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They were interrupted by the sound of carriage wheels on the drive and Bella went to the window to see a magnificent equipage drawing up to the front door. The coach was brilliantly painted in red and green and had the arms of the de Courvilles emblazoned on the side. There were four horses, perfectly matched, and a postillion and a groom who jumped down with alacrity to open the coach door and hand out the occupants.
Bella gasped when she saw the Comtesse de Courville, dressed in a velvet carriage dress and a tall plumed hat, step down onto the gravel, followed by her ladyship’s maid, her son’s valet and, last of all, Louis himself. He was tall, as thin as a rake and dressed in green check pantaloons, yellow waistcoat and bright green coat with black velvet lapels. His collar points scratched his rouged cheeks and his cravat was a froth of exquisitely starched muslin.
‘My God, will you look at that?’ murmured Edward beside her. ‘A dandy to out-dandy them all. I am surprised he can afford it.’
‘I must go and greet them,’ Bella said, wondering how they were going to accommodate everyone. She had never dreamed that her ladyship would come with her son and bring her maid, not to mention the coachman and postillion. She sincerely hoped Spooner, her grandfather’s head groom, would be able to find places for the extra horses.
Bella arrived in the great hall just as her ladyship preceded her son into the house and an open-mouthed Jolliffe was moving forward to meet them. Behind them, the maid and valet were struggling with baggage enough to last a month.
‘Your ladyship, this is an unexpected pleasure,’ she said, aware that Louis had doffed his curly brimmed hat and was staring about him with pale blue eyes, as if summing up the value of everything he could see. ‘Do come into the drawing room while I arrange for refreshment for you and for your rooms to be prepared. Did you have a pleasant journey?’
That was a mistake, she realised. ‘No, we did not,’ the Comtesse said. ‘It was a great inconvenience. No time to pack properly, no time to arrange accommodation on the road and everyone most uncivil…’
‘I am sorry to hear that,’ Bella said, refraining from adding it was the lady’s own fault—she had not been invited. Why she should have assumed that her presence was required, Bella did not know. What would her grandfather say? He had never dealt well with this particular niece.
Louis had completed his inspection and now turned his attention to Bella. He swept her an exaggerated bow and took her hand. ‘Bella, your servant. Looking pretty as a picture, I see.’
Determined to make herself as unattractive as possible, she had chosen to wear a plain jaconet gown in an unbecoming grey, with a straight bodice and high neckline, lined with lace. Her skirt was full and stiff and hid her trim figure. Her hair was dressed simply and had no ornament. They would have to overcome an aversion to her looks before embarking on courtship. And it seemed that Louis was already learning to do this. Or else he was extremely short-sighted.
Bella led the way into the drawing room where the Comtesse stopped in the middle of another tirade against the ostlers at the last inn they had called at when she saw James and Edward. ‘What are you two doing here?’ she demanded.
‘Sent for, same as you,’ Edward said, bowing. ‘How are you, Aunt?’
‘Sent for?’ she queried, not bothering to return his greeting. ‘I did not know it was to be a party. Thought his lordship had asked for Louis to talk about his inheritance. Decided I’d best be here to hear it.’
‘Mama, doing it a bit too brown,’ Louis murmured, while he examined James from head to toe through his quizzing glass as if he were a prize animal at market. ‘I say, coz, you could at the least have had a wash before presenting yourself. Insult to Mama and Miss Huntley, don’t you know.’
‘It’s none of your business, sir. I earn my keep in honest toil and if our kinsman is so thoughtless as to give me no time to make other arrangements, then he must needs take me as he finds me.’
Bella thought it was time she intervened. ‘Edward, if you are sure Robert is not going to come, I think I had better go and tell his lordship you are all assembled.’
She hurried from the room, glad to escape, though how her grandfather would react when he saw the Comtesse she did not dare to think. Nor what he would say when he realised Robert had not deigned to obey his summons. Perhaps she ought to tell him that she had seen Robert in Ely, but that would mean explaining what he had been doing there. But he had only been listening, as she had. It did not mean he was colluding with the dissidents, did it?
Chapter Two (#uadc00bc7-64db-51a1-a135-8c845db5ca69)
Sylvester answered Bella’s knock on the door of the Earl’s apartments. ‘Please, tell his lordship Mr Trenchard, the Comte de Courville and Sir Edward have arrived, but he does not think Captain Huntley will have received his invitation in time to obey.’ She paused. ‘And warn him the Comtesse is here, too.’
‘Oh, is she?’ came a bellow from an inner room. ‘Well, I shall give her a right about, poking her nose in where it’s not wanted.’ He appeared at the door, dressed in a mulberry velvet jacket and matching breeches and clutching a walking stick. ‘Take my arm, girl. Let’s see what those young bloods are made of.’
‘Do you need me?’ she asked timidly. ‘Could I not wait in my room?’
‘No, you could not. Want to see their faces…’
‘But I don’t.’
‘Yes, you do.’
To which there was no answer, and they made their slow and stately way down to the withdrawing room. Before entering, the Earl stood in the doorway and surveyed the company gathered there. Edward bowed slightly, James gave a curt nod and Louis flung out his arm in an extravagant gesture and bowed low. ‘Your servant, my lord.’
The Earl grunted and, leaning heavily on Bella’s arm, made his way over to a high-backed armchair and lowered himself into it. Then he turned to the Comtesse. ‘What are you doing here? I do not recollect asking you to come.’
She dipped a curtsey. ‘An oversight, I am sure, Uncle. How do you do?’
‘Well enough. Not about to shuffle off, at any rate.’
‘I should hope not!’ she said with false brightness. ‘But if you are about to settle your affairs, then I must tell you it is not before time.’
‘What has it to do with you, madam?’
‘Louis is your heir.’
‘Is he? We shall see.’
‘What do you mean by that? My goodness, if you mean to try and disinherit him, it is as well I decided to come, too.’
‘You take too much upon yourself, madam. I wish you to leave us. Find something to amuse you while I talk to these reprobates.’
Elizabeth looked as though she were about to throw a fit, but then, realising he would not proceed while she stayed, flung her head up in disgust and sailed from the room. Bella, who was standing beside her grandfather’s chair, bent and whispered, ‘Should I go, too, Grandfather? She is truly upset and I could keep her company.’
‘No, you will stay here. Sit on that stool.’ He indicated a stool at his feet, then looked up at the three young men. ‘Sit down, you will give me a crick in the neck from peering up at you.’ And as they obeyed he added, ‘Edward, where is that cork-brained brother of yours?’
‘He was in Town when your letters arrived, my lord. I forwarded his, but he may not have received it in time to make arrangements to be here.’
‘More likely demonstrating his independence.’ He gave a grunt of amusement. ‘And he the least independent of the lot of you.’
‘He may yet come,’ Bella ventured, wondering where Robert was. She would not put it past him to keep them waiting on purpose, doing as her grandfather had suggested and asserting his independence. Or proving to her he would not be coerced by anything she had said. She wouldn’t put it beyond him to invite those argumentative labourers to join him in a glass of something at one of the many inns in Ely. ‘We could wait a little longer.’
‘I am not in the habit of waiting on ill-mannered jack-at-warts.’
‘My lord,’ Edward protested. ‘There is nothing wrong with my brother’s manners.’
‘Well, we shall proceed without him.’ He paused to look round at them, smiling slightly. ‘What a gaggle of fine geese you are, to be sure. But you are all I have, bar Bella. You don’t deserve her, not any of you, and if I had any choice I would not let her within a mile of you.’ He sighed heavily. ‘But my mind’s made up. One of you shall have her.’
Bella, who had been sitting looking at her feet, risked a glance at them. She was confronted by three open mouths, though no sound issued from any of them. They had obviously been struck dumb.
‘Well?’ the old man said. ‘Haven’t you anything to say for yourselves?’
‘What would you have us say?’ Edward was the first to recover. ‘Miss Huntley is a dear child. I am very fond of her but—’
‘That, at least, is a start. But are you so blind that you cannot see what is before your eyes? She is no longer a child. While you have been sowing your wild oats, she has become a marriageable woman.’
Edward turned to Bella, smiling to soften what appeared to be a rejection of her. ‘I beg your pardon, Bella, I meant no offence. You are beautiful and a man would have to be blind not to see that, but—’
‘But you do not like being coerced,’ she put in quickly, so that he might know it was not her idea. ‘And neither do I. Please, do not consider it.’
‘Then what is the point of this meeting?’
‘I’ll tell you, shall I?’ the old man said. ‘Isabella cannot have the management of a fortune, though I have no doubt she would make a better job of it than you, Louis.’ He looked at the young man’s extravagant clothes. ‘Your tailor’s bill alone would bankrupt the estate. I could appoint trustees until she married but I ain’t keen on the idea. I want to see her married before I hand in my accounts.’
‘Very laudable,’ Louis said. ‘But I shall choose my own wife.’
‘Indeed, I hope you may,’ Bella said, very near to tears, not at being rejected but at the humiliation of it all.
‘Bella, please, do not cry,’ Edward said. ‘There is plenty of time for you to make a good match whatever the old greybeard says.’
‘And I could rule you out for such impertinence.’
‘I have already ruled myself out, sir, but you forget my brother is not here to speak for himself.’
‘Who is to blame for that? I have told Bella she shall have her choice, but if she is sighing after that ne’er-do-well, she must find a way of bringing him to the mark.’
‘Grandpapa, I am not sighing after him. I am not sighing after anyone and I wish you would not speak of me as if I were not in the room. I might as well go and bear the Comtesse company.’ It was unlike her to be so bold but she was being driven beyond endurance.
‘Then it must be one of the others,’ he said, ignoring her.
‘I am your heir,’ Louis said. ‘But that does not mean you may dictate…’
The old man smiled. ‘You are sure of that, are you?’
‘No, of course he is not,’ Edward said. ‘The estate is entailed and must be handed down through the male line. And that means through Papa.’
‘Is that so?’ The old man seemed to be enjoying teasing them, although his tone was crotchety, as if he would quickly lose patience with them. ‘You are very quick to lay your claim, but I have not heard you offer for Isabella.’
James, who had been listening to this exchange with a bemused look on his face, suddenly came to life and looked from Bella to the Earl. ‘Are you saying that whoever marries Bella will inherit?’
‘Yes, but he must make a push. I said there was no time to lose and I meant it.’
‘You do not mean to say you have broken the entail?’ Edward said, shocked to the core. ‘You can’t have done. The only people to gain by such a procedure are the lawyers. You’d be left without a feather to fly with.’
‘And you are grasping at straws,’ his lordship said.
‘I don’t believe it,’ Louis said. ‘The old man is trying to gammon one of us into marrying the chit.’
‘I spoke first,’ James put in. ‘Miss Huntley, may I crave a moment alone with you?’
Everyone turned to look at the overweight farmer in his filthy clothes. He was not in the habit of making decisions in a hurry, but he knew that to be first in with his offer would be a distinct advantage.
‘Oh, Bella,’ Edward said, as Bella looked from one to the other, dismay written all over her face. ‘You do not have to accept him, whatever his lordship says.’
Louis, who had been silently watching her through his quizzing glass for some time, let it drop to dangle on its ribbon from his wrist and turned to James. ‘You do not, for a minute, suppose Miss Huntley will receive you looking like that,’ he said. ‘Or smelling like you do. Go home and bath and change.’
‘While you insert yourself in my place.’
Louis laughed in a high-pitched, effeminate way. ‘Lah, that is the last thing I would do. Insert myself anywhere you had been, I mean.’ He fetched a lace handkerchief from his pocket and waved it before his nose. ‘My lord, pray send him on his way.’
‘Bella?’ The Earl appealed to her. ‘Do you want me to send him away?’
Before she could answer, they heard a commotion in the hall and Jolliffe’s voice protesting loudly and another, even angrier, saying, ‘I am come to speak to Mr Trenchard and speak to him I will.’
‘Go and see what is happening,’ the Earl instructed Bella. ‘Tell Jolliffe to send whoever it is on his way. I will not have brawls in my house.’
Bella, thankful for the interruption, hurried to obey. A man of middling years in the working clothes of a labourer was standing in the hall, wringing his cap in his hands.
‘What is it, Jolliffe?’
‘He wants to speak to Mr Trenchard,’ the butler said in aggrieved tones. ‘I told him you were all about to go in to dinner…’
‘And lucky you are to have a dinner to go to,’ the man said, stung to anger. ‘You don’t think I wanted to come here, do you? It won’t serve me well when they hear of it.’
‘Who?’ asked Bella.
‘The Eastmere men, miss. They’re all over the place. They said they’d pull the barn down and wreck the house if Mr Trenchard don’t come and give them money.’
James had followed Bella into the hall. ‘What is it, man? Can I not leave you five minutes but you must come running after me?’
‘Mr Trenchard, sir, the men are rioting and they came to the farm. They want money. Fifty pounds they said on account of low wages and the price of bread.’
‘I wish I had fifty pounds to give them,’ James said morosely. ‘Tell them to go to the parish overseer—he is the one they should be applying to.’ Since the parish had adopted the Speenhamland system, the shortfall on wages had been paid by the poor rates, a far from ideal situation which meant that the farmers had no incentive to pay a realistic wage and their men were forced to go cap in hand to charity. They salvaged their pride by calling it an allowance which they should have as of right.
‘Sir, you must come, or they will burn the house down.’
‘Faith and Constance?’ he queried in alarm. ‘Where are they? Are they safe?’
‘Mrs Clarke is looking after them but she is afraid for her life…’
‘James, you must go at once,’ Bella said, appalled. Was this what the meeting in Ely had been about? The mob must have stopped talking in favour of action. But why pick on James? Where was Robert? Did he know about it? ‘I am sure the Earl will excuse you.’
‘Yes, I must.’ Then to his foreman, ‘I’ll ride on. Follow as fast as you can, I might need you.’ He was halfway to the door when he stopped and turned back to Bella. ‘Miss Huntley, I beg leave to return to settle the matter we were discussing.’
She nodded without answering, wondering if she could have done anything to stop the trouble with the labourers. Perhaps she should have warned James about them, but her mind had been too full of the coming meeting with her cousins to connect a crowd of men in Ely with her cousin and his farm. She returned to the drawing room to acquaint the Earl with what had happened. He seemed not to be concerned for James’s safety. To him it was inconceivable that a handful of unruly labourers could not be controlled.
‘Can’t think what the justices are playing at,’ he said. ‘I knew this would happen when they gave in to the mob in Suffolk last year. Now they are all at it. They should send for the militia to round them up—a spell in prison would soon bring them to a proper sense of their place.’
‘Grandfather, they are starving and driven beyond endurance,’ Bella said.
‘What is that to the point? A few discontented labourers will not make me change my mind.’ The Earl was more concerned with his own little drama than the greater one being played out in the villages and fields of East Anglia. ‘And you would do well to consider your own position. You can assume you have had one offer, at least.’
James, she knew, was desperately pinched in the pocket in spite of his grandfather’s small annuity, and if the mob destroyed his barn, it might well ruin him. She felt sorry for him, but she could not marry him. She could not. ‘My lord, please, do not make me take James.’
‘I am not going to make you, child. I should be unhappy if you had been too quick to say yes. He is not the only one.’
She was mystified. He knew whom he wanted to offer for her and yet he would not say. She looked at the other two men. Edward looked furious and Louis was smiling mockingly. What were they thinking?
Before anyone could give utterance to their thoughts, Jolliffe appeared again. ‘My Lord, Cook asks if you wish to keep dinner back.’
‘Oh, no,’ Bella said. ‘It will spoil if we do. Grandpapa, please, let us postpone this discussion.’
‘Very well. We cannot continue until James returns. Tell Cook we are going to the dining room now. And send Sylvester to tell the Comtesse.’ He allowed Edward to help him to his feet and then escorted Bella out of the room, across the vast hall to the formal dining room. It was a very big room and struck them as cold as they entered it. Bella shivered. She had wanted to dine in one of the smaller rooms, but her grandfather had overruled her. ‘I am going to show those upstarts how an earl entertains,’ he had said. ‘One of them will have to become used to it.’
