"Then we will write to him," said Mrs. Middleton firmly.

"Servants don't go writing to earls," pointed out Rainbird.

"We'll send an anonymous letter by the mail coach," said Mrs. Middleton. "If he has a spark of feeling towards Miss Fiona, then that should bring him running back."

But a day before the anonymous letter arrived, Lord Harrington received a long letter from the Edinburgh lawyers, who pointed out dryly that it had been remarkably easy to find out all about the Sinclairs, Edinburgh still being a small town compared to London, and everyone in it making it their business to know about everyone else.

It was all there. Fiona was a nameless baby left on the steps of St. Giles, taken into the orphanage where she had later been employed as a drudge, adopted by Mr. Jamie Sinclair, that late great philanthropist who had made it his business to give said orphan his name and all the benefits of a genteel education, although he had adopted the girl as his ward rather than as his daughter. Said Fiona left to one, Mr. Roderick Sinclair, brother to Mr. Jamie, a retired lawyer, a profligate, low on funds, and hard on drinking.

Mr. Roderick had sold up and left for the south with Fiona Sinclair, saying he was going to put her on the Marriage Market. Lord Harrington's lips curled in distaste. What a pair of adventurers they were, the one as bad as the other. And yet he could not think of Fiona as other than the virginal girl she was puffed off to be. Clever and cunning she might be, but he was experienced enough to recognise and remember the innocence behind the warmth and pa.s.sion.

He was grateful to the lawyers, he told himself, for exorcising the obsession that was Fiona Sinclair. If he had found out such details about her past and they were obviously so easy to find, then others would do the same.

Although he did not want her for himself-for how could he now?-he did not, on the other hand, want to stand back and perhaps see her reputation ruined, leaving her no choice but to join the ranks of the demi-monde.

After some thought, he wrote to his lawyers and suggested they spend as much as they liked to blot out Miss Sinclair's questionable birth. They were to bribe anyone necessary to establish that Fiona Sinclair had been a relative of Mr. Jamie and Mr. Roderick and that her birth was everything that was respectable. A heavy donation to the orphanage should do the trick. It had been a long-lost relative Mr. Jamie had taken from the orphanage, not some nameless b.a.s.t.a.r.d. After he had sent off these instructions, he felt free of Fiona Sinclair.

The weather was incredibly hot, and he was drawing up plans to convey water from the lakes on the estate to the surrounding fields. It was absorbing work, and he returned to it gratefully. London, the Season, and Fiona Sinclair faded away.

The next day, he returned from his labours accompanied by his estates manager. Both men were muddied and tired. The earl rang for wine and then settled down to study plans of channels and pipes and ditches.

When the manager had left, the earl was about to go and change out of his working clothes when his eye fell on the morning post, which he had not yet opened. He hesitated. Toby would be back soon from a fishing expedition-although how he hoped to catch anything in this weather was a mystery-and it would be pleasant to settle down to an evening's conversation unmarred by any further land or business worries.

The long windows were all open to let in as much air as possible. Flies hummed over the gallipots in the corners of the room. The cesspool would need to be drained. This was not the weather to put off such a task.

One of the letters caught his eye. It was sealed with a plain blob of red wax and his name was neatly printed on it in capital letters. He sat down and opened it. He read, Miss Fiona Sinclair is in danger of being ruined by Sir Edward Kirby. A Well Wisher.

He did not care, he told himself savagely. She and her protector were both swindlers. She had probably written the letter herself.

Lizzie sat demurely on the narrow area steps and turned her little snub nose up to the evening air. After a while, she felt she was being watched, and looked up. Luke, Lord and Lady Charteris's footman from next door, was staring down at her. She blushed and looked down. Such a grand personage as Luke would not want to be seen talking to a mere scullery maid.

"Hey, you," said Luke.

"Yes, Mr. Luke," said Lizzie, standing up and bobbing a curtsy.

"Come here a minute."

Lizzie went up the steps and stood shyly at the top.

"Where's Joseph?"

"Cleaning the silver," said Lizzie. "He come in five minutes ago."

"How is Alice?" asked Luke, seeming to choke out the words.

"She is better, Mr. Luke, and nigh recovered, thanks to our Miss Fiona, who has nursed her night and day. Jenny is in good spirits, too."

"Why do you say that? Has Jenny been sick as well? She's the chambermaid, ain't she?"

Anxious to please this magnificent young man, Lizzie said boldly, "Jenny was ever so pleased with the flowers you sent."

A slow tide of red mounted up Luke's neck. "I sent those flowers to Alice," he grated.

Lizzie looked at him in horror. Luke reached out, caught her thin arm, and twisted it painfully behind her back. "Has Alice been with a man?"

"No," whispered Lizzie, blushing. "How could she? Mr. Rainbird is ever so strict about callers. He don't mind you ..."

Luke gave her a shake. "Joseph told me in The Running Footman she lay with Palmer."

Lizzie looked up at him in mute misery.

"Answer me," said Luke, giving her arm a vicious wrench. "Did she?"

"N-no," sobbed Lizzie. "Alice hates Mr. Palmer, same as the rest o' us."

"Tell Joseph I want to see him," said Luke. "Now. Or I'll throw you down the steps."

Crying, Lizzie stumbled down the stairs and into the kitchen, where Joseph was polishing the silver.

"What's up with you, Blubber Face?" asked Joseph.

"Mr. Luke w-wants t-to see you right away," gulped Lizzie.

Joseph threw down the pot of rouge and the cloth with which he had been burnishing the teapot. "Why didn't you say so right away?" he demanded. He took off his baize ap.r.o.n and put on his coat.

"Please don't go, Mr. Joseph," begged Lizzie. "He's found out ..."

But Joseph was already out the door and running up the stairs.

MacGregor and Dave listened with interest to the shouts and yells and thuds and blows that were coming from the street above.

"Just two footmen fighting." MacGregor laughed. "Nothing to it, Lizzie. Don't distress yourself."

But Lizzie sat and cried, holding her frail body with her thin arms.

Then there was silence.

Lizzie stood up as dragging steps could be heard coming down the kitchen stairs. Joseph crept into the kitchen. His coat was torn, his nose was pouring with blood, and his lip was cut. He slumped into a chair and for once made no protest as Lizzie cried and fussed over him, bathing his face and trying to comfort him by pointing out that his new livery was due to be delivered the following day.

Rainbird and Mrs. Middleton came in and instantly demanded to know what was up with Joseph. With a pleading look at Lizzie, Joseph explained that he and Luke had had a falling out.

Rainbird looked at the huge purple bruise that was beginning to show on Lizzie's thin arm. "Where did you get that?" he snapped.

"Mr. Luke," whispered Lizzie, now too overset to do anything other than tell the truth. "He twisted my arm."

"Come back, MacGregor," said Rainbird to the cook, who was about to charge out of the door. "I will handle this." Rainbird made his stately exit.

Never had the servants of Clarges Street, who often took the air of an evening when their masters and mistresses were at b.a.l.l.s or parties, had such free entertainment. The fight between Luke and Joseph had not been much fun because Joseph had not put up any fight at all.

But Rainbird and Luke-that was another matter.

Alice was helped to the window of the attic bedroom by Jenny to watch the fight. MacGregor, with Dave on his shoulders, stood on the area steps. Bets were laid. Rainbird and Luke each stripped to the waist. It took Rainbird a mere ten minutes to lay Luke out on the cobbles with a punishing left.

Downstairs, Joseph, having drained a b.u.mper of brandy, was feeling less ill physically, but mentally he was tortured with shame and guilt. Again, he had had too much to drink at The Running Footman and the lie about Alice and Palmer had come tripping off his tongue. Only when Luke had started to his feet and rushed out did Joseph realise the enormity of what he had done.

"Is telling lies very sinful, Lizzie?" he asked, his eyes round and anxious.

"Oh, yes, Mr. Joseph," said Lizzie seriously, "but very human, Mr. Joseph. We can't be saints, least of all me."

Joseph gave her a grateful, doglike look, and Lizzie picked up his empty brandy gla.s.s and filled it again.

News spread like wildfire that Number 67 Clarges Street was free from infection. But callers found the beautiful Miss Sinclair often gone from home. Fiona enjoyed driving in the park with Sir Edward Kirby. Various gentlemen now went out of their way to drop a hint in Fiona's ear that Sir Edward was bad company for a respectable female, but Fiona had become accustomed to the malicious gossip of London society and preferred to make up her own mind. It was ridiculous to brand someone so innocent and cherubic as Sir Edward a womaniser, thought Fiona, not knowing that many other females had fallen from the straight and narrow by coming to that same conclusion. He never seemed to want to press his attentions on her. He did not want to talk about politics or the state of the nation, but, on the other hand, he had a fund of amusing stories and a pa.s.sion for all the latest novels. Above all, he made Fiona feel as if she belonged in this alien world.

Now that she was free to accept invitations, it was pleasant to know that Sir Edward would be there to dance with her and hold her fan and fetch her refreshments. Although Mr. Sinclair dutifully accompanied her, his friend, Sir Andrew Strathkeith, always came as well, and the two elderly gentlemen disappeared to drink or play cards as soon as they arrived at whatever function they had escorted Fiona to.

It was surely a guarantee of Sir Edward's good character that he was invited to so many ton parties, thought Fiona, not knowing that a rotten womaniser is still socially acceptable, but a lady who falls from grace just once, and is Found Out, is beyond the pale.

Mr. Sinclair had taken a strong liking to Sir Edward because Sir Edward always deferred to him in the most flattering way possible.

One of Fiona's first engagements was a splendid ball being held by Lord and Lady Charteris, who had taken their friend Mr. Johnson's house in Kensington for the affair because the Kensington house had a large garden capable of housing a marquee for dancing. It was pleasant for the guests to travel the mile from Hyde Park corner to the greenery of Kensington, where the nursery gardens, which grew fruit and vegetables for Covent Garden market, lay spread out on either side of the large white mansions and villas of the rich.

Fiona, as she prepared for the ball, remembered again her impa.s.sioned scene with Lord Harrington and thought of it as the mad act of a green young girl. She felt infinitely older and wiser. She was not interested in any man other than Sir Edward, and, although he did not make her pulses beat any faster, at least, with him, she could feel her own woman. Something, however, made her maintain her defensive act of appearing vague and stupid, even with Sir Edward. Perhaps she had been alarmed by Mr. Sinclair's statement that clever women only gave gentlemen a disgust of them.

As she was driven along the Brompton Road on the way to the ball in Sir Andrew Strathkeith's lumbering and antiquated carriage with Mr. Sinclair and Sir Andrew, Fiona gazed out at the lime trees that lined the narrow way, looking forward to the evening with pleasant antic.i.p.ation. She had given up gambling-or rather, gambling had given up her, the hostesses of the gambling h.e.l.ls having closed their doors to her-but she had ama.s.sed enough to make sure that she and Mr. Sinclair could live in a very comfortable style, and even, should she fail to marry, manage very well if they returned to Scotland. Security was added by Sir Andrew's generous offer to give both of them a home.

For the first time in her life, Fiona began to know what it was like to feel young and carefree.

She was wearing a new ball gown she had fashioned for herself out of white-and-blue muslin. It was cut in the Grecian style, with key embroidery at the hem, high-waisted, and with small puffed sleeves. The price of the India muslin had made Fiona blink, but now she was glad she had bought it for it was cool and light and floated about her body when she moved. Her black hair was dressed in her favourite Grecian style, bound with blue silk ribbons wound twice round her head and with a knot of curls at the back.

She walked into the marquee on Mr. Sinclair's arm, oblivious now to the stares of admiration, looking only for the rea.s.suring presence of Sir Edward Kirby.

That was when she saw the Earl of Harrington. Her breathing quickened, and a delicate blush rose to her cheeks.

His topaz eyes fastened on her and then moved to Mr. Sinclair. A slow, amused smile appeared on Lord Harrington's face. He walked forward and made a magnificent bow in front of them. "Mr. Sinclair," he said, "and ... er ... your lovely ... daughter. How goes it?"

He knows, thought Fiona. He knows, and he is not shocked. Worse than that. He is merely amused and contemptuous.

He chatted to Mr. Sinclair and Fiona for a few moments. Dimly she heard herself promising to dance with him. He bowed again and moved away. Fiona searched desperately for Sir Edward, but he was nowhere to be seen. Automatically, she accepted invitations to dance while her mind was a jumble of incoherent thoughts ... he knows ... I am sure he knows ... he is going to bait me ... oh, where is Sir Edward? ... please G.o.d let him appear....

Then the dreaded moment arrived when it was Lord Harrington's turn to lead her through the steps of a country dance. "You look hot and distressed," he said. "Would you care to take a walk in the gardens instead of dancing?"

Fiona said yes and then immediately wished she had not.

Once they were outside, he led her away a little from the noise of the fiddles and said, "I received a most odd letter when I was in the country."

"In the country?" said Fiona quickly. "I did not know you were gone from town."

"But you should have known! Do not tell me you failed to notice my absence?"

"No. Y-yes," stammered Fiona. "That is, I was nursing our maid, who had the measles, so I did not go out and n.o.body came to call for fear of catching the infection ... except Sir Edward Kirby." Her voice warmed as she spoke Sir Edward's name.

"Ah, that is what I want to talk to you about. The letter I received was anonymous, but the writer seemed most alarmed that you had been seen in the company of Sir Edward."

"Sir Edward is all that is good and kind."

"Sir Edward is one of the most experienced womanisers London has ever known."

"I am tired of malicious gossip," said Fiona. "I am surprised you stoop to it."

"He will not marry you," said the earl bluntly.

"There is a better chance of his proposing to me than of your proposing to me," said Fiona dryly.

"Granted."

"Because," went on Fiona, moving a little in front of him, her dress fluttering across the lawn, "you will never marry for love, only for name and rank."

"Perhaps," he said, and then, longing to punish her, "But I would never marry a liar or an adventuress."

Fiona's face was a pale disk in the twilight. "Take me back to the ballroom, my lord," she said in a thin voice. "Your company fatigues me."

He felt suffocating anger rise up in him. All the old craving for her, all the old torment, had come flooding back, only this time it was worse than it had ever been. He wanted to crush her in his arms and beg her to marry him, but a wall of pride, as high as a mountain, stood between them.

"As you wish." He shrugged, but she had already gone before him, her dress giving a last mocking flutter as she disappeared into the marquee and joined the other dancers.

CHAPTER.

Nine.

Friendship is a disinterested commerce between equals: love, an abject intercourse between tyrants and slaves.

-Oliver Goldsmith When Sir Edward Kirby appeared, Fiona nearly disgraced herself by flying into his arms. But she forced herself to wait until he approached her. She had kept two dances free, hoping he would arrive.

"You are looking distressed," said Sir Edward. "Have you time from all your suitors to walk a little in the gardens with me?"

Fiona a.s.sented gladly, although she shivered, feeling that the fates were against her and that Sir Edward would jeer at her and tell her he knew about her low birth. But he was the same as ever, pointing out flowers, talking about gardening, until she was able to feel calmer. How old was he? wondered Fiona. He was rumoured to be in his thirties, but he often appeared as young as she herself.

"Now you are feeling better," he said, giving her a sidelong smile. "Why do you not tell me what ails you?"

"Nothing ails me," said Fiona. "The Season fatigues me. All this husband-hunting is wearisome."