“Poor Miss Martel,” Daisy said.
“Poor Miss Martel nothing,” Lord Dalton said. “She will go to her mama and say I seemed very taken with her and they will scheme together to force another encounter. One day soon, I will walk down some avenue and a handkerchief will fly at my face and gently flutter to my feet. They will have discovered where to find me by paying off a servant and then they will look deeply shocked to encounter me.”
“And then they will hear, eventually, of your vow to never marry,” Daisy said. “That will be the end of it.”
“I’m sure they’ve heard it already,” Lord Dalton said. “The problem is, nobody ever believes it.”
“I believe it,” Daisy said softly.
“Do you?” the lord said, his voice just as low.
Daisy nodded. “Just as I have said that I will never—”
“You are certain you will not?”
The set ended before Daisy was forced to answer. She was sure she would have answered affirmative. She was not some silly girl who changed her mind with the weather. And yet, she was glad she had not been pressed to answer.
Just as Lord Dalton had predicted, Lady Montague was in range. In fact, she was seated directly across the not over-wide table. Daisy was further perturbed to note that Lord Dalton had been right, her husband did not accompany her. It had always been her opinion that Lord Montague was a more pleasant sort and it had been her guess that he went some way to controlling the lady’s worst instincts. Rather, Lady Montague was seated by Lord Home, a middle-aged gentleman Daisy did not know well.
At least Lord Burke and Miss Minkerton were in range of Daisy too, Lord Burke to Lady Montague’s right. Daisy could not help but note that they seemed anything but brother and sister. Miss Minkerton certainly must be wrong in her opinions—after all, what brother took a sister into supper?
Whether she was wrong or no, Miss Minkerton seemed delighted with him and he with her.
As there were a few persons who outranked even Lord Dalton or who were otherwise given precedence as being a senior military officer, the regent was just a bit too far away to be in their conversation. That was well, Daisy thought, as she’d already heard some very detailed stories of the building of the pavilion. Apparently, Mr. Nash was a stickler for quality and had even once sent back a box of nails he did not feel was up to snuff. The regent, if she understood him at all, had a fondness for people who deemed things not good enough for him.
Poor Mrs. Jellops, having partnered at whist with Mr. Kelleher, was somewhere near the bottom of the table. Daisy supposed the lady would not mind it, though. When it came to supper, she was far more interested in what wasonthe table than who was seated at it.
Daisy had noticed for some minutes that Lady Montague was staring at her. She pretended she did not notice and hoped the lady would find something else to engage her attention. Lord Dalton had no doubt marked it as he had engaged Daisy in a very nonsensical conversation about the tides.
“Miss Danworth,” Lady Montague said. “I say, Miss Danworth.”
She was impossible to ignore. Daisy looked over and smiled sweetly. “Lady Montague. How lovely to see you.”
Lady Montague sniffed at the sentiment and said, “And so we see each other. Though, I had been under the impression, Miss Danworth, that you were seeing nobody at all. At least, that is what my cousin said.”
Daisy had braced herself for some comment on her attendance at the assembly or the light color of her dress. She had no idea what the lady was talking about.
“My cousin, Miss Danworth, or I suppose I should say distant cousin as he is three times removed. A very pleasant fellow who was a dear friend of your father’s. Lieutenant Farthmore. He stays at my house, you know.”
Daisy was dumbstruck. Of course, she had not known any of it. Not that Lady Montague kept a house nearby, not that she was related to the lieutenant, and certainly not that he stayed at her house.
“Your cousin,” Lord Dalton said to Lady Montague, “however distant, arrived at an unseemly hour and did not gain admittance.”
“Oh, don’t bother dripping honey on it, Dalton,” Lady Montague said. “I know all about it.”
“If you knewallabout it,” Lord Dalton said, “you would not have brought it up.”
Lady Montague’s thin lips pressed together in a sharp line and her eyes narrowed at Lord Dalton. She looked as if she were confirming the location of her prey before she pounced.
“Iknowthat the Lieutenant arrived to pay respects to the daughter of a dear departed friend and was summarily thrown from the property,” Lady Montague said. “IknowLieutenant Farthmore, who is a renowned member of the military, is celebrated for his amphibious operations at Tarragona. Iknowthat one might have been generous and assumed that Lord Childress’ daughter was too broken up over her father’s death to see anybody. But then, I alsoknowthat same daughter is out at a ball wearing a dress that does not hint at such devastation. That, Lord Dalton, is what Iknow.”
Lady Montague had been loud enough to attract attention up and down the table. The rest of the diners had gone silent, almost as if they’d had their ears primed all night in anticipation of what the lady would stir up.
Daisy had a great urge to run from the room, but at the same time felt frozen in her seat. She could feel Lord Dalton’s fury coming off him like a heat.
Lord Dalton laid down his fork very deliberately and said, “I see you are now to be the arbiter of mourning. But I wonder…who will mourn whenyoudepart, Lady Montague? Who will don the black and pretend at weeping? I think the best you might expect is your husband wears an armband for a while, because it is not much trouble. Otherwise, it will be more a time for jubilation than not.Thatis how villains may expect to be sent off to meet their maker.”
It seemed to Daisy that Lady Montague had never experienced such a vigorous defense upon one of her attacks. She so often cowed people that she was in the habit of gaining her victory and most certainlynotin the habit of being crossed. Especially not in such a manner or so publicly. Her face had paled to such a degree that Daisy wondered how she stayed upright.
