Chapter Seventeen

They lay in silence for a little while after that. Cassian was exhausted by all the talking, and Daizell looked much the same, but the desperate, sick misery had gone from his eyes. Even if they couldn't make this work – and they would, he was determined they would – Cassian would always be thankful he'd been able to repair some of the damage he'd done.

‘Thank you for giving me a chance,' he said aloud.

‘Mph. I'm glad you came back.'

‘So am I. And that I found you. And was there in time.'

‘That part was particularly good,' Daizell said. ‘Not to say spectacular.'

‘Oh, don't.' Cassian buried his face in Daizell's glinting chest hair. ‘Dramatic entries are not my forte.'

‘They truly are. It was a marvellous sight. Stalking up and giving that magistrate the fish-eye.'

‘I think you mean to say, asserting the natural authority of my position.'

‘Swinging your duke around.'

Cassian gave a yelp of startled laughter. Daizell grinned down at him, and Cassian smiled back, feeling a ridiculous bubble of joy expanding in his chest. ‘I may say, it is a great deal easier chasing people across the country in my own vehicle. I am proud that I have acquired experience of the stage, but I'm never taking it again as long as I live.'

Daizell blinked. ‘Wait. Your own? Does that mean you lost your bet?'

‘It doesn't matter. I had to find you, and I didn't want to lose time.'

‘What was the stake? Or – no.'

‘No?'

Daizell made a face. ‘If it was a guinea, or some such, I don't think I want to know.'

Cassian grabbed his hand. ‘It was truly never about the bet. But since you ask, it was my greys. That is, I have a matched pair of—'

Daizell sat up, jolting Cassian's head off his chest. ‘Your greys? You don't mean the Duke of Severn's greys?'

‘ My greys. Yes. Leo wanted it to be a stake that counted. Which it did,' he added with a grimace. ‘I trained them myself, and they are a wonderful pair.'

‘But you've lost them!'

‘Rather them than you,' Cassian said. ‘If I had delayed, and you had been convicted and gaoled or whipped while I dallied— No. If letting Leo have my greys is the price of finding you then I count it cheap. But I don't want him to give them to Vier.'

‘Sir James? Why would he do that?'

‘He lost a great deal of money to Vier at cards. He thinks, no doubt correctly, that the horrible man will take my greys in settlement: he covets them. I will not let him have them while there is breath in my body, so I shall have to – ugh. I don't know what I can do. Leo won't take my money.'

‘Really?'

‘My uncle always bent over backwards to avoid exploiting his position as my guardian.' He sighed. ‘It was a difficult path to tread, and hard for my cousins too – growing up in luxury that wasn't theirs, with their shrimp of a cousin as the special one. Other people might have been resentful about it, or greedy. Leo is, oh, punctilious. He absolutely will not take my money, and if that ends up being painful for me, as now – well, I can understand why he might feel justified in a little jab here and there. But if my greys suffer for it, that would be my fault, and I can't have that.'

‘Could you not explain that to him?'

‘Leo isn't sentimental about horses. He thinks they're just animals. And he does owe Vier a great deal of money, so he's in rather a bad position. Although given Vier probably cheated to win it—'

‘What?!' Daizell yelped.

‘Oh goodness, I haven't told you. I had a time of it in your absence.' He outlined the meeting with Miss Beaumont, and the revelation of Vier's system of cheating, through which Daizell choked and spluttered with outrage. ‘I left them at Louisa's house,' Cassian concluded. ‘Lord knows what's happened since. But never mind Leo or Miss Beaumont either: what are we to do about us?'

Daizell flopped back on the bed. ‘That – I want to say, it's up to you. You're the one with responsibilities, and power, and money.'

‘No. That won't work. You can't feel as though it's my life and you're an addendum to it, still less that I have all the power. I don't want all the power. If I wanted someone who would do exactly and only what I choose in a way that suited me, I could have paid for that.'

‘You could,' Daizell said. ‘You could have paid someone to give you a rude awakening at any time, come to that. Why didn't you?'

‘Because—' Cassian had to stop and think through it. ‘Because that wasn't an act I wanted performed for the sake of it, not really. It mattered because of how you did it. Because I could trust you with it – telling you a secret truth, believing you would not abuse it. Because you wanted to do it for me. Because it was you .'

Daizell stared up at the ceiling, silent, for a long moment. ‘And what about marriage?'

Cassian had heard that men conducted their own ceremonies, sometimes in a spirit of misrule and sometimes in one of seriousness. He wasn't sure about that. ‘Um, it's not legal? But if you want that—'

‘What? I meant you, you fool. You're a duke, you need heirs. Haven't you an arrangement lined up?'

‘I have heirs.' This at least was solid ground for Cassian. ‘My Uncle Hugo and his two sons would all do as well as I. And there will be no arrangement. I have never in my life inclined to women, and I may be obliged to distort my own life to fit round the edges of Severn, but I'm cursed if I inflict that on someone who has a right to expect better. I will not make vows of love and fidelity to another person and before God, when I have neither the ability nor the intention to keep them.'

‘People will expect it.'

‘Then I will disappoint them,' Cassian said rather crisply. ‘The men of my family tend not to marry early anyway, and my father inherited from his own uncle, it's hardly unusual. I will happily put off all enquiries as too early till I'm forty, and then move seamlessly into being a confirmed bachelor. I would rather be disappointing to matchmakers than an unfaithful husband to a wife and an unfaithful lover to you.'

Daizell's lips parted. Cassian rethought what he'd said. ‘Uh, that made a number of assumptions.'

‘It did a little.'

‘I really am not asking you to sit in a cottage, or a London house, waiting for me to call. You already said you wouldn't want that; I don't want it either.'

‘Which brings us back to what you do want. How this might work.'

‘It works when we can be together,' Cassian said. ‘I don't know exactly what that looks like, but I know it requires you to have your reputation back.'

Daizell lay there unblinking, then rolled over and propped himself on an elbow. His bronze and copper chest hair was unbearably delicious; Cassian stopped himself from burying his face in it, or at least postponed that thought. ‘Say that again?'

‘You need to return to society. You should not be cast out because of what your father did. And everything else is Vier's spite, and I don't see why his opinion of you should count for more than mine.'

‘Not quite everything,' Daizell said. ‘I don't have any money.'

‘No, but I do. I have money and I have power and place, and I have sat on my own for years with my money and power and place between me and everybody else. Is there any way we could not let it stand between us? Because if the obstacle to us being together is that you don't have money, and the solution is right here in my hands—'

‘It's not the sole obstacle.'

‘But it's a big one. Forget where the money comes from. If you had a decent wardrobe say, and no need to cut profiles except for entertainment, and the Duke of Severn as your friend, do you not think you might be able to return to society?'

Another long silence. ‘Maybe,' Daizell said at last. ‘Possibly. Although, with Vier continually spitting venom – I don't want to be feeble, but it hurts when people make digs, or turn away, or sneer. I decided I wouldn't play again because – well, the obvious, but also because I don't think I could sit at a gaming table and wait for someone to make a joke.'

‘No. I see.'

‘I don't mean to be difficult. If you think we can do this – I mean to say, I've the Duke of Severn begging me to be with him. An actual duke. Good Lord, you're a duke,' he added with something like his usual energy. ‘You should do something ducal.'

‘I have robes somewhere? And a coronet, a ridiculous crimson velvet arrangement with fur trim if that helps.'

‘Try it on for me sometime. Let me sort this out in my head. I would love not to ever think about money again in my life, and I quite see you could solve that problem for me. But I don't want to be an appendage, or an addendum, or whatever the word is. I want to be useful. Needful. Tell me the truth, Cass. Can I make your life better?'

Cassian grabbed his hand. ‘You already have. If you left me today, you would have still made my life better, and I will always remember that. But please don't leave, because I want you to keep on doing it. You make my life so much better, and I say that as one of the most privileged men in England. I want you with me because you are necessary to me.'

‘I don't want to be an addendum,' Daizell said again. ‘But if I can play a useful role in Severn's household, even if that role is keeping Cassian happy—'

‘It's a great deal more than that,' Cassian said, the joy sparkling through his veins. ‘You got my ring back. You have ideas . I need you as a . . . a confidential facilitator of all sorts of things, including but not limited to my happiness.'

Daizell gripped his hand, tangling their fingers together. ‘I mean it. I want to be valuable, Cass.'

‘I will lean on you so heavily, you will stagger under the weight,' Cassian promised. His heart was thudding with the possibilities: seeing Daizell happy, content, there . ‘Do you suppose you could think of a way to keep my greys, or at least prevent them going to Vier? Because I have lost the bet, and I have also upset Leo quite badly, and I must say I feel apprehensive. And then there are Miss Beaumont's affairs, which I have rather made my responsibility, and your rehabilitation in the eyes of Society, and talking of Vier, I have several scores to settle there. So if you have any ideas on all that—?'

Daizell grinned at him. ‘I'll give it my best shot.'

Daizell's clothes were delivered an hour or so later. Cassian had paid quite a lot of money to expedite what he wanted, in case Daizell had been determined to leave. He might, also, have gone a little overboard in his guilt and remorse.

Daizell stared blankly at the delivery. ‘What the—?'

‘Your coat was ruined, and your linen was stolen at the gaol. I had to replace it. And, um. Your shoes were in an awful way too, and it was my fault, so . . .' He gave an embarrassed smile. ‘I got carried away.'

‘Two coats, three pairs of breeches, two waistcoats, five shirts – Cassian, this is a wardrobe!'

It was the bare bones of one in Cassian's view, though admittedly rather more than Daizell had originally possessed. Cassian had sent the remaining sorry garments to the best tailor in the vicinity and demanded clothing made to the same size, overnight, for suitable recompense. He'd need to visit a bank again. ‘Try them on,' he said. ‘If anything doesn't fit or is missing, Martin can get it dealt with.'

‘Martin?'

‘He's staying here. I, uh, felt I should pay for his stay, and reassure him of your well being, and I thought you might want to speak to him. And you said he was a valet so I asked him to help me.' He was usually attended by tailors when he needed a new coat; linen and other necessaries simply appeared. He would, he thought, have been very capable of tackling the tailor himself, and rather regretted not doing so, but with Daizell in urgent need, it seemed more sensible to call on an expert.

Daizell was gaping at him. Cassian shrugged awkwardly. ‘He was determined to help you, and you said he wasn't that bad, and honestly, if it hadn't been for him I shouldn't have met you. I thought I might forgive and forget?'

‘You are a remarkable duke,' Daizell said, and kissed him.

The tailor had done a good job. Daizell's two new coats – one in a similar green to his old one, one in a rich blue – fit very well. It all did, in fact, down to the shoes. Daizell stood, in new, clean, unworn finery, staring at himself in the spotty mirror. He looked like a gentleman of very certain fortune.

‘That makes a difference,' he said at last. ‘Thank you.'

‘You look marvellous. Better than me, in fact.'

‘I didn't like to say.'

Cassian stuck out his tongue. ‘I've sent for my own clothes to be delivered to Louisa's house. I ought to go there, and I wondered if you'd come. I think we need to put our heads together about Vier and Miss Beaumont, and to be honest I ought to apologise for shouting at Leo, but also – well, perhaps this is a place to start bringing you back to the world. You know Leo, don't you, and he's popular.'

‘I know him,' Daizell said. ‘He ceased to know me after my father's incident.'

‘Oh.' Cassian hadn't quite put that together. ‘Oh, I'm sorry. Would you rather not meet him?'

‘No, I might as well. See how it goes, I suppose, and I'll have to get used to it. And he wasn't unkind. I can't blame anyone for being revolted. Do you want to go tonight?'

‘No,' Cassian said. ‘Not tonight. I'd rather – could we go for a walk? A walk, and eat together, and have the rest of the day just for us before we move onto everything else?'

Daizell walked over and rested his head against Cassian's, forehead to forehead. ‘Let's do that.'

Cassian had to admit he was nervous as they drove back to Leamington Spa. He had hired a good pair of horses, and drove at a clipping pace. Daizell sat beside him on the box. It was infinitely better than the stage; it was also far superior to plodding along in the ducal coach with outriders, a valet, all the trappings of attendance.

He did want his valet, since he was tired of being a scruffy mess and of packing clothes and organising laundry – so tired, in fact, that Daizell had got Martin to deal with it all in return for a lift to Leamington Spa. Still, the freedom of movement of the last month was something he wanted to experience again.

They arrived at Leamington in the early evening, tired and windswept. Cassian took a room – two beds – at the Star, and sent a note to warn Louisa while they made themselves presentable, and they made their way over to the Kentridges' home.

They were shown into the drawing room, where Kentridge, Louisa, Leo, and Miss Beaumont were waiting.

‘Sev.' Louisa rose. ‘And Mr Charnage.'

Cassian made introductions between Daizell and the Kentridges. Miss Beaumont greeted him enthusiastically. ‘Oh, Mr Charnage, I am so pleased to see you again. I have told Mr Crosse and Louisa all about how kind and clever you were. I hope you're well?'

‘Excellently, thank you,' Daizell said, saluting her hand. He straightened to look at Leo, who was glowering. ‘Crosse.'

‘Charnage,' Leo returned. ‘It's been some time. I understand you've been getting my cousin in trouble.'

‘Actually, it was the other way around.'

Daizell said it easily enough, but Cassian could feel his tension, and Leo's bristle as he returned, ‘The Duke of Severn isn't known for making trouble.'

‘You suggested yourself that it would do me good to do so,' Cassian put in.

‘I didn't know how much trouble you had in mind! Or that you intended to take your responsibilities so carelessly.'

‘Leo, for heaven's sake—'

‘You made the point that you are Severn, Your Grace. You are obliged to live up to your title.'

‘You overstate matters, Leo,' Kentridge said, in his mild way. ‘People tolerate a great deal more and worse from all corners of the House of Lords than anything Severn has done. I might even suggest that Lord Hugo's very natural desire to fulfil his obligations in loco parentis, and Severn's exceedingly tolerant nature, have led to rather an oppressive set of expectations around his conduct which, so far, has been faultless to a fault.'

‘ Kentridge ,' Louisa said. ‘If you're going to talk like that, stand for Parliament.'

He smiled at his wife. ‘That is, I don't think it's good for anyone to be obliged to be perfect. It's not in human nature. I cannot see that Severn has done anything mean or unkind, so perhaps we could end this argument, which smacks of moralising.'

‘I am not moralising!' Leo protested furiously. ‘If I do not approve of Severn's associations, it is because Charnage's disgraceful behaviour has caused the greatest harm to the reputation of a lady whom I admire and respect above all others!'

‘Now, wait a moment!' Cassian snapped. Louisa said, ‘Leo, for goodness' sake,' and Miss Beaumont put in, louder than anyone, ‘Mr Crosse, that is unfair!'

‘It is, on Miss Beaumont's own telling, most unfair,' Kentridge said. He was a remarkably self-possessed man, and rather more authoritative than any of those present. He also had a knack of saying things in a manner that made the Crosse family listen, which Cassian intended to learn. ‘And it is also discourteous to a guest in my house.'

Leo reddened. ‘That is all very well, but look at the situation Miss Beaumont is in! You have achieved very little with her trustees, and all Vier needs to do is spread this story of a second elopement to ruin her entirely!'

‘Well, that is my fault,' Miss Beaumont said, with colours flying in her cheeks. ‘And I said so, and I don't see why you must blame other people for what I asked them to do!'

‘He should have known better!'

‘I was there,' Cassian said. ‘At least, on the recent occasion. So if you want to blame someone—'

‘—you should blame Eliza,' Louisa said briskly. ‘She has made it quite clear she was the motivating spirit in both these escapades, with Sev and Mr Charnage merely her catspaws. Although honestly, Sev, how you should not have known better is beyond me. Nevertheless, she has not made excuses for herself so Leo needs to stop trying to make this anyone else's fault – no, we all see that's what you're doing so shut up.'

‘Yes, please stop, Mr Crosse,' Miss Beaumont said. ‘I don't want to blame my mistakes on other people and I don't want you to do that for me. It isn't fair. I am not a child who needs to be absolved of responsibility for a broken toy. What I did was my fault, all of it, and if it makes you think badly of me I am very sorry for it, but it will not help anyone to pretend otherwise.'

Leo opened his mouth, closed it, and finally said, ‘Miss Beaumont, I should rather have your faults than other people's perfection.'

‘Oh good God,' Louisa muttered.

He ignored her. ‘I beg your pardon. And yours, Charnage. I, er. Possibly got a little carried away.'

Daizell nodded acknowledgement in a very serious manner. He didn't catch Cassian's eye.

Louisa rolled her eyes. ‘Marvellous. If you are harbouring a desire to play the knight for Eliza, what we actually need is a way to get her out of this tangle.'

‘Both of them,' Cassian said. ‘Daizell has a reputation to salvage too. If Sir James Vier chooses to speak of the recent incident, it will do a great deal of damage to them both.'

‘Possibly more than you're aware,' Louisa said. ‘Kentridge has rather run up against the rocks of Eliza's trustee, who seems to be quite appallingly sluggish. If or when Vier chooses to make this story public, suitably embroidered, it will be most unpleasant for Eliza, for any gentleman who might wish to marry her without being ridiculed as a fortune hunter with low standards, and for Mr Charnage if he does not care to be known as a dangerous abductor and abandoner.'

‘I would rather not be.' Daizell was red in the face too now. ‘You should be aware that Vier has had a great deal to say about me in the past, and I dare say he will bring it all out again, which will not help matters. I'm sorry about that.'

‘It is not your fault,' Cassian said through his teeth. ‘He has slandered you continually because of your father's wrongdoing and it has to stop!'

‘It seems to me we have a number of people in this room for whom Vier is a problem,' Kentridge said. ‘Might I suggest everyone put their cards on the table?'

‘Over dinner,' Louisa added. ‘Leo is both more pleasant and more intelligent when fed, and I dare say Cook is in a fury by now since we should have been eating twenty minutes ago and everything will be quite spoiled. Let us go in.'

The dinner was not spoiled, but it might as well have been for all the attention anyone paid to the excellent meal. Kentridge presided, drawing out the problem with forensic care.

‘Miss Beaumont's situation,' he said. ‘Vier is legally her guardian. He could insist on her return to his home, at least attempt to compel her marriage, and certainly raise objections to any marriage attempted without his consent. We can resist that at law, and hope to draw out a case until she attains her majority, but that is several months off. Moreover, any case will involve her attacking his character, which is not known to be bad, and him attacking hers, which has this matter of two elopements attached to it. Further, Miss Beaumont remains a very rich woman and a rich woman with a damaged reputation is liable to attract men of questionable motives. Which would be distressing for her, and cast an unflattering light on any decent man with aspirations to her hand.'

‘A decent man would not care a button for her fortune, or people's opinion,' Leo said, chin up.

Miss Beaumont pressed her lips together to avoid wobble. ‘But if the world believes a man is marrying a ruined woman for her money – people are so cruel. I would not want to do that to a man I – cared for. Oh, I wish I hadn't eloped!'

‘You aren't ruined yet,' Louisa said firmly. ‘If this Mr Marston keeps quiet, and I say you came directly to me, and only used Mr Charnage's name to muddy your trail—'

‘You could indeed say that, my dear, but not in court,' Kentridge informed her. ‘Your lightest wish is my command in general, but I must require you not to commit perjury, even in a good cause. Let us turn to Mr Charnage's problem. Vier seems to dislike you rather, Mr Charnage.'

‘My father robbed him at gunpoint and killed his whist partner,' Daizell said. ‘I don't blame him for taking that poorly. He also manufactured a scandal about me at my cousins' home. He had hold of some profiles I had cut – it's a hobby – which were, uh, for a gentleman's party, and claimed I was distributing them to the young people there.'

‘ That was a lie,' Miss Beaumont said. ‘I heard it said, but I was there and I never saw any such thing. And Mrs Swain did not ask me or anyone if it was true.'

‘Anna Swain? Sellingstowe's cousin? No, she would not. What a dreadful prig of a woman she is and her husband is worse,' Louisa said. ‘They are unquestionably the most righteous people I have ever met. Appalling bores.'

‘Mr Charnage's cousins, my dear.'

‘Pshaw. Nobody could be related to the Swains and be happy about it.'

Daizell made a face that suggested Louisa had the right of it. ‘All the same, Vier did have some rather unfortunate profiles, even if I had not meant them for that audience, and then I did attempt to elope with Miss Beaumont.'

Kentridge tapped his fingers on the table. ‘It seems to me that Vier has a number of unfortunately accurate things to say. He can demand Miss Beaumont's return, accuse her of various misbehaviours, bring up Mr Charnage's offences – justified or not – to stoke the flames of scandal, invoke Leo's debts, and quite probably drag Severn into it all. This entire business could become quite unpleasant for all of you. And it would make it very difficult indeed to argue that Miss Beaumont's wardship should be struck down, by marriage or otherwise.'

Miss Beaumont had gone pale. Leo reached out to her, and she gripped his hand. ‘You must have some ideas, Kentridge,' he insisted. ‘The man is a villain.'

‘One with the law on his side, and who will have public opinion on his side too.'

‘He had me kidnapped,' Cassian said. ‘Admittedly while trying to have Miss Beaumont kidnapped, but I don't see that's better.'

‘You'd be the one ridiculed for that,' Louisa pointed out. ‘And his reason was your involvement in this second elopement, which is not information we want to set about.'

‘He is a cheat!' Leo said. ‘We can surely use that.'

‘It will be hard to prove,' Kentridge said. ‘Consider, Leo. The only way to demonstrate that he is a cheat would be for him and his partner to play a game under the eyes of neutral parties who had been made aware of his methods in advance, because otherwise they will not remember or notice what he says and plays. That means people who can be trusted not to give anything away, because all he need do not to be caught is not use it. Could you really tell people, enough people, about his system in all its subtleties, and have them memorise it, and watch him play, and be sure they would not let anything slip, and that they would be prepared to assert what they heard and saw – and, after all that, have other people believe their account? Perhaps it is achievable, but—' He made a face.

‘We are talking a great deal about public opinion,' Cassian said.

‘Because that is what we need,' Louisa returned. ‘Eliza's future will be determined by public opinion: if she will be admitted to good society even as a married woman, for example.'

‘Many ladies are who have done worse,' Leo muttered.

‘Better-born ladies who already have friends in high places. I never said it was fair,' Louisa added.

‘Yes, but am I not a friend in a high place?' Cassian asked. ‘Can I not direct opinion? Quite seriously, I am Severn. If I give Daizell and Miss Beaumont my countenance—'

Louisa rolled her eyes. ‘Dear Sev, you are not, with the best will in the world, an arbiter of Society: you've never tried to be. You would have to make a deal more of a splash than you currently do.'

‘And it is not the be-all and end-all in any case,' Kentridge said. ‘We need to free Miss Beaumont legally and Vier has the upper hand given what he can say about her, and indeed about Mr Charnage.' He held up a hand as both Cassian and Leo spoke. ‘I realise you think that unjust, but it is not I who needs persuading of it.'

‘No,' Daizell said. ‘As Cassian – Severn – said, it's public opinion. If public opinion could be turned against Vier, if he could be exposed as a cheat, that would surely make it easier to fix him in the public mind as a liar, and in the courts as an unfit guardian?'

‘Absolutely,' Kentridge said. ‘It would be ideal. Unfortunately, as I just explained in some detail, I don't see a way to do it, which makes this tangent fruitless.' He paused, his eyes narrowing. ‘Unless you have something in mind, Mr Charnage?'

Daizell glanced at Cassian. ‘I might.'