Page 22 of What the Lady Wants
‘That is a heavy burden for any woman to bear. Or any man, for that matter.’ She hesitated, then said, ‘I believe I should tell you – it is no great secret, but perhaps it is a matter that people do not generally speak openly of in company, and so I collect you have not yet heard – that Georgiana is with child. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind me letting you of all people know, since you too are a Mauleverer. She knew, I think, before she left London, but she has only written to share the news with her family in the last day or so. The letters were here when we arrived.’
Isabella found that tears stood in her eyes. But they did not sting. ‘I am so glad,’ she said simply. If she had ever held any foolish dreams that a son of hers would succeed to Northriding one day, they were long gone. ‘I am very happy for her, and for Gabriel. I like her very much, and I can see that they are perfectly suited to each other.’ She was thinking as she spoke of a certain house in Mayfair, which Georgiana had introduced her to; there could be no doubt, in the light of such private knowledge, that she and Gabriel were very well-suited indeed.
‘Indeed they are,’ said her companion with what she could only interpret as a naughty glint in her brown eyes. It was an expression she had observed on the faces of others when speaking of Gabriel and his bride, and Isabella could only imagine that it was connected somehow to the most irregular circumstances of their marriage, the full truth of which she didnot yet know but hoped to learn one day. ‘In fact,’ she went on, ‘Georgiana has written to me of you.’
‘Really?’ she said with profound unease. This was what she had feared when coming here; this was most unwelcome news.
‘She betrayed no confidences,’ said Lady Carston, hurrying to reassure her. ‘I will tell you exactly what she said: it is simple enough. She said that she liked you, and wished she had had a chance to spend more time with you. She said that she thought you stood in need of a friend, and for Mauleverer family reasons that she did not propose to explain, Cassandra might not be best placed to be that friend. And finally and most intriguingly she said that you and I might find we had a great deal in common if we should come to exchanging confidences. We were both, she said, and she underlined the significant word, of a somewhat unconventional nature.’
‘Oh,’ said Isabella.
‘Oh indeed,’ her companion replied. ‘Now, Georgie knows all my secrets and I know hers – or most of them, at any rate, for there are some things that even very good friends do not speak of – and I must presume she knows yours too.’
‘She knows how matters stood a few weeks ago,’ said Isabella mysteriously, conscious of being annoying.
‘I can’t endure it,’ said Her Ladyship with a comical grimace. ‘I will tell you. It will be fairly obvious that this must go no further, though indeed the first part of it is no more than the gossip of the ton, or will be soon enough. I too am with child.’
‘Congratulations!’ said Isabella politely, rather puzzled. There was nothing so terribly shocking in this news, coming from a woman not long entered into matrimony.
‘Thank you. Congratulations are indeed in order since I married expressly for the purpose of conceiving.’
‘Oh…?’ said Isabella again.
‘I have lived with Louisa for ten years or more. Not as her companion, but as her lover.’
‘I thought so!’ cried Isabella, unable to stop herself. ‘I thought you were. I meant to ask Leo, but I forgot…’ She halted, horribly conscious that she had betrayed herself.
Lady Carston smiled in a knowing sort of a way, but did not pick her up on all she had so carelessly revealed with one word out of place. ‘I didn’t leave Louisa,’ she went on. ‘Lord Carston, who is my very good friend, knew of my deep desire to have a child and offered to marry me. We agreed that once I had conceived, assuming I did, I would return to my life, and my love. And here we are.’
Isabella was silent for a moment, digesting all she had just heard. She had liked to think herself unconventional; why, she was a mere amateur compared with this woman.
‘You have made your life exactly as you wanted it…’ she said slowly.
‘Not quite. Women can’t; there’s always a cost. I am now, according to the law, a femme couverte. I am legally Carston’s property, and my child will be too, essentially. He is not the man to exert such power, or I would never have married him. But the stark fact of the law remains, and I loathe it.’
‘There is always a cost,’ Isabella repeated. There was nothing she could say to that. ‘Why did he agree? I understand why you were prepared to enter into this arrangement, but what of him? What does he gain from it?’
‘Apart from the obvious thing?’ Jane said, smiling.
‘He doesn’t need to marry to get that,’ replied Isabella with robust good sense. ‘No man does!’
‘No,’ agreed Lady Carston, her head on one side as if considering. ‘But he likes it well enough. So do I, if I’m completely honest. I thought I might – is it not shocking? – and I do. Which is just as well, after all. You don’t necessarily have tobe in love with someone to go to bed with them, you know, Lady Ashby. Imagine the revolution on the day more women realise that, and choose to act on it to fulfil their own desires instead of the desires of men! But seriously, he’s a good friend. The best of friends. He wanted to help me; he knew how much it meant to me. If he has other motives – to make himself feel young, perhaps, and virile – I needn’t be indiscreet enough to enquire into them.’
‘Goodness,’ said Isabella. ‘The Duchess was right! We do have a great deal in common.’ And leaning forward, she poured out her story, or most of it, into her companion’s ears. She didn’t feel it necessary to dwell on the half-formulated worries that had tormented her early this morning as she fell asleep; those really were private. And Cassandra’s name, Leo’s unrequited love for her, she withheld, as seemed only prudent under Lady Irlam’s roof. But she shared the rest of it, including the strange nature of the bond she and the Captain shared.
‘I see why Georgiana wanted us to talk,’ said Her Ladyship when she was done. ‘We are quite alike. We’re using men for our own ends. They’re good ends, or so we believe; ends that are necessary for both of us. But that’s what we’re doing. And enjoying it.’
‘I don’t like to think of it like that. But yes, I suppose we are.’
‘You asked me what Carston gets out of our arrangement, but I could also ask…’ she said, and trailed off delicately.
‘It’s plain to see!’ Isabella protested.
‘You just said to me that no man has any difficulty obtaining that.’
‘Not like this,’ she said with complete certainty. ‘This is different, though indeed neither of us knew it would be.’
‘I’m sure you’re right. Yes, he is a lucky man. You have granted him an enormous favour, after all. When you are finished with him, he will be able in future to… explore hisproclivities fully, as he might never otherwise have done. I expect there are places,’ Lady Carston said thoughtfully.
