Palace Circle Part 4

Seeing the expression in Consuelo's eyes it struck her that perhaps Sylvia wasn't quite as overwhelmingly popular as she had thought-at least not with other women.

The knowledge cheered her. She didn't want Sylvia to be well liked. She wanted her to be heartily loathed.

By the time dessert was served, the conversation had turned to politics.

"It would seem Europe is rapidly becoming two armed camps," George Curzon said, prodding at his peches a la Reine Alexandra. "On the one hand is the Triple Entente of Britain, France, and Russia; on the other the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. What will happen, do you think?"

He was looking toward Herbert Asquith but it was Winston Churchill who answered. "War," he said with vigor. "And we must be prepared for it. Isn't that so, Prime Minister?"

Asquith gave a heavy sigh and Delia, who had now met him several times and become quite a favorite, realized he had been hoping for a relaxing weekend away from the pressure of his office. Not very tall, he had a rocklike build and ma.s.sive head. Turning a little wearily to his first lord of the admiralty, he said, "The foreign secretary is to propose a conference be held here with Germany and Italy. That should settle things. We none of us want war, Winston, do we?"

Winston looked as though he very much wanted war, and, by the expression on his face, so did George.

As the talk continued, with the Countess of Denby saying silkily that "with foreigners increasing their armies, I'm all for a big navy," Delia experienced a moment of self-awareness.

Though not happy-happiness while Ivor continued his relations.h.i.+p with Sylvia was impossible-she was exhilarated. How could she not be when she was playing hostess to such distinguished, powerful, clever people? She wondered what it would be like to have nothing more stimulating than a weekend at White Sulphur Springs to look forward to, and shuddered. Much as she still missed her mother and Sans Souci, she knew she could never live there again, not when she enjoyed her life as Viscountess Conisborough so much.

With Jerome's help, she had boned up on European politics so that she not only could understand the conversations taking place at her dinner table but would also be able to take part in them. Republican to the core, she nevertheless enjoyed the theatricality of royal ceremonial, and despite finding a dinner at Buckingham Palace to be a surprisingly dull affair, the experience was one she wouldn't have wanted to miss. Neither would she have wanted to miss visiting nearby Sandringham, where she had met the Prince of Wales. He was only a year her junior and the two of them had got on like a house on fire.

It was the same with nearly all of Ivor's friends and acquaintances. Though she worked hard at being agreeable, it was their children with whom she had instant rapport. One of the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess of Girlington's daughters, Daphne, was, for instance, exactly her own age and breezily unconventional. The prime minister's daughter-in-law, Cynthia, was also great fun.

The only thing marring her life was Sylvia's presence at nearly every event or social function they attended. Making this marginally easier for her was Ivor's impeccable behavior whenever Sylvia was at Cadogan Square or at s.h.i.+bden. At s.h.i.+bden house parties, many of their guests made nighttime visits to rooms other than their own, but Ivor never did so. What he did elsewhere, of course, was very different.

One of the greatest shocks she'd had to overcome was the realization that Jerome had been speaking the absolute truth when he told her that in smart society, amorous intrigues were the norm. Sir Cuthbert, for instance, was embroiled in a pa.s.sionate affair with Lady Denby, something to which both of their partners, as they engaged in banter across the dining table, seemed supremely indifferent. It was well known that the Duke of Girlington gave most of his affection not to his wife, Viola, but to Violet Vanburgh, an actress, and that his supremely beautiful wife had her choice of lovers. Even H.H. was known to prefer spending time with the daughter of Lord Sheffield rather than with Margot-though as Margot was so formidable and sharp-tongued it didn't come as too much of a surprise.

She glanced across at Winston and Clementine. They had not been married long and so far there had not been one whisper of any infidelities, nor did Delia think there ever would be. Jerome, of course, was the most blatant of adulterers. After a long affair with Princess Sermerrini, a member of the Royal House of Savoy, he was now conducting affairs with two married ladies saying that doing so was more challenging than conducting an affair with only one.

Just back from a European holiday-he had been to Berlin and Rome and Paris-he was leaning back, a brandy gla.s.s in one hand, his swarthy skin and Gypsy-dark curls setting him apart from the other men, all of whom either were elderly and white-haired or, as in the case of Ivor, George, and Winston, had mouse-fair hair worn gla.s.sily smooth.

As she watched, she saw the prime minister exchange a meaningful glance with Jerome and wondered as to their relations.h.i.+p, for though Jerome wasn't a member of the government he was obviously on surprisingly easy terms with Mr. Asquith.

Winston cracked a joke, and as the champagne flowed and witticisms whizzed back and forth across the table Delia knew everyone was enjoying themselves hugely. After the meal, Ivor was unconventional in that he saw no reason for ladies to leave the table while the men pa.s.sed around the port. When they all had gathered in the drawing room, Gwen asked George Curzon if he would recite Tennyson's "The Revenge: A Ballad of the Fleet."

"For considering dear Winston is first lord of the admiralty, I think it would be most appropriate," she said as Ivor gave a mock groan. "Especially as our navy could very soon be facing enemy s.h.i.+ps."

"Quite right, Gwendolyn." Curzon rose to his feet and struck a suitably grave posture. "'At Flores in the Azores Sir Richard Grenville lay,'" he began sonorously. "'And a pinnace, like a flutter'd bird, came flying from far away: "Spanish s.h.i.+ps of war at sea! We have sighted fifty-three!"'" At the last words of verse ten, "Fight on! Fight on!," the cheering nearly shook the roof.

Afterward, Consuelo insisted on Viola Girlington playing the piano and singing and then Sylvia said in a falsely sweet voice, "Your turn now, Delia. We've never heard you sing, but I'm sure your voice is exquisite."

Delia, well aware Sylvia had only made the suggestion because she a.s.sumed she was tone-deaf, hesitated just long enough to see confirmation that she had been right slide into Sylvia's eyes. In an exaggerated Southern drawl she said, "What a cracking good idea. Ah'll be only too happy to oblige."

Ivor, annoyed at the accent and knowing that after Viola any other singer was likely to sound dreadful, frowned warningly.

Delia ignored him and crossed the room to where Viola was still seated at the piano. As she whispered in Viola's ear and as he saw the change on Viola's face, his consternation grew.

"This is especially for Consuelo," she said, and launched into an exuberant, full-throated rendering of "Dixie."

Consuelo squealed protestingly. Jerome burst out laughing. When it came to the chorus everyone, even Winston, whose mother, like Consuelo, had been born on the wrong side of the Mason-Dixon Line, joined in with gusto. Everyone, that is, except Sylvia-and as all her other guests, including the prime minister, clapped and cheered, Delia no longer cared about Sylvia.

Later, long past midnight, when all their guests had gone to bed, Ivor said to her, "It was a splendid evening, Delia. It's a long time since I've seen the prime minister enjoy himself so much."

"Then why are you looking so grave?"

He stared thoughtfully at the cigar he was holding. "Because Winston has asked me to go to Germany."

"Go to Germany?" Her eyes widened. "Whatever for?"

"Because I have highly placed friends in German financial circles. One of them, Albert Ballin, is as close to the Kaiser as I am to King George. Winston wants me to have an informal conversation with him about the pace of Germany's s.h.i.+pbuilding program. It's just possible a man as influential as Ballin will be able to persuade the Kaiser to bring it to a halt. Otherwise, sooner or later, it will lead to war."

Delia drew in a sharp breath. When Winston had uttered the word "war" she had thought it merely typical of his desire to shock, not a serious possibility.

"When do you leave?"

"Monday morning."

She remembered the glance Jerome and the prime minister had exchanged and said hesitantly, "Do you think Jerome was doing something similar when he was in Berlin and Rome? Do you think he was speaking to people on H.H.'s behalf?"

"Jerome a diplomatic negotiator? I don't think so, Delia." He chuckled. "The only reason for Jerome to go to Berlin would be to see one of his many mistresses. The same applies to his jaunt to Rome-unless he's considering converting to Catholicism."

Still chuckling, he walked with her from the drawing room, leaving the maid to turn down the lights.

It was a moment of closeness that was repeated quite often as the cold spring of 1912 melted into a hot summer. Still there was something so coolly distant in Ivor's personality, so remote, that she doubted their relations.h.i.+p would have been much different even without Sylvia.

There were times when she would have liked to say as much to Jerome, but at their first meeting after she knew that Ivor's affair with Sylvia wasn't going to end, they had made a pact not to talk about their respective spouses unless absolutely necessary. Not doing so meant that the time they spent together was enjoyable. Though her other friends' extramarital affairs shocked her, Jerome's never did, probably because he never took any of them seriously. She teased him unmercifully and he teased her for her lack of lovers when nearly all her married women friends had at least one.

As the year wore on, the optimism she had gained from Ivor's impeccable behavior faded. He spent a great deal of time with Sylvia away from his home.

In September, when Sylvia was again enjoying a monthlong vacation in Nice, he took an equally long vacation in nearby Monaco. In November, when Sylvia went to Market Harborough for a month to hunt, he went, accompanied by Lord Denby and Cuthie, who were both addicted huntsmen. Ivor wasn't, and Delia knew that the only reason he was spending four weeks riding over the Leicesters.h.i.+re countryside in appalling weather was so he could be with Sylvia.

It was a situation she had no choice but to accept, but she didn't do so happily. Her constant hope was that when she became pregnant things would change and Sylvia would begin to play a less and less important part in his life. By the beginning of 1913, however, the longed-for baby still hadn't materialized.

"I'm starting to think I'm as barren as Olivia was," she said bleakly to Jerome as they strolled in St. James's Park. "And if I am, Ivor will divorce me."

"Has he said he will divorce you?" There was surprise in Jerome's voice. "It sounds a bit too Henry VIII for Ivor."

It was a sunny day and Delia was carrying a parasol. She twirled it thoughtfully. "No. He's never said he would divorce me if there wasn't a baby. Even though he might want to, I doubt that he would. Divorced men aren't received at court, are they? The social stigma would matter a great deal to him."

"And would put an end to his position as financial adviser to the King," Jerome said drily, "so I wouldn't worry about the possibility too much."

"But I do, because I want a baby just as much as Ivor does!" With a sudden outburst of emotion she swung to face him. "It would be too cruel to have a marriage that isn't the kind of marriage I yearn for and to have no children either! I couldn't bear it, Jerome! Truly I couldn't!"

He took hold of her free hand and squeezed it hard. "You're only twenty, Delia. You'll have babies. I'm sure of it."

There was such fierce certainty in his eyes that she was almost convinced.

Aware that she was attracting attention from pa.s.sersby she said, "Sorry for that outburst," and flashed him an apologetic smile. "Do you think Jack's nanny would mind if we took him off her hands for an hour or two? We could go boating or to the zoo."

Taking his five-year-old son out on afternoon excursions was something they often did. At first, she had been reluctant to even meet Jack, terrified she wouldn't be able to look at him without being reminded of Sylvia. When she finally met him she had felt a vast wave of relief. He was raven-haired, like both his parents, but there were no other similarities. He didn't have Sylvia's violet-dark eyes. He didn't have her pre-Raphaelite perfect features.

His brown eyes had the same gold flecks as Jerome's, his hair was just as curly. Even his fun-loving, equable nature was like Jerome's. Feeling his small hand in hers always brought a lump to her throat, and the time the three of them spent together was very precious to her.

"The zoo, I think," Jerome said as they exited the park and he hailed a cab to take them to Chelsea. "Jack's having a love affair with the chimpanzees."

She laughed as he opened the cab door for her, grateful that Sylvia was so indifferent as to whom her son spent time with; grateful that the world held someone she loved being with so much-Jerome.

In the summer she made a trip home to Virginia, explaining to her parents that Ivor hadn't been able to accompany her due to his royal duties. For six weeks she spent hours riding the countryside she loved and jumping every high fence in sight. She even spent a weekend in White Sulphur Springs and was amused by Beau persistently introducing her as "ma second cousin, Viscountess Conisborough. Her husband, the viscount, is on real friendly terms with England's king, don't ya know."

In one of his regular letters to her, Jerome told her he had been ill. "Nothing to worry about," he wrote. "Just one of those childish ailments that affect adults badly. Is there much talk in Virginia about the ruckus in the Balkans?"

"Hardly any," she had written back, and, to amuse him, "which isn't surprising when you consider that most Virginians don't know where the Balkans are."

When she returned to London that autumn, it was to discover that in her absence Sylvia had acted as Ivor's hostess at Cadogan Square.

"And did you make love to her here?" Her rage and pain were so intense she felt she was going to explode. "Did you make love to her in my bed?"

"Hysteria doesn't suit you, Delia." His voice and eyes were as chilly as the North Sea. "If Gwen had been able to act as my hostess for the very important dinner I gave, then she would have done. As she was indisposed with influenza, Sylvia did so instead. You are making an undignified scene over nothing."

"Your mistress publicly acts as if my home is hers and you call it nothing?" Her face was sheet white. "Who were your guests? Were Margot and H.H. among them? Was George Curzon?"

He remained frigidly tight-lipped and she whirled away from him, hurrying blindly from the house, intent on finding comfort in the arms of the one person who never failed her.

Four months later the political crisis had deepened to the point where war with Germany had become a very real possibility. Delia was serenely uncaring for she was happier than she had been for almost three years. She was pregnant.

Ivor was ecstatic, though not so pleased as to stay in London when Sylvia departed for one of her regular trips to Nice.

"He's gone to Monaco," she said bitterly to Jerome. "It doesn't look as if anything is going to change, does it?"

"No," he said wryly, her crus.h.i.+ng disappointment a knife to his heart.

Six months later the many predictions of war with Germany were fulfilled.

Delia barely saw Ivor for with the outbreak of war there was a banking crisis and, as a member of the Privy Council, he was constantly in meetings. It was Jerome she missed most, though, for within days of war being declared he was off to his home county in order to volunteer with the North Somerset Mounted Infantry.

Morning sickness, coupled with Ivor's long absences, brought her social life almost to a halt. She lunched occasionally with Margot Asquith, who was a great admirer of Sir John French, the leader of the British Expeditionary Force. "With Sir John in command it will be over in six weeks," Margot said to her cheerfully the day after the Expeditionary Force sailed. "Pray G.o.d it is, Delia, for I have four stepsons of military age and two of them are married with children."

Two weeks later came the shocking news that after engaging the enemy at Mons, Sir John's army had suffered a ma.s.sive defeat and was in retreat.

"So much for the war being over by Christmas," Gwen said with rare waspishness. "Thank goodness Ivor is too important to be called up."

By the end of August there was another huge defeat to come to grips with when Russian troops were routed on the eastern front in a battle at Tannenberg.

Heavily pregnant and unable to bear either the sight of the ever-growing casualty lists or the company of her anxious older friends who had sons of recruitment age, Delia left Cadogan Square for s.h.i.+bden Hall.

She wrote to Jerome, who was still in Somerset.

At least it is quiet here, so quiet it is almost impossible to believe that a few miles away such terrible carnage is taking place. If only America would come and help England then perhaps the war really would be over in a few short months. How I wish you were here with me, enjoying the incredibly beautiful weather and the amazing sunsets instead of preparing to leave for heaven knows what horrors in France. I just pray that a miracle will happen and that you won't have to go.

Even as she wrote the last words she knew Jerome would not agree. Every letter showed only too plainly how much he was itching to see action.

By the end of September the prime minister had called for another 500,000 men to enlist.

"How long does Winston think it will continue?" Delia asked when Clementine telephoned, only to be told that the first lord of the admiralty's opinion was that it would go on for a very long time.

In the first week of October Ivor drove to s.h.i.+bden, insisting that as Delia was now only a month or so from giving birth it was high time she returned to Cadogan Square. "You can't run the risk of going into labor here and having the local doctor attend you," he said bluntly. "You need to be within reach of your gynecologist. Apart from which," he said, looking more tired and tense than she had ever seen him, "I have news which I hope you are going to take in your stride."

Her heart almost ceased to beat as she thought of all the young men they knew who were in France. "Who has been killed?" she asked fearfully. "One of the prime minister's sons? The Denbys' elder boy?"

"No. It's not that sort of news. I'm sorry for alarming you, Delia." He poured himself a whiskey and soda. "I have to go to America. Needless to say, it's the very last thing I want to do so close to the baby's birth, but I'm going as a member of the Privy Council and I can't possibly cry off. I'm sorry."

She waited for a feeling of intense disappointment, but it didn't come. Since she had become pregnant, all lovemaking between them had ceased and he had spent far more time away from her than with her.

"It don't matter," she said, and for once he didn't criticize her slang. "I will have Gwen with me when the pains start."

"Well, I wouldn't be with you then anyway," he said. "Men only get in the way at a time like that. I would have liked to see our son within minutes of his arrival, though."

His disappointment that he wouldn't be able to do so-unless the baby was very late-was so intense she squeezed his hand comfortingly.

"Don't worry, Ivor. He'll keep."

He gave her his attractive down-slanting smile and, with an arm around her shoulders, walked her out to the car.

A week later he sailed on the Mauretania for New York.

The baby didn't oblige him by being late. Instead it was early.

On October 30, two days before Jerome was due to leave for France, Delia went into labor. While she was still able she made two telephone calls. One to Gwen, the other to Jerome.

Then, slightly apprehensive, she took a warm bath and waited to see what would happen next.

What happened was six hours of torture she was quite sure she would never willingly repeat.

"My goodness, what a lot of complaining over nothing," said the midwife who had a.s.sisted her gynecologist. "Lady Fitzwallender was sixteen hours in labor and not a murmur. And no, Lady Conisborough, you can't hold the baby yet. Nurse still has to bathe and dress her."

Delia watched with bone-deep joy as her crying daughter- her beautiful, magnificent, wonderful daughter-was bathed and dressed.

"Lady Pugh is ever so anxious to see you and to see the baby, my lady," Ellie said, taking a tissue-wrapped shawl from a nearby drawer. "Since her arrival she hasn't left the house once-and Sir Jerome Bazeljette is here as well. He came about an hour ago."

"Show Lady Pugh in, Ellie," Delia said, well aware of the furor there would be if Jerome saw the baby first. "And has Bellingham sent a telegram to his lords.h.i.+p?"

"Yes, my lady. Five minutes ago."

The nurse took the shawl from Ellie and swaddled the bawling baby as efficiently as if she were a parcel.

Delia held out her arms, her face radiant as the baby was placed in them. "Don't cry, little darling. Don't cry," she said gently and, as if by magic, the baby ceased and blinked up at her with hazel-green eyes.

"Shall I tell Lady Pugh she may come in now?" Ellie asked.

Delia nodded, not taking her eyes from her daughter's red, wrinkled little face.