Her Mother's Daughter

by Evie Grace

  ‘I thank you for your opinion, Miss Linnet. You have spoken in a most mature manner. I wish you had had Felix when he was of a tender age. I believe that you would have made a difference to his temperament. He might have been more sensitive to his mama’s tender reproofs.’ She smiled. ‘Elizabeth says you are quite the professor. She is doing well with her painting, but I’m a little concerned that she isn’t making the same progress with her singing.’

  ‘A wise parent such as yourself will acknowledge your daughter’s strengths in watercolour and drawing, and encourage her in this pursuit over singing. She cannot excel in every subject.’

  ‘You are right, I suppose,’ she acknowledged. ‘May I confide in you for a moment?’

  ‘Yes, of course. You have my complete discretion.’

  ‘I know that.’ She smiled. ‘You’ve turned out to be a real asset. Anyway, I want both my daughters to do well, particularly Charlotte. It will be hard to find a suitable match for her, I think, whereas with Elizabeth – every young man falls in love with her. I know she is only fifteen, but she always attracts attention when we’re in company.

  ‘My son has sent word that he will be visiting Roper House with a friend of his, George Moldbury. I should be most grateful if you will remind Elizabeth of the behaviour expected of her in George’s presence. He is a polite, well-mannered young gentleman, and she was quite taken with him the last time he came to stay. I don’t want any goings-on that might tarnish her reputation, if you know what I mean.’

  ‘I think I do, Lady Faraday.’

  ‘Make sure that you chaperone them at all times.’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘To that end, I should like to invite you to join us for dinner tomorrow evening when our house guests arrive for the weekend. It will be a formal occasion with myself, Sir Richard, my sister and brother-in-law – Mr and Mrs Thomas, George Moldbury, Felix, Charlotte and Elizabeth.’

  Agnes thanked her. She looked forward to meeting the young ladies’ brother at last.

  She made sure to read some passages from the book on etiquette to her charges the following day, including the piece about allowing a gentleman to take one by the arm, but never two gentlemen at once. She went on to say that flirtation didn’t have a place in society and finished with the premise that a woman of delicacy should never entertain a sentiment towards a gentleman by whom it had not been solicited.

  ‘You will show us how to behave by example,’ Charlotte said primly.

  ‘Of course she will – Miss Linnet is not interested in young gentlemen,’ Elizabeth said with a giggle.

  Agnes didn’t comment. She had already run out on an engagement to a man in whom she’d had no romantic interest. Had she ever felt tempted to flirt with anyone? Not really. She might, if she was honest with herself, have felt an attraction to Oliver Cheevers, but it had been fleeting and certainly nothing that she would have acted on. Smiling to herself, she gazed fondly at her innocent charges. If only they knew.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Pistols at Dawn

  ‘Felix is home,’ Elizabeth said joyfully, running to the window in the schoolroom as a carriage drew up on the drive. Charlotte joined her, and Agnes, torn between duty and curiosity, went to stand behind them. She looked over Elizabeth’s shoulder as she leaned across and waved at the two men who disembarked.

  ‘You are overwrought, dear sister, and it has nothing to do with our brother’s return and everything to do with his friend, whom I confess I find rather uninspiring.’

  ‘Hush, Charlotte. You can’t say that. He is most handsome.’

  ‘He is a fop. He spends ages on his appearance and still manages to look the same.’

  ‘Miss Linnet, we will find out your opinion of him at dinner tonight, if not before,’ Elizabeth said.

  ‘It isn’t seemly for refined young ladies to discuss a young man’s attributes.’

  ‘May one be at liberty to think it quietly in one’s head?’ Elizabeth said. ‘What do you think, Charlotte?’

  ‘As long as one’s thoughts aren’t revealed on one’s face,’ Charlotte responded.

  ‘I believe that even thinking of such things goes against the spirit of feminine behaviour,’ Agnes said, seeing that she would have to ensure that she kept Elizabeth occupied for however long George was staying at Roper House. ‘It is unacceptable.’

  ‘Oh, you can be so dull,’ Elizabeth sighed. ‘You should hear George play the pianoforte – he is a music scholar and his fingering is exquisite. I shall ask him for a duet.’

  ‘Oh, for goodness’ sake,’ said Charlotte.

  ‘You must let him ask you,’ Agnes said.

  ‘We must go down and greet them.’ Elizabeth turned to Agnes and looked her straight in the eye. ‘It would be impolite not to.’

  ‘I’m sure your mama will be waiting for them. Now, we have dallied long enough. You haven’t completed your writing.’ She was teaching them how to write letters of thanks for a gift and acceptance of an invitation.

  ‘Surely they can wait,’ Elizabeth said.

  Agnes wouldn’t allow anything, even the arrival of a much loved brother, to interfere with their studies. If she gave in to Elizabeth on this occasion, she would always be on the back foot, she thought. However, it took more than an hour for the young ladies to finish their task – Elizabeth daydreamed, while Charlotte couldn’t think of anything to write.

  After another half an hour, Agnes suggested that they go to the drawing room to practise some pieces for the evening’s entertainment in an attempt to concentrate her charges’ minds. Elizabeth met this suggestion with great enthusiasm. Charlotte tagged along with the dog.

  As they approached the drawing room, Agnes heard voices, which was unusual at that time of day. She paused at the door then pushed it open, at which a gunshot rang out, echoing around her head.

  Elizabeth screamed. Charlotte scooped up the dog and ran for cover, sheltering under the side table on the landing, rocking the vase on the top. Agnes stood stock-still.

  There was a young man in breeches and a tweed coat standing on one of the chairs with a smoking pistol aimed towards the corner of the room. She followed the direction of the muzzle to the hole that had been blasted through the leather Chesterfield, taking out the horsehair stuffing.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Agnes exclaimed.

  The young man turned slowly to face her.

  He was remarkably handsome, she thought – tall with a mop of dark curls and a square chin. His eyes flashed with intelligence and his mouth was lively with humour and wit.

  ‘Who wants to know?’ he said.

  ‘You are wearing your boots indoors,’ she observed. They were long black hunting boots with tan tops.

  ‘Who are you? This isn’t your house.’

  ‘She must be a new friend of your sisters,’ said another voice.

  She glanced to her left to find another young fellow, leaning against the wall with one booted foot against Lady Faraday’s silk wallpaper. He was well built, a little on the short side to be considered a match for the perfect male physique, but his clothes were well cut, his brown hair was brushed smooth back from his face, his lips were full and his eyes large and blue.

  The first man lowered the pistol and jumped down from the seat. He strode across and prowled around her, making her feel like an exhibit at a menagerie.

  ‘Allow me to introduce our governess, Miss Linnet,’ Elizabeth said, coming to her side. ‘Oh, George, it is good to see you. Charlotte, you can come out now. It is only our brother and George.’

  So this was Felix, Agnes thought as he stopped right in front of her.

  ‘Please forgive us for scaring you ladies half to death.’ George grinned. ‘Felix was hunting the rat.’

  ‘I can assure you that we are not easily frightened,’ Agnes said.

  ‘From the sight of my sisters’ white faces, you are speaking only for yourself,’ Felix said.

  ‘Did you kill it?’ Agnes asked.

&n
bsp; ‘Of course – I never miss. Although I might have been a little carried away on this occasion.’ He waved towards the Chesterfield. ‘I’ll get one of the footmen to clear up.’

  ‘I should prefer it if you removed the poor dead creature presently,’ Agnes said. ‘For your sisters’ sake. We are just about to have a lesson.’

  ‘Well, I never. Governesses have become much younger and prettier than when I was a boy.’

  ‘You are most impertinent.’ She wasn’t sure how to address him. She settled on, ‘Master Faraday.’

  ‘I apologise, Miss Linnet,’ he said coolly. ‘It’s just that we can be no more than a year or two apart in age.’

  Charlotte gasped. ‘You must never comment upon a lady’s age. You will have to apologise for a second time.’

  Felix didn’t say sorry. ‘You’ve come out of your shell, Charlotte,’ he said. ‘You appear to have grown a tongue while I’ve been away.’

  ‘Don’t be mean,’ Elizabeth said. ‘Why don’t you two stay? We are about to rehearse for tonight. Charlotte, you can sing. George, you can duet with me.’

  ‘Oh no,’ Agnes said quickly.

  ‘I’m sure he has much to teach me.’

  ‘I won’t have anyone, music scholar or not, gate-crashing our lessons.’

  ‘Oh, Miss Linnet. This is an exceptional day – it calls for exceptions to be made. Charlotte and I have studied very hard this week. We deserve the rest of the day off.’

  ‘You will not twist me around your little finger.’ Agnes smiled and turned to the gentlemen. ‘It’s been lovely to make your acquaintance, but I would appreciate it if you would take your pistols elsewhere, preferably outside where they belong.’

  ‘Of course.’ George gave a bow of his head. ‘Good day to you.’

  ‘We will see you at dinner,’ Felix said to his sisters. ‘And you, Miss Linnet?’

  ‘I have accepted your mother’s invitation. What about the rat?’ She nodded towards the corner of the room. With a sigh, Felix gave in to her unspoken demand, walked across, picked it up by the tail and carried it out. Agnes winced. He caught her eye and smiled.

  ‘I am sorry if this offends you, but George and I have achieved our aim. We have saved you from further dismay and disruption. The rat is dead.’

  ‘I am grateful, but couldn’t it have been done another way?’

  ‘And what do you suggest, as an avowed expert in vermin control?’

  ‘I thought it could have been trapped and released, perhaps,’ she said.

  He laughed. ‘What would be the point of that? It would have run straight back inside. I don’t think one should have any scruples when it comes to rats. They are dirty creatures.’ He gazed at her. ‘You appear to have led a sheltered life, Miss Linnet.’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ she stammered as events from her past flashed through her head: the days she’d spent in the schoolroom with Nanny and Henry; the evenings in the drawing room with Mama and Papa; the fateful visit to Faversham where her life had begun to unravel.

  She hoped that she hadn’t let her guard down. His presence disturbed her. She tried to put her feeling of unease down to the fact that the young gentleman who was standing uncomfortably close to her with a pistol in one hand and a dead creature in the other, would one day be master of the house. She should defer to him, she thought, but her governess’s instinct took over.

  ‘I would expect you to be more circumspect about shooting indoors in future,’ she said sternly. ‘Good day, Master Faraday, and you, Master Moldbury.’

  ‘You can call him Felix,’ Elizabeth said.

  ‘I shall address him as I see fit. Come along, Elizabeth. And you, Charlotte. We are wasting time.’

  The young gentlemen bowed as they left the room.

  ‘Isn’t George wonderful?’ Elizabeth said as Agnes closed the door behind them.

  ‘He seems quite ordinary to me,’ Agnes said, moving across to open the pianoforte. ‘Now, who will play first?’

  Charlotte sat down on the stool with Sunny on her lap. She fiddled with the music book on the stand in front of her. Elizabeth stood alongside her sister. As Charlotte played, Elizabeth sang and Sunny joined in, howling at the top of his lungs.

  ‘Oh, this is no good,’ Agnes said. ‘The dog will have to go outside.’

  ‘No,’ Charlotte said, crashing her fingers down on the keys. ‘If Sunny goes, I go.’

  Agnes was out of her depth again. There was no exemplar, no one to advise on how to handle this situation. How did you instil obedience in young ladies who were so wilful? It didn’t help that their brother seemed just as impulsive and forceful in his opinions. He was no role model for his sisters.

  ‘I shall not let the dog out of my sight while Felix is at home – I’m afraid he will shoot him dead.’ To Agnes’s surprise a tear rolled down Charlotte’s cheek. ‘He wouldn’t do it deliberately, but it could happen by accident.’

  Agnes gazed at the dog. She didn’t like the idea of him suffering.

  ‘I wish to continue,’ Elizabeth said.

  Agnes made her mind up.

  ‘Charlotte, return to the schoolroom with the dog. You can read for a while. Elizabeth and I will practise our music for another half an hour then we’ll meet you upstairs.’

  ‘Thank you, Miss Linnet.’ Charlotte stood up with the dog in her arms. ‘I’m very grateful.’

  Agnes played the piano while Elizabeth sang and then they played a duet together. She wasn’t sure if either of them was concentrating, though, for there were many wrong notes. She guessed that Elizabeth was thinking of how to impress George that evening, while her own mind kept wandering on to the subject of what she should wear for dinner.

  Later, when she had finished for the day, she returned to her room. She looked down at her navy dress. She recalled the conversations she had had with Nanny and the young ladies about modesty and not drawing attention to oneself, but a vision of Felix crossed her mind, and she decided to throw caution to the wind. Charlotte and Elizabeth would be wearing their finery. She would stand out like a sore thumb in the serge.

  She washed her hands and face, revelling in the warmth of the water and the rose-petal scent of the soap, a recent extravagance of hers. She brushed her hair and trimmed the ends with scissors before putting it up. She slipped her scarlet dress over her undergarments, fastened the buttons and looked at herself in the mirror. The little weight she’d put on since she’d last worn it had improved the fit. Was the red too much? It hadn’t been for Miss Berry-Clay of Windmarsh Court, but what about a member of staff at Roper House? She left it on, refusing to be a shrinking violet.

  She was late for dinner, she realised when Pell ushered her into the drawing room where the other guests and the family were already assembled.

  ‘That’s a very fine dress, Miss Linnet, too fine for a lowly governess and a terribly vulgar colour. It’s most unsuitable for a woman in your position and if I were Lady Faraday, I’d be having second thoughts.’

  ‘Then it’s fortunate that you are only the butler,’ she said.

  ‘I have bin unable to trace Mr and Mrs Norbert.’

  ‘Perhaps they have moved away from their previous address. It’s only the provincial who remain in one place all their lives.’

  ‘There is no such address,’ he said quietly. ‘I’ve warned you before – I’m watching you. If the young ladies weren’t so happily engaged with your lessons, I would have bin straight to Lady Faraday with my suspicions. As it is … well, if you so much as put a foot wrong, I’ll have you.’

  A tingle of fear ran down her spine, but she pulled herself together quickly.

  Evie’s favourite footman, John, approached, carrying a tray of glasses.

  ‘Wine, Miss Linnet,’ he said with a smile.

  She thanked him and took a glass for courage. Where were Charlotte and Elizabeth?

  She noticed Felix first and then George, and then the young ladies assembled beside the window in animated conversation. She yearn
ed to be part of their circle, but she was the governess, not a friend.

  ‘Miss Linnet, come and be introduced to the Thomases,’ Lady Faraday said, interrupting her plan to join the young people.

  ‘Good evening,’ Agnes said. ‘Mr and Mrs Thomas, I’m so glad to make your acquaintance.’ Mr Thomas was grey and wizened, much older than his wife, who reminded her a little of her Aunt Sarah.

  ‘The feeling is mutual. Lady Faraday has sung your praises to us in the most effusive terms. It is lovely to meet you,’ Mrs Thomas said.

  ‘Be careful. My wife is plotting to whisk you away to our house to teach our daughter, Isobel. She is most envious of Lady Faraday for having found such a treasure.’

  Agnes blushed.

  ‘She has been putting ideas into my daughters’ heads,’ Sir Richard said. ‘They have asked if they can go on the Grand Tour of Europe to see Italy and France in particular.’

  ‘They must go,’ Mrs Thomas said. ‘It could be a most excellent experience for them. In fact, if you are planning that Miss Linnet accompanies them as chaperone, I wouldn’t be averse to Miss Isobel joining them.’

  ‘I don’t believe that it’s good for them to travel. It is unsettling,’ Lady Faraday said. ‘It will make them discontented. A young woman’s role is to marry and run the house, not fret about distant climes. Exposure to strong sunshine will mar their complexions for life. And what the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve over.’

  ‘I’m surprised, considering how enlightened you are about the importance of education for girls, that you feel that way, my dear wife,’ Sir Richard observed. ‘When you were convincing me of the benefits of employing another governess, you presented quite the opposite opinion, that young ladies these days should be aware of the world beyond England’s shores. Britain governs Canada, and large parts of India and Australia. We cannot ignore it. We trade with countries from all four corners of the world. A woman – Queen Victoria herself – rules the British Empire. You can’t tell me that she would allow her daughters to remain in ignorance of the rest of the world.’