A Lady of Quality. Louise Gouge M.

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СКАЧАТЬ England

      June 1814

      “En garde.”

      Lord Winston took his position on the fencing strip and injected as much boredom and hauteur into his voice as he could without insulting his young opponent. Why Monsieur Angelus had assigned him this tall, almost gangly youth as a sparring partner, Winston could not guess. His purpose in patronizing this particular academy was to meet with London’s most challenging adversaries. But today, the fencing master had paired him with someone who had the look of an untried novice, a youth so green that he wore a protective mask. When they had lifted their Italian foils in their opening salute to each other, Winston could even see a slight tremor in the boy’s hand, a sure sign he would have no trouble dispensing with him.

      “Mais non, monsieur.” Flawless French spoken in an alto tone revealed that the youth’s voice had not yet changed. What a foolish youngster to come out and play with grown gentlemen. “Vous en garde.”

      So he meant to launch the first attack. Winston smirked. “Très bien, enfant. Proceed.” Expecting a wild lunge, he prepared to deflect the boy’s foil and make quick work of this match so he could advance to a more exciting opponent.

      But the aim was steady as he thrust his sword at Winston’s heart. Winston jumped back to avoid the “fatal” touch of the button-shielded weapon on his padded vest. Interesting. Now he truly was on guard, for the youth was proving to be a real adversary. Winston lunged, searching for a weakness that he usually found in an opponent’s eyes. But that ridiculous mask hid such unintentional signals. No doubt he was a pretty boy whose mother demanded that he wear the unmanly protection.

      The boy grunted softly as he sidestepped to avoid the touch, holding his foil in the proper defensive position. With a clink of metal on metal, their two saucer-shaped hilts caught and held, and Winston stared into the mesh of the mask, seeking a weakness in the dark, shadowed eyes. All he saw was hatred.

      For the briefest instant, shock overrode his customary coolness in this sport. Why should this stranger despise him? No doubt he was a Napoleon sympathizer, bitter over his emperor’s recent defeat and exile. Winston would happily teach him a lesson in British superiority. He shoved the boy away and took a more aggressive tack. Using every trick his father and Monsieur Angelus had taught him, he bore down upon his opponent with aggressive parries and rapid ripostes, at last striking the boy’s right hand hard with his buttoned blade.

      The lad gasped and dropped his foil, then straightened and spread his arms to accept the “fatal” touch.

      Unexpected compassion filled Winston’s chest. For his surprising skill, the lad deserved another chance. “Not at all, my boy.” He pointed his weapon at the dropped sword. “Pick it up.”

      Without a word of gratitude, the Frenchman grasped the foil with his left hand and lunged at Winston. Another surprise from this astonishing foe. Again they parried back and forth. Their ripostes increased in speed. The metallic clink of the blades grew louder, the boy’s grunts more frequent. Winston found himself breathless, as well. He became aware of other gentlemen stopping their own matches to watch. Good. That was exactly the kind of attention he required in his quest for political influence, especially since the Duke of Kent could be among the onlookers.

      In the second it took for Winston to foolishly locate the king’s son, the French youth found an opening and lunged. Warning cries went up from the crowd, and Winston saw the unshielded foil coming at his heart. Fear shot through him. Did the boy mean to kill him? No, for he hesitated, doubtless aware of the lethal—and illegal—danger he was imposing upon his opponent. Winston seized the moment to deflect the weapon and strike his own blow on the heart-shaped target on his opponent’s padded vest.

      “Touché.” Winston straightened, unable to hide a triumphant smirk amid the applause of the other gentlemen.

      The boy should have lifted his foil in a salute. Should have congratulated Winston on his victory. Should have removed that ridiculous mask to reveal his identity.

      Instead, he threw down his weapon and shoved his way through the crowd, disappearing down a back corridor, utterly depriving Winston of his chance to act the gracious victor.

      * * *

      Catherine du Coeur thought her heart might leap from her chest. Pulling off her mask, she stumbled against the wall, but caught herself from falling as she scurried down the back corridor of Monsieur Angelus’s fencing academy.

      Never in her twenty years had she encountered such arrogance. True, she knew little of London’s aristocracy, but Lord Winston’s pride would put a peacock to shame. Vanity and conceit were written across his all-too-handsome face, which was framed with blond hair so curly she could almost envy him. Then there were those intense gray-green eyes and that straight, narrow nose he’d peered down to look at her as if she were some sort of inferior being. She could see from the way he carried himself, the way he ruthlessly defeated her, that he would have no scruples about using false evidence to send an innocent Christian gentleman to the gallows.

      Perhaps she was just making excuses. God had been merciful in staying her hand when she had the chance to plunge the unprotected foil into the baron’s evil heart. No, she would not be the one to kill him, merely the one to expose and destroy him for what he did to Papa.

      “Very clever, my dear.” Mr. Radcliff came out of the shadows at the back door and flung her black woolen cloak around her shoulders. “How did you remove the button?” He gave her arm a paternal pat. “And why did you hesitate? You could have killed Winston and been done with it.”

      She pulled the hood over her head. “Hurry. We must get away before anyone pursues us.” To gain her admittance to the academy, Mr. Radcliff had forged a letter as if from Papa to Monsieur Angelus, who was all too willing to let his old friend’s “son” fence at the Haymarket academy. She could not imagine what Mr. Radcliff included in the letter to persuade Monsieur Angelus to overlook the scandal and lies attached to Papa’s name. But it would only add to her father’s disgrace if that “son” was discovered to be a girl.

      They exited the back door of the elegant stone building into the sweltering heat and entered the waiting hackney. Only when they were seated and on their way could Catherine breathe out a long sigh of relief. When she inhaled, the stink of horses and sewage nearly sickened her. How she longed for her country home, but until Papa’s name was cleared, she must endure the miseries of a London summer.

      “I did not remove the button. It broke off when the baron knocked my foil to the floor.”

      “Ah.” He pointed to the gloved hand Lord Winston struck. “Is the injury severe?”

      “’Tis nothing at all.” No doubt bruised, but fortunately, ladies wore gloves at all times, even in the summer, so she could keep the injury covered. She brushed back her hood and pulled a linen handkerchief from her sleeve to mop away the perspiration streaming down her face. “Is London always this hot?”

      “It is unusually warm this year.” Mr. Radcliff retrieved a black linen fan and waved it before his pale, slender face. Understanding filled his dark gray eyes, and she could see he would ask no more questions about her duel with Winston. This gentleman knew she could not commit murder. Just as Papa had always done, he was letting her learn through her experiences. And today she had learned much about Lord Winston. Now she could plot her revenge.

      She gazed at Mr. Radcliff fondly across the small carriage. How like an uncle he was with his care for her family. Vaguely resembling his cousin, Lord Winston, he was perhaps five and forty years СКАЧАТЬ