After luncheon, Saunton strolled to the library to continue writing the draft of his speech. Thoughts of Amelia distracted him again. He forced them out of his mind and wrote with a steady hand, until the candles needed to be lit late in the afternoon. He returned the crow’s quill to its stand and put the pages of his speech into a leather folder.
Saunton marched to the window across the oriental hand woven carpet with colors of blood-red, royal blue and cream. Daylight faded. The sickle moon glowed low on the horizon. By now his ward should have returned with Miss Harrington and his sisters. Suppose something untoward had occurred. One of the children might have been lost in the crowd at the bazaar. A thief could have attacked Amelia. Her coachman might have lost control of the horses and –. Before his imagination concocted more alarming scenes, Amelia’s coach drew up outside her house.
His sisters tumbled out of the carriage. In the half-light, he saw something wriggling in Cassie’s arms. Miss Harrington, joined them on the broad expanse of pavement. A footman removed a cage from the carriage.
Saunton hoped it did not contain a destructive monkey.
Amelia joined the others holding a leash attached to a small dog’s collar.
The footman reached into the coach and removed a smaller cage which he gave to Diana.
* * *
The butler opened the library door, his face expressionless as he glanced at Peter Bellamy, who had come to call on the countess. About to announce them, Saunton’s excited sisters dodged around Yates followed by Amelia and Miss Harrington, who walked at a sedate pace. They ignored their mother’s guest.
Sophie clutched the earl’s hand. “Saunton, you will love my parrot.”
Cassie put a brown and white King Charles spaniel on the floor. “Saunton, look at my dear little puppy.” Her face glowed.
Diana skipped towards him. “You can’t guess what Miss Carstairs bought for me.” She licked her lips. “And she took us to Gunters to have ice cream.”
“Where is the countess?” he asked Yates.
“In the small drawing room, my lord.”
Cassie scooped up her puppy.
Saunton glared at the small puddle on the carpet. Without doubt Amelia would regret her ill-judged generosity.
Accompanied by the children, he and Amelia made their way to the small drawing room.
Hortense put her embroidery frame down. “Dearests,” she murmured. “Lud, Miss Carstairs, did you buy that dog?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Amelia picked up her full-grown King Charles spaniel.
“His name is Scamp,” Cassie announced. “He and my puppy will be very good friends.”
Saunton relaxed while he watched Amelia stroke her pet whose large brown eyes looked adoringly at her.
“Saunton.” Hortense ignored her excited daughter’s voices. “Why did I never think of having a lap dog?”
“I don’t know, Mamma.”
“You should have given me one for Christmas.”
He laughed. “Gladly, if I guessed you wanted one.”
“A more devoted son might have guessed. I must have a pug. Sir Peter will take me to choose one tomorrow.”
Saunton noticed the baronet, a somewhat corpulent gentleman, seated on a chair on the furthest side of the room.
“Delighted to be of service to her ladyship.” Peter Bellamy stood, bowed and sat down again. “Used to be one of Lady Hortense’s beaux. Your mother, my lord, was a toast of the town, an incomparable beauty.”
Saunton visualised her portrait painted soon after her marriage, now sold along with other treasures. Yes, Mamma had deserved the acclaim.
“You exaggerate, Sir Peter,” Lady Hortense protested.
“Saunton, look at Polly,” Diana insisted.
He picked up the cage and placed it on a pier table. The grey parrot shuffled along its perch towards his hand very close to its brass prison bars. Polly lowered its head. Small bright eyes intent on his fingers the bird thrust its open beak through them. Saunton removed his hand. “Sweetheart, your parrot tried to bite me. Its beak could cut off your little finger. You can’t keep such an unsuitable pet.”
“I want to keep him. Poor Polly is sorry,” Sophie gabbled, her eyes swamped with tears. “He won’t bite me. Look. Here, pretty Polly.” The parrot closed its vicious beak and half shut its eyes.
Sophie thrust a dimpled finger through the bars and touched the bird’s head. “See, we love each other.”
“Saunton, don’t be so unkind. You can see the creature won’t harm Sophie. She has my permission to keep him. If he learns to talk it will be very amusing,” Hortense said.
“Very well, but don’t blame me if it wounds Sophie.” He succumbed to Diana’s demand to admire her pair of canaries. Across the top of her head he smiled at Amelia. “I like your dog.”
“I have always wanted a dog but Grandmamma would not allow me to have one.” She stroked Scamp’s head. “He will keep me company when you and your family leave at the end of the season.”
He stood still, all his attention focussed on her. Speech deserted him. He never wanted her to be lonely.
Immaculate in his dark blue coat and pale yellow pantaloons Sir Peter stood. “My lady, may I call for you in my phaeton at eleven o’clock tomorrow morning?”
“Yes, you may.”
“If you agree we shall go to the bazaar to choose your pug.”
“How kind of you, Sir Peter.”
“Sir Peter beamed at everyone. “My lady, Miss Carstairs, children, good day to you.”
Saunton barely had time to notice the sparkle in his mother’s eyes, and the pretty colour in her cheeks when the gentleman left.
“May we speak in private,” Amelia asked him.
“Alone?”
“No, with Blythe in attendance, before dinner after I have changed into an evening gown.”
* * *
Seated at her desk, when Saunton entered the library and sat on a chair opposite her Amelia spoke first.
“I shall come straight to the point. I visited my mother.”
“Please forgive me if I am mistaken. Did you not tell me you had decided not to further your acquaintance with Mrs Redmayne?”
“Yes, I did,” Amelia faltered. She glanced at Blythe who sat out of earshot near the window.
Saunton looked down his narrow nose. “Please tell me why you went to see her.”
“I have to decide what to do with my grandmother’s clothes and papers, books and other possessions. I examined her jewellery and chose the turquoise set Mr Bettismore gave to my grandmother when they married and some pieces to give to my mother, half-brother and sister.”
“To the children! Why?”
“Merely because we are related by blood, I gave a set to Edmund for his future bride and another for Belinda to wear on her wedding day.”
“You are generous.”
She shrugged. “After Mamma and I conversed, I instructed Mr Leigh to sell the farm on her behalf and to find a suitable house for her in London.”
“Why?”
“My grandmother should have provided for her.”
“I agree, but you have already given your mother a generous allowance. She can afford to rent a house in London.”
“Only a modest one in an unfashionable part of town and, if the farmland is poor, the sale will not add much to her income.”
Saunton glanced at Blythe. “Miss Carstairs, may we speak in private?”
She titled her chin. “You insisted I employ Mrs Deane. Although I do not intend to discuss certain matters in her presence, I prefer to observe the proprieties which you insisted upon. Blythe, from whom I have few secrets, will stay here.”
* * *
Saunton frowned. Did he glimpse amusement in Amelia’s eyes when she refused to dismiss Blythe? Was she using words instead of rapiers to fence with him? “Yes, I remember what I said but-”
“But what?” Amelia looked him full in the face. “Were you about to say I need a chaperone so no gentleman may take advantage of me?”
About to say she should trust her guardian, he remained silent. She had good reason to mistrust him but could not reassure her in Blythe’s presence. Saunton wanted to apologise once more, tell her he would never kiss her again unless she wished him to. No, confound it, even if she wanted him to he would never take her in his arms again, would he?
“Would you and my other trustees release the funds for me to buy a house for my mother?”
Suppose Mrs Redmayne’s only interest in his vulnerable ward was mercenary. He did not want Amelia to be hurt. “I shall consult Syddon and Armstrong.”
“But will you agree?”
He hesitated.
“If you don’t, I shall sell the rest of Grandmamma’s jewellery and buy a house with the proceeds.”
Damn it, only yesterday the idea of her spreading her wings pleased him, but he did not want her to fly too far, too fast.
“There is an alternative. You could rent a house for her right now and after Bettismore Square is completed then allow Mrs Redmayne to occupy one of the houses.”
A smile replaced the anxious look on her face. “What an excellent idea.”
“I am glad you approve, but there is something else for you to consider.”
“What?”
“Do you intend to acknowledge your connection with Mrs Redmayne?” Amelia opened her mouth to speak; he raised a hand to silence her. “How old are your brother and sister?”
She leaned forward and gazed at him across the tidy desk. “Edmund is ten and Belinda is eight, but what do their ages signify?”
“Even if you and your mother don’t make your relationship public, it would be unfair to swear your brother and sister to secrecy.”
Amelia glanced at Blythe then back to him. “My mother has been foolish in the past but I am not ashamed of her. In our society, how many people have the courage to marry for love?” Amelia’s eyes blazed. “Grandmamma and my father-in law, who refuses to acknowledge me, are the cause of my mother’s misfortune. I intend to make some reparation.”
He admired her but feared for her. “At what cost? Mrs Redmayne cannot add to your consequence. If it is known she is your mother, you might be excluded from society, and your prospects of making a good marriage would decrease.”
“Perhaps you are right about the damage to my position if it becomes known who my mother was. But my grandmother’s lie fooled me. The ton will gossip, but nothing about my maternal ancestry has changed. On my mother’s side of the family my great-grandparents and grandmother were tradesmen and women. I have not done anything shameful so I would be a dunce if I allowed an old scandal to blight my life. Anyway, I am unlikely to be shunned.”
Saunton stood and bowed. “I applaud your good sense.”
“Thank you.” She smoothed her pale blue silk gown. She beckoned to her dresser. “Come, Blythe.”
Alone, Saunton sighed. Who is the fool? Am I a coward. Life takes many unanticipated twists and turns. To reassure her, should he have said he cared nothing about her maternal ancestry?
* * *
A week later, curiosity and a desire to become better acquainted with Mrs Redmayne and meet her half-brother and sister impelled Amelia to visit her again at the Wellington Arms.
At the threshold of the parlour she hesitated at the sight of two children. She looked around and saw her Mrs Redmayne seated opposite her. “Good day to you, ma’am.”
Mrs Redmayne smiled and gestured towards the boy and girl who were seated at the table occupied by a jigsaw. “Amelia, may I introduce you to your brother and sister? Edmund, Belinda, your sister has come to see us.”
Edmund’s bow and Belinda’s curtsey were graceful. Whatever else the children lacked in their lives their manners had not suffered.
“I am very pleased to meet you.” She looked down at her brother’s hair the colour of a horse chestnut and her sister’s honey coloured curls. Compared to the Saunton children, they were too thin, but good food would soon remedy that.
Belinda eyed the parcels Amelia had put on the table. Unlike Cassie, questions did not bubble out of her. Amelia handed two to Edmund and two to Belinda.
“Oh!” breathed Edmund when he unwrapped one of his gifts. “Soldiers. Toy soldiers. I have always wanted some but-” He flushed.
More than likely he intended to say his parents could never have afforded to buy them.
Belinda jumped up and down with excitement. “Thank you for my doll and her clothes, Miss Carstairs.”
“Amelia, not Miss Carstairs, I am your sister.”
“Are you really our sister?” asked Belinda, her eyes wide open.
Amelia blinked. Belinda’s reply made another attack on those stone walls of her heart.
Belinda cuddled her doll. “I love her. What is her name?”
Amelia shook her head. “You may give her a special one.” She transferred her attention to her mother. “I have some good news for you, ma’am.”
“Why did you call Mamma, ma’am? She is your mother,” Belinda said.
“Yes, of course she is. I shall call her Mother,” she said reluctantly in order not to confuse the child.
“Children, take your toys into the bedroom while Amelia and I talk.”
Edmund and Belinda picked up the two unopened parcels and left the room without protest.
“I hope Edmund will like his books.”
Mrs Redmayne laughed. “I am sure they will. Edmund enjoys reading, and I know Belinda will treasure her doll. It is very good of you to be so generous. Coffee, a glass of wine, perhaps?”
“No thank you. I came to meet my brother and sister and tell you my news. I have engaged an architect to design houses around a square on some land I own south of Hyde Park. When the project is completed, I shall give you one of the properties.”
“You are so kind that I don’t know how to thank you enough.”
“There is no need to.
“May I ask how long it will take?”
“I am not sure. In the meantime, my secretary has found a house in Half Moon Street, which he thinks is suitable for you. It has a drawing room, a dining parlour and a book room suitable for a schoolroom. It also has four bedrooms and servants’ rooms on the third floor. There is a large kitchen and a laundry and I don’t know what else. Mr Leigh thinks you would be comfortable there.”
Her mother’s eyes shone. She took deep breaths. “How can I ever thank you? Not only are you my daughter, you are also a Good Samaritan, a true Christian. You could blame me for so much but you have not and –” Her voice broke.
“I could not allow you to continue to live in poverty. A daughter has a duty to her parents.” Wary of sentiment Amelia spoke more coldly than she intended to. “If it is convenient, Mr Leigh will take you to see the house this afternoon. If you like it you may move in within a few days. For now, there is more than enough furniture in the attics at my house for your use, and I can provide linen and other necessities. Later you may furnish it according to your taste. Shall I send Blythe to sit with the children while you view the property?”
“Yes, yes please. I can never thank you enough.”
“There is no need. I have already said it is my duty to ensure you are provided for.” She stood. “May I say good day to Edmund and Belinda?”
“Yes, of course you may.” Her mother opened the bedroom door. “Children, come and say goodbye to your sister.”
Their eyes glowing with pleasure, Edmund and Belinda bowed and curtsied. Amelia bent to give each of them a hug. “No need for such formality.”
Edmund smiled at her and Belinda kissed her cheek with lips soft as rose petals.
“Amelia.”
“Mother?” she asked the word strange on her tongue.
“Does Mr Leigh know who I am?”
“No, but you may tell him if you wish.”
“I shall leave it up to you. Gossip can be cruel. I don’t want to jeopardise your position.”
“Thank you for your consideration.” Perhaps they would forge a close bond in the future.