Page 32 of Scandal at Greystone Manor

Drew looked towards Mark, who answered with a slight nod and Drew allowed himself to be led away.

‘Mark, ought we not to follow them?’ Jane asked, staring at their disappearing backs in consternation.

‘She is bored, Jane.’

‘That is no excuse. I am appalled by her behaviour and can only apologise on her behalf.’

‘Dear Jane, there is no need for you to apologise for anything. You are not your sister’s keeper.’

His endearment meant nothing to him, but everything to her, but she must guard against letting him know that. ‘No, but I am concerned that she is not showing proper regard for your feelings.’

‘And do you know what my feelings are, Jane?’ he queried with a smile. ‘Can you read my mind?’

‘No, of course not.’ She felt the colour flare in her face and wished to end the conversation. ‘But I still think we should follow them for propriety’s sake.’

He laughed suddenly and it was the first real laugh she had heard from him since his father died. ‘Whose reputation were you thinking of, Jane? Theirs or ours? Who is the pot and who the kettle?’

She was obliged to smile at that. ‘Then, for all our sakes, let us rejoin them and endeavour not to discuss the Hadlea Children’s Home.’

* * *

The stuffed animals were in a separate part of the museum for which they had to pay an extra shilling. The entrance was a narrow corridor made to look like a rocky cave, which opened out into a tropical rainforest where the stuffed animals were set in lifelike poses among the vegetation. Drew and Isabel were not to be found there or in any other part of the building. Worried about what had happened to them, they went outside to find them standing on the walkway. Isabel was clinging on to Drew’s arm with both hands and had her head on his shoulder.

‘There you are,’ Drew said. ‘Miss Isabel felt faint and begged me to bring her out in the fresh air. I dared not leave her to fetch you.’

‘Oh, dear,’ Jane said, gently detaching her sister from Drew’s side and putting her arm about her shoulders. ‘Do you feel better now?’

‘Yes, a little.’

‘Do you think you can manage to walk back to Mount Street or shall we ask Mark to find us a hackney?’

Mark turned to a little crossing sweeper, who was waiting anxiously to see if they wished to cross the road, gave him a penny and bade him run for a hackney. He sped off and was soon back with the hire vehicle.

Thus they returned to Mount Street and in the few minutes the journey took, Isabel recovered her spirits. Jane found herself wondering if her sister had truly felt faint or if it had been act put on for Drew’s benefit, then upbraided herself for her uncharitable thought.

‘Issie,’ she said as soon as they were alone, ‘you should not have asked Mr Ashton to take you away from us. It was very embarrassing for Mark and it put me to the blush to think you could behave in such a forward manner, and to compound it by hanging on to Mr Ashton’s arm in that fashion was the outside of enough. I dread to think what Mark made of it.’

‘I nearly fainted and I don’t care what Mark thinks. And I will not have you scolding me.’

‘Issie!’ Jane was lost for words.

‘Well, I won’t. I wish I had not said I would marry Mark.’ And with that she flounced out of the room, leaving Jane’s heart and mind in turmoil. It was so difficult to tell if Isabel really meant what she said, or if it was a tantrum that she would regret.

* * *

Her sister was more subdued than usual when they sat down to a light meal with their aunt at five o’clock, but she would not hear of postponing the outing to Ranelagh Gardens on account of not feeling well earlier in the day.

‘I am perfectly recovered,’ she said. ‘We are only in town for a few days and heaven knows when we will ever come again if Papa is so determined we must economise, so I intend to make the most of it.’

It was with a heavy heart Jane prepared for the evening when they would again be escorted by Mark and Mr Ashton. She wished the latter would go away, back to where he came from, but her wish was not to be granted.

* * *

Drew and Mark arrived promptly at eight o’clock in Mark’s town carriage and all four of them were soon on their way to Chelsea.

The gardens were a popular place where the aristocracy mixed with anyone able to afford the two-shillings-and-sixpence entrance fee. It had a Chinese Pavilion, an ornamental lake and several walks. Outdoor concerts were also staged there. Mark and Drew, with the ladies between them, made their way to the pavilion to listen to the music, which did not finish before it became dark. The area around the pavilion was lit by lanterns strung among the trees, but the surrounding tree-lined walks with their little arbours were in darkness and were therefore a popular place for romantic assignations.

---