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Jane seemed to consider this for some time, as having finished cleaning Araminta’s hairbrush, she started picking up various discarded pieces of clothing about the floor. “‘Is Lordship certainly is the ‘andsomest man afta me Jem I eva laid me eyes on,” she said decidedly as she fixed her mistress with a challenging smile.
Araminta rolled her eyes. “Enough about your Jem when I have such troubles that need two heads, Jane. How am I going to respond with dignity to my younger sister’s latest insult?”
“Dignity?”
Araminta didn’t like her maid’s tone but chose to let it pass for the moment. She went to her cupboard and threw open the door in a quest to decide upon the most appropriate ensemble for her intended meeting with the handsome and noble Lord Ludbridge later that afternoon. So much more noble than her own Debenham, though nobody—least of all her sister—was allowed to hint that her husband was deficient in anything, much less morals. “Yes! Hetty can’t tell me Debenham isn’t welcome. Besides, it’s not her decision.”
“So yer’d really like ter take Debenham ter The Grange ‘n ter spend a few days wiv Sir Aubrey…” there was a telling pause before she added, “…‘n yer sister ‘n ‘er new babe.”
Now that it was phrased in such terms, Araminta couldn’t in all truth say that the prospect was anything other than horrific. Her chagrin stemmed from the fact she just hadn’t liked Hetty telling her what to do or suggesting Debenham wasn’t less than perfect. It was true that they’d all managed to put on a decent public show, and appear at the theater together as two supposedly harmonious couples to stop the wagging tongues, but they’d rarely rubbed up against each other in anything nearly as intimate as one of each other’s homes for any length of time.
“I have an idea!” She clapped her hands together, congratulating herself that, yet again, she’d hit upon a cunning plan to solve the problem. “It’s my birthday shortly, and Papa asked only yesterday if I had any special requests. At the time, I said no, because I don’t like to place burdens on other people, as you are aware, Jane. But now I know exactly what will bring us all together so that we can mend the rifts that divide us. A house party! At The Grange. Mama and Papa shan’t mind, as it was always expected I’d be mistress there someday so I could have done whatever I liked. Besides, it’s such a small birthday request.” Yes, a lavish birthday celebration at The Grange would be just the answer. Her eyes moistened with sentiment as she stared out of the window onto the rain-darkened streets. “We used to have such wonderful house parties there.”
“Yer mean like the one where Sir Archie ‘n ‘is good lady were tryin’ to con Mr. Cranborne inter partin’ wiv a few monkeys ova that spider racket wot were rigged?” Jane sniffed as she picked up a shawl that Araminta had just finished trying with her dress but had let slip to the floor. “‘N where Sir Archie’s lady friend fer that evenin’—Lady Julia I believe it were—went boatin’ at midnight wiv poor Mr. Edgar wot yer decided yer wanted ter marry afta ‘e started makin’ eyes at Miss ’Etty. But then their boatin’ trip went wrong ‘n ‘e slipped inter the water ‘n drowned?” She eyed her mistress beadily. “That were the last ‘ouse party at The Grange ‘n I don’t reckon it were such a good one.”
“Then all the more reason to have another one!” Araminta responded brightly. She would not let Jane put a damper on her latest idea, which was rapidly growing into an occasion to rival any of those she’d attended in London. “A splendid house party this time. A house party that gathers together all the rich, handsome, and interesting people that we know. And I propose that we invite Miss Mandelton and Lord Silverton. Oh, and Lord Ludbridge, too.” Excitement was nearly getting the better of her as she returned to her wardrobe to rummage through the lovely gowns she now had the figure to wear again, though, of course she’d have to get her dressmaker to concoct something entirely new and fetching for the occasion. “Then Hetty and Sir Aubrey will have lots of people to worry about other than my supposedly wicked husband, won’t they, Jane?” she tossed over her shoulder.
A great sense of happiness was fast settling upon her. London had been perfectly beastly for weeks now with Debenham always telling her what she could and couldn’t do. Well, he’d not go against her father, and if Lord Partington were hosting her birthday party, Debenham would have no say with regard to the guest list.
For the first time since before William was born, Araminta thought she might begin enjoying herself again.
Chapter 3
Kitty felt a spring in her step to be back in the country for all that she’d considered herself a city girl long before she went to London.
She breathed deeply, enjoying the scent of familiar flowers, the call of birds from the trees, the soft flutter of their wings as they flew about the hedgerows that bordered the path she was now traversing through a small wooded area.
Agreeing to be part of Mr. Lazarus’s traveling performance throughout the provinces was the change she needed. Raising her arms to the clear blue sky, she charged her lungs with fresh air and decided that although she’d never want to live anywhere other than London, right now she was enjoying the slower change of pace.
Of course, if Silverton had still been in residence in town she might have felt differently, but the fact that he was on business at his country estate, and away for nearly four weeks, meant she’d jumped at the chance to play the part of Pandora Mr. Lazarus had offered her during their progress through the villages and towns of Hertfordshire. It had been during this annual foray into the counties the previous year that Kitty had first met the flamboyant director when he’d given her the opportunity that had changed her life. What a green girl she’d been then, but how much she’d gained in freedom, wealth, and happiness. In one sense, she was her own mistress, in that she was free to make her own decisions. After a lifetime of being told what to do, this was addictive and liberating. However, she was also mistress to a man who made her happy from the tips of her toes to the end of her nose as she’d heard the saying go.
What didn’t make her so happy was the fact that her darling Silverton had told her, carefully and with no great delight, that he was to meet his intended bride on his return journey from the north. He would then accompany Miss Mandelton back to London where she’d remain for the few weeks until their wedding.
Kitty knew that Silverton was in an impossible situation. He’d become affianced to Miss Mandelton a short time before Kitty had tumbled into his life needing his help, after they’d already built up a strong, satisfying friendship based on mutual respect and a lot of laughter at the cribbage table in front of the fire in his drawing room.
Even back then, Kitty had known she was not the kind of wife a man like Silverton could marry. Even when she’d nearly married Nash, her own father had declared the match unacceptable because Kitty—his own daughter—was too far beneath Lord Silverton, and he’d declared that society would never accept her.
She plucked a hedgerow leaf and tore at it. Without society’s acceptance, she and any husband brave enough to attempt to challenge the prevailing forces that dictated propriety’s boundaries would be bound to be unhappy. It was far better, therefore, she’d decided, to simply make the most of her position as London’s darling of the stage. While she entertained high society and continued to know her place, they would shower her with tributes. If she tried to become one of them, her happy idyll might well come to an abrupt end. Yes, she’d read various commentaries in the gossip sheets following her close call at becoming Lady Nash, and there had been some harsh feeling about it all. Just as well her parentage was still a well-kept secret. Most people seemed to assume she was a daughter of the underbelly of society, if not the gutter. After all, an actress was not that much farther up the social scale than a prostitute, she thought with a touch of bitterness.
And that’s why she was prepared to accept that she would never enjoy the wedded bliss for which she’d longed her whole life. But she was happy. Silverton was kind and loving, and honorable and noble. He had every attribute she prized in a man, and he adored her. It was the reason Kitty would put up with a less than ideal situation. She’d seen enough unhappy marriages with straying husbands ruling the roost to know she was infinitely better off as mistress to a man who respected her.
She took another deep breath of fresh air to banish the dismals. For the next three nights, Kitty would be performing at a theater ten miles from the village where she’d grown up. Each evening before the show, Mr. Lazarus would give his usual gushing summation on the ‘deucedly decided delight and riotous rambunctiousness’ of the adoration-filled audiences who crammed onto the benches of the often makeshift venues where they performed. It hadn’t all been comfort and splendor.
But she’d enjoyed the experience, though in just a few days their tour would be at an end, and Kitty was looking forward to returning to London and Silverton’s arms. The lovely little home he’d arranged for her some weeks before was now decorated just as she desired, and she looked upon it as a haven of peace and bliss; a solid affirmation of how far she’d come in life and how happy she was to remain right there, with nothing any different.
She had found her happy place.
Whenever Silverton visit
ed, she would simply isolate her mind from the knowledge that he’d be returning to the other woman in his life—the wife she wished more than anything that she could be.
As she reached the lych-gate of the cottage where she and a number of her flamboyant fellow actresses were being housed, she met Mr. Lazarus issuing down the path. He doffed his feathered hat with a twinkle in his eye, extravagant, flamboyant, and not always truthful, she knew; but the fact that he saw to their interests so assiduously, and was essentially a man of decency with a kind heart, meant Kitty was happy to remain working for him. She wasn’t about to look for brighter opportunities since the brightest was being Silverton’s mistress.
One consolation to not being Silverton’s legal wedded wife was that she’d have to give up her connection with the stage.
Didn’t she have the best of both worlds then?
Mr. Lazarus greeted her with a smile. “Kitty, my dear! Prepare to be astonished and transported into raptures of excitement by this most wonderful and supremely grandiose opportunity I have this very morning secured for our little traveling troupe!”
