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“Miss Marietta is headstrong,” Lil said, with a sniff. “She an’ her sisters all are, the three of them, like bolting horses. I don’t try an’ rein them in anymore, sir. I just let them run until they’re done, and then I give them a piece of my mind.”
He laughed, his gray eyes sparkling. “What part of London are you from, Miss Lil? I am a London boy myself.”
She looked startled, then wary. “I don’ know what you’re talking about, Mr. Keith.”
“You’re a Londoner, I can hear it in your voice.”
“I’m from Yorkshire, same as Miss Marietta.”
It was ridiculous, thought Marietta. Her accent was indisputable, but clearly Lil was having none of it. She didn’t want to discuss her past with Mr. Keith and she wasn’t going to—if she said she wasn’t from London then nothing he could do or say would make her admit that she was. Marietta caught the aeronaught’s eye and gave a slight shrug.
“How did you come to be flying balloons?” she asked instead.
“Sheer luck. I was hired by an aeronaught to help with the maintenance of his balloon, and I showed I’d some skill. He began to teach me, and when he decided to give it away I was in a position to buy the balloon off him. They were using hydrogen gas then, not the coal gas we have today, far more dangerous.”
At that moment his balloon jumped on its tether, caught in a swirling breeze. Lil gave a little shriek. “Miss Lil, there is nothing to be afraid of! Here, let me show you,” he coaxed her towards the basket, although Marietta could see Lil dragging each step, her already ramrod-straight back like a soldier’s rifle at attention.
“No, sir, I don’t think I—,” Lil was protesting, but Mr. Keith was impervious.
“How will you ever know whether or not you enjoy something if you don’t try it?” he told her gently. “Now, come and look at this, Miss Lil. This is a wicker basket and you couldn’t wish for anything stronger and more flexible…”
On the way home Lil was subdued, a stunned look in her brown eyes. “Do you know, Miss Marietta,” she said at last, “I didn’t realize such things was possible. That Mr. Keith, he’s very clever.”
“He is, yes. Despite being a bohemian and an eccentric.”
Lil cast her a speaking glance. “And I’ve not forgotten about you going up in the balloon without telling anyone, miss. Don’t you think I have.”
“Sometimes I find it kinder not to tell people my plans, Lil—they only worry.”
Chapter 8
The following morning, Marietta was busy writing a letter to Lady Greentree, telling her all that had happened—within reason, of course. Just as she was sealing the bulky folded pages she became aware of voices downstairs, and rose to gaze from her window, which overlooked the green plane trees of Berkley Square. There was a carriage in the street outside the Montegomery townhouse, and she recognized it at once as belonging to Aunt Helen and Toby Russell.
Marietta smoothed her skirts with a grimace. She loved Aunt Helen dearly—Helen was Amy Greentree’s sister—but Toby was an appalling character and he was only tolerated by the family for Helen’s sake. He had run off with her when Helen was too young and silly to see him for the fortune hunter he really was, and William, as the head of the Tremaine family, had given in to Toby’s demands rather than allow a full-blown scandal. Toby had soon gone through Helen’s money and now they lived in a state of perpetual penury.
Parallels had been drawn between Aunt Helen and Marietta, and she supposed they were justified. They had both been foolish enough to give their hearts to men who were completely unsuitable, and then proceed to run off and ruin themselves. But whereas Helen had ended up being married to her bounder, Marietta had not—and when she looked at Toby, she couldn’t help but think she had the better bargain.
By the time Marietta entered the drawing room, Aunt Helen was wiping away her tears as she viewed Vivianna’s son in the arms of his nursemaid.
“Now, now, old girl, pull yourself together.” Toby shuffled and looked embarrassed. “I thought you were over all that silly nonsense.”
Toby had been a handsome man in his youth, but in the last ten years or so his indulgent lifestyle had seen him change. Surreptitiously Marietta eyed his rigid waistline, and decided he must be wearing a corset.
“Such a shame that Amy cannot travel yet,” Helen was saying. “She will be longing to see this dear little man. Just think, she is a grandmamma!”
“And she’s not the only one,” Toby said, with a knowing smirk.
Vivianna shot him a look full of dislike, and there was a little silence. Then Helen straightened and spoke with uncharacteristic boldness.
“Well, as to that, I told William I do not care.” Her voice trembled a little, for she was very fond of her brother William and very much influenced by him.
“I told him that I could never look upon Amy’s girls as anything other than family, and that I loved them all dearly, and if that made me a fool or…or a dupe, then it was just too bad!”
“Oh, Aunt Helen!” Marietta came and gave her aunt a warm hug. “We love you too.”
“Good Gad,” Toby shuddered at so much open emotion, and went to peer out the window.
“It’s just that I rely upon him so,” Helen spoke in a little voice. “I do not know what I would do without him. William is so strong, and I have never been very strong.”
