The Fortune Hunter Page 11

  ‘There, miss, what do you think of that?’ Grace put down the curling tongs and invited Charlotte to look at her handiwork in the mirror. Charlotte usually wore her hair pulled back from a centre parting into a simple chignon, and so she gasped when she saw her reflection. The maid had piled Charlotte’s hair on top of her head with loose ringlets hanging down at the back, and curly tendrils framing her forehead.

  ‘Do you like it, miss?’ Grace said anxiously.

  ‘I hardly recognise myself,’ said Charlotte. It was true, she did look different. She knew that she would never be beautiful, but for once she felt pleased with her reflection. The hairstyle had softened the angles of her face. The curled fringe called attention to her eyes, which tonight looked almost green. Her hair, which was a nondescript shade of brown, seemed to have an unaccustomed lustre. Her mouth, which was too wide to be fashionable, for once did not look too big for her small face. There had been a time when it would have taken all her courage to go downstairs and face the scrutiny of all the other women with their perfect ringlets, but since she had met Bay she no longer felt their stares so keenly.

  ‘I expect Captain Middleton will like it,’ said Grace. ‘He looks like a gentleman who notices feminine things.’

  ‘Yes, I believe he is.’

  Charlotte thought that Bay must propose tonight. He would not have kissed her like that yesterday if he was not serious in his intentions. He could hardly think that she was the sort of girl who could be kissed with impunity. And yet, there was a part of her that was rather taken with the notion that he might think she was ‘fast’ and worldly enough to take his embraces in her stride. It had been her first kiss, but she hoped that Bay had not known that at once. And if he did propose, what would she say? She thought of the lectures she had received from Fred and Augusta on Bay’s unsuitability as a husband. Bay Middleton was not the match they had in mind for the Lennox fortune, but Charlotte suspected that they would only really be happy if she died an old maid leaving the fortune intact to the little Freds and Augustas. No matter what they said, she thought that Bay liked her for herself, and while she had nothing to compare it with, she thought that his impulse to kiss her yesterday had been genuine enough. And for her part, she knew there had been nothing that she wanted more than to kiss him back.

  She fastened her pearl drops into her ear lobes and surveyed the effect. They were pretty but not striking. In honour of her new hairstyle, her new look, she needed something more.

  ‘Grace, could you ask my aunt for my jewellery case?’

  She would wear the Lennox diamonds tonight. She had never felt equal to their magnificence before, but tonight she felt that she could carry them off. Perhaps not the whole parure, the earrings alone would be dazzling. She had brought the jewels to Melton with her so that Augusta could try them on with her wedding dress, but it would do no harm to remind the world to whom the diamonds actually belonged.

  Grace returned carrying the jewellery case, accompanied by Lady Lisle, who started to speak the moment she walked into the room.

  ‘Charlotte dear, when the maid told me that you wanted the diamonds I had to make sure she hadn’t made a mistake. Are you going to wear them yourself? Are you sure that’s wise? They are quite serious jewels for a young girl to carry off.’

  Charlotte smiled. ‘Don’t worry, I am not going to deck myself out like a Christmas tree. I thought I would just wear the earrings and perhaps the brooch. And if I look ridiculous, well, I hope that no one here will judge me too harshly.’

  She opened the box and was gratified by the sparkle within. Charlotte had almost no memories of her mother, but she fancied that she had once kissed her before she went to a ball and had been entranced by the glittering stones hanging around her mother’s neck and arms.

  The earrings were in the shape of teardrops – the large central stones surrounded by smaller faceted ones. When Charlotte held them up to her ears they flickered and flashed in the candlelight.

  Grace smiled at Charlotte in the mirror.

  ‘They look splendid, miss.’

  But Lady Lisle looked worried.

  ‘I wonder if it is wise to wear them tonight, Charlotte. I am worried that Augusta might think you are being tactless. After all, dear Fred won’t be able to give her jewels like these.’

  ‘I have already offered to lend her the diamonds for the wedding. I think she can’t grudge me a night with my earrings,’ Charlotte said with some force. Lady Lisle retreated, as always, at any sign of resistance.

  ‘You are probably right, dear. After all, they are your jewels, so why shouldn’t you wear them?’

  She looked at her niece properly, taking in the new hairstyle, the diamonds and the glint in the grey-green eyes.

  ‘I have to say that you are looking remarkably well tonight.’

  ‘Thank you, Aunt. Grace has worked miracles with my hair.’

  ‘It’s very becoming, certainly. But it’s not just that, you look different somehow. Perhaps it is the earrings. I always remember your poor mother wearing them. Tonight I can really see the likeness.’

  ‘But she was so lovely. I am not nearly as pretty as her,’ Charlotte said.

  ‘Nonsense, child. I don’t know where you have got that idea from. You are very like your mother. Not just in your features, but in the way you hold your head, your way of speaking. She would be very proud if she could see you now.’ Lady Lisle was a kind woman. Charlotte was so self-possessed that it was easy to forget that she was, after all, an orphan.

  ‘I wish I had a photograph of her. Father had one done of her in her coffin, you know, but I have never been able to look at it. There is the portrait at Kevill, of course, but it’s not the same.’

  ‘I have a pen and ink drawing of your mother that I made just after she got married. I shall find it for you. It’s not a photograph, of course, but I remember your mother was very pleased with it at the time,’ Lady Lisle said.

  Charlotte went over to her aunt and kissed her on the cheek.

  ‘That would be very kind.’

  * * *

  Charlotte and Adelaide Lisle were the last of the guests to join the group gathered under the Arthurian murals in the Great Hall. The chairs in the room had been designed by Pugin himself, but they were so ornately carved and exquisitely uncomfortable that people preferred to stand. Augusta and Fred were huddled by the fire, looking at the Illustrated London News. Augusta’s brother, the Hon. Percy, was talking to the local curate; Lord Crewe was explaining the significance of the Lady of Shalott mural to an indifferent Hartopp; and Lady Crewe was sitting on the only upholstered chair in the room. There was no sign of Bay. As they approached the group, Charlotte saw Augusta’s eyes flicker as she took in the hairstyle and the earrings. Fred gave her a puzzled look, as if he couldn’t quite decide what was different about her, but then his fiancée whispered something in his ear. His face clouded, and for once, Charlotte found herself grateful for Captain Hartopp’s attempts to flirt with her. He seemed to have regained his good humour and bounded up to her as if nothing had happened the day before. He was full of a cartoon he had seen in Punch, the humour of which, Charlotte felt, was rather being lost in his telling. But she smiled and nodded as if it was the most amusing story in the world.

  Augusta, though, was not to be deflected.

  ‘My goodness, Charlotte, you look very splendid tonight. Is there a special occasion? I feel quite dowdy beside you,’ she said, her thin lips stretched into a tight smile.

  ‘Your maid, Grace, has been so clever with my hair. I am so grateful to you for lending her to me.’ Charlotte’s smile matched Augusta’s exactly.

  ‘She has a real way with hairpieces, it’s remarkable what a little artifice can do.’ Augusta carried on, ‘But those earrings are all your own, of course. They are quite dazzling.’

  ‘They belonged to my mother.’

  Hartopp, who had been listening to this exchange with incomprehension, broke in, delighted to have a point of refere
nce,

  ‘The famous Lennox diamonds, eh? Shame to leave them in a strong box.’

  ‘Exactly my thoughts, Captain Hartopp. What’s the point in having lovely things if you don’t use them?’ Charlotte said.

  Augusta was about to reply when the dinner gong sounded. As there was still no sign of Bay, Charlotte put her hand on Chicken’s meaty arm.

  But just as they were filing into dinner she felt a touch, his touch, on her shoulder.

  ‘Glad to see that Chicken is looking after you in my absence,’ Bay said. He looked flushed, as if he had just ridden in from the outside, although he was wearing evening dress.

  ‘I must go and apologise to Lady C. I am damnably late.’ He moved ahead into the dining room and Charlotte felt a little sparkle of excitement. Bay was back and he had claimed her.

  She looked up at Captain Hartopp and smiled. ‘Do you know, Captain Hartopp, I think you must tell me that story again. You do it so killingly well.’

  * * *

  Bay was sitting next to Augusta. Charlotte realised that his status had risen at Melton since he had become the Empress of Austria’s pilot. Augusta might disapprove of him, but she clearly could not resist the glamour of his imperial association. Charlotte listened to her trying to prompt Bay into telling her about his royal charge, but he was clearly enjoying having the upper hand and would only talk about the glories of the Pytchley. Finally Augusta could bear it no longer.

  ‘Captain Middleton, I want no more details of the hounds and the kill. All I want to know is whether she is as beautiful as they say.’

  Bay said in mock puzzlement, ‘But who do you mean, Lady Augusta?’

  Augusta rocked backwards on her chair in annoyance. ‘The Empress, of course, who else would I mean? Is she really the loveliest woman in Europe?’

  Bay paused for a moment and Charlotte tried not to smile. She was enjoying Augusta’s torment.

  ‘Do you know,’ he said, ‘I really couldn’t say.’

  Augusta’s fork clattered on her plate. ‘But Captain Middleton, I thought that you were at her side all day, surely you have some idea of what she looks like. Or is a pilot so far in front that he never sees the person he is guiding?’

  Hartopp, who like Charlotte was following this exchange, boomed across the table, ‘Come on, Middleton, you are quite the connoisseur of the female form. Surely you have formed an opinion?’

  Bay smoothed the end of his moustache with his fingers, making them wait. ‘The Empress certainly knows how to ride. I don’t think I have ever seen a woman with such good hands. It was hard going today in the snow but she was right behind me the whole way. Took every fence, even cleared the gates. She would have made an excellent cavalry officer.’ He smiled across the table at Charlotte.

  But Augusta would not give up; information was currency in her world and she was determined to exact her price. She saw Bay smile at Charlotte and so she said, ‘Charlotte, please can you help me persuade Captain Middleton to vouchsafe some opinion as to the Empress’s looks?’

  Charlotte hesitated. She wanted to know just as much as Augusta but she didn’t want to side with her against Bay.

  ‘I was hoping to see the Empress for myself tomorrow. I want to take some photographs at the meet, I would so like to have an image of her.’

  Bay emptied his glass. ‘I am afraid you may be disappointed. The reason I can’t give you my opinion of the Empress’s looks is that she wore a veil. She only took it off right at the end of the day when it was too dark to see her face.’

  Hartopp laughed and said, ‘Sorry, Middleton, that’s just not good enough. A man like you can take the measure of a woman whether she is wearing a veil or not. You and I both know that beauty has its own smell.’

  ‘Do we indeed?’ said Bay. ‘I detected no smell from the Empress beyond the usual aromas of the field. All I can tell you is that she is tall for a woman and very slender. Oh yes, and she appears to have a vast quantity of hair of a brownish hue. She holds herself well and she speaks quietly. There were times when I could barely make her out.’

  ‘Tall and slender with good bearing,’ said Augusta. ‘Sounds as if you were quite smitten, Captain Middleton.’

  Bay said, ‘You must draw your own conclusions, Lady Augusta. I have merely tried to answer your questions.’

  Charlotte said quickly, ‘And how is the Empress’s English, does she have a strong accent?’

  ‘No, hardly at all. I was surprised at how good it was, much better than that of her entourage. But to be honest, there wasn’t much conversation. She is very serious about her sport.’

  ‘Then you are two of a kind,’ said Hartopp. Bay smiled in reply but Charlotte could see his hand curling around the handle of his knife. Lady Crewe called out querulously from the foot of the table.

  ‘I want to hear all about the Empress, Captain Middleton.’

  ‘She is tall and slender and has lots of hair, Mama,’ said Augusta. ‘She speaks English without an accent and she is an excellent horsewoman.’

  ‘Yes, yes, but is she exotic looking? I always think foreign women look so mysterious,’ Lady Crewe said.

  ‘There is certainly something mysterious about her, Lady Crewe,’ said Middleton, ‘but as to whether she is exotic, I really have no other Empresses to compare her with.’

  Lady Crewe lost interest and the conversation turned to other things.

  * * *

  When the ladies withdrew, Charlotte lingered in the Great Hall for as long as she dared before joining the others in the drawing room. Luckily for her, Lady Crewe had insisted on playing bridge, so she was able to retreat to a far corner of the drawing room behind an enormous potted palm. She spent an anxious twenty minutes shifting her gaze from the door to her distorted reflection in the brass pot that contained the potted palm. When she turned her head from side to side she could see the earrings sparkle.

  The rubber was coming to an end. Any moment now Augusta would be released from her card-playing duties and Charlotte would be forced to talk to her. At last the men sauntered in, and Bay spotted Charlotte at once behind her palm.

  ‘What are you doing hiding over here?’ he asked, amused.

  ‘I wanted some shade,’ she said.

  Bay laughed. There was a pause until Charlotte could bear the silence no longer.

  ‘What do you think of my hair? I hope it is worth the effort. Normally I can get dressed in minutes but this took what seemed like an hour.’ She turned her head from side to side.

  Bay tilted his head and half closed his eyes as if admiring a painting.

  ‘I think you look charming, but then you always look charming, whether you are wearing ringlets and bedecked with diamonds or wearing an apron with your hands covered in stains. It makes no difference to me.’

  Charlotte was both flattered by this speech and faintly annoyed. She had, after all, gone to some trouble on his behalf.

  Bay seemed to catch her thought and said, ‘But having said that, I think your ringlets and your diamonds are delightful.’ He hesitated. ‘Charlotte,’ she felt a little thrill as he used her Christian name, ‘I wish we could go somewhere and talk privately. I can feel Augusta watching me through the back of my head.’

  Charlotte looked up at him. ‘Is there something particular you wanted to talk about, Bay?’ Her voice shook a little as she said his name.

  ‘I think you must – or rather I hope you do – understand that there is. But before that, there are some things I must tell you about my circumstances. I am not a rich man. My stepfather makes me an allowance because he is a generous man and he adored my mother, but when he dies the money will go to his children. I have my army pay and the profits I make from selling horses. I have no debts at least, and I live well as a bachelor, but I am not a man of means. And yet you are an heiress. Tonight I see you in your diamonds and it makes me wonder if the gap between us is too great.’ He stopped and looked at the floor.

  Charlotte rushed in, ‘It’s true, I have diamonds.
But you have Tipsy, the future winner of the Grand National. It would be hard to say which is the greater treasure.’

  Bay looked up and smiled. ‘I agree with you, of course, but I wonder if the world will feel the same.’

  Charlotte began to pull off one of her evening gloves. ‘Look at this hand, at these stains. Do you really think that I care what the world feels?’

  Bay took the naked hand and was raising it to his lips when Augusta’s patrician drawl shattered the moment.

  ‘Oh dear, am I interrupting something?’

  Bay squeezed Charlotte’s hand, before releasing it.

  ‘As a matter of fact, Miss Baird and I were discussing a matter of great importance to us both. But as it is a private conversation we should have known better than to start where we would inevitably be interrupted.’

  He winked at Charlotte and turning to Augusta he said, ‘And as you are so interested in the Empress, I should tell you that the thing that struck me most about her was her lack of pretension. It is a rare quality in a lady of such high rank.’

  Augusta’s eyes gleamed at this morsel. She was distracted just as Bay had intended, and did not appear to notice the implied insult.

  ‘Really, Captain Middleton, and yet I have heard from Fred that her sister the ex-Queen is very particular about protocol. When Fred was presented to her, he made a quite a faux pas by forgetting to walk backwards out of her presence – even though they were in a ballroom! The Chamberlain came to reprimand him afterwards.’

  ‘Poor Fred,’ said Charlotte, ‘he must have been mortified.’

  ‘Mortified about what?’ said her brother, who had come to join them.