Double wedding, p.18
Double Wedding, page 18
Diana had been trying to prepare herself to behave calmly if she met Jack soon; but now the color rose in her cheeks, she could feel the warmth, and she had to turn away. She could not bear to meet his eyes, even accidentally.
Mariotta pulled at her sister’s arm. Diana looked and saw that Drew and Leila were coming toward them. And Leila was smiling.
Gerald looked ready to bolt from the spot, but Mariotta held his arm. Diana shot him a contemptuous look which left him in no doubt as to how one of the twins felt about him.
“Gerald! Such a wonderful surprise! And you have met the dear twins, simply wonderful, aren’t they. Had you met before?”
It burst upon all of them then that Leila must not have received the letter from Gerald. Mariotta took her hand away, Gerald relaxed visibly, and Drew smiled mysteriously.
Gerald was virtually forced to ask his official fiancée for a dance then and there, and Drew had a word with Mariotta.
“I don’t think we wish to spoil the child’s evening. Let us say nothing.”
“Of course, Drew! Did you imagine I would say something? It is really up to Gerald.”
“And we know what he will do,” said Drew dryly.
“Yes, darling, he doesn’t exactly impress one as brave, does he,” interrupted Diana, who could not bear to let this chance go by without a reminder of how spineless Gerald was.
“It is just that Leila is so sweet that he does not wish to wound her.” This, from Mariotta, made Drew and Diana both feel it was hopeless. She was blind and would not see.
Mariotta tapped her fan mechanically.
“You must dance with Drew, Diana. I’m sure he dances well.”
Diana thought she would love to dance, love anything which would take her away from the sight of Jack, talking gaily to a pretty little redhead.
While they danced, Mariotta went up to Jack and took him away from his companion, claiming an emergency.
“Jack, what has happened! Diana is in the most despondent frame of mind. What did you say?”
Jack looked down at her and sighed. “I told her the truth. That I loved her. That she is heartless. She told me that she is going ahead with the marriage to Trelawny. What can be her reason? I am convinced that she feels far more for me than for him. I have seen enough women to be able to tell that!”
“T’is no compliment!” Mariotta dimpled. “Virtually anyone would be more lovable than Richard!”
This conversation was a revelation to Mariotta. Diana had not mentioned Jack’s confession of love….
Diana and Drew found a good subject of conversation in Gerald. Drew asked what she thought of him.
Diana tilted her head to one side and looked at him through the thick dark lashes. “Are you laying a trap, sir? I cannot insult him, he is your nephew….”
“I have my answer, then, Diana—may I call you Diana? I agree, he is unworthy of your sister. But what is to be done? She must love him.”
“Oh, no, I do not think so! It was infatuation, but now it is chiefly a moral question.”
“You have my complete attention, Diana. What do you mean?”
“Surely it is obvious to a man as sensitive as you: Leila. She will be guilty of terrible frivolity if she takes him away from the lovely, sweet, kind Leila and then does not marry him! It will all have been for nothing. She does not say this, but I am reasonably sure that I am correct. And have you not thought of how unhappy she will be as a diplomat’s wife? This is not at all what she wants. It is merely what she imagines she wants. Really, she is a country girl, and always will be.”
Drew was utterly fascinated, and tried to keep his joy masked.
“But you think she will go ahead anyway?”
Diana looked up at him, suddenly daring. “That will depend on you, I should think. We have to make her understand all of this without saying it…. Between us, we can at least try.”
Drew smiled and whirled her around in the waltz, feeling happier than he had forweeks. Of course he was too old for her, but he might hope … especially if Gerald were no longer a rival.
But looking at his nephew dancing by with Leila, Drew realized again that his relative had everything he did not: youth, a handsome person, high spirits. It was useless to hope. Just because she might be kept from marrying Gerald did not mean she would marry him….
“Do you think, Diana, that they really did love each other, perhaps? In the beginning?”
“It seems to me that it was a romantic setting, they had only each other to fancy, and so they very conveniently came together, two handsome children. But I do not call that love; I call that circumstance.”
“I am very afraid,” said Drew, leading her to seats near Lady Chalford, “that circumstance itself is often the basis for love…. One does not really pick and choose…. It simply happens.”
The two of them fell silent, then. Diana respected Drew just as much as she despised his nephew, and she was struck by the similarity of his views to Jack’s. Jack also thought love was something that could not be planned. That was obvious. But suppose one were incapable of love? Surely then one must be forgiven for planning….
Lady Courtland and Lady Chalford, watching from different corners, came to different conclusions about what was going on. Lady Chalford, with her imperial self-assurance, was certain that the twins were the stars of the gathering. But Lady Courtland was quite puzzled. It was unclear—who was with whom? She was happy to see Gerald and Leila, obviously enjoying themselves, dance set after set together. But when she looked at the twins she felt something was wrong. They looked anything but gay, and their partners also seemed to have their minds elsewhere. They obviously weren’t at all like their grandmamma, Leila was right about that, and Cama was certain of it too.
Camilla had a different view from either of the two other chaperones. She was completely satisfied with their present partners, and regarded their downcast looks as perfectly acceptable. It meant that matters were taking shape.
She was a little sad to see that Black Walter was not there—of course their host did not know he was in town. It would have been nice if he had been here to help in her schemes….
Diana was restless and full of mixed emotions, and when Sir Reginald, a suitor favored by her grandmother, approached her, mischief took hold.
“Mariotta, we shall switch places, agreed?”
“Yes, it will be great fun!”
The man came up, looked from one to the other, and then asked which was Diana.
“I am,” said Mariotta, looking haughty.
Mariotta was almost laughing out loud as he led her off for the mazurka.
Diana was satisfied; content to be alone for a while. But her satisfaction was short-lived. Jack came up, assuming of course that she was Mariotta.
“I hate to see her dancing with that fop. Why such a beauty rewards such mediocre men, I cannot imagine.”
“And lets one like you alone?” mocked Diana.
“Yes, I suppose I am absurd to think it, but really, Mariotta, what is my flaw? Why am I unsuitable?”
“Perhaps she thinks you are a rake, a wastrel.”
“Ridiculous. Why should she think that?”
Diana shrugged her shoulders, and asked what he thought of Gerald Drew. Jack was made uncomfortable by the question.
“I don’t really know the fellow. Seems nice enough.”
They did not continue on this theme, because Cama joined them and began to ask Jack what his plans for the coming year were. Diana was very surprised to hear them. He was going to live in town and do a great deal of entertaining for his political patron, a highly placed Whig. He was also to take part in various meetings devoted to diplomatic problems. She had had no idea of his serious interest in these things. She wondered who was going to pay for the house in town.
Her question was answered after he left, when Cama chided her for having fallen in love with Gerald instead of Jack.
“There he was on your doorstep, Mariotta, the only heir of Lord Amancross, and a rich fellow in his own right, a bright, talented fellow—but no, a childhood friend is never the one we see, until it’s too late. Still, I suppose Gerald has his attractions, those blond looks and so on. Although the uncle is vastly more charming.”
She had one more conversation with Jack, after supper, when he again took her to be Mariotta. He talked of his plans again, but then broke off.
“But I am boring you, dear Mariotta. I know you have little interest in such things. But it is always a pleasure to share your plans with close friends.”
He looked at her with such warm affection that she became self-conscious.
“Why do you look so? Have I said something?”
“No, it is the way in which Gerald looks at Leila that bothers me,” said Diana quickly. Indeed, Gerald was gazing at Leila as if the wedding were to be tomorrow.
“You must not imagine things,” said Jack, comforting her. “He is merely playing a part. She can be nothing to him after he has known you.”
She saw his sincere desire to make her feel better.
“You are kind, Jack.”
“No, I am just Jack, your old friend who knows what a very good heart you have. But here, Diana is coming back from supper. I think it better that I go.”
A thousand emotions rose at once in Diana. Regret, dismay, embarrassment. That she should be the cause of his leaving! At once she saw her own behavior in the harshest of lights, that of self-knowledge. He was nothing like the rakes who visited her father—empty, vain fellows. What could have made her think them alike? And now she knew that she had been wrong in assuming, from a chance remark, that Jack was a wastrel like her father. Cama would know, and Cama thought Jack marvelous. And she had done everything to make him loathe and despise her, all for Trelawny and sure security.
She began to drink more champagne than was good for her, and threw herself into the dancing as if her life depended upon it.
Drew watched the twins, and guessed their switch. No matter how much she tried to act like Diana, Mariotta simply did not dance as well. And now Mariotta was dancing with Sir William Candelford, fifty if he was a day. The man was a good dancer, and Mariotta seemed to be enjoying the conversation with him as well.
“Yes, Candelford is quite a fellow,” said Camilla in a reflective tone. “Althea will manage to get the girl married to him before the year is out, if I know her. A good match.”
“You are not serious! He is far too old. Mariotta will not think of him that way.”
“My dear boy, fifty is nothing. As you see, he is in quite acceptable condition. And a perfect gentleman who knows how to charm a lady. She could do far worse.”
Drew could not take it seriously, but this conversation put him into a bad mood anyway. What if Gerald cried off, only to be replaced by Candelford! No, Candelford would never be considered; he could only be a friend….
Drew’s mood made him less tolerant of Gerald, who complained that it was getting very hard to go anywhere in London without meeting Leila and Mariotta together.
“Get it over with, then! Tell Leila, if she hasn’t gotten the letter—tell her!”
Gerald was offended. “I will, uncle, but in my own way.”
“Yes, sixty years old, and he finally breaks the news.” Gerald walked off haughtily, saying he did not think it in the least comical.
Camilla saw all of this, and decided to talk to the two young men who were obviously in need of advice.
“Jack, go and get Drew away from Lady Chalford. I wish to talk to both of you, or rather, at both of you.”
Jack smiled, and did as he was told. Resplendent in gold net and amethysts, Cama reminded him, he told Drew, of a very intelligent butterfly.
“No, something much more extravagant, a peacock, only with brains. Something else. We’ll think of it eventually. Now I wonder what she wants …”
Cama had found herself a regal setting in the conservatory, on a chair resembling a throne.
“Now, please sit down, and listen to a meddling old woman. No, don’t protest. I am not ancient like Althea, but I am old. Nevertheless, or perhaps because of it, I know a few things about love. And you are both going about it all wrong. Do not dance with the twins, do not even look in their direction for the rest of the evening, unless you have been promised a dance. You both of you look like storm clouds in frock coats. Not an attractive state. Whatever you wish to happen will not when you are in a weak position, which you are tonight. Now, you may play cards, you may dance with others, but on no account are you even to glance at the Chalford party again.”
Unexpectedly, the two gentlemen did not even question her wisdom, but meekly agreed to everything. This made Cama even more sure that things had been going badly. But really, it was very hard to manage things when you didn’t have all the information you needed. Well, it just made it more of a challenge, and she was fairly certain that Drew did indeed love Mariotta.
When Cama got home that evening she had a great deal to think about. She was feeling the slightest bit put upon. She had been plunged immediately into the war of those two titans, Jane and Althea. Meanwhile, her own plans had to wait, and now she had taken on the job of stopping those two handsome young fellows from ruining their lives. And this dinner for Black Walter must really be gotten under way. And what was he up to, anyway, announcing this very unsuitable connection as his future wife? Well, perhaps she would be able to do something about that.
The Chalford party stayed for the last round of champagne. The twins seemed, if anything, to be even gayer after the departure of Jack and Drew.
Gerald was especially relieved after Leila left, and did his best to smooth things over with Mariotta, making her laugh with his usual nonsense. Though she laughed, she was not convinced. She was too aware of how Leila had looked at Gerald, and felt very ashamed of her own role in the concealing of their relationship.
She could not find that same sense of pleasure she had once felt in Gerald’s company, that meeting of two minds in unspoken agreement. But she put it down to the influence of London manners. He was still strong and handsome, his vivacity matched hers as they danced through the early hours of the morning, and she saw how all of the other girls envied her.
Diana was also determined to be gay and forget the painful impression produced by the conversation with Jack. Sir Reginald, the man she danced with earlier, was happy to help her do so. He was trying deliberately to fascinate her with every weapon at his command, and this was, in its way, both flattering and humorous. He would say virtually anything to get her interest. He finally hit upon something in their last dance.
“I know a secret,” he whispered in her ear. “What will you promise me in exchange for a secret, concerning Lady Chalford?”
“A ride in the park. Alone. At eight this morning.”
“Done. Although how you will do it, I don’t know. It is already three.”
They sat down, and with a portentous look he began. Last Monday he had run into Lady Chalford as she was coming out of the law offices of Weybright and Hull, the firm he himself used. She had been visibly upset and had demanded that he give his word that he would tell no one. It had to do with an important surprise, and he would ruin it, et cetera. She had been in such a state that he had understood that it was really a very great surprise.
“And so you broke your word.”
“For you, Diana. Worth it, I think.”
“What if I break my word to you?”
He looked very dismayed. This had not occurred to him as a possibility. Diana smiled sweetly and left the ballroom.
Mariotta and Diana were tired, but they met in Diana’s room to talk anyway. Mariotta was very interested in the secret.
“There is something behind it.”
“Yes, and not a pleasant surprise for us, I should think.”
“I think that Jack should help us. He knows about such things. Perhaps he and I should visit these attorneys tomorrow.”
Diana nodded agreement. Jack’s name set off a little shock, although nothing was more natural than his name on Mariotta’s lips.’
At Chalford House the post had just been delivered, and Diana found two letters waiting for her, one from her fiancé, the other from her mother.
My dearest Diana,
I hope to see you on the 4th when I come to town with my sister and Lady Quennel. There is much to discuss, as I am sure you understand. Looking forward to seeing
you, I remain, yr obt svt, Richard
Her mother’s letter was much longer, and in it she took the blame for the separation of the twins, saying that it had seemed the fair thing to do at the time, but now she saw how wrong it had been.
There is much I regret, but there is little enough to be done now. I am glad you have met, though I cannot approve of the deception practiced on so many. I am staying in Bath a little longer—Edmund wants my advice on some new things he is doing at Ardwell—but as soon as I can, I shall come to London and rescue you from Althea. She is a very suitable sponsor in London society, and will take good care of you, but I cannot like her or her lack of spiritual depth. You both have all my love and affection.
Your mother
These two letters gave Diana a great deal to think about. Especially Richard’s…. Obviously those two harpies, Caroline and Lady Q., had told him what they suspected. She needed to discuss it all with Mariotta. They would have to devise an explanation….
She awaited Mariotta’s return with impatience, but two hours went by and there was no Mariotta. What could have happened to keep them so long? As Jack was along, Diana was less worried than she would have been otherwise. But she began to think that something very interesting must have occurred at the offices of Weybright and Hull, and she began to imagine all sorts of possibilities, none of which was half as interesting as the truth proved to be.
Chapter Eighteen
The late morning drizzle had become a steady shower as Mariotta and Jack rode in a hack to the offices of Weybright and Hull, in the heart of the City, not far from St. Paul’s. They had decided that Mariotta should simply request that the reading of the will be arranged for the day after the twins’ birthday, while Jack tried to find out something from the clerks.
