AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Tonight,” Mr Iverson said, nodding again. “Must go tonight.”
And having squeezed as much information as they could from Eloise about the Fletchers’ arrangements for the evening, which was very little, they drifted away again.
“Miss Rose Fletcher,” Mrs Scudamore said, setting down her needlework with a smile to Eloise. “The beautiful heiress.”
“Is she much talked about?” Eloise said, rather dreading the answer.
“Oh, yes. According to Mr Armitage, she is all that is spoken of in the clubs, and there are bets taken as to who will win her hand. Lately the odds have shortened on Mr Somerwell, I believe.”
“How horrid, to have one’s name bandied about in that odious way,” Eloise said.
“Indeed, but I assume that is why she is here? To make a splash and then marry well?”
“I suppose it is.” But Eloise sincerely pitied the poor girl, all the same.
The dinner was good and the conversation better, and Eloise regretted that she had ever agreed to go to Vauxhall, for if she had not, she could have stayed amongst these pleasant people all evening and had a most agreeable time of it. But an engagement had been made, so she dutifully donned her cloak and allowed Lord Humphrey to escort her the short distance to the Fletchers’ house.
“So close!” she exclaimed. “Why, the Fletchers and the Armitages are almost neighbours.”
“Only two doors apart,” Lord Humphrey agreed, as they stopped outside the Fletchers’ house, “and yet they are not acquainted. Propriety is a strange thing. Now if I lived in Grosvenor Square, I should have called upon Mr Fletcher at once, out of curiosity, but then I am noted for my eccentricity. Armitage is very protective of his wife and his ward, and will not have them mingle with a family in trade, at least until more is known about them. And do you know what is the most amusing part of all this? That Armitage’s ward, Miss Barantine, is herself a daughter of trade, for her late father was a jewel merchant, and Miss Barantine’s betrothed now owns the business. But he is a son of the Earl of Kilrannan, so that makes him perfectly acceptable to society.”
“You dislike such hypocrisy?” she said, amused. “But then I suppose your gaming house in York gives you a foot in the trade camp yourself.”
“ButIam the son of a marquess, so a great many transgressions are forgiven me,” he said loftily, with the hint of a wink in his eye. “That is the way of the world we live in, Miss Whittleton. The Fletchers seem to me to be a perfectly respectable family, so I have no doubt of their being, in time, accepted by all but the highest sticklers. It will not be easy for them, but the friendship of people like yourself will help to smooth their path.”
The front door was open, the butler awaiting Eloise, so she bade Lord Humphrey farewell and made her way up the steps to enter the house.
Immediately a scene of chaos greeted her. The hall was full of people and servants and boxes and raised voices and a barking dog. Two ladies of middle age were engaged in some kind of altercation. Eloise recognized one of them as Mrs Fletcher.
The butler coughed, and when that had no effect, he said loudly, “Miss Whittleton is here, madam.”
“Oh! Oh, Miss Whittleton.” Mrs Fletcher turned and gazed at her helplessly, rather flushed.
Behind her, Mr Will Fletcher loomed out of the mêlée, smiling genially. “I shall take Miss Whittleton upstairs until we are ready to depart,” he said. “Do come this way, ma’am, but avoid the dog. He is not on his best behaviour just now.”
“He never is,” muttered the footman who was struggling to hold on to the barking animal.
Laughing, Eloise edged her way to the stairs, where Mr Fletcher offered his arm. “Forgive our disorder, Miss Whittleton, but we have had rather a trying day, and all Stepmother’s careful arrangements are set at naught. However, we are certainly to go to Vauxhall Gardens for our evening of jollity, although we shall be a rather smaller party than anticipated.”
“If there is a crisis in the household, then for my part, sir, I would not for the world be part of any jollity. I am perfectly happy to —”
“No, no! There is to be jollity, for Stepmother insists upon it. It is only that one of our neighbours from Hertfordshire arrived unexpectedly in town, and has drawn away some of our number for this evening. Do you know the Plummers?”
“I have heard the name mentioned, I believe,” she said, floundering.
“You may know Lady Plummer. She is in town for the season, so I am sure you will have encountered her. Now Sir Owen Plummer is here, and since my sister Julia is to marry James Plummer, they felt obliged to give up the delights of Vauxhall for a dull evening at the Plummers’ house, and my father has gone with them. And my brother Johnny arrived on the overnight mail, and has spent the day on a buying spree for the library at home. You would imagine that would involve books, would you not? But no, apparently the most urgent need is for globes and maps and pen stands and a bust of Shakespeare and an orr— Well, I cannot remember the name of it, but it depicts the orbits of the planets.”
“An orrery?” she said. “How wonderful!”
“Such devices might indeed be wonderful in the library, but they are presently residing in our hall in very large boxes. Stepmother and Aunt Madge were discussing how best to deal with them when you arrived. And as for the dog—”
He paused at the top of the stairs, a pained expression on his face.
“Let us not talk about the wretched dog. Come in and meet our other guest for the evening.”
He ushered her into a huge and well-appointed drawing room, occupied by four people. Eloise recognized the two ladies as Miss Fletcher and Miss Angela Fletcher, but the gentlemen… one looked familiar, but the other was a stranger to her.
“Miss Whittleton, are you acquainted with Mr Somerwell? Miss Whittleton is cousin to the Marquess of Carrbridge, Somerwell.”
