Page 14 of The Book of Lost Stories

Sold Out

What joy of anticipation leaped in Cicely’s breast as she flew down the turret stairs to make all ready to greet him after his long absence.

Ravish’ d by Cruel Fate by ORLANDO brOWNE

‘It’s good to have you back, Harry, by God it is!’ Serle Rayven said, shaking his friend’s hand. ‘But under any other circumstances, for you know how sorry I am about Gervase.’

Captain Harry Stavely, a slight, serious, sandy-haired man, who had so recently and reluctantly sold out of the Rifle Brigade on the death of his brother, nodded.

‘I suppose it was always on the cards. What a fellow he was for being either up in the clouds or down in the black depths: no in-between for Ger!’

Then he looked at his tall friend and smiled. ‘But it is good to see you too, Serle, for like me you will be wishing yourself back in Spain trouncing the French, rather than living comfortably at home, which is something Mama and my sisters can’t understand in the least.’

‘I know just what you mean, for it would have been incredible to anyone else that I had cause for regret about selling out when I inherited the Rayven title and estates, yet I did. We never thought to be anything but soldiers, did we, Harry? And now we both have responsibilities of a different kind to shoulder.’

‘Yes, when Mama wrote to me telling me the news and begging me to return post haste, there was really no alternative. If only Ger had married earlier, had a family! But there, he always said he would settle down when he turned thirty, and had recently become engaged to a neighbour’s daughter, so that we all hoped he was about to turn over a new leaf. ’

‘You are quite sure it was not just an accident?’

‘He weighted his pockets down with stones,’ Harry said simply.

‘And he did not leave a note, saying why he took such a step?’

‘No, but I have already spoken to Miss Whately, and she told me Ger visited her the day before and talked wildly of not being worthy to marry her, and said he would never be free of the dreadful things he had done in the past. Pretty much the sort of thing he wrote to me in that last letter … but I am sure he could not have done anything very bad!’

‘He and George Rivers were part of Chase’s set, I believe?’ Rayven said.

‘He and Rivers were close from childhood, although I know little of his other friends for we have led very different lives. He certainly often mentioned Lord Chase. What is he like?’

‘Older and, report says, heading straight for the devil as fast as he can go. There are many unsavoury rumours about him, Harry, not least that he has revived some kind of Hellfire Club, who meet at his house near Kew.’

Harry whistled. ‘I suppose if Ger had been involved in something like that, it would account for his state of mind, although I confess I do not have the least idea of what they might do at such a club.’

‘Orgies , I am reliably informed. Food, drink, women and quasi-magic rites, as an excuse for general debauchery. They call themselves the Brethren, and Chase is the Master.’

‘Serle, you haven’t attended one, have you?’ demanded Harry, his eyes widening.

‘Not I, but although the participants are masked, there is no great secret about the identity of most of them. Byron, for one.’

‘It sounds highly unsavoury.’

‘I would have to agree with you, you old puritan, but would it be enough to account for your brother’s state of mind?’

‘I suppose it might, for he had fallen head over heels in love with Miss Whately, and clearly thought himself unworthy of her … Now I come to think of it, I remember him ages ago telling me in one of his letters, as if it were a great joke, that Rivers had sworn to abandon his old ways and turn over a new leaf on his marriage. When I called on him, however, he looked burnt to the socket, and I was sorry for his wife, who is a sweet, gentle creature.’

Harry’s lean cheeks acquired a hint of colour and Rayven eyed his friend thoughtfully.

‘Perhaps Ger was afraid that his own intentions to reform his way of life would have ended the same way,’ he suggested.

‘I expect that is it, and that what started out as larks and devilment soon took a darker turn, and it preyed on his mind,’ agreed Harry.

‘Well, let us not dwell on unhappy matters further, but go into the study and blow a cloud together, while you tell me all the news of our particular friends.’

‘How the rich live!’ Harry said, following him into the book-lined room and studying the effect of the rich crimson curtains and melancholy marble busts.

‘It is a trifle gloomy for my taste, but I don’t know quite what to do about it. The house itself is well enough, but the furnishings are old-fashioned and dark. I dare say it needs a woman’s touch to bring it up to date. Which reminds me, did Vance ever make an honest woman of his plump senorita?’

‘An honest woman?’ exclaimed Harry with a laugh. ‘Why, it turned out that she had a husband alive already in another regiment …’