“She’s told me nothing about it yet,” Miss Mayton said, settling herself in a chair.
Just then, Lynette came in to help Viola undress.
“Do tell us, Vi,” Juliet said, “Lynette will not repeat anything she hears.”
“Certainly not,” Lynette said, looking taken aback that such a thing even needed to be mentioned. “I hear very little, and what I do goes into a sturdy locked box in the back of my mind.”
Viola nodded, as of course they all knew Lynette played things very close and did not reveal their secrets below stairs.
As Lynette helped her out of her dress and into her nightclothes, Viola took a deep breath.
“Lord Baderston’s mother was there. You will remember that Lord Baderston said I should find her in better spirits the next time we met. Well, that was not at all the case. She made her views on me very clear. Very clear, indeed.”
“But what could she have said?” Cordelia asked.
“She said that he did not have any serious intentions, my family was an endless source of distasteful gossip, he would never stand by me, he would jump when she told him to jump, and I was not to think a preference for ham would do me any good.”
“That’s outrageous!” Juliet cried.
“So I thought too,” Viola said. “I wondered if I should inform Lord Baderston of what she said, but I could not decide if that were right or not. It ended up not mattering anyway, as he escorted his mother home soon after the performance ended. She was right—she told him to jump, and he did.”
“I do not know what you should do about it,” Juliet said. “How could you bear living so closely connected to the lady? How could you stand up to it when the woman in the dower house was so spiteful to you?”
“That does not bother me much, really,” Viola said. “What bothers me is, where does Lord Baderston fall? If he were to stand by me against all others, I might face down the queen herself. But if he were not…”
Cordelia tapped her chin with a forefinger. “You are left to parse the truth of her words. Does Lord Baderston have serious intentions toward you, would he stand by you? That is the question.”
“Just so,” Viola said. “Would he stand by me? I would have thought so, but she claims he would not. What if we were to wed and then something unfortunate happens. Perhaps I accidentally burn the house down—does he stand by me? Or if he is unduly influenced by her and she turns him against me? How am I to know what he would do?”
“This is a fine muddle,” Miss Mayton said. “Our Viola requires loyalty above all else, and Lord Baderston’s mother has implied he could not be trusted for it.”
“What did she mean about distasteful gossip?” Juliet asked.
They all shrugged their shoulders, as nobody had the first idea of what she could have been talking about.
Miss Mayton said, “That is the nature of gossip though, is it not? Whatever it is, it is never entirely true. Everybody knows it. It is, now that I think of it, much ado about nothing.”
Viola had not known that, exactly. She had assumed that most of the things she’d been told in whispers in her own neighborhood were entirely true.
“But then,” Cordelia said, “why do people insist on doing it?”
“It is amusing, I suppose,” Miss Mayton said.
“I must have my questions answered,” Viola said, “even if the answers will break my heart.”
“You must know if Lord Baderston loves you,” Juliet said.
“Yes, Jules, but even more than that. If he loves me, would he be loyal?” Viola said. “Loyalty is the glue of love, it’s what makes it stick. I could not bear to live a life always wondering if my husband’s feelings were somehow changing.”
“You must test him to find out,” Cordelia said.
“I think if he defies his mother, that must say something,” Juliet said hopefully.
Viola sighed. “Defying his mother would be about her, not about me. How do I know he would stand byme? Cordelia is right, his loyalty must be tested, but I cannot for the world think of how to do it.”
“It seems like the dowager really does not care for gossip, as she did mention it,” Cordelia said. “And Miss Mayton has pointed out it’s rarely true. Perhaps you might send round some little piece of invented gossip about yourself and see what he does. Something harmless. She would use it to condemn you, but what wouldhedo? That would involve both herandyou.”
“That is true, Cordy,” Viola said.
