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If she were not the eldest sibling and expected to be true and present for all the family, she would likely have scurried off to the abbey’s library to hide for the evening, burying her nose in several books before it was time to go home. She often tried, but it never quite happened, and she did not expect this evening to be any different.
As usual, the abbey was decorated with flowers, garlands, wreathes, and every other such thing one could think of. Not a single thing had been left untended, and the place looked absolutely marvellous. Daisy was sure to tell Lord and Lady Chester just that when they greeted her in the entryway before instructing her through to the ballroom along with the other guests.
Having given the butler her cloak, Daisy felt all too exposed in her fine emerald-green gown. It was heavy and uncomfortable with all its intricate beadwork and layers upon layers of material, and she would much rather have been spending the evening in her bedroom in her chemise with a good book.
Yet here she was, making her way through the crowd, looking for a friendly face because Bertha had already hurried off in search of her own friends at the earliest opportunity, no doubt hoping to avoid her mother for the evening.Good luck with that, Bertha,Daisy thought, knowing that her mother would be watching them both like a hawk, ready to dive in at the earliest sign that a man might have taken an interest in either of them.
“Daisy! Daisy! There you are!”
The familiar voice sounded only a few minutes after Daisy had stepped into the ballroom. Having said hello and smiled to more than a handful of the guests, Daisy was more than a little relieved when her best friend, Lady Jennifer Davenport, the Duke and Duchess of Chester’s niece, accosted her.
Tall, slender, and pretty with raven-black hair and green eyes, Jennifer looked radiant in an olive-green gown that almost perfectly matched her irises. The moment she reached Daisy, she grabbed hold of her gloved hands in her own and squeezed her fingers. The young woman, who was one and twenty, just as Daisy was, looked as though she was fitting to burst with excitement.
“Jen, what is it? What is going on?”
“Oh, Daisy, I have the most marvellous news!” Jennifer insisted, and before she continued, Daisy felt the claws of dread beginning to grip hold of her stomach. There was only one thing that Daisy could think of that would make her friend so ecstatic. “I am engaged to be married!”
A lump instantly formed in Daisy’s throat, yet she forced herself to smile and congratulate her friend. “Oh, Jennifer, it is what you have always wanted. I am so happy for you!”
Pulling her friend into an affectionate embrace and wishing her well, she took a moment to recompose herself so that her friend could not see how her face had grown so pale.
After all that had happened over the last few days, her father’s refusal to allow her anywhere near the university, her arguing with him time and time again and feeling as though nobody was listening to her, the thought of losing her best friend to marriage was enough to make her feel entirely alone.
Am I the only girl in Oxford uninterested in marriage?she asked herself, forcing yet another smile for her closest friend, who looked like she would burst with joy after having divulged her happy news.
“Oh, Daisy, you must promise me that you will be my maid of honour!” Jennifer insisted. Daisy bit her lip and began to shake her head before stopping herself, remembering that her close friend was a sensitive soul and would likely react badly to her rejecting the idea.
“Isn’t a maid of honour supposed to be married themselves?” Daisy pointed out, hoping her friend would listen and think again about who she chose to give such a job to.I have no intentions of being married!she insisted silently, hoping her friend would sense the thought and not speak any more on the subject.
“Oh, yes, but you are my best friend, and I could think of nobody else for the job!” Jennifer insisted, squeezing Daisy’s hands once more. Daisy opened her mouth to say something else that might put her friend off the idea, but she never got the chance.
“Ahh, there you are, Daisy!”
Daisy cringed at the sound of her father’s voice. Ordinarily, she would have greeted him with a polite smile and even a curtsey at such a high society ball, yet the tone of his voice suggested he wanted something from her. He wasn’t merely coming to check on her. There were motives hiding beneath the surface, and Daisy could see it on his face when she turned to greet him.
“Yes, Papa, I am here,” Daisy said, forcing yet another smile. Her cheeks were already beginning to ache, and she wasn’t entirely sure how she would get through the entire evening, having to smile and act polite when all she wanted to do was scream her frustration and run away. “Jennifer was just telling me some happy news. She is to be married, Papa, isn’t that wonderful?”
“Ahh! How wonderful for you, Lady Davenport!” Lord Balfour offered Jennifer a kind and friendly smile as he added, “Your aunt and uncle must be very pleased.”
“Thank you, Lord Balfour. Yes, they are most excited indeed,” Jennifer responded, offering the duke a curtsey as was expected even though the two shared an affection close to that of father and daughter after Jennifer’s having been Daisy’s friend for so long.
“Good. I am glad for you,” Lord Balfour assured her before he turned to Daisy. “Might I borrow my daughter from you for a while? I have someone I wish her to meet.”
“Yes, Your Grace, of course, you may,” Jennifer responded, curtseying yet again, and Lord Balfour offered Daisy the crook of his elbow. Daisy didn’t like what he had said one bit. Every inch of her was screaming to turn and run. Remembering what her stepmother had said about keeping her eye on the men at the ball, she couldn’t help wondering what kind of trick her father had up his sleeve.
“Is everything alright, Papa?” she asked as she forced herself to take hold of his arm and allow him to walk her through the crowd of people. A part of her hoped she might be able to glean just a little more information from him before they arrived in the face of whoever it was he wished her to meet.
“Yes, yes,” the duke insisted, and moments later, they arrived before a plump older gentleman around the same age as her father. Daisy’s first thought was,Oh, Lord, please do not let this be about marriage!She had heard more than once stories of young ladies being betrothed to their father’s close friends merely because it was their last option as no young man would have them.Surely, I cannot be quite so untouchable yet,she thought, gulping past the hardening lump in her throat.
“Daisy, this is my good friend, the Earl of Elgin, Lord Harold Radcliff,” her father announced, gesturing with a hand towards the portly man with greying hair and a pallid complexion who stood before them with a tall champagne glass in hand. “Harold, this is my daughter Lady Daisy Lockhart.”
“Ahh, yes, so much like her mother,” Lord Elgin responded, and as Daisy forced herself to remain calm and curtsey respectfully, she could feel the old man eyeing her closely. She pursed her lips and gritted her teeth to stop herself from saying something she might well regret.
Though she thought it a compliment that the man would liken her to her mother, who, from her portrait, had been quite beautiful, she was still feeling quite uncomfortable with not knowing exactly why her father insisted upon introducing the two of them.
Surely any friend of my father’s is too old to marry someone as young as I,she thought, pursing her lips further until she was sure that all the colour would have drained from them.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Lord Elgin.”
