A Shooting Star Page 6

  Her father and Lord Carlsby were determined that the Earl should concentrate on her and it was obvious they felt that she would be thrilled to meet the most handsome man in London.

  Indeed she might have been, had she not overheard their secret conversation the previous evening and if she had not been given a strict warning by her Aunt Edith.

  There was, however, nothing she could do about it.

  ‘There is no doubt,’ she mused, ‘that Papa has been very shrewd.’

  Then she felt a little tremor run through her.

  If she was to fight against him and if she was to avoid marrying the man he had chosen for her, she had to be shrewder still.

  She could only hope and pray that she was strong enough, but she had to admit to feeling apprehensive.

  She had brought back with her the gown she had decided to wear tomorrow night and because she had been with her aunt, she had not yet told the maid to unpack it.

  Nor had she had a chance to look at her mother’s jewellery her father had told her to choose from.

  She rang the bell and when the butler answered, she asked him for the jewellery case from the safe.

  All the jewellery that Lady Linwood had possessed, with the exception of her tiara, was kept in a large velvet-lined case and Flavia remembered, when she was a child, thinking it was very exciting.

  Barker brought in the case, put it down on the sofa and then handed Flavia the keys.

  “I guards that with my life, Miss Flavia,” he said, “and you be careful when you’ve finished with it to give it back to me.”

  “I promise you, Barker,” Flavia smiled. “But Papa wants me to wear some of Mama’s jewellery tomorrow at the party and I thought it would be wise to choose it now.”

  “You’ll look real lovely in it,” Barker sighed. “Tis a pity you’re too young to wear her Ladyship’s tiara.”

  Flavia laughed.

  “I’m glad I don’t have to wear it. Mama always said it gave her a headache at the Opening of Parliament because it was so heavy.”

  “That be true, miss. But her Ladyship looked very beautiful in it and, as I often says when I sees her drive off, it be a pity she’s not the Queen herself!”

  Flavia laughed again.

  “I’m sure that is something Mama had no wish to be. Look how worrying things have been lately and I have been feeling rather sorry for Queen Victoria.”

  “Oh, she’ll cope with them Ruskies all right, miss. They’ve no wish to fight us, we be too strong and too clever for ’em and that’s the truth.”

  Flavia agreed with Barker, but she thought it was unlucky to be too confident.

  If Russia had possessed a better trained Army and it had been better organised and led, there might have been a very different story to tell about their intention to take over Constantinople.

  Barker left and she carefully opened her mother’s jewellery case.

  Every piece of jewellery in it reminded her vividly of her mother’s beauty.

  However many jewels she wore, she never looked overpowered by them and they were only, as they should be, a background for her shining eyes and perfect features.

  There were small and large necklaces, bracelets, rings and endless earrings.

  Flavia knew that as a debutante it would be vulgar to wear too much jewellery and so she then chose a simple necklace of pearls and diamonds that her mother had worn when she was a girl.

  There was a bracelet to match it and the only other item she took from the velvet-lined case was a star to wear in her hair.

  When Barker returned to collect the case, he saw what she had chosen.

  “Be that all you be going to wear, Miss Flavia?” he asked. “I do thinks, as His Royal Highness be one of the guests, you’d be shining like the sun.”

  Flavia giggled.

  “That would be most disconcerting for everyone. After all, you must remember I am only a debutante from the country and so I cannot compete with all the beautiful ladies we will see here tomorrow night, like the Duchess of Manchester and, of course, Mrs. Langtry.”

  “Oh, her!” Barker remarked. “She’s sprung up like a mushroom. If you wants to know what I thinks, she’ll fall as quick as she rose!”

  “I hope not – not before I’ve seen her.”

  “You’ll see her everywhere, miss. They stands on the chairs in the Park to see her drive past, and there be pictures of her in all the shops. The ‘Jersey Lily’ they calls her and all the men, including the Prince of Wales himself, is bowled over by her.”

  Flavia laughed again.

  “That is exactly why I am so excited at seeing her tomorrow night. Surely you are thrilled she is coming here to dinner?”

  “We’ve been told by Mr. Wilson not to say a word about it to anyone. But I always finds when them Royals be entertained it means a lot more work and a lot more trouble!”

  “But you enjoy it, Barker.”

  “That’s as maybe, miss. There’ll be Policemen and soldiers guarding the house and however much they trys to pretend no one knows, a crowd gathers outside and no one can stop ’em.”

  Flavia was amazed at the indignation in his voice.

  “You may find all these difficulties, Barker, but I am looking forward to it because it will be wonderful for me to meet the Prince. Of course I am longing to see Mrs. Langtry too and find out if she is really as beautiful as the newspapers say she is.”

  When she was in the country, she had thought it extraordinary that so much could have been written about someone who had never been of any importance – then Mrs. Langtry had come to London and had attracted the attention of the Prince of Wales!

  It would now be a very stupid person in any part of England who did not know who Lillie Langtry was.

  *

  Upstairs Mrs. Shepherd and the maids unpacked the gown Aunt Edith had chosen for Flavia.

  “Now that’s what I calls a very pretty gown,” Mrs. Shepherd said not once but several times.

  “It will give me confidence,” Flavia replied. “And that I am going to need in abundance tomorrow night.”

  The servants were thinking that she was merely shy, which of course she was. At the same time she never for a moment forgot the reason why the party was being held – or the conniving of the two elderly courtiers who hoped they would kill ‘two birds with one stone’.

  She was not surprised when a message came from her father.

  It was to say that he would be so late for dinner that she was not to wait for him and he would doubtless have something to eat before he finally returned.

  She guessed that, having gone to see the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, there had been a number of other Statesmen waiting to pounce on him – she supposed she was lucky that he had not been summoned to Windsor.

  As it happened, he turned up at nine o’clock.

  She was still in the dining room and he sat down with her. Although he had already eaten, he had a glass of port and some pâté that Barker brought him.

  “Cook’s just finished making these, my Lord, and she feels even if you’ve had a good dinner you could eat a wee bit more.”

  “I will certainly try or cook will be disappointed.”

  Actually the pâté was so good he ate several slices and Flavia joined him.

  “Now tell me what you have been doing, Flavia, and I am sure it was far more interesting than all I have had to put up with in the last few hours.”

  “More trouble abroad, Papa?”

  “Of course, and I am afraid I will have to go down to Windsor tomorrow morning to tell the Queen about it.”

  Flavia wanted to say that she was sure someone else would have done that already, but she did not want to make her father feel that the Queen could do without him.

  “Of course, you must go if you are summoned by Her Majesty, Papa, but you must not forget we have a party tomorrow night. His Royal Highness will be horrified if his host is not here.”

  “I will be here,” her father pr
omised. “Now tell me what your Aunt Edith said to you.”

  Flavia hesitated for a moment.

  Should she tell her father that her aunt had warned her against the Earl of Haugton?

  Then she thought that it might make him even more eager to tie her up quickly.

  So she therefore merely told him about the clothes and who else she had met at her house and how kind they had been to her.

  Also how she had been careful not to say he was holding a special dinner party for her as Aunt Edith had not been invited.

  Lord Linwood put his hand up to his forehead.

  “Thank goodness you have so much sense, Flavia. It was stupid of me not to tell you that I had only invited special guests who are friends of His Royal Highness.”

  “I did think of that, Papa.”

  “He will enjoy the evening more that way as he is not always at ease with strangers. Thus I chose the guests very carefully so that they will please him as well as you.”

  He smiled before he added,

  “Actually the young men I have invited are mostly sons of his best friends. Although there are one or two who I think the Prince has not met before.”

  Flavia longed to ask if the Earl of Haugton had actually been introduced to him, but she thought it would be a mistake to do so.

  The one thing she did not want him to realise was that she already knew a great deal about the Earl – none to his advantage.

  They talked until it was time to change for dinner and then as they walked upstairs together, her father said,

  “I have a charming couple coming to dinner tonight whom I know you will enjoy meeting.”

  “Dinner tonight!” Flavia exclaimed. “But, Papa, I thought we would be alone.”

  “I saw him at the Foreign Office and he said his wife was longing to meet you, so I asked them to dinner. It is impossible to squeeze them in tomorrow night and I have a feeling, although I might be wrong, that the Prince does not like him.”

  “I am disappointed,” murmured Flavia.

  “I know, my dear, but unfortunately I have to make sure that everyone of influence will do their best to make this a wonderful Season for you.”

  He spoke with such sincerity that Flavia could not argue and he continued,

  “Lord Chatteron’s wife comes from a very ancient family, who could be very useful in asking you to stay in the winter for Hunt Balls and at their Scottish Castle.”

  Flavia sighed.

  “Must we only know people who are useful to us?”

  “At the moment the answer is ‘yes’. I want you to be the best success ever among the debutantes. And when you marry, it must be to someone who has something to offer you more than you already have at home.”

  She knew he was thinking of the Earl of Haugton and, as they reached the top landing, she replied,

  “I know you are doing your best, Papa, to launch me, as Mama would have wanted, with all flags flying. At the same time because I love you, I want to spend as much time as I can just with you.”

  He kissed her.

  “I feel the same, my dear, but unfortunately we both have our duties in life and mine are very demanding at present.”

  He did not say anything more, but walked down the corridor into his own bedroom and Flavia went into hers.

  She had the feeling as she did so that the plotting and planning where she was concerned was like a net and it was closing tighter and tighter over her every minute.

  She was quite certain that the two people who had been asked to dinner were friends of Lord Carlsby.

  And therefore enemies of the Earl of Haugton.

  Her father clearly believed that, when the time was ripe, they would be very ‘useful’ in his plan to rid Windsor Castle of the Earl.

  Every time she thought about her situation, Flavia knew that to escape was not going to be easy.

  It was a battle she might lose.

  And now she had to make herself pleasant to two more people who would do anything to achieve their own objectives and they doubtless knew others they could turn to for help if it was necessary.

  ‘But I am alone,’ she said to herself, ‘completely and absolutely alone.’

  For the moment all she wanted to do was to run away to the country and, at least if she went back home, she would be safe – there would be the horses and the dogs to make her happy.

  Then she told herself she would not be beaten.

  Being her father’s daughter put her in some way on a level with him.

  Other people were outsiders and they were prepared to use her if necessary, but were not interested in her as a real person.

  ‘I will not be defeated so easily,’ she told herself. ‘Even if they win, I am certain I will find a way to escape.’

  Flavia went over to the window and pulled back the curtains.

  When she looked out, the moon was just appearing in the darkening sky and the first star was twinkling near it.

  She stood looking up at them, feeling that in some way they might help her.

  Then suddenly a shooting star sped across the sky and disappeared behind the roofs of the houses.

  It was almost as if the Heavens had spoken to her.

  The shooting star told her there was always a way out, however frightening the future might seem.

  Like the shooting star, she would somehow evade them and they would be unable to catch her.

  ‘That is what I wanted to know,’ she determined.

  She threw back her head and looked up at the sky again.

  “Thank you,” she whispered. “Now I know that you are with me and I am no longer alone.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Flavia spent the next day shopping.

  Though her aunt had bought her the most beautiful dresses, she had said that she could not choose hats to match them.

  “Everyone,” Aunt Edith had propounded, “has an individual taste about their own hats.”

  Flavia spent a long time buying a great number to match her dresses. They were all striking and so different from the styles she had worn in the country.

  She thought that she might be going on the stage considering the fuss made about her appearance.

  Her father was continually asking her what she had chosen, if she had been to the very best shops and if she was sure that she could not do better elsewhere.

  She knew at the back of his mind he was thinking that she must attract the Earl.

  ‘If I was just thinking only of him,’ she reflected, ‘I would wear black and a pair of spectacles!’

  She wondered what would happen if that was how she appeared at tonight’s party and she was sure everyone would think she was mad and after that, they would only sympathise with her father.

  She had chosen jewellery suitable for a debutante to wear with the gown that would have graced any stage.

  She had asked her father’s secretary to engage the best hairdresser in London to come to the house before dinner and arrange her hair.

  As her hair was naturally curly and such a lovely golden colour she never worried about it.

  She had been quite content first to brush it back from her forehead and if she was alone at home she would tie it at the back of her head with a ribbon.

  Now she knew that she must do her father proud.

  He was actually taking more trouble over this party than any other he had ever given and it was Mr. Wilson, his secretary, who told her that.

  She wondered if at the back of his mind, he guessed the reason why, but she certainly could not ask him.

  So she merely commented,

  “We must not disappoint my father and I am sure you have thought of everything we could possibly need to make the evening a success.”

  “I do hope so,” Mr. Wilson replied. “But it’s very easy to forget something particularly important on these occasions. Then everything goes wrong!”

  “Well, this one has to go right,” said Flavia. “And I am sure it will after all the trouble you have
taken.”

  “I have even been asked by His Royal Highness’s secretary, who is a friend of mine,” Mr. Wilson confided, “for a look at the guest list. It is something I have always been told is correct, but the close friends of His Royal Highness don’t normally bother.

  “To tell the truth, Miss Flavia, I was a little worried about the Duchess of Manchester being included.”

  “I have read about her and I believe that she is very beautiful.”

  “Very beautiful indeed,” Mr. Wilson agreed, “but Her Majesty has barred her from being invited to Windsor Castle.”

  “She has!” Flavia exclaimed. “How extraordinary! But why?”

  Mr. Wilson hesitated, obviously feeling for words.

  “The Duchess,” he said after a moment, “and her husband, the Duke, enjoy gambling for very high stakes. And Her Majesty has a horror of what she calls – ‘the fast Manchester House Set’.”

  Flavia became interested as this was indeed the sort of information she could not read about in the newspapers.

  “Tell me more,” she begged Mr. Wilson.

  “I suppose I should not really tell you, but when the Duchess was a young married woman, she attracted Lord Derby. It was whispered that under her spell, he signed a promise that if he ever became Prime Minister, which was then rather unlikely, he would recommend her as Mistress of the Robes.”

  Flavia was listening intently and then she said,

  “But Lord Derby did become Prime Minister.”

  “Exactly, and the Duchess made him redeem his promisory note.”

  Flavia was entranced.

  “What happened when Queen Victoria learnt of the story?” she asked.

  “She was furious and refused to send the Duchess an invitation to the Prince of Wales’s wedding.”

  “Oh, how unkind of her! The Duchess must have been very upset.”

  Mr. Wilson smiled.

  “She possessed a very noble name, splendid houses, great riches and a household who apparently adored her. What was more she had an iron determination.”

  “So she survived the insult!”

  “She most certainly did. The Prince and Princess of Wales found her house parties at Kimbolton Castle and gambling soirees at Manchester House very much more amusing than anywhere else.”