The Convenient Marriage (14 page)

‘N-nervous? G-gracious no!’ she said, on her mettle. ‘You’ll find I’m not such a poor g-gamester as that, sir!’ She sat down at the table, and picked up one of the piquet packs that lay on it. ‘D-did you arrange everything, then?’

‘Certainly,’ he said, moving towards another table set against the wall. ‘A glass of wine, Horry?’

‘N-no, thank you,’ she replied, sitting rather straight in her chair, and casting yet another glance towards the curtained window.

He came back to the card-table, slightly moved the cluster of candles on it, and sat down. He began to shuffle one of the packs. ‘Tell me, Horry,’ he said, ‘did you come with me tonight for this, or to annoy Rule?’

She gave a jump, and then laughed. ‘Oh, R-Robert, that is so very like you! You always g-guess right.’

He went on shuffling the pack. ‘May I know why he is to be baited?’

‘No,’ she replied. ‘I d-don’t discuss my husband, even with you, R-Robert.’

He bowed, ironically she thought. ‘A thousand pardons, my dear. He stands high in your esteem, I perceive.’

‘Very high,’ said Horatia. ‘Shall we c-cut?’

She won the cut, and electing to deal, picked up the pack, and gave a little expert shake of her arm to throw back the heavy fall of lace at her elbow. She was far too keen a gambler to talk while she played. As soon as she touched the cards she had never a thought for anything else, but sat with a look of serious, unwavering concentration on her face, and scarcely raised her eyes from her hand.

Her opponent gathered up his cards, glanced at them, and seemed to make up his mind what to discard without the smallest hesitation. Horatia, knowing herself to be pitted against a very fine player, refused to let herself be hurried, and took time over her own discard. The retention of a knave in her hand turned out well, and enabled her to spoil the major hand’s repique.

She lost the first game, but not by enough points to alarm her. Once she knew she had thrown a guard she should have kept, but for the most part she thought she had played well.

‘My game,’ said the Scarlet Domino. ‘But I think I had the balance of the cards.’

‘A little perhaps,’ she said. ‘Will you cut again for d-deal?’

The second game she won, in six quick hands. She had a suspicion that she had been allowed to win it, but if her opponent had played with deliberate carelessness it was never blatant enough to warrant any remark. She held her tongue therefore, and in silence watched him deal the first hand of the final game.

At the end of two hands she was sure that he had permitted her to win the second game. The cards had run very evenly throughout, and continued to do so, but now the more experienced player was ahead on points. She felt for the first time that she was up against a gamester immeasurably more skilled than herself. He never made mistake, and the very precision of his play and judgment seemed to cast her own shortcomings into high relief. She played her cards shrewdly enough, but knew that her weakness lay in counting the odds against finding a desired card in the pick-up. Knowing him to be some forty points to the good, she began to discard with less caution, playing for a big hand.

The game had become for her a grim struggle, her opponent a masked figure of Nemesis; as she picked up her cards in the last hand her fingers quivered infinitesimally. Unless a miracle occurred there was no longer any hope of winning; the best she could expect was to avert a rubicon.

No miracle occurred. Since they were not playing for points it did not signify that she was rubiconed, yet, irrationally, when she added her score and found the total ninety-eight she could have burst into tears.

She looked up, forcing a smile. ‘You win, sir. I f-fear rather l-largely. I d-didn’t play well that last game. You l-let me win the second, d-didn’t you?’

‘Perhaps,’ he said.

‘I wish you had not. I d-don’t care to be treated like a child, sir.’

‘Content you, my dear, I had never the least notion of letting you win more than one game. I have set my mind on that curl. I claim it, ma’am.’

‘Of c-course,’ she said proudly. Inwardly, she wondered what Rule would say if he could see her now, and quaked at her own daring. She took the scissors out of her reticule. ‘R-Robert, what are you g-going to do with it?’ she asked rather shyly.

‘Ah, that is my affair,’ he replied.

‘Yes. I kn-know. But – if anyone f-found out – horrid things would be said, and R-Rule would hear of it and I d-don’t want him to, because I know I – I ought n-not to have done it!’ said Horatia in a rush.

‘Give me the scissors,’ he said, ‘and perhaps I’ll tell you what I mean to do with it.’

‘I c-can cut it myself,’ she replied, aware of a tiny feeling of apprehensiveness.

He had risen and come round the table. ‘My privilege, Horry,’ he said, laughing, and took the scissors out of her hand.

She felt his fingers amongst her curls, and blushed. She remarked with would-be lightness: ‘It will be a very p-powdery one, R-Robert!’

‘And a charmingly scented one,’ he agreed.

She heard the scissors cut through her hair, and at once got up. ‘There! For g-goodness sake don’t tell anyone, w-will you?’ she said. She moved towards the window. ‘I think it is time you took me home. It must be d-dreadfully late.’

‘In a moment,’ he said, coming towards her. ‘You are a good loser, sweetheart.’

Before she had even a suspicion of his purpose he had her in his arms and with one deft hand nipped the mask from her face. Frightened, white with anger, she tried to break free, only to find herself held quite powerless. The hand that had untied her mask came under her chin, and forced it up; the Scarlet Domino bent and kissed her, full on her indignant mouth.

She wrenched herself away as at last he slackened his embrace. She was breathless and shaken, trembling from head to foot. ‘How d-dare you?’ she choked, and dashed her hand across her mouth as though to wipe away the kiss. ‘Oh, how dare you t-touch me?’ She whirled about, flew to the window, and dragging the curtain back, was gone.

The Scarlet Domino made no attempt to pursue her but stayed in the middle of the room, gently twisting a powdered curl round one finger. An odd smile hovered about his mouth; he put the curl carefully into his pocket.

A movement in the window made him look up. Lady Massey was standing there, an apple-green domino covering her gown, her mask dangling from her hand. ‘That was not very well contrived, surely, Robert?’ she said maliciously. ‘A vastly pretty scene, but I am amazed that so clever a man as you could make such a stupid mistake. Lord, couldn’t you tell the little fool was not ready for kisses? And I thinking you knew how to handle her! You’ll be glad of my help yet, my lord.’

The smile had quite vanished from the Scarlet Domino’s mouth, which had suddenly grown very stern. He put up a hand to the strings of his mask, and untied them. ‘Shall I?’ he said, in accents utterly unlike Lord Lethbridge’s. ‘But are you quite sure, madam, that it is not you who have made – a very great mistake?’

Horatia partook of breakfast in bed some six hours later. She was too young for her troubles to deprive her of sleep, but though she had certainly slept she had had horrid dreams, and awoke not very much refreshed.

When she had fled from the little card-room at Ranelagh she had been so angry that she had forgotten that her mask was off. She had run right into Lady Massey, also maskless, and for one moment they had faced each other. Lady Massey had smiled in a way that drove the blood up into Horatia’s cheeks. She had not spoken a word; and Horatia, dragging her domino closely round her, had slipped across the terrace, and down the steps into the garden.

A hackney coach had conveyed her home, and deposited her in the cold dawn in Grosvenor Square. She had half expected to find Rule sitting up for her, but to her relief there was no sign of him. She had told the tire-woman she might go to bed, and she was glad of that too. She wanted to be alone, to think over the disastrous events of the night. But when she had extricated herself from her gown, and made herself ready for bed, she was so tired that she could not think of anything, and fell asleep almost as soon as she had blown out the candle.

She awoke at about nine o’clock, and for a moment wondered why she should feel so oppressed. Then she remembered, and gave a little shudder.

She rang her silver hand-bell, and when the abigail brought in her tray of chocolate and sweet biscuits she was sitting up in bed, her curls, with the powder still clinging to them, tumbled all about her shoulders, and a deep frown on her face.

While the waiting-woman collected her scattered jewels and garments she sipped the chocolate, pondering her problem. What had seemed a mere prank twelve hours earlier had by now assumed gigantic proportions. There was first the episode of the curl. In the sane daylight Horatia was at a loss to imagine how she could ever have consented to play for such a stake. It was – yes, no use blinking facts, it was vulgar: no other word for it. And who could tell what Lethbridge might not do with it? Before that kiss she had had no fear of his discretion, but now he seemed to her monstrous, capable of boasting, even, that he had won the curl from her. As for the kiss, she supposed that she had brought that on herself; a reflection which gave her no comfort. But worst of all had been the meeting with Caroline Massey. If she had seen, and Horatia was certain that she had, the tale would be all over the town by to-morrow. And the Massey had Rule’s ear. Depend upon it, if she refrained from telling anyone else she would be bound to tell him, only too glad of the opportunity to make mischief between him and his wife.

Suddenly she pushed the tray away from her. ‘I’m g-going to get up!’ she said.

‘Yes, my lady. What gown will your ladyship wear?’

‘It doesn’t m-matter,’ Horatia answered curtly.

An hour later she came down the stairs, and in resolute voice inquired of a footman whether the Earl was in the house.

His lordship, she was told, had that instant come in, and was with Mr Gisborne.

Horatia drew a breath, as though in preparation for a dive into deep waters, and walked across the hall to Mr Gisborne’s room.

The Earl was standing by the desk with his back to the door, reading a speech Mr Gisborne had prepared for him. He had evidently been riding, for he wore top-boots, a little dusty, and buckskin breeches, with a plain but excellently cut coat of blue cloth with silver buttons. He held his whip and gloves in one hand; his hat was thrown down on a chair. ‘Admirable, my dear boy, but far too long. I should forget the half of it, and the Lords would be shocked, quite shocked, you know,’ he said, and gave the paper back to the secretary. ‘And Arnold – do you think – a little less impassioned? Ah yes, I thought you would agree! I am never impassioned.’

Mr Gisborne was bowing to Horatia; my lord turned his head, and saw her. ‘A thousand pardons, my love! I did not hear you come in,’ he said.

Horatia bestowed a rather perfunctory smile on Mr Gisborne, who accustomed to the friendliest of treatment from her, instantly wondered what could be the matter. ‘Are you very b-busy, sir?’ she asked, raising her anxious eyes to Rule’s face.

‘Arnold will tell you, my dear, that I am never busy,’ he replied.

‘W-well, could you spare me a m-moment of your time n-now?’ Horatia said.

‘As many as you desire,’ he said, and held open the door for her to pass out. ‘Shall we go into the library, ma’am?’

‘I d-don’t mind where we go,’ said Horatia in a small voice. ‘But I want to be p-private with you.’

‘My dear, this is very flattering,’ he said.

‘It isn’t,’ replied Horatia mournfully. She went into the library, and watched him shut the door. ‘I want to be p-private because there is something I m-must tell you.’

The veriest hint of surprise flickered for an instant in his eyes; he looked at her for a moment, rather searchingly, she thought. Then he moved forward. ‘But won’t you sit down, Horry?’

She stayed where she was, her hands gripping the back of a chair. ‘No, I think I’ll s-stand,’ she answered. ‘M-Marcus, I had better tell you at once that I’ve done something d-dreadful!’

At that a smile quivered at the corners of his mouth. ‘I’m prepared for the worst, then.’

‘I assure you, it isn’t f-funny,’ said Horatia tragically. ‘In f-fact, I’m afraid you will be amazingly angry, and I m-must own,’ she added in a rush of candour, ‘I d-deserve it, even if you beat me with that whip, only I d-do hope you won’t, M-Marcus.’

‘I can safely promise you that I won’t,’ said the Earl, laying both whip and gloves down on the table. ‘Come, Horry, what is the matter?’

She began to trace the pattern of the chair-back with one finger. ‘Well, I – w-well, you see, I – M-Marcus, did they give you my m-message last night?’ She raised her eyes fleetingly, and saw him gravely watching her. ‘I desired the p-porter to tell you, if – if you asked that I was gone to Ranelagh.’

‘Yes, I did get that message,’ Rule answered.

‘Well – w-well, I did go there. To the ridotto. And I w-went with Lord Lethbridge.’

There was a pause. ‘Is that all?’ Rule asked.

‘No,’ confessed Horatia. ‘It’s only the b-beginning. There’s m-much worse to come.’

‘Then I had better reserve my wrath,’ he said. ‘Go on, Horry.’

‘You see, I w-went with Lord Lethbridge, and – and left the message, because – because –’

‘Because you naturally wanted me to know that you had – shall we say? – thrown down the glove. I quite understand that part of it,’ said Rule encouragingly.

She looked up again. ‘Yes, that w-was the reason,’ she admitted. ‘It wasn’t that I wanted very p-particularly to be with him, Rule. And I thought since everyone was to be m-masked that nobody would know, except you, so that I should just make you angry and n-not cause any scandal at all.’

‘The matter is now perfectly clear,’ said Rule. ‘Let us proceed to Ranelagh.’

‘W-well, at first it was very p-pleasant, and I liked it excessively. Then – then we had supper in one of the boxes, and I t-teased Robert to play cards with me. You must know, M-Marcus, that I wanted dreadfully to play with him, and he never would. At last he said he would, but – but not for money.’ She knit her brows, puzzling over something, and suddenly said: ‘Rule, d-do you think that perhaps I d-drank too much champagne?’

‘I trust not, Horry.’

‘Well, I c-can’t account for it otherwise,’ she said. ‘He said he would p-play for a lock of my hair, and it’s no use d-deceiving you, Rule, I agreed!’ As no explosion of wrath greeted this confession she took a firm grip of the chair-back, and continued. ‘And I l-let him take me to a p-private room – in fact, I wanted it to be p-private – and we played p-piquet, and – and I lost. And I m-must say,’ she added, ‘though he is the most odious m-man I ever met he is a very, very fine card-p-player.’

‘I believe he is,’ said the Earl. ‘I need not ask, of course, whether you paid your stake.’

‘I had to. It was a d-debt of honour, you see. I let him cut one of my c-curls off, and – and he’s got it n-now.’

‘Forgive me, my dear, but have you told me this because you wish me to get that curl back for you?’ inquired his lordship.

‘No, no!’ Horatia replied impatiently. ‘You c-can’t get it back; I lost it in fair play. Something much, m-much worse happened then – though it w-wasn’t the worst of all. He – he caught hold of me, and took my m-mask off, and – kissed me! And Rule, the m-most dreadful thing! I f-forgot about my mask, and I ran away, and – and Lady Massey was just outside the w-window, and she saw me, and I know she had been w-watching all the time! So you see, I’ve m-made a vulgar scandal, and I thought the only thing I could do was to t-tell you at once, because even if you are furious with me, you ought to know, and I couldn’t b-bear anyone else to tell you!’

The Earl did not seem to be furious. He listened calmly to the whole of this hurried speech, and at the end of it walked forward across the space that separated them, and to Horatia’s astonishment took her hand in his and raised it to his lips. ‘My compliments, Horry,’ he said. ‘You have surprised me.’ He released her hand, and went towards the desk that stood in the window. Taking a key from his pocket he unlocked one of the drawers and pulled it open. Horatia blinked at him, utterly at a loss. He came back to her, and held out his hand. In the palm of it lay a powdered curl.

Horatia gave a gasp, staring at it. Then she looked up, quite dumbfounded. ‘M-mine?’ she stammered.

‘Yours, my dear.’

‘But I – but – how did you c-come by it?’

He gave a little laugh. ‘I won it.’

‘Won it?’ she repeated, uncomprehending. ‘How c-could you? Who – Rule, whom did you win it from?’

‘Why, from you, Horry. Whom else could I have won it from?’

She clutched his wrist. ‘Rule, it – it was not you?’ she squeaked.

‘But of course it was, Horry. Did you think I would let you lose to Lethbridge?’

‘Oh!’ cried Horatia on a sob. ‘Oh, I am so th-thankful!’ She let go of his wrist. ‘But I d-don’t understand. How did you know? Where were you?’

‘In the next box to yours.’

‘The m-man in the black d-domino? Then – then it was you who trod on my g-gown?’

‘You see, I had to contrive that you should be out of the way for a few moments,’ he apologized.

‘Yes, of course,’ nodded Horatia, quite appreciating this. ‘It was very c-clever of you, I think. And when I c-came back and thought your voice odd – that was you?’

‘It was. I flatter myself I imitated Lethbridge’s manner rather well. I admit that the noise those fiddles made helped me.’

She was frowning again. ‘Yes, b-but I don’t understand quite. D-did Robert exchange d-dominoes with you?’

A laugh lurked in his eyes. ‘It was not precisely an exchange. I – er – took his, and hid my own under a chair.’

Horatia was regarding him keenly. ‘D-didn’t he mind?’

‘Now I come to think of it,’ said the Earl pensively, ‘I am afraid I forgot to ask him.’

She came a little nearer. ‘Marcus, did you m-make him give it to you?’

‘No,’ replied the Earl. ‘I – er – took it.’

‘T-took it? But why did he let you?’

‘He really had no choice in the matter,’ said his lordship.

She drew a long breath. ‘You m-mean you took it by f-force? And didn’t he do anything? What became of him?’

‘I imagine that he went home,’ said the Earl calmly.

‘W-went home! Well, I n-never heard of anything so poor-spirited!’ exclaimed Horatia, with disgust.

‘He could hardly do anything else,’ said the Earl. ‘Perhaps I ought to explain that the gentleman had the – er – misfortune to fall into the lily-pond.’

Horatia’s lips parted. ‘Rule, d-did you push him in?’ she asked breathlessly.

‘You see I had to dispose of him somehow,’ said his lordship. ‘He was really quite de trop, and the lily-pond so conveniently situated.’

Horatia gave up all attempt to preserve her gravity, and went off into a peal of laughter. ‘Oh, R-Rule, how famous! I w-wish I had seen it!’ A thought occurred to her; she said quickly: ‘He w-won’t call you out, will he?’

‘Alas, I fear there is no likelihood of that,’ Rule replied. ‘You see, Horry, you are my wife – a circumstance that makes Lethbridge’s position a little awkward.’

She was not satisfied. ‘R-Rule, suppose he tries to do you a m-mischief?’ she said anxiously.

‘I hardly think he would succeed,’ said Rule, unconcerned.

‘W-well, I don’t know, but I wish you will take care, Marcus.’

‘I promise you you need have no fear for me, my dear.’

She looked a trifle uncertain, but allowed the matter to drop. She said rather gruffly: ‘And perhaps you will tell Lady M-Massey that it was you all the time?’

His mouth hardened. ‘Lady Massey,’ he said deliberately, ‘need not trouble you – in any way, Horry.’

She said with difficulty: ‘I think I would rather you told her, sir. She – she looked at me in a way that – in a way that –’

‘It will not be necessary for me to tell Lady Massey anything,’ said Rule. ‘She will not, I think, mention what happened last night.’

She glanced up at him, puzzled. ‘Did she know then that it was you?’

He smiled rather grimly. ‘She did indeed know it,’ he replied.

‘Oh!’ Horatia digested this. ‘Were you going to t-tell me all this if I hadn’t told you?’ she asked.

‘To be frank with you, Horry, no: I was not,’ Rule answered. ‘You will have to forgive my stupidity. I did not think that you would tell me.’

‘W-well, I don’t think I should have told you if Lady M-Massey hadn’t seen me,’ said Horatia candidly. ‘And I d-don’t suppose Robert would have explained it, because it m-makes him look quite ridiculous. And I w-wouldn’t have spoken to him again. Now I see, of course, that he did not behave so very b-badly after all, though I must say I d-don’t think he should have proposed that stake, do you?’

‘Most certainly I do not.’

‘No. Well, I won’t have him for a friend, Rule!’ said Horatia handsomely. ‘You won’t m-mind if I am civil to him, will you?’

‘Not at all,’ Rule replied. ‘I am civil to him myself.’

‘I d-don’t call it civil to push a person into a p-pond,’ objected Horatia. She caught sight of the clock. ‘Oh, I said I would d-drive out with Louisa! Only look at the time!’ She prepared to depart. ‘There is one thing that makes me very c-cross,’ she said, frowning at him. ‘It was odious of you to l-let me win the second game!’