The Transformation Of Miss Ashworth. Anne Ashley

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СКАЧАТЬ secret indefinitely and eventually word leaked out that an engagement announcement would be forthcoming in the spring of the following year.

      ‘During this period, Papa sailed for Portugal with Wellesley in the summer of ’08, as you know, and there was no possibility that I could remain here at the Grange. Foolishly I felt hurt, and harboured far too much resentment towards Eugenie and her mother to stay with them for the duration of Papa’s absence, and so I inflicted myself on my mother’s maiden aunt, who still resides in Plymouth. I was brutally aware, of course, that I would be expected to travel to Surrey for the engagement party the following year. As the months passed, and the date for the celebration loomed ever nearer, in sheer desperation I sought a way out of my predicament, and managed to attain passage on board a ship bound for Portugal, just a matter of a week or so before the engagement was made official. Great-Aunt Matilda suspected nothing until she discovered the note I had left her, poor darling. She must have been desperately concerned, even though I assured her I was sharing a cabin with the wife of an army surgeon, eager to join her husband out in the Peninsula, and would therefore be adequately chaperoned for the duration of the voyage.’

      ‘Even so, you took a desperate risk, my dear—a young girl, just turned twenty, travelling without a male protector,’ Ann pointed out.

      ‘True,’ Beth was obliged to agree. ‘But at the time to have remained seemed a far worse fate.’ She shrugged. ‘Her numerous letters since would suggest Great-Aunt Matilda has long since forgiven me for the distress I caused her. Lady Henrietta Barfield is a different matter entirely. Although she did eventually bring herself to write to me, the few letters received during the intervening years have contained precious little warmth.’

      Ann stared intently at the figure still standing at the window. ‘And do you still feel resentment now?’

      Beth turned to stare out at the slightly neglected garden once more. ‘Not towards my Aunt Hetta, no,’ she at last revealed. ‘Perhaps a little towards Philip, still. But I hope I didn’t allow it to show.’

      ‘I could detect nothing of the kind,’ Ann assured her.

      ‘Good—because we have been invited to dine at the Court on Friday, and it would be the height of bad manners to reveal the least animosity towards one’s host, don’t you agree? Besides which, I am determined to put such youthful grievances behind me!’

      Ann offered no response. She merely turned her attention to her sewing once more, her brow furrowed by a thoughtful frown.

      Philip arrived back at the Court to discover his sister seated close to the parlour fire, also plying a needle. Unlike the lean yet shapely women with whom he had conversed a short time earlier, Lady Chalford was not given to indulging in any form of strenuous exercise, if she could possibly avoid it. And it showed!

      ‘Ahh, busily occupied again, I see!’ he quipped, making a beeline for the table on which recently refilled decanters stood. ‘Can I tempt you to join me in a glass of madeira before luncheon, m’dear?’

      ‘Yes, I rather think you can, Brother. I’m quite fatigued after all the embroidering I’ve been doing during your absence.’

      Living up to his reputation for gentlemanly conduct, he refrained from comment, and merely apologised for deserting her for the entire morning. ‘But as the business with my steward was accomplished swiftly, I took the opportunity to call in at the Grange in order to welcome Beth home personally.’

      Happily abandoning her sewing, Lady Chalford accepted the glass of madeira, while favouring her brother with her full attention. ‘Well…?’ she prompted, after he had quietly settled himself in the chair opposite. ‘What is she like? Did you find her much altered?’

      Philip took a few moments to contemplate the contents of his glass, his mind’s eye conjuring up a clear image of a pair of clear, azure eyes, set in a finely boned face. ‘Yes, some…and the changes are not merely physical, either. I detected a certain reserve in her now that might almost be taken for aloofness.’

      Although not known for being particularly perceptive, Lady Chalford on this occasion could easily see something was troubling him. ‘Do you mean she didn’t seem pleased to see you?’

      ‘Oh, no. No, I wouldn’t go as far as to say that, exactly.’ Frowning more deeply, he shook his head. ‘Perhaps I just imagined it, or am being too sensitive. After all, she’s a woman grown, not the lively girl she once was, given to displays of adoration. And, of course, she was bound to have changed after what she’s experienced during these past years.’

      Lady Chalford uttered a sound that was suspiciously like a snort. ‘Well, if she did suffer hardship, she has only her late father to blame. What on earth possessed Colonel Ashworth to send for his daughter, do you suppose? If he had placed her in his sister’s care, I’m sure Lady Henrietta would have been only too happy to chaperon her for a Season. It would have been the ideal time to bring Bethany out. Once the event to celebrate your engagement was over, that is.’

      As always, she cast her brother a searching look in an attempt to gauge his reaction. On this occasion, however, his expression gave absolutely nothing away. It was almost as if he had not heard. ‘Bethany might well have been married by now had she remained in England.’ A thought suddenly occurred to her. ‘Or is she married?’

      ‘No, she isn’t,’ he eventually revealed, frowning more deeply than before. ‘Which is most surprising, because there’s no denying she’s become a most attractive young woman, quite strikingly so. But what puzzles me even more is why she took it into her head to join her father in the Peninsula in the first place. Beth’s companion inadvertently revealed something that has given me every reason to suppose that Augustus Ashworth didn’t plan for his daughter to join him out there.’

      He shrugged, straining the material of his impeccably tailored jacket across much-admired shoulders. ‘No doubt we’ll discover the truth in time, possibly even this coming Friday, as I’ve invited Beth and her charming companion, Mrs Stride, to join our small dinner party.’

      Philip favoured his sister with a prolonged stare. ‘And have a care, Connie,’ he warned. ‘Unless I much mistake the matter, Beth looks upon this woman as rather more than a companion. I know you are far too well bred to make any guest of mine feel ill at ease, but you do not always put a guard on that tongue of yours.’

      Lady Chalford clearly bridled at the accusation, yet possessed sense enough not to refute it, and merely said, ‘Well, if I’m being forced to play hostess to a man of Bathurst’s stamp, I’m sure I can be civil to a hired companion.’ Her grey eyes were suddenly lit by a catlike gleam. ‘In fact, the companion might turn out to be a blessing in disguise. I was wondering who to place next to Mr Charles Bathurst at table, as you will insist on inviting the fellow to dine.’

      ‘An excellent notion!’ Philip announced, completely impervious to his sister’s attempts to provoke him. ‘And it might not be such a bad notion to place Bethany on my affluent new neighbour’s other side, for unless her character has changed out of all recognition, and I don’t suppose for a moment it has, she wouldn’t care a jot if she was seated next to someone who for the first twenty years of his life was considered a bastard!’

      Although having had the advantage of becoming reacquainted with Bethany, and therefore having already appreciated the quite apparent physical changes in her, even Philip found himself almost gaping when she entered his drawing room with her companion early on Friday evening.

      A gentleman of no little experience in such matters, it was evident to him that both ladies were dressed in creations clearly СКАЧАТЬ