The Frog Earl

by Carola Dunn

  “And your mother?”

  “She died when I was eight. I don't really remember her, except that she was beautiful and had the softest voice.”

  Simon took her hand for comfort. She was wearing thin cotton gloves, and as he held her slender fingers he realized he ought not to have brought her up here alone. He didn't give a damn.

  Mimi went on. “Mrs. Forbes came to teach me about England. That is, to teach me the things an English young lady learns, but what I liked best were the stories about England. I used to dream about driving through Hyde Park in an open carriage, and going into shops to buy things, and talking to young men—even dancing with them! England seemed a paradise of freedom.”

  However luxurious her grandfather's palace, he thought, she had been little better than a prisoner. No wonder she shied from a kiss! When speaking to a young man was forbidden, a stolen kiss became virtually equivalent to seduction.

  “And then you came here?” he prompted.

  “It was a paradise. For months I felt free as a bird. Oh, Mrs. Forbes had taught me all the rules, but compared to purdah they were nothing. But then I started to think, if the rules of purdah could be rejected so easily, what made the English conventions different? Some of them were obviously silly. As I said to Harriet, why should I wear a bonnet to protect my complexion when my skin is brown anyway?”

  “What did Harriet say to that?”

  “She had no answer. There is no answer. It's all so confusing. Some people are upset if I don't wear a hat and some people don't care. How can I possibly guess what will simply vex a few prim old ladies and what is truly scandalous?”

  Simon wanted to hold her tight and tell her not to worry, all she had to do was to entrust herself to him for the rest of her life and he would smooth her path. He would stop her dancing half naked—in company, at least—but as far as he was concerned he didn't mind if she never wore a hat again.

  Then he realized that he did mind. As his countess, his marchioness one day, she would have to conform to certain conventions, however senseless, or be ostracized by the society to which he wanted to present her proudly.

  “As a sailor,” he said slowly, “I find many of the rules of etiquette silly. Nonetheless, in the end life is easier if one obeys them. I'm not saying that you shouldn't keep tadpoles, only that if you invite your guests to see them you are bound to offend some. Take off your bonnet when you walk alone in the garden, but wear it to the village. And some of the rules are for your safety...”

  “Mimi!” The colonel appeared in the doorway to the stair turret. “My dear girl!” He ventured out, followed by Squire Pell and Lord Daumier.

  “View halloo!” bellowed the squire.

  Simon stood up, helped Mimi to her feet, and steadied her down the brief slope to the leads. “We have just been admiring the view,” he murmured to her.

  She nodded. “Hallo, Papa,” she said composedly. “Mr. Hurst was kind enough to bring me up here to see the banqueting room, but it is locked. We stayed for a few minutes to admire the view.”

  “A superb view,” agreed Lord Daumier. “There is my house, and I believe I can see the Welsh mountains to the west.” He turned back to the turret. “My dear, a most pleasant roof walk, though a trifle windy. Do you care to come out?”

  Lady Daumier stepped over the sill. “Delightful. How clever of you to find it, Miss Lassiter.” She looked at Simon in a puzzled way.

  “Blake,” called the colonel, “have you the key to the banqueting room?”

  The lawyer joined them, and then Gerald and Harriet. Simon slipped round behind the growing crowd, trying to keep out of sight of the Daumiers. He shouldn't have let Henry practice his skills on his old clothes.

  “I'm off,” he muttered to Gerald, “before her ladyship recalls where she's seen me before.”

  As he started down the stairs he heard the colonel ask, “Where's Hurst?”

  “He went to inform my aunt that all is well,” came Gerald's smooth reply.

  The Daumiers might connect Simon's surname with his father's and think it odd, but Simon doubted that in his absence they would mention it. He found Aunt Georgina and the rest of the party, reassured them, and hastily departed.

  * * * *

  “I don't know what to think,” Mimi confided to Rohan as she settled him in his stable bed for the night. “Be good now. You'll soon be housebroken and then you can sleep in my chamber. You see,” she continued, “once Lady Daumier had so kindly made it seem unexceptionable to be on the roof, Simon might have decided that if he disappeared people would forget we'd been up there alone together.”

  Rohan uttered a drowsy bark and licked her hand.

  “That's what you think, is it? Only if so, why did he go home, not wait downstairs? I have a lowering feeling that he suddenly realized, when they all arrived, how improper it was for us to be alone together. The female is always blamed for such transgressions, Mrs. Forbes says. Do you think Simon is angry with me again?”

  The puppy's adoring brown eyes assured her that no one could possibly ever be angry with her, but she was not convinced.

  Chapter 19

  “Papa, Mr. Lloyd has just proposed to me.”

  The colonel set down on his desk the orphanage plans he was studying. The corners of his eyes crinkled with amusement as he surveyed his puzzled daughter. “You refused him, I take it, as you did the others?”

  “Yes, Sir Wilfred on Monday and Albert Pell yesterday.” Mimi shifted a pile of papers and perched on the corner of the desk. “Do you think Mr. Blake will come tomorrow?”

  “Very likely. I daresay business has kept him from rushing to your side. Do you mean to reject him, too?” He smiled at her emphatic nod. “Since you care for none of them, I'll explain why they are all coming up to scratch at once. You see, my dear, it took none of them long after our arrival here to discover that you are a wealthy young lady. With varying degrees of discretion, they all waited a decent interval before approaching me to ask for your hand in marriage.”

  “Just long enough to make it seem they might have developed a tendre for me?” Given her low opinion of those concerned, Mimi was neither surprised nor chagrined.

  “Precisely. I told them, one and all, that you must have time to become accustomed to English Society before you chose a husband, and I set a period of one year from our arrival.”

  “Which expired just the other day.” She laughed. “And to think I thought it was because I have behaved with such decorum for a whole week! Well, I must be off. Mr. Blake has made me late fetching Harriet for our ride, and Lady Thompson is expecting us.” Leaning across the desk, she kissed his cheek. “Thank you, Papa, for making them wait. A year ago I should not have known how to handle them at all.”

  She went to change into her riding habit, then she and Jacko rode down to the vicarage, Rohan trotting alongside well clear of the horses' hooves. Approaching the house, she saw Mr. Lloyd riding off toward the village, his shoulders slumped disconsolately. She stared after him, a fascinating surmise bringing a grin to her face.

  As soon as Harriet, with Jacko's help, was mounted on Shridatta, Mimi demanded, “Has Mr. Lloyd just offered for your hand?”

  “Well, yes... but Mimi, one ought not to discuss a gentleman's proposal.”

  “You can tell me. I won't tell anyone.”

  “How did you guess?”

  “I saw him riding away from the vicarage looking glum, and as I rejected him in no uncertain terms not an hour since...”

  “You put two and one together and came up with four.” Smiling, Harriet shook her head. “Your logic defies me, but you are right.”

  “And have Albert Pell and Sir Wilfred also proposed this week?”

  “Mr. Pell, yes. Not Sir Wilfred.”

  “Oh well, he is going to London in the autumn. I daresay he is hoping for bigger game. I prophesy that Lawyer Blake will be on your doorstep for the same purpose in a day or two.”

  “I am willing to believe you, but why?
”

  Mimi explained how her father had forbidden her suitors to approach her for a year. “So I thought, since I had turned them off they might well come straight to you,” she finished.

  “The colonel's postponement was fortunate for me,” Harriet said. “A year ago I should have accepted an offer. I cannot imagine how I could have thought I might be happy married to any of them.”

  “It's only three months since I set about my plan to return them to you.”

  Jacko opened the meadow gate and they rode through. Mimi was silent, pondering all that had happened in those three months. She halted Deva Lal when they reached the paddock and sat looking at the pond. If it hadn't been for the gadflies around the pond last summer, she'd never have gone fishing for tadpoles in the mere and her meeting with Simon would have taken a quite different course. She sighed.

  Harriet echoed her sigh. “Now I know what a true gentleman is like,” she murmured. “I could not marry anyone else. Yet it is near a fortnight since he returned from Crossfields and he has not spoken.”

  “How impatient you are! I'm sure lords have to consider such an important step with the utmost care. He will marry you in the end.”

  “Do you really think so? Recently it seems to me he has paid you as much attention as he has me.”

  “He has been unusually affable, no doubt because I've been on my best behavior. I'm beginning to quite like him, but don't worry, Harriet, I shan't have him even if he does propose.”

  “I don't want him to propose to you!” Harriet wailed.

  Rohan, sprawling exhausted on the grass, sat up and barked in sympathy. Startled, Shridatta tossed her head, distracting Harriet from her woes—fortunately, as Mimi had no ready answer.

  “Jacko, hand Rohan to me, please,” she said. “He's too little to run all the way. Come on, Lady Thompson will be wondering where we are.”

  Baird admitted them to Mere House. He gave Rohan, in Mimi's arms, a benevolent pat.

  “So this is the young fellow you rescued, miss. A taking little chap. I understand the Reverend Lloyd called at Salters Hall this afternoon?” He winked.

  “How on earth did you know that already?”

  “Now that would be telling, miss. Three down and one to go, eh? This way, if you please, ladies. Her ladyship is expecting you.”

  Mimi was more surprised by the speed of the butler's knowledge than by the fact that he knew of her suitors' coming up to scratch. She was not at all surprised by Lady Thompson's greeting.

  “So, Mimi, my dear, Baird tells me you have turned down three offers in as many days.”

  “Yes, ma'am. But Harriet says it is wrong to speak of it.”

  “Very proper. You will not wish to embarrass the gentlemen whose suit you have dismissed. However, those of us not personally involved are free to speculate to our hearts' content and to tease you about it. You mean to reject Blake, too, I trust?”

  “My lips are sealed,” said Mimi virtuously, taking a seat beside Harriet on a small sofa.

  “I daresay your papa warned you that they are all fortune hunters. Sir Wilfred is well enough to pass, of course, but the Marburys would like to enter the Fashionable World. I was never so surprised in my life as when that woman told Lady Daumier they are all to go to town for the Little Season.”

  “Sophia was crowing odiously.” Mimi giggled. “I could not but be glad when Lady Daumier said they rarely spend much time in London in the autumn.”

  “She said it in such a kind way,” Harriet put in, “as if she was sorry she could not invite the Marburys to call.”

  “You may be sure she was relieved,” said Lady Thompson firmly. “Who would choose to have about them such toad-eaters as the Marburys? Would you believe that woman came next to me to try for introductions to some of my friends!”

  “Have you tonnish friends, ma'am?” Mimi asked. “I did not know.”

  “I had my Season before I married Sir Josiah, and he and I were used to go sometimes to town. I have kept up a correspondence with several grandes dames of Society, though I have seen little of them of late. I hope I know better than to inflict that Marbury woman and her spiteful daughter upon them.”

  Harriet was obviously uncomfortable with this uncharitable conversation, so Mimi changed the subject. “Tell us about your Season, ma'am. I daresay things were very different then.”

  “To be sure. It was before the French Revolution, you know, which made such a change to our manners and fashions though it never spread to England, heaven be praised.”

  Baird brought in the tea just then. Absently nibbling on macaroon after macaroon, her ladyship described gowns of heavy velvet and brocade over hooped petticoats so wide a lady had to pass through a door sideways; face patches with names like the Adorable and the Kissing, and hair piled high over horsehair pads; gentlemen in powdered wigs, with high-heeled shoes and clocked stockings, who always wore swords and challenged each other to duels at the drop of a gold-laced tricorne hat.

  Mimi listened with one ear, having heard much the same from Mrs. Forbes. The other ear was alert for any indication that Simon and Gerald were coming to join them. She was taken by surprise when Lady Thompson suddenly stopped in the middle of her reminiscences, held up her hand, and announced in a portentous voice, “I have a splendid notion. In fact, I will go so far as to say I have a plan.”

  “Oh good.” Mimi clapped her hands. “I love plans.”

  “What is it, ma'am?” Harriet asked cautiously.

  “I shall take you both to London for the Season.” Ignoring their astounded gasps, she continued, “With your money, Mimi, and my connections, we shall all have a grand time. And you will both meet dozens, nay, scores of eligible gentlemen and make splendid matches and show those country bumpkin fortune hunters who have been pursuing you so assiduously, Mimi, and have behaved so disgracefully to you, Harriet, just how insignificant they are.” Ending on this triumphant and slightly breathless note, she beamed at them.

  Pros and cons raced through Mimi's mind. Harriet already knew whom she wanted to marry, but an announcement of his aunt's plan might serve to prod Lord Litton into action. If not, the rivals for Harriet's hand to be found in London might turn the trick. At worst, the entertainments of town could serve to distract her from her disappointment. She might even find someone else she liked as well as the viscount.

  As for herself, Mimi suddenly realized that if she couldn't marry Simon her only choice would be to dwindle into a rich and eccentric old maid. All the talk of fortune hunters had made her realize his difficulty—his pride would rebel at being classified with Albert Pell and Lawyer Blake. She could only hope that he loved her enough to overcome his pride.

  She wasn't sure he loved her at all.

  Still, if he did, Lady Thompson's plan might persuade him, as well as Gerald Litton, to act. And if he didn't, at least Mimi would be an old maid with memories of the gaiety of a London Season. On the whole she approved.

  She was about to say so when Harriet broke the thoughtful silence.

  “It is excessively kind in you to invite me, my lady, but I fear Papa could not possibly bear the expenses of a Season.”

  “Fustian!” said Mimi. “You cannot suppose that I should enjoy myself in town without your company. Indeed, ma'am, I don't mean that I shall not have need of your support, but tell Harriet how much more comfortable it will be to have a friend of my own age as well.”

  “Quite right, my dear. Nothing is so fortifying to the spirits as an intimate friend with whom to face the world. So you think the colonel will agree to my plan, Mimi?”

  “Oh yes, I have only to say that I want to go.”

  Harriet's hand in its darned glove smoothed her faded blue cambric skirts. “But I cannot accept...” she began.

  “I have a plan!” Mimi interrupted, then added, giving credit where credit was due, “Or at least a sort of sub-plan of your plan, ma'am. Harriet, if you don't marry you will have to seek a position as companion or governess, will you not?
I shall ask Papa to hire you as my companion. He will understand that you have to have gowns and everything as good as mine, so that people don't think me vain or parsimonious. Please say you will come. I don't believe I am brave enough to face the ton without you.”

  “Remember what a sensation the two of you were at the Chester assembly,” Lady Thompson urged.

  Her lips quivering, Harriet managed a smile. “I shall have to talk to Papa and Mama.”

  Mimi hugged her friend. She doubted that Harriet had considered the possibilities of the plan, so obvious to her own fertile imagination. It was probably better not to suggest that Gerald might be encouraged to offer, in case he wasn't.

  Looking up, Mimi caught Lady Thompson's speculative gaze on the two of them. Was it possible that she guessed their feelings for her nephews, that her hopes for her plan matched Mimi's?

  “Pray ring the bell, Mimi,” said her ladyship blandly. “The tea grows cold and all the macaroons have vanished.”

  * * * *

  “I do believe Mimi Lassiter is quite the most generous girl it has ever been my fortune to know,” Lady Thompson announced, accepting Baird's offer of a large slice of rhubarb and strawberry pie and pouring thick cream over it.

  “Perhaps, never having lacked money, she does not comprehend its value,” Gerald suggested. “In many ways she is an innocent, guileless child.”

  “Hardly guileless,” snorted Simon, who did not care to hear his princess praised by the cousin he was fast coming to regard as a rival. “Her endless plots and plans reveal a distinctly Machiavellian cunning.”

  Gerald grinned. “You must admit she is innocent of any regard for the consequences. She is at once ingenious and ingenuous.”