Love, Lords, and Lady-Birds Read online

  But even in London they must have heard of something called Love."

  "I am surprised you have heard of it. It is the first time you have mentioned that elusive emotion."

  "I have thought about it," Petrina said seriously. "I have thought about it quite a lot."

  "I am very glad to hear it."

  "But I feel it may be something which I shall never experience."

  "Why?" the Earl asked.

  "Because when the girls at School talked about love they were all so sloppy. They would talk about some man they had met in the holidays as if he were an Adonis. They used to go to bed with his name written on a piece of paper under their pillow, and hope they would dream of him. Claire was even kissed!"

  "I might have guessed that," the Earl said sarcastically.

  "She said the first time it happened was very disappointing, not a bit what she had expected.

  The second was better, but not really romantic."

  "What did she expect?" the Earl asked furiously.

  "Something like Dante felt for Beatrice, or Romeo for Juliet, but I have a feeling ordinary men are not like that."

  There was silence. Then Petrina said:

  "I have decided that no-one shall kiss me until I really want them to. Of course I should like them to try, then I shall have the satisfaction of turning them down."

  "The truth is that your outlook on life is one of complete ignorance," the Earl said scathingly.

  "You only know what your friend Claire has told you, most of which she has learnt second-hand from her brother. My advice is for you to start again without a lot of preconceived poppycock ideas."

  "Of course, things may be better than I anticipate."

  "I certainly hope they will be."

  "May I have lots of new gowns?"

  "As many as you like, since you will be paying for them."

  She gave a little sigh of satisfaction.

  "I shall enjoy having men look at me with admiration, and of course laughing at what I say because I am so witty."

  "I have not been very impressed by anything you have said so far," the Earl commented.

  "I have not had much opportunity yet, but once I get into the swing of things I expect it will come naturally."

  "I hope not," the Earl replied. "What you say naturally makes me shudder."

  "You take things far too seriously," Petrina said. "As I have already said, you have forgotten how to be young and carefree. If I am really going to make my d6but, as you suggest, I am determined to be the most outstanding, the most exciting, and certainly the most talked-about debutante London has ever known!"

  "That is just what I am afraid of!" the Earl said with a groan.

  "Now you are being stiff-necked and top-lofty again," Petrina said derisively.

  CHAPTER TWO

  WHEN THEY ARRIVED in London and drove down Park Lane, Petrina was watching everything with sparkling eyes.

  She had been in London several times in her life, but her father's house was in Worcestershire and she had forgotten how crowded the streets were and how colourful everything appeared.

  When she saw Staverton House she stared at it in astonishment.

  Never had she thought that anyone she knew would live in so impressive a mansion.

  It stood on the corner of Upper Grosvenor Street and Park Lane and occupied three acres.

  The entrance had a majestic stone screen composed of eight columns with lamp-posts in between each of them.

  There was a carriage entrance protected by superb metal gates surmounted by pediments bearing the family crest.

  "Do you live here all alone?" Petrina asked, looking at the West and East wings of the house ranging out from the centre block.

  There was a note of awe in her voice which made the Earl reply:

  "I am glad something about me has impressed you."

  When she entered the huge marble Hall and saw the doors of solid mahogany picked out in gold, the mantelpieces of Carrara marble, and the tables of lapis lazuli mounted on ormolu, Petrina was even more impressed.

  She was to learn later that the house contained the finest collection of Rembrandts in the country, besides paintings by Velazquez and Rubens.

  In the Salon there were Italian, French, Dutch, and Flemish pictures, and in the Small Drawing-Room hung two of Gainsborough's masterpieces and Sir Joshua Reynolds's portrait of Mrs. Siddons.

  But this Petrina did not know at the moment; she only felt awed and somehow insignificant, which made her put up her chin defiantly.

  "Welcome home, M'Lord!" A Major Domo bowed, resplendent in gold braid on the black and gold livery which was worn by an inordinate number of flunkeys, all over six foot tall.

  "Send Mr. Richardson to me immediately!" the Earl commanded as he took off his hat and gloves.

  "I should inform Your Lordship that Her Grace the Duchess of Kingston arrived this afternoon," the Major Domo said in. respectful tones.

  "What could be more opportune?" the Earl exclaimed, and added to Petrina:

  "My grandmother is here, which we might say is an extremely fortunate coincidence."

  "Her Grace is resting," the Major Domo interposed.

  "Tell Mrs. Meadows to look after Miss Lyndon," the Earl ordered, and walked up the curving staircase, passing a fine collection of portraits which had been commissioned by his father from contemporary artists.

  On reaching the landing he turned towards the West Wing, where his guests were always accommodated so as to be as far away as possible from his own private part of the house.

  Here two rooms were kept exclusively for his grandmother's use whenever she wished to visit London.

  She was, the Earl found, seated comfortably in an arm-chair in the attractive Sitting-Room which adjoined her bed-room. It was fragrant with the scent of hot-house flowers sent to London from the greenhouses on the Earl's country estate.

  As if she had been expecting him, the Dowager Duchess looked up as her grandson entered, and there was no mistaking the smile of welcome on her face.

  The Dowager Duchess had been a great beauty.

  The Duke of Kingston had fallen in love with her on sight and married her at midnight at the Mayfair Chapel so that there could be no opposition or protests from his family, who had expected him to make a far more advantageous alliance.

  But it had proved to be a union between two people who really loved each other, and the Dowager Duchess had become a personality in her own right.

  There were few people, from the Queen down to the least important employee on the Duke's estate, who did not admire and revere her.

  Her hair was dead white and her face was deeply lined, but she still had a beauty which artists wished to project on canvas, and the way in which she held out her blue-veined hands towards her grandson had a grace that was inescapable.

  "I heard you were away from home, Durwin," she exclaimed.

  "I have returned, and I am extremely glad to find you here, Grandmama."

  The Earl kissed both her hands, then her cheek, as he asked:

  "What brings you to London—as if I did not know?"

  "I had to visit the dentist," the Dowager Duchess replied firmly.

  "Nonsense, Grandmama! You know as well as I do it is the beginning of the Season and you would not wish to miss the Social Whirl. In fact I have been expecting you for over a fortnight."

  "I am too old to be social," the Dowager Duchess said, but her smile belied the words.

  "You could not have come at a more opportune moment as far as I am concerned," the Earl said, seating himself in a chair beside her.

  He spoke seriously, and his grandmother, taking a glance at him, said:

  "You are about to tell me you are engaged to be married. I hope not to one of those importunate widows who have been besieging you so ardently?"

  "No, Grandmama," the Earl replied quickly. "I am not engaged to be married and have no wish to be leg-shackled to any widow, or to any other woman for that matter."<
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  "You play about with enough of them, from all I hear."

  "It would be difficult to prevent you from hearing about my escapades since you hear all the scandal that arises in London whether from Carlton House or elsewhere."

  "Carlton House!"

  The Dowager Duchess's tone of voice spoke volumes.

  "There is something I want to tell you," the Earl said quickly, knowing that if his grandmother started on the subject of the Prince Regent it would be difficult to divert her from it

  "What is it?"

  "I have discovered by chance that I have been exceedingly remiss regarding a Ward who was entrusted to my care," the Earl explained.

  "A Ward?" the Dowager Duchess exclaimed. "I had no idea that you were ever placed in a position of a Guardian. I remember my poor husband . . ."

  "I am sure Grandpapa was acutely aware of his responsibilities," the Earl interrupted, "but unfortunately, mine were forgotten until today."

  'What happened today?" the Dowager Duchess enquired curiously.

  "I met my Ward by chance," the Earl said, "and have brought her with me to London."

  "So it is a female!" the Dowager Duchess exclaimed with the air of someone making an unusual discovery. "And I suppose having thrust herself upon you she is now concerned with trying to get you up the aisle."

  The Earl laughed.

  "On the contrary, Grandmama. She is determined to marry no-one."

  "To marry no-one? Can there be such a girl alive who has no wish to capture a husband, and, if possible, you?"

  "You must meet Petrina. Incidentally, she is an heiress, so there is no immediate haste for her to get married."

  "Are you telling me you have brought this girl here?" the Dowager Duchess enquired.

  "For you to chaperon, Grandmama, at least for tonight."

  "It is my belief that you have got touched in the head since you have been away," the Dowager Duchess said. "A girl in Staverton House? I have never heard of such a thing before!"

  "Nor have I," the Earl admitted ruefully, "but as her father and mother are dead and she has run away from School, there is really no-one else to whom she can turn."

  "What does she look like?" the Dowager Duchess asked suspiciously. "If you think I am going to chaperon some hoyden of a country chit with no countenance and less breeding, you are much mistaken!"

  "She is pretty, and her father was Major Maurice Lyndon, who was in my Regiment."

  "Lucky Lyndon?"

  "You have heard of him?"

  "Of course I have heard of him!" the Dowager Duchess answered. "You were either too young to remember, or you were not interested, but your cousin, Gervaise Cunningham, called him out."

  "They fought a duel?"

  "They certainly did!" the Dowager Duchess replied. "With his usual luck, Lyndon winged poor Gervaise, although the duel was entirely his fault for having been caught in the most compromising circumstances with his wife, Caroline."

  "I must admit that if I ever knew of the episode I had forgotten it," the Earl said.

  "Caroline was only one of the women who was infatuated with Maurice Lyndon and of course his immense fortune."

  "How did he make it?"

  The Dowager Duchess threw out her hands in an expressive gesture.

  "Gambling, but not with cards—with shares, ships, and property in various parts of the world. I believe, also, he once won a French lottery worth millions of francs."

  "As you know so much about him, you will certainly find his daughter interesting," the Earl said. "But I do beg of you, Grandmama, not to tell her too many of her father's exploits. She is already overeager to experience her own!"

  "Surely she is too young to have had much opportunity to do anything reprehensible, as she has been at School."

  "You would be surprised!" the Earl replied enigmatically.

  He rose and went from the room to fetch Petrina.

  While he was with his grandmother, Petrina had taken off her bonnet and the short jacket she had worn over her plain schoolgirl's dress.

  She should have looked very young and very unsophisticated, but perhaps it was the fiery gold in her hair, the mischievous glint in her slanting eyes, and the mocking curl of her lips which gave the Earl the impression of somebody who should be watched for fear of what she might do next.

  "My grandmother has agreed to chaperon you for the moment," he said severely as they walked up the stairs side by side, "and if you make yourself pleasant to her there is nobody who could give you a better entree to the Social World."

  "What you are really telling me is that I must be careful of what I say," Petrina answered.

  "And of how you behave!" the Earl added.

  She looked up at him, her eyes dancing.

  "I have a feeling you are quite nervous about me."

  "I certainly have no wish for you to bring disgrace upon your own head or on mine because I am in the unfortunate position of being your Guardian."

  "I dare say you will quite enjoy it when you get used to me," Petrina replied. "Besides, I can see already that you sit here in your grandeur with nothing to think about except your own consequence. It is time somebody woke you up."

  "I have no wish to be woken up, if you mean that I shall have to spend my time extracting you from some scrape or other," the Earl said severely. "And let me inform you, Petrina, that I have the power and the authority to send you to Harrogate whether you like it or not, if you misbehave."

  Petrina made a little grimace.

  "The iron-handed Guardian speaks!" she jeered. "But do not fuss yourself. I shall do my very best to keep out of your way."

  "I wish I could be sure of that," the Earl retorted, and heard her chuckle as he opened the door into his grandmother's room.

  * * *

  Rising early because she found it hard even after late nights to sleep until the fashionable hours of the morning, Petrina went to her bed-room window and saw the Earl riding down the short drive.

  She had learnt that he was always up early, riding in the Park before it became crowded, and she wished as she had wished a dozen times before that he would ask her to go with him.

  She wondered if he met some entrancing and alluring lady on his rides, or if he preferred to be alone at such an early hour.

  Petrina had learnt a great deal about the Earl since she had come to London.

  First of all, her friend Claire, whom she had contacted the day after she arrived, had been overwhelmed at hearing where she was staying and who was her Guardian.

  "Why did you not tell me about the Earl?" she asked.

  "I was ashamed of having a Guardian who paid no attention to me," Petrina replied, "and I hated him because I assumed he was old, strait- laced, and disagreeable."

  "Now you find he is none of those things," Claire said. "Oh, Petrina, how much I envy you! I have always longed to meet the Earl, but of course it is well known that he never speaks to unmarried women."

  "He has to speak to me."

  Petrina was not prepared to acknowledge to her friend that since she had arrived at Staverton House she had had no private conversation with its owner and had only seen him at dinner-parties at the other end of the table.

  From the moment she had arrived her days had been occupied with shopping.

  She had found that the Dowager Duchess not only enjoyed visiting the most expensive dressmakers in Bond Street, but also had very positive ideas on how her charge was to be dressed if she was to capture the attention of the Beau Monde.

  At first Petrina had been suspicious that she might be fobbed off with "young girl" gowns, which would make her look insignificant or exactly like every other debutante of the Season.

  But to her delight she discovered that the Dowager Duchess, having had herself to achieve success by her personal appearance rather than through her antecedents, knew exactly how to be noticeable without exceeding the bounds of good taste.

  It was the Dowager Duchess, Petrina found, who ensured that s
he was a sensation from the moment she entered a Ball-Room.

  She had had no idea before that her hair could look like a flaming torch on top of her well-shaped head, or that with a touch of cosmetics her skin could be almost dazzlingly white and her eyes so large that they seemed to fill her small face.

  What was more, although she hardly dared to say it aloud, she had never envisaged while wearing the dull and shapeless clothes that Cousin Adelaide had chosen for her that underneath them she had an exquisite figure.

  It proclaimed itself in no uncertain terms once she was dressed by the creative hands of a French dressmaker.

  "I was very proud of you tonight, my dear," the Dowager Duchess said after Petrina had been an undeniable success at a Ball given by the Duchess of Bedford.

  "It is all due to you," Petrina replied simply.

  'You pay for dressing, and at least you have something to say for yourself. I could never abide the type of young girl who simpers or is too shy to raise her eyes from her slippers."

  Petrina laughed.

  "According to my Guardian, I am not too shy but too forward. I know he is terrified of what I will say next."

  Even as she spoke she realised that he was not likely to hear what she said anyway.

  Although he had escorted them to several Balls he had not asked her to dance, and she had noticed that his partners were exactly the sort of attractive, sophisticated women she had expected.

  It was Claire who had enlightened her further on that score.

  "The Earl has been infatuated for nearly a year with Lady Isolda Herbert. She was widowed in the war when she was very young and has been a reigning beauty ever since."

  "Do you think the Earl will marry her?" Petrina enquired.

  Claire shrugged her shoulders.

  "Who knows? Everybody has tried hard enough to catch him, but they say his love-affairs never last long. He finds women a bore once he knows them well."

  "Did your brother Rupert tell you that?" Petrina asked.

  "Oh, Rupert had a lot to say once I asked him about the Earl. His mistress is an alluring creature. I think Rupert rather fancied her himself but was unable to afford her."