Page 18 of The Book of Lost Stories

Quite Ravish’d

She gave a gasp of anguish and betrayal …

her head swam dizzily, and she might have fallen, had not Simon de Lombard’s strong arms drawn her back from the brink into the darkness.

His warm breath stirred her hair … he held her pressed close, and it seemed to her disordered fancy that their hearts beat to the same rhythm, as though they were one.

Ravish’d by Cruel Fate by ORLANDO brOWNE

If Alys had feared that her friend might have turned into a sophisticated and worldly young matron in the three years since she had last seen her, any such idea was soon banished.

Nell might now be fashionably dressed and move with confidence in society, but underneath the veneer lay the sweet-natured and sensitive girl of old.

Indeed, at three and twenty she looked very little different, except that her hair was cropped and dressed in feathery curls around her head, and her figure, though still slight, had attained some womanly curves.

There was, however, a new sadness shadowing the blue of her eyes when she thought herself unobserved, that Alys thought was not entirely due to her so-far unfulfilled longing for motherhood.

At breakfast, which was taken at such a late hour that country-bred Alys was quite famished, Nell fed Pug all kinds of unsuitable titbits, while expounding on the entertainments in store for her friend.

‘Usually I would call on my acquaintances or receive morning callers, and then perhaps walk or drive in the park, visit the shops, go to routs, balls and parties, suppers, the theatre … But the season has not yet begun, so London is very thin of company. We should still be in Cheshire ourselves had not George had business in Town.’

‘But that is all to the good, for I do not mean you to launch me into society, you know,’ Alys said, quite dazed.

‘How your friends would stare to see you in company with such a dowd, too! No, I thank you, but I will be more than occupied in seeing the sights, attending to business and arranging where Miss Grimshaw and I are to live. And I must start another novel shortly, for I cannot rest on my laurels when it is now my livelihood.’

‘But I am relying on you to give me your company when the season starts, for although I have many acquaintances, I have no particular friend with whom I can laugh and share secrets as we do,’ Nell said plaintively.

‘I have been so looking forward to it, and intend pointing out all the lions to you, like the wicked but handsome Lord Byron.’

‘I would be curious to see the poet, I admit.’

‘And so you shall, for when it becomes known that I have a friend staying with me you will be included in many invitations. I am afraid obtaining vouchers for Almack’s may be beyond your reach, however, for they are very particular indeed.’

Alys laughed. ‘I should think not! And once your acquaintances discover my lack of wealth and family connections, they will probably think me quite beneath their touch.’

‘If I do not think it, I don’t see why they should. Besides, you do have perfectly unexceptional relations, even if they do not acknowledge you. As to your lack of wealth, you need not mention it at all, for no one will be ill-bred enough to ask you directly.’

‘I will not have to mention it, for one look at me will say it all, as it did to Lord Rayven yesterday. I could see he thought me a poor, shabby-genteel thing.’

‘But he did rescue you,’ pointed out Nell, to whom she had briefly related the story of their accident the evening before, to account for their late arrival. ‘I think that is quite romantic.’

‘There is nothing remotely romantic about Lord Rayven, and his manner of speaking to me left so much to be desired that I had much rather he had left me in the coach! But his friend seemed pleasant enough: a Captain Harry Stavely, formerly of the Rifle Brigade. I wondered if he might be a relative of your neighbours in Cheshire, for are they not called Stavely?’

‘Harry Stavely?’ To Alys’s surprise, Nell’s cheeks turned a becoming shade of pink and she looked slightly self-conscious.

‘Why … yes, he is Gervase Stavely’s brother and so has now inherited the estate.

He rode over several times to speak to George about his brother this winter, for they were friends from childhood, you know, and George was very cut up about his death. Is Mr Stavely staying in Town, then?’

‘That I cannot tell you, for I had little conversation with either of them. And,’ Alys added, ‘I would not feed Pug with any more sugar. He has just been sick on the carpet.’

‘Poor little thing!’ cooed Nell. ‘But my page will take him for a walk and then he will feel better.’

‘How grand you are, with a page,’ Alys said, when a gap-toothed child in livery had removed the little dog, ‘even if he is not the most prepossessing of boys.’

‘Oh, Sammy will improve in appearance in no time, with good feeding. I don’t think he will ever be tall enough to become a footman, but already he is inches taller than when he came in.’

‘ Came in? ’

‘To the Benevolent Ladies Society, an evangelical group who take small children from the worst back-slums – mostly girls, but a few boys, too – and lodge them at a house near Kew. It is in the charge of a respectable dame and they are taught the manners and skills they will need to go into service. Then we try and find positions for them, like Sammy.’

‘I did not know you were of an evangelical turn of mind, Nell.’

‘I am not really, except I wished to help others less fortunately circumstanced than myself, especially children, and joining the Benevolent Ladies enabled me to do that.’

‘Are they orphans?’

‘Some of them, but others are brought by their parents, desperate for their child to have a better life than they themselves can offer. I sometimes go out to Kew to visit them and take clothing and other necessities, so you could accompany me one day, if you wished.’

‘I would like that very much, Nell,’ Alys said, smiling warmly at her friend. ‘Much more than going into society, I assure you.’

‘But, like me, you can do both. Alys, do say that you will sometimes accompany me to my engagements,’ coaxed Nell.

Alys grimaced. ‘Well, I suppose a little town polish would not come amiss, but I would first have to smarten myself up a bit and, as you know, my resources are limited, or I would have gone into half-mourning by now.’

‘I do not think you could dance in half-mourning, so perhaps, since no one here knows the precise date of your bereavement, you might wear colours again?’ suggested Nell.

‘I have no objection to abandoning my mourning entirely, but I must tell you that I cannot dance.’

‘I will teach you, for you might want to stand up occasionally. But let us first discuss the attaining of a suitable wardrobe for—’

‘—a spinster of limited means!’ interjected Alys.

‘No, for a young lady making her debut in society,’ Nell amended firmly.

‘Not so very young and with no desire to catch a husband, which I imagine makes me unique.’

‘But sensible.’ Nell’s face clouded over.

‘Mr Rivers bade me welcome very civilly yesterday,’ Alys said carefully. ‘He does not usually breakfast with you?’

The previous evening when she had arrived, her host had been on his way out of the house, but stayed long enough to say everything that was polite.

Alys had been shocked to see his once rubicund face now haggard, his eyes sunk into dark sockets, hardly recognizing the cheerful young bridegroom she had briefly met three years before when they had visited the Dower House.

‘No, he … he is out a lot, and when he is at home he usually shuts himself into the library. That seems to be the way of married couples in his set: they barely clap eyes on each other from one day to the next,’ Nell said bitterly.

Alys did not press her yet. She could perceive that her friend was not happy, but hoped that in time she would confide fully in her.

‘Well, now you have me for company, Nell.’

Nell brightened. ‘Yes, and I am sure we will have such fun! I’ve had a capital idea of how to replenish your wardrobe, too, if you do not dislike it.

You know I have a deal of pin money, and I am afraid I am always too inclined to buy whatever gowns and bonnets take my fancy, without thought of whether or not they will become me.

And then, of course, I cannot wear them and it seems a sad waste.

But our colouring is so different that what does not suit me may well suit you.

And we are much of a size, except that you are taller.

But then, gowns can be let down, or have extra flounces and trimming added, after all. ’

‘I am not so proud as to dislike the idea, if you are sure you mean it when you say they are things that do not become you?’

But when Nell’s wardrobe was displayed to her, it was clear that she had spoken the truth and was not merely trying to do her friend a kindness.

‘You seem to have favoured shades of sea green,’ she said, peacocking before the mirror in a spotted muslin dress trimmed with small flat rosettes.

‘Yes. I can’t think what came over me, and not just once, either, but several times. That dress looks so much better on you than it ever did on me, or it would if it were long enough. Jane, will it let down, do you think?’

‘It will, and I will do it for the young lady in a trice,’ agreed her maid, who had thrown herself into weeding out the garments that ill became her mistress with enthusiasm. ‘Indeed, I will set about the alterations this very day.’

‘You are very good. Thank you,’ Alys said gratefully.

‘It will be a pleasure, miss.’

Nell surveyed the array with some satisfaction. ‘Striped walking dress and spencer – and dove grey does become you, while it makes me look like a ghost – muslins, the Norwich shawl that was much too bright for my colouring, but so pretty. The blue silk ball gown that made me look like whey—’

‘Indeed, Nell, I do not see how I would need anything else!’ Alys said, overwhelmed.

‘Oh, this is nothing, for you will need quite an extensive wardrobe, besides slippers, sandals, silk stockings, gloves … the list is endless. So now, let us go to that popular bazaar where we can obtain that kind of thing at very little cost.’

‘The bazaar?’

‘It is the most wonderful emporium, and though it is not much frequented by the ton , a positive Aladdin’s cave of treasures.’

‘That sounds just the thing, but I must not spend too much money until I have spoken to Mr Grimshaw, Letty’s nephew, who has been handling my business affairs.

If you recall, he is to visit tomorrow to lay his accounts before me, and then I will have a better idea of how I am fixed.

I expect he will bring the gold medallion with him, if Letty has unsewn it from her stays by now. ’

Nell giggled. ‘I think she has been pressed bosom to bosom with Neptune for long enough!’

‘Well, she would do it. I must see about returning it to my grandfather.’

‘It is probably very valuable, although it does not sound like the sort of ornament you would want to wear.’

‘All the more reason to return it, for I am very sure I have no right to its possession. I will show it to you when Thomas Grimshaw brings it. He may carry back with him to Letty the revised last chapter of my new book, to be copied out, and then see if he can get a good price from the Minerva Press for it.’

‘Oh, Alys, you are so clever, and I quite burst to tell everyone that you are a famous author, although I know I must not. But when people are trying to guess who this Orlando Browne might be – and always a man, as though a woman could not do such a thing! – then sometimes I have to keep my lips pressed together.’

‘I pray you continue to do so. If I decide to live in some small quiet town, as I am inclined to do, then I will be thought quite beyond the pale if I am known as the infamous author of such shocking novels as Ravish’d by Cruel Fate !’

‘Then let us go and be ravish’d by fashion instead,’ said Nell gaily, and they went out into the weak February sunshine to where the carriage awaited them.