Free The Regent's Daughter: (Georgian Series) by Jean Plaidy Page A

that I would not keep my word?’
    She smiled at him fondly, but his words scarcely comforted her. How many times had he betrayed her trust in him. She thought of the infidelities; it was not marriage with Charlotte’s mother which had brought about their painful separation but his infatuation for Lady Jersey. He had once been completely under the spell of that woman whom he now could not bear, sufficiently involved with her to desert Maria. True, he had come back to her, but after such a shock, how could one help wondering when the next would come? So she could only smile at him when he asked her if she could not trust his word.
    ‘Lord Henry seems so determined. And I know Lady Waldegrave has never been a friend of mine. They are going to do everything they can to take Minney away from me.’
    ‘Don’t despair. I shall think of something.’
    ‘I have thought of something,’ said Maria. ‘Lord Henry gives himself airs, but he is not the head of the family. Lord Hertford is that, and he has so far kept out of the affair. I wonder if I called on Lady Hertford and asked her to speak to her husband, it would help.’
    ‘An excellent idea. And I will let them know my wishes. I fancy you have hit on the solution, Maria, my love. We’ll go over that insolent fellow’s head and speak to Hertford.’
    Maria’s spirits rose at the prospect; she wondered why she had not thought of it before.
    ‘I shall call on her tomorrow,’ she said.
    ‘And when you have called, I will send for Hertford to come and see me. I am sure of success now, my love.’
    He was smiling, wishing to talk of pleasant things. How well she knew him. He never wanted to discuss that which was unpleasant. He began to tell her about Brummell’s new invention to the trouser leg.
    ‘It is cut at the sides, Maria, and closed by the most exquisite buttons and buttonholes you ever saw. As Brummell says, this gives great scope and he has many ideas for buttons.’
    Maria had never liked Brummell; she considered him arrogant and he presumed on the Prince’s friendship she believed; and what had the fellow ever done but become the dandy to outdo all other dandies? But the Prince’s interest in clothes had drawn them together and he was often in Brummell’s company.
    He went on to talk of the way in which Brooks’s Club had deteriorated.
    ‘It’s since Fox went.’ His eyes filled with tears. Fox had had more influence on him than any other man. He had died only recently and since his death the Prince had become even more devoted to him. ‘The wit is not there … how could it be without the incomparable Fox? Sherry is getting old, too. Stab me, that son of his, Tom Sheridan, has the most lovely wife I ever saw – apart from you, Maria. I said when I saw her: “By God, there’s only one woman who excels Tom Sheridan’s wife and that’s my own Fitzherbert.”’
    ‘You see me with the eyes of affection.’
    He was delighted with the remark, his comfort restored.
    ‘Well, I admit to it, but you are still the most beautiful woman in London to me.’ He sighed. ‘You still look the same as when I first saw you along the river bank. Do you remember, Maria? That was long ago. There have been changes since. Poor Fox gone. Brooks’s is not the same without him. The conversation is dull and so is the food. Beefsteaks and leg of lamb, boiled fowls with oyster sauce. I’ve asked my chef Watier to found a new club and that is exactly what he is going to do.’
    ‘You think the ton will let it take the place of Brooks’s?’
    ‘By all means, when they know that it is under the management of my chef. Brummell and my brother Fred will give it their support and in a week or so there won’t be a vacant place at any of the tables.’
    He was beaming with joy at the certain success of the venture and Maria thought it was the moment to introduce asubject which might not please him so much but of which she was determined to speak.
    ‘How devoted Minney is to