London wilted in the heat of a blazing July.
Polly, made lethargic with the combination of heat and the shock of the riot, kept largely to her room, whiling the time away reading or playing patience until Jessie told her sharply that she was turning into a recluse. She hardly cared. Each night her sleep was broken by s.n.a.t.c.hes of nightmare in which grasping hands captured her and dragged her away to unspeakable places.
She would wake in tears, gasping for breath, comforted only when she realised that she was safe in her bed. During the day she had no energy or inclination to go out and gradually the invitations decreased, although plenty of callers still came to see the Dowager Countess and sympathise with her over her ordeal. Polly had not seen Lord Henry since the night that he had rescued them and rumour had it that he had left London on some of the mysterious, unspecified business that seemed to take him away sometimes.
Polly"s heart ached. She had needed to see Henry again, wanted to thank him, and now she felt dissatisfied that matters had somehow ended in an unsatisfactory way.
Whilst Polly played patience and the Dowager Countess languished artistically, Lucille had persuaded Nicholas to make good his promise of a belated wedding trip to Scotland and the Lake District. Meanwhile, Peter Sea grave announced with bravado that he would be spending the summer at a very racy houseparty in Buckingham shire at the seat of Lord Weller den.
The Weller den carousals were almost legendary for their deep play and libidinous entertainments The Dowager Countess"s mouth turned down in a line of decided disapproval when she heard his plans, but she said nothing and Nicholas just commented that since Peter had evidently chosen to go to h.e.l.l, he might as well do it in fine style. Remembering Nicholas"s own h.e.l.l raising some years before his marriage, Polly thought that he had probably been wise in leaving Peter to follow his own course.
The Dowager Countess"s intention to spend the summer in Bright on had been quite overset by the shock of being caught up in the riot and she had decided to go instead to the Sea grave estates in Suffolk, where the country peace might help calm her shattered nerves.
"Are you sure that you wish to accompany me to Dilling ham, Polly?"
Lady Sea grave asked, a little dubiously, when Polly had said that she preferred to visit Suffolk rather than go to the south coast.
"The country is very slow and we could easily arrange for you to go to Bright on. The Bells are taking a house on the Steyne and I am sure they would be pleased to have your company, or perhaps the Da cres, but it must be your choice..."
She looked at her daughter with concern. Polly had been pale and listless since that horrible night, and her unwillingness to go out and shyness in company worried her mother.
Surely the girl needed entertainment and companionship rather than to hide herself away? She would never get over her experiences if she became a hermit!
Polly looked out at the dusty street and thought of the jostling, raffish Bright on crowds. The world and his wife would be at the seaside and there would be company and b.a.l.l.s and soirees. And at Dilling ham there would be the sun on the corn fields and the river tumbling to the cold sea and the call of the plovers. And, of course, there was the chance that Lord Henry March night might be in Wood bridge if his plans had not changed since that momentous day at Richmond.
"Most singular," Sir G.o.dfrey Or bison observed with disapproval, when acquainted with the Dowager Countess"s plan and the fact that his G.o.ddaughter proposed to immure herself in the middle of nowhere for the summer.
"Tell you what, Cecil ia, you"ll never get that girl married off if she persists in this eccentric behaviour! Why, I wash my hands of her!
She"ll die an old maid! " He warmed to his theme, sticking out his ample stomach in its embroidered waistcoat.
"And as for that foolish young puppy, Peter, I"ve heard he"s going to Weller den"s place at Wy combe," he growled.
"d.a.m.ned fool of a boy, wasting his substance on women and gambling.
Don"t know what this family is coming to, Cecil ia! Dashed bad form!"
In the event, Suffolk proved nowhere near as dull as Sir G.o.dfrey might have imagined. The arrival of the Sea graves and the Dit tons from London amplified the existing gentry families such as the Fan-ants and Fitzgeralds, and there were plenty of parties, outings and entertainments.
Indeed, it sometimes seemed that the whole of the Town had made its way to Suffolk that summer, and four weeks later, when Nicholas and Lucille returned early from their wedding trip, Dilling ham Court really came to life.
"Lucille is in a Delicate Condition," the Dowager Countess said coyly to Polly, the evening after her son and daughter-in-law had arrived back.
"She needs to rest, and what better place than here in the good country air?
And though I am desolated to be so soon a grandmother, I am delighted that she is enceinte. It is wonderful news!"
Polly had been visiting the Fitzgeralds when Lord and Lady Sea grave had returned and so was not able to see her sister-in-law until the next morning.
Lucille did indeed look a wan sight, propped up on her lacy pillows, her face a creamish white and her huge blue eyes shadowed with purple.
"I feel wretched," Lucille admitted in response to Polly"s anxious enquiry.
"We were having such a nice time as well--the scenery was so beautiful--then suddenly I began to feel hideously unwell and could hardly bear to be cooped up in the carriage all those hours!" She shrugged.
"Well, if this is marriage, I shall go and live alone in a cottage with a cat and my books!"
Polly laughed.
"I am so sorry you feel so miserable, Lucille! But think how many people you have made happy! Why, Mama is in seventh heaven, despite what she says about the ageing effect of being a grandmother, and as for Nicholas, he looks like the cat that got the cream!"
"Well, it"s all right for him!" the Earl"s ungrateful wife said crossly.
"He just had the enjoyable part to play! But I shall have my revenge by being a very difficult patient!"
"Have you had any breakfast?" Polly asked practically, looking round the bedroom and espying a plate of toast on the table.
Lucille shuddered.
"Your mama sent me some plain toast and dry biscuits--she said it was the best thing for the sickness, but the sight of it made me feel even worse!
Monstrous! And yesterday all I wanted was a pickled egg!"
Polly giggled.
"You will feel better soon, Lucille. Mama said so and you know how she is always right! Now, can I bring you anything before I go out? We are visiting the Dit tons this morning, so you may count that as my punishment and not think yourself the only one suffering!"
Lucille managed a pallid smile.
"Perhaps there are some benefits to being confined to bed, after all!
Come in and talk to me when you get back. In the meantime, I am determined to have Nicholas at my beck and call!"
Lucille"s interesting condition was the main topic of conversation amongst the ladies visiting the Dit- tons, but when the gentlemen came in from the stables, the gossip turned to news of the Dowager d.u.c.h.ess of Broxboume, who had had all her jewellery stolen in an audacious midnight raid on her London home the very night before the Dit tons left London.
"The Dowager d.u.c.h.ess slept through it all apparently," Mr Dit ton reported, with an excited laugh, "but now her Grace is refusing to leave London at all, for fear her entire house will be ransacked! The on-dit is that she sits up all night with the butler beside her armed with a blunderbuss! " Lady Sea grave shuddered.
"What in the world are things coming to when one is not safe in one"s own home? Why, I for one shall be staying here in the country until that felon Chapman is captured! At least I may take the air in Wood bridge without being set upon by a gang of ruffians!"
Mr Dit ton leant forward, almost impaling himself on his ridiculously high shirt points.
"Can you be sure that the country is so safe, ma"am? They do say that there is a gang of smugglers who still work the coast near here, so take care if you choose to step out at dark of the moon!"
"Enough, Tristan," Mrs Dit ton said, quite sharply for her. She had seen the Dowager Countess shudder and cast her son a look of profound dislike, and Mrs Dit ton had no intention of finding her invitations to Dilling ham Court rescinded. She cast about swiftly for a new piece of gossip to distract attention.
"I have heard a far more riveting piece of news," she said, brown eyes sparkling and her turban a- twitch.
"Mrs Cozens told Maria Wilc.o.x, who told me that the March nights are coming to Wood bridge!"
There was a sudden silence, but for the muted clink of china. All conversations seemed to have been suspended as everyone turned to Mrs Dit ton for further information.
Lady Sea grave raised her brows.