His sister brushed this aside. ‘She saw him only for a moment on each occasion, she did not get a good look at his face, and was in any case not particularly attending, as why should she be? She noticed only that he was tall, dark-haired, and well-dressed, and held the girl very firmly by the hand.’
‘I dare say!’ said the Captain coarsely. ‘Don’t suppose it’s all he held her by, if your precious friend is right. Lucky devil.’
‘And that is very much to the point. I could do nothing before – the chit thought she had me at an impasse, and she did, damn her, when she threatened to expose my role in her going there, as well as what I carelessly let her see of my activities. I admit that was a mistake on my part. But now, now things are different, thanks to Lucienne and also to today’s news.’
‘How so?’ said her brother.
Mrs Aubrey sighed. She was, of course, fond of her only half-brother – was she not exerting herself even now to right the wrong that had been done him last year by the Pendlebury family? – but she admitted privately that he was often a trial to her, as there could be no doubt that he had not been handedhis fair share of the family’s brains at birth. Ifshehad been present and directing matters in Brighton last summer when he had been in pursuit of his little heiress, he would not have made such a mull of the affair, and now would be wed to her and in happy possession of her extremely desirable fortune. No doubt Mrs Aubrey too would have had a share of that great bounty, as would have been only fair. It was regrettable, all that they had lost, but she was a gamester with a reckless streak, not a woman to dwell on the past, and it seemed to her that the future held new promise now. So she stifled her exasperation, and explained, ‘We know that the girl visited a house of most dubious reputation…’
‘You engineered that,’ the Captain put in. No doubt he thought he was being helpful.
‘That doesn’t matter any more, Adolphus,’ she said, with exaggerated patience. ‘Because we now also know that, instead of leaving immediately, as any innocent should if she found herself in such a place because of another’s trickery, she stayed, and went apart with some stranger, and stayed a long while with him in a private room. While we do not know what occurred there, I think we can imagine.’
‘Damn right we can!’ said her brother, his eyes bulging slightly. ‘I suppose he might have forced himself on her,’ he added thoughtfully, with no particular appearance of concern for one who had once been the woman he intended to spend his life with.
‘That doesn’t matter either.’ Indeed, to Mrs Aubrey, it did not. ‘Whether she was forced or went willingly, she is irrevocably compromised. And now that she is betrothed to the Duke, we can make use of it.’
‘Terrible reputation, Northriding,’ said Hart sapiently.
‘I dare say. But who cares for that, when a man is as wealthy as he is? Such a great prize – I am sure she thinks she hasdone very well in snaring him, and is excessively glad she did not throw herself away on a penniless nobody like you! No, she is to be a duchess! The whole pack of them must be delighted, especially after the dance she led them last year. They were almost forced to welcome Captain Hart into the fold with an appearance of complaisance, but now they will be allied with one of the oldest and richest families in England.’
‘When you put it like that, it does seem damned unfair.’
‘Of course it is. But however much of a rake Northriding might be, I am sure he would not take a woman with a past as his bride, and such a past. An affair of the heart he might forgive perhaps, if he is taken with her, but to marry a woman so reckless that she went to that house, and met a stranger there, and… Well, I need not say more, need I? Men are such hypocrites where a woman’s reputation is concerned,’ said Mrs Aubrey. She had a great deal of bitter experience to back up her words, and they rang with conviction. ‘He would worry that she might foist any passing stranger’s brats upon him and swear they were his. These old families are terribly proud, it is well known, and obsessed with the purity of their lineage. So I expect that Lady Georgiana would pay a great deal, a very great deal – and not only in gold, Adolphus, I am sure – to have us keep her secret, so that she may still marry her precious Duke and take her position at his side.’
‘Not only in gold…’ said Hart slowly. She perceived that he understood her at last. To give him his credit, he was slow, but sure. ‘She is damaged goods already, so it cannot matter to her in the least what she gives me. I care for the money, naturally – I feel we have a right to it – but much more than that I will be very glad to have the opportunity of paying her back, the little vixen. You see if I do not make her suffer for what she did to me. You may rely on me for that. And if I can foist a brat of mine onNorthriding as his precious heir, why, so much the better. That would be a pretty revenge indeed. Caro, you’re a genius!’
‘I know I am,’ said Mrs Aubrey. ‘I never had the least doubt of it.’
30
Ignorant of these schemes to do her grave injury, Georgiana stood in silk and lace before the altar in the cathedral of the North and took Gabriel to be her lawfully wedded husband. Hal gave her away, and Cassandra and Miss FitzHenry were her matron of honour and bridesmaid. Hymns were sung by small boys with angelic voices, and a surely superfluous number of clergymen in their best robes officiated. Nobody would ever be able to say later that the Ninth Duke and his bride were anything other than legally bound one to the other. Half the inhabitants of York and a fair number of fortunate visitors had crowded in to witness the spectacle; the cavernous building was large enough to receive them all with room to spare. Small girls threw rose petals, and all the ladies present cried, apart from the bride herself, who smiled mechanically or looked suitably serious at the appropriate moments and felt numb through it all, as though someone other than Georgiana Pendlebury were participating in the ceremony. The Minster was populated by a great number of stone statues, silent witness to the important event taking place beside and below them, and Georgie felt herself to be one of them, rather than a living, breathing woman. It was possible, shethought in a disinterested fashion, that she was behaving slightly oddly, for she could not help but see that her brothers and her aunt occasionally shot worried blue glances at her, and at each other.
She endured the ceremony in some type of trance, and in a trance received the congratulations of her family, and of the assembled strangers of all ranks of society. Her daze took her through the crowded streets – the distance to the house in Petergate was too short to require that carriages should be brought up, and it was barely raining at all – and up to the steps of the mansion, where the assembled servants awaited them with beaming faces and hearty congratulations.
It is possible that the new Duchess would have floated through the rest of the day in this peculiarly detached state of mind, had not a disturbance before the doors of her new home caused her preternatural calm to crack, and then to shatter into a thousand pieces.
A small crowd had gathered outside the building to see the newlyweds enter. Among them was a most respectable-seeming couple in their middle years, and a young lady who appeared to be their daughter, for she resembled the older lady greatly in her honey-blonde prettiness. The couple seemed embarrassed, or in some other manner distressed, and plainly they were attempting to persuade the young lady to quit the place in some haste and come away, but she refused, growing visibly agitated, and it could be seen that in fact tears were pouring unheeded down her pale cheeks. Georgie’s attention was drawn most particularly to the group when she heard Lady Blanche exclaim, in low but deeply anxious tones, ‘Good God, Gabriel, it is Isabella and her parents! What can they possibly be doing here, and on such a day?’
The last of her detachment deserted her when she saw her new husband’s demeanour change as he took in the sight; he wasalways pale, but she could have sworn she saw sweat break out on his brow, and an expression almost of horror cross his face. It was a fleeting impression, and then it was gone, and he assumed a masklike appearance. He was silent for a pregnant moment, and then he said, ‘We must greet them, Blanche – ask them to come in and join us. They are family, after all.’
‘I suppose we must,’ said his sister, moving forward and saying in tones of welcome that rang entirely false in Georgie’s ears, ‘Lady Ash – Isabella, my dear sister – Mr and Mrs Richmond! What a surprise to see you, but how fortunate! You find us celebrating my brother’s marriage; we are just come from the Minster this instant. Duchess, may I present to you my dear sister-in-law and yours too, Lady Ashby, and her parents, Mrs Richmond, Mr Richmond, from Harrogate?’
Georgiana gathered her wits together and said all that was proper, and the Richmonds bowed and curtseyed, and pressed somewhat incoherent congratulations upon her. They had not had the least idea – they were so sorry to intrude – such a happy day. All this was to little effect, as their daughter paid not the least attention to any remark addressed to her, but continued to stand silent beside them, tears still running unheeded down her face, staring at the newlywed couple with an expression something akin to horror. She was suddenly possessed by a strong conviction that Lady Ashby was about to fall in a dead swoon at her feet, and she thought that Blanche was aware of it too, for she became urgent in her insistence that the trio come inside and made themselves comfortable. Surely they would at least take a glass of wine? But the Richmonds were equally firm in their refusal to do so; they could not possibly intrude on such an occasion, they said. They did not mean to be discourteous, but they hoped that Lady Blanche and the Duchess would understand that they must instantly return to their inn, as their daughter had sadly overexerted herself in walking about andwas somewhat unwell. Gabriel gave some almost imperceptible sign to his sister, and she shot him a glance of complete comprehension, then drew the little family away, taking Lady Ashby’s right arm firmly in hers as Miss FitzHenry took the left. The Richmonds followed helplessly behind in their wake.
A small, uncomfortable silence threatened to develop, but it was mercifully broken by Lord Irlam, who suggested in a practical fashion that they ceased standing about in the street like so many stocks for people to gape at, but instead went inside, for the rain was coming on stronger every second.
Before Georgie well realised what he was about, the Duke lifted her into his strong arms and carried her across the threshold, to the cheers of the household. A moment later she found herself alone with him, in a room she had never entered before but which she supposed to be his study. He was still looking white and shaken, and said, ‘Well, that was an edifying spectacle to grace our wedding day. Take off your wet things, Georgie, and I will explain. I fear it is not a pretty tale.’
31
‘I had no idea that your brother was married,’ Georgiana said blankly, as she struggled to undo her damp pelisse with stiff, cold fingers that did not want to obey her. ‘Nobody has ever so much as mentioned the fact, or named his wife, his widow, in conversation.’
Her husband came to help her, and once done drew her close to the fire that burned in the grate, and urged her to sit. ‘I do not suppose we have. Ash had been married for a little less than a year when he died,’ he said in expressionless tones. ‘He was wounded in a skirmish before Toulouse, and came home to recuperate; he met Isabella Richmond in Harrogate, fell deeply in love with her, and they married quickly. They were very happy together in the short time they had. They lived at the Castle while he recovered from his injury – they had their own apartments – but of course when Bonaparte escaped from Elba, my brother was obliged to return to service. I asked him not to go, said he had done his duty and more already, begged him to think of Isabella too, but he would not listen to me. He’d always been damnably stubborn; we all are. Isabella found she could not endure to be parted from him, and of course in the peculiarcircumstances of last year there was no need for it; her parents travelled out to Belgium to be with her. And thank God they did. They were in Brussels at the time of Waterloo.’
Georgie thought she might have an inkling of what Gabriel was trying to tell her. ‘She saw…?’
‘After the battle, poor Ash lay on the field alone and in agony for a night – it pains me greatly to think of it, and his wife’s anxiety at that time can only be imagined – but when he was at last found and identified he was brought to her lodgings, very gravely wounded, and died in her arms a short while later. There was no chance that he could have survived such an injury. My cousin was taken there too, and she and her mother did their best – I imagine it was chiefly her mother, poor lady, for Isabella was in a state of collapse by then, I am told – to nurse him, but he too died a few weeks later.
