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“Lord Finch,” Charlotte began, “Mrs. Brown has so much requiring her attention these days. She already helps with deciding where to allocate funds and where to purchase food for the girls. Are you certain asking yet another thing of her is for the best?”
“I would have to agree,” Lady Finch suddenly spoke up.
Which was a bit of a surprise. Charlotte hadn’t been in company with Lady Finch much in the past, but she knew enough to realize that the woman almost never spoke up, in any company, no matter the topic.
“Excuse me?” Lord Finch said, seeming as surprised as Charlotte was to hear his wife’s voice.
“I think Lady Blackmore would be better suited to finding a teacher for the girls.”
The support was quite unexpected but certainly appreciated.
“I would have to agree as well,” Seth said from atop his horse. “No one cares more for those girls or would go to greater lengths to secure the best teacher available than Lady Blackmore.”
Seth met her gaze, and the sincerity she found there left her unable to speak even as her heart pounded.
“Well, now, see here,” Lord Finch said, turning to face Seth more fully. “With all due respect, sir, what would you know of securing a teacher for an orphanage?”
Seth’s voice stayed steady, but there was a finality in his tone. “I don’t have to know anything about it. I know Lady Blackmore. She is observant and intelligent. Give her a few minutes’ conversation with any prospective teacher, and she will know if the lady is a good fit for the orphanage, if she will care for the girls with kindness, and if she is capable of elevating your girls to best fit in the finest homes around.”
He thought of her that way? Her expression was probably one of ghastly adoration, but she wasn’t sure she could change it just now.
She’d had no notion he thought so very highly of her.
Susan was the first to speak. “I think, Lord Finch, that you and the committee ought to reconsider allowing my mother-in-law to help with this.”
Lord Finch chose to speak directly to Seth. “It may seem like a simple enough task, finding the right teacher or a proper position for a girl, but until one has attended meetings, or actually spoken to the girls and staff, one cannot truly understand what is required.”
Well, that was rather blunt.
Seth leaned forward, clearly unperturbed by Lord Finch’s forceful speech. “The task isn’t what’s important,” he said. “Lady Blackmore’s tenacity is.” His tone was equally as forcible, but he paired with it a dark scowl that made Lord Finch squirm slightly in his seat.
“Gentlemen like you are all the same,” Lord Finch said, almost beneath his breath. “You’ve yet to attend a single meeting, and still you think you know more than one such as I, who has not missed a single meeting in over ten years?”
“Then I will be there next Thursday,” Seth said, his voice dropping into something of a growl, “if to do nothing more than prove to the lot of you the idiocy of excluding the most brilliant woman in all of London.” He sat up straight in his saddle and tugged on the reigns, angling his horse away from them all. “Now, if you will excuse me, Lord and Lady Stanton are expecting me.”
Charlotte was impressed; he was starting to drop titles like a true member of theton.
“Goodness,” Susan whispered, placing a hand against her collarbone. “You never mentioned how well-spoken he is.”
That was because he rarely spoke at all, at least not when among those he didn’t know well. More still, in all the many conversations they’d shared, he’d never once spoken like that to her, or about her. It wasn’t something she was going to forget any time soon, either.
Lord and Lady Finch made hasty farewells and took off in the opposite direction. Seth may not have been raised to be part of London society, but he certainly wouldn’t be leaving it without making an impression.
Did he truly think her the most brilliant woman in London? Unlike Lord Linfield, Seth didn’t throw out comments to impress or flatter. If he’d said it, she felt certain she could trust he meant it.
Susan called to their driver to carry on, and they rolled forward once again. After a moment, though, she leaned in toward Charlotte. “That was quite grand what he said about you.”
“Yes, it certainly was.” She still couldn’t seem to wrap her own mind around it fully.
“Unfortunately,” Susan said, drawing the word out. “I don’t know that he actually helped your cause.”
“I know.” As much as Charlotte didn’t care to admit it, Susan was right. Seth could sing her praises all day long; the committee wasn’t going to be swayed by his high opinion of her.
That wasn’t to say his words had meant nothing to her, however. Far from it.
