‘Good riddance,’ said the marquess.
Hannah’s eyes flew to Belinda. Belinda was looking the picture of shame. If he had told her he loved her, she would be radiant. Men! thought Hannah bitterly.
‘Why have they gone?’ asked Hannah. ‘They had no need to flee.’
‘They had every need, madam,’ said the marquess. ‘Mr Biles is already married.’
‘Married? Does Miss Wimple know?’
‘I doubt it.’
‘But we must save her,’ said Belinda.
‘My dear heart,’ he said in a testy voice that robbed the words of any affection, ‘you are rid of a companion who did her best to blacken your name.’
‘I do not like her,’ said Belinda. ‘But I am going to try to find her. I cannot stand by and see even such as Miss Wimple ruined. She does not have much money, and if he abandons her there is nothing left for a lady to do but to go on the streets.’
‘Might stop her damned moralizing,’ said the marquess savagely.
‘We will all go,’ said Hannah soothingly. ‘My lord no doubt has a carriage.’
‘Which is staying in the stables.’
‘Which you will get out of the stables,’ said Hannah, ‘unless, of course, you have no affection for Miss Earle whatsoever.’
He looked at her in silence. Hannah met his gaze steadily. Hannah did not care a rap what happened to Miss Wimple, but she was frightened to leave matters between Belinda and the marquess as they were. If Belinda was allowed to go ahead on the coach to The Bath in the morning, then perhaps by the time the Marquess of Frenton should be calling on that moralizing great-aunt to ask permission to pay his addresses, he might instead have been snapped up by some designing female. And Hannah did believe that it was never any good for the path of true love to run smooth.
The marquess looked at Belinda. Her face was flushed and her hair tumbled and he realized with a shock that he found her very beautiful indeed and doubted that he would ever think of her as an ordinary-looking female again.
‘Very well,’ he said. ‘I will change into my travelling clothes. Miss Pym, I suggest you go to the servants’ hall and tell the coachman that neither you, Miss Earle, Miss Wimple, or Mr Biles will be taking the stage. Oh, and I gather the Judds are to remain here. He will have an empty coach. Give me half an hour and then meet me in the hall!’
7
Oh heav’nly fool, thy most kiss-worthy face
Anger invests with such a lovely grace,
That Anger’s self I needs must kiss again.
Sir Philip Sidney
‘They will have headed for the city,’ said the marquess, meaning Bath. ‘We shall go in that direction first.’
He helped the ladies into the carriage and climbed up on the box. Hannah was disappointed. She had not expected the marquess to drive his carriage himself. She had hoped the couple would have had the opportunity to talk to each other on the journey and get to know each other better. Hugs and kisses were all very well, thought Hannah, giving her nose a tug. But how would they ever find out if they were suited if they never had a chance to talk?
‘Do you think he is angry with us?’ ventured Belinda, peering out into the snow-covered blackness. Although the snow had stopped falling, the countryside was white.
‘For going in search of Miss Wimple? He was at first, but now I think he is reconciled to it, and he must be glad to be shot of the Jordans, as are we all.’
‘Did you mark that when Penelope Jordan joined the others in my bedchamber that her eyebrows were quite thin?’
‘No, I did not,’ said Hannah roundly. ‘I had other things to think about.’
‘Well, they were,’ said Belinda triumphantly. ‘And that means she wears false eyebrows.’
‘A dangerous practice,’ said Hannah severely. ‘It is one to be avoided. Mrs Clarence gave a dinner party once and there was a certain Sir Brian Curtis and his lady present. Right in the middle of dinner, he roared across the table at his wife, “Your left eyebrow is slipping.” Most mortifying for the lady. And then there was another gentleman who had strictly forbidden his wife to wear paint. She appeared in the drawing-room with a little rouge on her face. He grabbed a napkin, soaked it in seltzer, seized her, and scrubbed her face clean before the whole company.’
‘How dreadful! It is just as well this business of me marrying Frenton is all a hum. Marriage is a state to be avoided if a female can afford it.’
‘True,’ said Hannah gloomily. ‘Men will regard us as their chattels, you know, and … Faith! What am I saying? Not all men are thus, Miss Earle, I assure you. Furthermore, I do not think Frenton was teasing when he named you as his fiancée. There is his pride, you see.’
‘And there is mine,’ said Belinda. ‘He would take my very soul away,’ she said, half to herself.
Hannah fell silent. Belinda was left to think about the nature of love. Of course she had often thought about love, but had imagined that feeling would be something pure and spiritual. At that very moment, she hated the marquess, but at the same time longed for some sign of affection from him.
She peered out of the window of the carriage again. ‘We are moving down to lower ground,’ she said, ‘and there is no snow and the road is quite dry. How odd the vagaries of the English climate! Although I am concerned for Miss Wimple, I am sharp set. I barely touched anything last evening. The venison was vile, stringy and gamy, and the smell!’
‘I confess I could touch little of it myself. Moral people seem to have stomachs of iron. Both Miss Wimple and Mr Biles ate great quantities of the stuff. But as to Miss Wimple, it is our duty to apprise her of the facts because she is a woman and a fellow sufferer. If we women do not stick together, then what hope is there for us?’
‘Have you never met a man with whom you could spend the rest of your life?’ asked Belinda.
‘There was one,’ said Hannah, ‘but he turned out to be a cheat and a liar and deceived me sore. Thank goodness that there are good men in this world.’ She thought of Sir George Clarence with his fine figure, his piercing blue eyes, and the courteous way he listened to her so intently. He had offered to take her on a tour of the gardens of Thornton House on her return. Would he remember his offer? Perhaps he would marry and his new wife would frown on this strange friendship with a servant, albeit a former one. The thought of Sir George’s marrying anyone depressed Hannah.
‘The carriage is stopping,’ she said.
‘Perhaps we are going to be allowed something to eat,’ remarked Belinda hopefully.
The marquess opened the carriage door. ‘I am going to make inquiries at this inn.’
‘Any hope of breakfast?’ asked Belinda.
‘Later,’ he said shortly.
‘You have the right of it, Miss Pym,’ said Belinda bitterly when the marquess had closed the carriage door again. ‘We must always do as we are told.’
‘My fault,’ said Hannah. ‘Never ask a tentative question of a gentleman or the answer is bound to be no. I should have said, “Help us down. We are going to have breakfast.”’
‘That wouldn’t have worked either,’ said Belinda. ‘Try it.’
After only a short time, the marquess returned. ‘Good news,’ he said. ‘They stopped here and paid a driver handsomely to return the carriage and horses to the earl.’
‘Did they go ahead on foot?’ asked Belinda.
‘No, they paid for a pony and gig and took off in that. They asked the road to Monks Parton.’