Free Marigold Chain by Stella Riley Page B

arms’ length in a way that discouraged
confidences. Then, towards the end of the week, Mr Lewis presented
her with a purse containing eighty-five pounds and told her that
her step-brother had paid up and Mr Alex said she was to take the
money and buy anything she needed – at which point,
Chlo ë decided she really didn’t know what
to think.
    During the
third week in January, news that France had declared war on England
caused a flurry of excitement that touched Chloë not at all. For
her, the days fell into a pattern in which her path rarely crossed
that of her husband. Alex was out a great deal and she seldom knew
where he went; likewise, if he got colossally drunk, she did not
know it – though she suspected he didn’t and wondered if the shock
of finding himself married was responsible. Left very much to her
own devices, she spent a lot of time with Julia and her husband Sir
Thomas, and the three of them were soon on the best of terms.
Indeed, Lady Julia’s only complaint was that Chloë, acutely aware
of the ambiguity of her position, flatly refused to enter the
little society that flourished amongst the exiled courtiers; and
when all her persuasions met with the same stubborn denial, Julia
said that their return to London would change everything and
temporarily gave up.
    It was only
then that Chloë realised the full implications of her marriage;
that Alex’s residence in Oxford was but a temporary measure and
that he moved in circles quite outside her own limited
experience.
    From Danny and
Freddy who, having taken a liking to each other, often visited as a
pair, she learned a little about Mr Deveril’s activities – largely
because Danny was a participant in most of them. Without
embarrassment, he recounted details of a number of ludicrous wagers
– from riding backwards down the High, to removing the weathervane
from a particularly inaccessible church steeple. Alex, it appeared,
was bent on living dangerously.
    It did not take
Chloë long to notice that Mr Beckwith was conspicuous by his
absence and, since no one seemed to find it worthy of comment, she
steeled herself to ask Mr Deveril. Then, encountering him on his
way out with his right arm resting picturesquely in a sling, she
changed her mind. It wasn’t the time to take any silly risks – and
she probably wouldn’t get an answer anyway.
    Less than half
an hour later Mr Fawsley arrived and, finding that he had missed
Alex, was just about to leave when Chloë pounced on him and bade
him come up and talk to her. Danny groaned, brushed imaginary sweat
from his brow and limped painfully up the extra flight. Chloë shut
the door behind him and eyed him severely.
    ‘ I knew
it. You’ve been fighting with Mr Deveril.’
    He dropped into
a chair. ‘Not me. I’ve got more sense.’
    ‘ Then
what,’ she asked sceptically, ‘have you done to your foot? And why
is Mr Deveril wearing a sling?’
    ‘ Cabbages,’ grinned Danny.
    She sat down.
‘Cabbages?’
    ‘ That’s
it. A whole cart-load of them, at the side of the beadle’s house –
and Alex bet me that he could plant more of ‘em on the roof than I
could.’
    ‘ I see,’
sighed Chloë. ‘And?’
    ‘ I scored
five then lost my balance, came down at full gallop and missed the
cart. Aye – you can laugh but I’ve got a cursed sprain and it hurts
like hell.’
    ‘ Then you
are well-served for you might have broken your leg. Do I take it
that Mr Deveril has broken
something?’
    ‘ No – but
it should have been his neck,’ replied Daniel, pushing a fiery
strand back from his brow, ‘He put up seven and was just on his way
up with the eighth when the beadle came out. God, but he was
furious! There he was, cursing like a goblin and then he started
shying cabbages up at Alex who was still on the roof, laughing
himself silly.’
    ‘ Go on –
or let me guess. Mr Deveril threw them back?’
    Danny nodded.
‘He did.’
    ‘ I wish
I’d seen it,’ said Chloë. There was comfort in the idea