She stopped, breathing heavily, before taking a long draught of brandy.
“Perhaps it was something in me, but… he had some deeply unpleasant habits which I found… difficult. I just wanted it to stop, but the more I pleaded with him, the more he tormented me. It was not until after Luke was born that I found a way. I had always had admirers. It was fashionable then… perhaps it still is amongst a certain set, for a married woman to have admirers…cicisbeos. I had several, but there was one in particular… There was nothing improper between us, but he brought me to see how Edlesborough was mistreating me… that there could be affection and even joy between a man and a woman. And he showed me how I could escape my marriage, by taking a lover and forcing my husband to divorce me. So that is what I did and—”
“But wait!” Juliet cried. “What about me? I come between Luke and the divorce.”
“Indeed you do,” Mrs Granville said, smiling at her, and resting a plump hand on Juliet’s. “You were the first of my children by a lover.”
“What!”screeched Juliet. “Then I am not even legitimate!”
“Certainly you are, since Edlesborough never repudiated you. He knew, of course, but he was not sure what to do at first. Eventually, he decided that he did not want a male cuckoo in the nest to potentially inherit everything, so if the child was male, he would divorce me and repudiate the child, but a girl he could accept, to prevent a scandal. So when you were born, my dear, he accepted you as his.”
“But I am not.” Juliet’s face was as white as the handkerchief she clutched in one hand, her fingers restlessly pleating and unpleating it.
“Legally, you are, but you are not of his blood, no.”
“So who is my real father?” Juliet said, her eyes narrowing.
Mrs Granville laughed. “My dear, that would be telling! Best for you not to know, frankly. After that, I had to begin again. There were several more lovers, and eventually I found myself with child again, and this time Edlesborough did not hesitate. I was out of the house within the hour. He threw you out, as well, which was not at all what I intended, but Tabitha looked after you, did she not? I knew my sister would take very good care of you. She wrote to my brother in Newcastle and he wrote to me, so I knew how you were getting on. Tabitha made sure you wereeducated and brought up properly, as an earl’s daughter should be. I always assumed that Edlesborough would relent, in time, and at least see you brought out into society, but I think on the whole you have done better without all that nonsense.”
“In what way have I done better?” Juliet said, jerking into a straighter position. “To have no chance of marrying well — or at all? To have no dowry? To survive on one hundred and fifty pounds a year, at best, and most of that is gone now. How is thatbetterthan being acknowledged as the daughter of an earl?”
Mrs Granville’s eyebrows rose. “Well, I must say that you look very well on your hundred and fifty a year. That gown alone must have cost fifty pounds or more.”
“It isborrowed!All this finery came from the Duchess of Brinshire, and will go back to her when I leave this miserable place, and I will don my own rags again. Great heavens, what did you think would become of me when you abandoned me? Did you think Aunt Tabitha was a wealthy woman, and I would be dining on partridge and turbot for the rest of my life? Did you think about me at all? You are the one who has done well, if you ask me. You are the one dripping in diamonds, after all. How much didthatcost Mr Granville?”
The eyebrows rose even further, but she said mildly, “There was never a Mr Granville. I took my maiden name and pretended to be a widow. My Italian lover bought the necklace, and left me very well provided for, it is true. I sold the villa when we all moved back to England, and bought a tidy little property near Newcastle. Apart from Charlie here, there are four more children at home, all with their father’s lovely dark hair and eyes.” She sighed, a faraway look in her eyes. “The dear man is dead now, poor creature, but he has taken good care of all of us, both in life and in death.”
“Then I congratulate you,Mama,” Juliet said, rising to her feet. “What a charmed life you have led, doing precisely whatyou wished, abandoning your husband and several children to pursue your own pleasure all these years. How happy you must be, knowing thatyouwould never have to worry about the expense of a second servant or the apothecary’s fees, or be obliged to reuse tea because it was too costly to buy more.”
“Oh, my dear…” Mrs Granville began, but Simon stood and wrapped his arms gently around his sister. Her small frame trembled violently in his arms.
“Sister, you shall have all the diamonds you wish for, and the very best tea from now on.”
“I do notwantdiamonds!” she cried, pushing him away. “I never wanted anything for myself, only for you to be famous enough that we could move in society — proper society, not the scuffling little set we belong to at present, but this selfish woman has made it impossible. In all the difficulties I have endured over the years, my one consolation was that I was respectable — an earl’s daughter, even if he ignored me. I believed that once you had made your name, we would be able to hold our heads up in any company — perhaps you would attract the notice of the Prince of Wales’s set, and go to Carlton House or… or Brighton, and besomebody.But that will never be, because I am the daughter of the woman who so scandalised polite society that her husbanddivorcedher! I shall never, ever be able to hold my head up again, never!”
With a swirl of the duchess’ expensive silk, she swept from the room, leaving Mrs Granville watching her open-mouthed.
“Well! I did not imagine she would be so temperamental about it.”
“What did you expect — that she would fall into your arms?” Simon said.
“Something like that, yes. I never supposed she would be so unsympathetic. I could not have stayed with a man who tormented me so, no woman could or should.”
“Mymother did,” Simon said, with icy disdain. “She bore the brunt of my father’s ill-humours and foibles for over thirty years, without once complaining or doing anything improper, and she never, ever abandoned her children, as you did. I am sorry your life with my father was so miserable, but frankly, I hope I never see you again.”
22: The Blue Parlour
Simon took his brandy to Juliet’s room, where he found her pacing up and down in a rage.
“Insufferable woman! So smug and self-satisfied!Sheis all right, naturally, with her lovers and her villa and her tidy little property near Newcastle! And all the time I thought she was dead, and grieved for her, and set all my troubles at Papa’s door, when really it was not at all surprising that he could not bear to have me in the house, a constant reminder of his faithless wife.”
“I told her I never want to see her again,” Simon said.
“Did you! How wonderful! You are the best brother in the world, do you know that? What else did you say to her?”
“That, unlike her, my mother put up with Edlesborough for thirty years.”
“So she did, and sent us so much money over the years. Twice or thrice a year, there would be the two letters and half a bank note in each.”
