A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting(10)
All too soon, they reached the carriages and Lady Amelia stopped in front of an elegant barouche, its hood lowered in deference to the spring air. The coachman and footman sprang to attention at their approach. After instructing Sally to return to Wimpole Street on foot, and sparing a moment to admire the horses – four perfectly matched greys – Kitty was handed in. Lady Amelia and Cecily arranged themselves next to each other on the forward seat, so Mr de Lacy was forced to sit beside Miss Talbot. He cleared his throat, painfully aware of their proximity, and made sure to leave a polite distance between them. Kitty, for her part, looked sideways up at Mr de Lacy from under her eyelashes – a more difficult feat than she had thought – and was rewarded by another blush when he caught her gaze.
The horses moved smoothly off, and the streets of London began whipping past them. Kitty recalculated rapidly – the traffic of the busy city streets was being navigated far more swiftly than she had anticipated, as if the de Lacy insignia was enough to have horses and carriages leaping out of their way, and so it would take them mere minutes to reach Wimpole Street. She heaved a dramatic sigh, looking up at Mr de Lacy.
‘Do you think—’ she began to ask, before cutting herself off and looking down in calculated regret.
‘Yes?’ Mr de Lacy asked eagerly.
‘No, it was most wrong of me to even think it,’ Kitty insisted. ‘You have been too kind already.’
‘I beg of you, ask me anything, Miss Talbot,’ he said.
She capitulated gracefully. ‘My sister and I so depend on our daily walks for fresh air – I cannot bear to be without them. But I fear Cecily is not strong enough to support me, on a sore ankle …’ She trailed off meaningfully, and Mr de Lacy clucked sympathetically, thinking hard. Then, he was struck with an idea.
‘Why, we shall join you again, and you may lean upon me!’ he declared gallantly.
‘Are you sure it would not be too much trouble?’ Kitty asked. ‘We would be most grateful.’
‘Not at all – don’t mention it – not at all,’ he gushed.
They had turned onto Wimpole Street.
‘Then, shall we meet upon the morning, by the West Gate?’ Kitty asked, smiling up at him.
‘Marvellous!’ Then, stricken with doubt, he asked, ‘If you are sure your ankle will be well enough by then?’
‘I have no doubt it shall be,’ Kitty replied, with perfect truth.
They exchanged warm goodbyes and the sisters watched the gleaming carriage – so much taller and grander than the street around it – turn the corner away from them. Kitty breathed out a rapturous sigh. One made one’s own luck, in her belief – and she had a feeling she was about to be very lucky indeed.
Wimpole Street, Monday March 9th
My dearest Beatrice,
We have arrived safely in London, and Aunt Dorothy is all that we had hoped she would be. You need not harbour a single worry about us – Aunt Dorothy and I are both confident I shall be engaged before the Season is out. A few more months of courage, and then all will be well, I promise.
How are you faring? Write back as soon as you receive this with all the news of home. Have you replenished the store cupboard, yet? Are you are finding the coins I left sufficient? If they are not, I shall contrive to send you more, so write directly if you are becoming at all uncomfortable. Should you find yourselves in immediate trouble, call at once upon Mrs Swift – I am sure she will help until I can be contacted.
It still pains me that we will miss Jane’s birthday. The fair should come to Petherton that week, and I put aside some pennies for the express purpose of your visiting it – you will find these in Papa’s desk. Do try to make it as jolly a day as possible, despite our absence.
I do not have the space to write a minute account of our doings, but I will strive to remember each specific detail for you, so that I may relay it all when we return. You three must do the same for Cecily and me, so that once we are together again it will be as if we were never truly apart for a moment.
We miss and love you and shall return as swiftly as we can.
Your loving sister,
Kitty
5
The Dowager Countess Lady Radcliffe, widowed at the young age of six and forty, had been left with a handsome fortune and a set of freedoms far greater than those she had enjoyed as a wife. She had of course mourned her husband deeply and still felt his loss sharply, but after a period she had begun to appreciate the enjoyments life offered when one was not beholden to a person whose austere nature did not lend itself to frivolity. Several years after his passing, the life of a very wealthy widow was, in fact, suiting Lady Radcliffe quite well. Her chief passions in this new chapter were her children (and worrying over them), high society (and amusing herself within it), and the observation of her own health (or rather, the lack of it).
It was enough to keep anyone busy, and Lady Radcliffe could be forgiven for the rare occasions when her patronage of one passion did lead her, most unfortunately, to overlook another. It was thus not without a little alarm that Lady Radcliffe roused herself from the scrutiny of a trembling left hand – a symptom, no doubt, of her recent bouts of faintness – to find her second son afflicted with a brand-new female obsession.
‘Who is Miss Talbot?’ Lady Radcliffe did not believe she had heard the name before. Archie rolled his eyes, a little aggrieved.