VIscount Besieged (3 page)

An air of
general untidiness prevailed, for books or embroidery, and the
other impedimenta of daily life, were left lying where they had
been used. Only the large empty square by the central window was
uncluttered, since this area served—and had done so since time
immemorial, so it seemed to the family—for Isadora’s
stage.

Here the family
congregated. More so lately, for in the household’s mourning state
their visitors were few. Only their lifelong friends and neighbours
came: Harriet, and her brother Edmund Witheridge, together with
Harriet’s betrothed, Mr Joseph Caistor, who was staying with them
at present.

‘
Well, I don’t think it is brilliantly conceived,’ said Fanny
judiciously. ‘I mean, what was Queen Mary doing at the execution?
And as for Elizabeth—’

‘
You
had no objection to Elizabeth when I said you could play the part,’
interrupted Isadora, pausing in her aimless perambulations about
the room, for alone among the company she had not taken a
seat.

Which, she
reflected as Harriet at once joined issue with Fanny, arguing the
merits of the play, was perfectly true? She had written the part
of young Princess Elizabeth into the play precisely because she had
known that her cousin’s forthright criticisms would only be
withheld if she herself had an important role.

Not that it had
stopped Fanny’s tongue. Nothing could. Cousin Matty put no real
restraint on her, and she was inclined to say exactly what came
into her head.

Wandering
towards the windows that flanked her improvised stage, Isadora
heard only vaguely the discussion continuing as both her mama and
Cousin Matty took sides. There seemed little point in entering into
it herself. Besides, if she spoke, she would only make everything
worse by saying that the play was less at fault than the actors
were.

Of course, there
might well be a better way to depict the tragedy of Lady Jane
Grey’s life. No doubt Shakespeare would have found it. But, since
Shakespeare had inconveniently omitted to chronicle the story,
Isadora had to fend for herself, drawing on what little knowledge
she had of the time, culled from Papa’s books.

Besides, she was
less interested in historical accuracy than in the tragedy of a
young girl, innocent and in love, and quite literally cut off in
the flower of her youth.

That she was
herself capable of bringing off the poignancy of the scene Isadora
never doubted. But she felt the background personages must enhance
it. Otherwise, why waste time and energy in dragooning her
relatives and Harriet into participating?

She sighed
inwardly. She might just as well not have done so, as it turned
out. Should she have stuck to her guns and insisted on Edmund
performing?

The thought of
Edmund, who admittedly had at seventeen the same good looks as his
sister, did not move Isadora with anything other than the desire to
use him as an actor. But Edmund had declined to participate, since
the only part available to him would have been that of Lady Jane’s
husband. He had confessed to his sister that to portray such a role
could only remind him of the prize beyond his reach in real life.
Harriet, most improperly repeating his words to Isadora, had
recommended that she write his part out of the play.

‘
For
you do not want him dangling after you, I know, and he is bound to
feel encouraged if he is permitted to act as your
husband.’

Isadora had
regretfully agreed with this dictum, for she had no desire to give
Edmund the slightest encouragement. It was quite ridiculous that
he should have conceived this
tendre
for her. How could he
suppose that she would consider marrying a fellow three years her
junior? A boy she had known almost from the cradle too.

Her attention
was recalled by Harriet, who had risen to leave.

‘
I
must go, Dora. We are to dine out tonight and Joseph will be
wondering what has become of me.’

Mrs Alvescot
smiled comfortably at her daughter’s dearest friend. ‘It is so kind
of you, Harriet, to have helped Dora to amuse herself in this
way.’

Isadora paused
on her way to accompany Harriet to the door. ‘Amuse myself? It is
more than amusement, Mama. It is acting
.
’

‘
Exactly,’ chimed in Cousin Matty suddenly. ‘And you see what
has come of it. I do trust, Dora, that you will be more circumspect
in future. Especially when Lord Roborough arrives.’

‘
Oh,
we are back to him, are we?’ said Isadora bodingly.

‘
Lord,’ groaned Fanny. ‘Mama, pray don’t start again on this
subject.’

‘
Be
quiet, Fanny,’ snapped her mother. ‘I shall start on any subject I
choose. Besides, I hold to it that for all our sakes Dora must take
care not to give Lord Roborough any cause for offence.’

‘
Offence?’ cried Isadora, firing up. ‘He is the one who has
given offence.’

‘
Let
me tell you, Dora,’ said Harriet, intervening as she usually did to
pour oil on the troubled waters, ‘whatever the rest of us may say,
Edmund at least insists that, for his part, he cannot think that
Lord Roborough will be able to find any fault with you,
Dora.’

‘
He
would not say so if he had to live with her,’ Fanny
asserted.

Isadora was
obliged to laugh. ‘Well, Fanny, if by some remote chance I do
suddenly have pretensions to be liked by the new lord and master of
all our lives, I know I can depend entirely upon your
support.’

Harriet smiled.
‘At any rate, you may depend upon mine. I will leave you to quarrel
over Lord Roborough in private.’

But once she was
outside the room with Isadora, who had elected to walk with her to
the door, she added in a low voice, ‘Don’t think I don’t know what
you’re planning, Dora, for I am too well acquainted with you. I
shall come and see you tomorrow when we may be alone.’

‘
You
may do so, but you will not change my mind,’ Isadora responded,
aware that Harriet, who knew all about her secret plans, heartily
disapproved of them.

‘
I
can at least try. No, no, don’t accompany me. I know my way very
well.’

‘
You
should, after all these years,’ Isadora laughed. ‘Very well, I
shall go back and face my cousin’s warnings.’

‘
Yes,
but don’t lose your temper, Dora.’

‘
I
shall try not to.’

But this promise
was put severely to the test. Cousin Matty was waiting only for
Isadora’s return into the room to take up the argument
again.

‘
I
cannot understand you, Dora,’ she complained. ‘Your poor mama has
been left with little enough of her portion, but you have none at
all. While as for myself and my children—’

She broke off,
whisking a handkerchief from her sleeve and applying it to her
eyes. Mrs Alvescot instantly threw out a hand in
distress.

‘
Oh,
poor Matty, don’t cry. You know you will always have a home with
me, no matter what happens.’

Isadora would
not have argued with this. The Dotterells had ever been so much a
part of the family that it had never occurred to her to consider a
life that did not include them. For the first time she realised
that Cousin Matty must be entertaining some very real fears for her
own future. Who was to say that Viscount Roborough would consider
himself responsible for these relatives, even supposing that he was
prepared to assist Mama out of her difficulties? Mama, of course,
would not dream of abandoning her cousin. But how would they all
live?

All the more
reason, then, for Isadora to pursue her own schemes.

‘
But
you cannot afford to keep us, Cousin Ellen,’ Fanny pointed out, as
if she had read Isadora’s mind. ‘For my part, I think you should
write to Lord Roborough and tell him the true
situation.’

‘
Mr
Thornbury told him the true situation,’ Isadora said, taking a seat
by her mother. ‘He even wrote to warn him months ago, before he
wrote that Papa had died, for we all knew very well that Papa would
not recover.’

Mrs Alvescot
nodded vehemently, setting aquiver the frill of her pretty mob cap,
the only touch of white in the otherwise strict severity of her
mourning costume.

‘
Now
that is true, for Aubrey instructed Thornbury to do so because the
connection is so remote. Dear Aubrey. He knew so well what a toll
his illness had taken on our finances. It distressed him
particularly that you, Dora, could not have your
season.’

‘
Oh,
fudge, as if I cared for that.’

A season was
just what she did not want. It would ruin all. She must not enter
Society in that guise. But in any event nothing would have induced
her to leave the house in such circumstances—what with Papa so ill
and Mama so distressed. Papa had wanted her to accept Lady
Witheridge’s invitation to her to come out with Harriet in London
last year, but she had resolutely refused.

‘
But
Aubrey told me I had nothing to concern myself about,’ went on Mrs
Alvescot cheerfully. ‘He was certain that Lord Roborough would come
to our rescue.’

‘
If
he doesn’t, we shall have nothing to look forward to but penury and
disaster,’ prophesied Fanny gloomily.

‘
Well, you had better steel yourself to them, then,’ said
Isadora frankly, ‘for I have no expectation of his coming to our
rescue.’

‘
But,
my love, your papa said that it was his duty to do so,’ protested
Mrs Alvescot.

‘
I
quite agree,’ said Cousin Matty.

‘
Well, Papa had every reason to be sanguine,’ Isadora offered,
‘because he clearly knew nothing of this viscount.’

‘
Nor
do you,’ Fanny pointed out.

Isadora ignored
this obvious truth. ‘Besides, Lord Roborough probably sees no
reason why he should rescue us, nor even why he should keep a
fatherly eye on us, as you seem to think he must, Cousin Matty. He
is only distantly related to us, after all. And Thornbury says he
has children of his own to think of.’

‘
That
is true, my love,’ agreed Mrs Alvescot, ‘but you forget that his
note stated that he clearly understood our predicament and that we
need not move from the house.’

‘
As yet
,’ quoted Isadora, adding cynically, ‘and that is
all he said.’

‘
For
my part, I am thanking God for this small relief,’ said Cousin
Matty devoutly. ‘Imagine if he had requested our instant removal.
What in the world would we have done?’

‘
He
may yet tell us to remove,’ Fanny reminded her.

‘
No,
no, Fanny,’ argued Mrs Alvescot. ‘Remember that he has a title. He
has estates of his own—very substantial ones, I imagine—so what
need can he have for this one?’

Isadora curled a
sceptical lip. ‘I have no wish to distress you, Mama, but I fear
that a man who is so callous that he cannot even write a letter of
sympathy is not going to concern himself over whether he needs
another estate.’

Fanny gazed at
her with narrowed eyes. ‘I see what it is, Dora. You don’t wish him
to rescue us at all. What you want is an excuse to take up acting
in earnest.’

Cousin Matty
exclaimed in horror, but Isadora had no answer to make to this
beyond a look cast at her young cousin that bode her no good at
all. It was left to Mrs Alvescot to express the opinion of the
family.

‘
Indeed, I have often thought what a pity it is that you might
not tread the boards, as they say, Dora. I am sure you could have
become quite as great a tragedienne as Mrs Siddons. Only it is
quite ineligible, and I am sure Lord Roborough will not countenance
such a thing for a moment.’

At this, Isadora
jumped up and moved to the door, uttering dangerously, ‘Will he
not, indeed? Well, if he chooses to show his face here and tell me
so, I shall be ready for him, believe me.’

With which, she
whisked herself out of the room. Arguing over whether the heir
would do anything to help the family out of their predicament was
one thing; being reminded that he had the power to stop her
pursuing her plans was quite another. Well, he might have that
power. But not for long, for she was but a few months short of her
majority.

Passing along
the upper corridor, Isadora headed for the stairs, hoping she would
not run into Rowland outside. She wanted to be alone. Hopefully, he
would be in the stables, as usual, trying to persuade old
Totteridge to allow him to ride Titian. Totteridge could be trusted
to be steadfast in refusal. Rowland could never hold Papa’s restive
mount.

A pang smote
her. Was it only a matter of six weeks? It felt like a
lifetime
.

Come, Isadora
Alvescot, this would not do. She had promised Papa that she would
not grieve—not unduly. Death, he had insisted, would come as a
merciful release. She must hold to that. In general, she could do
so, plunging herself into her acting. Only, when Cousin Matty would
insist on bringing up the question of their possibly having to
leave home…

She pushed the
thought away as she ran lightly down the long staircase that curved
to the hall. That would not happen. Yet if she was wrong, if the
viscount