The house on Russell Square was easy enough to find. The Pakenham residence was one of the more imposing and elegant houses that faced on to the square. Arthur glanced over himself to make sure that his appearance was as neat as possible. He had chosen to wear his best uniform and one of the officers' servants at the castle had spent most of the morning polishing his boots into a glassy shine. The door opened almost as soon as Arthur knocked and a sombrely dressed footman stood aside to let him in.
'Good God! That was quick.'
'You are expected, sir. Miss Pakenham had me wait by the door.Your coat, sir?'
Once the footman had carefully hung Arthur's greatcoat he led him through to the drawing room. Kitty was sitting in a comfortable armchair close to the window, pretending to read. She glanced up as her guest entered the room, and smiled warmly.
'Hello, Arthur. Or are you still my husband, the Honourable Miles Simpson?'
'I don't know. That's for you to decide.'
Kitty cocked her head on one side and appraised the young officer standing in front of her. 'I think I like you best as you are. So shall we be Kitty and Arthur, for now?'
'I should like that, very much.'
'Good. Come and have a seat, Arthur.' She waved her hand to a matching armchair on the other side of the window, and turned towards the footman. 'We'll have tea and cakes, Malley.'
'Very good, ma'am.'The footman bowed his head and ducked gracefully out of the room. As soon as he was gone Kitty looked at Arthur and lowered her voice. 'He'll go straight to my brother Tom to let him know that you have arrived. I'm afraid my brother is trying rather too hard to be old-fashioned and respectable and will insist on acting as my chaperone while you are in the house.'
'There's no one else coming to tea?'
Kitty grinned mischievously. 'Now why would I possibly want to share you with anyone else?'
Arthur had no idea how to respond to such a question and simply smiled back, until he remembered something. 'Just a moment.'
Reaching inside his jacket pocket he drew out his purse. He quickly counted out some coins and handed them over to Kitty. 'For the lunch.'
'Thank you.' She palmed them quickly and tucked them into a small sewing box beside the chair before glancing towards the door.'I should warn you,Arthur, that my brother is inclined to see any male that I seem to favour as a potential husband.'
Arthur was shocked. 'He's not trying to offload you, is he?'
'On the contrary. He seems to think that I am too good a catch for any would-be suitors.You see, he's hoping to inherit an earldom soon, and dreads being associated with some tainted stock I might marry. Not that you're tainted stock, Arthur. I know you're from a good family. I just wanted to give you fair warning, in case Tom seems a little odd when you meet him.'
'Odd?'
'Cold, unfriendly. That sort of thing.'
Hardly had she spoken when the door swung open and a plainly dressed man stepped into the room. He looked to be some years older than Arthur, and his features were as plain as his suit. He did not bother to smile as he strode across the room and offered his hand to the officer who had risen from his chair for the formal greeting.
Arthur smiled. 'You must be Tom. I'm Arthur Wesley.'
'I know. Kitty's told me all about you.'
Arthur's heart sunk. Oh God! What has she said?
'Do relax. It's not all bad.' A smile flitted across Tom's features. 'I'm sure you won't mind if I join you for tea?'
He didn't wait for a response and glanced round, looking for another chair.
'Here.' Arthur gestured to the chair he had been seated in. 'Have mine.'
'That?' Tom looked at the chair. 'That is not yours to give. Don't be an ass, Wesley. Sit down. I'll pull up another.'
He chose a dining chair and placed it a short distance from the others before he sat down, looming over them despite his small stature. Arthur could see at once that Kitty had been right about her brother's anxiety over his status.
Tom slapped his hands down on his thighs. 'So, Arthur, tell me a bit about yourself.'
'There's not much to say.The family's from Meath. Not too far from Pakenham Hall. I'm sure you have heard of us.'
Tom pursed his lips and nodded slightly as if he might recall the family name, and Arthur forced himself not to rise to the affected slight. Kitty's brother really did have ideas above his station. He continued. 'I hold a lieutenant's commission. I'm an aide at the castle and member of parliament for the borough of Trim.'
'Trim?'Tom frowned, then his expression suddenly cleared and he smiled. 'I remember! You gave that damn fellow O'Farrell a good thrashing at the polls, didn't you?'
Arthur nodded, relieved at last to have made some kind of favourable impression on Kitty's brother.
'Fine piece of work that, Wesley! You showed those damned radicals a thing or two. Well done. So do you aim to make your name as a politician?' He frowned.'Can't say that I've read a single mention of you in the Dublin papers since the Trim election.'
'It is customary to keep in the background while one learns the ropes. I'm sure that I will be given a more meaningful role in due course.'
'Only if you actively pursue such a role. Like your brothers. Now they are making something of an impression over in England. Why aren't you chasing 'em, in their footsteps, eh?'
'I have other duties.'Arthur gestured at his uniform.'The army makes an equal demand on my time.'
'Tosh! Any fool knows that the peacetime soldiers are just a bunch of idlers.'
'I imagine that the French will soon be putting an end to our… idleness,' Arthur replied icily. 'From what I read in the papers, it's on the cards. The French seem to want to persuade other nations to adopt their revolutionary ideas – at the point of a bayonet.'
'I read the papers too, you know.' Tom shook his head. 'Nothing will come of it. Mark my words. The Frogs will have their fill of these absurd reforms before the year's out. King Louis will have his hand on the tiller again and everything will be back on course.'
'I hope so, Tom. I really do.'
'And without a war you'll have to buy your way up through the ranks.'
'True,' Arthur conceded. He realised that Tom was still trying to estimate his worth. 'But I should be able to afford a captaincy this year or the next.'
'A captain's pay is paltry stuff.' Tom's eyes brightened at the prospect of a cheap pun. 'Chickenfeed! That's what it is!'
Arthur met Kitty's eyes and both joined in her brother's laughter.Tom's merriment quickly faded and he fixed Arthur with a scrutinising stare. 'The pay isn't enough for a married man to live on. I know that much.'
'Tom!' Kitty was scandalised.'Arthur's my friend. I didn't invite him to tea just so that he could be insulted by you. I'm sure a captain's pay is perfectly respectable.'
'It ain't, and that means a fellow's got to borrow money to make it up. That's right, isn't it, Wesley?'
Arthur said nothing, but stared down at his boots.
'When's that bloody tea coming?' Tom muttered.
When it arrived, a cool silence lingered across the fine china and the neatly arranged slices of cake.They drank tea and nibbled delicately, and all the time Arthur wished that a hole would open up beneath his chair and swallow him. Better still, that it should open up right under Tom, so that Arthur could continue his pursuit of Kitty in peace. But Tom sat and stared out of the window as his heavy jowls masticated away with a dull steady rhythm. Once the footman came to clear away the tea things Arthur made a determined effort at small talk but was comprehensively outmanoeuvred by Tom who had the smallest talk that Arthur had ever encountered, and managed to bore effortlessly about the rise in property prices and commercial rents in Dublin for nearly an hour. At length Arthur surrendered the field to Tom and beat a hasty retreat, thanking Kitty for her hospitality and arranging to meet her again at the next castle ball. She promised him the first dance and as he took her hand and bent to kiss it he felt
