by Gayle Buck
“Of course I shall. You may rely on me,” said Lord Mays stoutly, covering her hand with his. “And if they are not prepared to shelter Stassart, then I shall suggest to them that they take him away out of London until his embarrassments are in a fair way to being forgotten.”
“I do thank you, Wilfred. You do not know what a comfort you are to me just now,” said Lucinda.
He took his leave of her then, promising to send word to her as soon as he was able. “For it is not likely that I shall run them to earth just at once. We do not run in the same circles,” he warned.
“Oh, I am aware of that! You would no more mince about in that ludicrous fashion than I would! But I trust you to succeed where I could not,” said Lucinda.
Lord Mays grinned. “You have just flattered me twice, Lucinda. If you are not careful, I will begin to suspect that you are setting your cap for me and then where would we be?”
“Where, indeed!” retorted Lucinda.
Miss Blythe came back into the drawing room. “I was just informed that Lady Thorpe has come to call, and I thought that I should return for form’s sake,” she said.
“Quite right. Lady Mays must not be found entertaining company alone.” Lord Mays caught up the older lady’s hand and saluted it with a flourish. “You are a brick, Miss Blythe.”
Miss Blythe flushed. She turned to watch as Lord Mays left. His lordship was whistling. Miss Blythe looked at Lucinda, her brows raised. “Well! I have never seen Lord Mays exhibit such dashing airs. Was there something said that particularly put him into spirits?”
Lucinda brushed over the last teasing banter between herself and Lord Mays and said, “Wilfred is on his way to locate a couple of my cousin’s friends. He hopes to persuade one or the other of them to shelter Ferdie.”
“That is excellent news, indeed. I wish his lordship every possible success,” said Miss Blythe with a smile. “Forgive me if I seem rather hard, Lucinda, but I cannot help thinking that we shall all be more at ease when Mr. Stassart is no longer on our hands.”
“Oh, so do I,” said Lucinda. Her eyes gleamed with humor. “And I know that it will put us back into Mr. Weatherby’s good graces.”
“That must naturally be a primary concern,” said Miss Blythe with unexpected tartness.
“You should not be so severe, Tibby. After all, though for reasons known best to himself, Mr. Weatherby was simply looking out for my best interests,” said Lucinda.
“Do you think so?” said Miss Blythe.
Lucinda looked at her companion, rather startled by the dry note in Miss Blythe’s voice. But she did not have an opportunity to satisfy her mild curiosity, for the door was opened and they were no longer private.
Chapter Nineteen
Lady Thorpe was shown in, and Lucinda stepped forward to welcome her. The lady was attired in a stunning violet pelisse that should have clashed with her coloring, but merely served to emphasize the paleness of her complexion. The bonnet on her head was trimmed with several saucy black feathers. She greeted Lucinda and Miss Blythe with a few cheerful words.
Lucinda looked at her visitor closely and thought she could detect a hint of strain about the young woman’s eyes. She suspected that it was due to the uncertainties brought on by Lord Thorpe’s recent digressions into gaming, and she hoped that Lord Mays had been right when he had said that he thought Lord Thorpe was at last done with such nonsense. However, nothing of Lucinda’s thoughts was revealed in the warmth of her greeting. Though she genuinely liked Lady Thorpe, she was not yet well enough acquainted with her ladyship to inquire into such a personal matter.
Once the amenities were addressed, Lady Thorpe quickly outlined the purpose of her visit. “I have decided that a light shopping trip is just what will enliven my spirits,” she said. “And I have come to beg you both to bear me company.”
“Oh, I should like it of all things!” exclaimed Lucinda. The prospect was attractive, and it warmed her that Lady Thorpe should have thought to ask her. She turned to her companion. “Tibby, what of you?”
“I have a letter that I would like to finish for today’s post, so I shall regretfully decline. But may I suggest that Miss Mays would benefit from such an outing?” said Miss Blythe.
“Yes, of course!” Lucinda turned to Lady Thorpe, who was listening attentively. “My sister-in-law has come to visit, and she has not the least notion how to go on. She is in need of an entire wardrobe for the Season. Would it be too much of an imposition if I brought Agnes along?”
“Of course not! I adore dressing someone else,” said Lady Thorpe, her eyes sparkling.
“Then it is settled. I shall inform Agnes at once of the treat in store,” said Lucinda.
“My dear, I should perhaps warn you that Miss Mays is feeling a bit moped,” said Miss Blythe. “She was distressed that she fell into indiscretion earlier and placed you in an awkward position. I soothed her sensibilities as best I could, of course, but you know how she takes things to heart.”
“The goose,” said Lucinda without heat. She had easily read into Miss Blythe’s mild explanation the likelihood of Miss Mays’s having been thrown into complete apprehension. Certainly her sister-in-law’s recent experiences did not encourage her to think that she was indispensable.
“Is there something wrong?” asked Lady Thorpe.
Lucinda shook her head. “My sister-in-law was encouraged all of her life to bow to the selfish whims of others and never to consider herself. As a consequence, she is overly timid and completely unsure of herself in company. She is thrown into the hips at the least mistake. This morning we had a gentleman to call on us, and she blurted out something that I would rather she had not. It was of small moment, really, but Agnes has apparently built it into something monstrous.”
“I understand perfectly,” said Lady Thorpe with ready sympathy. “Well, then! What could be better than a morning spent at the shops?”
Lucinda laughed, while Miss Blythe smiled. “Yes, indeed!” said Lucinda. “I cannot think of anything more made to order to persuade Agnes that she is forgiven. Give me a few minutes to change and to inform Agnes of our plans.”
“Of course. Miss Blythe and I shall get along famously,” said Lady Thorpe.
Lucinda sent a message to Miss Mays calculated to shock that damsel out of her doldrums and then went along to her bedroom. She changed quickly into a walking dress and returned downstairs a quarter hour later.
When Lucinda entered the drawing room, she found that her sister-in-law had already descended. Lady Thorpe was laboring to make polite conversation with Miss Mays, but she broke off when she saw Lucinda. Rising from the settee, she said, “Here is Lady Mays now. We shall be off in a trice, I expect.”
“Yes, indeed. I apologize for my tardiness,” said Lucinda, smoothing on her last lavender kid glove. She was attired in a cream walking dress closed with huge pearl buttons. Her straw bonnet, accented with delicate lavender blooms, was tied with a matching satin bow, and she looked altogether smart.
“Oh,” sighed Miss Mays. She had thought that Lady Thorpe was the most stylish creature that she had ever beheld, but she knew now that she had been wrong. Lady Mays was without compare. She thought humbly that it would be so nice to appear to such advantage.
Upon catching the soft sigh, Lady Thorpe glanced swiftly at Miss Mays’s face. There was such a wistful expression in the young woman’s eyes that she was touched to pity. She said to Lucinda, “Miss Blythe had just introduced me to Miss Mays a few moments before you came in. Miss Mays was relating to me that you have invited her to stay with you for the Season.”
Lucinda caught the delicate question in Lady Thorpe’s gambit. “Yes, Agnes wished to taste all that London has to offer. Miss Blythe and I have taken it upon ourselves to provide everything in our power for Agnes’s enjoyment. The Season will undoubtedly prove most educational for us all, for I have never sponsored anyone before.”
“I think it promises to be famous fun. You must let me do my part and in
troduce Miss Mays around,” said Lady Thorpe. She smiled warmly at Miss Mays. “You must count me as one of your friends whilst you are here, Miss Mays.”
“Oh! You are so very kind, my lady! Indeed, I do not deserve such kindness. I... I am so very grateful,” stammered Miss Mays, thrown into a blushing flutter.
Lady Thorpe glanced at Lady Mays and Miss Blythe, both of whom wore the same smiling expressions. Her ladyship knew that there must be a story behind Miss Mays, and she was determined to have it out of Lady Mays at the earliest opportunity.
In the meantime, Lady Thorpe was realizing that the simple shopping trip that she had planned had taken on wonderful proportions. Acquiring a few laces and a pair or two of silk stockings were paltry pickings when she could encourage an orgy of spending on such a deserving case as Miss Mays. Really, that gray pelisse was truly hideous! She could well understand why Lady Mays wished to reoutfit her sister-in-law. Following her thoughts, she inquired, “Have you any particular notions about what you wished to purchase, Lady Mays?”
Lucinda’s eyes twinkled. “A little bit of everything, I think.”
Lady Thorpe smiled. “That was what I thought. Good! I have my carriage standing outside. If everyone is quite ready, let us be off!”
The trio said their good-byes to Miss Blythe, who went only so far as the drawing room door with them, and they left the town house. The carriage was waiting at the curb. There was at once a minor dispute over who would sit with her back to the horses. Lady Thorpe naturally contended that since it was her carriage and it was at her invitation that they were accompanying her, she would give the better seat to her guests.
Miss Mays displayed an unexpectedly obstinate streak and insisted that she should take the humbler seat. “I do not mind in the least, my lady,” she assured.
Lady Thorpe met Lucinda’s amused gaze rather helplessly. “I am sure that I do not care which of us rides facing backward.”
Lucinda knew that Miss Mays’s pleasure in the outing would be quite destroyed if she was not allowed to efface herself as she was undoubtedly accustomed to doing. “Then do let Agnes have it, my lady. Or otherwise she will not forgive herself for putting you out.”
“That is quite true, my lady,” said Miss Mays earnestly. “I would not enjoy myself in the least knowing that you were put to such disadvantage.”
“Very well, then. You may have it. Miss Mays,” said Lady Thorpe, graciously accepting defeat.
Miss Mays positively beamed and stepped up into the carriage. Lady Thorpe paused a moment before following her example, to murmur for Lucinda’s ear alone, “What a funny she is! You must tell me all about her, for I stand all agog.”
“I shall,” promised Lucinda. “But for the moment indulge me and help me to bully her into accepting every small extravagance.”
“Bully her!”
“It will not be an easy task, I assure you!”
Lady Thorpe bestowed an expressive glance on Lucinda before she ducked into the carriage. Lucinda followed suit, well aware that she had greatly whetted Lady Thorpe’s curiosity. It promised to be a famous shopping trip.
Several hours later, the ladies returned to Mays House for tea. Exhausted but pleased, Lucinda regarded the mountain of parcels that filled the carriage. Scarcely one belonged either to herself or to Lady Thorpe.
“I have never enjoyed myself more,” said Lady Thorpe, nodding her head in Miss Mays’s direction.
Lucinda also looked at her sister-in-law, and she smiled. Miss Mays appeared to be caught up in a happy daze. “Nor I,” she said.
The carriage stopped. Lucinda quirked an inquiring brow at Lady Thorpe. “You will come in to take tea, won’t you?”
“I would not miss it for worlds,” stated Lady Thorpe positively.
Lucinda laughed, knowing that her ladyship meant to have her bursting curiosity fully satisfied at last. When she entered the town house, she gave orders that the packages be carried in from Lady Thorpe’s carriage. “You may take them all up to Miss Mays’s bedroom,” she said, drawing off her gloves. “We shall want tea in the drawing room.”
Miss Blythe had heard the return of the trio of shoppers, and she came down the stairs to greet them. When she saw the number of parcels that was carried indoors, her eyes widened. “My word!”
“Oh, Miss Blythe! They are all mine!” exclaimed Miss Mays, as though she still could not believe it. “It was a wicked extravagance, but their ladyships insisted. I could not say no!”
Miss Blythe smiled. “Why do you not show me everything, my dear? I am bursting with curiosity.”
“As I am also,” murmured Lady Thorpe.
Miss Blythe caught the aside and she chuckled. She put her arm companionably through Miss Mays’s elbow. “Come along! We shall drink our tea above stairs so that you can satisfy my curiosity.”
Miss Mays was nothing loathe. She had never been blessed by such generosity in her life, and she could scarcely contain her eagerness to share her excitement with someone.
Lucinda and Lady Thorpe went into the drawing room. The tea had already been taken in and served. The butler closed the doors, and on the same instant Lady Thorpe rounded on her hostess.
“Now you must tell me everything,” exclaimed Lady Thorpe. “I know that there is something odd about Miss Mays. Why, I have just spent hours in the woman’s company, and she was a constant amazement. She is the humblest, most effacing creature that I have ever met.”
“Quite. And you will understand why, once I have explained it all to you,” said Lucinda. She told her sister-in-law’s story matter-of-factly and without added pathos.
At the end, Lady Thorpe shook her head in near disbelief. “It is all like something out of a lurid novel. I am so thankful that I have never experienced such cruelty and neglect. I wonder that Miss Mays is so unaffected as she is, for I suspect that I would have grown to be quite bitter.”
“It is curious, is it not? But I think that Agnes is of such a sweet, giving temperament that she is quite incapable of the meaner emotions,” said Lucinda. “Tibby contends that she needs a kind husband, and I agree with her. Agnes is not the sort who could survive without someone who is willing to pick up the cudgels on her behalf.”
“Yes, I quite see that. Then we shall simply have to find her a suitable mate,” said Lady Thorpe. She laughed. “I have never been a matchmaker before. You have opened up wonderful new vistas for me, Lady Mays. I am truly in your debt.”
“If you can discover a husband for Agnes, it is I who shall be forever in your debt, Lady Thorpe,” said Lucinda.
Lady Thorpe finished her tea and set down the cup. “I must run now, but we shall get together again soon. Very soon! For I do not wish to miss one moment of this unfolding saga!”
Lucinda laughed and rose to her feet as her guest stood up. “I am glad that you suggested this outing,” she said.
“Oh, so am I. I was feeling a bit low, you know, but it is amazing what a little time spent with a friend in the shops can do for one,” said Lady Thorpe.
Lucinda once again experienced the warm feeling that Lady Thorpe had engendered in her. She caught up the other woman’s hand and briefly squeezed her gloved fingers. “I am so very glad to have made your acquaintance. Do, pray, call me Lucinda.”
“And you must call me Cecily. I should like that,” said Lady Thorpe with a quick smile. “Now I really must run or Gerald will be wondering what has become of me. He has promised to take me to the theater tonight, if I shall first ride with him in his new phaeton in the park. I don’t much care for high-perch phaetons as they are so high off the ground. But it will give Gerald pleasure to puff off his new equipage to me.”
“At least it is your approval that he wishes to hear,” said Lucinda.
Lady Thorpe laughed and nodded. “Yes, I am very fortunate,” she said happily.
Lucinda saw Lady Thorpe out the front door to her carriage. As she reentered the town house and traversed the entry hall toward the stairs, the butler stopped
her and handed her a twist of paper.
“Lord Mays stopped by earlier, my lady. His lordship was sorry to find you out, and he asked that I give you this when you came in,” said Church. He lingered while Lady Mays straightened out the twist and unfolded the note to read it. At her sudden frown, he inquired, “I hope that it is not bad news, my lady?”
Lucinda looked up. “No; merely a temporary disappointment.” She folded the note. “What is the report on Mr. Stassart today, Church?”
“Mr. Stassart is known to be resting well, my lady. The physician returned as he promised, and it was my understanding that he was very pleased with Mr. Stassart’s progress,” said Church.
“I suppose that he did not mention when my cousin would be able to leave his bed?” asked Lucinda.
“I regret, no, my lady.”
“Thank you, Church. I shall not be in to callers for the remainder of the day,” said Lucinda, moving once more toward the stairs.
“Of course, my lady,” said the butler.
Lucinda paused as her foot touched the first step to look back at the butler. “Unless it is Lord Mays, Church. Send up word at once if his lordship should stop in.”
“I shall do so, my lady.” As he watched her ladyship move lightly up the stairs. Church could not but wonder what had been in the note from Lord Mays.
* * * *
After Lady Thorpe had left, Lucinda went up to discover what Miss Blythe thought about the purchases that she had made for Miss Mays. She knocked on the door of her companion’s private sitting room. At Miss Blythe’s invitation to enter, Lucinda opened the door and went in. She smiled at the older woman, who was seated before the hearth with her ever-present embroidery in hand. “Well, Tibby, how did you find Agnes?”
Miss Blythe chuckled. “Miss Mays was beside herself, just as one might expect! The attention showered on her by you and Lady Thorpe has helped her more than anything else, I suspect.”
Lucinda sat down in an opposite chair. She lay her head back against the cushions. “It was a treat for Lady Thorpe and myself to see someone begin to blossom like that. Where is Agnes now?”