Page 16 of A Gentleman’s Offer

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Seeing them together, and seeing the older woman’s alarmed reaction to Jenny’s presence, it was suddenly obvious that they were closely related. She’s no orphan; Sally’s her mother, Meg realised, and she just prevented herself from blurting it out.

‘I’d rather not give my name in front of so many interested listeners,’ Sir Dominic said. ‘And we really do just want to talk to you. Nothing more, I promise.’

Jenny came down the last few steps with deliberate casualness, cocking her hips, mistress of the scene, but as she grew nearer and the light in the lower hallway revealed Meg’s face, the girl started, and subjected her to a much closer scrutiny. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘I know who you are, at any rate! At first I thought you was Maria, but you’re not, are you? You must be the sister, Meg. The wild country bluestocking.’

Not Miss Maria, or Miss Nightingale, but Maria. And this was a woman who could tell the twin sisters apart at a glance, when her close friends noticed nothing amiss and when her own father sat down at table with her and could not. Perhaps, against all the odds, they’d come to the right place after all. ‘Is she with you?’ Meg’s voice was unsteady, now that it came to it. ‘Please tell me she is. I’ve been so worried about her.’

‘Let’s have some privacy so we can talk,’ Jenny said, frowning a little. ‘It’s fine, Ma – they don’t mean me any harm. I think I know why they’re here. I’ll take them in the back parlour, and we won’t be long. Five minutes, no more. Don’t fret!’

Sally still seemed reluctant to admit them, and her posture remained defensive, but she made no objection as Jenny passed her and led them further into the house. The girl didn’t speak again before they came to a closed door at the end of the passage, opening it and preceding them into a small, scantily furnished wood-panelled room. There were two young women lounging there in flimsy, transparent gowns, playing cards in a desultory fashion at a small table, but she dismissed them with an abrupt jerk of the head, and a brief, ‘Kindly fuck off, would you?’ Meg supposed she should be shocked again, but she knew Sir Dominic would be appalled afresh that she’d overheard such terribly unladylike language, and the impulse to laugh caused her to bite her lip to restrain herself.

The girls pouted as they dawdled from the room, their avid eyes on Sir Dominic – his handsome face and figure, his immaculate, expensive clothing – and one of them, a short brunette, reached out and trailed her hand slowly across his broad chest as she passed him, looking up at him meltingly. He didn’t move or react in any way, his expression quite impassive, but Jenny said menacingly, ‘Unless you want to feel my boot up your arse, Lily…?’

Lily didn’t appear to be in the least abashed; she was grinning saucily. ‘Maybe later, if it’s a slow night,’ she shot back pertly as the door closed behind her. ‘But I’d rather feel his…’

Perhaps mercifully, the door cut off her words, and Jenny sighed and gestured towards a tired-looking satin sofa. ‘Ignore her. You might as well sit down, but you won’t be here long, you know. She’s not here, your sister, and I don’t know where she is. I take it she’s run away?’

‘A week or so ago,’ Meg said urgently, subsiding into the grubby cushions, her heart sinking as she absorbed the impact of Jenny’s words. ‘But you don’t seem surprised. You were obviously quite close, if she’s told you about me. Are you sure you don’t have any idea at all where she might have gone?’

‘Close…’ replied Jenny musingly. ‘You could say that. We were, once upon a time, but I haven’t seen her since I left that damn depressing house of your father’s, which is a couple of months ago now. So I’m sorry, I wish I could help you, but I don’t know anything. Ask her friends, is all I can say to you, the ones she was at school with. That red-haired one, maybe. They’re thick as inkle-weavers, those two, or used to be not long since. I’d wager she knows all Maria’s secrets.’

‘Lady Primrose?’ Meg said in surprise. ‘Really? We’ve seen her, but she could tell us nothing.’

‘Told you nothing, I believe. Could tell you nothing? I’d not be so sure. She’s a knowing one, she is, and sharp-eyed. I’d wager she realised at once you weren’t Maria, just as I did. Really, you should talk to her.’

Meg didn’t want to reveal to anyone that she was masquerading as her sister unless she was obliged to, even if this strange girl might have guessed that she must be since Maria was missing. So she didn’t respond. It seemed their visit here had been a failure, save for this one tiny, fragile clue. Jenny said suddenly, ‘Maria used to read your letters out to me sometimes. I liked that. You have a proper way with words – I could picture it, how you described it all. Your house and your village, all the animals and the changing of the seasons. I’ve never been in the country, though I went to Kensington Gardens once. So much green, it made you dizzy! It was like going again, or better, hearing what you said about it. And the other parts too. Climbing out of the window in your breeches in the moonlight so you could go on an adventure, I remember that one in particular…’

There was a mischievous glint in the girl’s eyes, and Meg knew she was blushing. She’d rather Jenny said nothing more, given the precise nature of her adventures and the fact that Sir Dominic, close by, also had sharp ears, and a sharper brain. Her emotions were in turmoil, but she could not take time to dwell on them now, in this place of all places. She said hastily, ‘I’m glad you enjoyed it. If you really can’t tell us any more, we should thank you and go, I expect. You must be busy, and we interrupted your evening.’

Jenny laughed. ‘Am I giving away all your secrets to your fine gentleman? I’m sorry!’ She didn’t appear to be sorry in the least. ‘Yes, you should go, but don’t worry about me. My ma’s not the sort would put me in her business here; that’s why I ended up as a lady’s maid. More respectable, you might say, than making your living on the town. But it hasn’t quite worked out that way, has it? I’m not going back and having that canting hypocrite of a footman pawing at me day in and day out. At least here they have to pay for what they fancy, rather than getting it for free. I’m grateful you warned him off, but his type don’t stop. And there’s always more where he came from, in my experience. The gall of him, sneaking off to bawdy houses every chance he gets, and then smearing my reputation just because I wouldn’t bump giblets with him!’

‘I don’t know if it will be any consolation, but the rest of the servants in the house were furious with him, and have made his life a misery ever since you left,’ Sir Dominic said unexpectedly. His concern for this woman who could mean nothing to him gave Meg a warm feeling, and she was feeling quite heated enough already. Her breeches felt tight, constricting suddenly, and she tugged at her cravat.

Jenny shrugged, apparently unimpressed by his words of consolation. ‘It’s nice to hear, but not one of them stepped in and did anything – none of the men, anyway, though the housekeeper gave him a piece of her mind more than once, for all the good it did. That fubsy-faced old butler was happy enough to wink at his behaviour – he wasn’t going to rock the boat by telling his master or mistress, not him. No, I’m done with that life, at least for a while. I’m going to take some time and look about me.’

‘I said I’d pay you and I will.’ Sir Dominic put a small pile of golden coins down on the table. ‘Thank you for your time, Miss Wood.’

‘I told you, I’m not a whore,’ she said. ‘No disrespect to whores, since my ma was one, as must be plain to see, but I’m not.’ She didn’t sound angry, just weary.

‘I’m not implying that you are, nor is it any of my business either way. You didn’t have to talk to us, but you did. And if you’ve lost your position through no fault of your own, and lost the back wages you were owed too, you should be sensible and take it. It’ll give you a little longer to decide what you want to do next.’

‘You’re right.’ She scooped up the coins and they vanished into some hidden pocket as she opened the door to let them pass. As Meg drew close, she said abruptly, ‘I hope you find her. Good luck. I’m sure she’s safe, though – she’s awake on all suits, you know, even though she seems to have her head in the clouds. People often don’t reckon with her as they should.’

‘Thank you. I hope you’re right.’

‘I am, I’ll go bail. And,’ she said, grinning, ‘you’re a cunning enough one yourself, aren’t you?’

‘What do you mean?’ Meg wasn’t at all sure she really wanted to know, but the words escaped her nonetheless.

Jenny leaned forward, with a sly look up at Sir Dominic, and whispered in Meg’s ear, ‘I see you’ve moved on – and up! – from country boys and larking about in barns!’