“Our aunt was so close to the altar, though,” Viola said. “Several times.”
Beatrice could see very well that none of the gentlemen knew how to respond to that statement, as they did not know the circumstances.
Sir William shook his head sadly. “War,” he said softly.
“Oh no, Sir William,” Miss Mayton said, “it was far more terrible than that.”
The gentleman appeared alarmed to hear it.
“Aunt,” Cordelia said, “do tell the gentlemen about poor Count Tulerstein. And then, if they are willing, I will act out Desdemona.”
Beatrice smiled her approval at Cordelia. Her sister had expertly steered the conversation away from any talk of the events of last evening or any ruses that might have been guessed at.
*
Tattleton watched insome despair as one of the cats gnawed on the lock to the tea chest like any housebreaker.
Oh, those felines had been very manageable when they’d arrived. Young and underfed, they had spent most of their time in a basket. But now! Now, everywhere he looked there was a cat.
Hanging from curtains and attempting to jump onto counters, and he’d even discovered one in his bed! He was certain there had only been four of them arriving, but now it seemed like there were ten. They were under siege!
It was very hard to work under such conditions. Poor Mr. James had all but given up the ghost—he’d spy a cat licking at a haunch of beef he’d just brought in from the cold cellar and collapse in a chair.
What none of those creatures had managed to do was catch a mouse. The young ladies had sworn the kitchens would not have a mouse dare enter under threat of so many cats, but it turned out they were quite useless at the activity.
At least Charlie, the young fellow who’d come along with those feline wretches, was turning out very good. He was small, but he worked like the devil himself and Tattleton often sent him to bed, lest he not send himself to bed.
Charlie was about the only good news in his sphere just now. As if below stairs were not hectic enough, above stairs was not much better.
Lord Van Doren had dropped some heavy hints in the drawing room this afternoon and it was clear he knew of the scheme Lord Darden had enacted.
But poor Lord Van Doren! Most obviously, he did not knowhewas the intended target! Nor did Lady Beatrice know it. Nor did Miss Mayton or any of the sisters know it.
Lady Beatrice was always staring out of windows, attempting to spot her mystery gentleman. Her sisters were endlessly speculating on who he was and what he was doing at any given moment. Lady Juliet had gone so far as to write an ode as a wedding present.
Lady Beatrice was pining for a gentleman who did not exist and Lord Van Doren was pining for nobody at all!
What would happen when all was known? Tattleton was very afraid it would create a rift between the family and their neighbor. And all of this going on under the earl’s nose!
Mrs. Huffson bustled into the servants’ dining hall. “Goodness, Mr. Tattleton, you do seem so on edge these days.”
“I have much weighing heavy on my mind, Mrs. Huffson.”
The housekeeper glanced at one of the cats hanging from a curtain rod, that feline appearing to think over whether it ought to hold on or drop.
“Well now,” she said, “they won’t be kittens forever. They’ll settle in six months or so.”
Tattleton fairly shivered at the thought of where the family would stand six months from now.
*
Matthew had goneover to the Benningtons’ to make Darden’s friends aware that he knew of their ridiculous ruse to drive Conbatten forward in his attentions to Beatrice. If Darden would not put a stop to it, then he would.
He had done it, though they had not looked half as ashamed as they ought to.
Perhaps the only recourse was to tell the duke that he’d been the subject of some trickery.
It was a delicate matter. For one, the duke did not like him. For another, might the fellow not demand an answer on the green from the actual perpetrators?
