by Fanny Finch
“But it is unfortunately the way of the world.” He gave her a kind, compassionate look. As if he really did want to take her pain away. “All that we can hope for is that the world will give us back as much as it takes.
“And this is fortuitous in its own way. Now we know one another. We shall be friends as our fathers were. And we are happy to introduce you to society in the proper way. The way that a young lady such as yourself deserves.
“We’ve learned that in times such as these it’s important to look at the things that bring us joy. To focus on those instead of the things that are being taken from us. Sinking into despair never helped anyone.”
Maria nodded.
“This season can be fun for you as well,” Miss Reginald said. “I know that there is a bit of a cloud over it. It is only natural that your thoughts should turn this way.
“But this is your chance to shine! Your chance to show the world the beautiful, accomplished young lady that you are. I’m sure we can arrange for some of your sketches to be shown. And you shall be quite admired at parties for your playing.”
“You would have had to go through this no matter what the circumstances surrounding it were,” Lord Reginald reminded her. “And as insufferable as society can be at times…”
His sister gave him a stern look. Maria was curious but tried to stamp it down. She knew that it was not her business.
But there was an edge of bitterness and frustration to his tone that took her by surprise. She wanted to know more. Why was he so frustrated with society? What did he mean about it being insufferable?
Society seemed like such a wonderous thing to her. A place of fun and excitement. A chance to finally meet people and have friends and be properly introduced to men. Why should it be insufferable?
Lord Reginald cleared his throat and bowed his head towards her briefly. “I apologize. Of course this will be a marvelous opportunity for you. Think not of the particular circumstances that brought you here. You are blessed with this opportunity.”
“I am surprised that your father had not sent you earlier,” Miss Reginald said. “I presumed, erroneously it seems, that you had a society of sorts where you grew up. But you are nearly twenty or so I am told.”
“Yes, Miss. Father couldn’t bear to have me leave. Who else would run the household for him? And go out into the fields now that his legs hurt him? I was needed. But now that he is coming back to England as well, he can have me with him and there is no need for someone at the plantation.”
Lord Reginald nodded. “You are none the worse for it. My sister here is two and twenty. I am certain that if she can bear it well then so can you.”
He winked at her, and Maria realized that he was teasing her. He was teasing both of them.
She felt something warm and joyous bloom in her chest and smiled, ducking her head down to try and hide it. She had never been teased, lightly and warmly, by a man before.
It made her feel special. Wanted.
“Do you really…think that I’ll enjoy it?” she asked. She felt like a child asking such a thing. She ought to be excited for this.
“I know that I probably sound ungrateful and I’m terribly sorry for it,” she said. “I don’t mean to be that way at all. You’ve opened up your house to me and you barely know me.”
Miss Reginald sighed. “It’s quite clear to me that you have had a taxing journey, Miss Worthing. Our job is to distract you from your troubles and make sure that you are fit to be a part of the society to which you belong.
“Why don’t we dispense with such distressing talk and you can play a little pianoforte for us? Dinner will be ready soon enough and that will help you to recover. But I think some music might distract you until then. What do you think?”
She hadn’t had a chance to play in all that time on the ship. And she did miss her pianoforte from back home. Mother had taught her to play on it since she was a little girl.
It wouldn’t be the same but…it would be nice.
“I’ll be terribly out of practice,” Maria warned. “I couldn’t play on the ship, after all.”
“We understand,” Miss Reginald said.
“It will do us some good to see someone who is not quite so practiced,” Lord Reginald added. “Some of these women play and you know that they have practiced that one piece and nothing else.”
“Edward, be thoughtful with your words,” Miss Reginald warned him.
Miss Reginald stood and led them into the sitting room, where the pianoforte stood.
“I never play it as much as I should,” she confessed. “I am much more inclined towards reading poetry. To my father’s eternal despair.”
Lord Reginald chuckled, helping to lift the lid. “Please, sit. I would love to hear you play. You must ignore my more…harsh comments towards those aspects of society of which I am not quite so fond.”
Maria sat down, stretching out her fingers. “I hope you will not mind if I do a few scales first?”
“Be my guest,” Miss Reginald replied.
Maria did her scales. At first her fingers were stiff and she despaired of how they ached when she tried to stretch them. She felt clumsy, slow, her fingers feeling heavy. Usually her hands were so light, and they flew over the keys.
But as time went on and she went over her scales her fingers began to remember. They caught up with her mind. They began to stretch—and it wasn’t as easy, but they did it. And they moved faster, lighter, her wrists dropping the way they should, no stiffness in her.
She shifted from scales to playing a proper piece. She chose something light and simple to start out with, some childhood nursery rhymes and lullabies that she knew. There was no need to hurt her fingers or make a fool of herself trying to impress the Reginalds with her playing.
There would be plenty of time to show off her talents at balls later on. That was when she needed to impress people, in any case. She had to show off her talents for the men who were at the social gatherings.
Right now, she just wanted to play what she liked, for these two people who were being so kind to her and so open with her.
Miss Reginald had only a faint smile on her face. Maria suspected that she was not a woman prone to showing great fits of passion. But her eyes were warm and she seemed happy to sit there and listen.
Lord Reginald seemed outright delighted. He declared that he recognized some of the songs and would sing along. He sang along quite badly but Maria suspected that was on purpose. It made her laugh, at any rate, which she was certain was his design.
By the time that dinner came she was feeling much better, as Miss Reginald had said. Indeed her spirits felt infinitely lifted.
The Reginalds were right. How she had come to be in London for the season did not matter. It was not something that she ought to dwell on. She would see Father and they would deal with that but when it came to the season she was to have fun.
Father’s sickness could not take away from her the joy of the balls and the importance of them. She needed to find a husband either way, whether Father was in perfect health or standing with one foot in his grave.
And with such people as the Reginalds guiding her, she was certain that she would have a wonderful time.
She could not have hoped for a more welcoming pair of people. Lord Reginald seemed delighted with her and Miss Reginald was as warm and kind as Mother had been. Maria was certain that she would come to consider them both family.
If only Lord Reginald was not quite so dashing. He could not help it, of course. And to him she must seem quite the backwards, wild thing. But his gentle teasing and his efforts at making her laugh always sent her into fits of blushing and stammering.
She wished that he would perhaps be less handsome or a bit less inclined to smile at her. Then she might have a better hold of herself when she was around him.
It was only because he was the first man she had properly met and gotten to know. Or at least that was what she told herself. As soon as she was presented and int
roduced to society she would get to know many other wonderful men and this would pass.
After all, what could a girl like her possibly do to tempt a man of such stature and sophistication as Lord Reginald?
Chapter 4
The first thing that struck Edward was how completely unlike any other girl this Miss Worthing was.
He had found other women to be enjoyable in their company, yes. He did not despise women as a whole. But the women he enjoyed spending time with were usually women who were already married, but too young to have daughters to foist upon him.
The women who were old enough to have such daughters would spend all their time trying to get him to fall in love with said daughters. And the unmarried women were trying to do the same, flirting shamelessly.
It was only the ones who were newly married or with young children that he could converse with happily and peacefully.
But Miss Worthing was completely unlike all of them.
She looked a bit wild, for one thing. She was far more tan than any other woman he had ever seen. Her dark hair was thick and curling about her head and had obviously never seen a proper hairdresser.
Luckily Georgiana’s own hairdresser would soon see to that. But he rather liked the freckles that dotted all over Miss Worthing’s face, and how thick and untamed her hair was, and her bright eyes that sparkled despite how dark they were.
Her frock was a simple one and she was wrapped up in layers. Of course, she had been born and raised all her life in the Caribbean. England must seem frightfully cold even in the summer.
She looked nothing like the fashionable ladies of his class that he had seen. Even the ladies whose families received five hundred a year were dressed more nicely than Miss Worthing was.
In fact, she looked not like a lady at all but like a servant who had been gifted the out-of-fashion clothes of her mistress. It was a custom to gift such things to servants if the fabric could not be reused in some other way.
Edward found himself pleased with the overall result. She looked like the sort of woman who did not care for her appearance. Of course there was nothing inherently wrong with wanting to look nice. But the way that these women often dressed up…
He knew they were dressing up just to catch a man. Not for their own pleasure. And this was the type of girl who looked and sounded as though she looked the way that she did because she liked it. Not because it was what society dictated or because it was what a man might prefer.
And then she spoke, and Edward had to try to hold in his laughter.
Oh, this poor girl was going to get eaten by wolves, metaphorically speaking, if he and Georgiana did not teach her to better hold her tongue.
But she meant kindly in everything that she said. There was no malice in Miss Worthing, he could see that much. And the way she had lit up as she talked about her island and running a household and her sketches.
This was a woman, he suspected, who liked to feel useful. Who liked to know that she could contribute to her household rather than simply spend all day preparing for the next social event.
They would have to find her a good husband. Edward had already promised her father that but now he meant the promise. A sweet girl such as Miss Worthing would need a man who understood her. A man who saw the pure heart shining underneath the initial display of ignorance.
She was clearly a talented girl. Her piano playing was sweet and simple. She clearly got joy out of it. Not at all like the women who had clearly learned only so that they might show off how accomplished they were while secretly hating the exercise all the while.
No, there had been this lovely look of rapture on Miss Worthing’s face as she played. They would have to make sure she played at the balls they attended. The joy that she clearly had while she played shone out on her face and made her look quite beautiful. It would show her to her best advantage to suitors.
There were, however, going to be some setbacks.
She was a lovely girl and Edward took quite a shine to her. He teased her and got a blush and a smile out of her quite readily. It had been ages since he’d been able to do that to Georgiana. Ever since abandoning her suitor at Father’s orders, his sister had been serious and withdrawn.
Teasing Miss Worthing was like having a proper sister all over again. He quite enjoyed it and suspected he would happily partake of her company over the next month.
However, her manners…
They had sat down to dinner and that had been when he and Georgiana had seen just how much work was ahead of them.
Maria seemed to know where all the silverware was and how to sit, fortunately. It was clearly not as though she were a heathen. But she was lax about her manners and tended to do things such as speak over someone or laugh until she snorted.
Georgiana was patient with the other girl and would gently point out better behavior. “And be careful about your elbows, Miss Worthing. Remember to ask instead of reaching.”
“I feel like I’m a child of ten all over again,” Miss Worthing admitted. “I must be embarrassing you both horribly, I’m sorry.”
“There is no need for embarrassment,” Georgiana replied. “It’s only the two of us and this is why you were brought here early. So that we might have time to get rid of your bad habits.”
She was not an uncouth girl and she seemed well aware of her own shortcomings. Edward could easily see how her manners had become lax. All alone with only a sickly father whom she had to care for…of course Miss Worthing would have bigger things to worry about.
She had to run a household, and take care of her father, and there was no one around except for the servants. It made perfect sense to him.
Personally he was finding he enjoyed her honest and forthright, albeit rustic, company over the company of poised but simpering ladies.
Once he got Maria talking on the subject of the local wildlife, for example, it was difficult to get her to stop. Edward didn’t mind in the slightest. Normally it felt like pulling teeth to get someone to talk to him.
As a duke, he was generally the most important person in the room. And the result in people’s minds seemed to be that they thought he ought to command most of the conversation in the room.
It was probably how his father had behaved but Edward was not the sort of person who liked to talk just to hear the sound of his own voice.
And when people did talk to him it was usually about something incredibly boring and insipid. But Maria was telling them all what she had studied about the local plants and wildlife.
“I wanted to know what I was sketching,” she explained. “And so Father ordered me some lovely books on plant and animal species. I have sketchbooks just full of them.”
She explained the different animals and how she would go for long walks by herself. “Father would despair of me,” she said. “I would often come back all covered in mud.”
The idea of a lady going on such a walk by herself was practically unheard of for Edward. He thought that it showed great independence on Maria’s part and he applauded her for it, at least in his own mind.
This was the sort of thing he needed to think about when looking for a wife, he thought. He needed to look for a sense of independence.
Of course, Maria could not go on such walks now that she was in London. Georgiana made that quite clear to her. Maria needed to have a companion or escort at all times.
“There are periods when a lady may travel alone,” Georgiana said. “To make a morning call, for example. Or if one has been invited to dinner by one’s self. And countryside walks are most enjoyable and cannot always be done with a companion if one is alone at the house.
“But to go tramping about often and letting yourself turn into such a state would only bring about malicious talk. You must always carry yourself with care and pride. Especially in London.”
Maria nodded, soaking up every word.
Edward hastened to reassure her that she could still do her sketches. “There are some lovely parks in the area. P
erhaps tomorrow we can visit one of them and you might do some sketching there. You can even set up your paints if you’d like.”
“I’m horrible at artwork when I’m the one doing it,” Georgiana added. “But I would not at all mind bringing a book and sitting with you.”
“You ought to sketch Georgiana,” Edward said, an idea alighting in his head. That would be lovely.
Georgiana shot him an embarrassed look. “There is no need for that, surely?”
“I don’t draw people often,” Maria admitted. “Although I would do them for the servants as a present for birthdays or Christmas. They never get any portraits done of themselves so it’s a lovely gift for them.”
Edward could hardly imagine how Maria would handle a proper English Christmas. The cold would probably be unbearable to her, but perhaps the snow would delight her.
