Page 38 of Christmas Comes to Little Valentine

“Hmm,” Lady Louisa said sceptically, but then the carriage arrived on the doorstep, and she was occupied with hurrying out and greeting Miss Percy.

“Come on,” Nat said, tugging at Meg’s hand and dragging her back up the stairs.

“Shouldn’t we—” she began, but Nat shook his head.

“Certainly not. Mama can deal with the consequences of her own machinations. Run and fetch your hat and coat and we’ll walk down to the town, if you’d like to?”

Meg shot him a bright smile, dimples flashing, suggesting she’d like this very much, and by the time they reconvened for their walk, Miss Percy had been spirited away to her room, much to Nat’s relief. He might be engaged, but he did not trust his mother to put her plans entirely to one side if she decided she preferred Miss Percy to Meg.

They arrived at the front door to discover Lady Della and Miss Vinnie also heading out.

“Oh, are you walking down to the town too?” Della asked, looking pleased. Her expression faltered for a moment, and she glanced at Nat. “Unless you’d prefer to go with Meg on your own. I quite understand—”

“No!” Meg exclaimed, perhaps rather too enthusiastically, for Della looked a touch startled. “That is, no, we’d love to have your company. Wouldn’t we, Nat?”

Nat sent her a subtly amused glance but agreed amiably. “Of course we would. Are you going to Madame Auguste’s by any chance?”

“No, actually,” Della replied, looking a little offended. “I’m not entirely obsessed with gowns and bonnets, you know.”

“She went yesterday,” Vinnie chimed in.

“Well, you didn’t have to tell them that,” Della protested. “Miss Bancroft will think me a frivolous ninny. Actually, we have heard there is a new bookshop. It only opened last month, but we are all eagerness to discover it,” she added, looking rather earnest.

Meg laughed. “I’m not such a bluestocking,” she protested, before rethinking the comment. “No, that’s not true. I am very much a bluestocking, only I do like pretty frocks and bonnets and shopping for trifles too.” Which was also not entirely true, though she would have liked to shop for such things, it was only that she had never had the opportunity nor the money to do so.

Della grinned at her and linked her arm through Meg’s. “I am glad. Nat told me how many languages you speak after you went to bed last night and I feared you’d think me terribly dull and stupid.”

“Good gracious, no!” Meg exclaimed, genuinely appalled by the suggestion. She shot Nat a look of exasperation, wondering why he’d done such a thing. “I do not think myself so terribly clever, I assure you. It’s only I possess a brain that retains information easily. My father was the same, so I suppose I inherited the ability. And you know, once you’ve learned one language, the others are much easier.”

“What a plumper!” Della said, laughing. “Did you hear that, Vinnie?”

Vinnie groaned and shook her head. “I can manage French, but I shall never master Italian. Every time I try to think of the correct response to a question, I can only think of the French, no matter how many times I practise. My brain does not retain information easily, Miss Bancroft. It seems to have a limited amount of storage, and to learn something new, I must forget something else vital, like where I left my reticule. It’s very tiresome.”

Della nodded sagely. “I agree. You know how people are always quoting this book or that philosopher? Well, it’s all I can do to remember the quote, never mind who said it and where I read it.”

“Yes, but people don’t care, because you’re Lady Della,” Vinnie replied dryly, though with no rancour.

Della snorted. “Sad but true. Every year there’s a new crop of young ladies on the marriage mart, and you can bet ninety-five percent of them will fall over themselves trying to be my new best friend. It’s rather tragic. For me, not them,” she added, noting Meg’s troubled expression. “I don’t blame them. They all want to marry my brother, which is quite understandable, but it makes forming new friendships rather difficult. Which is why I am so delighted Nat discovered someone so interesting. I never thought you had it in you, Nat, I’ll be honest. I thought you’d bring some beautiful featherbrain home one day, but I wronged you and I am sorry.”

Meg could not look at Nat but wondered if Della had the right of it. Was that what he’d really prefer? Some beautiful girl with no interest in anything other than pleasing him and agreeing with his every word? Many men did. She had seen little of the world, but she had experienced enough to know that was true, and to know most men despised her intelligence.

There had been several occurrences during her time as a governess when Mr Corbyn had brought her down to meet his guests, on the pretext of presenting his children, but really to interrogate her. He, or the other men, would fire questions at her, trying to catch her out, and when they could not, they would laugh themselves sick, as if she were some oddity exhibited in a freak show. It had been humiliating, and yet Meg had discovered she had too much pride to pretend ignorance, even though it would have made her life easier.

They stopped at the bridge, gazing over the side at the water. Della and Vinnie insisted on finding sticks to see whose could cross under the bridge the quickest, laughing like a couple of schoolchildren as they did so.

“Meg? Is everything all right?”

Meg looked up into a pair of bright blue eyes. How handsome he was, and how lovely to find a man who did not think her prideful or peculiar because she enjoyed learning and was good at it. Would he really prefer someone who never challenged a word he said?

“Do you think me an oddity?” she asked abruptly.

He blinked. “Whyever would I?”

Meg laughed uneasily. “Never mind. Forget I said it.”

Nat took her hand and placed it on his sleeve, guiding her over to the other side of the bridge.

“No, you don’t,” he said, shaking his head. “You cannot tease me by saying these things and then tell me to forget you said them. Why would I think you an oddity? Because you can speak five languages and remember obscure quotes and the like, I suppose?”