immediately. ‘I am afraid Miss Pym is not at home, my lady,’ he said.
Lady Beatrice calmly walked past him and then into the drawing-room. Benjamin slammed the door on the watching crowd and followed her.
She was standing by the fireplace, drawing off her gloves. ‘I will wait,’ she said.
Benjamin was about to say that Miss Pym was notexpected back till midnight when the lady herself walked into the room.
‘It is all right, Benjamin,’ said Hannah quietly. ‘You may leave us. Pray be seated, Lady Beatrice. Before you begin to speak, I must tell you that I am not of royal blood, nor have I ever met the Prince of Wales.’
‘I suspected as much,’ said Lady Beatrice with a little sigh.
‘I wish I had never come to Brighton,’ said Hannah passionately. ‘First, on the road down, I had a mad idea that you were being abducted, and now, because of my footman, lies about me are circulating all around Brighton and I dare not show my face out of doors.’
‘Why did your footman start such rumours?’ asked Lady Beatrice.
‘I do not want to tell you for reasons of pride.’ Hannah blinked away the tears that had come to her eyes. ‘Oh, I may as well tell you all. I will never see you again, but it will give me some relief to unburden myself. I am plain common Miss Hannah Pym, formerly housekeeper to the late Mr Clarence of Thornton Hall, Kensington. He left me a legacy and so I found myself a lady of independent means. After you had left the coach, I met by chance Lord Alistair Munro. The coach went off and left me behind and Lord Alistair took me in his carriage so that I might catch up on the coach. And so we did. But on the journey, Lord Alistair graciously offered to take me to Lord Southern’s ball, and Lord Alistair knows exactly who I am. I was elated. I went to Monsieur Blanc, thedressmaker, to see if he had a gown already made up, which he had, and it was a perfect fit.
‘Alas, the price was eight hundred guineas, almost a fifth of my small inheritance. I refused. My footman went back, saying he had left his gloves, and spun the dressmaker a parcel of lies about me being of foreign royalty and that I was the Prince of Wales’s latest amour.’
Lady Beatrice felt like laughing. She realized in the same moment she had not felt like laughing until she had met Hannah Pym.
‘But I was under the impression your footman was deaf and dumb?’
‘Oh, I wish he were!’ cried Hannah. ‘But that is another story and so very long. You may take your leave now, Lady Beatrice, and if you have a spark of compassion in you, you will tell as many people as possible that I am a fraud.’
‘I do not think they would believe me,’ said Lady Beatrice. ‘You are supposed to be incognito, you know.’
‘Then I shall leave Brighton this very evening!’
‘And not go to the ball? Miss Pym, you have been very frank with me, and so I must be frank with you. You did not imagine I was being abducted.’
To the amazed Hannah she told of her forced engagement and her parents’ threat and how she had only secured her brief freedom from Sir Geoffrey and his mother by promising to try to get Miss Pym to use her influence on Sir Geoffrey’s behalf to get him a title.
It was no use, Hannah reflected, to protest that parents did not force their daughters into marriage, when there was ample proof of it almost every day. Marriages were mostly business deals, and money was at the root of all such arrangements.
‘And you have no money of your own?’ asked Hannah.
‘No. My husband gambled away a vast fortune and left me debts. My parents paid those debts and settled a generous allowance on me. I naïvely thought my worries were over.’
‘But have you no aunts, uncles, other relations to appeal to for help?’
‘My parents are elderly now: my aunts and uncles are dead. I have two nephews, both in India, that is all.’
Hannah twisted her fingers in distress. ‘My dear Lady Beatrice, if I thought I could get away
Lady Beatrice calmly walked past him and then into the drawing-room. Benjamin slammed the door on the watching crowd and followed her.
She was standing by the fireplace, drawing off her gloves. ‘I will wait,’ she said.
Benjamin was about to say that Miss Pym was notexpected back till midnight when the lady herself walked into the room.
‘It is all right, Benjamin,’ said Hannah quietly. ‘You may leave us. Pray be seated, Lady Beatrice. Before you begin to speak, I must tell you that I am not of royal blood, nor have I ever met the Prince of Wales.’
‘I suspected as much,’ said Lady Beatrice with a little sigh.
‘I wish I had never come to Brighton,’ said Hannah passionately. ‘First, on the road down, I had a mad idea that you were being abducted, and now, because of my footman, lies about me are circulating all around Brighton and I dare not show my face out of doors.’
‘Why did your footman start such rumours?’ asked Lady Beatrice.
‘I do not want to tell you for reasons of pride.’ Hannah blinked away the tears that had come to her eyes. ‘Oh, I may as well tell you all. I will never see you again, but it will give me some relief to unburden myself. I am plain common Miss Hannah Pym, formerly housekeeper to the late Mr Clarence of Thornton Hall, Kensington. He left me a legacy and so I found myself a lady of independent means. After you had left the coach, I met by chance Lord Alistair Munro. The coach went off and left me behind and Lord Alistair took me in his carriage so that I might catch up on the coach. And so we did. But on the journey, Lord Alistair graciously offered to take me to Lord Southern’s ball, and Lord Alistair knows exactly who I am. I was elated. I went to Monsieur Blanc, thedressmaker, to see if he had a gown already made up, which he had, and it was a perfect fit.
‘Alas, the price was eight hundred guineas, almost a fifth of my small inheritance. I refused. My footman went back, saying he had left his gloves, and spun the dressmaker a parcel of lies about me being of foreign royalty and that I was the Prince of Wales’s latest amour.’
Lady Beatrice felt like laughing. She realized in the same moment she had not felt like laughing until she had met Hannah Pym.
‘But I was under the impression your footman was deaf and dumb?’
‘Oh, I wish he were!’ cried Hannah. ‘But that is another story and so very long. You may take your leave now, Lady Beatrice, and if you have a spark of compassion in you, you will tell as many people as possible that I am a fraud.’
‘I do not think they would believe me,’ said Lady Beatrice. ‘You are supposed to be incognito, you know.’
‘Then I shall leave Brighton this very evening!’
‘And not go to the ball? Miss Pym, you have been very frank with me, and so I must be frank with you. You did not imagine I was being abducted.’
To the amazed Hannah she told of her forced engagement and her parents’ threat and how she had only secured her brief freedom from Sir Geoffrey and his mother by promising to try to get Miss Pym to use her influence on Sir Geoffrey’s behalf to get him a title.
It was no use, Hannah reflected, to protest that parents did not force their daughters into marriage, when there was ample proof of it almost every day. Marriages were mostly business deals, and money was at the root of all such arrangements.
‘And you have no money of your own?’ asked Hannah.
‘No. My husband gambled away a vast fortune and left me debts. My parents paid those debts and settled a generous allowance on me. I naïvely thought my worries were over.’
‘But have you no aunts, uncles, other relations to appeal to for help?’
‘My parents are elderly now: my aunts and uncles are dead. I have two nephews, both in India, that is all.’
Hannah twisted her fingers in distress. ‘My dear Lady Beatrice, if I thought I could get away
Similar Books
