summers rather than Sir William,” he barked.
“The lowest-rated seaman can remember. Is it too much for you?”

Wapping stared in
contusion. “No, Sir Wil—I mean, Captain Summers, and should I say,
‘Aye, aye’?”

“
No,
you should not,” said the captain severely. He turned away from
Wapping, and in a moment the butler sidled from the hall, whatever
pretension he possessed now dangling around his ankles.

“
Oh,
that was neatly done,” said Jeannie. “I know a strategical
diversion when I hear one. He has completely forgotten to ask you
about the fool’s errand.”

Captain Summers was the
picture of innocence, except that his lips quivered. “Oh,
G—goodness, how I enjoy butlers,” he said. “Who would have imagined
them to be such sport?”

“
You
are entirely unkind,” Jeannie said, belying her words with a
twinkle in her eyes. “And before you remonstrate with me, sir, let
me tell you that we did encounter an elephant in the Tower and
Edward found himself on its back.”

“
Jeannie McVinnie, are you telling me that under your totally
composed demeanor there is a bit of a scamp?” he asked.

“
I
protest! Through no fault of ours—”

The captain held up his
hand. “And do you know that when you protest, there is such fire in
your eyes?” His own eyes were kind. “But I will not ask any more
questions, although G—gracious me, I am sure I should.”

“
It
was, for the most part, an improving afternoon,” she assured him as
they went up the stairs together. “We contemplated executioner’s
axes, jewelry too gaudy by half, and heard any number of fanciful
stories about Englishmen that I think cannot be true.”

“
Madam, are there no Englishmen that measure up to your
expectations?”

She thought about the
dandies in the menagerie and shook her head. “So far, Captain
Summers, I have been sadly disappointed.”

He bowed and left her
at the door to her room.

Jeannie went in her
room and admitted to a moment of disappointment that Captain
Summers had not risen to the bait at her last comment. She knew
nothing of him, but after only one day in the house of Wendover
Square, she knew that he possessed a ready wit. Could it be, she
thought as she removed her cloak, could it be that I have been
missing a quick tongue?

It was only a thought,
and she resolved to consider it some other time when she did not
have to dress so quickly for dinner.

Mary Bow came out of
the dressing room, practically jumping up and down in her
excitement.

“
Mrs.
McVinnie! You cannot imagine what arrived only twenty minutes
ago.”

“
Unless it was the Second Coming, you are correct,” Jeannie
said, and then she saw the dress on the bed. “Oh, my dear, are we
dreaming?”

She had never seen a
more beautiful dress. It was a high-waisted, long-sleeved dress of
sarcenet of that peculiar blue and gray color of the sky over
Solway Firth after a squall. Jeannie touched the dress, hardly
daring to breathe. “Mary, it is so fine. Like cobwebs.”

She took an overdue
breath and held up the dress. It hung in soft folds to the tops of
her shoes, each little pleat precise and neatly sewn in. Jeannie
smoothed the material over her breast. “You don’t think it will be
too low?” she asked.

Mary shook her head.
“For some as don’t have anything to hold it up, Mrs. McV, it might
be. But you’ll do fine.”

“
Oh,
and I even have a pearl necklace to wear with it. Oh, Mary, this
dress is worth more than my entire wardrobe. Where on earth did it
come from?”

Mary darted into the
dressing room. “As to that, I cannot say, but see here, there is a
note.” She held it out to Jeannie. “I never was learned to
read.”

“
Then
I shall read it out loud,” Jeannie said with a smile, “and the two
of us can puzzle over it.”

“ ‘
My dear Jeannie McVinnie,’ ” she read, “ ‘we dare
not give Larinda the satisfaction of telling her friends we are
perfect dowds. This dress ought to eliminate any possibility of a
set-down. My consequence could not tolerate it, and your kindness
does not deserve Turkish treatment.’ ”

“
Captain Summers,” they said together.

Jeannie sat down on the
bed and read the note again, turning over the little scrap as if to
find out more.

“
Mary,
how on earth did he come by this dress?”

Mary shrugged.

Jeannie stood up and
draped the dress carefully over the bed again. “It will kill me if
I do not find out,” she said, more to herself than to the maid.

After another touch of
the dress and a deep breath, she went into the hall and to the
captain’s door. Pringle was just going in, bearing a handful of
freshly ironed neckcloths. His expression held all the tension of a
man facing real peril.

“
Pringle, surely you are not headed for Boney’s guillotine,”
she teased, eyeing the neckcloths.

He shuddered. “You see,
lassie, I hired on years ago as a gunner. We are neither of us
trained to the task before us.”

She smiled. “If he is
not busy yet, please tell him I would like a word.”

“
Very
well, Mrs. McV.”

She had only a moment
to wait. Captain Summers came into the hall, wearing a dressing
gown of the most incredible tapestry design. She could only
stare.

The captain raised his
eyebrows. “I am not the Grand Turk, but when in Constantinople, we
have been known to frequent the same tailor. Yes? I hope you have
not come to scold me for extravagance.”

“
No, I
am not so rag-mannered,” she replied. “I merely wish to say thank
you from the bottom of my heart.” She regarded him. “And my Scots
curiosity compels me to ask: how on earth did you procure a dress
like that in such a short time? I would not have thought it
possible.”

He shut the door and
leaned against it. “My dear, when a captain requests, even a
modiste jumps.”

She rolled her eyes.
“Did you bully a poor seamstress? How wicked!”

The affronted look on
his face was severely undermined by the little glint in his eyes
that she was coming to appreciate. ‘‘She seemed only too eager to
do my bidding. I cannot fathom it either, but there it is.”

“
And
how did you get the size so accurately?” Jeannie asked.

“
It
was a simple matter of telling her in plain round tones that you
were only as tall as the first rim on a frigate’s wheel, and not
much bigger around than my two hands. Pringle was there to
interpret.” He reached out suddenly and encircled her waist with
his hands. “Ha,” he declared in triumph. “So I
was
right!”

“
Sir!”

He removed his hands
quickly, but there was nothing penitent in his expression. “And I
wanted a shade somewhere between blue and gray that would look
especially fine with red hair.” He smiled down at her. “Something
that might tempt a lady a little tired of mourning weeds.”

She stepped back,
wondering why it was that he always seemed to stand too close. “You
have succeeded beyond your wildest expectations.” She hesitated.
“But, sir, I do have a small independence of my own and a pension
from Tom. Surely I can buy my own—”

“
Nonsense,” he interrupted, looking vastly annoyed. “I know it
states somewhere that all impressed seamen are to be dressed by the
‘kind offices of the crown.’ I know that is the phrase.”

“
Oh,
Captain, you are being nonsensical,” she declared, hardly knowing
whether she was more irritated with him or embarrassed at
herself.

He leveled his
quarterdeck scowl at her and she scowled back, not giving an
inch.

He broke first, looking
away and then bowing to her. “Very well, Admiral Lord McVinnie. But
I warn you that I may get the urge every now and then to put
something upon your back. Now, do not look at me like that,” he
growled, even though his eyes were kind. “I have some small notion
of the expense of a London Season. G—goodness knows I have been
paying Larinda’s bills. They would send you into spasms!”

“
All
the more reason you should not be saddled with mine,” she said
quietly.

He shook his head. “It
is nothing, and I can afford it. But I wanted you to be a credit to
yourself, my dear Mrs. McVinnie.” He bowed, took her hand and
kissed it. “You are already a credit to me.”

Jeannie smiled at him,
knowing that her face was fiery red and not a little surprised to
see that his was, too. “I do thank you. This dress may give me the
courage to face Larinda.”

“
That
is all I wanted.” He looked like a man about to say more, but there
was Pringle standing patiently by with the neckcloths. “And now, my
dear Mrs. McVinnie, if you will excuse me ….”

“
Certainly, Captain.” She bobbed a little curtsy and twinkled
her eyes at him. “We Christians must prepare for the
lions.”

His face became
instantly serious. “Or the guns of La Coruña or the coming-about at
Trafalgar. We do what we must, sometimes, no matter how
distasteful. Your servant.”

She put the dress on
thoughtfully, hardly aware for the moment that Clare had crept into
her room and was standing in the shadows again.

Mary saw her first and
sighed in exasperation. “Little miss, have you escaped from your
keeper?” she said softly as she buttoned up Jeannie’s dress. “Mrs.
McV, should I return her?”

Jeannie put out her
hand. “No. Clare, you funny little stick, sit on my bed.”

Obediently, Clare
climbed up and flopped herself down on the pillows, flinging her
arms out and snuggling into the softness. Jeannie smiled at
her.

“
I
promised you a story, didn’t I? That will do, Mary. I can arrange
my own hair.”

Jeannie sat down on the
bed and clasped her pearls, a wedding gift from Tom, around her
neck. Clare rose up on her knees and touched the necklace, running
her fingers over the pearls.

“
Pretty,” she said.

Jeannie hugged her.
“And that is the first thing you have said to me! Come, sit on my
lap. I have such a story for you.”

“
Don’t
forget the time,” Mary said from the doorway. “Lady Smeath may not
look like a notable trencherwoman, but she’ll give you a regular
scold if you’re late.” She rolled her eyes. “And I needn’t tell you
about the captain.”

“
I am
sure he is never late to anything,” Jeannie said. “I’ll only be a
moment.”

It was a tale of blue
elephants and crown jewels and swimming watery moats. Jeannie sat
on the bed, her arms around Clare, until the child relaxed against
her and slept. Quietly she got up, covered Clare with a blanket,
and left the room.

She was late to dinner.
Everyone waited for her in the foyer of the dining room. Lady
Smeath sighed deeply several times and fanned herself vigorously,
even though the room was cool. Captain Summers snapped open his
pocket watch and spent a long moment staring down at it, divining
its depths. Larinda looked at her and then looked away, a tight
little smile on her face.

Edward, copiously
well-scrubbed, glanced from relative to relative, swallowed several
times and then walked deliberately to Jeannie’s side. He bowed, a
jerky, untrained motion that brought a smile to her lips, in spite
of her embarrassment.

“
Well
done, Edward,” she whispered.

He extended his arm and
asked in a clear voice, “Will you partner me to dinner?”

She laid her hand upon
his arm, noting how it trembled. I am not sure I would have had the
courage to defy such a passel of Friday-faced elders, she thought
as she smiled at Edward and inclined her head. The others followed
them in to dinner.

“
I
washed everything I could think of,” Edward whispered to her as he
pulled out her chair.

“
Excellent,” she whispered back.

“
But
Captain Summers would come around me and sniff a bit,” he declared
as the others took their seats. “Do you think he was
funning?”

“
How
does one know?” Jeannie murmured.

There was little
conversation at the table, other than several mundane exchanges
between Larinda and her aunt concerning the approaching evening at
Almack’s.

“
And
remember, my dear, that you are not to accept a waltz with anyone.
This is but your first assembly at Almack’s and it will not
do.”

“
Aunt
Agatha, you have told me,” Larinda said. “And I am to drink only
orgeat, and never sit in a chair that a gentleman has just vacated,
and remember not to laugh too loud, and, above all, do nothing to
disgust the patronesses.” She touched her napkin to her lips and
sighed.

There was something in
that sigh that reminded Jeannie of her first dance. She leaned
toward Larinda. “It is never as frightening as you think it will
be,” she said softly. “I am certain you will acquit yourself
admirably.”

Larinda gazed back, and
for the smallest moment there was something in her eyes besides
contempt. Anticipation and fear mingled there and then vanished.
She tucked the napkin under the edge of her plate. “I trust that I
have sufficient consequence,” she said pointedly.

Jeannie’s face burned
with embarrassment, and again Edward leapt into action.