AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As Annie helpedSusan ready for the Page Ball that evening, she stared at her reflection and smoothed her pale lilac skirts in an attempt to soothe her nerves.
“Do not be nervous about your looks, Miss Wingfield.” The lady’s maid gave Susan a reassuring smile as she started to brush and style Susan’s hair. “You look like a queen, a true diamond of the first water. No one can match you for beauty.”
“Thank you, Annie. That is very kind of you.”
Susan did not bother to tell her that the real source of her concern was far from having anything to do with her looks. No, indeed, Susan’s nerves stemmed from something entirely apart from her looks.
She wondered whether Lord Seabury would be in attendance at the Page Ball tonight, and whether he would be continuing to direct his attention to the same young lady she’d seen him with several times now. Susan hated to think of him dancing with that same girl again, afraid that it meant something which she certainly didn’t want to consider. Were they courting?
Susan shuddered at the thought and bit the inside of her cheek, trying to get her wayward emotions under control as Annie braided and coaxed her hair into a gorgeous style, which she decorated with amethyst-encrusted gold combs which complemented the lilac colour of her gown beautifully. They also matched a rather spectacular amethyst and gold necklace which was draped around Susan’s throat. The purple gems and pale lilac gown called out an almost violet hue in her blue eyes.
Susan gave an approving nod as Annie finished her work. Annie’s cheeks turned pink, and she cleared her throat.
“Is it true that you weren’t ever really promised in marriage to the Count D’Asti after all, Miss Wingfield?”
“Yes.” Susan swallowed convulsively, her mouth having gone quite dry. One of her sisters, or perhaps her mother, must have mentioned that fact to Annie when she was attending to them and helping them ready for the Page Ball, as well. “As a matter of fact, that’s one of the things I’m nervous about tonight. I want to make it known that I will not be marrying the Count D’Asti, after all, but I would like to do it in a way that neither damages my reputation nor the Count’s. I believe he is a decent man, truly, and think that it might be possible for us to be friends with one another, but… I just cannot bring myself to marry him.”
Susan gave a helpless shrug, offering the lady’s maid a palms-up gesture.
“I understand, Miss Wingfield.” Annie offered her a knowing smile, then. “Perhaps you should introduce him to some other wealthy young lady of the ton? He cannot continue to pursue trying to marry you if his affections and interests are drawn elsewhere.”
Susan offered the lady’s maid a conspiratorial smile.
“You know, I believe that you are quite right. I shall do that, and I know just the girl to introduce the Count D’Asti to, as well.”
With one last look in the mirror to make certain nothing was out of place, Susan stepped out of her bedroom and went down to the entrance hall to await her mother and sisters.
The Duke of Thistlewayte had returned to London earlier in the day, so the Duchess and her daughters had returned to his townhouse to keep him company before the Ball. Susan was eager to arrive at the Page Ball, now that she had an alternate option in mind for Lord D’Asti.
* * *
In the servants’parlour at Seabury House, Stephens, the butler, dropped into a chair beside his cousin John, who had come to call, as he occasionally did. Now that Lord Seabury was off to Lord Page’s Ball for the evening, Stephens could take the time to catch up on his cousin’s life. He lifted his teacup, and met John’s eye – for once, the man seemed uncomfortable, and Stephens wondered why.
“Does something trouble you, John?”
“It does, actually. There’s an investigation I’m working on. You know that I wouldn’t normally tell you details of matters pertaining to someone who hired me – but this time…”
“This time?”
“This time, I’ve thought it over and over, and I can’t see but it’s the right thing to do to tell you.”
Stephens swallowed a rather large gulp of tea. This sounded serious.
“I see. And what is it that you believe you should tell me, John?”
“Well, I was asked to investigate a nobleman, by a Lady, because of a rumour which had been started about the two of them. I did that, and told her what I’d found. Then, a few days later, she sent me a message, asking me to see if I could discover who had started the rumour, given it wasn’t either her or the gent involved. So that’s what I’ve been working on. And today, I reached a rather solid conclusion on the matter.”
“Oh? And… why do you think I need to know about it?”
John drank some of his own tea, and almost squirmed on his seat.
“Because all possible paths back to a source for the rumour led to one young lady of the ton. And that young lady, Lady Henrietta Gale is the one who has repeatedly been seen clinging to your master’s sleeve at every event, for weeks. I know that Lord Seabury is a good man, and I wouldn’t want him to fall into the clutches of one of those predatory…”
“John, are you telling me that you think there is something underhanded about the young lady’s activities? What has a rumour started about other people got to do with Lord Seabury?”
“There’s the rub. I don’t know. All I know is that a woman who would start a rumour like that, which has wreaked havoc in two people’s lives, can’t be trusted. What if she’s scheming to trap your master into marriage, or some such? She a bit of a cold calculating piece, from the look of her….”
Stephens regarded his cousin in horror at that suggestion. Had Lord Seabury still been at home, he would have rushed to warn him immediately, but it was too late – there was nothing he could do now but wait until Lord Seabury came home after the Ball.
“Have you told the Lady who hired you?”
“I have – I’ve sent her a message just before I came to you.”
Stephens nodded.
“Then all I can do is tell Lord Seabury when he returns – and hope that nothing untoward happens at the Ball he is attending, at this very minute.”
