Chapter 2
Georgiana could rarely recall feeling so uncomfortable as she did now. She was in the study of the London town house of the Earl of Anglesey, which, although it was a decidedly masculine room, would not before have been somewhere she associated with discomfort. And indeed, it was the conversation occurring, rather than any appointment of the room, which was distressing her.
"Have I taught you nothing?" Lord Anglesey was rather more shouting than saying to his nephew, Georgiana's husband Matthew. "There is nothing to be gained by cutting an acquaintance – any acquaintance – much less your own father!"
Georgiana supposed she and Matthew should have expected Lord Anglesey would not react well to their decision to cut the acquaintance of her father-in-law, but she had not thought he would be so vehement. She was not certain whether it would have changed their decision to do so, for her father-in-law had upset her terribly, by accusing her of carelessness in a fall down the stairs that had caused her to lose the baby she had been carrying.
"I could not stand by and have my wife upset by such a cruel comment," Matthew said, firmly.
"You might have censured him for having made it, rather than overreacting and giving him a cut direct," Lord Anglesey said. "Do you have any notion of the risk you have taken?"
"I am sorry, uncle, but I do not see where there has been a risk. His career is in the church, and mine in the navy – he can have very little influence on my life, even if he has been so angered by the cut as to be vindictive about it."
"I meant in causing scandal for this family," Lord Anglesey said. "How should it look for us, if the cut becomes public?"
"I do not see how it will," Matthew said. "There is no benefit to him in making such a thing known, and I do not believe any of those who were present shall share it. I hardly saw him before, and I shall not see him at all, now."
"And how are you to handle things, now that your families are so interconnected?" Lord Anglesey asked. "You must have already created awkwardness for your hosts at Pemberley, and you can hardly imagine this will be the last time you are all invited to a house party."
"I do not think he will be invited back to Pemberley. Mr. Darcy was as angry as I over his comment. My father was allowed to remain for Mrs. Stanton's benefit, so as not to disrupt the wedding, but that is all."
"Is there any chance of your rescinding the cut? If you wish to write to him, to apologise, I would certainly write a covering letter for you."
"No, it is done, and I shall not go back on it."
Lord Anglesey sighed, and shook his head. "You have needlessly made yourself an enemy, out of your own father."
"I must disagree with you there. There was every need to do what was done."
"Then we shall always disagree on that point. I find this whole business to be very badly done, and I never would have expected to be so disappointed in you, Matthew."
At this comment, Matthew's face, which had been impassive, showed just a little of how tremendously wounding this statement had been to him. Georgiana looked at him with concern and wondered if she should say something in his defence, for she still agreed with him that the action they had taken had been the right one.
In the end, neither of them spoke, for there was a knock at the door, and Lord Anglesey's butler, on being told to come in, said quietly to his master: "Viscount Castlereagh and Mr. Adams are here."
"Send them in once my nephew and niece have left," Lord Anglesey said. "There is no more progress to be made on this topic."
Georgiana and Matthew both rose and made their way wordlessly out of the room and up to the bedchamber they shared. Once he had closed the door behind them, Georgiana embraced her husband and said: "I am sorry that went so badly. I know how important his approval is to you."
"I cannot say I thought it would go well, but I did not realise how strongly he would be against it."
"Nor I," said Georgiana, "but I do still believe we did the right thing."
"I am glad to hear you say so, dearest. I only hope that over time his disapproval will lessen."
"I think that it will." Unfortunately for them, their stay in London was to be of short duration, so Matthew could call on the Admiralty and learn what his next assignment should be when his ship, the Caroline, came out of dry-dock, and thus there was not much time for Lord Anglesey to soften before they would depart for Chatham.
Lord Anglesey did not soften over dinner, nor in the drawing room following it, and when Georgiana woke the next morning and thought of how they should have to face a most cold-mannered earl over breakfast, she began to wonder if she should suggest they depart for Chatham earlier than they had planned. She was overcome, then, by a sensation of nausea, one that showed no signs of lessening, and she rushed from the bed to find an empty voilder.
It is strange for a lady to be overcome by a tremendous happiness, while she is losing her stomach in a porcelain bowl, and yet this was precisely what Georgiana felt. For to be overcome with sickness in the morning meant it was probable she was with child again, and this was the very thing she had been desperately hoping for since she had miscarried her first child. She felt Matthew come up behind her, holding her hair and rubbing her back until she finished, and could turn into his embrace, weeping softly.
"I needed something good in my life right now, and there could not have been anything better, than to think you are with child again," he murmured.
"I am so relieved it happened so quickly. So relieved, and so terribly happy," Georgiana said. "I will have to be very careful – I did feel a little dizzy at times yesterday, but thought it was because of the travel and the discussion with your uncle."
"Bowden has already offered to give you his arm whenever you need to use stairs and I am not at hand."
"And I will take him up on it," Georgiana said, then frowned. "I suppose we are following your father's advice, after all."
"That advice never needed to be given, least of all in the manner it was," he said. "You had never fainted before, and now that you have, we know to go about things differently. Georgiana, please do not dwell on what happened, or his words. Let us make this a happy day."
He rose and helped her to stand, and Georgiana felt a wave of familiar dizziness. It was cause for caution – she knew that now – but it was also further confirmation that she was with child again, and so it lifted her spirits further. Matthew changed for breakfast quickly, but said he would wait outside the room to take her down, and as he and his valet left, into the room came Moll Kelly.
Moll was the younger sister of Elizabeth's lady's maid, Sarah, but quite unlike her sister in personality, which she confirmed yet again when she noted the chamber pot, and exclaimed, "Ay, another bairn on the way for you, then? I'm that glad for you, milady."
"Yes, it is likely that there is, but you should not speak of it until I have," Georgiana said, giving her a mildly censorious look. In truth Moll's breaches in propriety amused her far more than they vexed her, but she still thought it best that Moll learn some manner of boundaries.
"Oh bugg – I mean, I'm sorry, milady, I shouldn't have spoke of it, only I was so happy you should have another after – after what happened."
"Thank you, Miss Kelly. I do appreciate that you are happy for me, but you must remember yourself."
"Of course, milady."
Whatever else might be said about Moll, she was a hard worker and had been thoroughly trained by her sister, so that rather quickly, Georgiana was stepping outside the door to the bedchamber, to take up Matthew's arm.
"Do you think we should tell our uncle?" she asked. "I normally would not suggest it, so early on, but perhaps it might serve as a distraction to have some different news."
"Perhaps we should. Let us see how he is, at breakfast."
Lord Anglesey was seated at the table already, drinking coffee and looking a little more mild-mannered on this morning, which was confirmed when he held up his hand and said: "I do not wish to discuss this business over the cut anymore. You know my stance on it, and I yours, and as none of us is like to budge, all I will say beyond that is that if you do ever wish to take it back, I shall do everything in my power to assist you in reforming the connexion."
"Thank you, uncle," Matthew said.
In great relief did he and Georgiana make their selections from the sideboard and sit down at the table, where Matthew picked up the newspaper and remarked on the embassy to China's having sailed from Portsmouth.
"A fool's errand, if you ask me," said Lord Anglesey, "although the Company is funding it, so at least it should cost our government little beyond the use of a few naval ships."
"Yes," said Matthew, reading on. "The Alceste and a brig, Lyra. But why should it be a fool's errand?"
"Nothing has changed, since the last Embassy, and thus there is no reason to expect any different outcome," Lord Anglesey said. "Diplomacy only works when there is respect. The Alceste is a frigate, is she not?"
"Yes, 38 guns. French-built – she was the Minerve, before she was captured."
"I would have sent a third-rate, at least," said Lord Anglesey. "It is not as though they have anything better to do, with the war over. Let the Chinese see why Britannia rules the waves."
"It might have had to do with navigation. A frigate can get into places a seventy-four cannot."
"You are missing the point, Matthew," said Lord Anglesey, although kindly.
The gentlemen, perhaps remembering that an embassy to China was not the most interesting topic of conversation for the lady at their table, turned the conversation to their plans for the day. Matthew would be calling on the First Lord, while Georgiana intended to call on the Dowager Viscountess Tonbridge and the Gardiners, the only friends of hers she knew to be in town. She was informed that she would already be seeing Lady Tonbridge later that evening, the lady having been invited to dinner, and Georgiana took this as confirmation that the widow and the earl, a widower himself, were still carrying on what had been a longstanding affair.
She thought she should also make an appointment with Dr. Whittling, the accoucheur physician she and Elizabeth both saw when in town, but decided not to mention it to Lord Anglesey just yet. Now that he had offered to put the issue of the cut behind them, it seemed less necessary, and she thought it better to wait until the baby was further along. Thinking about the possibility of another child, now that the initial bliss had passed, made her a little anxious as she thought of Matthew's learning of his next assignment. He had promised her that they should stay together always, and if he was to be sent somewhere she could not go while pregnant, he would have to refuse it. He had said he would do so, and yet Georgiana knew this would not be an easy thing for him.
When Matthew returned from the Admiralty, however, it was with a happy countenance, and Georgiana thought this meant a more favourable assignment than his last, to carry despatches to the Baltic over the past winter. Matthew confirmed her thoughts by saying:
"I have been assigned to carry coin to Gibraltar, and then to serve at Admiral Penrose's discretion there," he said. "With any luck we should have a chance at some time in the Mediterranean, and it is a perfectly hospitable place for you to be, while with child. That is, if you do still wish to live onboard ship in that condition – would you prefer I refuse the assignment?"
"No, of course not. I believe I can be perfectly comfortable living on board the ship, and I should like to see a little of the world before the child is born."
"Good – I cannot say how pleased I am to think of going there together," he said. "And I have not forgotten about our finding a home, either. We shall not have time to do so now, but I will ask my uncle to look out for a suitable purchase. Would you be comfortable giving him leave to do so? If you would prefer to find it ourselves, we may – it would just mean waiting until we return."
"I would be open to his looking out for a purchase, at least," Georgiana said. "There is no guarantee that what we wish for should come available, but if it does while we are gone, I would not want us to miss our chance. You think he would be willing to do this for us?
"Yes, I believe he would. Hampshire is near enough that he can manage the inquiries from town," Matthew said. "And I feel confident again of his willingness to help us as he can. I am so glad things are easy between us again."
"I am so glad of so many things right now," Georgiana whispered, and embraced him.