The Rakehell Regency Romance Series Boxed Set 1

by Sorcha MacMurrough

  "And you, Sarah, what of your beaux? A beautiful woman like you? Why have you not wed?"

  She waved one hand dismissively, and poured more coffee for them both. "I never met the right man. Or at least not one that I was certain I would gladly spend the rest of my life with."

  "I see. Forgive me, but would a lack of fortune have something to do with their lack of interest? I mean, I notice you're not asked to dance very often, and-" She blushed and decided she had said more than enough.

  "I'm sure that's part of it," Sarah said calmly, seeming not in the least offended. "That and the fact that I'm not so insincere that I would feign interest in a man simply for form's sake. I do like to go out, but the meaningless small talk grates upon my nerves at times.

  "And perhaps too, with the examples of good men like Clifford and Thomas, my brother's best friends, it's hard to find anyone to compare favorably with them."

  "Then surely a season in London-"

  Sarah shook her head. "No, I've been to the Town. It holds no charms for me."

  Pamela stared at her. "Have you been disappointed in love? Is that why you are so averse to the idea?"

  Sarah shook her head again more vehemently. "No, I've never fancied myself in love. I feel sure I'll know the right man when I see him, but I won't actively go looking for one."

  Pamela decided to broach a subject which had puzzled her much in recent weeks. "And how exactly does a person knows when they're in love, do you suppose?"

  Sarah rose from her chair and moved toward the door. "I think we should make ourselves comfortable in front of the fire in the drawing room. This could take some time."

  Once they were ensconced by the roaring blaze in the hearth in the Wedgwood room, Sarah picked up her darning once more and said, "I've observed many happy couples, and also many unhappy ones. With the happy couples, they talk of everything and nothing. It's as if there's no one else in the room for them. They have a certain way of looking at each other, in an intimate manner, with a physical closeness. The Duke and his wife, for example. I'm sure you've seen them together."

  Pamela reflected upon this remark for a moment. "Yes, they're a fine couple. I see what you mean. They do act as if they were the only people in the room."

  "Clifford and Vanessa are the same, though one would not have imagined when they first became engaged that they ever would have settled so well. It's a true love match. The birth of their son three months ago has made their happiness together complete."

  "In that case, she won't want to be bothered helping to teach me."

  "On the contrary, she'll see it as a trial run for her own child."

  "A few years early, perhaps," Pamela said with a grin.

  "Yes, rather, though knowing that pair, little Arthur is bound to be precocious."

  They watched the fire dance for a time in silence. Then Pamela broached the other subject which had been troubling her.

  "And the marriage itself? I mean, the physical side. What do you suppose it's like? Just too shocking?"

  Sarah answered carefully, "It would very much depend upon the man, and the nature of the relationship, I suppose. Why do you ask?"

  "Step-Mama tells me it's something dreadful that simply has to be tolerated, but I'm not so sure. If it were, why would women ruin themselves for it?"

  Sarah nodded. "A good question. I'm not really equipped to answer, never having been in love or married myself. In terms of the happy women I know, their husbands take the trouble to be affectionate and attentive toward them. They do not use their fists, are patient and kind and forbearing. Other women I have met, well...

  "And we know all about prostitutes. It shows a failing on the part of the man more than the woman, that they would buy intimacy just as they would a new cravat."

  Pamela's brows rose. "I hadn't thought of it that way. Then what is your opinion of affairs, adultery?" she asked, dropping her voice to a whisper. "Why do people do it? Risk everything for love?"

  The older woman shook her head. "That's lust, not love. Love is doing the decent and correct thing no matter how hard it is. It's keeping your word, your oath, even when it's not convenient or even sensible."

  Sarah took a sip of her coffee and sighed. "Sometimes it can be carried to great extremes. My brother, for example. Once he gives his word, he never goes back on it, no matter how much common sense and self-preservation might dictate otherwise."

  She started as Jonathan entered the room.

  "Taking my name in vain again, Sister?" he drawled, his eyes watchful and wary.

  Pamela had never seen him looking so ill at ease.

  "Not at all, Jonathan. I was just telling Pamela that you're a man of your word, even at great inconvenience to yourself."

  He smiled tightly. "Ah, yes. But it's easy to give your word and then break it. It happens all too often, does it not? Just as it's easy for a man to represent himself as one thing, when he is another entirely."

  "Now, now, that topic sounds far too contentious for an after supper chat. It will disturb the digestion, and Miss Ashton will already be susceptible to nightmares after what you've told her about Ferncliffe Castle."

  "In that case, I shall do my best to help amuse you both. Miss Ashton, do you like plays?"

  She smiled broadly. "Yes, of course."

  "And reading aloud?"

  "Yes."

  "Very good. Why do we not all have a turn together?" he suggested. "Here is Pilgrim's Progress. You can be Christian, Sarah the Atheist, and I shall be Hopeful."

  He went over to the small bookshelf by the door, and handed a copy each to the ladies. He told them to find paragraph seven hundred. When they had all found the appropriate place, he said, "Begin with that paragraph, please, Pamela."

  She complied with Jonathan's request. "What is the meaning of your Laughter?"

  Sarah said in her role as the Atheist, "I laugh to see what ignorant persons you are, to take upon you so tedious a Journey, and you are like to have nothing but your travel for your pains."

  "Why man? Do you think we shall not be received?"

  "Received! There is no such place as you dream of in all this World."

  "But there is in the World to come."

  "When I was at home in mine own Country, I heard as you now affirm, and from that hearing went out to see, and have been seeking this City this twenty years; but find no more of it than I did the first day I set out."

  "We have both heard and believe that there is such a place to be found," Pamela read.

  Sarah recited, "Had not I when at home believed, I had not come thus far to seek; but finding none, (and yet I should, had there been such a place to be found, for I have gone to seek it further than you) I am going back again, and will seek to refresh myself with the things that I then cast away, for hopes of that which I now see is not."

  "Then said Christian to Hopeful his fellow, Is it true which this man hath said?"

  Jonathan said in firm tones, "Take heed, he is one of the Flatterers; remember what it hath cost us once already for our hearkening to such kind of fellows. What! no Mount Sion? Did we not see from the Delectable Mountains the Gate of the City? Also, are we not now to walk by Faith. Let us go on, said Hopeful, lest the man with the Whip overtake us again. You should have taught me that lesson, which I will round you in the ears withal: Cease, my Son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge. I say my Brother, cease to hear him, and let us believe to the saving of the Soul."

  Pamela said in the role of Christian, "My Brother, I did not put the question to thee for that I doubted of the Truth of our belief but to prove thee, and to fetch from thee a fruit of the honesty of thy heart. As for this man, I know that he is blinded by the god of this World. Let thee and I go on, knowing that we have belief of the Truth, and no lie is of the Truth."

  "Now do I rejoice in hope of the glory of God."

  Jonathan broke of the reading for a moment. "You both did that very well. Now, Sarah, you can read the n
arrator's part."

  "So they turned away from the man; and he laughing at them went his way. I saw then in my Dream, that they went till they come into a certain Country, whose air naturally tended to make one drowsy, if he came a stranger into it. And here Hopeful began to be very dull and heavy of sleep; wherefore he said unto Christian..."

  "I do now begin to grow so drowsy that I can scarcely hold up mine eyes, let us lie down here and take one nap," Jonathan continued.

  Pamela warned him, "By no means, lest sleeping we never awake more."

  "Why, my Brother? Sleep is sweet to the labouring man; we may be refreshed if we take a nap," Jonathan said.

  "Do you not remember that one of the Shepherds bid us beware of the Inchanted Ground? He meant by that, that we should beware of sleeping; wherefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober."

  "I acknowledge myself in a fault, and had I been here alone I had by sleeping run the danger of death."

  "And that, of course, is the message I would like to convey," Jonathan said with a smile. "This life is but a dream. When we are dazzled by its baubles, and false philosophies, it lulls us into a state of complacency, so that we do not want to pick up our burdens and toil once more."

  Pamela smiled back at the handsome young man, hanging on his every word. "Very clever. You're certainly an excellent teacher. The children must love you at Sunday school."

  "When the weather gets fine, we dress up as pilgrims and take our packs into the woods. You should join us some time. Sarah loves it, don't you?"

  "It's a great deal of fun," his sister said.

  "I should like that. But I fear I shall be in Bath or London by the time the weather is fine enough for such an outing."

  "Ah, yes of course, the delights of the Ton. A dream of yours, I'm sure." Jonathan's tone had become more frosty. He took the book from her hands and set it back on the shelf without another word.

  Pamela realized she had spoken hastily, and had made herself look worse than usual after he had just warned her of the dangers of worldliness.

  She blushed and looked away.

  Sarah came to her rescue by asking her to play something on the pianoforte.

  She rose to comply, but as she walked toward the instrument, she was suddenly conscious of the deficiencies in her repertoire. Too many of the songs she knew had what Jonathan would no doubt deem objectionable content.

  She confined herself, therefore, to instrumental pieces. She was relieved when he listened with evident enjoyment, and approved her choices. He eventually came over to turn her music, and she thrilled at being so near to him again.

  "Very well done. You have just the right touch on that Bach."

  "Kind of you to say so."

  "But no more than you deserve," he said with a warm smile.

  "Would you not much rather read to us? I know you had a particular passage on educating women which you wanted to show me."

  "Well, if you're really interested," Jonathan said, gazing intently at her face, and wishing he could leave aside his duty for just one moment. One kiss.

  She gazed up into his eyes intimately. "I am, truly."

  Jonathan dragged himself away from her temptingly ripe lips. "Very well, I shall fetch my copy of Defoe from the study."

  He returned a short time later, and leafed through the pages looking for the correct place. Then he sat down so close to her in front of the fire that one movement of either of their legs would have them touching most intimately.

  Ignoring his quaking flesh, he said, "Here we are.

  "The Education of Women by Daniel Defoe, 1719.

  "I have often thought of it as one of the most barbarous customs in the world, considering us as a civilized and a Christian country, that we deny the advantages of learning to women. We reproach the sex every day with folly and impertinence; while I am confident, had they the advantages of education equal to us, they would be guilty of less than ourselves.

  "One would wonder, indeed, how it should happen that women are conversible at all; since they are only beholden to natural parts, for all their knowledge. Their youth is spent to teach them to stitch and sew or make baubles. They are taught to read, indeed, and perhaps to write their names, or so; and that is the height of a woman's education. And I would but ask any who slight the sex for their understanding, what is a man (a gentleman, I mean) good for, that is taught no more?"

  "Hmm, that's very true," Pamela said with a nod.

  "The soul is placed in the body like a rough diamond; and must be polished, or the lustre of it will never appear. And 'tis manifest, that as the rational soul distinguishes us from brutes; so education carries on the distinction, and makes some less brutish than others. This is too evident to need any demonstration.

  "But why then should women be denied the benefit of instruction? If knowledge and understanding had been useless additions to the sex, God Almighty would never have given them capacities; for he made nothing needless. Besides, I would ask such, What they can see in ignorance, that they should think it a necessary ornament to a woman? or how much worse is a wise woman than a fool? or what has the woman done to forfeit the privilege of being taught? Does she plague us with her pride and impertinence? Why did we not let her learn, that she might have had more wit? Shall we upbraid women with folly, when 'tis only the error of this inhuman custom, that hindered them from being made wiser?"

  Pamela's eyes lit up. "A good point."

  "They should be taught all sorts of breeding suitable both to their genius and quality. And in particular, Music and Dancing; which it would be cruelty to bar the sex of, because they are their darlings. But besides this, they should be taught languages, as particularly French and Italian: and I would venture the injury of giving a woman more tongues than one. They should, as a particular study, be taught all the graces of speech, and all the necessary air of conversation; which our common education is so defective in, that I need not expose it. They should be brought to read books, and especially history; and so to read as to make them understand the world, and be able to know and judge of things when they hear of them."

  Pamela nodded. "That is precisely what I wish for."

  Jonathan smiled at her warmly, and allowed their knees to touch. "I'm glad."

  "To such whose genius would lead them to it, I would deny no sort of learning; but the chief thing, in general, is to cultivate the understandings of the sex, that they may be capable of all sorts of conversation; that their parts and judgements being improved, they may be as profitable in their conversation as they are pleasant.

  "Women, in my observation, have little or no difference in them, but as they are or are not distinguished by education. Tempers, indeed, may in some degree influence them, but the main distinguishing part is their Breeding.

  "The whole sex are generally quick and sharp. I believe, I may be allowed to say, generally so: for you rarely see them lumpish and heavy, when they are children, as boys will often be. If a woman be well bred, and taught the proper management of her natural wit, she proves generally very sensible and retentive."

  "Do you believe that to be true, Mr. Deveril?" she asked quietly, her blue eyes shining up at him making him feel like a god.

  "Absolutely, Miss Ashton," he said, letting the length of his leg relax against hers most intimately, and their shoulders brush. "I teach both boys and girls in Sunday School after all."

  She leaned against his warm, solid body even more closely, unable to help being drawn into the orbit of his magnetic presence. Where was the harm in just a few moments of comfort? "Pray continue, sir. I am all ears."

  She seemed all woman to him, soft and yielding, but he kept his hands on the book and returned his eyes from her bosom to the printed page.

  "And, without partiality, a woman of sense and manners is the finest and most delicate part of God's Creation, the glory of Her Maker, and the great instance of His singular regard to man, His darling creature: to whom He gave the best gift either God cou
ld bestow or man receive. And 'tis the sordidest piece of folly and ingratitude in the world, to withhold from the sex the due lustre which the advantages of education gives to the natural beauty of their mind.

  "A woman well bred and well taught, furnished with the additional accomplishments of knowledge and behaviour, is a creature without comparison. Her society is the emblem of sublimer enjoyments, her person is angelic, and her conversation heavenly. She is all softness and sweetness, peace, love, wit, and delight. She is every way suitable to the sublimest wish, and the man that has such a one to his portion, has nothing to do but to rejoice in her, and be thankful."