Chapter 10 #2
He saluted her back and headed out the door for Mount Street.
William was at home. That was a good sign, thought Jacob, as the butler showed him up to the family parlour. If William had refused him entry, then he would know that the consequences threatened by Arthur were already being imposed.
William was alone, standing by the window and looking down on the street. He turned as Jacob entered.
‘Is it true?’ he asked.
‘Good morning to you too.’ Jacob looked about him. ‘No Charlotte?’
‘She’s taken the children to visit her mother.’ William must’ve realised that a frontal attack wasn’t going to be welcomed so reverted to his more usual pleasantries. He couldn’t be rude for long – it just wasn’t in him. ‘Please, sit down. I’ll ring for a tray. Hungry?’
‘I could eat,’ admitted Jacob, though breakfast wasn’t that long ago.
William rang the bell and ordered a pot of coffee and sandwiches. He sat in the winged armchair, so Jacob took a place in the other one across the fireplace from him.
‘In answer to your question, yes, it is true. I didn’t think you would be surprised.’
William slouched back and dropped his chin to his chest, contemplating his hands linked in his lap, avoiding Jacob’s gaze. ‘I was optimistic it would blow over.’
‘Blow over?’
‘That you and Miss Fitz-Pennington would settle down to being … something else.’
‘She isn’t mistress material.’
William cleared his throat awkwardly. ‘Evidently not. You wouldn’t have introduced her to my wife if you thought that, but I hoped that perhaps…’
‘Perhaps we would be persuaded to toe the line and live together quietly not challenging you all by giving our relationship religious sanction?’
He jerked his head in a nod.
‘Do you know how bad that sounds?’ Jacob didn’t want that. Marriage mattered to him, dammit, and it should to his brothers.
The butler entered at that fraught moment and placed the tray on a small table between them. William waved him off.
‘We are not to be disturbed,’ he ordered.
The man retreated without a flicker in his expression indicating that he knew what was going on, but of course he did. Servants always knew.
‘Shall we start again?’ said Jacob in a light tone.
‘I was going to tell you myself but the newspapers got there first. I’m delighted to announce that I have asked Miss Fitz-Pennington to be my wife.
’ That was if he could persuade her to say ‘yes’ and stick to that plan now Ruby had lodged a protest.
‘Congratulations. I like her – I really do. She’s brave and unconventional, and I think she really does love you. I want that for you.’
‘But?’
‘But I just wish it didn’t come with a cargo-hold full of trouble. What’s this about Miss Plum?’ Rallying, William passed him a plate and offered the sandwiches.
Jacob took two that looked like cheddar and pickle. ‘To be honest, that’s the part I most regret. Diana will surely read the column – she’s no fool. Do you think she knows what Arthur gets up to in his house in Marylebone?’
‘I don’t know. I find her … inscrutable.’
‘Has Charlotte ever said?’
‘My wife is friendly with Diana but not an intimate. The new viscountess plays her cards close to her chest.’
And that reserve was part of the reason Arthur had given Jacob in their last conversation as to why he sought warmth and friendship from a mistress.
Jacob swallowed his mouthful, enjoying the tang of the cheese which was like a slap on the cheek.
‘I find it annoying that I am the one treated as if I’m breaking the rules when no moral code is infringed by marrying Dora – in fact, the Church rather demands it of us.
I want a family with her, children I can acknowledge.
I want to be able to go out and about with her and not have her cut by those who aren’t fit to tie her shoelaces. ’
‘There will still be those that do that even with a wedding ring.’
‘Well, they can go hang themselves. I want to be her husband, not her bloody protector. That would break what we have between us.’ It was fragile and beautiful, so why did society so delight in crushing it?
William picked up his sandwich, looked at the egg and cress filling that was peeking out, then put it down, his appetite appearing to vanish. ‘You are in the right, I do recognise that. Morality is on your side. Arthur has no say in this, and you have every right to happiness with Dora.’
‘Thank you.’
‘But it is going to be difficult. As your older brother, I feel I must caution you about this. If Arthur is being particularly pig-headed – and I’ve no reason to think he won’t be – he’ll try to cut you out of the family, disassociate the Sandys name from you and your wife.
He’ll claim Evelina and Felicity will be damaged by it.
’ Their sisters were on the marriage market, one about to be wed, the other looking for a suitable spouse.
‘Whereas they aren’t hurt by his mistress’s name being in the society columns?
’ It was unfair, but Jacob and William both knew that to be true.
Society was breathtakingly hypocritical in that way.
‘We can’t control what Arthur does, and Evelina will soon be married.
’ Jacob recalled his sisters’ reaction to the news that he was in business with Dora.
When they had gathered for their father’s funeral, his sisters had taken him to task for making the Sandys name notorious in the ton.
Ladies seeking to attract the right kind of suitor wanted not a hint of scandal to touch their families, so marriage would be a much bigger step in the wrong direction in their eyes.
But could he live his life to please his sisters?
That would be ridiculous. ‘Felicity will hate me for doing this, I’ve no doubt, but I hope she’ll come around when she falls in love herself and understands why I’m behaving in this way. ’
William sighed. ‘I think Felicity is only hoping to fall in “like”. She doesn’t believe in love after having seen what society considers a good marriage.’
Jacob grimaced. ‘She’s no fool then, but perhaps I can educate her back into hope? I’d hate to see her in a loveless match.’
‘She’ll claim you are ruining her chances of even that by being the centre of this scandal.’
‘So, according to you, it’s a scandal now to marry a single woman, not because I have to but because I want to? The world is mad.’
‘Don’t be obtuse, Jacob. You know full well what the problem is: Dora is illegitimate, an actress and has been seen unchaperoned with you, so it is assumed, correctly I would guess, that you are lovers.
She isn’t a sweet virgin from an impeccable family gliding down the aisle untarnished – that’s the only kind of bride that would get their approval. ’
‘If people spent less time speculating about the doings of others and looked to their own behaviour, then we’d all get on much better.
Don’t they read the Gospels? They whinge about the speck of dust in a brother’s eye when they have a plank in their own?
’ He knew the complaint was pointless. Society lived to skewer and scoff at those it had decided to tear down.
‘The only saving grace about this whole business is that Dora couldn’t care tuppence about what other people think, unless they are her friends.
’ Which was exactly why Ruby was such a threat.
He put his empty plate on the tray, conscious he had a Foreign Office man to catch before he went home for dinner. Time to get to the nub of the matter with William. ‘Will you receive us when we are wed even if Arthur tries to forbid it?’
William didn’t leap in with his assurances as Jacob had hoped. Instead, he rubbed his face wearily. ‘I will talk to Charlotte. You know me – I like to avoid conflict within the family.’
If Arthur pushed matters so that it was a choice of sides, it would harm William’s little family if they lost the favour of the viscount. Jacob was disappointed but he understood.
‘Send Charlotte my regards. I must go.’
William accompanied him to the door, grateful that the subject was put aside for now. ‘What are you investigating this time?’
‘A double murder.’
‘Lord! How grim!’ He wrinkled his brow. ‘Not that Frenchman and his wife, the opera singer? It’s the only recent double murder I know.’
Jacob nodded. ‘It is. What have you heard?’
‘Nothing definite but everyone agrees that they were not quite the thing. Oh, they had their own crowd – the musical and artistic lot – but they weren’t received in the strictest circles. At least she wasn’t because of her past as his mistress. He was more often seen with people of influence.’
‘Anyone in particular?’
‘Government types – those in military procurement and foreign affairs. I’d heard he was close to the Russians, spent some time with them on the continent somewhere – one of the German states, though I don’t believe I ever knew the details.
’ He shook his head. ‘No, I can’t remember anything more about them. ’
‘In what capacity was he with them?’
William smiled wryly. ‘Dear brother, isn’t it your job to find out?’