A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting(70)

‘Mrs Pemberton is attending the Jersey ball tonight. A strongly Christian woman, I am told, so I mean to spend the afternoon studying scripture for the occasion.’

‘Ah,’ he said. ‘I wish you the best of luck. Do let me know if you discover any passages in the Bible about marrying for money. I wonder if the Lord Christ was in favour or opposed?’

She shot him an eloquent look – meant to convey how exceedingly tiresome she found him – and he grinned.

‘You would leave me alone to protect Mr Kemble’s virtue from the lascivious eyes of my mother and your aunt?’

She laughed. Last night they had both overheard the roguish discussion between Lady Radcliffe and Mrs Kendall about the ‘strapping’ reputation of the leading actor.

‘I am sure you are well up to the task,’ she told him, smiling.

‘You flatter me.’ He handed Cecily up into the carriage next, then paused a moment.

‘Are you sure I cannot tempt you away?’ he asked, with a cajoling tilt of the head.

‘I’m sure,’ Kitty said, a little faintly.

He bade her good day and the carriage disappeared around the corner. Kitty watched it pass out of sight, wishing for a moment to have gone, anyway. It was not that she was so desirous of seeing the performance, but the company … The company she would have no doubt enjoyed. No, Kitty told herself sternly, beating her thoughts back into submission. Absolutely not.

She returned to her room and dedicated herself – for quite the first time in her life – to the study of the Bible. It was, she quickly discovered, very long. And, as she soon realised, quite boring. She wondered bleakly if the Old Testament even mattered – could one just skip to the New and go from there? Surely to the devoutly puritan Mrs Pemberton, it was the Lord Jesus who was the more important? She flicked through the pages, wishing desperately that there was an index she could consult to save her some time – she could simply look for the pages on virtuous women and marriage, and be done with the whole thing.

Kitty granted herself the luxury of an afternoon doze – biblical study proving quite beneficial to one’s slumber – and dressed herself that evening in the most chaste evening dress she had – the ivory white, from her very first ball, except this time she wore no jewellery save for earrings, and plucked the feathers (surely the most devilish of accessories) from her headdress. The first challenge of the evening was that the Pembertons were late arriving, leaving Kitty’s nerves mounting higher the longer she was held in anticipation. The second challenge came at nine o’clock when Lady Radcliffe appeared out of nowhere to deliver most unwelcome news.

‘What did I tell you about dancing twice with the same man?’ she hissed in Kitty’s ear. Kitty was confused, until she saw Cecily and Montagu locked into what could only be their second dance of the evening. Oh Lord – why tonight? Was Cecily trying to kill her?

Thanking Lady Radcliffe, Kitty pounced upon them as soon as the dance had finished.

‘Lord Montagu, how do you do?’ she said briskly. ‘Your mother is looking for you again, I’m afraid. Can you spot her? Goodness I can’t see for people in this wretched squeeze.’

‘“Grant me, kind Heaven, to find some happier place—”’ Lord Montagu began portentously.

‘Yes, yes,’ Kitty interrupted before it could go any further. ‘Shakespeare, is it? Very clever. I should find Lady Montagu, if I were you.’

He sloped off obediently and Kitty turned on her sister.

‘Cecily, you do remember what I told you about dancing too often with the same man, don’t you?’ she implored.

The vague look upon Cecily’s face told her that this conversation had been quite forgotten.

‘Cecily, you are in danger of seeming very fast. I know you do not mean it, but people will start to say you have set your cap at Lord Montagu – and you do not want to look a fool, do you?’

‘Why shouldn’t I look a fool, when that is clearly what you think of me?’ Cecily fired at her, with an unusual flash of temper. ‘Do you think I don’t know that’s how you see me?’

She stormed off, leaving Kitty staring after her. Well. That was unexpected. But Kitty did not have time to think on it for long, because Aunt Dorothy was at her elbow.

‘They’re here,’ she whispered.

Kitty took a deep breath and walked over to meet her future mother-in-law. Her first thought was that Aunt Dorothy must be mistaken, for she had guided her over to the most heavily bejewelled woman Kitty had ever seen in her life. She looked rather as if she had fallen into a well of gold, for every inch of her was dripping with precious stones, from the tips of her fingers to the heights of her impressively lifted bosoms. And yet there was Mr Pemberton at her side – so it must be she.

‘Miss Talbot!’ Mr Pemberton said brightly. ‘May I introduce you to my mother?’

Kitty found herself the recipient of a gimlet-eyed stare.

‘It is an honour to meet you at last,’ she said, curtseying.

‘Hmm.’ Mrs Pemberton looked her overtly over. ‘Yes, she is pretty enough, Colin. Though a little dour.’

Her son nodded in agreement. Lady Radcliffe, who was standing beside Aunt Dorothy, coughed politely to cover up the awkwardness of the moment.

‘Colin tells me you should like to attend church with me,’ Mrs Pemberton said next, with the same bald unconcern.