Love, Lords, and Lady-Birds Read online

  "Who is likely to know? The Earl is at Ascot, and if she takes a night off because she is feeling unwell, Vauxhall Gardens will find another entertainer and no-one will worry what she is really doing one way or another."

  "No, of course not," Petrina agreed. "What is the time now?"

  "My watch is in pawn," Nicholas Thornton replied, "but I should imagine it must be after eight o'clock."

  "Yes, I am sure it is," Petrina said. "I left Staverton House just before seven-thirty because the Morecombes usually dine rather early."

  "I see that you think of detail, too," Nicholas Thornton said with a smile.

  "Did you remember the boys?" Petrina asked hastily, as if she had just thought of them.

  "Of course," he answered. "Do not worry, everything is going well so far."

  Petrina drew her breath and crossed her fingers.

  "Do not boast," she begged.

  "I am not," he answered, "and I am in fact much more anxious than you are."

  "The difference is that you do not show it," Petrina replied.

  He did not answer, but sat clasping his knees, watching the house on the corner.

  He had a thin, rather sensitive face and there was something about him which told Petrina she could trust him.

  She was sure that he was intelligent and that he wrote well. It was, however, a pity that he had to stoop to mere vulgar gossip which sold the papers that attacked the Regent and the Government.

  But she had a feeling that he was capable of writing much more intelligent articles and she was determined to talk to him about the reforms of which such newspapers as the Courier and certainly John Bull would be in favour.

  But this, she felt, was not the moment, and it was difficult to have thoughts beyond anything but the plan they had worked out between them.

  Then almost as if in answer to their prayers a closed carriage came down the street and drew up outside the house on the corner.

  "The Duke!" Petrina whispered as it passed, for she had recognised the painted coat-of-arms on the door.

  Nicholas Thornton nodded and they both watched the footman get down from the box to raise the knocker before he opened the door of the carriage.

  The Duke stepped out and Petrina thought that he entered the house hurriedly. Then the door shut behind him and the carriage drove away.

  She felt a sudden surge of anger, not against the Duke but against the woman to whom the Earl had given so much and who was deceiving him blatantly with another man.

  "How can she do this?" Petrina asked herself, knowing that she personally had not been very impressed with the Duke.

  Then she remembered her father saying once:

  "The English are snobs—every one of them from the Prince to the poorest of his subjects.

  They are exceeded only by the French, who are the biggest snobs in the whole of Europe."

  'I suppose a Duke means more than an Earl,' Petrina thought.

  She knew that even if the Earl were of no importance whatsoever she would still love him, still feel that he was a King among men.

  "Now, we have to wait until it is dark," Nicholas Thornton said at her side.

  That, Petrina knew, was not going to be for some hours, and she helped herself to another slice of ham.

  Actually the hours did not seem as long as she had anticipated, because, despite her resolution to the contrary, she could not help talking to Nicholas Thornton of the state of the country.

  That inevitably led to the state of London and the women she was trying to help.

  She learnt from him that there were not only boys in the Flash Houses but also girls.

  "There are up to four hundred in St. Giles's, alone," Nicholas said. "I have been there, and it's the nearest thing to hell on earth that I have ever seen."

  He told her how shocked and appalled he had been when he first came to London.

  The son of a Solicitor in a small market town, he had always wanted to write and had refused, to his father's annoyance, to join the family firm.

  He had come to London determined to make his own way in the world, and he had drifted from one newspaper to another until he met William Hone and realised that with him he would have an opportunity to write as he wished to do.

  He told Petrina how the Prince Regent and quite a number of other people paid suppression money to the newspapers not to publish unpleasant things about them.

  The Prince Regent paid particularly to suppress lampoons and caricatures.

  George Cruikshank, one of the greatest known cartoonists, had received, Petrina learnt, one hundred pounds for a pledge not to caricature the Prince in any immoral situation, and publishers found that it paid them to be always angling for suppression money.

  "It seems wrong that things that should be said should be suppressed," Petrina said.

  "I agree with you," Nicholas Thornton answered, "and one day I will own a newspaper of my own. I swear to you 1 will then print die truth, come hell or high water!"

  Petrina laughed.

  "I will help you," she said, "and that is a promise."

  They smiled at each other and started on the subject of corruption, which carried them through the next two hours.

  At last it began to get dark and now the light they had been waiting for appeared in a first-floor window of the house on the corner.

  Nicholas Thornton had got a general plan of the house and Petrina was certain he was right when he showed her which was the bed-room that Yvonne Vouvray occupied.

  Half an hour passed. Now there were only two gas-lamps in the distance outside the Royal Hospital to shine through the darkness and the moon rising in the sky.

  There was the sound of footsteps and two ragged boys of about ten years old appeared.

  Nicholas Thornton greeted them by name.

  "Now you know what to do, Bill," he said to the taller of the two. "Hurry off to the Hand-in-Hand Fire Brigade and tell them they are wanted at once in Paradise Row. Tell diem to hurry, as the house belongs to the Earl of Staverton, who has paid his subscription."

  "Oi understand, Sir," Bill answered.

  "We will give you ten minutes to get there," Nicholas Thornton said, "then come back and you will get your money."

  "Oi'll be back right enough, Sir," Bill answered and hurried off up the street.

  Nicholas Thornton handed the other boy what was left of the bale of hay.

  "Throw it over the railings into the basement, Sam," he said, "but do not spread it too thin."

  Sam crossed the road and they watched him doing what he had been told, then he returned to scrape up the hay on which Petrina had been sitting and added it to the rest.

  In the meantime, Nicholas Thornton had been opening the parcel which he had carried with him, and Petrina saw that he had brought a number of different fireworks, all of the sort which take longer to burn than those which like rockets sweep up into the sky.

  Fireworks were very popular in the Pleasure Gardens of London and Vauxhall staged displays almost every week.

  Petrina, when she was at School, had read of the great display that had been given in London when the peace was announced four years ago, and she knew that the Anniversary of the Battle of the Nile was celebrated every year with fireworks.

  They had always excited her ever since she was a child, and she thought that now for the first time in her life they were really serving a purpose. With the assorted collection that Nicholas Thornton had brought, it was difficult to see how their plan could not be successful.

  They sat waiting and now for the first time Nicholas Thornton seemed nervous.

  He tapped with his fingers on his knee, then on the stone step on which he was sitting.

  Finally he collected the fireworks together.

  "Bill should have alerted the Fire Brigade by now," he said.

  He crossed the road, carrying the fireworks with him, and it was difficult for Petrina, who remained on the door-step, to see what he was doing.

  Then t
here was the first glimmer of light from the firework he held in his hands before he threw it into the hay in the basement.

  Immediately she could see a red glow against the walls of the house, then as Nicholas threw the other fireworks down to join the first there was a sudden explosion.

  Now the hay was ignited and the flames combined with the sparks from the fireworks began to shoot up the side of the house.

  Nicholas Thornton ran back across the road to stand beside Petrina.

  She did not say anything, but only stood watching. Then, as he had been instructed, Sam ran along the road until he was standing outside the front of the house at the corner, where he started to shout: "Fire! Fire!" at the top of his voice.

  A moment later the bed-room window opened and Petrina saw, by the light of the flames, the Duke put his head out.

  He withdrew quickly and as he did so the fire-engine, drawn by two horses with six men riding on the traverse benches on either side of it, came round the corner, with its bell ringing.

  The improved engine had the leather hose which had recently been invented and the very latest steel fire-escape ladder, and was equipped with the Captain Manby portable extinguisher, which had come into use in 1816.

  The Firemen, often called the Fire Police, had the uniform of the Hand-in-Hand Brigade, which Petrina had seen before and thought very impressive.

  They wore red plush breeches with cotton stockings and silver-buckled shoes. Their jackets were of blue cloth with large silver buttons and on their heads they wore black, high-crowned hats.

  The Hand-in-Hand had the famous mark of clasped hands surmounted by a crown, which had been theirs since 1679, and they were known to be the most reliable and most efficient Fire Brigade in the whole city.

  They started work as soon as they appeared, hammering on the door and ordering the occupants of the house to evacuate it immediately.

  They were obeyed so quickly that Petrina was certain the Duke and Yvonne Vouvray must already have been in the Hall, ready to leave.

  They came out onto the pavement, the Duke wearing his pantaloons but obviously naked above the waist with the exception of a green silk bed-spread which he wore round his shoulders.

  Yvonne Vouvray, on the other hand, wore an elaborate and very attractive neglige of rose-pink satin trimmed with lace and ribbons.

  Her dark hair was falling over her shoulders, and even though she appeared agitated and frightened she looked, Petrina jealously admitted, extremely attractive.

  They crossed over to the other side of the roadway to be out of the way of the Firemen who were pouring water through the leather hose onto the fire in the basement.

  The fire was subsiding rapidly, and it was quite obvious that it had no hold on the house, as Nicholas Thornton with a note-book in his hand walked along the pavement to the watching couple.

  "Has Your Grace anything to say on this matter?" Petrina heard him ask.

  "Nothing!" the Duke replied sharply. "And I have no idea why you address me as Your Grace.'"

  "I believe you to be the Duke of Ranelagh, Your Grace," Nicholas said.

  "Quite untrue, and I forbid you to print such a libel."

  'The public will be extremely interested in anything that concerns the famous Mademoiselle Yvonne Vouvray."

  "I not wish cette histoire to be published," Yvonne Vouvray interposed. "Go away! Allez! Leave us alone! We not want reports in ze newspapers."

  "I quite understand," Nicholas Thornton said.

  He bowed, and would have walked away, but the Duke put out his hand to stop him.

  "Look here, my man."

  He spoke in a low voice, but Petrina was quite sure of what he was saying.

  He was offering Nicholas Thornton a bribe, unaware, of course, that he had been bribed already and she had been wise enough to expect that this might happen.

  "Whatever the Duke offers you to keep silent," she had said to Nicholas when they were making their plans, "I will give you more. I would not wish you to lose money because you are helping me."

  "I am also helping myself," he said.

  "But you are hard-up and you have been very kind," she answered.

  She thought as she spoke that she would gladly give her whole fortune to save the Earl from having to marry Lady Isolda.

  As she watched Nicholas coming back towards her, she decided she had killed two birds with one stone! In actual fact she had saved the Earl from two women, both of whom she hated.

  CHAPTER SIX

  "I HAVE BROUGHT back the brooch and bracelet I wore last night, Mr. Richardson," Petrina said, "and I wonder if I could choose some jewels for I his evening?"

  "Of course, Miss Lyndon," Mr. Richardson replied. 'Were you thinking of a necklace or a brooch?"

  "I think a necklace," Petrina answered. "I have a turquoise silk gown, and I think a turquoise necklace would look very nice with it."

  "I am sure it would," Mr. Richardson replied.

  He unlocked the safe and produced from it a number of leather-covered boxes which contained a dozen different necklaces.

  The jewellery of the Staverton collection was so extensive that there were sets of almost every known jewel—diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, turquoises, and topaz. Petrina felt that each one she wore was more becoming than the last.

  There were in fact three turquoise necklaces, one with the stones surrounded by diamonds, one by pearls, and a rather intriguing one set with both rubies and sapphires.

  She was trying to decide which would look best with her gown, when the door of the Secretary's office opened and she heard a servant say:

  "I've brought the keys of Paradise Row, Sir."

  "Thank you, Clements," Mr. Richardson replied. "Hang them on the board."

  There was a board on one wall on which were hooked all the keys of the house and, Petrina imagined, all the other houses which were owned by the Earl.

  She could not help giving a secret smile of satisfaction in assuming that Yvonne Vouvray had now vacated the house in Paradise Row and the Earl was free of her.

  The story of the fire had received publicity first exclusively in the Courier, then was copied in a number of other newspapers.

  There was also, Petrina learnt, a cartoon already on sale showing the Duke and Yvonne outside the house with the Firemen putting out the flames.

  It had given spice to the story when it was learnt that the fire was nothing more serious than a blaze caused by fireworks.

  The conflagration was therefore attributed either to a practical joker or to the mischievous act of some small boys.

  Whatever the explanation, it gave rise to a great deal of public interest, and although Petrina had no way of knowing what the Earl thought about it, she was quite certain that his reaction to the publicity would be to withdraw his protection from Yvonne Vouvray.

  Her scheme had worked out according to plan and she was pleased.

  When she went upstairs to change into her riding habit, she wondered if Lady Isolda had been disposed of so easily.

  The Dowager Duchess was not feeling well and Petrina went to her room to tell her she was going riding in the Park accompanied by a groom.

  'You look happy, my dear child," the Dowager Duchess said perceptively, looking at Petrina's smiling face.

  "It is a lovely day, Ma'am, and I only wish you were feeling better."

  "I will try to get up for luncheon," the Dowager Duchess replied, "but if it is too much effort you must forgive me."

  "If it is, I will have luncheon with you up here," Petrina promised.

  "You must find out what Durwin is doing," the Dowager Duchess replied, then added with an exclamation: "But of course! I had forgotten! He told me he was driving to Chiswick to a prize-fight which is taking place this afternoon at Osterley Park."

  "Then we will certainly have luncheon alone," Petrina answered.

  She left the Dowager Duchess's bed-room and hurried down the stairs.

  Her horse, which was a spirit
ed bay, was waiting for her outside the front door.

  As she came out onto the steps she saw that the Earl's black and yellow curricle was also waiting.

  It was drawn by the black team which Petrina admired more every time she saw them, and she went to pat their noses, knowing that it would be hard to find a comparable quartet in the length and breadth of the country.

  "I forgot to ask you," the Earl's voice said behind her. "How are you progressing with your driving?"

  She had not heard him approach and she turned her head to find him standing beside her.

  He looked as usual exceedingly magnificent, so that she felt as if her heart did a double-somersault at the sight of him.

  "Abby is very pleased with me," she said, "and you told me yourself there are few drivers to compare with him."

  "If Abby is satisfied," the Earl said, speaking of his Head-coachman, "then you must be very good. I presume one day you will wish to try your hand with these horses?"

  Petrina's eyes lit up.

  "Could I?" she asked. "It would be the most exciting present you could give me."

  "Then we must make a date for you to take me driving," the Earl said, smiling.

  Her eyes were shining like stars and she thought he looked at her in a kinder manner than she had ever known him to do before.

  Then, at that moment, they were interrupted.

  "Excuse me," a voice said, "but be ye Miss Lyndon?"

  Both Petrina and the Earl turned to see an elderly man standing beside them.

  He looked like a respectable shop-keeper and Petrina answered:

  "Yes, I am Miss Lyndon."

  "Pardon me for abothering ye, Miss," the man said, "but th' gentleman gave your name as guarantor for these purchases. Being in a small way of business, as ye might say, I can't afford outstanding accounts."

  "What is it for?" Petrina asked, wondering what he could be speaking about.

  "Fireworks, Miss."

  Petrina drew in her breath.

  "Fireworks?" she heard the Earl say in a questioning tone beside her. "Who purchased them?"

  "T'were the beginning o' last week, Sir," the shop-keeper replied, "and they were bought by a Mr. Thornton, but as he had no money with him he gives me Miss Lyndon's name as guarantor.