Chapter 10 #2
Mrs Constantine went on, ‘I have heard it whispered that he was caught in a compromising situation – really a very compromising situation – with a young lady at a ball in some country house, seven or eight years ago. His adoptive family is wealthy, so the chit’s parents made the best of it and arranged that the guilty pair should be married without loss of time.
Mr Severin senior was still alive then, and supported them in their insistence, since he had little choice if he wished to retain any shred of his good name. ’
‘So this Mr Severin is married, then? I had no notion of it.’ Allegra tried to keep the cold shock from her voice, and could only hope that if her mother heard she would entirely misunderstand the cause.
‘No. He should be, but he is not, and there must be scandal there too. The wedding simply never happened; the girl disappeared entirely from society. No one knows exactly what prevented it or what became of her instead. Her family and his made great efforts to hush the whole matter up between them, but there have been many distasteful rumours circulating about the man ever since. Lord Milton is right in what he tells you, in effect, even if his disapproval is partly motivated by prejudice. I am glad that Severin shows no interest in courting you; I had rather he did not even know you existed. Such attractive but unprincipled men are dangerous indeed.’
‘Bluebeard…’ Allegra whispered softly. She hastened to add, ‘I wonder he is still received in society then, ma’am. It would surely be better for everyone if he were not.’
‘Did I not say that he is very wealthy?’ responded her mother drily.
‘Despite what happened, he was not cast off, but inherited all the Severin fortune. I am sure you perceive the injustice of it. Rumours that will entirely ruin a woman can merely add spice to a man’s name, if he is rich and tolerably good-looking, as we must admit he is.
If Severin had refused to marry the girl that he compromised, that would be a different matter.
The rules of society cannot be so grossly outraged, even by young men of fortune.
But her family have made no claim that he did such a thing – they have never spoken of it at all in public.
It is even said by some that she took her own life because the marriage was so disagreeable to her, or that she stubbornly refused his suit and is kept locked away in some attic still because of it.
There were rumours too that she conceived his child, gave birth to it, and still would not marry him. ’
‘Goodness,’ said Allegra weakly.
‘Yes, yes, it is like a novel, and therefore probably all a tissue of lies. No doubt the reality is far more mundane and sordid. And so he is still invited almost everywhere, still whispered about behind fans, and in spite of it or even because of it, silly girls giggle and blush when they see him, and throw their caps at him in a shameless fashion because they like the idea that he is dangerous. You will not be one of them, I hope, Allegra. You know you cannot afford to be. He has shown no disposition to court you, or anyone, and the rumour is that he will never marry now, but lives a life of relentless debauchery.’
Miss Constantine could only agree that she would certainly not do anything of the kind, and kept her face arranged in an expression of shock and mild interest as best she could.
She thought she could risk just one more question before she had done.
‘Lord Milton made some reference to him being a child of the gutter, and you too said he was adopted…’
‘Yes, though it seems unlikely that a gentleman would pick a child absolutely from the street as one might a puppy or a kitten. I believe he is indeed of mysterious birth, grew up in Mr Severin’s household, and was legally adopted by him some ten years ago.
Mrs Severin, of course, was French-Caribbean in origin, what is known as Creole, and there were rumours at the time, I seem to recall, that he might be a natural child of hers from before her marriage, whom she had finally prevailed upon her husband to give his name to.
Such things have been known to happen, though usually it is the woman, not the man, who is obliged to welcome a cuckoo into the nest and rear it as her own.
But whether that is so or not, I suppose it is to the old gentleman’s credit – speaking to his heart if not his head – that he did not repudiate the boy when the scandal broke, but instead still left him all his fortune quite as if he had really been his son.
We need not concern ourselves with his origins, Allegra, which are no affair of ours, but only with his character, and that merely in so far as to be wary of him. Do I make myself sufficiently plain?’
Miss Constantine said meekly – but not too meekly, which would in itself be suspicious – that her mama had indeed conveyed her meaning with adequate force.
She managed to keep her voice level and her tone unconcerned while she responded, though this was very hard indeed, when her mind and her pulses were racing unaccountably, and she had absolutely no intention of paying any heed to her mother’s stern warning.