Cosgrove looked at him in surprise. “Was that an elusive compliment from Roswell?” he teased.
“Why am I friends with you again?” Roswell asked.
“Because no one else can put up with you,” Cosgrove responded.
Roswell took a sip of his drink. “Miss Bentley is no more than a country bumpkin and is beneath our notice,” he asserted.
“That is rather crass of you to say,” Townsend argued. “Lord Worthington served this country with honor, and his family should be treated with no less respect.”
“Perhaps Roswell wants to keep Miss Bentley for himself,” Cosgrove said.
Slamming his empty glass onto the table, Roswell declared, “I assure you that is not the case. Any man that ties himself to a young woman like her has my sympathies.”
Townsend looked at him curiously. “What is it about her that you don’t like, putting aside that she doesn’t have a dowry?” he asked.
Roswell pursed his lips together as he pondered Townsend’s question. What did he find so irritating about Miss Bentley? Could it be that she was entirely too stubborn for her own good or was it because of how she had challenged him at dinner?
Knowing his friend was still waiting for a response, he replied, “If you must know, she is a very disagreeable young woman.”
Townsend didn’t look convinced by his remarks, and Charles’ rueful head shaking didn’t help. “I believe it would be worth my time to become acquainted with this Miss Bentley.”
“That is a foolish thing to do,” Roswell asserted. “There could be no future between you.”
“That’s not true, especially since my family does not lack for money,” Townsend said. “A young woman that doesn’t possess a dowry wouldn’t be as detrimental to me as most other gentlemen of theton.”
“I wish you luck, then.” Roswell rose. “If you will excuse me, I believe it is time for me to depart for the evening.”
“But the night is still young,” Cosgrove stated.
Roswell pushed his chair in. “Perhaps another night.”
“You always say that,” Townsend complained.
“One day I might mean it,” Roswell said as he walked away.
4
Ellie saton the settee next to the fireplace with a book in her hand. She was attempting to read, but her mind kept straying towards her mother. She hoped she was all right without her, although she already knew that answer. Her mother was a formidable woman, but she had already suffered greatly at the hand of Lord Worthington.
Ellie shuddered at the thought of that man. He had made her uncomfortable from the moment his eyes first landed on her. It wasn’t long before he offered for her hand, despite it being entirely inappropriate to do so since she was still grieving her father. After she had refused him, they were removed from the manor and sent to live in the cottage.
A knock came at the door, breaking her from her musings.
“Enter,” she ordered.
The door opened and Emma stepped into the room, still dressed in the gown she had worn for dinner. “I just wanted to say how happy I am that you are here,” she expressed.
“You are?”
Emma nodded. “My mother can be rather overbearing at times,” she hesitated, “she means well, but it can be rather exhausting.”
“My mother is the same way.”
Walking over to the bed, Emma sat down on it. “We should be so fortunate to have mothers such as ours, but I tire of her listing my many accomplishments to suitors.”
“Does she?”
Emma nodded. “She has no qualms about it, either.”
