Gabriella

by Brenda Hiatt

  "You haven't forgotten your promise to walk out with me, I hope, Miss Gordon?" His manner was solicitous without being too familiar, and his appearance was every inch the gentleman in pearl grey jacket, buckskins and blindingly polished Hessians.

  Brie, suddenly realising that she had neglected to mention to Angela his presence last night at Almack's, glanced nervously at her sister. "I...I haven't yet...that is, would it be all right, Angela?"

  Lady Platt's eyes had narrowed dangerously, but her voice was silkily pleasant. "Of course, my dear, but pray take your abigail for appearance' sake."

  She watched silently as Brie left the room to comply with this suggestion, then turned to Sir Frederick.

  "And when was this assignation made, may I ask?" she enquired waspishly, her fine blue eyes fairly shooting sparks.

  "Why, last night at Almack's, my dear," he replied tranquilly, "and it is hardly an assignation, as it was made in front of at least a dozen people, to include our dashing Duke."

  "You don't care for him, I have noticed," she commented. "Are you jealous, perchance?"

  "Only of his wealth, my dear, unless you are inclined to favour him."

  "Would it vex you if I did?" she asked coquettishly, leaning slightly forward so that her charms were more prominently displayed.

  "Indubitably." He was moving to seat himself on the settle next to her when Brie returned, abigail in tow.

  "We'll discuss it on my return," he promised with a half wink and lightly touched her fingertips with his lips. "Shall we go, Miss Gordon?"

  The streets of Mayfair were fairly crowded, as the weather was fine, and they proceeded at a leisurely pace. Brie had been vaguely nervous at the prospect of being nearly alone with Sir Frederick for the first time since their ride in the Park, but he maintained a polite flow of small talk which soon had her laughing at her fears as well as his banter. The Duke of Ravenham had clearly been misinformed about Sir Frederick. Besides, she thought with a smile, what could the man possibly do in front of so many witnesses?

  "So you enjoyed that story, did you?" asked Sir Frederick, in response to the smile.

  "Oh, vastly," replied Brie, somewhat confusedly, as she had not been paying full attention. She wondered what it had been about, as he was regarding her rather strangely. To change the subject, she exclaimed over a horse just then passing.

  "What fine lines that gelding has, don't you agree, Sir Frederick?"

  "You are indeed a good judge of horseflesh, Miss Gordon," he agreed. "Until a fortnight since, that horse belonged to the Prince himself. Which reminds me—" he regarded her intently "—I have arranged to have the filly you rode last week stabled at the Platts' so that you can have free use of her."

  Brie felt herself flushing with mingled embarrassment and indignation. "I would much rather you did not," she said flatly.

  "Nonsense, my dear, easier for you, easier for me. No trouble at all, I assure you." There was a gleam in his eye now which she could not mistake.

  "Pray do not make it impossible for me to appreciate your kindness to me thus far, Sir Frederick. I shall have her returned to you at once if I find her there." She strove with both tone and expression to convince her companion that she was in earnest.

  They walked on in silence for some moments, Sir Frederick wearing a frustrated scowl. Brie barely noticed, as she was taking care not to look in his direction until her temper cooled, unwilling to quarrel with such a good friend of her sister's. She resented the fact that he seemed to credit her with so little sense, but fought the temptation to tell him so.

  Her averted gaze sharpened as it took in a half-grown black kitten coming towards them along the railings. The poor thing looked badly malnourished, and she wished she dared take it home to feed it. Since coming to London she had seen many flagrant cases of animal abuse which she had been unable to do anything about, and it made her all the more desirous of helping this furry little urchin.

  The kitten stopped to sniff hopefully at a doorstep, but apparently found no odours of interest, for it continued on its way. Just as it drew level with them, Brie made the quiet clucking noise which she had often used to call the barn cats to her, and the tiny creature perked up its ears and came timidly towards the sound.

  Sir Frederick, still in a less than amiable frame of mind, appeared to only then notice the animal for the first time. Muttering an oath, he vented his feelings by kicking out at it with one of his gleaming Hessians. The kitten sailed through the air and hit the iron railings with a thud.

  With a cry of outrage and dismay, Brie hurried to crouch next to the injured cat. It tried to rise shakily, but it was obvious that one of its back legs had been hurt and it mewed piteously. She folded it carefully into the embroidered shawl she was carrying and lifted it gently, crooning to it all the while. Sir Frederick watched the process in obvious surprise and some amusement.

  "What, pray, do you intend to do with that, Miss Gordon?" he enquired lazily as she stood up. "Better to leave the thing in the gutter where it belongs. I daresay it won't live long, anyway."

  She turned towards him and he visibly flinched at her expression, for she was fairly quivering with loathing and rage. "How dare you even say such a thing when it is you who have practically killed it?" she demanded. "Get away from me, you brute!" she exclaimed, when he put out a hand towards her burden. "Don't you dare touch this poor kitten again."

  "Miss Gordon, you are overwrought," he began, in a feeble attempt to retrieve the situation, but she cut him off.

  "Overwrought? You...you are despicable! You had best leave me, sir, before I become 'overwrought' enough to do you an injury! I will contrive to get home without your escort. Indeed, I will feel infinitely safer without it." She turned on her heel and walked quickly back the way they had come, the bewildered abigail fairly trotting to keep up.

  Sir Frederick glowered at her retreating back, cursing this unexpected snag in his plans. How was he to know the girl had some ridiculous sentimentality about cats? And how dared the little nobody speak to him thus? Somehow, he would have to bring the saucy little wench to her senses— at least in regards to himself.

 

  * * *

 

 

 

 

  CHAPTER 10

 

  Brie reached her sister's house a few minutes later to be told that the Lady Elizabeth had but that moment arrived and was in the parlour with Lady Platt. She shrugged in resignation —gently, to avoid disturbing the now sleeping kitten— and entered the room Madsen had indicated. If she and Elizabeth were going to be friends, she would surely learn sometime about her tenderness for animals. As for her sister, well, she had never really had her good opinion!

  "Why, here you are already!" exclaimed Angela as Gabriella came through the door. "I was just telling Lady Elizabeth that you might be gone for—" She stopped in mid-sentence, suddenly catching sight of her sister's burden. "Whatever is that? A cat? And what have you done to your shawl?"

  Brie carefully seated herself near Elizabeth before answering. "Yes, it is a cat, a kitten, actually, and injured. I could hardly have left it oh the street, so I brought it with me."

  Angela's face turned bright pink with the effort of restraining herself from saying all that propriety forbade in front of their guest. Elizabeth, meanwhile, was regarding the sleeping kitten with sympathetic interest.

  "Poor little thing!" she said. "How badly is it injured, Brie, do you know?"

  "Not yet." Brie warmed to her new friend all the more at this show of concern. "I had planned to take it up to my bedchamber and examine it there. Would you care to come with me?"

  "Certainly!" agreed Elizabeth, rising. "That is, if you have no objection, ma'am?" she asked, turning towards her hostess.

  "No, no, you girls go on," said Lady Platt tightly, clinging to her smile with iron control. Just wait until I get that hoyden alone, she was thinking fiercely.

  The two younger l
adies went upstairs, leaving Angela in the parlour to agonise over the impression the Lady Elizabeth must be receiving and to wonder what could have happened to Sir Frederick. She would have a thing or two to say to that gentleman when next she saw him, as well!

 

  * * *

 

  "What a lovely room!" was Elizabeth's first comment upon entering Brie's bedchamber. "Where do you want to set the kitten —on the bed?" she then asked practically.

  "No, I think the dressing table might be better," Brie replied. "Then I can be seated while I look at his leg." Setting the kitten down gently with one arm, she swept aside the clutter of small bottles and brushes that normally resided on the table. The kitten awakened during this process and gazed round at its new surroundings. Apparently satisfied, it licked its shoulder with a tiny pink tongue and began to purr.

  "He doesn't seem to be in much pain now, at least," ventured Elizabeth.

  "No, he doesn't," agreed Brie, unwrapping the shawl. "I don't believe the leg is broken," she said after a brief examination, during which the kitten batted playfully at her probing fingers, "but it is certainly badly bruised, and cut a bit just here." She pointed at a spot above the paw where some blood had apparently oozed onto the black fur.

  "Can I do anything to help?" asked Elizabeth, clearly interested and concerned rather than repelled.

  "Would you dip this in the ewer over there so I can wash the cut?" asked Brie, handing her a scrap of cotton cloth she had pulled from one of the dressing table drawers. From the same drawer, she lifted a jar of the salve she had used on the unfortunate horse at the Ruby Crown.

  "My father was always very good with animals," explained Brie in response to Elizabeth's curious glance, mindful of Angela's strictures about mentioning his profession. "He taught me some of what he knew." When Elizabeth crossed back to her with the wet cloth, Brie expertly cleansed the wound, applied the salve and wrapped it in another of the cotton cloths, talking soothingly to the kitten and cheerfully to Elizabeth during the process. At length she was done.

  "There," Brie said to the kitten with satisfaction. "You should do quite well now, if I can persuade my sister to let you stay."

  "Perhaps you should ask her in my presence," suggested Elizabeth wickedly, clearly not having missed Lady Platt's obsequious manner towards herself.

  "An excellent notion," replied Brie, laughing, and the two girls descended to complete their errand of mercy.

 

  * * *

 

  "Not that you left me any choice," Angela said indignantly, and for at least the third time. "I could hardly refuse in front of the Lady Elizabeth without seeming churlish."

  Elizabeth had departed, her ploy to force Angela to agree to the kitten's continued residence in the Platt household having been successful. Since then, Brie had been listening to her sister's tirade on her want of breeding and proper gratitude and was beginning to tire of it.

  "I don't believe Elizabeth was the least bit offended to help me tend to the poor thing," she interposed calmly, when Angela paused to think up more offences which Brie might be guilty of. "In fact, I got the distinct impression that she was enjoying herself."

  "Yes, we must be thankful for that, I suppose, but you could not have known that in advance." A sudden thought seemed to strike her. "Never tell me you told the Lady Elizabeth of our father's profession!"

  "No, I only said that he had been good with animals, though it seemed disloyal as well as dishonest not to mention the extensive training and experience he had. There were probably no more than half a dozen veterinary surgeons in all of England who came close to his skill."

  "Be that as it may, I will repeat to you what I said before: if his profession were to become generally known, we would find ourselves cut by everyone who matters in Society. And that includes your fine new friends, as well! When I think how ill bred, how common you looked, coming in here off the street, quite alone, and carrying that thing, I feel ready to sink! By the bye, why were you alone? What happened to Sir Frederick? You must know it is not at all—"

  "Angela, I will thank you not to mention that man's name again in my presence." Brie's voice was suddenly deadly, her anger returning in full force. "If you feel the need to blame this incident, which apparently came so close to ruining us, on anyone, you can blame him. That poor kitten was minding its own business, searching for scraps of food, no doubt, when that... that monster kicked it, for no reason whatever. As I no longer felt safe in his presence, and was certain that he would not be safe in mine, I came back here to tend to the injury he caused."

  Angela simply sat there, dumbfounded at her sister's vehemence. She knew from long experience that there was no point in trying to reason with her— their father had been just the same when he had perceived any so-called cruelty towards an animal. She still winced at the recollection of the time he had caught her tormenting a chained dog with a stick when she was a child. Before she could gather her wits enough to give her sister a proper set-down for her insolence, however, Brie left the room.

 

  * * *

 

  Elizabeth, meanwhile, was reflecting on the scene just past as she drove herself home. She felt drawn to Brie as she had not been to another girl of her own age since leaving Miss Gebhart's Seminary and her old school fellows. The other young ladies "out" in Society seemed so…shallow in comparison to Miss Gordon. She sincerely hoped that Dexter would come to his senses before some other young buck snapped her up. Brie would make such a delightful sister!

  On that thought, as if on cue, she looked up to see her brother and Lord Garvey walking a little way ahead. Slowing the curricle, she greeted them cheerfully, only the slightest flush betraying her consciousness of the admiration in Lord Garvey's eyes.

  "May I offer you gentlemen a lift home, or had you other plans on so fine a day?" she asked after they had exchanged pleasantries.

  "No, we have concluded our business, such as it was, and were on our way home to sustain ourselves before venturing out again," her brother replied. "I'd as lief drive as walk, myself. How about you, Barry?"

  Lord Garvey acquiesced quickly, his eyes never leaving Elizabeth's face, and the gentlemen climbed up to join her. Elizabeth gave the reins into the groom's hands so that she could chat comfortably with her companions and they resumed their short journey.

  "And where have you been today, Eliza?" asked Dexter after a moment. "Not shopping, apparently, for I see no parcels."

  "No, I have just been calling on Miss Gordon," replied Elizabeth, watching his face closely. It told her exactly nothing, for he kept it carefully blank.

  After a brief debate with herself, she went on. "The most extraordinary thing happened while I was there." She proceeded to recount the episode with the injured kitten in full detail, to the apparent amusement of the gentlemen. Knowing her brother's interest in and compassion for animals, she was hoping to increase his regard for her friend with the tale, but was uncertain whether she succeeded.

  "She applied a salve, you say," he interrupted her at one point. "How came she by it, do you know?"

  "She said it had been a favourite of her father's, and that she always kept a jar of it by her for just such a need," answered Elizabeth, wondering why he should have fixed on such a minor matter.

  He nodded, and she went on with her story, but he was thinking back to the incident at the inn and the horse's carefully treated wounds. He had thanked the groom at the Ruby Crown for his care and thought no more of it, but he had thought at the time that the man had looked confused at his thanks, as if he were not responsible. This might well explain that small mystery.

  "And Lady Platt consented to the addition of a cat to her household?" asked Lord Garvey with a laugh when the tale was completed.

  "I fear I gave her little choice." Elizabeth smiled. "I felt sure she would refuse if Brie, er, Miss Gordon waited until I had gone, so
I suggested that she ask in my presence. And it worked! Lady Platt would not be thought heartless for the world, it would appear, which may go a long way towards explaining her sister's visit to London."

  Ravenham had wondered about that himself, and was inclined to agree with his sister. Lady Platt was the worst toadeater he had encountered in some time, and he had encountered quite a few; it was obvious that the good opinion of the ton was of supreme importance to her. Pity she can't see herself as she appears to others, he thought. No doubt she'd be appalled.

  "I take it I need not fear you will be striking up a friendship with Miss Gordon's sister, then," he teased Elizabeth.

  She answered him with a grimace before speaking, this time taking a slightly different tack. "I have promised to take Miss Gordon driving soon, and perhaps to teach her to drive a pair, as she has never had opportunity to handle the ribbons before. But perhaps, Dex, as you are the better driver, she would learn more if you were to tutor her yourself?" Her expression was innocence itself.

  He regarded her suspiciously for a moment, but then considered the suggestion seriously and discovered that he was not at all averse to such an enterprise. "Perhaps I should," he drawled finally. "But feel free to take her driving, by all means; I should think she'd be grateful for any excuse to escape that house."

 

  * * *

 

  A few days later, Brie was eagerly looking forward to her drive with the Lady Elizabeth, as she wished to apprise her of the kitten's progress, as promised, and to relate a few amusing stories of its antics to the one person who might appreciate them. It was wonderful to have found such a friend in London! She had begun to believe that Society ladies cared for nothing but the cut of their gowns and the latest gossip, but that was certainly not true of Elizabeth. She felt that in her new friend she had found a kindred spirit.

  Glancing at the parlour clock, she realised that it was past the time Elizabeth had set and hoped that nothing had occurred to postpone their drive. At that moment, however, the bell sounded and a few seconds later Madsen entered the parlour to announce her guest.