A Dangerous Fortune(54)

First she had to separate him from the girl.

Some servants had appeared in their nightclothes and were hovering in the doorway that led to the back stairs, looking aghast but fascinated by the scene on the landing. Augusta saw her butler, Hastead, in a yellow silk dressing gown that Joseph had discarded some years ago, and Williams, a footman, in a striped nightshirt. “Hastead and Williams, help Mr. Edward to his bed, will you?” The two men bustled forward and got Teddy to his feet.

Next Augusta spoke to her housekeeper. “Mrs. Merton, cover this girl with a sheet, or something, and take her to my room and get her dressed.” Mrs. Merton took off her own dressing gown and draped it around the girl’s shoulders. She pulled it closed over her nakedness but made no move to leave.

Augusta said: “Hugh, run to Dr. Humbold’s house in Church Street: he’d better have a look at poor Edward’s nose.”

“I’m not leaving Maisie,” Hugh said.

Augusta said sharply: “Since you’ve done the damage, it’s the least you can do to fetch a doctor!”

Maisie said: “I’ll be all right, Hugh. Fetch the doctor. I’ll be here when you get back.”

Still Hugh stood his ground.

Mrs. Merton said: “This way, please,” and indicated the back stairs.

Maisie said: “Oh, I think we’ll use the main staircase.” Then, walking like a queen, she crossed the landing and went down the stairs. Mrs. Merton followed.

Augusta said: “Hugh?”

He was still reluctant to go, she could see, but on the other hand he could think of no good reason to refuse. After a moment he said: “I’ll put my boots on.”

Augusta concealed her relief. She had separated them. Now, if her luck held, she would be able to seal Hugh’s fate. She turned to her husband. “Come. Let’s go to your room and discuss this.”

They went down the stairs and entered his bedroom. As soon as the door was closed Joseph took her in his arms and kissed her. She realized he wanted to make love.

That was unusual. They made love once or twice a week, but she was always the initiator: she would go to his room and get into his bed. She saw it as part of her wifely duty to keep him satisfied, but she liked to be in control, so she discouraged him from coming to her room. When they were first married he had been harder to restrain. He had insisted on taking her whenever he wanted, and for a while she had been obliged to let him have his way; but eventually he had come round to her way of thinking. Then, for a while, he had bothered her with unseemly suggestions, such as that they should make love with the light on, that she should lie on top of him, and even that she should do unspeakable things to him with her mouth. But she had firmly resisted and he had long ago ceased to express such ideas.

Now, however, he was breaking the pattern. She knew why. He had been inflamed by the sight of Maisie’s naked body, those firm young breasts and that bush of sandy hair. The thought left a bad taste in her mouth, and she pushed him away.

He looked resentful. She wanted him angry with Hugh, not with her, so she touched his arm in a conciliatory gesture. “Later,” she said. “I’ll come to you later.”

He accepted that. “There’s bad blood in Hugh,” he said. “He gets it from my brother.”

“He can’t continue to live here after this,” Augusta said in a tone that did not invite discussion.

Joseph was not disposed to argue that point. “Indeed not.”

“You must discharge him from the bank,” she went on.

Joseph looked mulish. “I beg you not to make announcements about what should happen at the bank.”

“Joseph, he has just insulted you by bringing into the house an unfortunate woman,” she said, using the euphemism for prostitute.

Joseph went and sat at his writing table. “I know what he’s done. I merely ask that you keep what happens in the house separate from what happens at the bank.”

She decided to retreat for a moment. “Very well. I’m sure you know best.”

It always deflated him when she gave in unexpectedly. “I suppose I had better discharge him,” he said after a moment. “I imagine he will go back to his mother in Folkestone.”

Augusta was not sure about that. She had not yet worked out her strategy: she was thinking on her feet. “What would he do for work?”

“I don’t know.”

Augusta saw she had made a mistake. Hugh would be even more dangerous if he were unemployed, resentful and knocking around with nothing to do. David Middleton had not yet approached him—possibly Middleton had not yet learned that Hugh had been at the swimming hole on the fateful day—but sooner or later he would. She became flustered, wishing she had thought more before insisting Hugh should be dismissed. She felt exasperated with herself.

Could she to make Joseph change his mind back again?

She had to try. “Perhaps we’re being harsh,” she said.

He raised his eyebrows, surprised at this sudden display of mercy.

Augusta went on: “Well, you keep saying that he has a great deal of potential as a banker. Perhaps it’s unwise to throw that away.”

Joseph became annoyed. “Augusta, do make up your mind what you want!”

She sat down on a low chair near his desk. She let her nightdress ride up and stretched out her legs. She still had good legs. He looked at them and his expression softened.