Chapter 22: Charity and Other Issues

London, Autumn 1866

The re-opening of Heyworth House garnered more attention than either Jim or Rose had anticipated. They planned a soiree in their new home a week after moving in, and Rose found herself beleaguered by casual acquaintances who tried to get invitations. Shrugging, but secretly pleased, Jim and Rose stepped up their preparations to accommodate the over fifty anticipated guests.

Rose was as nervous as a fox in a dog kennel when the first visitors arrived. She was surprised to see Jim showing nerves, too. This was their first real exposure to London's society and a lot could go wrong. Thankfully, some of their best new friends showed up first which was probably intentional on their part.

Lady Lambert surprised Rose and Jim with a present. It was an early painting of Anita Heyworth done by one Ludwig Stiegler, the court painter of the former Bavarian King Louis. Lady Lambert explained that it had been a part of Louis' famous collection of ladies' portraits. However, following his abdication, he had sent the painting to Lady Lambert along with her own portrait, asking her to forward it to the former actress. Alas, Anita Heyworth had refused it claiming she did not like to dwell on the past and it had thus remained in Lady Lambert's care. She had decided that now was a good time to put it on display.

A workman was quickly summoned and when the bulk of the guests arrived, the portrait was already hanging on the wall of the dining room drawing much attention from the visitors.

Lady Wilkes arrived a little later. She was accompanied by Priscilla and she stared at Anita Heyworth's portrait for a while. Rose saw tears forming in her eyes.

"My dear Mrs. Tremayne, it gladdens me so much that my dear old friend is remembered here in her old home. You have to know that this painting was done when she was almost fourty years old. She was so much more beautiful when I first met her. We were quite the quartet then – Harriet, Anita, Moira, and I. It's a pity that not more of her early portraits survived." She turned. "Priscilla my dear, I must insist that you go and mingle with the other guests. I shall not allow you to hover around me as if you were my servant. Enjoy this evening."

Rose smiled at the blonde woman. "Yes please, enjoy yourself, Cilla. Let me take care of our guests."

As it turned out, Priscilla stayed with Rose anyway for most of the evening. They drew a lot of interest as both were new to society. Priscilla satisfied their curiosity by explaining that she was the widow of the late Major Marston-Smith, formerly of the 13th Rajputs, and Rose had to repeat her own vita at least ten times. It was the whitewashed version of it, but even so she found that some new acquaintances stepped back a little after hearing of Rose's 'colonial' origins. She caught a few amused smirks from Priscilla and from Lady Lambert.

As it turned out, many of the visitors were more eager to speak to Jim. It had become known that he had returned from America with a fortune in gold, and everybody seemed to know of a foolproof business opportunity for him. It was a good natured Lord Lambert who ended these fruitless efforts by announcing that they should all contact him at Lambert & Norton since his house represented Mr. Tremayne in all business matters. That stopped the flood of offers, confirming Jim's suspicion that many of those proposals had been little more than attempts to relieve him of a portion of his gold.

Both Jim and Rose felt dizzy when the last visitor left well after midnight. They sat together over a glass of Sherry to catch their breath when Jim suddenly grinned.

"Can we sell this place again?" he asked with a wink. "What's the use of spending good money on a city house and then to spend one's evenings in the society of obnoxious snots and crooked businessmen? Good God, I'd much prefer an evening spent in the Treasure Trove!"

"With me I should hope! I know what you mean, though," Rose sighed. "The way those biddies looked at me I cannot see how I can benefit Lady Wilkes' charity."

"Speaking of her, she is quite the character, isn't she?"

Rose giggled. "She is amazing! Cilla told me she keeps correspondence with no fewer than eight medical colleges all over Europe. Cilla learned hundreds of new words just by writing letters for her. She looked good tonight, didn't she?"

"Who, Lady Wilkes?" Jim grinned.

Rose laughed brightly. "Smashing repartee, my dear!" she gave back, mocking the speech mannerisms she had heard all evening.

"Quite!" Jim answered unabashed, causing Rose to giggle as she remembered his first instructions concerning conversation skills, three years before in Denver.

"I'm wondering – do other people also feel silly at these soirees?"

"Why don't you ask your friend, Lady Lambert?" Jim answered.

"With her, I am sure," Rose said with conviction. "I am very lucky to have her as my mentor. Now about Cilla – didn't she look good?"

"Yes, she did, my dear. May I qualify this by emphasising that I have grown quite fond of a certain redhead in recent years and that my appreciation of Priscilla's good looks is merely from an aesthetic viewpoint?"

"Very eloquently phrased," Rose grinned. "Still, I wonder how she really feels about me. I do not doubt her friendship, mind you, but it is hard for me to fathom how she can see me without feeling resentment."

"You mean jealousy?"

"Yes. Just think about it – here she was, married against her will to that loathsome man and fearing that her true love was lost forever. Then her lost love re-appears as a rich man and her husband obligingly has his fatal accident. It would be an almost perfect situation but for my existence."

"Perhaps she does not see me as a lost love but merely as her former fiancé? Perhaps she is disenchanted with men?"

"You mean..."

"Remember that men ruined her life. Her hapless father, old Marsden-Smith, young Marsden-Smith, even I. After all I ruined her fiancé in that duel, not least for the purpose of hurting her in the process."

"I don't think she feels any resentment towards you. At least I never picked up on it. You have a valid point though. She may be sick of men in general. I can relate to that – it is exactly how I felt before I met the first decent man of my life."

Here, Rose blew Jim a kiss to make it clear to whom she referred. Jim smiled at her.

"I was mortally embarrassed then knowing what you were or had been. You were exactly the sort of woman of whom I had been warned all my life, but then you said something magical in that first night. You said you'd never betray me."

"It was how I felt, Jim. You were ever so polite to me, so considerate, and then you told me of Cilla's betrayal and I thought it was so unfair. That's why I made that promise – it was all I had to offer."

"That is how I see you foremost – the one person in the world whom I trust completely and without reservation."

Rose blushed violently. "Thank you," she whispered, overwhelmed by her emotions. Rising quickly she walked around the small table and sat in Jim's lap. His embrace was infinitely comforting. "You darling man, do you know how happy you make me?"

"I do, for I feel the same bliss with you. And to answer the question you did not dare to ask – no, I do not feel the slightest regret over being married to you and I would always choose you over Cilla if presented with the choice."

Rose gave her husband a rueful smirk. "I wish I could return such a compliment. Alas, I never met a man whom I could name for comparison. I am sure you would not like to hear that I would choose you over Landon Bunion."

"What if Caplan had matched you with Ned? He's a decent man if ever I met one."

Rose considered this. "I would have been a good wife for him but I could have never felt for him the way I feel for you. How about you and Mandy? Wouldn't she have been more ... fitting?"

Jim thought about that. "I would not have bid for her. Mandy said what danger you were in if left unmarried, and then they both prodded me to make a bid. I saw you there – small, slender, and so pretty. I felt that I had to protect you somehow."

"You darling man," Rose positively purred. She snuggled close. "Jim, we still haven't made love in our new townhouse."

"Then by all means let us adjourn to the bedroom," Jim answered with lust in his voice.

He rose from his chair already carrying Rose on his arms. He stumbled a little making Rose squeal, but then he regained his balance and carried her from the small parlour and into the hallway. Their housekeeper, Lydia Bennett, was standing there fighting a smile as Jim carried his wife upstairs but he did not care a whit. Once on the second floor landing he managed to open the door to their bedroom where he dumped a giggling Rose unceremoniously onto the bed.

"Either you gained weight or I am getting soft," he panted.

A pillow landed in his face for his troubles and Rose shrieked when he pounced on her.

"No! Watch my dress! Eeek!"

He had his mouth buried in her neck suckling on the soft skin and tickling her in the process. When he let go, Rose looked at him reproachfully.

"If I had any say I'd shave off those bloody whiskers! They tickle like hell!"

"What? You don't like that?" Jim asked innocently before nuzzling her neck again.

"Eeek! Stop that, please!" Rose shrieked. When he let go she glowered at him. "You can't make me scream like that. What will the servants think?"

"They'll think that I'm a lucky man!" Jim smiled down at his wife already loosening his necktie.

"Hurry!" she said breathlessly.

°°°

A week later, Rose was invited to a meeting of the Benevolent Society of St. Albert at Lady Wilkes' house. Pledges of support were expected and she had Jim's approval for a sizeable contribution. She arrived early finding Lady Lambert already there. With some time to spare, Lady Lambert showed her protégé the house. The study with its collection of artefacts and biological specimen was interesting even for Rose. She was surprised to be shown the upstairs as well.

There was a lovely second story room that Lady Lambert identified as her old bedroom. With a sad smirk she pointed at a ceiling fixture. "This is where I hanged myself," she said simply.

"Ha-ha-hanged y-yourself?" Rose stammered, completely shocked.

The older woman nodded sadly. "I was a stupid, self-absorbed girl of seventeen. In my vanity I caused an altercation between Richard and another man. A duel ensued in which Richard stabbed that man to death. I was mortified over what I had caused and when I erroneously assumed that Richard had perished in the duel, I saw no way out of my guilt. Fortunately my stepmother found me in time and my stepfather was able to revive me."

"You seem to have had a turbulent youth," Rose said.

"Had I ever! My dear Rose, you excel at understatements. Yet, all those turbulences have given me a far better perspective of life. I told you this so you will understand that everybody you'll meet at my mother's teas will have dark secrets. You can be at ease. Yours are at least highly unlikely to become unveiled."

"I still cannot see how I can be of help," Rose admitted.

Lady Lambert gave a short snort. "My stepmother is a crafty old woman. I shall not spoil her scheme by divulging her purpose. Please my dear, just attend and when it's time to make contributions to the cause, announce the amount your husband agreed to donate."