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Dinner that night was dire.
Unable to find a suitable girl among the small Hall staff, Patience once again performed the duties of a maid for me. She was willing, and a great help in informing me of the necessary, if somewhat arcane, social forms so rife in this house, yet I could not help but miss the skilled service of my girl Temperance. With me since I had been a small child, Temperance knew my every need and whim. Aunt Seraphine had told me I should take her with me, but I had feared that she would have been miserable in such an alien atmosphere with none of her kind around. Besides, at Christmas she and Parley, Uncle Bernard’s servant, had been married. Separating them for the length of time I had originally planned to be in England would have been cruel.
Sir Mordecai was in rare dictatorial form.
He was blustering against Mountjoy and Edwin both, and perforce also against Aunt Lucinda and Great Aunt Zipporah for forcing their protégées on me when it was obvious that I was not interested in either.
Such a sentiment made me feel almost kindly about my father’s father - I still could not call him ‘my grandfather’ even in the privacy of my mind - until he turned his attentions to me.
“And as for you, miss, I have told you it is time you learned to act like a genteel lady worthy of being a Wentworth. After your disgraceful behaviour this morning, it has become obvious that you have no sense of what is due your breeding, so we must take you in hand. I have given orders that you are not to be permitted to order any horse saddled nor shall you ride alone. Beginning now, you will not go riding unless a suitable member of the family is with you.”
I opened my mouth in angry protest, but he simply went on, only raising his voice to drown out any comment I might make.
“You will not ride Saracen again. A mount suitable for a lady will be provided for you, and you will ride only sidesaddle, as befits a lady.”
“Most proper,” Great Aunt Zipporah agreed enthusiastically, nodding her head even as she chewed. “Unladylike females are an affront to God, for He has defined our sphere and we are to be ruled by our menfolk.”
Not to be outdone, Simon Broadbank said, “I have sent for one, sir, a lovely little sorrel mare with perfect manners and lady-trained. She is to be here for two weeks pending an agreement of purchase.”
Mountjoy scowled at that, so obviously the beast had not come from his stable. I was probably scowling as well, for never had I been so insulted so quickly by so many.
“The thought of a Wentworth female riding astride-” here Sir Mordecai drew a deep breath and shook his head “-beggars the imagination. I will not have the family made a laughingstock because of your hoydenish behaviour. Mrs Wentworth will instruct you in all you must learn, and I will permit no favouritism for your brother from you, madam, make no mistake of that!”
For a single moment there was an ugly flash of mutiny in Aunt Lucinda’s face, but it was instantly stifled. Sir Mordecai acted as if he had not seen it.
“Also, Lucinda, you are to oversee the cleaning and refurbishment of the Dower House to make it a fitting residence. It is well past time that you, Zipporah and Miss Barwick moved down there, as Clarissa will want to be chatelaine here without interference.”
Now Aunt Lucinda and the other ladies were bristling, but in a very restrained and ladylike way. So was I.
“But the Hall is our home...” Great Aunt Zipporah whimpered.
“Sir Mordecai!” I all but shouted. “It is not necessary for the ladies to move, as I shall be gone before long. I have no desire to put them out of their home even for a day.”
He looked at me as if I were nothing more than a talking bug.
“Do not be ridiculous, girl. Things must be arranged, and we must protect the Hall and the title. Basil has sent word he is on his way.”
Perhaps Sir Mordecai did not care how much like a threat that sounded, but it was much more probable that he didn’t care. Of course, he had other things on his mind.
“I look forward to meeting him,” I murmured with cold and palpably insincere politeness.
Great Aunt Zipporah murmured, “Oh, my dear,” while great silent tears crept their way down the furrows on her cheeks. “Mordecai, I do not wish to leave the Hall. I have lived here since my dear Mr. Draycott went to his reward.”
Obviously angered at such obstinance, however pallid, from a bunch of women, Sir Mordecai snorted.
“Enough, all of you! This is the way things must be. It has been arranged and only needs to be put into train. I will hear no more.”
“I am sure,” Simon Broadbank said portentously, “once our dear Miss Wentworth is fully cognisant of the situation she will react with the fortitude and honour that is the Wentworth nature.”
“Some of the Wentworths,” Aunt Lucinda said, sending a poisonous glance toward me.
“The Wentworths have a long history of doing their duty,” he murmured in return.
Tonight he was clad in an old-fashioned outfit of puce and cream and an incredible amount of foaming lace only slightly tattered and fully twenty years out of date. Even had it been new it would have looked ridiculous on him.
“May I know what is expected of me?” I asked, attempting to sound unconcerned as my jaw clenched like an alligator’s.
“You are expected to be a Wentworth,” said Sir Mordecai in a tone which blatantly closed the conversation. “And now are we to have pudding, or are we expected to do without?”
