Company Of Spears

Kat liked nothing better than the company of vigorous men, men in scarlet coats, men who would pay her attention rather than each other in their preoccupation with affairs of state, or of sport. Sir Peregrine was an undemanding, even accommodating, husband. She had once, in a heady, unguarded moment, thought she would leave him and live with her lover, but she had come to her senses in the double realization that she could no more forgo the luxury of Holland Park than could her lover throw up his regiment to live with her. And, lying awake in the early hours of this morning, her lover asleep beside her, content, she had concluded that there was no reason why the arrangement should not continue, with but the simple modification in her lover’s marital status. Providing, of course, he would not be so insensitive as to fall in love with his bride (she knew perfectly well that that was not his present condition, and neither could it be his betrothed’s). She must therefore find out what sort of woman was Lady Lankester. She could not expect to meet her very soon, but she had sufficient means of gathering intelligence on the gentry of Hertfordshire. She might even make a beginning this morning, and here, as they walked alongside the Physic Garden.

‘Matthew, dearest, one thing intrigues me about Lady Lankester – by the way, what is her name? You have not said.’ (As he had not said a lot of things, she felt like adding.)

Hervey changed hands with the whip as he came up on the offside of Kat’s mare, having at last got the young gelding round a hay-cart athwart the road. ‘Kezia.’

‘Heavens!’ She kicked herself: it really wouldn’t do to make any disparaging comment, no matter how provoked. ‘What I wanted to ask, what intrigued me, is why did Lady Lankester – Kezia – why did she accept at once when the acquaintance was so slight? Oh, don’t mistake me, Matthew: I can think of no reason why any woman should not at once accept an offer of marriage from you—’

‘Kat, really, you—’

‘No, Matthew, I do not jest. You are a most eligible man.’ She would not add ‘except in fortune’, for she did not wish him bruised at this stage. ‘But widowhood with a good name and adequate means would be a very respectable situation for her. Was she, do you know, predisposed to affection towards you; had she a tendresse?

Hervey sighed, inwardly. It was a question he had asked himself; but that was very different from discussing the matter with Kat. ‘In truth, I don’t think I can say, except that perhaps Kezia Lankester is a woman of very decided … spirit. She went out to India with Sir Ivo, after all.’

‘I would have travelled to India had you asked me, Matthew.’

‘Kat!’

She loosed the reins a little, giving the mare a chance to stretch her neck after the collection of the previous half-hour. ‘You do not suppose she wishes to become colonel’s wife once more? I know what a powerful hold the prospect of command has for a man; does it, I wonder, extend to the female of the species?’

‘Really, Kat, that is quite outrageous! I never thought it for a moment.’

‘And she will not know, yet, of your disappointment in that regard.’

‘Stop it!’

‘Then we suppose that we do not in truth know why Lady Lankester accepted. “Le Coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connattpoint.”’

Hervey smiled. ‘Bonnes “Pensees”.’

Kat smiled too. ‘You can be really quite clever, Major Hervey.’

He held the smile. He rather enjoyed being clever in Kat’s company.

She had been turning something else over in her mind, however, and she now judged it the time. ‘Your going to the Cape Colony, Matthew: a year, you say?’

‘That is what Eyre Somervile proposes. But the Horse Guards will have to approve it first’ (he smiled again) ‘though Somervile thinks he can bend the commander-in-chief to his will.’

‘I think it a capital idea. I think being second horse to Hol’ness – though he’s a fine man, I know well enough – would be vexing for you in the extreme.’

Hervey was surprised. He had considered this news to be as objectionable to her as the first, and when he had told her, at supper, she had seemed to confirm his fears. ‘You are very percipient, Kat. But I must say once more that this egg may miss the pudding just as did the first.’

Kat said nothing. But she had no intention of letting this egg break other than to her lover’s advantage – and thereby to hers.

Hervey was determined that in the business of the Cape – unlike the business of command – he would not waste a moment in advancing his cause. And an ideal opportunity had arisen that morning, for he had received a letter from General Tarleton asking him to call at the United Service Club, where Hervey’s newest supporter was staying for two nights on matters touching on his old regiment and the Horse Guards.