A Sister's Secret Read online

  Ah, thought Caroline, the hireling has begun to impress Annabelle. ‘Well, I do count him a friend of several years’ standing,’ she said, ‘and can depend on him to keep you reliable company, although I don’t see him as much a pleasure to the eye as you do.’

  ‘Oh, at your age I expect you are attracted to older and more mature men,’ said Annabelle lightly. ‘Such as Mr Simon Hetherington, whom I’ve seen sighing over you.’

  Caroline almost bristled. ‘Annabelle, you are absurd. Mr Hetherington must be nearly fifty. At my age indeed. I am only a little over four years older than you.’

  ‘But you have a very mature outlook,’ said Annabelle, ‘although, for my part, I cannot think why you don’t set your cap at Charles.’

  ‘Charles?’

  ‘Captain Burnside. I am sure you could never find a pleasanter or more companionable man.’

  Caroline drew herself up in high affront. ‘I have no feelings of that kind for Captain Burnside,’ she said.

  Annabelle smiled reminiscently. ‘He declares he has a reverence for you,’ she said.

  Caroline eyed her sister very coolly. ‘A reverence?’ She could not relate that to anything but a moment of impudence on the part of her hireling. ‘Reverence?’

  ‘Yes.’ Annabelle laughed. ‘He sees you as a goddess.’

  ‘He has always had an odd sense of humour,’ said Caroline.

  ‘I thought him quite serious.’

  ‘I do not seriously wish to be regarded as a goddess, but I’m at least happy you found him companionable. You haven’t given too much time to other gentlemen since you met Cumberland, and it’s a relief to find you and Captain Burnside have become friends. Where is he, by the way?’

  ‘Oh, he went out after bringing me home.’

  ‘Where has he gone to?’

  ‘To attend to some business, he said, and begged to be excused lunch.’

  Caroline hid her suspicion and displeasure.

  Chapter Seven

  A white-capped maidservant came out of the handsome house near Horse Guards Parade, and floated in swaying skirts over the pavement. A gentleman, idly sauntering, stopped and turned abruptly as she came up behind him. He collided with her, although an onlooker might have thought she bumped into him. He showed instant contrition, raising his beaver top hat and expressing profuse apologies. ‘Do forgive me.’

  ‘Oh, I don’t be hurt, sir,’ she said, brown-eyed, pert and with an eye for personable gentlemen.

  Captain Burnside smiled, and her lashes flickered coyly. ‘You’re very tolerant of my clumsiness,’ he said. ‘Are you sure I didn’t bruise you?’

  ‘Oh, no, sir, hardly at all.’

  ‘Well, you’re sweetly forgiving,’ he said, and smiled again. ‘Let me see, have I chanced on you before? Aren’t you Felicity, the personal maid of Lady Spooner-Watts of Carlton Terrace?’

  ‘No, sir, I be Betsy Walker, nor never heard of Lady Spooner-Watts, sir.’

  ‘Good grief,’ said the captain. He noted the pertness of her glance, and decided he was in luck. ‘I assure you, Betsy, you’re so like Felicity you could be her twin. No, perhaps you ain’t, for you’re prettier.’

  Betsy dropped her eyes demurely. She was not an innocent, and if this handsome gentleman was seeking a flirtation, she was very willing. Well-set-up gentlemen were exciting, and gave a girl presents for loving kisses and loving squeezes. ‘Sir, you be gammoning me,’ she murmured.

  ‘Indeed I’m not. You’re all of pretty. Who’s your mistress?’

  ‘Mistress, sir?’ she said, darting an arch glance.

  ‘Your employer?’

  ‘Oh, it be no lady, sir, but a stern and royal gentleman.’

  Captain Burnside eyed the handsome house. ‘Faith,’ he said, ‘not His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland?’

  ‘That be him, sir,’ said Betsy, ‘though I aren’t encouraged to throw his name lightly about.’

  ‘Very right and proper,’ said the captain, ‘and very interesting.’

  ‘Sir?’

  ‘Are you on an errand, Betsy?’

  ‘No, it be my free hour, sir.’ Betsy, in no hurry to detach herself, added, ‘I be taking a walk to the Parade.’

  ‘To brighten the eyes of the soldiers, I’ll wager.’

  ‘Oh, I don’t take up with common soldiers, sir.’

  ‘Good. So come with me, Betsy.’

  ‘But, sir, I doesn’t know you,’ she said.

  ‘Fortunately, that don’t signify in this case,’ said Captain Burnside encouragingly. ‘The fact is, I’m on government business, and you are just the young lady who can help me in a confidential matter. I’ll walk you to Collins Coffee House.’

  ‘But that be all of a fancy place for a servant girl.’

  ‘A private room there, that’s the thing, where we can talk and I can find out how you can help me, and what it will be worth to you. Government business can be pleasantly rewarding.’

  ‘Government business in a private room, sir?’ said Betsy, who thought of such places in more exciting terms.

  ‘Well, it can’t be done in public, Betsy, any more than kissing should.’

  Betsy strove to look shy and reluctant, but failed. A flirtatious smile peeped. ‘Sir, you’ll treat me right?’ she said.

  ‘Have no fears, Betsy,’ said the captain reassuringly. ‘The business will be our paramount consideration and, as to anything else, I’ll not ask for more than a single kiss, though you’re pretty enough to be kissed all day, by heaven you are. Now, let’s be on our way.’

  Betsy went with him, thinking more about flirtatious dalliance than dull government business, for he was such a fine gentleman. If it was to be much more of a kissing interlude than a business matter, the prospect did not alarm her. She was twenty-three and an amorous young lady, with hopes that one day a gentleman would set her up in a comfortable apartment and bestow on her the kind of presents she could turn into savings. However, after only a few minutes’ conversation with this particular gentleman in a private room of the coffee house, she had shed for the moment all thoughts of dalliance.

  Brown eyes round with alarm, she gasped, ‘Sir, it be prison for me if I really breathe a single word?’

  ‘Alas, I’m afraid so,’ said Captain Burnside. ‘Having consented to give your help—’

  ‘But I never did, sir.’

  ‘Ah, but you consented to be taken into my confidence, and so became my accomplice.’

  ‘What be an accomplice?’ asked the bewildered Betsy.

  ‘A partner, Betsy, a partner.’ Captain Burnside nodded in grave agreement with himself. ‘We must both avoid blabbing, for we don’t either of us wish the Lord Chancellor to clap the darbies on us himself. Although I’m a government man, I’m under an oath of secrecy, and if I broke it I’d have to take the consequences in the same way you would. However, your help will be rewarded. Did I mention that?’

  ‘How much, sir?’ asked Betsy, putting her qualms aside.

  ‘Why, as much as ten guineas,’ said the captain.

  ‘Ten guineas?’ Her eyes grew bright. ‘That be a year’s wages, sir.’

  ‘Then bring me into the house, as I’ve said, to where I can examine the duke’s official diary, and you’ll have earned it. His secretary has charge of the diary, I fancy.’

  Flustered, but with the promised ten guineas still a brightness in her eyes, Betsy said, ‘Oh, sir, you’d not be false to a poor girl, would you? You’d not be thinking of pocketing His Highness’s snuffboxes?’

  ‘Come, come, Betsy, do I look like a flash cove? You may stay while I examine the diary. Remember, as I said in the beginning, it all concerns the safety of His Royal Highness, although it’s outside his cognizance. I wager you can do it; I don’t doubt you’re clever enough.’

  ‘Sir, I be more quaking than clever. His Highness be a terrible stern gentleman.’

  Captain Burnside smiled and patted her shoulder. ‘An evening, Betsy, when you’ll know he won’t be there.
Now, which evening would be suitable for you?’

  Betsy thought and said, ‘Thursday be very suitable, sir.’

  ‘Capital!’ Again he patted her shoulder. ‘Betsy, I’ll make no secret of the fact that mine ain’t the easiest of commissions at times. It’s a pleasure, therefore, on this occasion, to find an assistant who looks to be as adroit and clever as you.’

  Certainly, she was too adroit to be disadvantaged by menservants who thought that, as a country girl from Sussex, she was a simpleton whose favours were theirs for the taking. Her preference was for gentlemen, for in some gentleman, some day, lay the possibility of a more pleasurable way of life than that of a maidservant. Of course, there were gentlemen and gentlemen. One could tell the right kind by the way they spoke to a girl, or by the way one’s instinct reacted to them.

  This gentleman spoke to her as if she had as much standing as a lady. Further, her instinct told her he would not do her down. Additionally, her eyes told her, from the fit of his clothes, that he had a perfect body.

  However, she was still cautious. ‘You be a strange gentleman, sir, taking me up in such a pleasant way and then saying I must do what you want or be sent to prison. That were the nastiest shock I were ever given.’

  ‘Well, my pretty partridge, you’re needlessly fluttering,’ said Captain Burnside, ‘for you may refuse to do anything you don’t wish to. What you may not do is mention our conversation to anyone, anyone at all. On that understanding and promise, I shall be the first to see that no prison gates close behind you.’

  ‘Oh, I won’t say a word, not one, sir – on the Bible I won’t,’ she breathed, and further thoughts of the ten guineas caused sensations of pleasure far above her fears. Such a sum was a little hoard in itself, to be placed with the silver crowns gentlemen had given her just for the pleasure of squeezing her bosom. ‘You be sure it’s all for the safety of the duke, sir?’

  ‘Quite sure, Betsy, but not to give him worry, d’you see. So on Thursday evening, then, I’ll be waiting near the side entrance at nine o’clock. At any moment between nine and ten, when you’re certain the coast is clear, let me in. There, you have an hour to choose the right moment. Could I be more considerate? Yes, perhaps I could. By advancing you one of the guineas now.’

  ‘That be truly considering of me, sir,’ said Betsy, and her eyes shone as he placed the golden coin in her hand. ‘I’ll let you in, even if my knees be knocking something cruel.’ She eyed him demurely. He smiled. Quite charmed, she murmured, ‘I be fair amazed about the business, sir, and no kissing.’

  ‘Ah, kissing,’ said the captain. ‘Well, although the Lord Chancellor ain’t inclined to encourage kissing that might confound the serious matter of business, I’ll stretch a point on this occasion, for I’d be a very dull fellow not to seal our partnership with a small kiss.’

  ‘Oh, I hardly knows if I should, you being such a flummoxing gentleman,’ said Betsy, but lifted her face and pursed her willing lips.

  Captain Burnside, a professional, gave her the kiss she was happy to receive. It made her shiver with delight, it made her mouth eager and ardent, and it also made her feel what a very pleasing gentleman he was.

  ‘There,’ he said, ‘now I’ll walk you back.’

  On the street again, she tripped along with him. Discreetly, he parted from her at a distance of a hundred yards from the duke’s residence. She understood.

  ‘I be in a rare diddle-daddle of agitation, sir,’ she said, but she did not look so to the shrewd and satisfied eye of the captain. She looked very pleased with herself.

  ‘Courage, Betsy,’ he said, ‘it ain’t a hanging matter, only a sweet partnership.’

  ‘Oh, it be uncommon sweet, sir,’ she said, and floated away, the golden guinea fast in her hand.

  Captain Burnside made his way back to Lady Caroline’s house, and presented himself to her in her drawing room. Annabelle was up in her bedroom, confiding her hopes and dreams to her diary.

  Caroline said aloofly, ‘I’m gratified, sir, that you’ve condescended to return. Where have you been?’

  ‘On a matter of business, marm.’

  ‘What business, pray?’

  ‘Yours, marm.’

  ‘Explain it, sir,’ she said. He seated himself. ‘You may sit down,’ she added, cuttingly.

  ‘Thank you, marm. It’s advisable, don’t you see, that I make myself at home. Well, marm, this is the way of it.’ And he explained that he had taken up a watching brief close to Cumberland’s house, with a view to finding an opportunity to subvert a member of the duke’s household.

  ‘Subvert?’ said Caroline.

  ‘Ah … seduce,’ said the captain.

  Caroline stiffened. ‘Sir?’ she said coldly. Her years with Lord Clarence had given her an utter detestation of all men who dealt in seduction.

  ‘No, not of that significance, marm. I had in mind a maidservant whom I could seduce into using her eyes and ears for us. Should your sweet but gullible sister—’

  ‘Annabelle is not gullible. Impressionable, yes, unfortunately so, but not gullible.’

  ‘Sometimes, marm,’ said the captain gently, ‘there’s little difference. Now, should Annabelle allow herself to be lured to Cumberland’s house, it would advantage us to have an accomplice there, someone who could arrange to send us a message as speedily as possible, for once inside the house Annabelle would be all too close to Cumberland’s bed. I fancy, however, he would take his time to get her there. I fancy he would wine her first and cosset her. That would give you the necessary time to descend on him and frustrate his devilish intentions. It’s what I’d do myself with so young and lovely a girl as Annabelle, for there’d be a deal of sweetness in wining her and wooing her at leisure—’

  ‘Stop!’ she commanded. ‘I vow, Captain Burnside, that you have more unlovely traits than Cumberland himself. I shudder at what I’m doing, conspiring with you to bring Annabelle out of Cumberland’s arms into yours. How dare you entertain thoughts about what you yourself would do with my innocent sister? Listen to me. Should you accomplish this turnabout in her feelings, it is to be left at that. You are not to lay even a finger on her, do you hear?’

  ‘Quite so, marm,’ said Captain Burnside. ‘Your concern for her welfare is no less than mine. Under your patronage I am devoting myself to the preservation of her innocence. And we’re in luck, d’you see, for by good fortune I chanced upon a maidservant entirely right for our purpose – a pretty and likeable baggage with an eye for gain. She had an hour free of duty, so I took her to Collins Coffee House—’

  ‘Collins? Where you could be seen with her by a score of eyes?’

  ‘I ain’t quite as bird-brained as that, marm. We took a private room off the private entrance, and there she came to compliance at gratifying speed.’

  ‘Captain Burnside!’ Caroline positively leapt to her feet, gown rustling, bosom arching and green eyes furious. ‘Worse than your deliberate seduction of a simple servant girl is your detestable impudence in describing it to me. Have done with you, sir. Leave my house.’

  ‘Gently, marm, gently,’ said Captain Burnside. ‘It was not, as I’ve said, a seduction of her body, but of her cupidity. An offer of ten guineas brought her promise of assistance. To be truthful, I don’t play the romantic with maidservants. It ain’t financially gainful. It’s merchants’ daughters and bankers’ daughters who are profitable.’

  ‘Profitable?’ Caroline swished about, feet kicking at her skirts, arousing admiration in Captain Burnside. ‘I have never known a more unconscionable rogue. If, sir, you meet your deserved fate – transportation to a convict settlement – I declare I shall be glad to watch you hustled aboard. However, for ten guineas you have enlisted the aid of this servant girl?’

  ‘I have, marm, and you may reimburse me at your convenience. It need not be immediately.’

  ‘It will come to your hand, sir, only after much thought. Why did you not tell me what you were intending to do?’

  ‘You were
out when I brought your sister back from our drive,’ said the captain. ‘Incidentally, marm, I have made a little progress with her. She has confessed she regards me as a dear and understanding friend.’

  ‘God help my poor sister,’ said Caroline, ‘and may He forgive me for bringing such a man as you into her life.’

  Those first days were not the easiest for Caroline. Enduring Captain Burnside as a guest was bad enough; pretending a liking for him as an old friend was worse. And watching his progress with her sister rattled her beyond anything. She felt no satisfaction at all in seeing how Annabelle began to show animation whenever she was in close company with him. True, he did not play his part in an oily way; rather, his approach was that of a friend entirely at his ease. Perhaps they were at their most intimate whenever they sat down at the piano together and played little duets. Then Caroline found herself gritting her teeth at the physical proximity this entailed. How wretched that this could not be avoided.

  However, although Annabelle was taking obvious pleasure in his company, she did not look as if he had become vitally necessary to her happiness – which was a relief to Caroline on the one hand, and a frustration on the other.

  ‘You are still quite comfortable.’ It was a statement from the austerely clad Erzburger, not an enquiry.

  ‘Comfortable as I ever was, Your Honour,’ said the small, wiry Irishman, ‘but could I draw Your Honour’s kind attention to my health? Sure, it’s meself that’s ailing, so it is, and all for want of using my legs.’

  ‘You have been using them, and expressly against our advice,’ said Erzburger.

  ‘So I have, Your Honour, in the house …’

  ‘Outside the house,’ said Erzburger reprovingly.

  ‘Well, so I did, Your Honour, to taste the fresh air.’

  ‘You were seen walking, Mr Maguire.’

  ‘It’s cruel hard on a man’s legs not to let them go for a walk once in a while.’

  ‘It could prove harder if your legs were discovered and you with them,’ said Erzburger. ‘The men you described have not yet been apprehended. If they have disappeared, Mr Maguire, it is probably because they were aware they had been overheard. Which means you are in the gravest danger, as His Royal Highness and I suspected. We must impress on you again: do nothing to draw attention to your presence here. Do not show yourself at the windows or venture into the street. If you do, we cannot guarantee your safety. It was fortunate that it was a friend of mine who saw you out this morning, and a credit to your good sense that you allowed him to persuade you to return.’