Deceived. Bertrice Small

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ and remind ’em that you’ve been with her grace since she was a child. Few will challenge an association like that. Be pleasant, but don’t trust anyone until you got a real good lay of the land. The dowager duchess will have a favorite serving woman. Make friends with her and defer to her judgment. With a strong ally like that, you ain’t got nothing to worry about.”

      “Oh, Martha! I’m going to miss you!” Sally’s plain face was woebegone. Her gray eyes were teary.

      “Go on with you,” Martha said gruffly, but she was feeling a bit weepy too. When Sally departed, she would have no close woman friend of her own class. But it was only for a little while, she reminded herself. Her eye went to the windows, and then she said, “Look out in the harbor. The Royal George is sailing in, and the bride not ready!”

      Cally’s wedding gown was brought forth. It was a beautiful garment of cream-colored satin. The round neckline was edged in matching lace that matched the engageants falling from the three-quarter sleeves. The skirt opened in the front to reveal a brocade underskirt embroidered in a delicate floral pattern with gold thread. The skirt was gathered full at the hips with flounces and ruches, and lay over its underskirt and several stiffened petticoats. Calandra’s dark hair was gathered into a chignon, and one long curl was coaxed to lie over her left shoulder. She wore no jewelry except for pear-shaped pearl earbobs and a small gold cross on a fine gold chain. Carefully she slipped her stocking feet into low-heeled cream brocade shoes with small gold rosettes. Then she looked at herself in the long mirror.

      Calandra Hawkesworth. It had a noble ring to it. Calandra, Duchess of Farminster, she thought, and preened before the glass. Yes. She looked like a duchess. She was going to be a great success in England. “I am beautiful,” she said aloud to no one in particular.

      “You are, and that’s the truth,” Martha told her with a smile, “but don’t you forget when you get to England, that pretty is as pretty does, Miss Calandra. I’ll want to hear good things of you when we arrive.”

      Oralia came into the bedroom and stopped, her hand going to her heart as she viewed her daughter. “Oh, my, my, darling! It is perfect. You look regal.” She handed Cally a small spray of star-shaped white orchids. Then she asked, “Where is Aurora?”

      “Here, Mama.” Aurora entered by the door that connected her room and Cally’s. Her gown was almost identical to her sister’s except that it was pale rose-colored silk. The visible underskirt was of cream brocade, hand painted with tiny blue forget-me-nots. Her matching shoes had pink rosettes, and her brown-gold hair was fashioned with twin ringlets on either side of her head. Her only jewelry was a gold cross that matched her sister’s.

      “Oh, how lovely you look!” Oralia said, pleased. She presented her stepdaughter with a bouquet of pink hibiscus and green ferns.

      George popped his head in the door. “Captain Conway and the Reverend Mr. Edwardes have arrived. The bridegroom is waiting eagerly. Are you ladies ready?”

      “Escort me down, George, and then you may come and get your sister,” Oralia said, gesturing to the two servants to accompany her.

      The two sisters were alone for a brief moment.

      “You’re certain you’re not sorry?” Cally said. “This is a wonderful and generous thing you have done, Aurora, but even I know Papa would not approve.”

      “I am not sorry,” Aurora assured her, “and Papa would want me happy first and foremost. You know that. Now, you be happy, Cally.”

      “Ohhh, I just know I will! I am going to be a duchess, and live in England. I cannot wait to get there and become a part of society!”

      “And Valerian? Do you give no thought to him?” Aurora was just slightly troubled by Cally’s childish attitude.

      “Valerian? Well, he will be my husband. What else is there?” Cally replied. “I’m certain we shall get on quite well.”

      George returned. “Come, my little sisters. ’Tis time.”

      They left the bedchamber, and Aurora descended the staircase first, moving slowly so that everyone would have a chance to see and admire Calandra. Of course only the servants were there to see, besides the ship’s captain and the Anglican minister who stood with his back before the open door of the house. To his left stood the duke, dressed simply but elegantly in pale fawn-colored breeches, full at the top and fitted above the knee, below which he wore white stockings. His coat was of black velvet, and his waistcoat a white brocade embroidered with black thread garlands. He had silver buckles on his shoes, and lace at his throat and cuffs. Reaching the minister, Aurora stepped to the left and turned to see her stepsister.

      Cally moved gracefully, her little hand upon George’s arm. When they arrived before the Reverend Mr. Edwardes, Valerian stepped forward, and George gave his sister’s hand into that of the duke and stepped into Valerian’s former place as George had two roles to fulfill in this wedding. He was to give the bride away, and he was also the best man.

      “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here together today in the sight of God and this company to join together this man and this woman,” intoned the Anglican minister.

      How long had it been since she had been to church? Aurora wondered. The minister had come from Barbados for her father’s funeral, and before that? She could not remember. Her father would have liked to have had a clergyman on St. Timothy, but without a congregation it would have been good money wasted, he always said. The slaves had their own religion, and a family of five plus their servants was hardly worth the bother. So the minister was sent for only when he was needed. Hardly an ideal arrangement, Aurora thought. When I go to England I shall go to church every Sunday, she decided. England. What fate was awaiting her there? Only time would tell. Her mind wandered here and there for the next few minutes, and then she heard the minister say, “I now pronounce you man and wife.” He joined their hands. “Those whom God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. Amen.” Then the Reverend Mr. Edwardes smiled at the couple. “You may kiss the bride, your grace.”

      Knowing her shyness, Valerian quickly and lightly brushed Calandra’s lips with his own. She looked very surprised.

      Oralia kissed her daughter and then the duke. “I am so very happy for you both!” she said, her eyes filled with tears.

      The newlyweds were then congratulated by their relations, Captain Conway, and the servants before they adjourned to the dining room for a wedding breakfast. While they ate, the trunks were being carried from the house, put into a cart, and taken down to the harbor to the ship. When the last toast was drunk, Captain Conway arose from his place.

      “I do not wish to rush your grace, but the sooner I can weigh anchor today, the sooner we will reach England.”

      “Of course,” the duke agreed, standing and drawing Cally up with him. “You will want to change, my dear. Sally, take your mistress upstairs, and do not dawdle.”

      “Yes, yer grace,” Sally said smartly. She and Martha had been invited to the table, being old and treasured retainers.

      In a surprisingly short time the new Duchess of Farminster returned, dressed fashionably in a gaily flowered Pompadour taffeta travel dress, a broad-brimmed straw hat with blue ribbons, and lace mitts upon her pretty hands. “I am ready,” she said in a breathless voice.

      Oralia began to cry. Both her daughter and stepdaughter rushed to comfort her. “I am being foolish, I know,” she sniffed.

      “Now, СКАЧАТЬ