Lord Gresham had laughed, and Georgiana said, “But indeed, travel is far more interesting than hobbies. Where had you been sent to?”
“Oh here and there, mostly Ireland but to the Netherlands and Spain as well.”
Georgiana’s ears had perked up upon mention of Ireland. Perhaps she might learn more about the real state of things there.
“Had you been to County Wexford, my lord? Lord Asturt was just telling me of it.”
“Once, a few years ago,” Lord Gresham said.
“Oh, I see! Perhaps you met Lord Asturt there.”
“Indeed I did not,” Lord Gresham said.
“Well, perhaps not if you were only visiting once,” Georgiana said, “his family resides at Ballyhough Hall. He tells me it is a charming place with good views.”
Lord Gresham laid his fork down. “Ballyhough Hall? But I had been under the impression that the owner of that estate was Lord Astur, not Asturt.”
Georgiana thought certainly the lord was mistaken. There could hardly be two gentlemen of such similar names residing nearby one another. But then, Lady Mendleton had made the exact same mistake. She began to think it was a matter of accent and pronunciation that caused the confusion.
“Well,” she said, “the names are very like, I suspect they must be one and the same.”
“Perhaps,” Lord Gresham said. “Though I had also been under the impression that Lord Astur was in his sixties and his heir was a grandson, still a boy. Of course, my information may have been wrong.”
Georgiana suspected that Lord Gresham’s travels had muddled his memory a bit. She did her best to participate in the rest of the conversation and since shehadmentioned horses, Lord Gresham took the opportunity of describing a pretty little mare he’d bought. She was a chestnut with white socks and he intended to institute a breeding program, and…she knew not what else.
She did, from time to time, allow her thoughts to drift. That they only seemed to drift in one direction was not particularly a surprise. Of all the things that she’d imagined could happen to her in London, being the ridiculous victim of unrequited love had not been in her wildest imaginings.
Still, that was what had happened to her.
She ought to be thinking about Lord Asturt. She ought to be considering whether he might be a suitable match. She ought to be turning her thoughts to whether or not she might create some affection in her heart for Lord Asturt. Instead, she was thinking about the unsuitable match. The match that would never be.
Where was he this evening? What did he do? Was he sitting somewhere, playing cards? Was he at the theater? Had he been taken with some lady and now sought to turn up wherever she could be found? What was he to say to his very disappointed mother? Would he tell Lady Mendleton the truth? That he stayed away to avoid Miss Wilcox?
Jasper Stapleton, where are you?
Chapter Seventeen
As the butler,Perry was well-used to setting the tone at the servants’ table. It must be a firm hand, but nottoofirm a hand. Were one to allow anything and everything to be spoken of, the talk would get bolder by the day. But to allow nothing to be spoken of…well, one would only find staff in corners discussing the very thing that had been forbidden. It was a delicate balance. When something untoward occurred in the family they served, itwouldbe discussed. As long as the talk did not go too far off the road, Perry was amenable to it. He rather thought of it as tradition and supposed even Athelstan’s servants had formed their own opinions in those long-ago early days.
There was no lack of subjects to be discussed at this moment. Lord Langley continued to make himself unusually scarce, he’d failed to don the Poseidon costume Lady Mendleton had ordered made, and it was said he’d not even gone to the masque. Miss Wilcox was reported to be out of sorts, though this was generally attributed to her sympathy with Lady Mendleton, who was out of sorts with her son. Perry, having an understanding and falcon eye vastly superior to his staff, thought Miss Wilcox was out of sorts because her intended prey was never at home.
On top of all that, they were to host a ball in two days’ time.
“So as I brushed her hair,” Jenny went on, “I said, my lady, the Poseidon costume might be put aside and worn another time and you do dote on Lord Langley after all.” Jenny sipped her tea with satisfaction. “Well, that seemed to soften her a bit and now she’s really turned a corner. She’s decided it was not her son’s fault at all, but the queen’s fault for calling him away on such a night.”
“Though,” Perry interrupted, lest the conversation veer off the road, “we, as Lord and Lady Mendleton’s staff, will never breathe a word of our queen being at fault in any matter.”
“No, a’course not,” Jenny said. “Who would we even tell it to?”
“I cannot imagine,” Perry said, “though you do seem to tell everybody you can get hold of absolutely everything you know.”
“Is it as bad as that?” Jenny asked, looking rather surprised.
Perry nodded and Jenny blushed and said softly, “I’m like a faucet, it just pours out.”
“But here’s what I don’t understand—there was no message delivered from the palace to call Lord Langley away,” Marcus said. “Does anybody know for certain if he went to the queen or to the masque, or maybe somewhere else altogether?”
“He didn’t wear the costume, we already know that. And, ifyoudon’t know where he went,” Jimmy said, “how are the rest of us to know? Why don’t you just ask him?”
