Page 41 of The Redemption of the Shrew

“He wouldn’t have asked if he wasn’t interested,” Elspeth said, which was kind but unconvincing. “Shall I ring to have the carriage brought round?”

Gloriana shook her head, instead walking the short distance to call on Alice Stowe, who was far closer to Lady Marianne than Gloriana had ever been. Ordinarily, she tired quickly of Alice’s gossipy company. Needs must, however, so together they walked in the park, and together they shopped. Marianne arrived in London several days later, and together they went to call upon her.

Alice’s carriage was a few doors away when a handsome young man left Hythwick House. He stalked in their direction, scowling. He would have passed them, absorbed in his dark thoughts, if Alice hadn’t ordered the coachman to stop the carriage and put down the window to greet him.

“Mr. Barnham,” Alice said. “How lovely to see you back in Town.”

Barnham was a proper sort of man, so he doffed his hat, revealing his close-cropped flaxen hair, and bowed politely. When he raised his head, the scowl was gone. “Delighted, Mrs. Stowe, Miss Warren.” He followed it up with the usual pleasantries, but his perturbation showed.

Gloriana watched as he strode away. “He seems upset.”

“He wants to marry Marianne, but Hythwick won’t permit it.” She indicated to the coachman to carry on.

“Why not? He’s quite eligible—the son of a viscount and sufficiently well off, I believe. He inherited a competence from an uncle, didn’t he? That, along with her dowry, makes it quite a good match.”

“Supposedly it’s because he’s only a second son,” Alice said. “Hythwick says he wants her to wed a peer.”

Gloriana rolled her eyes.

Alice raised her brows. “Surely you understand, being so set on marrying one yourself.”

Drat, Gloriana thought. Her role of the past several years was pursuing her in the most annoying way. “There are only so many peers available, and most of them are dead bores.”

Alice snorted. “I did wonder at your sanity when you set your cap at Hythwick.”

“I didn’t set my cap at him! He pursued me.” She sought a reasonable excuse for her lack of interest in marrying a title. “Wanting to wed a peer was because of my mother. It was her greatest wish.”

“And her deathbed request, I suppose.”

“It would have been, if she hadn’t died in her sleep,” Gloriana retorted. “I thought I should give it a try.”

Now it was Alice’s turn to roll her eyes. “In any event, that’s not the real reason Hythwick refused permission. Word has it that he and Freddy quarreled when they were schoolboys, and Hythwick’s refusal is nothing but spite.”

“How horrid,” was all Gloriana said, but a shudder ran down her spine.

The carriage came to a halt again. She got down first, and while waiting for Alice to alight, she glanced up the street at the retreating Mr. Barnham. He encountered Philippe de Bellechasse, who turned to walk with him. Judging by Mr. Barnham’s extravagant gestures, he was pouring out his troubles to Philippe.

She turned away before Philippe had a chance to notice her. She’d managed to avoid him for several days, both in Islington and here in Town. Of one thing she was sure—there was no risk of encountering him at Lord Hythwick’s house.

In the drawing room, they found Lady Marianne with her aunt, Mrs. Apsley. Marianne was a pretty blonde with an air of gentle innocence, completely the opposite of her brother.

A gossip pries without hesitation or embarrassment, went one of Mama’s dictums, and Alice did so immediately. “We met Freddy Barnham on his way out.”

Marianne’s lip trembled. “My loathsome brother won’t let me marry him.”

Mrs. Apsley cringed. “My dear Marianne, you mustn’t speak so of dear Alvin.”

“He is loathsome,” Marianne said. “He says I must never speak to Freddy again. You are lucky he decided not to offer for you, Miss Warren. Oh, dear, I shouldn’t have said that. I know you’re disappointed.”

“Not at all,” Gloriana said. “Everyone in my family advised me against marrying your brother, saying we should not suit. I dreaded having to refuse him.”

Alice gave her a look of utter astonishment. “That’s not what you said when you first arrived in town last summer.”

“I didn’t say anything, Alice. I let you assume what you wished, since no one would have believed anything else. Nevertheless, it’s the truth. My family matters to me far more than a title.”

“Very proper, Miss Warren,” said Mrs. Apsley.

Marianne rounded on her. “If you mean to say I should honor my brother’s wishes, I shan’t! I shudder to think whom he means to find for me. Some doddering old man, no doubt. I love Freddy!” She scowled at her aunt. “I know, I know, persons of our sort do not marry for love.”