The land makes the lord, p.1
The Land Makes The Lord, page 1
The Land
Makes The Lord
The Agricultural Lord Palfrey
- Book Two -
Andrew Wareham
OceanofPDF.com
Copyright © 2024 Andrew Wareham
KINDLE Edition
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof in any form. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored, in any form or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical without the express written permission of the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
PublishNation
www.publishnation.co.uk
OceanofPDF.com
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter One
“All is as it should be, Nathaniel. There is no need to concern yourself over a mere two hours of attendance at a palace function. Not that strictly speaking, Carlton House is a palace, of course, despite the Prince Regent’s pretensions. He may imagine himself to be Britain’s sovereign, but the King still lives.”
Nat agreed, as he must, yet he was still inclined to worry. His lady was more than four months with child and he could not be happy that she was to exert herself so.
“It is right that you should make your curtsey at a levee, I agree, Agatha, yet, even so, it could be delayed for six months or so without being in any way out of the ordinary. The lady should be seen at St James after marriage, I know, but the circumstances are such that a delay is perfectly acceptable.”
“Except that in this instance, you are to make your bow as the new Baron Palfrey and I am to be displayed both as newly wed and as your Baroness. The double distinction makes it more proper that I should be at your side. There is also the probability of the King’s imminent death – he is ancient and infirm, and the mad do not often make old bones. That would delay everything. Wiser to take this opportunity and then to accept a degree of seclusion over the next few months, Nathaniel.”
Having shown himself in the House of Lords it was only courteous to attend the next possible levee. Nat had made the proper enquiries and had discovered his presence was expected, together with his lady. In her absence he could always display himself unaccompanied, but that might be to send out the wrong message entirely, an implication of marital unrest which neither wanted to offer.
“Hoops and knee-breeches – an absolute nonsense, my dear! The very concept of a Court Uniform seems ridiculous, the more when one considers the figure Georgie-Porgie must cut in such garb.”
“He is officially handsome, Nathaniel! That is a fact so well known as to be indisputable. He may be grossly fat, his face marked by the lines of dissipation, but he is still Prince Florizel, the bright young heir to the throne, beloved by the most beautiful of maidens. Shakespeare has much to answer for!”
Nat was sure he had, but he had read none of his plays and seen only the most popular at the theatre. The Winter’s Tale had escaped him.
The levee was held in late morning, so much so that most would have called it afternoon, but none wished to rise early and so there were no disparaging comments. Nat was met at the entrance by Alvanley, evidently there for no other purpose.
“Lord Palfrey! My Lady! Good morning to you!”
They exchanged bows and commented gravely upon the weather – it was not raining – and passed inside the expensive portals of Carlton House, the cause of at least a quarter million of the debts accruing to the Prince Regent.
“A handsome place, Palfrey. Have you seen it before?”
Alvanley knew well that Nat had never been in close proximity to the Prince previously.
“Getting dated now, Palfrey. We need a more modern palace for the Prince to take upon finally attaining Kingship. Thinking of pulling down Buckingham’s place and building a proper palace.”
“That would be another half a million at least, would it not, Alvanley?
Perhaps a fraction excessive.”
“A necessity to permit the King to show his eminence to his people. I am sure the government could easily find such a minor sum, the more now that the wars are over.”
“Possibly so. No doubt the matter will be discussed at length, Alvanley.”
Nat refused any further commitment, allowed the slightly discontented lord to lead them to the line forming for presentation to the Prince. Strict rank order was enforced and Nat found himself tenth in the formal queue, behind senior barons and a pair of Viscounts and three Earls.
“How is seniority determined amongst the barons, Agatha?”
“Possession of the Bath or other senior orders, primarily. Where in doubt, public service is counted, and the Palfreys have been invisible these twenty years.”
There was a noise from inside the receiving room as the Prince made his appearance and then the line began to move.
Glancing about him, Nat saw at least one hundred behind him, baronets, knights, senior military officers and respectable squires all come to loyally display their faces and report home on their rubbing shoulders with Royalty.
He supposed there was a value to it.
Alvanley was stood at the Prince’s shoulder, identifying those he knew of the first comers, the important subjects of the King.
“Lord and Lady Palfrey.”
The whisper was loud enough to reach Nat’s ears. He noticed the bored face to show a degree of interest as he made his bow and Agatha curtsied.
He moved on, quickly as instructed – there were too many to actually speak to the Prince.
A quick few paces took them to the body of the great room, to join those who had come simply to watch the proceedings. There were discreet chairs to the rear, permitted to those who needed to rest themselves and had good reason to do so.
“Who were those stood at the Prince’s shoulder, my lady?”
“His bosom companions, my lord. Alvanley, of course, and the little fellow behind him the well-known Colonel Hanger.”
‘Notorious’ might have been a better word, Nat knew. Colonel Hanger was renowned for debauchery and little else, was pander-in-chief to the Prince. How he had come by his military rank was unclear, he had certainly not seen service during the wars.
“The others are no more than hangers-on, currently wealthy and rapidly being reduced to poverty, no doubt. Lord Alderley, our cousin, was one such until his new father-to-be exerted a degree of discipline upon him.”
Thirty minutes saw an end to formalities and Alvanley coming towards them again. Nat smiled his kindest and forestalled whatever he had to say to them.
“Must make a rapid farewell, Alvanley! My lady is in a certain condition, you will know, and needs to retire from the heat and bustle of the morning. You will excuse me, I know.”
Alvanley must do so, however little that was his wish. He smiled his kindest, would see them again, he did not doubt.
“That is done, my lady, and we escaped without any further commitment. Alderley’s wedding tomorrow and we can make our way south at the end of the week, hopefully without having to avoid Royalty the more.”
“It will have its amusing side, I do not doubt, Nat. As head of the family, you must offer a welcome to all, including his few bosom friends, I doubt not. Do you know who is to be groomsman?”
“A Mr Glossop, son to a baronet of Yorkshire, I am told. Friends with Alderley since an early age – I presume at school. I know nothing of the family – but then, I hardly would.”
“Glossop? Not a distinguished family. I have never heard of them. Mind you, I would not have heard of Alderley had he not been a cousin. Are the bride’s family to make a great turnout do you know?”
“I spoke to Grinstead a few days since and he said not. He has but one surviving brother and him a ‘Methody ranter’, I quote. He has a sister who was wed to a farmer down in Sussex and has been unheard of in twenty years. Other than that, none of any degree of close relationship he says.
That, of course, is his great attraction to Alderley – there are none to demand a cut of the Will.”
“Do you know, to be vulgarly inquisitive, just what he will cut up for, Nat?”
“Not less than four hundred thousand and a probability of a lot more if he lasts another fifteen or twenty years, which is well possible. I doubt he is more than fifty yet.”
“No chance of a second marriage? A most inconvenient younger brother is practical at that age, surely.”
“No. His lady wife is crippled but strong, or so it would seem. I suspect, not having se en her, that she is actually insane rather than physically ill, but she will not conveniently die off it seems. I believe he is resigned to leaving his all to his daughter, for whom he has a strong affection. It amazes me that he will let her go to a poor specimen such as Alderley, but a title disguises many a fault, or so I must imagine. Perhaps he has discovered qualities in Alderley that I have not noticed.”
“An uninspiring soul, poor Alderley. I do trust he intends to do right by his lady. I would be most upset was he to play her false, publicly at least.”
“I have in fact mentioned that very issue to him, Agatha. He has protested his intention to be honest. More than that, one cannot ask.”
As head of the family, Nat could broach topics that in others would be regarded as grossly offensive. He expected to see little more of Alderley.
Married and rapidly with his own family, Alderley might well conceive himself master of his own clan.
Nat was sat at the front of the groom’s side of the church, senior male, Agatha at his side as doyenne of the dames. They found it amusing. There
were no spaces left for dukes to appear uninvited, none of any eminence being expected to watch as Alderleys and Grinsteads were united.
All went well, no mad mother of the bride appearing, despite Nat half-hoping that might be so, and the congregation all sober at the beginning of proceedings. Miss Grinstead dressed conventionally as a bride, without any great weight of jewellery to announce her family’s wealth, and Alderley had been persuaded to eschew pinchbeck and excesses of ornamentation of his person.
“Surprising, my dear. Alderley actually looks like a gentleman.”
“Only just, Nathaniel. He has to fight against nature to look like anything at all.”
“A pity that he carries a belly already. Ten years from now and he will be gross.”
They spoke with the groomsman, Glossop, during the celebrations, finding him to be a mild-mannered little man, more sensible than his friend Alderley, and very willing to be known to Lord Palfrey.
“Eldest son, you know, my lord, to a very minor baronetcy. Fourth, I shall be. A thousand acres, which is not much except that we have found coal in this last ten years. Making a great difference to the family, you know, my lord. From sheepwalk on the hillsides with a strip of arable down the valley and a bare thousand a year to five times that sum from the coal workings, and more expected. My father has bought into iron a couple of miles down the river and our coal is going down by barge from this summer coming, as soon as the river is made good. Remarkable stuff.”
It was, Nat agreed, and wholly alien to the existence he imagined for himself on his own acres. He must speak with Lawyer Wiggins and ensure that his investments included coal and iron mining in the North Country. He believed it might already do so, in fact, but he had paid little attention to Wiggins’ explanation of his plans for the family money. He must do so. he had been at fault for neglecting his duty to his capital.
“My estate is well distant from coal, I am afraid, Mr Glossop. My Dorset acres are irredeemably agricultural, I fear.”
Glossop commiserated with him.
“The Spirit of the Age is industrial, I believe, my lord. I suspect I am lucky indeed to be located where I am. I merely hope that I may display some small part of my father’s genius in enriching the family.”
“I must hope you do, Mr Glossop. Tell me, does Lord Alderley have coal on any of his acres, do you know?”
“No, he is in the wrong part of his county for either coal or salt, or so I understand. I believe that good Mr Grinstead is putting him into the right sort of thing not so far distant in Lancashire, however. Cotton and coal and a goodly amount of iron there, you know, my lord.”
Nat did know, but very vaguely. He seized upon the part of the sentence he could comprehend.
“Grinstead does seem to be a very good sort of a gentleman, does he not.
He is setting Lord Alderley’s feet on the right path, I understand. Keeping him well clear of Brighton, certainly.”
“That, he most definitely needs, my lord! Difficult for any man to turn his back on the Monarchy, but not the sort of company any wise man should keep just now. I see that damned fellow Alvanley is present, no doubt trying to inveigle him back into that den of cardsharps, whores and mountebanks, my lord!”
“Well put, Mr Glossop. No doubt you will wish to gravitate to Alderley’s side.”
“So I shall, my lord. Been my friend for too many years not to make an effort to look after him now!”
Nat admired the young gentleman’s steadfastness. For himself, he really did not care too much what happened to Alderley. He was too poor a specimen of a man for him to bother with.
“When can we retire, Agatha?”
“Immediately after the Alderleys leave, sir. I shall find myself in need of respite, having stood for too long.”
“But you are sitting down.”
“Irrelevant, sir. It is the principle that counts.”
“I am not certain I understand that.”
“No more you should. Have you done your duty by the guests?”
“I need only to spend a little time with Mr Grinstead and all will be well.”
“I have spoken with him and found him to be a sensible sort of fellow. I wish him luck in his dealings with Alderley, who is far less than that.”
Nat grinned and made his way quietly around the none too crowded room in Grinstead’s town mansion, ending up with the father of the bride as
he refilled his glass, for no more than the second time of the afternoon.
“A satisfactory day, Mr Grinstead.”
“So it is, my lord. I must thank you for coming. I was not sure you would wish to attend.”
Nat caught his meaning, smiling quietly.
“I am happy to keep company with any merchant, Mr Grinstead. I have respect for any man who makes a success of himself, in whatever endeavour.”
“Good of you to say so, my lord. No sense to me in picking up a title of my own, without a son to pass it down to. Damned expensive as well, though I was talking to that Lord Alvanley earlier and he implied that I could pick up a baronetcy for as little as ten thousand on the nail.”
Nat shook his head.
“You could purchase the promise of a baronetcy, perhaps, Mr Grinstead.
The Prince Regent is very good at making promises, I understand.”
“Not so good at keeping them, perhaps, my lord? That is worth knowing.
My thanks, my lord. I shall keep my money in my pocket, I think. If I took a title, it would go down to my nephew in the end, and he is not showing particularly well as he grows up. I have an in with the traders down to the Bight of Benin, West Africa they are starting to call it, and am inclined to offer the boy the chance to go there for a couple of years. If he comes back at all, it will be as a far harder man than when he went down. If he does grow up, then he will stand to inherit part of the firm. I have pledged two hundred thousand to my Mary, as the least she will receive. It may well be a lot more, depending on my brother’s boy growing up, or not.”
“I would expect her sons to be strong youngsters, Mr Grinstead. She is a good girl.”
“She is all of that, my lord. I was none too sure about hooking her up with Lord Alderley, but she says she can handle him and will like to have a son who is to be a lord in his turn. I do not doubt she will soon have him under her thumb.”
“So she should have, sir. Best place for him. It will do him good to have a lady who will keep him on the straight and narrow.”
Grinstead laughed and glanced at his pocket watch.
“Time she went upstairs to change into her travelling clothes, my lord.
We can have them on the road in thirty minutes, while he is still sober.”
“An end to Alderley’s dabbling in pinchbeck dandyism, I do not doubt, my love!”
Agatha laughed and agreed.
“She will turn him into a gentleman of her approving, I do not doubt, Nat. I have suggested to her that she might wish to visit in Dorset sometime soon. Alderley will like to keep in contact with the estate and she will benefit from a friend. I found her a likable sort, Nat.”
“Strong minded, taking after her father. I could have a deal of sympathy for Alderley, if I liked him more; he will be thoroughly henpecked! I shall be keeping in contact with his friend Glossop – I don’t know if you spoke to him?”
“In passing, no more. Brighter in the intellects than Alderley, I suspected?”
