LITMIR.BIZ

      Author’s Note

      The fêtes and parties given by the Prince Regent at Carlton House became a legend for their fantastic extravagance and elaborate preparations.

      Ever since the Prince Regent had moved into Carlton House, he had been building and increasing its size. Houses were demolished on either side and Carlton House enlarged. The extensive gardens extended from Pall Mall to Marlborough House.

      At the time of one of H.R.H.’s parties The Morning Post reported that five hundred men had been at work for a month to produce the ‘most brilliant fireworks ever seen in the country’.

      At the first party the Prince Regent gave when he was Prince of Wales and allowed to have his own house, two thousand invitations were sent out for a fête in June.

      By eight o’clock on the appointed day, Pall Mall, St. James’s Street and the Haymarket were blocked with carriages, although guests were not invited until nine o’clock.

      The proceedings were so brilliantly done that despite the crowds there was ‘no hustle or bustle in waiting and everything was done as in a private house’.

      Even those who had been in the rooms inside Carlton House before had not seen all the furniture, pictures and ornaments in them. The Prince Regent was continually improving his collections,

      When he became King George IV in 1820 and moved to Buckingham Palace, most of his collection went with him.

      I was, however, broken-hearted to learn that it was not until 1927 that Carlton House was pulled down, so I could have seen it. Unfortunately I did not write any historical novels until 1948.

      There was no doubt that, despite his extravagances, the Prince Regent was a remarkable man.

      He not only had extraordinarily good taste, but as he walked amongst his guests he was affable, amusing, brilliantly witty and undoubtedly charming.

      One can only agree with someone at the time who said of him that ‘he was graciousness personified’.

      Chapter One ~ 1812

      Ivana walked quietly down the corridor towards the study.

      She had come in from a walk in Hyde Park with her old Nanny, who had been with her since she was a child.

      Outside the house she had seen a phaeton drawn by two well-bred horses.

      She thought, unhappily, that they belonged to Lord Hanford.

      He was a man she disliked exceedingly and was, she well knew, a bad influence on her stepfather.

      The last time Keith Waring had gone out to dinner with Lord Hanford they had gambled afterwards and Keith Waring had lost thirty pounds to his Lordship.

      This had meant that something else had to be sold from the house.

      It was always the treasures that Ivana prized, because they had belonged to her mother.

      She was wondering how, if it was Lord Hanford, she could persuade her stepfather to refuse to accept his next invitation to dinner.

      She reached the study, which was a small room where they usually sat when they were alone.

      She could hear a harsh somewhat vulgar voice speaking loudly.

      Her heart sank, but there was nothing she could do about it.

      She was just turning away to tiptoe away and back to her bedroom in case Lord Hanford asked to see her, when she heard him say,

      “I want Ivana and I intend to have her!”

      There was a pause.

      Then Keith Waring replied,

      “I have been trying to find a rich husband for her.”

      “You know perfectly well that I cannot offer her marriage,” Lord Hanford answered, “but I will settle enough money on her so that she will never want again, in fact I was just thinking of one thousand pounds a year.”

      Again there was a pause.

      Ivana stiffened and felt that she could not be hearing aright.

      Then, to her horror, she heard her stepfather somewhat hesitantly say,

      “And what about – me?”

      “I have not forgotten you,” Lord Hanford replied. “I will give you five thousand pounds, which will pay off your immediate debts and a thousand pounds a year for as long as Ivana and I are together. You will not get a better offer from anyone else.”

      Ivana held her breath.

      Surely, she thought, her stepfather would tell Lord Hanford that his idea was degrading and impossible.

      Instead of which she heard Keith Waring saying,

      “I suppose as I am ‘below hatches’ I shall have to accept your offer.”

      “You would be a damned fool if you did not,” Lord Hanford replied. “You will not get a better one.”

      There was no answer from Keith Waring and Lord Hanford went on,

      “The sooner all this is settled the better. And I expect you feel the same as the duns are at the door.”

      “That is true enough,” Keith Waring said plaintively, “but I doubt if Ivana will agree.”

      “She can hardly refuse, considering that you are her Guardian,” Lord Hanford said. “You know as well as I do that by the law of the land a Ward has to obey her Guardian, whether she likes it or not.”

      “Ivana is very self-willed,” Keith Waring muttered.

      “You can leave her to me,” Lord Hanford responded.

      “I am quite certain that she will kick up a fuss,” Keith Waring replied. “Perhaps it would be wise to give her something to make her more pliable.”

      “If a horse is difficult, I don’t drug it,” Lord Hanford retorted. “I give him a taste of the whip.”

      With the greatest difficulty Ivana prevented herself from screaming.

      Then Lord Hanford went on,

      “I have never yet failed to master a horse or, for that matter, a woman. So stop worrying and just do as I tell you.”

      “I am not going to tell Ivana what you are planning,” Keith Waring remarked.

      “Nobody has asked you to,” Lord Hanford retorted.

      There was a pause as if he was thinking it all out in his mind.

      “All you will tell Ivana,” he carried on, “is that you are coming to stay at my house in Hertfordshire. I will collect her in a phaeton and you will say you are following in another. When you don’t turn up, I will console her from worrying over you.”

      Keith Waring sighed.

      “I suppose you know what you are doing. When do you want her to be ready?”

      “On Friday,” Lord Hanford replied. “I will call here at about two o’clock after you have finished luncheon.”

      Ivana did not wait to listen any more.

      On tiptoe she crept away from the door of the study, hearing, as she did so, Lord Hanford saying,

      “Now we have settled all that, let’s have a drink on it.”

      She well knew that he was a hard drinker and wondered if there was anything left in the decanters for them to drink.

      She was afraid that her stepfather might emerge from the study and then see her.

      She started to move as quickly as she could. She crossed the narrow hall and then ran up the stairs.

      Since her mother had died, Nanny had slept in the room next to hers and now she burst in through the door.

      As she expected, Nanny had taken off her

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