AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 10
“You are still avoiding answering the question, Miss.”
“Shh! When we’re out and about, you should address me as ‘mister’ if this is going to work,” Violette said in hushed tones as she and Sherborne crossed Rotten Row. The track today was full of riders going about their business, with fine gentlemen sat tall with top hats, and ladies sat side-saddle with skirts hung loosely around the side of the pommels.
“No one can hear me,” Sherborne said, shrugging as he followed her across the track. Together, they headed into Hyde Park.
The lush green space opened out before Violette, with fine borders of daisies and chrysanthemums, pulling a grand smile from her as she tipped her head back and listened to the birdsong around her. There were sparrows chirping and robins too.
“You’re pretending you can’t hear me now,” Sherborne said tartly, though Violette did her best to still ignore him.
“Sherborne, I know not having an income is a problem—”
“A problem? You talk of it as though it is a minute thing, like having a pea escape down your shirt at dinner. We’re talking of you not being able to sustain yourself.”
“Why are you worried so?” Violette asked, looking to him as Sherborne adjusted the collar around his throat. “Oh, I see. You rather like your new life as a valet and you’re in no mood to give it up just yet?”
“Yes, I am,” Sherborne said, folding his arms. “You also hired me to help you. The best way I can help you is by persuading you to see that you need money.”
“I know I do,” Violette said, holding up her hands up in surrender. She had brought plenty of silver trinkets with her, including the cufflink box that Sherborne had been examining the night before. Once the money she had taken from her father ran out, she intended to start selling pieces. Yet Sherborne was right — sooner or later, that money would run out, too. What would she do then for funds? “Right now, Sherborne, I do not want to think about it.”
“Why not?”
“Because I want to enjoy…this!” She gestured to the park around them and spun in a circle with her arms outstretched. “This is freedom right here, that is what this is, and I want a few more minutes to enjoy it.” She hurried off in one direction across the park, practically running. It was a demonstration of that freedom, for no lady should ever be allowed to run! Yet as a man, she could get away with it. She laughed at herself as she turned a corner in the pathway, crossing a bridge over a small stream before coming to a walk again.
Sherborne had followed her all the way and was panting as he caught up with her.
“You need to be a little fitter,” she said, pointing at him.
“Working for you, I think I will end up getting fitter,” he said, pointedly adjusting the collar around his throat in a complaint against the exercise and the heat. He’d already done this a few times and it was quickly becoming a habit. “Why is this freedom to you?”
“Why?” she repeated, scoffing with it. “Look, over there.” She took Sherborne’s shoulder and pointed at some of the other people exploring Hyde Park that morning. In particular, she motioned to a group of ladies. “What do you see there?”
“A group of ladies who appear far more pleased with themselves than with what they see,” Sherborne said, huffing at the sight of them and folding his arms.
“Look again,” Violette said, elbowing him. “For I see two ladies who are both uncomfortable in their corsets, trying their best to adjust without others noticing. I see another lady who hates her court shoes, fiddling with them so much that she’d clearly rather be in walking shoes. The last lady is wearing such a ridiculous feather headdress that it could have only been chosen by her mother, rather than her, especially as she keeps touching it.”
“Right…” Sherborne paused as his eyes narrowed on the ladies. “What is your point?”
“My point is that each of those ladies feels as trapped as I did,” she said, walking away again. “Trust me, Sherborne. The life of a fine lady is not as nice as you think it is.”
“Watch out!” Sherborne cried to her with an outstretched arm, but it was far too late. She had been so busy looking at the group of ladies that she had not been looking where she was going, and she tripped over something.
She fell flat on her face, with her palms pressed into the grass along with her chin.
“God’s wounds! Are you all right?”
That voice.
It was a voice that she knew. She pushed herself up from the lawn just as a hand came out to help her. She looked up to see the face that belonged to the hand, only to find she was staring at Lord Northrive. The same man who had sat in her parents drawing room a short while ago, telling her that he played the piano as poorly as she did. There was the same tousled dark hair around his forehead and the brown eyes the colour of cloves.
“Oh god, have you hit your head, sir? We must get you to a physician,” Lord Northrive said hurriedly.
“No, no. A physician will not be needed,” Violette said, taking his hand and allowing him to help her to her feet. She was careful to keep her voice deep, just as Sherborne reached her side, looking panicked.
“I am sorry, that was completely my fault,” Lord Northrive said quickly, gesturing down to the grass where there were sketchbooks and wood-cased pencils splayed across the ground. “I was too busy drawing and was not aware of what was around me.”
Violette quickly realised that in his seated position on the grass, she must have tripped over his outstretched legs.
