Felicity poured out the story.
Mrs. Right sighed. “I did not take that gentleman to be a bounder, though I should have known.”
“Yes, you did say before we even left Yorkshire that they were all feckless.”
“So I did, and yet I thought…”
“It is no matter, Mrs. Right, I was just as fooled as everybody, and I spent far more time with that gentleman than you did. I suppose even Papa was fooled.”
Mrs. Right’s expression took a sudden turn. “Your father,” she whispered. “Heaven help Mr. Stratton with whatever the duke will send his way.”
Wishing to relieve Mrs. Right’s mind on that front, she said, “Oh, you are not to worry about anything of that sort. Papa did consider wringing Mr. Stratton’s neck, but I dissuaded him from it.”
Mrs. Right did not look as comforted as she imagined the lady would. “Well, let us hope he does not have any other ideas come to him,” Mrs. Right said.
Before Felicity could answer, her door was flung open and Grace, Patience, Serenity, Verity, Winsome, and Valor streamed into the room.
Piling on Felicity’s bed, Patience said, “I hope your headache is gone, we could not wait for you to come down. Valor was helping Charlie practice answering the door again and he told her something… well, it was surprising.”
Valor sat up straight, pleased to be the bearer of news. “Charlie said that our coachman has been sent to buy up as many chains of all descriptions as he can find and then he is to drop them at Mr. Stratton’s doorstep.”
Felicity leaned back on her pillows. She ought to have known that her father would not sit back and do nothing. She had convinced him not to wring Mr. Stratton’s neck, but she had not extracted a promise not to do anything else.
“What does it mean, Felicity?” Grace asked. “Why is Mr. Stratton to be in receipt of chains?”
“Because according to Mr. Wiles,” Felicity said, “Mr. Stratton has said many times that he will not be chained by marriage.”
“Not chained by marriage?” Patience asked. “What is he planning if he is not to be chained in marriage? Is he to live alone for the rest of his life?”
“That I do not know,” Felicity said. “He means to avoid matrimony for now and has tricked his father into believing that he prefers me, but that I prefer Mr. Wiles. I suppose that at some point, he will be bowled over by some lady, but that time is not now and that lady is not me.”
A tear rolled down Serenity’s cheek. “I am so sad I could cry, Felicity.”
“Youarecrying,” Winsome pointed out.
Felicity did not point out that she was so sad she could cry too, as she did not like to cry in front of people, not even her sisters.
“So Papa has heard of this idea that Mr. Stratton will not be chained and has sent chains to aggravate him,” Winsome said.
“A well-known insult in a case such as this,” Verity said.
“How would you know?” Winsome asked, narrowing her eyes.
“Everybody in the world knows it but you,” Verity said. “Why else would Papa have thought to do it?”
“I think Papa has been wonderful to do it,” Patience said. “Mr. Stratton deserved a good scolding and think how heavy all those chains will be to move. And move them to where, I wonder? It will be very inconvenient.”
“Mr. Stratton deserves more than an inconvenience, to my mind,” Mrs. Right said in a grim tone.
“Oh, do you think our father will do something else?” Grace asked.
“I’ve no idea,” Mrs. Right said.
“I wish I could send Mr. Stratton something terrible,” Valor said. “He tricked me into thinking he was a good person by talking about the weather so nicely.”
“We would all like to send him something terrible,” Winsome said.
“I think Mrs. Wendover might like to write him a very terrible letter,” Valor said.
