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“That’s settled, then. And now, puss, you can tell me what’s on your mind, and don’t pretend there’s nothing, for I hope I know my own daughter better than that. Is it Plummer? For you seemed to be getting on rather well last night, and then you went very quiet.”
“No, it’s not him. I’m not sure I should tell you.”
“Anything you can’t tell your Pa is not something you should be doing,” he said.
“It wasn’t me who was doing it, and I don’t like telling tales,” she said.
“One of your sisters? No, it must be Camilla, for she’s a little minx. I can see I’ve hit the nail on the head. Come on, puss, tell me all about it and then you can be easy. No use letting it fester and upset you.”
“ItwasCamilla,” she said, and then the whole story tumbled out.
“Well, that settles it,” Pa said grimly. “I’ll write to Tom Weston this very day, and tell him to take his daughter and her nasty little ways far from my girls. I’ll not have that sort of thing going on under my own roof, and so I’ll tell him. I never wanted her here in the first place but your mama thought she might find a man daft enough to want to marry the chit. Well, it’s no matter what she thought, now, is it? I’m surprised she hasn’t got rid of the little baggage already. What did she say when you told her all this?”
“I haven’t told her.”
Pa stopped dead, so that Julia had to stop, too. “Not told her? Why ever not? She’s taking care of the girl, after all.”
“Because… because of something Camilla said, and I don’t believe it, but I don’t know why she’d make it up, either,” Julia said miserably.
“What did she say?” Pa said gently. “Come now, Julia, let’s have no secrets in this family.”
Julia nodded. “I told Camilla that Mama would be horrified at what she’d done, and she said… she said she’d be horrified that I’d interfered. As if it was all planned, and MamawantedCamilla to let Lord Charles do those things to her. But that can’t be so, can it? Mama would never condone such a thing.”
“I’d like to think so,” he said, but there was an odd tone in his voice that Julia had never heard before.
When they reached the house, Pa said, “Wait for me in my office, puss. I’ll find Camilla and Mama, and then we can sort this out once and for all.”
It took a little while to gather the ladies, for Camilla was not dressed, but eventually they arrived and Pa related everything that Julia had told him, with no roundaboutation.
“Well, Camilla? What do you have to say about it, eh?”
“It was only a bit of fun, Mr Fletcher. No harm in it, and if Julia hadn’t been spying on me, no one would have known anything about it.”
“Don’t you dare blame Julia for this! She was asked to look after you, as a guest in our house, and she was rewarded for her kindness by sights that no innocent young lady should ever see. Well, I’ll not have you in this house a moment longer. Go upstairs and pack. You leave today.”
“I’ll need money for the stage,” she said.
“You’ll go in my carriage. I’ll write to your father to explain, and I’ll not pull my punches, either, although what he’s to do with you now, I can’t imagine. You’re a disgrace, Camilla Weston. Julia, ring the bell for Keeble, will you?”
“He’s here,” Camilla said, as she opened the door. “Listening at the keyhole, I expect.” With a giggle and a whisk of her expensive new skirts she was gone, unrepentant and unashamed.
“Yes, come in Keeble,” Pa said. “Tell Murgatroyd and Young Jim they’re to have the big carriage at the door in one hour. They’re to take Miss Weston and her maid back to Sagborough. Well, don’t stand there gawping, man. Off you go and see to it.”
“I had better go and supervise the packing,” Mama said, sidling towards the door.
“Not so fast, madam,” Pa said. “Before you go, you can explain to me why Camilla thought you’d object to Julia putting a stop to her intrigue with Lord Charles. And don’t pretend not to understand, because I’ve seen for myself how you’ve thrown the two of them together these past weeks, and not even tried to stop that girl from flirting with him. Flirting! Ha! If only that were all.”
Mama flushed, twisting her hands and gazing anywhere but at Pa, but in the end she said in a low voice, “I thought that if Camilla could work on Lord Charles, then perhaps he would agree to introduce us to his brother, Lord Barrowford, and just think what doorsthatwould open for Rosie!”
“And Camilla agreed to do it?”
“She was very amenable. She hasn’t a shred of morality, you know.”
“So you asked and she agreed? Nothing more than that?”
Mama squirmed, there was no other word for it. “If she were successful, I said I would give her two hundred pounds. And the new dresses, of course.”
Julia gasped. For an instant, she thought that Pa would explode, but then he visibly controlled his anger. When he spoke, his voice was unnaturally even. “You had better see to Camilla’s packing.”
