The Education Of Joanne Part 20

though, and you shall have all that is not entailed when I die."

A surge of greed overwhelmed whatever compa.s.sion Wiltham had felt. Lady Joanne's feelings were not worth a fortune and what could be purchased with it. She's as proud as this devil, Wiltham thought.

There could be much pleasure in taming her.

"It will be as you say, my lord," he agreed, "but what of the comtesse?"

"When you are safely away, I shall call upon her to deliver the happy tidings. Who will question what I say?" Gloating confidence lit his devilish smile.

Wiltham drew on it to enhance his own. "The papers for the-"

"Will be signed when you and Joanne arrive at my lodgings," Furness stated curtly. "Now, should you

not be elsewhere, wooing your love?"

The younger man gave a bark of snide laughter. "Ah, yes," Wiltham said, taking up Furness' spirit. "Off to Raneleagh. Lord Perton was to include the comtesse and Lady Joanne in his party this eve."

Furness sat brooding in his chair after Wiltham's departure. His wife's features appeared dimly before his

eyes. He quaffed the gla.s.s of port in his hand, savouring the warmth of the liquid; its balm soothed his

"I must follow the path I have begun," he muttered aloud. Not to do so would-He tossed the thought aside and refilled his gla.s.s. Merciless pain of loss and his inability to prevent his wife's death turned to unrelenting hatred for his infant daughter. The hatred twisted his pride. Through the years it had become his habit to abuse her and to drown his conscience in drink and raucous activity. To admit he might have been wrong all these years was impossible.

Concerned over the comtesse's fretting about Joanne, Lord Perton had convinced her that a night at Raneleagh strolling to the music of the orchestra was just the antidote needed. A party was arranged to include Lord Humbolt and his cousin, Lady Sarah, who were friends of Lord Perton, along with Sir Blyme, his wife, and a Mr. Rogers.

Arriving at the gardens by coach, the party paid their half crowns and proceeded down the dimly lit paths. Suddenly the Rotunda loomed before them, its circular frame bathed in light.

All except Joanne had been there before and she was delighted with the tall roundness of the structure, so vastly different from every other she had seen. According to the comtesse, Dr. Johnson had called it the finest thing he had ever seen.

Inside, the vast blue ceiling reflected the shadows of those promenading beneath it. The circular walls were lined with gaily painted and decorated refreshment stands for those who wished to partake. In the centre, inside ornate columns and banisters, an orchestra played. Chandeliers glowed with a mult.i.tude of candle flames that flickered above the slowly parading beaux and elegantly gowned ladies. Ordinary people mingled among the luxuriously dressed. Anyone with the price of admission could enter and ogle the flaunted wealth.

Agog at the sights, Joanne on Lord Humbolt's arm followed her aunt and Perton. About them ranged the other members.

"Does this place please you?" Humbolt asked, seeking to break Joanne's silence.

"What, my lord? Oh, of course. Never have I seen the like. So many people, such a varied gathering and so elegant." Joanne spoke no more as she absorbed the sights all about her.

Men in immense periwigs and women in intricate, powdered coiffures paraded in the slowly revolving crowd beneath the Rotunda. The heavy makeup on many of the men as well as the outrageous dress of several of the women came as a surprise. Light powder, perhaps a patch or two, Joanne had noticed on some during her weeks in London, but nothing had prepared her for the sights here.

The n.o.bility, the gentry, the common-high and lowbred mingled. The clothing on most was expensive, but it seemed to Joanne, overhearing the conversation of those who pa.s.sed by, that the more expensive the clothes, the more guttural the language. With relief she followed Lord Merton toward their box.

Halfway to the box, Lord Jason joined the party. The comtesse graciously introduced him to all. She allowed no more than polite exchanges, however. "You must forgive us, Lord Jason, but we are about to partake of the refreshments-the evening air can parch a throat so. So nice to see you. Do call upon its soon," she added archly, knowing full well it was her contrivance that had caused Kenton and Ames to miss them no matter when they called. With the poise of a general she mustered the party off before he could ask to join them.

Kenton's tall figure, left standing alone among the slowly circling walkers, attracted a courtesan's attention. Fan aflutter, she paused and nodded at him before swaying past.

Observing her, Lord Jason's thoughts went to Joanne; she had looked tired. Had she missed his company? Gazing at the box in which she sat, he saw that she was now leaning against Humbolt's arm, enjoying something he had said. Kenton's gaze returned to the courtesan's inviting figure. If Joanne could enjoy herself, so could he.

A few quick steps brought Kenton apace with the heavily rouged woman. He found her quite willing to dispense with a formal introduction by a third party. No time was lost in settling into a smaller booth not far from Joanne and the comtesse's party.

When the courtesan flung herself upon Kenton's lap, Joanne increased her impromptu flirting. So this was the serious man from Kentoncombe, she thought. She would show him how little she cared.

The result embarra.s.sed Lord Humbolt, angered the comtesse, offended Sir Blyme and his wife, and left Joanne less than mollified. When Wiltham came upon the scene, he was appreciative. It took little effort to win Joanne's consent to walk in the gardens with him, something a proper young lady would never have done.

The garishly bejewelled damsel upon Kenton's lap found herself deposited solidly upon a chair, coin laid upon the table more than ample for the charges incurred, and a farewell said with more speed than their meeting had required. She made a face as she watched him pursue the pair from the other box, then dropped the coins into her bodice, and sought more promising game.

The bright lights about the Rotunda dimmed swiftly on the garden paths. Her lack of wisdom in agreeing to walk alone with Wiltham smote Joanne when raucous laughter floated to her from the hidden arbours in the gardens. "I wish to return to my aunt," she said. The hold he maintained upon her arm increased her uneasiness.

"We have just left them. The air is so refreshing here. Do not hang back-are you frightened of me?" he asked, his grip tightening.

"Of course not. I simply wish to return to the others. It was not polite of me to leave as I did."

"What? With Furness blood in your veins I should think you would care little about others."

"My lord." Joanne halted. "I will thank you to release my arm. I am turning back."

"I have no intention of-"

"My lady." Kenton silently stepped to Joanne's side. "May I be of service?"

"You have not been invited to join us-whoever you are," Wiltham sneered.

"I did not speak to you," Kenton cut him and took hold of Joanne's free arm.

"Do you know this-this person?" Wiltham asked her while he weighed what to do.

"Yes. An old-friend. Lord Jason, this is Lord Wiltham." She tried to read his expression in the dim Not daring to cause a scene, Wiltham fumed but released his hold and made a leg. The certainty that he would have his way with Joanne in the end made him to smile. "I apologize, Lord Jason. Didn't know you were acquainted with Lady Joanne. Mustn't be too careful." Kenton's scowl soured Wiltham's overconfidence.

Joanne and Kenton walked back to the box inside the Rotunda in silence. Joanne longed to move her arm from Kenton's grasp and take hold of his hand, but his stiff walk and ill-concealed disapproval restrained her.

Kenton himself was struggling to hold back the sermon he was wont to give her. As they neared the box, he halted a few steps from the others, having caught the comtesse's eye and nodded to show all was well.

"My lady," was all he said as he bowed over Joanne's hand. He turned on his heel and departed.

The two brief words echoed over and over as she watched his steady progress through the parade of strollers.

Oh, reprimand most dearly remembered, she thought. Could it be-could he be jealous or was her heart grasping at a foolish hope?

Foolish indeed, she told herself when hit by the realization that Jason would never speak. The fear of rejection, a fear strongly fortified by her father's treatment, forestalled any chance of her broaching the subject.

Chapter Twenty.

Wiltham's ill-humour, begun by Kenton's interruption in the Raneleagh gardens and fed by his inflated-ego, flared when Furness joined him in a private room at a gaming house not frequented by their acquaintances. Three bottles of port fortified his bravado.

"If it were not for the import of what you would have me do, I would duel with the man," he snarled as Furness helped himself to the bottle of port upon the table. "Confound him-you know the man," he said to Furness as a long-forgotten conversation returned to him.

"Of whom are you speaking? You make no sense," the irritated man snapped.

"Why, Lord Jason."

"Why do you speak of him?" Furness' eyes narrowed as he awaited the reply.

"I was walking with Lady Joanne in the gardens at Raneleagh when he intervened. Your daughter seemed uncommonly friendly with him. I-"

"Fool," snarled Furness. He grabbed Wiltham by the stock about his neck. "Have you destroyed all chance of luring her there on Friday next?"

"No, my lord." Wiltham clawed at Furness' hand. "It is merely that your daughter wished to return to the Rotunda and I-" "There is only one reason a man beguiles a woman to the dark walks at Raneleagh. I had not thought you so stupid!" Another thought interrupted. Furness' facial features suddenly relaxed and he released Wiltham. A malevolent laugh came from deep in his throat. "You say she was partial to Kenton?" "I do not think that, my lord. She was perhaps-perhaps not. Certe, he is not taken with her, for I saw him leave the Rotunda as quickly as he entered it," whined Wiltham.

His last words went unheard. "So her punishment is to be doubled, is it," Furness muttered. Gremlins danced in his eyes.

"Be certain you amend any ill feeling my daughter may have toward you."

"Ill feeling? Of course she has none."

"Do not bother with your excuses. I know you too well to be fobbed off. I warn you though, save any

farther ardour till you are wed. It is, after all, only six days hence."

Sat.u.r.day and Sunday pa.s.sed with the tension between aunt and niece unalleviated. The comtesse's concern over Joanne and the worry that she had carried her strategy with Kenton too far, as he had not called since Friday eve, showed on her face as she entered Joanne's chamber on Monday evening.

"What a serious face you have, Aunt," Joanne noted lightly. "Has Lord Perton sent word he will not be

at the soiree?"

"If that was all I have to be disturbed about, my heart would be light," she rejoined. Her features softened. "We must speak, Joanne," the comtesse began.

"But I must finish dressing," Joanne returned, sensing the lecture she had expected for days.

"It will not matter if we are late. Please, look at me and listen."

A frown creased Joanne's forehead but she turned and looked to her aunt.

"I have said very little about your behaviour, for I know you are neither accustomed to the city's ways

nor have you had opportunities to enjoy yourself. But I cannot tolerate your irresponsible behaviour with

Lord Humbolt."

"Humbolt," burst from Joanne, certain that her aunt was speaking of Wiltham. "But I have done nothing-"