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“How lucky for her.” Felicity managed to give the reply that she knew the woman was waiting to hear, even if it nearly choked her.
“Perhaps, if you gave a little more attention to your appearance, you could be just as lucky,” Mrs. Clark offered kindly. “You aren’t so terrible looking. And you’re young and healthy. Many men would be happy to have you.” She suddenly brightened. “Perhaps Mr. Pike here could use a wife,” she said, putting the clerk next to her in almost as awkward a position as Felicity.
“No,” he began before his face flooded with colour and he began to sputter. “That is to say, not that there’s anything wrong with you Miss Jones, it’s just that I’m terribly committed to my employer, and –“
Felicity cut him off with her raised hand. “Please, do not trouble yourself in the least, Mr. Pike. I have given my word to my employer, as well, so I’m not actually searching for a husband at this time.” She turned back to Mrs. Clark. “It’s kind of you to be concerned for me, Mrs. Clark, but truly, I’m content with my situation, and I wouldn’t want to be so irresponsible as to leave my new employer in the lurch.”
“Well, I suppose that’s a proper sentiment.” Mrs. Clark didn’t seem convinced, but she ceased meddling in Felicity’s affairs for the moment, turning instead to the last two remaining occupants of the stagecoach.
Mr. and Mrs. Elderberry had introduced themselves very quietly when they had boarded the stagecoach about an hour previously. Felicity had been amazed by Mrs. Clark’s restraint thus far, but it didn’t appear as though it were going to last much longer.
“Why are you two headed north?”
Felicity blinked over the abruptness of the coarse woman’s question, and she wasn’t in the least bit surprised when the older couple ignored her, as they had been doing since they had taken their seats. Well, perhaps she was a little bit surprised, as she didn’t feel herself capable of such bravery. She was only relieved that she had been prepared for questioning. Having grown up in a family overflowing with sisters, Felicity was highly skilled at anticipating the probing questions that could follow an older sister’s discovery of any questionable tidbits of information about a person.
But witnessing the older couple’s successful avoidance of the querulous other woman, Felicity tried to follow suit. She knew herself well enough to know she wouldn’t be able to outright ignore her if Mrs. Clark tried to speak with her again, but Felicity hoped the other woman wouldn’t be so rude as to disturb a woman’s slumber, so she wrapped her coat a little more tightly around herself and leaned her head into the corner between the seat and the wall of the stagecoach. It might not be the most comfortable position she’d ever been in, but even if she couldn’t actually drift off to sleep, she hoped that if she looked like she was, Mrs. Clark would leave her alone.
Allowing her mind to drift toward her destination, Felicity thought about the duke and wondered about his daughter. It was a strange enough situation, a nine-year-old girl requesting a companion. At the age of nine, Felicity and her sisters were still under the firm control of governesses. They would have run roughshod over someone with so little authority as a companion. But she was quite prepared that the title was immaterial. Every nine-year-old daughter of a nobleman was still in need of lessons, so it was likely she would be taking on the role of governess, even if that was not what she was to be called. She wondered what the duke might have to say on the matter. It was just one more thing she was consumed with curiosity over.
Based on her few interactions with Rathnelly at her sister Vicky’s wedding a couple years ago, Felicity was fairly certain she would have very little to do with the man. He had been cool and arrogant when they had been briefly introduced, making Felicity feel as though he considered her far beneath his notice. If he had treated the daughter of an earl that way, she was in full expectation that he would be even loftier toward the insignificant young woman who was about to join his daughter’s entourage.
It had been pure luck that had allowed her to put herself in this position. Felicity, struggling against her boredom at home, had become an avid letter writer. While most of her peers wrote letters to stay in touch with family and friends, Felicity had made an effort to turn it into a vocation. She wrote to everyone and waited anxiously for any replies. Because she was so prolific in her letter writing, her efforts were rewarded with at least a few replies most days. She was fortunate that her father was generous with her stationery budget, she mused. But while her incessant letters were what had given her the information she needed to find this position, as well as the connections required to pull off her ruse, it was also what might trip her up and get her caught in the end.
She was fairly certain she wouldn’t be able to keep up with writing letters any longer. She quite expected to be far too busy with Lady Adelina. And she couldn’t very well give her direction out to her friends or family. Even if she could, Rathnelly might not consider it seemly for his daughter’s companion to be receiving so many letters.
It was the one aspect of her plan that she hadn’t completely worked out to her satisfaction. She only hoped it took a good long while before anyone became suspicious. And she really hoped her maid Clara didn’t lose her courage and confess all, nor, worst of all, her dear Gracie. Felicity could only imagine the disaster that would befall them both if Grace felt obliged to admit her involvement in her sister’s absence.
The long day of travel and the swaying of the carriage must have finally accomplished their work, for the next thing Felicity knew, she was being shaken awake.
“I say, Miss, didn’t you say this was your stop?”
Felicity blinked herself awake, confused for the briefest moment why she was being addressed in such a way and then quickly trying to contain the grin that was sure to split her face and surprise her audience when she realized the exact circumstances.
“Thank you, so very much,” she replied as she scrambled to straighten her bonnet and climb down from the coach without tripping in her haste. The coachman hadn’t struck her as a patient man, and she needed to be sure that her baggage was left with her. It had been challenging enough to pack appropriately to her new situation. She couldn’t afford to lose the few possessions she had managed to bring with her.
