“If you prefer directness, Cressida,” Catherine responded with an air of injury, “do you not think it perfectly reasonable that Justin, like most men after eight years of marriage, feels the need to seek diversion? Is it not perfectly understandable that after so long you are no longer everything to him. What woman ever is?” she added bitterly.
Cressida gasped as if she had been struck but her cousin went on, her green eyes glittering as the carriage passed beneath a lamp post, “He is no different from his like, but you fail to consider your good fortune, Cressy, for at least Justin is discreet.”
“How can you say that?” Deflated, Cressida slumped into the corner, glad of the dimness so she could hurriedly wipe away her tears. Catherine would enjoy her weakness. “You speak as if I am the last to know and that I’ve brought this on myself. How would you feel if James—” A sudden illumination stopped her mid-sentence and she put out her hand, saying before she could stop herself, “James has strayed again? Oh, Catherine, I’m so sorry.”
“Save your sympathy for yourself, Cressy.” Catherine drew away as if Cressida’s outstretched hand were as welcome as a snake. “I was under no illusions as to James’ likely fidelity from the day we wed. He was always too handsome for me—you remember we overheard Mrs Dooley saying it at our engagement ball?”
Cressida knew Catherine’s wounding had been close to mortal all those years ago. Six, she recalled, wondering if by Catherine’s calculations Cressida should consider herself lucky for having retained her husband’s loyalty for this long.
Shrugging, as if the matter were no longer of importance, Catherine went on, “James and now Justin are simply conforming to the prescribed role of husbands by doing what society condones, within the limits of money and discretion and, like me, you should accept the situation and direct your energies towards the children. Though perhaps in your case—not wishing to criticise—I wonder if that is not at the root of your problem. You dote on those babies and seem to forget Justin has his needs, too. When were you last seen at his side?”
Cressida blinked like one dazed by blinding light. Catherine, whose lack of insight and sympathy was on a par with her lack of tactfulness, had come too close to the bone.
Seeming not to register Cressida’s stricken look, her cousin went on, “I mean, have you looked at yourself lately, Cressida? Yes, at twenty-six you still have that girlish, sleepy-eyed charm that won him over, but must you appear quite so naïve after all those children? As I said, tonight is the first time you’ve torn yourself from the nursery to accompany Justin anywhere, and whom do you choose to masquerade as? A shepherdess, for God’s sake??
?? Plucking the black lace of her own daring décolletage, Catherine straightened majestically. “Justin has been your loyal husband for all these years and he loves you. But if you want to win him back from the arms of Madame Zirelli—and, yes, I have it on good authority that Madame Zirelli is his new mistress—you’d do yourself more favours parading as something less”—her lip curled—“insipid.”
Cressida had experienced Catherine’s propensity to lash out when she was feeling vulnerable. Not that this lessened her own devastation. “On whose good authority?” she whispered. “One of your snake-tongued society friends, or someone serving on the Home for Orphans Committee?”
Catherine glared at the inherent criticism before saying, “If you must know, it was Annabelle Luscombe—”
“Annabelle!” Cressida’s hands flew to her face and she had to force her knuckles into her mouth to stop the sob. “Annabelle wouldn’t say a word to injure anyone. What did she say about Justin?”
Catherine had the grace to look ashamed. “She wasn’t gossiping, Cressida, only her husband mentioned that Justin is a regular at Mrs Plumb’s. Surely you’ve heard about Mrs Plumb?” she went on in answer to Cressida’s look of puzzlement. “The woman was an actress before Lord Layton set her up, but, after he moved on, and with her looks too faded to snare another of Layton’s ilk, she’s set up a house which has become famous for its Wednesday salons. People attend in masquerade supposedly to listen to the music, but really it’s just a meeting place for—” She stopped at Cressida’s gasp, saying instead, in gentler tones, “It seems Justin has been paying court to this Madame Zirelli who resides there.”
“Justin loves music,” Cressida said, dully, trying to equate Justin sneaking off in masquerade to some house of ill repute after bidding her his standard tender farewell for the evening. “I can’t believe, though, that Annabelle would repeat such a thing, if it suggested that Justin were being—” she gulped the word—“unfaithful. Annabelle is so—”
“Kind?” Catherine supplied, her tone sharp at Cressida’s implication that she was not. “Perhaps she was distracted, for she has had much to occupy her with organising her sister-in-law’s wedding—Madeleine Hardwicke, if you recall…the dark, Castilian-looking creature who looked so down in the mouth when you congratulated her on her impending marriage to Lord Slitherton this evening. You remarked upon her unusual looks when she came out last year.”
“Yes, a handsome girl. Poor Miss Hardwicke,” Cressida murmured, distracted for the moment. “Lord Slitherton is old enough to be her grandfather.”
“Well, her father, at any rate. But he’s rich and titled and that’s all that counts. All men—even those who are handsome or loving at the start—” Catherine added, pointedly, “stray. Oh my goodness, Cressy, you’ve snapped your fan!”
It was all Cressida could do not to slap her cousin with the poor destroyed ivory accessory Justin had given her for her last birthday. Instead, she muttered, ignoring the feigned concern over her fan, “Not Justin.”
“Oh, he’ll deny it.” Catherine sounded as if she had much experience of such exchanges. “You must make the most of his discomfort, though. I suggest you order three fine, expensive gowns, confront him with everything you’ve heard, then present him with the bill. I promise you, he’ll pay up like a lamb.”
Cressida said nothing. That was not how she intended approaching matters. Though just exactly what she planned to do, she wasn’t quite sure. Quitting the carriage and putting as much distance as she could between herself and her poisonous cousin was a good start, though.
Changing the subject was the second best alternative. “I’m sorry for Miss Hardwicke. She and Mr Pendleton looked so in love, and Justin was saying only the other day that he’d marked Mr Pendleton out for great things. That is, once the young man’s a little older and less circumspect about putting himself forward. Apparently he’s very clever.”
“That might be, but he has no money.” Catherine sniffed as if that sealed the matter. “Lord Slitherton has more than ten thousand a year and, as Miss Hardwicke’s mother is very ill and wants to see her only daughter settled, she’s obviously prepared to overlook Lord Slitherton’s age, just as she’s overlooked Mr Pendleton’s candidacy on account of his impecuniousness. You forget how lucky you were, Cressy, that you were able to follow your heart and that you retained your husband’s interest for so long.” Her tone dripped false sympathy. “Just because Justin has taken a mistress doesn’t mean you are less to him than you ever were. He just wants more. Like most men.”
Cressida glared at her cousin while nevertheless resorting to her handkerchief to dab her eyes. “Tell me about this Madame Zirelli? I’ve never heard of her.” She was encouraged by the scepticism with which she managed to lace the command, disappointed when Catherine responded in a matter-of-fact tone as the carriage negotiated a bend in competition with a cooper’s wagon. “Neither had I, until Annabelle told me the curious story of Miss Hardwicke’s uncle’s determination that Madame Zirelli sing at his niece’s wedding. Annabelle is doing all the organising as Miss Hardwicke’s mother is on her deathbed. Well, it seems Miss Hardwicke’s uncle, Sir Robert, who’s lived abroad the past sixteen years and is returning for the wedding, charged Annabelle with the task of hunting down the finest soprano in all England. He especially instructed Annabelle to seek out this Madame Zirelli. Of course, Annabelle’s husband took over the search after Annabelle learned of the lady’s…well, unsavoury past…and it led him to Mrs Plumb’s house of ill repute. Yes! Mrs Plumb’s lodger is Madame Zirelli who, it is incumbent upon me to tell you, Cressida, since it’s not fair to keep you in ignorance, no matter how it hurts me, was Justin’s mistress before he married you.”
Cressida forced her mouth shut, realising she must appear like a gaping fish, as Catherine responded, smugly, “Surely, Cressida, you can’t imagine your husband led a blameless life before he whisked you down the aisle? Be glad his name is associated with only this one woman. Why, James—”
But Cressida wasn’t interested in James. James was a whoremonger. Innocent though she was, she’d heard the name in association with her cousin’s husband, and for that reason alone she must try and feel some sympathy for Catherine, who’d never known the love and loyalty Cressida had taken for granted all these years.
Forcing out the words while trying to keep the tears in check, she whispered, “I don’t believe you. Justin is deeply loyal. I have never found fault with him as either a husband or a father.” Her thoughts trailed away. It was true, though, that she knew nothing of Justin’s female associations before she’d married him.
She gulped, stricken as a thought occurred. “This Madame Zirelli…if indeed he did have an association with her… Perhaps she was not someone he could marry—” The idea of Justin losing his heart to someone else before her time but being unable to follow his inclinations was a terrible one and put their entire marriage in a new light.
“Without wishing to sound unkind, you were hardly a glittering prospect, Cressy.” With some slight consideration for the bluntness of this assessment, Catherine hurried on at her cousin’s injured look, reminding her of what Cressida had always taken comfort in. “Justin lost his heart to you the moment he saw you, and, despite all the persuasion that could be exerted, he married you, penniless though you were. This Madame Zirelli was married to Lord Grainger, though I believe their divorce was being finalised when she and Justin— Well, anyway, suffice to say you must forget this foolish idea that Justin is returning to some long lost love.”
“I must speak to Justin,” Cressida muttered, as the carriage lurched before coming to a halt outside Catherine’s Mayfair address. “What else can I do?”
In the lamplight that filtered in as the footman opened the door and put down the step, Catherine’s look was scornful. “The only sensible thing you can do,” she said with a toss of her head and a look to suggest Cressida’s remark bordered on the imbecilic, “is to get to the root of the rumours.” She gathered her skirts in one hand as she prepared to quit the equipage, turning to add, “If they are nothing but rumours, as you’re so sure is the case, you’ll not want to wound darling Justin’s sensibilities by suggesting you believe ill of him.” After gracefully descending the steps, she leaned into the carriage space to add in parting, “Discover the truth for yourself and make the most of the power you have over him, Cressy. We women have little enough of it.”