“I did,” Lady Sybil said, “and lucky I was. Lord Cabot and Lord Grayson appeared very glum, as if they were both in a sulk. Mrs. Jenning seemed to notice, and not take it kindly. Poor Miss Danworth went into dinner with Lord Cabot and she looked as if she worked very hard to entertain, all to no avail.”
“Well,” Cassandra said, “if Miss Danworth cannot entertain with all those marvelous blond curls of hers, the lord must have been very determined to sulk.”
“She shook her curls around very charmingly, yet he was entirely unmoved,” Sybil said, laughing.
Before Cassandra could answer, Sybil pointed toward the window and said, “Ah, look, there is Lord Hampton, going to see Lord Dalton.”
Cassandra turned more eagerly than she had the first time the lord had been spotted on Lord Dalton’s steps. She would not say her conversation with the gentleman the evening before had been carefree, but ithadgot a deal more comfortable when they’d got on the subject of dogs. After that, they’d even discussed saddles and the modification she had made to her own to include a double girth. She had almost hesitated in mentioning it, but in fact the lord had seemed interested in the improved safety of it. His own sister had experienced a serious head injury in her youth from a slipping sidesaddle.
Now, Lord Hampton leapt off his horse, as handsome as ever. Cassandra had begun to think that part of his attractiveness stemmed from his seeming carelessness of his appearance. Of course, he could not be careless, nobody careless was dressed as he was. Yet, his mode of dress was not over-studied. She had now met her share of dandies, their neckcloths tied in fabulous configurations, and she did not care for it.
As the lord stood at the door, speaking to Lord Dalton’s butler, Cassandra said, “I have not yet told you that I was taken into dinner at the Sedways’ by Lord Hampton.”
Sybil laid her hand on Cassandra’s arm. “My poor darling, how did you manage through it?”
Cassandra reddened, seeing that she had painted such a grim picture of Lord Hampton that it must now be modified.
“It was not as you think,” she said. “Remarkably, it was rather enjoyable. It began as awkwardly as you might guess, but somehow got a deal more pleasant when we got to talking of dogs.”
“Dogs?” Sybil said, laughing.
“Indeed, dogs,” Cassandra said. “As it happens, he owns a mastiff, too, and was quite voluble on the subject. And kennels. Oh, and then saddles. It turns out we are of the same mind on those subjects.”
“Dear me, you almost seem as if you like him, Cass,” Sybil said in wonder.
“Like him! No, I would not go so far as that,” Cassandra said hurriedly. Though, as she said it, she was mortified that it did not sound completely true. “I would say that I do not dislike him as much as I did, which is a very long way from liking.”
“Let us hope it is a very long way,” Sybil said, “else you might find yourself an unhappy duchess someday.”
Cassandra smiled at her friend, even as she felt the pink spread across her cheeks. “Now you are being ridiculous, Sybil.” She meant the words, it was just entirely unfortunate that Lord Hampton was so agreeable to look at, and now he’d begun to make himself agreeable to speak with.
She watched the lord go back down Lord Dalton’s steps without being admitted. He leapt on his horse and clattered down the street.
Ah well, it was true she had encountered the lord twice in short order, but London was a big place and the chances of encountering him so often in future were unlikely. Further, the rest of the dinners on her calendar would be a deal larger and so the odds were greatly diminished that she would be taken into supper by that gentleman.
She could not ascertain whether that was a welcome idea or not.
*
Mr. Tuttle hadearned his scratch on his most recent assignment. Lord Dalton had been well-pleased with the sworn statement from Mr. Longmoore. Tuttle had thought that had been the end of it. Though the point of the job had baffled, he’d eventually come to the conclusion that the information against Miss Knightsbridge was to be presented to one of Lord Dalton’s friends who thought of engaging himself to the lady. He’d managed other arrangements where a gentleman’s friends had taken measures to separate him from an unsuitable match.
That had not been the end of it, though. It turned out Lord Dalton wished the information to be spread far and wide, and he did not wish to personally do it, as he did not want to be in any way connected to the scheme.
It was to be Tuttle’s job to get the information spread throughout London.
Tuttle had balked at the idea. He was not so certain that Mr. Longmoore had been completely honest. He rather felt Longmoore was a blowhard who would invent no end of fictions to protect the delicate ego that every blowhard proudly owned. Further, he had never involved himself in a public campaign to impugn the reputation of a lady. At least, not on such flimsy evidence.
Still, Dalton had offered him such a sum that it could not be turned away. He could send that money to his widowed sister in Manchester and she might live comfortably with her two young boys, no longer taking in sewing or washing. If he were to weigh the fate of his long-suffering sister against a privileged miss from Surrey, he must always come down on the side of his sister.
Tuttle could all too easily guess why Lord Dalton had offered such a handsome payment. It must seem to the lord a difficult thing to plant a story all over town with nobody quite knowing from whence it had come.
Tuttle knew otherwise, of course. He did not have access to those places filled with the chattering women of theton,nor did he need to. It was not in the elegant drawing rooms that the idea would put down roots. It was below stairs and in the attics. It was through a carefully curated labyrinth of connections.
It was through the lady’s maids.
Tuttle had made it his business to cultivate relationships with all manner of staff and there was not a well-heeled house in town he could not slip into via the servants’ entrance. Though he knew his share of housekeepers and butlers, it was lady’s maids who had those confidential conversations with the mistress that allowed for the spread of gossip. In truth, the ladies of thetonexpected their maids to deliver whatever interesting chatter they’d heard from other servants.
The lady’s maids would, for a few pounds, repeat the story. It would be impossible to know from where it had first arisen. It was only necessary that the first group of maids be given a copy of the declaration from Mr. Longmoore and become apprised of Miss Knightsbridge’s inclinations to ride without a groom and shoot like a man. They each would take bits and pieces to compose their own version until the story would swirl into the air like a whirlwind of veracity.
