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“Well, my lord?”
“My valet appears to have quitted the i
“That is very singular behaviour!”
“I confess I ca
“And keep this assembly waiting on the man’s pleasure? I think not, my lord.” The coroner stared meditatively at his clerk, whose pen hovered in midair, awaiting direction. “I have no choice but to suspend this proceeding, until such time as all the testimony regarding the death of Flora Bastable has been heard. Inquest adjourned!”
• • •
“Jane,” Lord Harold said hurriedly as we met near the door, “I must not stay. Captain Austen, my thanks for your support of your sister this afternoon. It has been a trying few hours.”
“But less troubling than it might have been — thanks to the American,” Frank replied.
“You believe so? I ca
“If it is within my power—”
“Will you take a horse from the i
“Gladly, my lord, once I have seen my sister safe in Castle Square.”
“I am perfectly capable of effecting the walk in solitude,” I retorted drily. “Whither are you bound, Lord Harold?”
“I hardly know.” He raised bleak grey eyes to my own. “I must go after Orlando. I am responsible for the man, and he is more than valet; I count him among my friends. His flight is natural in one afraid — but it must look damnably like guilt to those unacquainted with his character. If you were in fear for your life, Jane — and possessed no private equipage, no gentleman’s claim upon society, and very little coin — how should you proceed? What course must I set?”
“That depends,” I said slowly, “upon your object, my lord. Do you mean to find Orlando, and subject him to the law — or allow him to go free?”
Chapter 27
The Usefulness of Brothers
5 November 1808, cont.
“And so your rakehell Corinthian, Lord Devil-May-Care, has come to grief at last!” my mother declared as I seated myself at the di
“Has word of the proceedings sped through town?” I enquired, as she handed me a dish of potatoes.
“Folk are all but shouting it from the very walls! I had the story of Madame Clarisse, whose establishment I had occasion to visit, once you were gone out to the Coach & Horses. She learned it of her drover, who had chanced to look into the Coach’s public room for a tankard of ale.”
“I have an idea that the drover’s story derives more from his ale, than from anything approaching the truth.”
Mary tittered from her position across the board.
“He knew enough to say that a young girl — no more than a child — was left for dead in the middle of a field, and not a body within miles but Lord Harold!” my mother returned indignantly. “There is nothing I abominate more than a man who has a straw damsel in keeping — unless it is one who sees fit to cut throats! I may only thank God — as I told Martha this morning — that your name was never joined to his! How your father should have blanched at a public scandal being visited upon his household! Not that we are such strangers to the magistracy — my poor sister, Mrs. Leigh-Perrot, having taught us what to expect of justice — but I ca
“That is because you are a woman of excellent understanding, Mamma — and so must equally discern how unlikely it should be for Lord Harold to have anything to do with that unfortunate maid’s murder.”
“I see nothing of the sort!” she cried. “He has sported with your interest in the most abominable ma
I stared at her archly. “Mamma! You have been indulging in dissipation! When we thought you prostrate upon your bed, you have only been reading novels! Where else can you have learned such a despicable cant expression?”
“Madame Clarisse is forever using it,” she replied unexpectedly, “and if one ca
“True enough. We all want excellent value for our coin. But I see no cause to mourn Lord Harold’s loss: I know him to be quite i
He is gone to Portsmouth on a matter of business.”
“Orders, I reckon,” she said darkly. “They will be sending him to Portugal again, and the St. Alban’s in want of coppering for her bottom. It’s a positive disgrace!”
I sought relief after di
“Sophia!” I said in surprise. “I had not looked for the pleasure of seeing you in Castle Square today! Pray come in and sit by the fire!”
“I may stay only long enough to take my leave of you, Jane.” She drew off her gloves with fretful, impatient movements. “You are well, I trust? James told me you were in attendance at the inquest today.”
“It seemed the least I could do for that unfortunate girl.” I led Mrs. Challoner into the parlour and closed the door behind us. “Are you leaving Southampton, then?”
“Ernesto — the Conte da Silva — quits Netley for London tonight, and I shall be with him. You are to wish me joy, Jane. The Conte has begged my hand in marriage.”
For a lady charged with so weighty a communication, she lacked the appearance of happiness. I stared at her, all amazed. “The Conte? He is a formidable personage — and — decidedly handsome. .”
“—And possessed of a title, vast wealth, and estates considerable enough that I might be prevented from ever feeling want,” she concluded briskly.
“Though somewhat dull and ponderous at times, he is a man of integrity and worth, Jane. I do not love him — but I shall be able to respect him; and he shall never impinge upon that freedom I once talked so much of.”
“But, Sophia—” I sank into a chair. “You ca
“I command them in England, Jane — and I declare I detest the entire Kingdom! Portugal is my home, and Portugal is at war. I ca
“I see.”
“I ca
27
Jane Leigh-Perrot, the wife of Mrs. Austen’s brother, James LeighPerrot, was accused of shoplifting by a Bath merchant in 1799. She was held in Ilchester gaol for seven months, tried for a capital crime, and, had she been convicted, faced transportation to Australia or public execution — all for a card of lace. She was acquitted but remained subject to rumors of kleptomania ever after. — Editor’s note.