Percy was being frozen out. The whole family was ranged against him. It was such a coordinated effort that they must have talked about the eventuality of encountering him and to close the curtains against him.
He dropped his horse back and allowed them to proceed unhindered. He had better send those cake pans before the sun set today.
*
Felicity had beencertain they would not encounter Mr. Stratton in the park. They had gone early for just that reason. It was well before the usual promenade of seeing and being seen.
And yet, there he was. He was so handsome on his large bay and from what she could briefly see, had full control of his animal.
Her father had closed the curtains next to him with alacrity, but then Mr. Stratton had ridden to the other side. Felicity had leaned back to be out of view while Mrs. Right gave him the what-for with her eyes as she slowly closed her own curtain.
They’d then all peeked out to see that he’d attempted the same with the carriage carrying Grace, Valor, Patience, Verity, and Winsome.
He’d finally given it up, so Felicity assumed her sisters had remembered what they were to do.
“Hah!” the duke said, “he may be an idiot, but he’s got a certain stick to it in him that I can admire.”
“I suppose he was driven to get out of his house just now,” Mrs. Right said grimly. “It’s bound to be chaos.”
“From the chains Papa sent over?” Serenity asked.
“That, and perhaps other things,” Mrs. Right said, folding her hands in her lap.
“What now, Mrs. Right?” the duke asked. “Have you been stirring up some trouble with us none the wiser?”
“Me?” Mrs. Right said with a smile. “How extraordinary you would think it.”
Felicity took that to mean that their dear housekeeper certainly had done something. She also knew the lady would give over the details when she was ready to and not a moment before. But what in heavens name could she have done?
“Did you feel sad when you saw Mr. Stratton?” Serenity asked Felicity.
The fact was, she did feel sad. However, while Serenity wore her heart on her sleeve, her eldest sister wore her heart very private and out of view.
“Not particularly,” Felicity said.
“That is the difference between us, I suppose,” Serenity said. “I should have cried and cried.”
“Just wait until Serenity’s season comes round,” the duke said. “It’ll be weeping from here to America over sadness, joy, sunsets, sunrises and who knows what else. I’ll have to ask the doctor for something to settle my nerves. And her nerves too, if I’ve got any sense.”
“Oh Papa!” Serenity scolded. “You know I only cry for very good reasons.”
“I know no such thing, my girl,” the duke said, laughing. “You’ve been crying since the day you came into this world. I always speculated that it was because you looked over in your bassinet and saw Patience—you realized you were not alone.”
Felicity was rather relieved that the rest of the carriage ride was taken up by joking and not inquiring whether Felicity Nicolet felt like crying.
Later that day, after Felicity had regained some of her equanimity, two further gifts arrived to the house. Mr. Stratton had anonymously sent a set of cake pans and a very small India shawl addressed to Mrs. Wendover.
Valor was nearly overcome by the compliment to Mrs. Wendover. As she told everyone repeatedly, never in her life did she imagine that Mrs. Wendover would receive the anonymous gift of a very fine shawl. Felicity supposed never inanyof their lives had they anticipated such a circumstance.
Mr. Stratton was showing himself to be persistent, but to what aim? Was he merely uncomfortable that he’d made a person angry? Did he only regret his actions? Or was it something more?
The only thing Felicity could be sure of was that she was determined to protect her heart. She would not allow herself to be fooled again. She had been silly and naïve, and she was determined to become a savvy and experienced woman of the world.
They did not go out that evening, as it was a Wednesday and neither she nor the duke particularly cared to revisit Almack’s—she because of sneezing and he because of weak tea and sour lemonade.
She did wonder, though, if Mr. Stratton was there. And if he looked for her.
The following night was Lady Marchfield’s dinner and whatever unmarried gentlemen might be thrown to her notice. Her aunt was likely to have rounded up the most staid gentlemen alive and Felicity suspected it would be a tiresome evening. Still, her aunt was due respect because of her age and connection to the family, so Felicity would go with all good humor.
