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Ferdy had regained much of his sunny demeanour, his jacket of sky blue matched his eyes, his fair hair was tousled, his pantaloons and hessian boots immaculate as ever. ‘Ah, all the old friends together again. It’s like the good old days.’ They came forwards to greet him. ‘But what have you been talking about? This looks more like a council of war,’ he said, smiling.
Corinna laughed and took his arm, sweeping him towards the best chair by the fire. ‘Oh, we were talking of how much we like you and approve your taste in all things.’
Alick said, ‘What will you have to drink, Ferdy?’
* * *
Only as the first course of dinner was served did the talk turn to Ferdy’s forthcoming marriage. The poached hake and oyster sauce was ladled into five generous bowls and Lord Purfoy looked across the table at their dandy friend and asked with customary slyness, ‘So, Ferdy, tell us about your betrothal, and why we, the friends who know you best, were excluded from the marital cogitations?’
Ferdy coloured. ‘I know you’re exercised by the fact I didn’t consult you. I just decided I wanted to be married and didn’t wish to be persuaded otherwise.’
‘We would all be delighted to see you married, why would we persuade you against the idea?’
‘Because I didn’t desire a love match like yours, Rav, and of course Alick’s and Corinna’s. I couldn’t bear the emotional strain!’
The friends round the table all laughed with him. ‘I don’t know how we endured it!’
The roast chicken and gammon appeared and Alick stood up to carve. Corinna passed the creamed celery and boiled carrots and potatoes, saying soothingly, ‘So, Ferdy, can you tell us about Miss Payton?’
Ferdy raised his glass of burgundy. ‘Well, she’s pretty. I think that’s fairly obvious to all who meet her, and finely dressed.’
‘You make a very good-looking pair, ’tis true.’ Alick passed him some generous slices of gammon.
‘But what about her character, the qualities that attracted you to her,’ Corinna persisted.
Lord Flambard said with a cynical sneer, ‘Hester Payton is a very superior kind of woman, rather too encumbered with virtue. But we all know what attracted her to you, Ferdy.’ He laughed. As a man of the world, Max Flambard recognised that even the tender movements of the heart revolved around money, and Ferdy had a great deal of that essential commodity to spare.
Everyone’s eyes were on their friend as he attempted to articulate the particular attractions of his betrothed. ‘That’s not entirely fair, Max. Hester is totally trustworthy in all matters of etiquette and appropriate behaviour, ’tis true. But she will be an unimpeachable mistress of Nonsuch House and will never embarrass me or let me down.’ Ferdy’s expression was serene.
‘Oh, how dull! My Eliza is always threatening to embarrass me with some daredevilry in the hunting field.’ Lord Purfoy gave a secret smile, no doubt remembering the distinctive character of the woman by his side, presiding over his ancestral castle at Hartfield and his newly-awakened heart.
Max was also unconvinced. ‘It sounds too like a cold collation when one prefers hot dinners. Isn’t the pulsing of the blood the only way we know we’re alive?’
Alick came to Ferdy’s defence. ‘If a man wants a contented, unruffled life, then choosing a woman with a steady, practical temperament for his wife makes sense. Not everyone wishes to be surprised with joy and irritation on a daily basis.’ He put his hand out to lay it on Corinna’s in her lap. ‘It makes life infinitely exciting, but it can be wearing.’
Raven Purfoy, as insinuating as a cat, murmured, ‘What of your friend Miss Rose? She had been posing for Corinna when I arrived, and scampered away.’
Ferdy looked up sharply from his plate and flushed. ‘She found Billy, the abandoned baby, on my doorstep and has shown a good deal of interest in him, and the plight of all abandoned or orphaned children.’
‘It’s not her kidling, is it?’ Max Flambard could not resist causing trouble.
‘No, it is not!’ Ferdy was unexpectedly fierce. Like many peaceable men unused to anger, when it arrived, it flamed up uncontrollably, threatening to scorch anything in its path. Still breathing fire, he said, ‘Miss Rose is an orphan and deserves our respect. She is obliged to live with uncongenial cousins, Lord Lockhart, his mother and sister, in Grosvenor Street.’ He was disinclined to expand further on Madeleine Rose’s mixed fortunes as he could not trust his new-found temper not to reveal more of the intractable dilemma that had arrived at his door.
His friends looked at him with some surprise and Max attempted to calm the waters. ‘Apologies, Ferdy, my levity is misplaced.’ He gave a rueful smile as Corinna passed the cream.
Lord Purfoy had not been present when the full details of Ferdy’s situation had been explained to Corinna Wolfe and he asked, ‘Old friend, I’ve been wondering if Miss Payton minds that you are a long-established friend of the man who cuckolded her father and killed him in a duel?’
Ferdy coughed as a piece of Savoy Pudding went down the wrong way.
Before he could answer, Lord Flambard leapt into the breach. ‘That reminds me. As far as Miss Payton is concerned, I’m Baron Whiley, Lord Whiley. It’s my other title. And useful on this occasion.’
Raven Purfoy looked puzzled. ‘But why the subterfuge?’
‘It’s not subterfuge so much as politic evasion. It is my name after all.’
Corinna could not stop herself expostulating. ‘Oh, Max! You know it’s unprincipled to use one’s lesser title so as not to be easily identified.’
Lord Flambard had the decency to look sheepish as he explained. ‘I’d resumed my relationship with Mrs Payton and did not want to upset her daughter and Ferdy’s courtship of her.’
