Working Man, Society Bride. Mary Nichols

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СКАЧАТЬ Aubusson carpet, several sofas and stuffed chairs, like the one she occupied. There were little tables scattered everywhere on which small ornaments were displayed. The walls were crammed with paintings, from very small ones to large, formal family portraits. She rose, teacup in hand, and wandered over to the window, which gave her a view of a terrace with stone vases and statues lining the steps down to a lawn with flower beds brilliant with colourful summer blooms. It was all too perfect to be true. Beyond that was a park, and she could see the sparkle of water and longed to be outside.

      ‘Shall you like to explore?’

      She whipped round to find Edward standing so close behind her he was brushing against her skirt. ‘Perhaps later, Mr Gorridge.’

      ‘Oh, yes, later. After dinner, perhaps.’

      ‘It depends whether Mama feels like it. She is often tired after a journey.’

      ‘Ah, the need for a chaperon. We must not forget that, must we? Perhaps Lady Rosemary would like to join us, if Lady Luffenham doesn’t feel up to it. The sun setting over the lake is a particularly beautiful sight.’

      She did not commit herself, but he appealed to her mother, who graciously said she would allow Rosemary to chaperon her sister, which was not at all what Lucy wanted. She was reluctant to be alone with him and she did not think Rosie’s services would be adequate. Tea over, they were shown upstairs to their rooms to rest before changing for dinner. Lucy had barely sat down and kicked off her shoes, when Rosemary arrived from the adjoining room.

      ‘It is perfect, Lucy, just perfect,’ she said, sitting beside her sister on the bed. ‘My room is huge and there is a canopied bed and a dressing room that has a bath. Just imagine, a bath all to myself.’ She looked about her. ‘Yours is the same. Oh, Lucy, I am entranced and full of envy.’

      ‘It’s all show.’ If Edward Gorridge proposed, she could, one day, be mistress of this magnificent house. She had as yet not explored it and had no idea how many servants there were, but it was plain there were many more than were employed by her father. She could entertain, buy extravagant clothes, ride magnificent horses. But was that what she wanted?

      ‘Don’t be silly, even a show needs pots and pots of money. I thought we were wealthy, but this far exceeds anything we have. Our house is poky by comparison.’

      Lucy laughed. ‘In that case, you don’t know the meaning of the word poky. Try going into one of the cottages on the estate and you’ll see truly poky.’

      ‘Ugh, no, thank you. And I did say by comparison.’

      ‘And I would rather have our comfortable home than this opulence. It frightens me.’

      ‘Why ever do you say that? You can’t stay at home for ever. You have to marry and move on, that’s the way things are, and you would soon get used to it. It isn’t as if Mr Gorridge is an ogre. He isn’t ugly, he’s handsome, and his manners are perfect. What more do you want?’

      Lucy declined to answer. Instead she said, ‘Go and change. We mustn’t be late down for dinner.’

      Rosemary left her and she sat a little longer, musing on the day so far. If she was going to do as her mother had asked her and try to think of Mr Gorridge as a husband, she was going to have to make an effort. A month before it would have been easier; she had returned from London thinking that perhaps she could learn to love him, but that was before she met a certain giant of a navvy who had warm brown eyes and a ready smile and who had somehow managed to mesmerise her. How else could she explain why she was constantly thinking of him and seeing things through his eyes? What would he make of Linwood Park and its occupants? What did he think about inherited wealth? He would despise it. Had he forgotten her the minute she had disappeared from his view? It was all so silly and so impossible and she was thoroughly vexed with herself.

      The maid came in to help her to dress and she forced herself to concentrate on what she was going to wear.

      

      It took an hour, but at the end of it she was ready. She had chosen a simple gown in lime-green silk. It had a boat-shaped neck and small puff sleeves; its only decoration was a band of ruching in a darker shade of green, which ran from each shoulder to the waist in a deep V and then crossed to spread in a wide arc down and around the skirt. The ensemble was finished with elbow-length gloves, a fan and a string of pearls her father had bought her for her presentation. Her hair was parted in the middle and drawn to each side, where it was secured with ribbons and allowed to fall into ringlets over her ears. Taking a last look in the mirror, she made her way downstairs. A footman in the hall directed her to the drawing room.

      She was, she realised as he opened the door for her to enter, the first lady to arrive and the room contained her father, Viscount Gorridge, Mr Gorridge and Mr Victor Ashbury, Edward’s cousin, whom she had met in London. They stopped their conversation to acknowledge her little curtsy, and for a moment there was silence.

      ‘Am I too early?’ she asked, wondering whether to retreat.

      ‘No, no,’ the Viscount assured her. ‘It is refreshing to find a lady who is punctual. Would you care for a cordial or ratafia, perhaps?’

      ‘No, thank you, my lord.’ She seated herself on a chair near the window some distance from them. ‘Please don’t mind me,’ she said. ‘I shall sit quietly here until the other ladies arrive.’

      Edward came and stood by her chair. ‘I fear you will be immeasurably bored by the conversation,’ he said. ‘They are talking about the railway.’

      ‘I do not find that boring.’

      ‘Lucinda has a lively curiosity and interests herself in many things,’ her father told the others, though whether he was praising her or excusing her, she could not tell. At least he was smiling and seemed more relaxed. ‘And her first journey in a railway carriage has excited her interest.’

      ‘How did you find it?’ the Viscount asked. ‘Not too noisy or dirty? Eh, what?’

      ‘It was both,’ she said. ‘But exciting, too. Do you think the railway will be the transport of the future?’

      ‘Oh, undoubtedly,’ he said. ‘It is exactly what I have been saying to your papa.’

      The door opened to admit Lady Gorridge and Dorothea, followed by the Countess and Rosemary, and the conversation was dropped. Lucy was sorry, in a way; she wanted to learn more and it was all because of a certain navvy who had somehow inveigled his way into her head and would not go away. She could not tell anyone about him, could not talk about him, but discussing the burgeoning industry of which he was a part was the next best thing. She wanted to learn everything she could, though when she asked herself why, she could not provide herself with an answer.

      She looked up suddenly to find Edward holding out his arm and realised that dinner had been announced and he was offering his escort into the dining room. She stood up and laid her fingers on his sleeve and they followed in line behind Viscount Gorridge with her mother, and Lady Gorridge with her father. Rosemary and Dorothea brought up the rear with Mr Ashbury.

      ‘Only a small, intimate gathering tonight,’ Lady Gorridge said as they took their seats and the table. ‘Almost, you could say, en famille. Tomorrow the rest of the company will arrive.’

      Lucy looked at Edward to see if he had reacted to the obvious hint that they would all soon be related, but he was busy signalling to the wine waiter to take round СКАЧАТЬ