Charlotte House Affair 01 - My Particular Friend

wrong.’
    Charlotte invited Mr Wallace to dine with us, for which he was grateful. He told us of the various preparations he had undertaken for the duel, although he now admitted to chagrin if it were all to prove a deception. He had found a surgeon, a friend, to attend to the participants should there be injuries—‘I had thought it odd that they had given no thought to this but now I see how suspicious is the oversight’—and he had also arranged carriages to take his party to the duelling ground.
    Over dinner, however, we forgot the drama of Mr Jenkins and Mr Sunderland and instead talked of everything and anything other than younger sons and compromising letters and ill-conceived marriages. Mr Wallace told of his childhood adventures when he fancied himself a pirate and how he had taken his drawing-room from the Spanish forces represented by his older brother and younger sister.
    Charlotte confessed she had done much the same with her brother Michael, and I offered stories of running far too wild as an Indian of the American forest. We all laughed and I felt especially happy that my friends esteemed my Mr Wallace. It was with reluctance that we bid him farewell at the door.
    ‘I must go, for the snow has started,’ he said, and I looked out our front door and saw that indeed snow was softly falling. My friends stood with me by the front door and we all bade him be careful on his walk home.
    That night as I prepared for bed, I thought of what had happened. Despite my unfounded misgivings as to London, I had come to feel at home with Charlotte and dear Mrs Fitzhugh, but now my thoughts also included notions of a life with Mr Wallace. It was madness to think it, of course, for my fortune consisted of what few clothes I had, soon to be supplemented by three dresses, and the £100 a year left me by our uncle, which amount I shared with my sister.
    Mr Wallace might return to the regiment, especially as hostilities with France had resumed, but until then, he was of limited means. But I did not relish the idea of him in harm’s way. Whatever his decision, however, a separation between us seemed inevitable, for he would either leave Bath—the city having a surfeit of doctors—or for the regiment.
    And I would surely … and then a stab of panic as I thought of my future. Would I return to London with Charlotte? If she did not intend for me to travel with her, then she would have urged me to seek employment, I reasoned. After all, had I the recommendation of Charlotte House I could certainly find a position.
    As I pulled aside the covers and slipped into bed, I resolved to ask Charlotte to-morrow if I were to accompany her and despite my worries, fell quickly asleep.
    —&—
    ‘Jane, wake up!’ Mrs Fitzhugh said. I opened my eyes not to the dawn but the pitch black of night and the feeling I had only been asleep an hour.
    ‘What time is it?’
    ‘It is just gone three. But you must wake now! The duel is to-day.’
    I looked at my friend with alarm for I had surely not slept a whole day. More likely it was that she was mistaken as to the day; perhaps she suffered from a confusion of the womb that befalls women of a certain age. I recalled my Aunt Jennings, who would swear it was day when it was night and hot when it was cold.
    ‘The duel is Monday and this is surely Sunday,’ I said, after taking her hand in mine and stroking it in a calming fashion.
    But she snatched back her hand and said, ‘No, it is to-day. Your Mr Wallace has sent us a note. Come downstairs as soon as you’re able.’
    She left the room taking with her the candle, and so I stumbled in the dark to find my dressing gown. After cursing my barked shin I escaped my bedroom and ran downstairs. I found the drawing-room occupied by Charlotte and Mrs Fitzhugh, similarly clad in dressing gowns, addressing Robert, who failed to conceal a yawn.
    ‘Have the carriage readied and find the horses however you must,’ she commanded. He bustled out and she turned to me.
    ‘Mr Wallace has surprised us with this information,’ she said, handing me a note.
    Miss House,
    I am sorry for this late information, but I have only just learned that Mr Jenkins and Mr Sunderland have decided to hold their ‘contest’ to-morrow. I must hurry and inform my friend of this change and see to our carriage. I fear this change has some bearing on your theory for I cannot see the reason for it. But I shall know the truth of it in a few scant hours at dawn.
    Your