Page 45 of Weave me a Rope
“We must see if we can find a way to keep Lady Daphne with us,” Cordelia mused. “And you, too, Miss Faversham.”
“If you can manage that,” said Miss Faversham, “you will be a miracle worker.”
Cordelia was pleased to have cleared the air. She had enough to think about. When she went into Spen’s arms, it was as if she had drawn a cork on her bottled-up memories and they had all gushed out. She’d managed to set them to one side inorder to speak to Spen, but now they clamored for her attention, especially the ones of her in bed with Spen.
Fortunately, Miss Faversham was not inclined to talk, and Cordelia daydreamed her way through her meal. After they had eaten, Miss Faversham assembled the ingredients she needed to bleach Cordelia’s hair. Ashes, lye soap, and urine. Cordelia wrinkled her nose. “It is disgusting, I know,” Miss Faversham said, “but it works.”
As she worked the paste into Cordelia’s hair, she explained she had once worked as an apothecary’s assistant. “He was a cousin of mine, and used to give me lodgings in exchange for my assistance whenever I was between positions.Isa cousin of mine, still, of course, but it has been a decade since I last required his protection. Still, I remember many of his recipes. This one was popular with actresses and such persons, but also with ladies who thought their marriageable daughters might be more successful if their hair was lighter.”
The paste had to sit for a period to work. Miss Faversham wrapped a towel around Cordelia’s head so she could enjoy a cup of tea while they waited and went out into the hall to order a bath and several spare buckets of water. Cordelia was looking forward to being rinsed. Her scalp felt itchy and raw. She hoped it would settle down once all the paste was washed off.
It took a number of rinses. Miss Faversham had her sit on a cushion on the floor with her head tipped back over the bath. She scooped jug after jug of water from the bath to run through Cordelia’s hair, massaging it to remove as much paste as possible, then followed up with one bucket of clean water after another until at last, she declared the task done.
“It will look still lighter when it is dry,” she said. “I believe it will be close enough, Miss Milton.”
Cordelia was just pleased her scalp no longer felt as if it was burning. “Once my hair is dry, Miss Faversham, I wish to visitmy betrothed again,” she said. “We might not have a lot of time before the two fathers return.”
*
Spen had spentthe hours since Cordelia’s last visit going through her uncle’s reports. “The marquess has done me a favor in one way,” he told Cordelia. “Three months ago, I would not have understood the mess both of these men are in. Failed investments here, dropping rural incomes there. I haven’t told you, have I, that the marquess has sent me back to school?” He explained about the retired solicitor. “Perhaps the marquess should be put through Mr. Morris’s exercises. Even without the commentaries, I can see we are on the road to ruin if we don’t invest back into the land and the properties and stop chasing risky investments.”
“Not ruined yet,” Cordelia cautioned. “The marquess is still rich beyond the dreams of most people. He could sell some of the treasures of art and jewelry your family has collected across generations. Though I understand he will alarm the people who hold his mortgages and vowels if he starts doing that.”
“He will not do it,” Spen insisted. “He has an image as the perfect peer. Rich, powerful, never making a mistake, always in charge. He can’t let people know about this.” He grinned. “We might be able to use that, my love.”
“We will need a long stick if we are going to poke the bear,” Cordelia warned.
“If I’m reading this right,” Spen said, “Lord Yarverton has taken out loans in order to buy up my father’s debts. That seems a bit stupid to me.”
“He has been very secretive about it,” Cordelia conceded. “He has been careful to keep each of his loans manageable, and with different people. He will only be in trouble if his creditors call inall his loans at once. And he stands to make a great deal from the properties and concessions your father has promised in the marriage agreement.”
Spen proved that he had been a good pupil. “So, his two risks are that someone will find out and buy up his debt, as he did to the marquess. And that the marriage doesn’t go through.”
With a satisfied grin, Cordelia told him, “Uncle is working on the first. The second is our job.”
“Which brings us to the marriage agreement,” Spen said.
Cordelia was inclined to think the marriage agreement was irrelevant. “You won’t be marrying Lady Daphne,” she pointed out.
“True. But they don’t know that. Cordelia, I was thinking that maybe I could negotiate a couple of agreements of my own.” His grin was decidedly wicked. “That’s what business is about, isn’t it? The marquess had something the earl wanted, and the earl had something the marquess wanted. But they both want something from me, and they both have something—or, rather, someone—I want.”
Cordelia stared at him in wonder. “You want to renegotiate the agreement?” She realized even as he shook his head. “You want another binding agreement that will stand even after they realize you and Lady Daphne are not married. Spen, that is brilliant!”
Spen looked down, bashfully, a slight smile on his lips. “We need to figure out what I should ask for.”
She could see his point. “John, of course, and Lady Daphne. But we need to bury those requests, so they don’t know they are important. Will your solicitor tutor help us, do you think? Can he be trusted?”
“I think he is my friend,” said Spen. Cordelia could believe it. He had shown a near miraculous ability to convert the marquess’s hirelings into his friends.
“I think we have to risk it, my darling,” Spen said. “He is due here tomorrow, so we have a bit of work to do, my love, to be ready for him.”
*
Mr. Morris thoughtit reasonable for Spen to wish to get something for himself out of the marriage his father had arranged. He happily reviewed the two documents Cordelia and Spen had drawn up, with some help from Marsh and Miss Faversham.
They had decided not to take the man fully into their confidence. Marsh and Miss Faversham agreed there was no way to test his loyalty, and they should keep the conspiracy to substitute Cordelia for Lady Daphne to as few people as possible. Just the four of them, in fact, for Marsh had had little trouble convincing his men to work for Spen, instead of the marquess. Only Marsh knew they were actually working for Cordelia.
This meant Cordelia had to be in her Lady Daphne persona except when alone with her other conspirators. Spen thought she was good at it, though he had only a few meetings with the other lady to base his judgment on.
