A Debutante In Disguise. Eleanor Webster

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СКАЧАТЬ he felt a peculiar relief. Usually people would look his way as though oddly drawn to his wounds and then, their curiosity satisfied, glance away, their distaste and disgust evident.

      Turning from her, he tugged on the bell pull, his movement awkward.

      ‘You are still injured?’ she said.

      ‘It is nothing.’

      ‘It impacts your movement which is not nothing.’

      ‘Regardless, it is certainly not your concern,’ he said, tightly. ‘Now, if you will permit me to focus on my sister, I will transport her home where she might receive the attention of her qualified physician. Provided you approve, of course.’

      ‘Indeed, that seems an admirable plan,’ Letty said.

      * * *

      Letty slept well. Perhaps she was just too exhausted to do otherwise. No child arrived and she did not wake until late the next morning. Indeed, the sun was high in the sky and brightly shining through the lace curtains when Sarah roused her.

      ‘What is it?’ she asked drowsily, rubbing her head and squinting against the sun’s glare.

      ‘It is past noon and Mrs Barton, your mother, is here,’ Sarah explained.

      ‘Huh.’ Letty pulled herself up to a seated position, still squinting. ‘No wonder you are looking perturbed. Bring me some tea and I will get dressed. Best make it strong.’

      ‘Be quick. She hates waiting and does not approve of sleeping in of a morning.’

      ‘Very strong,’ Letty muttered.

      * * *

      Some thirty minutes later, Letty entered the morning room. Her mother sat, as always, ramrod straight, having chosen the most uncomfortable chair available. In reality, her mother was not old. Letty had patients still bearing children at her age. Moreover, she didn’t even look old, her hair had only a few strands of grey.

      However, Mrs Barton’s worried aspect always gave the impression not only of age, but of her never being young.

      ‘Lettuce, I am glad you graced us with your presence,’ Mrs Barton said, pushing her lips together with that characteristic click of the tongue.

      ‘I aim to please.’ Letty crossed the room, placing a dutiful kiss on her mother’s smooth cheek, before seating herself in a more comfortable chair opposite.

      ‘Although I do not know what time you think this is to be rising?’

      ‘One in the afternoon,’ Letty affirmed, glancing at the mantel clock.

      ‘Are you ill?’

      ‘I do not think so.’

      ‘Only severe illness is sufficient reason to lie abed until this hour.’

      ‘I will try to remedy the situation. Would a cold or chill suffice?’

      A frown puckered her mother’s forehead. ‘Your sense of humour is too much like your father’s. And you disappeared yesterday almost as soon as you had arrived.’

      ‘Disappeared—gracious, I feel like a magician at a village fair. I went into the library and then home.’

      ‘You were invited to a garden party, not to skulk in the library.’

      ‘Indeed, skulking sounds positively criminal. You always make my life feel so much more exciting than its reality.’

      Her mother’s forehead furrowed into a deeper crease. ‘Criminal is not “exciting”. And you always talk in riddles. Your father was much the same. We are lucky that your brother had the good sense to marry a young lady related to a duke.’

      ‘I believe the relation is distant and Father’s money, as opposed to Ramsey’s sense, might have had more to do with it,’ Letty murmured.

      ‘Your comment is ill bred and ungrateful. Your brother’s marriage to dear Florence provides you entrance into a level of society I never enjoyed. But do you not take advantage of this? No. You spent close to two years with her in London and did not acquire a single suitor. In fact, you hardly seemed to socialise at all—or only under duress. Now you live here on your own in a ludicrously eccentric manner while squandering your inheritance which is the only thing likely to entice a suitable husband.’

      ‘My delightful personality and good looks will not?’ Letty quipped. ‘Anyway, my lifestyle is much too frugal for much squandering.’

      ‘You have purchased a house and must run that establishment.’

      ‘Two, actually. I rent one to the doctor next door.’

      ‘Who is also odd, from what I hear. No one even sees the man. Anyway, back to the garden party. Dear Florence purposefully invited Mr Chester. Indeed, she arranged the party all specially for you, you know.’

      ‘I didn’t. It certainly looked lovely. I appreciated everything. Particularly the elephant. And the giraffe.’ Letty sat in the chair opposite, lolling in excess as though to compensate for her mother’s stiffness.

      ‘Elephant? I do hope you are not losing your reason. It is not done, you know.’

      ‘I was referring to the box tree sculpted like an elephant. In fact, the box trees all resembled wild animals. Combined with the stone lion, it felt like a veritable African adventure.’

      Her mother’s frown deepened. ‘I am uncertain if African adventures are entirely appropriate.’

      ‘Really, that quite ruins my plans for next week. By the way, did you want tea or any other refreshment?’

      ‘Can Sarah make tea?’

      ‘She can boil water.’

      ‘Fine, but I won’t be diverted. Florence wanted you to meet Mr Chester. We both did. It was excessively irritating that you did not.’

      ‘Chester?’ Letty frowned. She remembered a middle-aged gentleman of that name.

      ‘He has a sizeable income and is related to an earl.’

      ‘Doesn’t he also have a bald head, a bad temper—and a wife?’

      ‘She’s dead. A month since,’ Mrs Barton announced with unseemly enthusiasm.

      ‘Gracious, I can’t drag the poor man down the aisle when she is hardly cold in her grave.’

      ‘You wouldn’t drag him down the aisle immediately. You would reach an understanding. The wedding would come after a seemly interlude. And really, you cannot be too picky. You are not in the first blush of youth and no great beauty.’

      ‘Certainly, I am guaranteed not to become vain,’ Letty muttered.

      ‘Moreover, you have chosen this eccentric lifestyle,’ her mother continued, ignoring the comment. ‘I mean you do not have a proper cook, butler or scullery СКАЧАТЬ