Page 41 of Lady Dramatic
“What am I to do?” Serenity asked.
“Nothing at all,” Mrs. Right said. “Lord Thorpe will take the letter for what is is—a panicked younger sister lashing out.”
“I really am panicked and I did lash out,” Valor whispered.
“Now, enough of this crying and predicting disaster,” Mrs. Right said, knowing that sometimes a firm hand was the best way to herd her girls back into sense. “I will go find the sherry decanter and pour a drop for Serenity, the rest of you drink your tea, and all will be well.”
As she went off to do so, she passed Charlie in the great hall. “From now on, no letter written by Lady Valor leaves this house without me looking it over first.”
Charlie nodded. “I did hesitate this time, Mrs. Right, but she told me that Lady Serenity had approved it.”
Mrs. Right chuckled. “She’s a daring little thing, but no longer believe a word she says. She’ll grow out of this nonsense at some point, and that point cannot come too soon.”
She had expected to find Mr. Cremble in the dining room, fussing over things as he liked to do in an attempt to avoid her. He was nowhere to be seen, though. She retrieved the sherry decanter and made her way back to the drawing room. Just outside the great hall, she heard a very ominous sound indeed. The front doors had opened and Lady Marchfield said, “I’ll show myself in.”
Mrs. Right was all but sure the curate from The Grosvenor Church had been as good as his word and gone to see the lady regarding the question of the housekeeper’s aversion to crosses. Fortunately, the duke had left the house to meet with his solicitor at White’s, so Lady Misery would not be getting in his ear about it. She backed away and set off for her quarters to make herself scarce.
There were times when she enjoyed crossing swords with Lady Misery, but this time was not one of those times. Like any good general, she would make a strategic retreat and live to fight another day.
*
Roland had thoughtit rather daring to write Lady Serenity on account of the weather. He’d done it anyway. After all, they’d practically held hands last evening. They had not, but things had come very close to it. Of course, had they actually held hands he would have needed to declare himself on the spot. Hewoulddeclare himself, but he needed a little more time.
When the duke’s footman had arrived at his doorstep with a letter, he had briefly imagined that Lady Serenity had responded to his wish for better weather on the morrow. The letter was not from Lady Serenity, though. It was a rather alarming missive from Lady Valor. He handed it to Quinn to have a look at it.
Lord Thorpe—I have found myself disturbed that you are alive. (I wouldn’t mind if you were alive somewhere else, like America, I am a reasonable person.) I finally decided to consult with my very good friend Lady Margaret. We have had a correspondence for two whole years and she considers me her very dearest friend. (She admires my youth, as she is very old.) Lady Margaret sent several suggestions that might make it not so terrible that you exist. I thought you should know about them before we come to dinner.
First, I am hoping that you cannot convince Serenity to marry you (and I really don’t know how Mr. Stratton, Lord Dashlend, and Lord Stanford have been able to convince my three eldest sisters because as far as I can see it only leads to having a man stare at you while you sleep). BUT, if you can convince her, here are my demands: One, you must always be in London when we are here and you can’t mind it when Serenity sleeps atour house, which would be on every night we are here. (You will stay at your house, obviously) Two, you must spend the summer months with us in the Dales. There is an empty gardener’s cottage you can use and Serenity has her own room in the house. (Or else she could just come by herself, whichever is most convenient, I am a reasonable person.)
I do not expect any argument from you, Sir, as my mind is quite made up. Lady Margaret assures me that I am being very liberal with my terms because you do me the honor of planning dinner at an early time to accommodate my youth. Consider me reasonable! Valor Nicolet.
