Three Original Ladies 02 - Lord Trowbridge’s Angel

by G. G. Vandagriff

  Well, now he knew who the fellow was. What action was he going to take?

  { 29 }

  SOPHIE FOUND OXFORD FASCINATING and beautiful beyond words. The many golden stone quadrangles and their interior greenswards and flower gardens, together with the history of the colleges going back to medieval times, were awe inspiring. A cacophony of bells rang from college chapels as her party climbed the steps to Magdelen College’s tower for the best view. Lord Shrewsbury held her elbow as she ascended slowly and painfully. When they reached the top, Sophie surveyed the breathtaking view of the golden colleges, the circular, brick-domed Radcliffe Camera, the ancient Bodelian Library, and the Isis River with its pole punting students in their boats beneath the overhanging willows. It had been worth the climb.

  “This is glorious!” she pronounced. “I think this is what a view of heaven will be like.”

  Her sister and the duke were standing in another corner of the square tower. The baron took her hand as it rested on the parapet. Sophie pulled away and looked at him with reproach.

  “Surely you must know how deeply I admire you, Miss Edwards,” he said, his eyes earnest. “Frank is not going to have the power to avoid this marriage to your friend. Do you not think you ought to resign yourself to the fact?” He put his hand up to her face. “The wind is going to be the ruin of your coiffure. With your hair streaming about, you resemble a Diana, plunging into battle.”

  At his words about Frank, Sophie’s heart skittered down to her middle and she turned her face aside so he would not see her tears. “I love Frank,” she said. “You do not understand. I cannot switch my allegiance in the way you expect. I am not a fickle person. I love few people in my life, and all of them deeply.” After a moment, she faced him. “I do not know what I will do if he marries Melissa. But I am a strong person. I have had to be. I will probably go back to Derbyshire.”

  “And what a waste that would be.” His eyes were soft as he looked at her. “I just want you to know that I am in the wings, waiting.”

  “Your wait may be endless,” she said.

  “I am a patient man.”

  Elise came to Sophie’s side. “The view is rather spectacular, is it not?”

  “Which was Peter’s college?” Sophie asked.

  “Balliol, like Frank.”

  After a few more moments, they descended from the tower and again boarded the carriage. It took them through the gently rolling landscape of the picturesque Oxfordshire Sophie was coming to love. Wistfully, she took in the grazing sheep dotting emerald hills, honey-stoned cottages with varicolored roses climbing their façades, quaint villages set neatly in the river valleys.

  After a while, she resumed Elise’s novel and tried to read, but her sore heart distracted her and her vision blurred. She sat staring at the same page, reading the words over and over. But her thoughts were far away from the satire, amusing though it seemed.

  How I would love to live in this beautiful country. If only it were possible. If only Frank had never made that illfated visit to my room.

  Was Shrewsbury right? Was it inevitable that Frank marry Melissa?

  ~~*

  Chipping Norton was a bustling town. Unfortunately, it was market day, and all the world seemed to be in the square. The stalls sold strawberries, blackberries, gooseberries, raspberries, rounds of cheese, fish and fowl, peas, lettuce, and bolts of woolen fabrics, as well as yarns and knitted and woven apparel. A stall-owner held out a Liberty wool shawl with a design in powder blue, pink, and red.

  “Miss, this would look fair beautiful on you.”

  “Oh,” said Elise. “She is right. Buy it, Soph!”

  Sophie consulted her purse, then bartered a bit with the woman. Moments later, she was the owner of quite the most beautiful shawl she possessed.

  However, she found the walking this morning and this afternoon was taking a toll on her knee.

  “Elise, would you mind if I returned to the White Hart for tea while you shop and the men go about their business?”

  Her sister looked at her with concern. “Oh, Sophie, are you in a great deal of pain?”

  “Not a great deal.” She smiled apologetically. “I am certain I will recover if I can just sit for a while and have a cup of tea. Put out of your mind any image you might have of Poor Little Sophie. The shopping is so enjoyable, I would not limit your fun.”

  “To tell you the truth, a cup of tea sounds very good to me at the moment.”

  Once they were settled in the comfortable dining room of the White Hart, their hostelry for the night, they ordered tea and cakes. Sophie relaxed.

  “My heavens, this is a busy place,” she said.

  “Peter says it is a market center for the woolen industry. It may very well be just the place for a girls’ orphanage.”

  Sophie could feel her sister studying her face. “What is it, Elise?”

  “I noticed that Shrewsbury was importuning you on the tower. I am sorry we left the two of you alone. I suppose he took the opportunity to declare himself.”

  “In a way. He is convinced that Frank will not escape from this marriage. Last night, he did me the favor of informing me what consequences Frank would face if he were to cry off.” Sophie looked around her at the formal dining room with its lace tablecloths and brass chandeliers and felt decidedly dull. “I must stop living in a dream world, Elise. I cannot stand to be in London longer than necessary if Frank is to marry Melissa. After my concert, I will retreat to Derbyshire.”

  “Coward,” Elise said. “Frank will feel you have given him up, that you no longer love him.”

  “I do not want him to ruin himself socially and politically. I could bear to live out of Society, but Frank is a social person. He would be dreadfully bored with only me for company! And he is too much of a gentleman to submit poor Melissa to such disgrace. Imagine being ruined and jilted!”

  “I remember very well the letter he wrote you, Sophie. He is deeply in love with you. I assume you still feel the same?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “How did this happen in such a short space of time?”

  “It was my music. Hearing my music seems to have changed Frank. Profoundly, I would say. He was very different. Thoughtful. He actually said it put him in touch with his soul, with the person he wanted to be. The same way reading Wordsworth does.”

  “My heavens! You have affected a change in our Frank. No wonder he wants to marry you! What a terrible trial this scandal and engagement must be. Oh, dear.”

  Sophie sipped her tea. “I do not think I could relate to anyone as deeply, nor love anyone else as wholly as I love Frank. And we were just beginning.”

  “What a wretched coil. This is just the sort of love I have wished for you, dearest. Many people never experience such depth of feeling in themselves, never mind sharing it with a mate.”

  “Yes. He grabbed the essence of the music, and it took him on an interior journey I think he was ripe to make.” She gave a little smile. “As for me, I was astonished. I promptly tumbled into love with him because he shares and understands what I have always felt in my heart about the pieces I play. It sounds grandiose perhaps, but I think it would not be too much to say that our souls touched.”

  “I do not think that sounds grandiose. I think it is beautiful. It took a bit longer for that to occur with Peter. Until the birth of Alistair. Seeing that little being that our love created brought us soul to soul, as well. Since then, our feelings for one another have deepened in ways I am not good at explaining, writer though I am.” Elise traced the pattern in the lace of the tablecloth with her forefinger. “Have you explained this to Melissa?”

  “How could I? She would feel bound to cry off. I know her. Her father would be furious, and she would still be ruined. She might never marry.”

  Sophie felt suffocated by her hopelessness. She was not the reins-grabber that Fanny or Elise was, or she would have done as Elise suggested. But love for Melissa, who had been such a dear friend during Sophie’s y
ears of difficulty, prevented her from taking this reckless step.

  She fidgeted with her hands. “You should probably know the truth behind Melissa and Frank’s situation, though I do not know if you should tell the duke.”

  “The truth?”

  “Melissa left the ball with Frank in order to show him how to get into Fanny’s house and to my chamber when he was frantic about me. He thought I was dying and that he would never see me again. Frank was desperate. And they were caught when they returned to the ball. Of course, they could not say where they had been.”

  “Oh, dear. Of course they could not. But it was most improper for him to visit you in your chamber, Sophie!”

  “He was entirely respectful, and Melissa was present the whole time.”

  Sophie knew she could not expect Elise to understand his second visit, so she maintained silence about that. Had it been a mistake to confide in Elise?

  Overcome by a sudden wave of exhaustion, she rose. “I will repair to my room now, Elise. All this has made me quite tired. If you would be so kind, could you have my dinner sent up on a tray? I fear my ability to converse at dinner has deserted me.”

  “Of course, my love. I have not been taking care of you as I should. I will also have hot towels sent up for your knee.”

  “My weakness vexes me, as it must do you. Please remember that I have strengths as well. I have a rich inner life, and should Frank marry Melissa, I have the ability to weather it, though it would be difficult for a while. But the life I have always planned for myself never included a husband.”

  ~~*

  Sophie was glad the next morning when she heard the news at breakfast that the duke and the baron had found a suitable house near Chipping Norton for the girls’ orphanage.

  “It is a bit out in the country, but not too far. Walking back and forth to town should afford the girls some exercise.”

  “How many orphans will it house?” Sophie asked.

  “If they sleep three to a bedroom, it will allow for twelve,” Ruisdell said. “That is a good number to start with before we see if this experiment is going to work. There is a suite of rooms for the headmistress which is quite adequate.”

  “What about the teachers?” she asked.

  “We shall have to house them in town and buy them a carriage and horses to go back and forth,” Shrewsbury said.

  “This is going to be an expensive endeavor,” Elise remarked.

  “Before we can go any further, we need to determine whether the people with deep pockets are interested in funding such a venture,” the duke said. “Shrewsbury and I will divide the prospects and tackle them in person, one by one.”

  “Where are you going to look for your headmistress and teachers?” Sophie asked. “Women like Aunt Clarice and Sukey want to live in London, not in a village like Chipping Norton.”

  “That is our other problem,” Shrewsbury said.

  “There are plenty of young women who aspire to be governesses,” Elise said. “I should think at least some of them would find a post such as this a step up from that kind of drudgery. You simply need to advertise. Sophie and I could interview them.”

  “And depending upon what the future brings, I might make a creditable music mistress,” Sophie added. “It would certainly be a more useful life than my living at Ruisdell Palace. In fact, I think I would quite enjoy it.”

  Elise looked distressed, Shrewsbury thoughtful. The duke said, “Somehow I do not think that you were meant to live out your life in Chipping Norton, my dear.”

  Raising her chin, Sophie said, “We shall see.”

  { 30 }

  FRANK FOUND THE ROUT DULL. In fact, life was dull without at least the idea that Sophie was in London. Lila could not be dislodged from his side.

  “Oh look, Frank, dear, there are the Carstairs! They are looking about for someone. Is it you?”

  “Possibly. They will want news of Sophie.” Happy to see his friends, he walked toward them.

  “Bella,” he said once he reached them, “you look stunning in red. Joseph, it is good to see you, my friend.”

  “Likewise,” Joseph said. Looking at Lila, in possession of Frank’s arm, he seemed confused. “What is new with you, Frank?”

  “You have not heard of my engagement?”

  “No!” said Bella. “We are sadly behind on the gossip. We have been in the country since Sophie took ill. Congratulations! When are you to be married?”

  “In three weeks’ time. But you should know—” He paused to give Lila a significant look, but she did not remove her arm from his. “—It is not Miss Edwards whom I will wed, but Lady Melissa Aldridge.”

  Bella’s eyes grew wide. “Have you known her long?”

  Lila interrupted the exchange. “It is very painful for poor Frank. He compromised the gel. She is Miss Edward’s best friend, worse luck.”

  Sparks shot from Bella’s eyes at Lila’s careless words. Taking her husband’s arm, she turned, giving Frank and Lila the cut direct.

  “Thank you for that, Lila,” Frank said, his voice full of venom. “Now they think that I have become a shockingly loose fish, and not content with behaving badly toward Lady Melissa, I have taken you on as mistress, to boot. All that in addition to breaking Sophie’s heart. Will you kindly loose my arm!”

  Lila laughed and moved away from him with her accustomed grace. Frank decided he needed to find his erstwhile fiancée in case others in the room may begin thinking like the Carstairs. It was the first time it had occurred to him to do so.

  Lady Melissa was standing with Lord Donald, conversing in a most flirtatious manner with Lord Oaksey. Raising his eyebrows, he decided that this was not a conversation he wanted to interrupt. Going to the refreshment room, he poured himself a glass of punch, put a number of crab sandwiches on a plate, and helped himself to a small branch of grapes.

  Oaksey. What can I do to encourage Oaksey?

  Though it was unlike him, he sought out a quiet corner to think the matter through.

  Nothing. If I appeared to be trying to slough off my engagement to Lady Melissa, Oaksey would think there was something badly wrong with her and would balk. Devil take it!

  When at last the young lord left her side in company with Lord Donald, Frank approached his affianced. Her look was cold with disdain.

  Pulling her hand from his grasp, she said, “Is it not enough that I must marry you without being publicly humiliated by your carrying on with your mistress? If my father were here, he would cut my dowry by half!”

  “She is not my mistress!”

  “Do you not know that the truth does not matter? All the ton is here. And you can wager what you like, but I know that the on dit is that you have taken up with her again. ‘Poor Lady Melissa.’”

  She was right. Frank was reduced to sheer misery.

  { 31 }

  UPON HER PARTY’S RETURN to London on Thursday evening, Sophie wrote a note to the Carstairs, telling of her return and her desire to once again set about their rehearsals. She wished to get the concert scheduled for the near future. Though she was very glad that the ton knew nothing of her feelings for Frank, she still did not think she could abide attending his wedding, if it came to that.

  Fanny was overjoyed to have her home. “It has been deuced dull without you around,” her sister said, employing her favorite unladylike slang. Sophie smiled. Fanny only used it when she truly meant what she said. “Buck has gone down to Kent to settle a problem with his workers. Apparently, his new estate agent is having some difficulties. Possibly he should not have tried to employ one of his seamen for the job.”

  “I think it was well thought of, but perhaps you are right. He really enjoys surrounding himself with his former shipmates, does he not?”

  “Yes,” Fanny sighed. “He misses the sea. I will be glad when Alexa is a little older and we can take up our travels again. London society makes this such a tiny, vicious place. Everyone thinks the worst of everyone else. At least in Shropshire, you did not hav
e to see your neighbors every night of the week. It is unnatural. It breeds the worst kind of gossip.”

  “Have you been quite alone since Buck left? Has nobody visited you?”

  “I visited Aunt Clarice and Sukey. And the pets, of course. The ladies are quite excited about the Orphanage for Girls. They are drawing up lists of potential patrons for Peter.”

  Sophie outlined the steps they had contemplated while in Chipping Norton.

  “What a shame it is so far from London. I will not be able to read Mrs. Radcliffe to the dears.”

  “By the time everything is organized, you and Buck will be back on the high seas.”

  ~~*

  The following morning at eleven o’clock, the Carstairs appeared as requested.

  “Sophie, my dear, are you quite recovered?” Bella asked, peering into her eyes in an overly solicitous way.

  “Yes. The illness was slight, after all. I alarmed everyone in vain,” Sophie replied.

  Joseph was regarding her gravely, and Bella seemed possessed of an odd nervous energy. Clearly, there was something on their minds.

  “What is it?” Sophie asked. “You are both so agitated.”

  “Last night at Lady Westhaven’s rout, we chanced to see Frank,” Bella said. “We heard about his engagement, and could not believe it! It was clear as the nose on your face that he was in love with you, Sophie, dear.”

  “We have known Frank for a long time, and never have we thought to see him behave so shabbily,” Joseph added.

  “But perhaps you are well out of it,” Bella continued. “Despite his scandalous engagement, he was openly consorting with his mistress. They showed absolutely no shame. She was hanging on his arm, all pressed against him, and his fiancée not five steps away!” Bella’s face flushed with outrage. “I have never in my life done it before, but Joseph and I gave them the cut direct. And we have known Frank for donkey’s years.”