The Fortune Hunter Read online

  ‘I’m afraid I was showing off. I don’t want to blacken Tipsy’s good name with my antics.’ Bay jumped to the ground and patted his horse’s neck.

  Charlotte gestured to Captain Hartopp where she wanted him to set down the tripod. ‘If you could just pull out that leg, perfect. Thank you so much, now I am quite ready to do justice to this remarkable horse.’

  ‘Then if you have no further use for me, perhaps you will excuse me, I have letters to write.’ Hartopp did not wait for Charlotte to answer before setting off towards the house.

  * * *

  Bay gestured towards the retreating figure with his crop.

  ‘What have you done to Hartopp, Miss Baird? He looks quite fierce. Did he offer to make you Mrs Hartopp and you spurned him with a girlish laugh? I had no idea that you were so heartless. You must temper your refusals with paltry compliments to assuage a man’s pride, y’know. Poor Chicken, he looks quite crestfallen.’

  ‘Don’t be absurd. Captain Hartopp has, no doubt, decided that he has more important things to do than to watch you cavorting around on your horse.’

  ‘Well, if you say so, but he looked like a disappointed lover to me.’

  Charlotte hesitated. Bay was joking, of course, yet Hartopp’s pique was clearly genuine. But having given him no encouragement, she really could not be responsible for his feelings.

  ‘So, Captain Middleton, do you think you can persuade Tipsy to stand still?’

  ‘Absolutely. How would you like us?’

  Charlotte looked at them. She had imagined Bay sitting on the horse, but now that she saw him with the animal and observed the way he looked at Tipsy, she knew that was the image she wanted.

  ‘Why don’t you stand just there with your hand on the bridle like that?’ She pulled the cloth over her head and looked at the upside-down image. She moved the camera a little so that the horse and rider were in the centre of the frame. Coming out from under her shroud she said, ‘Remember, when I raise my hand I want to you to keep still for as long as it takes to recite the Lord’s Prayer. If you or Tipsy move, the image will be blurred.’

  ‘We will be as still as statues. Won’t we, Tipsy?’

  Charlotte looked up at the sky and saw a procession of dark clouds heading towards the weak winter sun. She needed to take the picture now, before the light went. She disappeared underneath the baize, steadied herself and raised her hand.

  She was at ‘Forgive us our trespasses’ when Fred’s voice broke across her thoughts.

  ‘Oh, what a charming scene, dear Mitten taking a picture of Middleton and the love of his life.’

  Charlotte willed Bay not to move; another ten seconds and the photograph would be done. ‘The power and the glory…’

  ‘A horse is the love of Captain Middleton’s life? I am surprised,’ Augusta’s voice came from behind her.

  Charlotte was determined not to lose her concentration. ‘World without end, Amen.’ She thought she saw Bay flinch. She came out from under her shroud, to see the engaged couple standing behind her. She turned on Fred.

  ‘Really, Fred, how many times have I told you not to disturb me when I am taking a picture? You wouldn’t like it if I started talking to you just when you raised your gun.’

  ‘Completely different, Mitten. Shooting is a serious business.’

  ‘And photography isn’t? Well, why don’t you try and take a photograph, Fred? You might find that it’s slightly more complicated than pointing a gun at a bird and pulling the trigger.’

  Fred took a step towards her

  ‘Really? It looks to me that all you are doing is pointing a camera at your subject and releasing the shutter. Where’s the skill in that?’

  Bay’s voice broke in with mock plaintiveness. ‘May we move now, Miss Baird? Tipsy is getting rather restless. It’s feeding time at the stables and she doesn’t want to miss her oats.’

  ‘She has been an excellent sitter, I didn’t see her move a muscle,’ Charlotte said.

  ‘She’s terribly vain, didn’t want to produce a bad likeness.’ Bay jumped on Tipsy’s back and, with a touch of his heels, galloped off towards the stables.

  Charlotte was left at the top of the steps with Fred and Augusta. There was a little pause and then Fred said, ‘You and Middleton seem very pally.’

  ‘I find him amusing.’

  ‘Well, of course he’s amusing – he’s famous for being amusing and agreeable and an excellent dancer – but I must warn you, Mitten, that he is what is called a ladies’ man.’ Fred whispered the phrase ‘ladies’ man’ as if somehow to make it less shocking.

  ‘I think you forgot to say, Fred, in your list of Captain Middleton’s accomplishments, that he is the best dressed officer in the Guards. Didn’t he give you the name of his tailor?’ Charlotte asked.

  ‘I don’t see what that has to do with anything,’ blustered Fred. ‘I am simply trying to point out that he is to be treated with caution. I like the man, he’s a fellow officer and one of the best riders in the country, but he just isn’t suitable.’

  Charlotte collapsed her tripod with a sharp snap.

  ‘Suitable for what?’ she said.

  ‘For you, of course!’ cried Fred.

  ‘So what you are saying is that he is good enough for you, and for Earl Spencer and the Queen of Naples, but he isn’t suitable for me. I fail to follow you, Fred.’ Charlotte felt herself flushing.

  Fred was about to reply, but Augusta put her hand on his arm. ‘Dearest Fred, why don’t you carry all this equipment upstairs for your sister? I should so much like to show her the new orchid house before luncheon.’

  Brother and sister obeyed her with equal reluctance. Fred had a great deal more to say to Charlotte about the unsuitability of Bay Middleton and Charlotte had no desire to look at orchids with Augusta, but neither could think of a way out. Charlotte handed the tripod and the camera to Fred, keeping only the plate she had just taken – she didn’t trust Fred not to drop it. Augusta took her arm and propelled her towards the walled garden where the orchid house had been built.

  ‘I daresay you have never seen an orchid house before in a private residence. Papa got the idea after a visit to the botanical gardens at Kew. He is so very fond of exotic plants that he simply couldn’t rest until he had created his own orchidarium.’

  They walked through the frosty kitchen garden with its blackened cabbages and tall asparagus cloches to the round glass pavilion on the south wall.

  Augusta pushed open the door and they both exclaimed at the warm, humid air. A spike of orchids brushed Charlotte’s cheek; as she pushed it away she noticed the cold waxiness of the petals and the complete lack of scent.

  ‘Do you like the orchids, Charlotte? My father’s collection is famous, of course. There are specimens here that come from as far as the Kingdom of Sarawak.’

  ‘Goodness! I have only a vague notion of where Sarawak is, almost unimaginably distant.’

  ‘Yes, distant to us, but not to my father, who has spared no expense to get the choicest items.’ Augusta’s tone was unmistakably bitter.

  There was a pause. Charlotte decided on closer inspection that Lord Crewe might have better spent his money elsewhere. She did not care for the floral contortions around her; the orchids felt to her like monarchs in exile, their magnificence incongruous with their new surroundings.

  Augusta picked up a hot pink flower and began to stroke one of its pendulous lower petals with one kid-gloved thumb.

  ‘As we are going to be sisters, Charlotte, and because you have no mother, I feel that it is my duty to give you some guidance.’

  ‘That is very kind of you, Augusta, but you are forgetting Aunt Adelaide. She is very conscientious.’

  ‘Perhaps. But Lady Lisle has been away from London society for a number of years, and while she is no doubt a delightful companion, her judgement on certain matters is a little rusty. She is out of the swim, and is not quite aware of all the potential hazards that lie in your path.’

 
‘Hazards?’ said Charlotte.

  ‘It will be much easier, of course, when you are living with us. I will be on hand to guide you. I have had so much more experience in these matters.’

  ‘But Augusta, you are only four years older than me.’

  ‘Only three years, I think you’ll find, but those three years have given me a sense of the pitfalls that lie ahead of you. I know how easy it is to be led astray.’

  Charlotte smiled. ‘Led astray? Augusta! Are you about to confess to an indiscretion? How very exciting. Does Fred know?’

  There was a pop, as Augusta crushed the pink cushion of the orchid’s lower lip.

  ‘I am talking about you, Charlotte, as I am sure you are aware. You and Captain Middleton.’

  ‘You really ought to be more careful with your father’s orchids. That was a very fine specimen until you started playing with it,’ Charlotte said.

  Augusta sighed. She spoke slowly and with an air of great patience.

  ‘Fred was perhaps a bit clumsy earlier, but you must understand that he was only trying to protect you.’

  ‘Protect me from what, though? I have danced with Middleton once, sat next to him at dinner once, and taken his photograph twice. He has not made love to me, indeed the bulk of our conversation has been about his horse. Frankly, if he is an example of a dangerous ladies’ man, then I am disappointed.’

  ‘Captain Middleton has a reputation. He has been friendly, too friendly, with a married woman. She was mentioned at dinner last night – Blanche Hozier. You must have noticed how Middleton reacted when my mother mentioned her name. I believe the liaison is at an end, but that is hardly the point.’

  ‘But I am not a married woman, and Captain Middleton is not a married man. Our meetings are in public, and as yet, there has been no talk of Gretna Green. I know nothing of Blanche Hozier, but if Captain Middleton’s behaviour has been so very shocking then I am surprised to find that he is a guest here at Melton.’ Charlotte lifted her chin defiantly.

  Augusta gave Charlotte a look intended to convey sisterly compassion.

  ‘Oh dear, this is exactly what I was afraid of. You are taking his side, and that is because he has preyed upon your emotions. You have had so little experience of men, and when an accomplished young man like Captain Middleton makes himself agreeable, you are quite defenceless. You imagine, of course, that he is interested in you. But dear, sweet, innocent Mitten, here is a man who has displayed a fondness for a married woman. Why then would he be attracted by a young girl with no experience or sophistication, if it were not for the fact that you are a considerable heiress? I am afraid that Captain Middleton, who comes, I understand, from a very modest background, is a fortune hunter.’

  Charlotte would have liked very much to pick up one of the orchids from Sarawak and poke it into her future sister-in-law’s bulging blue eye, but she retained her composure by imagining her instead as an overbred Pekinese holding a parasol.

  ‘A fortune hunter? I fail to see, Augusta, how that distinguishes Captain Middleton in any way. Are you telling me that Captain Hartopp isn’t interested in my money, or that you and Fred would be quite so eager to have me share your newly wedded bliss if I were a poor relation? Perhaps Captain Middleton is only interested in my fortune, but if that is the case he does a much better job of concealing it than anyone else.’

  Augusta, no doubt thinking of the Lennox diamonds and how distinguished they would make her look on her wedding day, laid a conciliatory hand on Charlotte’s arm.

  ‘We mustn’t quarrel, Charlotte. I mean no harm. Every girl is entitled to a flirtation. All I ask you to remember is that Bay Middleton may be a wonderful dancing partner and a charming photographic subject, but he is not a serious prospect. I don’t want you to be compromised. With your advantages you could marry someone of real standing – a man whose position will give you a role in life. I have such great plans for you next season. If you don’t end the year as a future countess or even a marchioness, I will be very disappointed.’

  Charlotte felt suddenly weary. She could not hope to explain to Augusta that her disappointment was inevitable. For if the conversation had convinced her of one thing, it was that she would never marry a man who had been procured for by her future sister-in-law.

  ‘You have been very generous with your advice, Augusta, and there could be no better counsel, I daresay, to a girl who wants to make a dazzling marriage. But now you will have to excuse me. I must take this plate back to the house – or I am afraid the humidity in here will affect the result.’

  Augusta smiled, revealing her prominent overbite. ‘Of course, I know how important your hobby is to you. I just wanted to make sure we had a little tête-à-tête before you took any more “photographs” of Captain Middleton.’

  But Charlotte was already at the door, desperate to breathe in the cold winter air.

  * * *

  She didn’t consciously intend to go back to the house via the stable block, but somehow she found herself walking through the yard. The stable was the only part of Melton that had not been given the Gothic treatment. Although Lord Crewe had talked about replacing the stable clock with a campanile with revolving figures, his architect had never quite got around to completing the design.

  As it was the start of the hunting season all the stalls were full. Charlotte looked for Tipsy’s grey coat, but there were so many horses there that she found it very hard to tell them apart. She was almost at the other side of the yard when she saw Bay. He was crouching down on the ground, tying a hunting bandage around his horse’s leg. He had taken his coat off and had rolled up his shirtsleeves, revealing sinewy white arms covered in freckles. Charlotte watched him for a minute as he pulled the bandage tight and then soothed the horse, who was stamping and snorting from the indignity. But as Bay whispered in the animal’s ear and let it lick the flat of his hand, the horse subsided.

  Charlotte willed him to look round. At last he turned his head and saw her and the plate case in her hand. He ran over to where she was standing, just under the stable arch.

  ‘Don’t tell me you have done it already? Have you come to show Tipsy the results?’

  Charlotte shook her head. ‘Even though the printing process is much faster than it used to be, it is not that speedy. You will have your print tonight, if I am not waylaid by something else. No, I came through here to escape from Augusta. She has been giving me sisterly advice, and I find that it is best taken in small doses.’

  Bay ran a hand through his hair and Charlotte noticed the swell of his forearm.

  ‘What was the advice about?’ he asked, and when Charlotte did not immediately reply, he said, ‘I can tell from the way you are blushing that she was advising you about me. Am I right?’

  Charlotte looked down at the floor and kicked a piece of straw with her foot.

  ‘She is very concerned about my future.’

  ‘And let me guess, she doesn’t think that your future should include reprobates like Bay Middleton?’

  ‘I don’t believe she used the word reprobate. I think she might have said that you were “unsuitable”.’

  Bay laughed and stretched his arms out wide. ‘And what do you say, Miss Baird? Do you agree with the Lady Augusta? Am I to be cast into the outer darkness?’

  Charlotte raised her eyes to his. ‘I find that I agree with Augusta very rarely.’

  ‘Thank goodness for that. But she is right in some respects. I am unsuitable. I am not rich, and while I am a gentleman, you won’t find me in Debrett’s. I am not the sort of man that makes mamas happy.’

  Charlotte interrupted him, ‘The one advantage of being motherless is that you learn how to make up your own mind about people.’

  ‘And have you?’

  ‘I think so.’

  They were both silent for a moment and then both began to speak at once. Charlotte was saying that she must go back to the house to change, as Bay said, ‘I am really very glad that you are at Melton. I have wanted to see you a
gain since the Spencer ball. If only to make amends for my clumsiness in ruining your dress. I am hoping you have forgiven me for that.’

  ‘I have forgiven you, although my dressmaker hasn’t,’ Charlotte said lightly, but then, seeing the expression on Bay’s face, she lowered her voice. ‘I think you were distracted that night, Captain Middleton; something had thrown you off balance.’

  Bay put his fingers through his hair again and Charlotte realised to her surprise that he was nervous.

  ‘You are right. I was distracted, but I must tell you, Miss Baird, that I am not distracted any more.’ His gaze was steady. Charlotte gripped the plate in her hands tightly. Attempting a smile, she said, ‘Oh, my dressmaker will be so relieved.’

  But Bay did not smile back. ‘I was lucky to meet you that night, I can’t tell you how lucky. You were right, I had lost my balance but now I have found it.’

  Charlotte felt the blush spread across her face. ‘I don’t know how I helped you, but I am glad that I did.’

  ‘Are you? I think you may be the only one that can help me. I so wish that I had something to offer you in return.’

  Charlotte wanted to tell him that he had already given her so much – a sense of possibility, that her future might be more than she had hoped, but she did not have the words. She looked at his arms and saw that the reddish hairs were standing on end. She wanted to stroke them. She realised that she had never wanted to touch a man before. Almost involuntarily she took a step towards him. He began to raise his arms as if perhaps to embrace her, but at that moment there was a clatter of hooves behind them and they both drew back. A groom in blue livery came to a halt when he saw Bay and dismounted.

  ‘Captain Middleton? I have a letter for you from the Earl. He says I am to wait for a reply.’

  The groom pulled a letter out of the pocket of his saddlebag and gave it to Middleton.

  Bay broke open the seal and scanned the contents. Frowning slightly, he reached into his breeches pocket and found a coin.

  ‘You must have ridden like the wind to get here so quickly. The Earl says he is writing at twelve o’clock and it is now only quarter past one. Tell his lordship that I will come over to Althorp this afternoon, but I shall go at my own pace. I am not going to ruin my horse on his account.’ He threw the coin to the groom.