Page 25 of What the Lady Wants
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Cassandra carried out her investigations and discovered that there was a public assembly in the nearby market town in two days’ time, on the evening of the full moon. Now she had merely to persuade her unsuspecting guests that they were all possessed of a powerful desire to go. Lady Carston had promised her support; she had agreed that the plan offered the only possible way of divining Lady Ashby’s feelings for the Captain without alerting her to his (currently) hopeless passion. She had engaged furthermore to temper Lady Louisa’s inevitable objections, or at least to persuade her to reduce the expression of them to manageable levels. There was no point asking Louisa to show enthusiasm for the project; if she did so, anyone even slightly acquainted with her would imagine that she was unwell, or even in imminent danger of losing her reason. It must be obvious that to drive for an hour over indifferent roads in order to attend a provincial assembly in what she would describe as the depths of winter so that she could watch a horde of unfashionable and badly dressed persons disporting themselves to the scraping of ill-tuned fiddles was her idea of torture.
Lady Irlam knew that her strongest ally was likely to be Mrs Winterton. The genteel society in that part of Hampshire, whom Lady Louisa would characterise with aristocratic disdain as a parcel of rustics, were Sophia Winterton’s neighbours and in many cases her friends from childhood, and it was not to be supposed that she would readily forgo the chance of meeting them on such an agreeable social occasion. Mrs Winterton was such a kind and pleasant lady, and one who had done so much for Hal and Bastian and all the Pendlebury children, that Cassandra calculated that ifsheexpressed a strong wish to go, it was highly likely that her nephews would hurry to oblige her. As for Lady Ashby, Mr Welby and Mr Wainfleet, they were well-bred people who would surely acquiesce to anything that their hosts proposed, whatever private reservations they might cherish. The idea of Mr Wainfleet in particular summoning the courage to object must make her smile, it was so implausible.
She was proved right in every respect, and the matter was swiftly settled. Hal was plainly a little startled when the idea was first put to the company, and looked hard at Cassandra, as if suspecting his wife of having some devious and possibly dangerous plan in mind, but while his Aunt Sophia was exclaiming with honest pleasure at the idea, he could hardly pour cold water on all her happy expectation. Cassandra shot him a look that signified,I am very grateful for your forbearance, and I will explain presently.
When she made him aware of her scheme later that evening, he was doubtful but conceded that he couldn’t think of anything that would serve as well. So it was agreed, and time would tell the upshot of it.
They would need three coaches for the expedition, as the persons attending from the Castle were ten in number, and Cassandra put a great deal of thought into the arrangement of her guests between the conveyances. She had every reason toknow – she blushed pleasurably at the recollection – just exactly what could occur in a carriage in the darkness on the way home from a ball when two young people were strongly drawn to each other and their companions were asleep. But she reflected that the case was hardly the same; Leo’s problem was far more complicated than mere lack of opportunity.
She had written everyone’s names on pieces of paper and was moving them about between three larger cards that signified the carriages, and she soon discovered that it was quite ridiculously difficult to achieve a successful result. She would prefer to avoid an arrangement that put Lady Ashby along with Leo in a carriage with two other young men she barely knew, which was not a usual kind of thing to do to a lady and might easily make her uncomfortable, or alternatively put her with Leo and Mrs Winterton, which would have much the same effect given the nature of her secret. To place the pair with Hal and Cassandra themselves, on the other hand, would look enormously pointed and frankly odd, as if to say that they were two couples publicly recognised as such, which was sadly far from being true. The whole thing, which ought to be simple enough, was excessively complicated. She couldn’t put all the ladies beside herself together, either, because they would never arrive at the assembly, or even leave for it, as they politely argued over who would take the seats of honour and who sit backwards in relative discomfort. Lady Carston was in an interesting condition, she now knew; Louisa and Lady Ashby were of higher rank; Mrs Winterton was older. It gave one the headache. There was also Tom Wainfleet to consider; he was so shy, it would be cruel to place him, unsupported, with ladies he might be disposed to be frightened of, which was all of them apart from Mrs Winterton, who was surely too motherly a figure to alarm even him.
In the end, Cassandra threw up her hands at the disproportionate expenditure of time on the ridiculous littleproblem and regarded her little paper coaches with a certain measure of satisfaction. Tom would ride with Mrs Winterton, Lady Ashby and Leo, which admittedly was not ideal but could have been worse; Bastian and Matthew would ride with Lady Carston and Louisa, so that once again both the ladies could have the good seats, and she and Hal would ride alone. This would please Hal and – if she were honest – herself. A secret little smile curved her lips as she tied away her pieces of paper. They had rather a history, she and her husband, when it came to carriages in the dark.
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Isabella had not been particularly surprised by the news that the party was to attend an assembly in a nearby town. This was a familiar, comforting sort of news that she hoped she would be able to share with her mama with little editing. When she had been living at Northriding Castle during the brief months of her marriage, the family had quite often gone to dances, both private and public, in their particular part of Yorkshire. It was in a sense expected of a noble family living in the countryside, if they did not wish to gain a reputation for being disagreeably high in the instep. For that matter, though the circumstances had been rather different, she had first met Ash and danced with him at such a public event, at the elegant new rooms in Harrogate when he had been recuperating from wounds taken in battle. He had been wearing regimentals, and had looked so handsome and distinguished; he had been presented to her an eligible partner by the master of ceremonies, had smiled down at her with silver eyes that should have been cold but yet were warm and full of life and spirit, they had begun talking and never stopped… She crushed the memory with a ruthlessness born of long practice.
She was a little uneasy when she realised that she must share a carriage with Leo, his mother, and the largely silent Mr Wainfleet, but again this roused no particular suspicion in her mind, as she could see that Lady Irlam had certain constraints upon her arrangement of her guests, given that all the ladies should be able to travel facing the horses, if this were possible.
After some reflection, Isabella chose to wear her finest gown: the dark blue one with the silver stars that she had first put on for the Duchess of Northriding’s ball. That this was the occasion where she and Captain Winterton had first kissed was of no consequence at all. Many of her new gowns held such associations, or ones that were even more likely to bring a blush to her cheeks when she thought of them.
Conversation proceeded comfortably enough in the carriage, though Mr Wainfleet, to nobody’s great surprise, took little part in it. If Captain Winterton felt ill at ease in the company of his mother and the woman whose bedchamber he was sneaking into nearly every night, he betrayed no sign of it that Isabella could discern. He chatted easily with his parent about the various people they might expect to see that evening, and assisted her in verbally sketching the most notable of them for the benefit of their companions. His mother, for her part, appeared to feel not the least constraint in Isabella’s company. ‘I hope we haven’t overwhelmed you with description, Lady Ashby,’ she said confidingly. ‘I dare say you may not remember the half of it when you climb down from the carriage! But I always feel that it is agreeable to know a little about persons one is about to meet before one meets them. And you need not be uneasy that you shall be obliged to dance with anyone unsuitable or uncouth, for even if they were admitted, which would surprise me, I assure you that I should not allow it.’
Isabella thanked her, and murmured something to the effect that as a total stranger to the area she did not suppose her dancecard would be full, which gave the Captain the opportunity, if not the obligation – had she intended it so? – to secure her hand for the second set. ‘For I am sure that you will be obliged to first walk out with some gentleman of higher standing,’ he said, ‘and I would not wish to put anyone’s nose out of joint.’ His mother agreed that this was quite right, and there then arose a little awkwardness when Mr Wainfleet became aware that he too was obliged by social convention to solicit Lady Ashby’s hand for one of the dances, even though he very plainly didn’t want to, but this fence was successfully surmounted, to everyone’s relief, just as they arrived at their destination, which was a large, respectable-looking half-timbered inn in the central square of the market town, with a more modern brick-built ballroom at its rear.
The party from Castle Irlam entered the crowded room together, the three carriages having in a pre-arranged manner kept pace with one another, and Isabella could not help but be aware, though good manners prevented her from betraying the least consciousness of it, of the little stir of interest that ran though the room as the company became aware of their arrival, and turned in unison to look at them. Lady Carston was at her side, and murmured in low, mischievous tones, ‘One is reminded of the famous assembly at Meryton.’
‘Good heavens,’ responded Isabella quickly, ‘I hope not! That would make us, surely, the party from Netherfield Park, and I have not the least desire to liken myself to Mrs Hurst or Miss Bingley, and I presume you do not either.’
‘We have done better than the Bingleys, and have brought not two but four eligible young men with us,’ put in Lady Louisa. ‘How popular we must be! The Misses Bennet of Hampshire will be all aflutter, not to mention their mamas. Perhaps this evening will be amusing after all.’
Lady Carston shot her a look that mingled amusement and reproof, and Lady Louisa replied drily, ‘We have had this conversation before, Jane, and more than once. I have no power over anybody, least of all persons with whom I am unacquainted, to provoke them into behaving badly and making a spectacle of themselves. Like Mrs Bennet, Kitty and Lydia, they do so of their own accord. What harm if I merely observe their antics, and am entertained? Pray, how is it any different from reading the novel and laughing at it?’
‘These people here tonight are real, not fictional, and the position of unmarried women in our society…’ began Lady Carston with a sort of weary heat, but Isabella heard no more, since she was drawn into a flurry of introductions, and the blushing young baronet with whom she was to undertake the first set – gentlemen of higher rank who were both willing and able to dance being thin on the ground on this occasion – was duly presented to her. They took the floor together, and it was pleasant enough, though she could not help but wish him gone and Captain Winterton in his place, no doubt because they had often danced together previously and were accustomed to each other’s steps.He, she noticed, was partnered with a most vivacious brunette in white muslin with whom he appeared already to share an excellent understanding; presumably, she was one of the many intimate family friends his mother had mentioned in the carriage.
The first set ended and they commenced upon their own dance, but Isabella did not find it as comfortable as she had anticipated, since she could not help but be conscious of many pairs of eyes on her, almost burning holes in her midnight silk, as the gossip-addicted part of the company – which appeared to be most of it – quite blatantly picked over who she was, what precisely she was doing at Castle Irlam, and what if anything the nature of the Captain’s interest in her might be. Suchattention did not make for ease and enjoyment, and Leo too appeared to be labouring under a certain constraint, presumably for the same reason, so that the few words they exchanged were unusually stilted.
Although common courtesy later obliged her to profess to her hostess that it had been a most enjoyable evening, Isabella did not in sober truth find it so. She was unaccountably out of sorts and looked forward to the moment when the last fiddle would scrape, the last curtsey drop, and it would be time to take their leave.
Lady Louisa’s prediction that the gentlemen of the Irlam party would be in great demand was amply fulfilled. Gentlemen were often in short supply at public dances in any case, and unattached ladies might understandably be tired of dancing with the boys they had grown up with, danced with a thousand times before, and for the most part, knew far too well to find of any romantic interest. But the presence of four –four!– apparently unattached gentlemen, two of them familiar to some degree and two of them complete strangers, must stir all manner of speculation in the sharp minds and tender hearts of the young ladies present. They could not, of course, boldly offer themselves up as suitable partners to the Honourable Mr Pendlebury, Mr Welby, Mr Wainfleet or Captain Winterton, but their fond parents and devoted aunts could make the suggestion on their behalf, and did. These persons might experience a little awkwardness in proposing that their daughters, nieces, cousins and granddaughters should step out with one of the young gentlemen, but they overcame it bravely. Lady Irlam and particularly Mrs Winterton found themselves positively besieged by ladies and gentlemen of mature years who wished to proffer partners for all the young men of their party.
Isabella herself was not in such great demand, since a young widow – and one furthermore who had previously been marriedto the son of a duke – appeared to be an intimidating sort of a creature, neither the one thing nor the other, to the young gentlemen of Hampshire. She danced with Mr Wainfleet, as she had promised, and once each with the besieged Mr Pendlebury and Mr Welby, but few others were brave enough to approach her. And while she was glad that, as Mrs Winterton had guaranteed, she met with no unwelcome or uncivil attention, she did not particularly enjoy sitting at the side of the room amongst the matrons, where she supposed she belonged and would in future always be, watching Leo dance the soles out of his evening pumps with a succession of eager partners. He was, she thought, even more sought after than his cousin Bastian, though she could not have said whether it was because he was, as everybody must be well aware, a single man in possession of a good fortune (and a snug estate, just up the road), rather than a mere second son and younger brother, or because he was of a naturally friendly, open disposition and appeared more genuinely interested in the young ladies he took out than Mr Pendlebury, despite that gentleman’s undeniable civility. It was, of course, none of her affair, and she should be glad, she supposed, to see that in the event of the Captain beginning to overcome his hopeless passion for his cousin’s wife, there were many, many ladies who would be more than willing to console him and offer him a brighter future.
She might have hoped to take supper with Leo as her partner, but somehow matters did not fall out that way. It was not quite clear to her how it came about, but she found herself escorted into the separate supper room by Mr Wainfleet. She refused to believe that he had engineered this circumstance; apart from the fact that he did not have the social skill necessary to contrive such a thing, it was hard to imagine what purpose it could serve, since he had as little to say to her as ever, but merely pushed his food around his plate in awkward silence. And certainlyshehadnot desired it, though it did undoubtedly offer her an excellent opportunity to observe Captain Winterton, at the next table, flirting outrageously – or being flirted with, it was hard to tell – with the young lady in white muslin who was, she had learned, a Miss Peters, and some kind of distant connection of his late father’s. Isabella began to perceive that this young lady’s vivacity was exaggerated, somehow false, and could easily come to grate on the nerves if one were obliged to spend a great deal of time in her company. Furthermore, her laugh was displeasingly shrill and so very frequent. But Leo did not appear to find it so. Not in the least. It was all a matter of taste, of course.
It was a long evening.
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Captain Winterton found the assembly something of a trial.
It was not all bad. He was glad that his mother was enjoying herself and knew that part of her pleasure came from his presence. He had been at sea for so many years that she had still not entirely accustomed herself to his return, and she had missed him afresh while he was in London this past autumn. It was an innocent enough enjoyment, surely, for a woman widowed early and with just one dearly loved child, that child long absent in dangerous circumstances, to show him off to a gathering of her friends and say – though not out loud – ‘Look at my grown boy! Is he not handsome and well-mannered?’ He knew that he owed her that much and more.
He also knew that she was anxious to see him happily married, and here he began to feel uneasy. He had no idea, for he had recently avoided even the approach to such a conversation with an adroitness born of desperation, whether his mother had stopped to think for a moment that Lady Ashby might be a suitable wife for him. If the thought had so much as crossed her mind, it was very likely that she’d rejected it out of hand, he realised now, because surely she’d much rather he marrieda Hampshire girl, a young lady whose parents were her friends and neighbours, these people here tonight. It was only natural that she should want him to be bound more tightly than he currently was into the spider’s web of intimate connections that tied her little rural society together. If she had even considered Isabella for a second as a prospective bride for him, she might easily have feared that marrying a woman from far-away Yorkshire would pull him away from her, so that she rarely saw him, which was the last thing she desired. And she was right to fear it, because if living out the rest of his life in the north was the only price he had to pay for winning Isabella as his wife, he would pay it in an instant, and gladly.
So he was not quite comfortable in his mind when he found himself in such demand as a dancing partner. His mother ruthlessly disposed of him among the daughters of her friends, and he tried to console himself that there was safety in numbers, but it was hard, when he would have liked to dance with his love for more than one paltry set. He could not help but contrast his emotions now with those he had experienced when he had first gone to London, when the girl in the blue gown had seemed like a distant memory that must always be out of reach, and when he had asked nothing more than to twirl about the floor with one young woman after another, not greatly caring which. That, of course, had been long weeks ago, before he had realised the extent of his feelings for Isabella, and before anything of an intimate nature had passed between them to bind him more tightly to her.
