“Well I’m not alone, am I?” retorted Prudence “I have you with me.”
Hester tutted; but sighed and got her bonnet. Miss Pru was quite capable of taking into her head to go without any escort; and Joseph was no help as he must needs keep the chaise ready to come home in, walking the horses so they would not take cold. The day was foggy as it seemed to be so often of late, a curiously dry fog, and the sun a red and unprepossessing orb through it.
Prudence soon found that Bond Street without an obvious male escort like George was a different proposition on her own. Those ladies with apparent footmen to carry their purchases, or husbands or fathers, even obvious dowager mothers, met with no inconvenience; whereas Prudence became the object of observation for a number of men dressed – or overdressed – in the height of fashion who gazed at her through quizzing glasses.
The one who came out of a door almost level with her and put his arm around her waist made Prudence give a little cry.
“Come now, pretty wench do not be startled,” said the man, well into middle years and creaking at the waist from his much needed Cumberland corset, “You look to be short of an escort; and I am happy to oblige.”
Prudence was not frozen with inaction for long.
She turned towards him – at which he leered – and slapped him across the face as hard as she could.
He gave a cry of shock and fell back.
“Miss Blenkinsop,”
She recognised the sardonic voice.
“Alverston!” she gasped in relief.
“You appear to have lost your chaperone
,” said Alverston, “might I offer you my arm and protection?”
“I – thank you
,” said Prudence taking the proffered arm, “that was a most unpleasant experience.”
“But my good girl, what did you expect in
Bond Street?” drawled Alverston “This
is
the haunt of the Bond Street Beau after all; where are Mr and Mrs Knightley?”
“I seem to have found less a Bond Street Beau and more a
Bond Street Bogey-man,” said Prudence, “I did not wish to disturb them; Emma is a trifle indisposed and of course I would not disturb George, but I wished to effect some repairs to a gown…. I beg your pardon, I am babbling.”
“You little idiot!” said Alverston.
“Well My Lord,” said Prudence, with some asperity, “you are one of the few people who might with justice use a word like ‘little’ in relation to me; but on what grounds do you call me idiot?”
“For not realising, you green little widgeon, that this is
London and it is not a safe place like Harrogate or whatever is your nearest large town,” said Alverston viciously. “I will accompany you to make your purchase and I will see you back home.”
“I do thank you for coming to my aid sir, but there is no need to put yourself out
,” said Prudence stiffly.
“There is every reason!” said Alverston “A girl without
protection might be given any kind of insult; and your maid unable to do a thing. That old roué is but one! Slow, and easily disconcerted! What if two or three of the likes of those ones over there wished to make sport of you?”
“Those Bartholomew Babies?” said Prudence in scorn “Why would they want to make game of me? And – surely he was intoxicated to wish to lay hands on me?”
Alverston laughed. It was not a pleasant laugh.
“No you silly girl. He was not intoxicated – well not more than usual – and you are not safe alone. Just trust me.”
Prudence was debating whether he was being overbearing or whether he had a point when one of the dandies called out,
“Hey, Alverston, why should you get the lightskirt? Leave us a few!”
“Excuse me,” said Alverston, thrusting Prudence rudely into a shop doorway. He walked with a few incisive steps to the man who had made the remark and floored him with a neat left to the chin. He spoke to the open mouthed companion of the now unconscious wag.
“When he comes to
,” he said, “tell him I don’t like remarks like that about the greener of my country connections who don’t yet know what’s what. If he wishes to seek me out I shall be happy to meet him in Hyde Park at his convenience.”
He strode away.
“That was what I think they call a wisty castor,” said Prudence, trying to sound intelligent. He blinked.
“
They
might well;
you
, my girl, on the other hand, should never be referring to such things by any terms,” he said. “Well you ain’t swooning anyhow.”
“Why should I?” said Prudence “It’s a fairly pointless thing to do. Did you actually offer to fight a duel over my honour? And did he just imply what I THINK he implied about me?”
“Yes on both counts,” snapped the marquess “Now let us purchase your necessary requirements and leave.”
He was pleasantly surprised in how quickly Prudence made her purchase, knowing exactly what she wanted and not dithering in the haberdasher’s shop. He took her arm to see her back to the chaise,
Hester following quietly behind.
“I’m sorry to cause you trouble
,” said Prudence as she offered her hand to take leave of him, “I didn’t know that it would not be sufficient escort to have only my maid. I have been accustomed to go anywhere with either Hester or Joseph you know; especially as I have been running the house since I was scarce in double figures.”
“You were ill named
,” said Alverston, “Prudence is the last thing you display! Running your father’s house in provincial Yorkshire is one thing, but here you are nothing but a green girl!”
“So you said, sir; several times
,” said Prudence with spirit, “and you have made your point that I was uninformed and foolish in making assumptions! But there is no need to ring a peal over me like that, as though I were your nephew! I accept your criticism; and I thank you for your defence of me, and I hope that fribble won’t want to duel with you, though I should think unless he’s got more hair than wit he should realise that it’s probably a bad idea to fight a man sure enough of himself to suggest it.”
Alverston grinned.
“I am accounted fair with a sword and deadly with pistols,” he said. “And my weight’s on my side with sword. And I should not even be discussing this with a lady!”
“We had established my lack of ability to swoon
,” said Prudence tentatively.
“So we had
,” said Alverston. “He won’t fight. But in honour I had to offer to meet him if he did want to. And speaking of honour, I want you to give me your word of honour
not
to go gallivanting around unattended again.”
“
Not
that it’s any of your business to demand it,” said Prudence with asperity.
He put a long, hard finger under her chin and turned her face up to regard him. He seemed very large suddenly to Prudence.
“Oh but it is my business, Miss Blenkinsop,” he said, “I have retrieved your honour; so something of it belongs to me.”
She considered that, wondering why her knees seemed quite shaky all of a sudden; and she put out a hand to lean on the chaise.
“In which case I give you my word,” she said, “unless an emergency arises that all in the house are ill and I must seek out a doctor, or some such.”
He laughed.
“Well you may be unwomanly in your lack of the vapours but you are womanly enough to make a qualification of a promise; and honest enough too,” he added. “I will see you at the assembly tonight?”
There was a public assembly that evening which the Knightleys and Prudence were to attend, another reason for leaving Emma to rest.
“Yes My Lord, if you are to attend,” said Prudence, “and you may judge the efficacy of the way I use my purchases.”
“I shall look out for the ribbon; I am sure I shall recognise the colour
,” said Alverston, handing her into the coach.
Prudence lay back in the seat with a sigh of relief; and as the chaise bowled away remarked to
Hester,
“I feel quite done up,
Hester! I fear the unpleasantness has taken it out of me; I am quite weak at the knees!”
“Eeh, well, that's as may be
,” said Hester, “happen ‘twere something quite different had that effect, think on”
“Why
Hester, what can you mean?” asked Prudence.
Hester
gave an eloquent but not very helpful sniff and got out her knitting from her capacious reticule.
“Happen
,” she said, “It was His Lordship gave you
that
feeling and sithee, it’s t’ way to return by weeping cross.”
Chapter 14
The organisers of the public Ball were perhaps as disconcerted as flattered that the Marquess of Alverston had applied for a ticket; and were happy to supply him with one. There may perhaps have been some private misgivings that a Pink of the Ton might be intending to amuse himself by, in some respect, causing mayhem at the ball; and the thought – perhaps in some relief – that he would be unlikely to turn up until a fashionably late hour in any case.
Alverston turned up at the unfashionably early hour of nine thirty; at which point Prudence had already started to assume that something had prevented him from coming and was telling herself that she had no reason to be disappointed because after all, he was nothing but an occasional chance acquaintance to whom she owed a number of favours that more than outweighed their initial rather stormy meeting.
She had therefore been determinedly enjoying herself and had given up expecting him when he arrived at her elbow with a rather terse
“Do you dance Miss Blenkinsop?”
This so tickled her sense of the ridiculous that she gave a gurgle of mirth.
“My Lord, if I did not, I should be rather foolish to attend a ball would I not?” she said.
“Well we already established that you can be foolish on occasion,” said Alverston cheerfully, “I believe that was my point.”
“Were we then playing for points?” asked Prudence “I do like to know the rules when I play games.”
“The rule is, you do what I tell you and dance with me,” said Alverston.
“You are quite the rudest and most overbearing man I have ever met
,” said Prudence as she obediently took his hand, “in your speech that is; and paradoxically kind in your actions.”
“Madam, you have wounded me to the quick
,” said Alverston solemnly. Prudence glanced up; his eyes were twinkling, “I cannot possibly permit you to spoil my reputation by calling me kind.”
She chuckled.
“Then I shall endeavour to tell everyone that you are rag-mannered, ill of temper and a positive ogre,” she said.
“Is that anything like a er bogey-man?” he asked.
“Certainly not!” declared Prudence “A bogey-man is decidedly unpleasant, one who will do anything to hurt people; an ogre is merely a bad tempered giant that eats people. Have you forgotten all the fairy stories your nurse read you?”
“Apparently
,” said Alverston. “Thank you for the fine distinction. You are very good with the fine distinctions; that was merely a set-down not a desire to insult me, I perceive it now.”
“Quite so, My Lord
,” said Prudence demurely.
“And may I say, if you had not told me that you would be wearing the gown with the ribbon that you purchased, I should not have known it was anything but a new gown trimmed purposefully
,” Alverston added, glancing down at the spray of orange and apricot ribbon flowers that decorated the skirt of the sage green muslin gown. It was, after all, Prudence’s favourite colour. “You are very skilled – and I have to say nimble to have achieved such in so short a time – to make those flowers.”
Prudence flushed, pleased.
“Thank you My Lord; it is one of the few needlework accomplishments in which I excel more than my maid; for Hester is vastly better than I at most embroidery, knitting and other crafts. And the speed of execution is because I made the flowers and she sewed them on. ”
“And you did not have to tell me that either
,” he said. “How did it come to be damaged?”
She gave a rueful laugh.
“Oh this foolish green girl stood on the skirt because I was trying it on, and there was someone at the door and I ran downstairs, and fell over my own skirt because I am not used yet to Cousin John’s steep staircase; for George was out and I thought Emma might wish some support if it were Mr Alver – not that she needs support, but it is to protect his good name as well as hers. It was but the tickets for this evening being delivered so I was quite cross with myself!” she added. “And then I had to spend the rest of the day darning it; and I might either choose another or decorate it to hide the rent. Which was why I went shopping this morning. I had enough ribbon over – I thought I should – to put a spray on the bodice as well which makes it look more as though it were meant to be. I can’t abide waste, you know; and I have not yet worn this gown save to try it on.”