Rags-to-Riches Bride. Mary Nichols
of our business?’
‘It is if Stephen wants to marry her.’
‘Good Lord! Does he?’
‘I think so. He asked me to invite her to my party.’
‘And did you?’
‘Yes.’
‘And what did she say?’
‘She protested she could not leave her father and when I said bring him too, she began to make all manner of excuses.’
‘Then perhaps you should leave well alone.’
‘I do not want to. I need to know more. You could help me. Find a way of meeting her father, talk to him, discover all you can about his antecedents. I want to know about his family and his childhood, where he spent it, where he was educated, what happened to his parents, his mother’s maiden name. If either had any siblings, if Miss Bywater has brothers and sisters.’
‘To what end? To find out if Miss Bywater is a suitable person to marry Stephen?’
‘If you like.’
‘Then ask Stephen to do it. He is the one who will have to decide.’
‘Stephen does not have your finesse, Richard. He might alienate the man and that is the last thing I want.’
‘And is Miss Bywater to know of this inquisition?’
‘I would rather she did not. Not yet.’
‘Great-Grandmama, I cannot approve.’
‘’Tisn’t for you to approve or disapprove. Just do as you are told. Be easy, I bear the child no ill will, but I need to be sure.’
‘Is there something you are not telling me? I am very busy, Great-Grandmama, and acting the spy is not to my taste…’
She looked sharply at him. ‘Busy doing what?’
He smiled wryly. Why did everyone assume that just because he was not seen to go to work like his father and brother, that he was idle? Six years in the army had taught him many things. Serving with men from all walks of life had opened his eyes to his privileged position. Rubbing shoulders with the educated and the abysmally ignorant, those who knew no other life than soldiering and those who had enlisted as a matter of patriotism or because they were out of work or needed to escape the law, had taught him to judge a man on his merits, irrespective of his position in what his parents chose to call society. Unlike most of his fellow officers, who would not have dreamed of associating with the men under their command, he had taken the trouble to find out about their homes and their families. And what he had learned had horrified him and made him determined to do something about it.
He soon realised his attempts to help the poor and lame were too piecemeal: a good deed here, a generous donation there; taking poor artists into his home and providing them with pleasant conditions in which to work; writing articles that the more die-hard newspaper proprietors refused to publish, so they found their way into the more radical publications, which were frequently being shut down by the government on the grounds that they were seditious and encouraged unrest. He risked imprisonment himself every time he fired a broadside at those who ought to have been helping and did nothing. He had come to the conclusion that it would be better to work within the establishment. Hence his visit to the Commons.
The old lady tapped his arm with her fan. ‘Well? Will you do this for me?’
He had always found it difficult to deny her anything, but on this occasion he was adamant. ‘No, ma’am, I will not. It is an infringement of the young lady’s privacy unless you have reason to believe she is up to no good.’ He paused to study her lined face. ‘Do you?’
‘That’s what I want to find out. If you will not oblige me, I must find other ways of discovering what I want to know.’
‘And what happens if you find out she is not all she seems—what then? Will you expose her?’
‘I do not know; it depends on what turns up.’
He knew her well enough to realise she was up to something and it was more than a desire to protect Stephen. Did she already know more than she was telling about Miss Diana Bywater? It intrigued him, but not enough to comply with her request.
They turned into Grosvenor Square and drew up at the door of Harecroft House and he jumped down to lift her out of the carriage and help her into the house and up to her room. He had a feeling he had not heard the last of Miss Diana Bywater.
Diana was still at work at eight o’clock, when Mr Hare-croft came into the little cubby hole where she worked. ‘Still here, Miss Bywater?’
‘I have been trying to catch up on lost time.’
He smiled. ‘Grandmother can be a little disruptive. But stop now. I have my tilbury outside. I will drive you home.’
‘Thank you, but that will not be necessary. I can easily walk.’
‘It is the least I can do. It was not your fault you were behind with your work.’
She smiled suddenly. ‘Would you offer to drive one of the men clerks home?’
‘No, certainly not.’
‘I do not wish to be treated any differently. It was part of our bargain when you took me on.’
‘So it may have been, but circumstances have changed. I am wholly converted to lady clerks.’ He smiled as he spoke. ‘At least to one of them. You have proved yourself more than capable and I take back any reservations I might have had.’ He picked up the ledger she had been working on, made sure the ink was dry, and shut it firmly. ‘Now come along, I will accept no argument. I would have asked Stephen to take you, but he has already gone home.’ He bent and put his hand under her elbow to raise her to her feet.
They were standing close together, his head bent towards her, his hand still under her arm, when Richard came in. He had changed into a black evening suit, which, even more than the clothes he had worn earlier in the day, emphasised his strong lean figure. He stopped on the threshold, his blue eyes taking in the scene.
Thoroughly embarrassed, she drew her arm from his father’s hand and he, following the line of her startled gaze, turned to look at his son, watching them from the doorway.
‘Richard, what are you doing here?’ His voice sounded pleasant enough, but Diana thought she detected an undertone of annoyance.
‘Looking for you. You were not in your office…’
‘Well, now you have found me. I suppose there is a reason for you to set foot on the premises for the second time in one day.’
Diana sank back into her chair, feeling awkward. She wished she could leave the tiny room and find fresh air.
‘Great-Grandmother is a little truculent. She says she expected you home hours ago, she wants to talk to you. If I had not promised to come and winkle you out, she would have commanded Soames to get out the carriage and come looking for you herself.’
‘I had business to do and it was her fault, taking up so much of our time this afternoon.’
‘Are you ready to leave now?’
‘I must take Miss Bywater home first. She has been kept late on company business and I cannot allow her to go home alone at this time of night.’
‘Oh, please do not trouble yourself,’ Diana said. ‘I can walk and Lady Harecroft is waiting for you…’
‘Yes,’ Richard put in, looking down at Diana, unable to make up his mind about her. His great-grandmother had triggered his own curiosity, heightened by the sight of his father’s apparent intimacy with Diana. Was she up to no good, worming her way into the company in order to take advantage of an old lady? But his great-grandmother, though old, was not vulnerable or simple; she was as astute as they come, so what was it all about? ‘She will wait up until you get home, Father,