Tempting Sarah

by Gayle Buck

  Sarah and Margaret exchanged glances. “Yes, ma’am, I am afraid so,” said Sarah, hiding a smile.

  Lady Alverley sighed. “Well, I suppose it will have to do until the other dresses have come in. Actually, I suppose that you do not appear all that badly, considering that those gowns were made by some unknown provincial seamstress.”

  “We have some very pretty Cashmere shawls that Miss Hanson had us purchase,” offered Margaret.

  Lady Alverley’s face brightened. She nodded. “Good, good! That will do admirably. Go retrieve them at once. I shall be readied in one hour. Pray do not keep me waiting. Now you may kiss me and go away. I shall see you again presently.”

  An hour later, Lady Alverley led the way down the steps of the town house. Her ladyship was handed up into the carriage and her granddaughters after her. Margaret looked wide-eyed at Sarah, and surreptitiously motioned at the entourage that Lady Alverley deemed necessary for driving about town.

  As her granddaughters would shortly learn, Lady Alverley always drove out in state. Her ladyship’s carriage was attended by two powdered footmen in her well-known green-and-russet livery and the bewigged coachman wore a three-cornered hat and French gloves. “I feel like the Queen must,” whispered Margaret behind her hand.

  Lady Alverley heard her. With a smile, she stated, “Her Majesty would never travel without an escort as I do.”

  Sarah glanced at her sister, and they smiled at each other. Town ways were very different, thought Sarah, and she knew that Margaret was thinking the same.

  A whirling round of social visits began. The week passed virtually in a blur for Sarah. After the early rides with Mrs. Jeffries, occasionally in company with some of her friends, there were always social calls to make with Lady Alverley. During these social visits, Sarah and Margaret were introduced to their hostesses, who were pleased to pronounce Lady Alverley’s granddaughters to be charming additions to the London scene.

  Not many days later, Lady Alverley was able to produce vouchers for Almack’s for her granddaughters and flourished them in front of their eyes. Her ladyship nearly purred with satisfaction. “Now you are well on your way to being established. I knew that my connections would not fail me.”

  Many of the dresses and gowns that had been promised by the modiste were delivered in the latter half of the week. Each had to be tried on and shown to Lady Alverley, who critically pronounced judgment on them all. Most were acceptable, but a few had to be returned to the modiste for small alterations. One of the gowns that Margaret put on had broad lime green stripes and was instantly and roundly condemned by her grandmother. “I don’t know what you were about, Marie! Those stripes! And those furbelows and ribbons and laces! Why, she looks like something off the stage!” exclaimed Lady Alverley.

  Miss Hanson bit her lip. “This was not my doing, my lady, I assure you! There must have been a mistake in direction.” She completely ignored the fact that the gown fit Margaret perfectly.

  “Yes, I can see that! Send it back immediately!” said Lady Alverley.

  “I thought it was rather pretty,” said Margaret, disappointed.

  “It is not a debutante’s gown,” said Lady Alverley with finality.

  Miss Hanson combined further dress fittings and shopping trips around town with gentle lectures on social niceties. She told Sarah and Margaret that on no account could they walk down Bond Street or St. James’s Street in the afternoon, though it was permissible in the mornings if they were accompanied by a maid or other servant to protect them from the ogling of gentlemen.

  “In addition, a lady must always be accompanied at least by her maid when she goes about town,” said Miss Hanson, indicating the two maids who followed a few paces behind them.

  “I can see the sense in that if one is going to be shopping,” whispered Margaret to Sarah. “For otherwise how could one carry home all of these parcels?”

  Sarah gave a gurgle of laughter. ‘Too true!” Both she and Margaret were carrying parcels and so were the maids.

  “Margaret, attend to me, if you please,” said Miss Hanson. She turned into a shop advertising itself as W. H. Botibel, Plumassier. Her charges followed her like obedient geese. Miss Hanson picked up a few sprays of artificial flowers. “These lovely bunches of flowers will look quite charming in your hair at a small ball. Oh, that reminds me! On no account must you dance three times in the same evening with the same gentleman. Otherwise you shall give rise to talk that you have become affianced to the gentleman.”

  Sarah shook her head, the ready laughter springing again to her hazel eyes. “How nonsensical! One could simply be enjoying that gentleman’s expertise.”

  “Think what you like, Sarah, but do not forget!” admonished Miss Hanson, and turned to the proprietor to pay for her choices.

  Sarah and Margaret quickly became patrons of Gunther’s in Berkeley Square and indulged themselves in delicate pastries and sugar plums. They learned from Miss Hanson that St. James’s Street, Piccadilly, Bond Street, and the surrounding area was the most exclusive shopping district in London, and it was there that they began making a few small purchases for themselves. Sarah bought a charming straw hat for a guinea and thought it very well worth the price, while Margaret fell in love with a narrow, silver bangle bracelet and parted happily with a few coins.

  However, more than all the rest of the fascinating places that they were steered through, Sarah and Margaret never grew tired of Regent Street. It was a wide, bright thoroughfare with arcades and shops that sported signs as big as a man, and stagecoaches piled high with people rumbled past constantly. It was not an unusual sight to see a horse rearing in front of a house as the rider saluted an acquaintance inside the building, or to see men carrying wooden advertisements for all sorts of entertainment. One particular day, the advertisements extolled the achievements of a troupe of performing cats.

  “Oh, I do wish that we could see the cats,” said Margaret. She slid a glance at Miss Hanson. “And Astley’s Circus!”

  “I have already told you, Margaret, these sorts of entertainment are best left to those too vulgar to appreciate a finer society or to feckless young men,” said Miss Hanson reprovingly.

  Margaret sighed. “It seems so unfair. I should still like to see the performing cats and the riding spectaculars. And I do not think that I am vulgar in the least.”

  “No, of course, you are not, Margaret,” said Sarah on a gurgle of laughter. “I, too, am curious. What in the world do the cats do?” It was an unanswerable question, but that did not deter Sarah and Margaret from proposing every absurdity that came to mind. Miss Hanson rolled her eyes and shook her head, maintaining a patient expression.

  When they returned to the town house, it was to be greeted with the intelligence that Lady Alverley was entertaining a visitor and had requested that her granddaughters join her if they should return in time. “You must go upstairs at once and put off your hats and gloves,” said Miss Hanson. “Herbert, pray convey to her ladyship that we shall all be down again shortly.”

  “Of course, Miss Hanson,” said the butler.

  When Sarah and her sister returned downstairs and were ushered into the sitting room, Sarah was a little disconcerted to discover that the visitor was none other than Lord Eustace. His lordship rose to his feet as she and Margaret entered. “My lord!” exclaimed Sarah.

  Lord Eustace approached to take Sarah’s hand. He smiled down into her astonished eyes. “Miss Sommers, I am happy that I was able to catch you upon your return. Miss Hanson has just come in and has been telling me that you and your sister have been extremely active since coming to town. I hope that you are adjusting well to town life?”

  “Perfectly, Lord Eustace,” said Sarah, smiling up at him. “My sister and I have found much to interest us.”

  “I am certain that must be true,” said Lord Eustace, releasing her hand and turning to the younger miss. His smile was particularly warm as he greeted her. “What have you liked best, Miss Margaret?”

&nbs
p; Sarah had quietly gone to take her seat beside Miss Hanson on the settee, while Lord Eustace escorted her sister to another settee. Her sister’s vivid blue eyes gleamed as she returned the gentleman’s smile. “Oh, I have liked everything, my lord! Gunther’s and shopping and riding!” said Margaret with animation. “I should like to see Astley’s Circus and the performing cats, too, but Miss Hanson says that only young gentlemen are allowed to go to those sorts of entertainments.”

  Sarah heard Miss Hanson utter a distressed murmur. At once, she realized that Miss Hanson thought that Margaret was being unbecomingly forward. Sarah glanced swiftly at her grandmother for that lady’s reaction, but she saw that Lady Alverley’s expression held only benign approval.

  “Performing cats?” Lord Eustace sent an inquiring glance in Sarah’s direction.

  “We saw advertisements for them in Regent Street when we were out with Miss Hanson earlier. Our curiosity was not unnaturally aroused,” said Sarah with a smile.

  “Yes, I can see why.” Lord Eustace laughed and turned back to Margaret. “I cannot recommend the performing cats, Miss Sommers, having never seen them. I suspect, too, that Miss Hanson is quite correct in her assessment of the probable audience. However, I have attended Astley’s Circus several times and I have found nothing at all to object to in the performances. The horsemanship is superb. My brothers and sister and I have often attended through the years and we have never tired of it.”

  “I believe that I saw the first performance ever given at Astley’s. As I recall, I enjoyed the equestrian show very much,” said Lady Alverley.

  Margaret stared at her grandmother. “You, Grandmama?”

  “Why, yes. What is there in that?” asked Lady Alverley, raising her eyebrows.

  “Nothing at all, ma’am,” said Margaret hastily, casting a quick glance at Miss Hanson.

  Miss Hanson frowned at her.

  “If Lady Alverley would permit, perhaps you and your sister would like to join my sister, Lady Frobisher, and I as our guests. We are taking my nephews for their first sight of Astley’s one day next week,” said Lord Eustace.

  “Oh!” Margaret’s eyes rounded with excitement. She clasped her hands in front of her bosom and turned to Lady Alverley. “Oh, Grandmama, may we? Pray say yes!”

  Lady Alverley smiled. “I believe that it would be quite an unexceptional outing. I am well acquainted with Lord Eustace’s sister, Lady Frobisher, and I can think of few whom I could trust to better chaperone you. Certainly you may go, Margaret. I am sure that you and Sarah will enjoy the treat.”

  “I shall have my sister get in touch with you with the details,” said Lord Eustace.

  Lady Alverley nodded. “That will be most delightful, I am certain. Now, Lord Eustace, I have not had an opportunity to ask yet about your lady mother. I trust that she is well?”

  “Indeed she is, my lady. You are kind to inquire. In fact, I am on an errand for her today. She has charged me with her greetings and an invitation to your ladyship to take tea with her tomorrow,” said Lord Eustace, encompassing all of the ladies in his smile.

  “How nice! We shall be delighted, of course,” said Lady Alverley.

  After Lord Eustace had left, Lady Alverley turned to her granddaughters. Her expression was one of great satisfaction. “You will naturally accompany me when I go to take tea with his lordship’s mother, Lady Eustace. It appears to me that Lord Eustace has quite made up his mind to pay court to one or the other of you. Don’t you think so, too, Marie?”

  “Undoubtedly, my lady. It is without question. Why, whatever other reason could Lord Eustace have for volunteering his escort for an outing to Astley’s Circus?” said Miss Hanson, nodding in a worldly fashion.

  “Precisely,” said Lady Alverley. “I am very glad that you brought up Astley’s Circus, Margaret. It has worked out very well. You see how quickly Lord Eustace leaped upon the opportunity to further his acquaintance with you both!”

  “But this is too absurd, ma’am!” exclaimed Sarah with an astonished look.

  Lady Alverley raised her brows and looked at her coolly. “Why is that, Sarah?”

  “You have built upon something that is so simply explained, after all,” said Sarah. “I am persuaded that his lordship included Margaret and me into his party out of mere kindness. Anyone could see how much Margaret wished to go!”

  “My dear Sarah, gentlemen as a rule do not involve themselves in such family outings. Astley’s Circus and grubby nephews, indeed! I wish I might believe it,” said Lady Alverley with a snort.

  Miss Hanson gave a titter of laughter. “Indeed, my lady! One’s imagination fairly boggles.”

  “But don’t you think that Lord Eustace wants to go to Astley’s Circus?” asked Margaret, puzzled by her grandmother’s words.

  “My dear, I would be greatly astonished to learn that Lord Eustace has patronized such tame entertainment in years. I would also be astonished to learn that Lady Frobisher knows anything at all about this projected outing as yet,” said Lady Alverley. “I am quite certain that Lord Eustace is at this moment sending a note round to his sister to tell her about what he has already arranged with you and Sarah.”

  “That is undoubtedly true, my lady,” said Miss Hanson, nodding.

  “I think that I would rather believe that Lord Eustace is simply being kind,” said Sarah slowly. Her grandmother’s supposition was taking them too fast, she thought. She did not like to think that Lord Eustace was trying to fix his interest with either her or Margaret. Surely gentlemen did not rush into such things so heedlessly. It would make the outing so uncomfortable now that the suggestion had been planted in her head.

  “Just as you will, Sarah. But let me point out that, as a rule, a gentleman does not pointedly issue an invitation for the young ladies’ guardian to join his mother for tea,” said Lady Alverley tartly.

  “But is Lady Eustace not an intimate acquaintance of yours, ma’am?” asked Sarah, her brows drawing together. “I quite assumed that to be the case.”

  “Well, it is not. Lady Eustace and I know one another, of course, but we are scarcely intimates!” said Lady Alverley. She shook her head. “No; Lord Eustace is quite definitely intrigued. But I have not made up my mind which of you it is whom he prefers. He certainly showed no preference while he was here. You always have you an opinion to advance, Sarah. Which of you is it?”

  Sarah frowned slightly, not at all certain that she liked this sort of speculation. Certainly that was all it was, too. Even so, Lady Alverley’s observations had set her thinking. She recalled how captivated Lord Eustace had seemed to be with Margaret’s vivacious conversation when he had given them a lift to the inn.

  “All I can say is that from the first, Lord Eustace seemed to be quite taken with Margaret,” said Sarah, throwing a speculative glance at her sister. She really did not give much credence to Lady Alverley’s assertion that Lord Eustace had been enthralled by either of them, but it was true that he had enjoyed Margaret’s chatter during the short time that they shared his carriage with him.

  Margaret shook her head quickly. “Oh no, it cannot possibly be me. Why, Lord Eustace is far older than I am. It must be you that he likes, Sarah.”

  “Never mind, my dears! I see that you are both determined to deny anything is in the wind. It scarcely matters at this juncture, however,” said Lady Alverley. “We must go carefully, of course. I do not wish to scare off Lord Eustace if he is beginning to consider marriage at last.”

  “Grandmama! How can you talk so? We scarcely know the gentleman and already you have Margaret wed,” said Sarah.

  “No, she’s talking about you,” said Margaret quickly.

  Lady Alverley threw up her hand to put a stop to what appeared about to degenerate into a pointless argument. “I would be satisfied to welcome an offer from him for either of you. However, that is a premature hope as yet.”

  “I should say so!” exclaimed Sarah.

  Lady Alverley frowned at her. “I charge you both to make
yourselves agreeable while in his lordship’s company. Lady Frobisher will naturally be wondering at her brother’s inclusion of two unknown misses into a family party. She will also be aware that you have sat at tea with her mother at Lord Eustace’s instigation. Naturally, she will be curious.”

  “Do you mean that she will ask us if we like her brother?” asked Margaret, appalled.

  “I don’t think that Lady Frobisher will cross that line just yet. However, she will be watching you and forming an opinion, you may be certain of that. So pray do make a good impression. I should not like to think that Lord Eustace’s budding ardor was cooled because his sister happened to take an aversion to you,” said Lady Alverley.

  Sarah and Margaret looked at each other. Sarah could easily read her sister’s expression of disenchantment, and Margaret’s next words confirmed it.

  “It almost makes me not want to go to Astley’s Circus at all,” said Margaret in a deflated tone.

  Sarah tried to rally her sister. “Nonsense! You know how much you have longed to see it. We shall just make the best of it, Margaret,” she said, with a reassuring smile.

  “Very practical, Sarah,” said Lady Alverley approvingly. “One’s attitude is most important to one’s success, as you will quickly discover.”

  “It seems that everything in the world has a bearing upon our success,” murmured Sarah.

  * * *

  Chapter 7

  Lady Eustace received Lady Alverley’s party in her boudoir. She was a pretty woman, with regular features and a very keen pair of gray eyes. A single streak of white, startling against her dark hair, winged back from her broad brow, disappearing under the ravishing lace cap that she wore. She welcomed her visitors graciously. “Forgive me for not rising,” she said, smiling. “I am invalided, as you can see.” She was seated in a wheelchair and a large shawl covered her lap and skins.

  Lady Alverley went up to take the slender hand that her hostess had extended. “I am happy to see you looking so well, however, my lady.”