Chapter 32
Thirty-Two
Jack’s meeting with Blatherstock confirmed what he already feared. It would be at least a twelvemonth until his income would grant what he felt was required for Lucy’s comfort. After last night, such a long engagement was impossible.
He rode out to Richmond on his single remaining horse to visit an old friend of his father’s who performed some important role in government, though Jack wasn’t entirely sure what.
But the man might be persuaded to get him a position, as indeed seemed to be the case.
General Winstanley made many promising remarks, and Jack returned to town feeling far brighter than when he’d left it.
He smiled at the sight of George walking in the street ahead of him, having just turned away from Jack’s front door.
Passing the alleyway to his stables, Jack rode quietly up alongside George, slipped down from the saddle, and slapped a hand on the man’s shoulder with a cheery and very loud, “Hello!”
The shorter man jumped half a foot in the air, giving a curse seldom heard on his lips. “Jack! For the love of…!”
“What’s the matter, George? Guilty conscience?”
George gave him a sideways glance, grimacing and pale. “I was coming to explain. To apologise.”
“You slipped away from Ashburton’s so neatly last night. Offering your carriage to Nell and Nora just as they were leaving for the ball—a masterstroke!”
“I wasn’t avoiding you.”
“Oh no, the company of my sisters is irresistible, I understand.” Passing his horse’s reins to the stableboy who’d jogged up to them, Jack kept his other hand on George’s slender shoulder and steered the man back to his front door.
“Come along, George. I must still have a bottle tucked away in the cellar somewhere. You look like you need a drink, my dear.”
Dalcher did indeed appear with a decanter the moment the two men entered Jack’s study. George fidgeted, a splash of colour on his cheeks, looking like his necktie was strangling him as Jack slowly poured them both a glass.
“A toast, eh?” said Jack, passing George a glass. “To the honesty of friends.”
“Jack,” protested George, stricken. “I hated every moment of it; I was sorry for it from the start. I am sorry—”
“Or perhaps we should drink to loyalty,” interrupted Jack, eyeing George’s mortification for a moment before relenting.
He chuckled, dropping his severe tone. “You fool, George,” he said warmly.
“Do you think I could ever hate you for choosing Lucy over me? You found it an impossible position, I’m sure, to either help her or hurt me, but you made the only choice that could ever make me love you more dearly. ”
He put down his glass and went to George, grasping the back of his head and bringing his forehead to George’s.
Both men had tears in their eyes. “If you’re ever in the same position, make the same choice.
Promise me that. Serve Lucy, and to hell with me, and then I will know you truly my friend.
” He released him with a rough kiss to his brow and returned to pick up his drink. “I thank you, George. I drink to you.”
He took a large swallow. George sipped his, letting out a shaky breath like a man getting a last-minute pardon from the firing squad.
“You didn’t get hurt, George?” Jack asked softly. “I once believed you truly were developing a tendre for Lucy.”
“Oh, no, no,” protested George. “Nothing like that. You know me, Jack. Always falling for someone. It’s never serious. And there’s always another girl around the corner.”
But how true was that? Jack had always thought George incapable of deception. He’d just had a sharp lesson to the contrary.
They both looked round at a knock on the door. Dalcher opened it, face disapproving, and Miss Sedgewick stepped hastily into the room, as flustered as Jack had ever seen her.
“Will you please tell your man I am neither a bailiff’s agent nor a harpy!”
“You may go, Dalcher,” Jack told him with a frown. “Whatever’s the matter, Caroline?”
“I both hoped and dreaded to find you here. It’s as I feared, then. She’s gone alone!”
“Who has gone where alone?”
“Lucy! Her aunt is ill, dying it seems. But the letter arrived when I was out, and by the time I returned home, it was only to the news from William that she’s taken her maid and left London already!”
Jack’s world tilted, his heart squeezing painfully. “Good God, gone? Alone? Without my escort? But I’ve been out of town most of the day in Richmond, so even if she’d tried to reach me… But she left no note for me? Dalcher would’ve mentioned it, surely.”
“She did send you a note,” said Caroline, very grave. She handed him a folded piece of paper. “It was unsealed, Jack. I found it on the floor by my desk and read it without realising.”
Jack, I have heard of your difficulties… His fingers clenched at the underlined word.
“She tried to deliver it,” said Caroline. “But William says he was turned away.”
God damn it. She’d heard of his near ruin, her servant had been denied by his house, and now she was travelling the length of the country alone and thinking the Lord only knew what of him.
“And I bet she’s taken the common stage,” he muttered.
Yes, crammed into all that discomfort, the impertinence of strangers, and with him nowhere in sight to help her, probably even the thought of him more a torment than a help…
“William said that was her plan.”
Jack cursed. “I’ll go after her. I can easily overtake the stage. We can travel post the whole way up. Except—” He stopped halfway to the bell pull. “Dammit.” He had no money to travel post.
“I can lend you the money, Jack,” said George, but just as he began to argue the point, the door was flung open, and this time it was his mother and Nell who hurried into the room.
They were both white faced and half crying. Jack stared at them in bewilderment. “You’ve heard? It’s not that bad, Mother. I’m leaving now to catch her up. She’ll not be unprotected.”
“Oh thank goodness! Thank goodness! You’ll catch her, Jack? And bring her home? You’ll bring her home unharmed before that wretch…that wretch—”
“Who is with her?” Jack asked, his heart thudding. “Whatever do you mean? It’s only her maid.”
“Her maid!” wailed Nell, a handkerchief to her nose. “It is only just now that we learned the whole from that wicked girl!”
“The whole of what?”
“That she has…” sobbed his mother brokenly. “She has run away, she has…eloped with that monster, Captain Sedgewick.”
“Good God,” breathed Caroline.
Jack stared at his relations. “Are you mad? She’s marrying me.”
“You’re mad, Jack! Whatever are you talking about!” cried his mother.
“Lucy, of course.”
They stared. “It’s Nora!”
“Nora what?”
“Nora your sister! She’s run away to Gretna Green with that rascal captain!”
“Good God,” said Jack, stunned.
“They planned it all last night at the ball,” his mother said, tears again in her eyes.
“She never went to visit her friend Miss Maxwell at all. It was all a lie. Oh, that wicked, deceitful girl! And you…!” she said, eyes alighting for the first time on Caroline.
“Did you help plan it too? Did you cook it up with your brother the moment you realised Jack would never have you?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” said Caroline, very pale, but her voice magnificently composed. “This is the first I’ve heard of it. And I promise you, I’ll rescue your daughter. Little as she deserves it.”
“You rescue her? And what are you to do about it, pray?”
Recognising the symptoms of a monstrous row about to break out, as well as knowing neither his mother nor his sister were of any use in a crisis, he bid them both to go home.
“Wait there. Stay calm. If anyone calls for Nora or asks for her whereabouts, you can say her influenza has returned. If Sedgewick has any sense, he’ll have snuck her out of London without her being seen.
I’ll return her in the same way, and no one will know what happened.
” He put a hand on his mother’s arm. “I promise you, Mother. I will fix this. Now go, save your strength, and leave it to me.”
His companions were silent for a moment after the ladies had left.
Caroline let out a breath. “Should I have seen this coming? I must have had no idea of his true debts. I’m sorry, Jack.
I think he always felt my marriage to you would cure the majority of his problems. He’s no doubt been using the promise of it to hold many a creditor at bay and thought securing Lucy for himself would make him a rich man.
But with your current situation, and now your engagement announced to Lucy, both those plans were at an end. ”
“Only a scoundrel would hold you responsible for your brother’s actions. I don’t blame you. But help me work out what I’m to do. How do I go after both of them at once?”
“Northumberland and Scotland require the same road, surely? At least for a large part of the journey. My brother is undoubtedly travelling more quickly than the stage, but you may yet catch up with him—Nora doesn’t strike me as the type to suffer a rough journey—and on your way, you’ll overtake the stage. ”
A flicker of hope flamed to life within him. But… “God dammit! If only I had my chestnuts, then I’d be sure to overtake them.”
“But you do,” said George. He gave a small cough as Jack whirled to face him. “Or rather, I do. They’re in my stables as we speak.”
“H-how?”
“Bought them off Warde. Made him drive them over himself this morning. I don’t think he enjoyed it much, was in a towering rage when he got there. Only sorry you missed it.”
Jack stared at him. “George,” he breathed. “You magnificent devil. You bought them back for me?”
“And Lucy. Can’t have her being driven round town behind a hired pair. I did have some qualms, but she’s agreed to marry you even after being driven by you, so I suppose she doesn’t mind it too much.” He gave a small shrug. “Early wedding present. Think nothing of it.”
“This is… George, I…” He gave himself a shake. “One day, I’ll find a way to thank you. But we have no time to lose. If only I still had my racing curricle!”
“I’ve got my barouche,” said George. “No, don’t laugh, Jack. I know it’s not your style, but it’s well sprung. And, what’s more, it’s got room for all of us.”
“All of us?”
“We’re coming with you, of course,” said Caroline. “My brother is my problem to solve. I’ll take him away to the countryside for a while. Luckily, I know some convenient physicians who can write a note excusing him from his duties. And, Jack…I’d rather you didn’t kill him. That will be my job.”
“Kill him! No. But I will stop him. And perhaps deliver a thrashing into the bargain. You can’t object to that.”
“Oh, not all!” Caroline agreed with a grin.
“And I can escort Nora back to town,” said George. “You’ll need to go north with Lucy, remember.”
“Yes,” said Jack. “Yes, you’re right. Thank God for friends. I think this almost excuses everything.” He turned back, hand on the door. “Almost everything.”