Grace’s features grew more flushed and she eyed her sister-in-law with deep reproach. “I suppose you mean to imply that I have none?”
His aunt’s brows rose again. “Did I say so? Believe me, I fully comprehend your feelings, but you are mistaken in your ideas, my dear Grace.”
“What do you mean?”
“You suppose harm to have been done by Justin having danced with Marianne, do you not?”
Justin would have intervened at this point to spare Marianne’s feelings, but Grace exploded.
“Of course there was harm! No fewer than three persons hinted to me how shocking they thought it for Marianne to be putting herself forward in such a way.”
“Three idiots, you mean.”
Justin had to bite down on a laugh, but he felt obliged to cut in. “Aunt, you are distressing Grace.”
“Well, I am sorry, but it must be said.”
Grace’s face puckered and Justin inwardly groaned. Not tears, for pity’s sake!
“How can you be so unkind, Philippa? As if my nerves were not already overset.”
The Dragon, tutting as she cast a glance of dislike at the perpetrator, rose and went to her, patting her on the shoulder.
“This is turning into a farce,” Jocasta muttered and Justin found himself the recipient of a comical grimace.
He was about to call a halt to the proceedings when Marianne suddenly stood up.
“I must beg to be excused.”
Justin got up quickly as she moved towards the door, but his aunt’s voice arrested her.
“Sit down, Marianne, if you please. There is nothing to be gained by running off. Moreover, it is scarcely conduct I expected from you.”
Marianne turned at the door, a look of anguish in her eyes. “I have already surpassed the conduct expected from me. This will make little difference.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Come here, girl, and sit back down.”
Grace reared up. “You need not bring her back on my account. She has utterly betrayed me!”
Justin could not let this pass. “Grace, that is unfair! If you must blame anyone, blame me. Marianne did her utmost to resist. It was I who insisted on her dancing.”
“Then you did very wrong. I would not have thought it of you, Justin.”
“Upon my word, Grace! You ought to be upon the stage!”
The effect of Lady Luthrie’s pronouncement could not but bear out Jocasta’s stigmatising the scene as a farce. She succumbed to a fit of the giggles. Grace gave a shriek of rage and threw herself into the Dragon’s willing arms, where she broke into sobs while Miss Stubbings tutted over her head, casting unloving glances at the author of the outrage. Only Marianne remained unmoved, still standing rigidly by the door.
Obeying his instinct, Justin crossed the room to her side and took one stiff hand in his. “Don’t heed her, Marianne. She’ll come about.”
“If only I might go to my room.”
“It will only prolong the agony. Come. Sit down.”
He obliged her to return to the table and resume her seat. Before going back to his own, he approached Grace’s chair. “Please try to control yourself, Grace. We will get nowhere unless we can all remain calm.”
Grace raised her head from where it rested on the Dragon’s bosom. “Calm? When I have been insulted in my own home?”
Justin gave his aunt an admonitory look. She threw up her eyes, but nevertheless capitulated.
“Accept my apologies, Grace. I spoke in the heat of the moment.”
Grace sniffed at the vinaigrette which had miraculously appeared in her fingers, and consented to be appeased. “Very well.”
Silence reigned while Justin went back to his chair. He was tempted to ring for Rowsham and demand some more stimulating refreshment than coffee, but that would merely delay things and he wished the scene to be over as swiftly as possible. Consequently he addressed his aunt the moment he sat down again.
“Now that we have the preliminaries out of the way, what is it you really came to say, Aunt Pippa?”
She gave a bark of laughter. “You are not quite the fool I took you for, Purford.”
“I thank you. Well?”
“If you must have it, I came to champion Marianne.”
“Me? Why, Lady Luthrie?”
“Because, as you very well know, I am persuaded it is time for you to be thinking of your future.”
She looked at Grace as she spoke, and Justin noted his stepmother’s shocked incomprehension.
“What in the world are you talking of, Philippa? What future?”
“It is high time Marianne found herself a husband.”
Justin saw the colour leap into Marianne’s face and she broke into hasty speech.
“You need not look like that, Cousin Grace. It is none of my doing. I had no thought of such a thing.”
“Until I put it into her head.”
“Not even then,” Marianne argued. “I have no desire to find a husband.”
Relief surged into Grace’s features and her voice echoed it. “No, indeed. What can you mean by it, Philippa? I could not do without Marianne. How should I manage?”
The selfishness of this response struck at Justin and he had difficulty keeping his tongue between his teeth. His own feelings about the possibility of Marianne marrying notwithstanding, he was disgusted with his stepmother’s egotism. So, it was clear, was his aunt.
“My dear Grace, the matter should have been looked to years since.”
“Are you mad? Marianne never once expressed a desire to marry.”
“Why would she, thinking herself but a poor relation?”
Impatience was once again rife in Lady Luthrie’s voice and Justin hoped she was not going to set Grace off again. But Marianne took a hand.
“That is untrue, ma’am. I’ve never been treated as other than one of the family.”
Grace lifted her chin. “You see. Next you will say I made a drudge of her.”
“I don’t say that, but you will scarcely deny you made use of her services.”
Grace gasped, but again Marianne intervened.
“You must not blame my cousin for that, Lady Luthrie. I took on whatever tasks I do for her without the least encouragement.”
“Yes, you did, Marianne. I never expected you to do any of it. Not that I’m not grateful, for I am. In my precarious state of health, I have been only too glad of your assistance.”
Justin could not forbear a smile, but his aunt’s next speech rapidly wiped out his amusement.
“Marianne virtually runs the household, Grace, which is exactly why she must be provided with her own establishment. Since the fiasco with Lady Selina, the matter is no longer urgent, but all the more reason to waste no time. Once Justin is wed, Marianne must give up the reins.”
“But she will come with me to the Dower House. She has no need to be seeking a husband.”
“The poor girl will be bored rigid.”
“I can speak for myself, Lady Luthrie, and I will not be bored.”
“Nonsense! You cannot go from running Purford Park to the Dower House and not be moped to death.”
“I think it is a splendid notion,” said Jocasta, entering the lists. “Marianne ought to be married. She’d make a perfect wife and mother.”
A strangled laugh escaped Marianne and Justin was torn between warmth and dismay.
“I thank you, Jocasta, but the matter is not open for debate. I have no wish to marry anyone.”
“There, you see, Philippa! Now own yourself mistaken.”
“I shall do no such thing. The girl does not know what is good for her, and I am determined to pursue this course. As for help and companionship, which you seem to feel you need, you have Miss Stubbings there, who will make an excellent substitute for Marianne when you are obliged to take up your residence in the Dower House.”
Justin could not but applaud this suggestion, which at once satisfied Grace’s need and the vexed question of what to do about the Drago
n. Except that it left Marianne adrift.
No one cared to comment, it seemed, and Justin had little difficulty in divining their reasons. Setting aside Marianne, it was obvious Grace did not relish the prospect of living only with Miss Stubbings, and Jocasta would only be satisfied with her departure from the family altogether. The Dragon herself had turned a trifle pink. When Grace said nothing, she left her to resume her chair with a meek and dejected air that could not but strike at Justin.
“For once, Aunt Pippa, I am in agreement with you. I had been hoping Miss Stubbings would consent to remain with us, even when Jocasta is wed, whenever that may be. Grace will, I know, be happy to have your company, Miss Stubbings.”
The elderly dame threw him such a look of gratitude that he was a trifle embarrassed, since his true sentiments were scarcely in accord with his words.
Grace regarded him with a frown, and then seemed to pull herself together. She turned to the Dragon. “I certainly could not do without you, Amelia. You have been a rock in these dreadful days.”
Miss Stubbings disclaimed, but nevertheless looked gratified.
“Now we have that settled,” said his aunt, “let us turn our attention to your affairs, Purford.”
Only by a supreme effort of will did Marianne refrain from leaping from her seat once again and running out of the breakfast parlour. Bad enough to have to endure a discussion of her potential future. To listen to Lady Luthrie outlining Justin’s could only serve to increase the suppressed agitation under which she laboured.
Following the row with Grace, the night had been hideous with unquiet dreams through the little time she managed to sleep at all. She’d never before known her cousin to give herself over to hysterical rage. Even now she was hard put to it to recognise what had prompted the outburst. Was there some underlying fear? Of loneliness perhaps?
Her thoughts were feverish, but she was not permitted to indulge them in the face of Lady Luthrie’s determination.
“I have made it my business to discover the extent of the damage caused by your erstwhile betrothed, my dear Justin.”
He did not look to be gratified. The reverse rather, for Marianne noted a familiar spark in his eye.
“Have you indeed, Aunt? How?”
Lady Luthrie looked a trifle smug. “I have my sources. Besides, Lady Sessay and I are old friends.”
“Yes, I am aware.”
An edge to Justin’s voice caught Marianne’s attention. Did he know then that his aunt had been instrumental in the making of the match? Grace had told Marianne as much when she’d delivered the blow in the first place years ago. Typically, his aunt picked it up.
“You need not look askance, my dear boy. I knew nothing of Selina’s preferences, and she was besides a child at the time.”
“I am aware of that too.”
“Well, that is all beside the bridge and we must concentrate on the present.”
At this point, Grace cut in. “What in the world are you at, Philippa? We all know the consequences of that wretched creature’s actions. And you, all of you, insisted upon my remaining in Town to endure the slights. I was never more mortified!”
“But only look how well it has answered, Grace. The clever tale set about has largely been accepted. Caroline tells me there have even been sighings on the romance of Selina’s elopement with her true love and Purford’s noble action in releasing her.”
An explosive snort from the end of the table caused her to add, “Yes, Justin, idiocy, but what would you? It serves our turn. And you will own, Grace, that your daughter has suffered no ill effects.”
Jocasta jumped in, gurgling with delight. “The reverse, if anything. I have become quite the rage, Mama, you know I have.”
The Dragon, not much to Marianne’s surprise, was quick to take this up. “Lady Jocasta, that remark is quite unbecoming.”
“But true,” Justin cut in swiftly, casting his sister a quick smile.
“Yes, and I am ready to wager Aunt Pippa is right about you too, Justin. Any number of girls will be ready to have you throw the handkerchief.”
“Well, as I am not about to throw any handkerchiefs, we shall never know.”
“Of course he is not,” snapped Grace. “No one could expect it of him. I wish you will hold your tongue, Jocasta.”
Since she looked at Lady Luthrie as she spoke, Marianne guessed Grace was wishing to say as much to her sister-in-law. She had as well have spared herself.
“Ah, but that is precisely what concerns me.”
This pronouncement was productive of a startled silence. Marianne felt as bemused as the rest. Nothing loth, Lady Luthrie pursued her advantage.
“I have been observing you closely, Purford, and it seems to me you are labouring under a good deal of strain.”
Justin’s lips tightened, but he did not speak. Marianne felt for him.
“You are in just that frame of mind,” continued his aunt, “which is liable to send a young man off at half cock, which would be fatal.”
“What do you mean, Philippa?” Grace was eyeing her stepson with bewilderment. “Justin has too much common sense to be taken in by any designing female.”
“But has he enough to refrain from plunging into some ill-thought engagement?”
“On the rebound? Rest assured, Aunt, that I will do nothing so ill-judged. Good God, why do you think I’ve held aloof all these weeks?”
Marianne’s jumping nerves steadied a little. She’d been so afraid he would succumb to one of the lures being held out to him.
“I am relieved to hear it,” Lady Luthrie returned, in a measured tone. “That was not my fear, however.”
“Oh? Then in what capacity do you think I am deficient, Aunt Pippa? Do you distrust my judgement?”
The note of sarcasm was not lost on Marianne, but it did not deter Lady Luthrie.
“The point, my dear boy, is that you have been so used to think only of Lady Selina, who was not of your choosing, it would be wonderful indeed if you had given thought to the type of female who will suit.”
Jocasta, irrepressible as ever, broke in, eyes dancing. “Dear Aunt, surely that is a much better thing? Why, I have been told I don’t know how many times how I should regard prospective suitors without prejudice.”
“You are merely the daughter of an earl, Jocasta, though I am sure neither Grace nor Justin will countenance your union with any but a suitable parti.”
“Like Selina, you mean.” Justin’s eyes were narrowed, a dangerous light warning Marianne at least that his temper was on a short rein. “No, Aunt. I shall not be constraining my sister’s choice.”
“Unless I choose some perfectly ineligible half-pay officer, or a fortune hunter. You said as much before I came out, Justin, you know you did.”
“I have every confidence in your good sense, unlike our aunt has in me.”
He turned his head as he spoke, his tone cool, and Marianne could only wonder at Lady Luthrie’s apparent indifference.
“You need not poker up, Purford. Your father inculcated you with proper notions and I have no doubt you will make no misalliance. But certain considerations are unlikely to have occurred to you.”
“Such as?”
Marianne felt as if the whole room held its breath, as she did. Nothing could be further from her wish than to hear a catalogue of the qualities Lady Luthrie believed must suit Justin.
“What you need after this debacle with Selina, though I dare say you don’t think it, is a female with no missish scruples, who is not romantic and will therefore expect little or nothing from you in the way of attentions.”
“How utterly soulless!”
“But sensible, Grace. Of course, she must be amiable and of good character and birth, but that goes without saying.”
“What you are saying is that he must not fall in love,” said Jocasta. “A bleak prospect for poor Justin.”
Justin’s lips were tightly compressed and Marianne’s earlier suspicions revived. Of course he would not
speak of it had he lost his heart.
“There is no reason why such a female should not feel affection for him, or he for her.” Lady Luthrie’s tones were as measured as ever, seemingly unmoved by the disapproval of all concerned. “My advice to you, Justin, is to look outside the crop of fresh debutantes. Find someone who has been out for two or three seasons, and is thus mature enough to be capable of fulfilling the arduous task of managing your household.”
There was a short silence while several persons digested this. Grace looked disgruntled, Justin furious, the Dragon amazed, and Jocasta thoughtful. Marianne found she was still holding her breath and forced herself to let it go. And then disaster struck.
Jocasta suddenly raised her head, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “Aunt, do you realise you have exactly described Marianne?”
Chapter Thirteen
A sensation of blankness overtook Justin, as if he had been hit in the head with a blunt instrument. His capacity to think deserted him and he was only conscious of Marianne’s face, white and set.
She leapt from her seat and ran out of the room. Instinct took over and Justin was up and following before he could measure either reason or wisdom in the doing. Unthought words spilled from his mouth as he passed his sister’s chair.
“You little idiot, Jocasta! How could you?”
Next moment he was in the hall, moving swiftly to intercept Marianne as she set a foot on the first stair.
“Wait!”
He grasped her arm and dragged her back. She turned ravaged features towards him, streaked with tears.
“Let me go, Justin! I can bear no more!”
He did not release her, rather tightening his grip. “I’m not letting you go in that state. Come into the morning room.”
Without waiting for a response, he pulled her willy-nilly across the hall, flinging open the door to the morning room and pushing her inside. Only when he’d shut the door behind them did he allow her to pull her arm out of his hold.
She scuttled away from him and came up short against the fireplace, where she remained with her back to him.
Justin followed her, again pulling her about to face him. “Pay no heed to Jocasta’s nonsense, Marianne. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”
A Chance Gone By (Brides By Chance Regency Adventures Book 2) Page 10
