The Earl and the Hoyden. Mary Nichols

would together make one of the most influential families in the kingdom. Miss Cartwright’s dowry would be prodigious; not only that, he was prepared to stand buff for your papa’s debts, which at that time were considerable. And there was cash in hand too. All to give his daughter a title. The offer was too tempting to resist and your father accepted a payment in advance, which of course the man demanded back when you left. Unfortunately, most of it had already been spent, some on that disastrous ball, on paying debts, and on new furnishings to impress Cartwright. I also had new gowns; your father said it was a matter of pride that his wife should be dressed in the latest mode…’

      ‘He did all that without consulting my wishes,’ he said, wondering if the proposed engagement had been as much a surprise to Miss Cartwright as it had been to him.

      ‘I am sorry for that, but he supposed you would agree for the sake of the dowry. You must not condemn him too harshly, Roland. In his day parents often arranged marriages for their children and the children rarely complained. Marriage was more of a business matter then, a joining of great houses, the making of a dynasty. If a man needed more than his wife could provide, he could easily find it elsewhere, and as long as he was discreet she would turn a blind eye…’

      ‘Times have changed, Mama. I prefer to find my own bride and I most certainly would not expect her to turn a blind eye, as you put it.’

      ‘Have you? Is there a lady…?’

      ‘No. I have been too busy fighting a war to worry about courting.’

      ‘Then it is not too late.’

      ‘Good Lord! Surely I am not expected to pay court to the chit, just as if the last six years had never been.’

      ‘No, I can understand you would not want to do that and it would not do. Two such strong characters as you both are would make for endless conflict. She is not one to bow to any man, husband or no.’

      ‘How far has this litigation gone?’

      ‘I have no idea, no one confided in me. Mountford will tell you.’

      ‘So the new Earl has come home at last,’ Mrs Elliott said, helping herself from a tureen of vegetables offered by one of Charlotte’s footmen. An invitation to Mandeville for supper was worth accepting if only because the food was sumptuous, much better than anything she was able to provide at the vicarage. Tonight Charlotte was entertaining the Reverend Mr Elliott, Mrs Elliott and their son, Martin, who had just been ordained as curate and was waiting for his first post, together with Sir Gordon and Lady Brandon and their twenty-year-old daughter, Martha. ‘The Reverend saw him arrive on horseback, with no luggage or servants, except one dowdy-looking fellow in army overalls, is that not so, husband?’

      ‘Yes,’ the parson agreed. ‘I hardly recognised him, he was so dusty and travel-stained. He had on a dark green jacket, which had certainly seen better days, and a black shako, just as if he were a common soldier. He dismounted to go into the church and stood before the Amerleigh vault. He was there some time in quiet contemplation and it was then I guessed who he was.’

      ‘Did you discover if he means to stay?’ Sir Gordon asked. Both Sir Gordon and his wife had succumbed to good living and were almost as round as they were tall. Sir Gordon owned a cotton mill in Scofield, not far from Charlotte’s, but as far as she knew, he rarely went near the place and knew very little of what went on there, but she invited him and his wife to dine occasionally because he was a great gossip and enabled her to keep abreast of what her competitors were doing.

      ‘And why would he not? It is his home and his inheritance, after all.’ This from Martin Elliott. He was a pale young man, and very thin, but not ill-looking.

      ‘Inheritance!’ Sir Gordon exclaimed. ‘Millstone would be a better description. How he will bring it about, I do not know.’

      ‘He probably has a private income,’ Lady Brandon put in, while Charlotte remained silent. She did not want to say anything that might inadvertently reveal that she had already met the gentleman in question. ‘Or he has become rich by the war. It sometimes happens, I believe. The victors plunder the vanquished.’

      ‘He will need every groat he can lay his hands on,’ Sir Gordon said. ‘His father has left the place in a sad state.’

      ‘Why did they quarrel?’ Martha asked, while Charlotte held her breath, hoping fervently none of her guests knew the real truth.

      ‘No one knows for sure,’ Mrs Elliott said. ‘But it was very sudden. I have heard it said it was over a woman. The Viscount, as he was then, was banished in disgrace.’

      ‘Now, now,’ her husband gently chided her. ‘It is no business of ours.’

      She lapsed into silence, much to Charlotte’s relief, but the pause was soon filled by Lady Brandon. ‘Do you think we should call on him and welcome him home?’ she asked. ‘Though whether that be the great house or the dower house, it is difficult to say.’

      ‘I would not go so far as to suggest that, my love,’ her husband said. ‘He might find it a trifle embarrassing. Hold your horses and wait to see what he does. He might not stay.’

      ‘And whom do you suppose will take over the estate if he does not?’

      ‘I feel sorry for him, coming back to that,’ Mrs Elliott said, earning a sharp glance from Charlotte.

      ‘Why?’ Sir Gordon demanded. ‘If rumour be true, it was his quarrel with his father that sent the poor old man out of his mind.’

      ‘Was he out of his mind?’ Lady Brandon asked.

      ‘Of course he was. No man in his right mind would allow his estate to be run down like that. Do you not agree, Miss Cartwright?’

      Charlotte, directly addressed, found herself saying, ‘I do not see how anyone but his doctors can know the state of his lordship’s mind, but it is very true the estate is in a parlous state.’

      ‘I am surprised you have not offered to buy it yourself,’ Sir Gordon said. ‘No doubt you could get it for a song.’

      Charlotte smiled, thinking of the Earl and his fierce claim that the land on which they had almost collided had been Amerleigh land. If she was any judge of character, he would not part with his birthright to her. But, oh, taking the Amerleigh estate from him would be sweet revenge for the humiliation she had suffered at his hands. ‘What use would I have for such a place?’ she asked. ‘And we are talking as if the Earl is going to sell up.’

      ‘If he has any sense he will,’ Sir Gordon said.

      ‘I would not,’ Charlotte said suddenly. ‘There are too many people’s livelihoods depending on a healthy estate. I would look on it as a challenge.’

      ‘Is he one to rise to a challenge, do you think?’ Lady Brandon asked.

      Charlotte shrugged. ‘I have no idea, but we shall soon see.’

      The return of the Earl of Amerleigh caused no end of gossip in the village. The main gist of their curiosity was centred on whether he had returned with a fortune and whether he had married and would be bringing his wife to the Hall just as soon as it had been refurbished. And if he was not married, why, then he might be looking for a wife! Single young ladies in the parish and for several miles around were suddenly alert to the possibilities. Hence the bigger than usual congregation at church the following day.

      Wondering what to wear, Roland had surveyed his wardrobe, which did not take long. Apart from his ordinary uniform and a dress uniform that he wore on formal occasions, he had a pair of overalls, a riding coat of Bath cloth which he had been wearing when he enlisted, a pair of calfskin breeches, half a dozen shirts, a change of underclothes, and a spare pair of boots. He had never needed more. He found some of his old clothes in a trunk, which his mother had brought to the dower house. There was among them a black frock coat and breeches, but when he tried them on, he found they were several sizes too small. The Roland who had gone away had been a stripling of twenty-one, slim as a reed; the Roland who had returned was broad of shoulder, deep-chested,