Chapter 30
Thirty
The next day, Alec sent a note round to Berkeley Square, requesting his cousin, the Duke of Galloway, to join him at a coffee house on the Strand for them to discuss matters somewhere away from their normal purlieus.
Said missive was answered promptly in the affirmative.
Therefore, twenty-four hours after his proposal and negotiations were well in hand, Finn and Alec sat down together at the end of a much-scrubbed table in a moderately filled establishment, and Alec could relax. At least slightly.
They each ordered the house brew. Alec was pleasantly surprised it was not completely watered down by the establishment but instead hot and hearty. “Ah, I have missed this,” he said.
He looked about at the other men seated at various long tables throughout.
The day of the coffee house was well in the past, but he retained a fondness for the few remaining.
This one he had frequented on his first trip to London while a stripling trying to prove he was an adult, and he was pleased it was still in business.
He would spend hours here, with and without his cousin, imagining what it must have been like in the days of Dr. Johnson with the pipe smoke, jollity, piles of newsprint, and the hubbub of writers and thinkers and scribblers.
The proprietor kept a neat house; it was still clean and nothing untoward crawled over the floor.
But the inhabitants were more subdued these days.
Also, gentlemen most certainly did not frequent such places anymore.
Tea was all the rage, and one’s club was where one was seen.
Which Alec knew and which was precisely why he had decided on a dish of coffee.
For old time’s sake and to get away from the Ton.
Even taking to the outdoors on the back of a horse to have a conversation was not very private in this city.
Finn simply smiled quietly, saying nothing and watching Alec take in the room.
He was at his most Corinthian today, decked out as the absolute tip-top of a gentleman of the Ton, and elicited some outright stares from the coffee house’s inhabitants.
But then, as he did nothing to excite further attention, everyone returned to their drinking, talking, and reading of newspapers.
“It has been a while, hasn’t it. See, there are some advantages to London. ”
“Yes. When it comes to coffee, yes. Why, it might even help the morning porridge go down a might more smoothly.”
Finn laughed at that. “Must keep the bowels healthy, eh?”
“Aye.” Alec laughed quietly.
“So, much as it delights me to meet outside of our club, what is the reason for today’s rendezvous? News?”
“Yes, news.” Alec set down his dish of coffee, placed his elbows on the table, and leaned forward. “I would like your assistance.”
“Oh? Do tell. This sounds rather clandestine.”
“Well, not exactly. Well, maybe. Dash it, Finn, I have proposed.”
Finn raised one eyebrow. “And am I to wish you the happy?”
“Yes. At least, I believe so.”
“That sounds…encouraging? Who is to be the helpmeet of your future life?”
At that, Alec leaned even further across the table. “Miss H.”
“Sorry? I did not quite catch that.”
“The heiress, you fool. As you well knew. I refuse to shout out her name for all to hear.”
“Asked? Answered? Negotiated?”
“Yes.” Alec sat back a little. “To all intents and purposes, that is.”
“Alec, this is starting to sound rather havey-cavey.”
Alec shot him a look and then sat all the way back. “I suppose I had better begin at the beginning.”
Finn only nodded.
“All right. I met with Lord W, who is acting as proxy for Mr. H. But before having Lord W. draw up the paperwork, I said I wished to make my formal proposal to Miss H. And then Miss H. accepted my offer with the proviso I complete the formal negotiations with Mr. H. at his home and also secure Marjorie’s permission.
I agreed to Miss H.’s terms, spoke with Marjorie, sent Miss H.
a note in the affirmative, met with Lord W.
to set the date of our trip north, and that is all tied up as of midday. We leave in three days.”
Finn’s other eyebrow had risen to meet the first one.
“I see,” he said after a moment. “A bit long-winded, but the much-anticipated end is in sight. Except that you left out the exact financial terms. Alec, I see your face. I know you hate discussing this part. But please tell me you discussed the exact financial terms.”
“Yes, yes, Finn. I am not a complete imbecile. The terms are quite satisfactory. A five-thousand-pound annual amount to be settled on Miss H. now, and eventually the entire estate, which conservatively would mean eight thousand pounds a year depending upon whenever Mr. H. should pass away. It shall more than answer all of my needs, and Marjorie’s future will be secured. ”
“Excellent! I am also sure any keen eared writer of the gossip sheets would be completely confounded by the codes you have used to disguise the personages involved in relaying this information.”
Alec simply looked at him.
Finn stopped talking and returned the direct gaze. “You mean, there is more?” he asked, after several minutes of the mutual stare-down.
“Yes. I would like you to accompany me. As my second. As my moral support. As my, well, as my friend, Finn.”
At that, Finn presented Alec with a genuine smile. “I should be delighted. I have been so happy for you throughout this entire conversation, I have not chided you once for calling me Finn and not Henry.”
“But there’s one more thing.”
“Lord, Alec, you are spinning this out interminably. What?”
“Lord and Lady W. have also requested you be a member of the party north.”
“Ah, so they are coming as well? Along with the Incomparable?”
“I assume she will be a member of the party, yes, as Miss H.’s closest friend.”
“Hmm. Then I accept.”
“To which request—mine or theirs?”
“To both. They both have the same aim, do they not? And it will be an excellent opportunity for me to make up my mind about her. Once you have settled your affairs, of course.”
“Thank you, cousin. I am forever in your debt.”
“Think nothing of it.” Finn picked up his coffee and took a sip of the now cooler drink. He idly scraped a fingernail across a knot in the wood of the table. “It is the least I can do for you.”
“What do you mean?”
Finn raised a pair of eyes which Alec could see were warm and frank.
He spoke quietly. “Alec, I know how hard it was for you growing up. I know when you were able to visit when we were children, that it was an escape, a respite. It always seemed to me dreadfully unfair I had so much and that you should have it so much harder. I didn’t always fully understand. But I knew.
“You were always so fierce. You never tattled about any of it. But I knew the bruises I saw when you arrived were not from falling off a fence or a horse. Then there was Mary. And Spain. Returning alive simply to find the estate— and then Mary—” Finn broke off.
“If there is one human being on this planet whom I would fight to the death to defend, it is you. And I know you feel the same way.
“I want you to be happy, Alec. I envy you Marjorie, but I know she comes with her own set of responsibilities. Will this marriage arrangement be so very distasteful to you?”
Alec cleared his throat a couple of times before he responded.
“Marjorie adores her. They have formed a bond already, and I didn’t even know.
That is a tale for another time. It will make my daughter happy.
As for me? I do not believe it will make me unhappy.
More than that, I cannot quite bring myself to contemplate.
But mayhap I can start sleeping better at night. And stop worrying.”
“Alec, I have a very strong premonition you and worrying will not be strangers. But in terms of the business of marriage, this gives me some hope. She is young. But I have watched you these past few weeks, and I can see you are at least able to converse with one another.”
“Finn, for me, when all is said and done, I simply want a mother for Marjorie. I have tried to be both mother and father and fear I have made a right hash of it. I have had no exemplar to work from, in terms of either of my parents. In fact, my guiding light has been not to do what either of them did. I hope someday Marjorie can forgive me all of my mistakes. I want her to be happy. I have kept her alive, haven’t I?
In spite of all of my daughter’s attempts to put her life in peril with one escapade after another. ”
Finn chuckled. “She is most decidedly your daughter, Alec.
She has the heart of a lion and the courage of twelve Wellingtons.
Bonaparte himself would have surrendered at once if he encountered her on the field.
If she has decided Miss Har—Miss H. is worthy of her affections, then I trust her judgement.
“So, yes, I will accompany you north with your marriage party. I shall be ready. And I shall also stand up with you on your marriage day, if you would like.”
“I would like.”
“Good. That’s settled. I suppose now I shall have to tell my mama.”
Alec realized he had forgotten about his aunt.
Yes, one more hurdle to face before he left town.
He remembered back to that first concert at Lady Hinsdale’s all those weeks ago and his aunt’s all-seeing eye noting Miss Hardcastle and giving him his marching orders.
Which, well, yes, he had followed. But he hated admitting to her that she had been right.
“I am sure she will be delighted. And have plenty of I told you so’s on offer. ”
“Oh, most decidedly. You will receive an invitation to dinner tomorrow night. I have a feeling in my bones a summons will be winging its way to you before the day is out.”
Alec grimaced. “I shall wait for the invitation with bated breath.”
Said invitation was received. Said dinner was endured, along with the anticipated clucks of approbation and pointed triumphant looks of superior wisdom from his formidable aunt. But eventually, that, too, was over. His household was speedily and readily packed up. It was time to leave.