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“Mr William Fletcher, my lady,” intoned Kemp.
Eloise almost groaned aloud. That man here again! Whatever was he thinking? But there he was, as large as life, making his bow to Lady Carrbridge, and saying something that made her smile. She replied, and then they both looked directly at Eloise. Her heart sank into her very slippers. He was here to torment her, that much was obvious.
Lady Carrbridge beckoned her across the room. Obediently, Eloise went.
“Yes, ma’am?”
“Mr Fletcher is here to see you, Eloise,” she said, and there was a hint of smugness in her voice.
“Good day, Mr Fletcher,” she said as she made him a curtsy.
“Miss Whittleton.” His bow was graceful, she had to concede that. “I should be very honoured if you would favour me with your company for a drive in my curricle this afternoon. The weather is mild, and Hyde Park is a pleasant place to take the air.”
A drive in Hyde Park. Trapped in a two-seater open carriage with him for anything up to an hour. The very idea was anathema to her. “You are most obliging, sir, but I have no thought of being anywhere but at Lady Carrbridge’s side today, and her ladyship’s diary is very full.”
“Nonsense, Eloise, I can spare you for an hour or two.”
Two hours! Oh, the horror! “I beg you will excuse me, sir. I could not be easy in my mind, knowing that Lady Carrbridge might need me while I am engaged in frivolity.”
Lady Carrbridge laughed greatly at this feeble sally. “A little frivolity will do you good, not to mention the fresh air. Go and enjoy yourself, for I am not unattended, as you see.” She waved an arm to encompass her many relations. “At what hour shall you collect her, Mr Fletcher?”
“Would half an hour before five o’clock suit you?”
“Perfectly, sir. I shall make sure that she is ready for you.”
He bowed and with a few words made his farewell.
“Now, Eloise, you must not look so disgruntled. I know you dislike him, but an outing will do you a world of good, for you spend far too long confined to your desk or dancing attendance on me. Besides, being seen with a man like that will increase your consequence greatly. I make no doubt he drives a very dashing little outfit. Go and enjoy some fresh air, and if you can find out something about his family, I shall be very glad of it.”
Eloise smiled unenthusiastically, curtsied and went to her room to change.
7: Visitors
When the curricle arrived and Mr Fletcher handed her into it, Eloise had to admit that he did everything in the first style of elegance. The curricle was of the newest type, and the horses, a matched pair of greys, were such sweet steppers she almost smiled in delight. She opened her parasol, smoothed down her fine new walking gown, never before worn, and reflected that there were worse things in life to be doing on a sunny May afternoon than driving out with a man who would pass anywhere as a Corinthian.
Not that she could admit such a thing tohim, naturally. She had sooner die.
They moved off smartly, and set off towards Pall Mall.
“Should you care to drive through Green Park, Miss Whittleton?”
“If you wish, Mr Fletcher.”
He was an expert with the ribbons, weaving effortlessly through the traffic. After negotiating a narrow gap between a dray and a baker’s cart in silence, he gathered the reins in one hand and leaned nonchalantly back on the seat. “I am still attempting to place your position in Lady Carrbridge’s household. I am now inclined to believe that—“
“I am the poor relation, Mr Fletcher,” she snapped. “Lady Carrbridge takes a distant cousin under her wing every season to act as secretary, and I am this year’s specimen.”
His eyebrows rose at her tone. “Do you dislike the rôle?”
“Not in the least. I only dislike—” She had been about to say‘you’, but stopped in time, appalled at her own breach of manners. “I dislike your speculation on the subject.”
“Then I humbly beg your pardon, ma’am. I did not mean to pry. Naturally, I should love to know more about you, but I have no wish to tease you with my questions.”
This was so generously phrased that, try as she might, she could not cavil at it. As they entered Green Park, she felt obliged to say, “I should not wish to be ungracious, sir. What do you wish to know about me?”
“Shall we start with where you live? When you are not playing the poor relation to a marchioness, that is?”
Playingthe poor relation? As if she were an actress, who could walk off the stage and become some different, presumably wealthier, person altogether. The man was an utter fool! But she could not be always sniping at him, so she said calmly, “I live in Bath with my widowed aunt.”
