Page 10 of A Lady's Guide to Scandal

Kitty shrugged her shoulders, forgetting for a moment Dorothy’s strict instructions that she was not to do anything so unladylike any more.

‘I admire him, certainly,’ Kitty said defensively. ‘He has many admirable qualities. But if you are asking me if I am pursuing him for his fortune, then of course the answer is yes, Cecily. What else did you think we were here for?’

Cecily looked a little lost. ‘I suppose,’ she said haltingly, ‘I suppose I thought you would try to find someone rich who you also cared for.’

‘That would be very nice,’ Kitty said tartly, ‘if we had all the time in the world to do it – but we now have only eight weeks, before the moneylenders will be at Netley. And this time they will not leave empty-handed.’

6

The next day dawned bright and sunny. Excellent weather, in Kitty’s opinion, for a spot of fortune-hunting. This auspicious start, however, proved to be short-lived, for when they met the de Lacys, Mr de Lacy looked as bashful as a lamb.

‘I am afraid Mama was not to be persuaded,’ he admitted, as soon as they began their turn. ‘I tried speaking to her – I promise I did – but she quite nearly went into hysterics when I tried to explain what your papa said about one’s insides.’

Kitty had the sinking realisation that the imagery of this speech might have become rather garbled in translation.

‘She’s written to our brother about you,’ Lady Amelia chipped in, gleeful again – she was quite thrilled by the theatrics that the Talbots had introduced into an otherwise very dull month.

‘Whatever for?’ Kitty asked, alarmed. The last thing she wanted was another protective de Lacy descending upon her.

‘Suppose she’ll want him to weigh in – forbid me from seeing you or somesuch,’ Archie said without concern. ‘Nothing to worry over – James always sees through her guff.’

Be that as it may, Kitty was keen that Archie be distanced from his mother’s influence before she became any more motivated to separate them. But how to do it?

‘Mr de Lacy, may I ask you a question?’ she asked, as Cecily and Lady Amelia moved off ahead of them. ‘I am still unused to London ways, you see. Is it regular for a man such as yourself, of your age and stature, to still lodge with his mother?’

Mr de Lacy looked taken aback. ‘My schoolfriends all do so,’ he confessed. ‘James, my brother, does still have his own lodgings in town, though the family house is his now – Mama did offer to leave, but he wouldn’t hear of it. Though as he is hardly ever in London, he rarely uses either house.’

‘I see,’ Kitty said thoughtfully. ‘Do you think he would grant you leave to use them, should you like to? I own that were I in your shoes, I should very much like the freedom living alone would offer.’

‘What do you mean?’ Mr de Lacy asked, uncertainly. The idea of having his own lodgings had never occurred to him.

‘Well, one could do what one wanted, whenever the fancy struck,’ Kitty suggested. ‘Come and go as one pleased, and suchlike.’

‘I would not have to answer to Mama or Pattson, who always seem to have something to say about everything I do,’ Mr de Lacy said, catching on.

‘You could breakfast for supper,’ Kitty said roguishly. ‘And stay up as late as you like.’

‘Oh, I say,’ he chuckled, finding this idea quite scandalous.

‘Just a thought,’ she said. ‘It could be marvellous, you know.’

Kitty hoped this had been enough to prompt some action from the boy, but upon the next day, perceived at once this tactic to have been a mistake. Lady Amelia greeted them with the news that they had been forbidden from ever seeing the Misses Talbot again – a decree that they seemed all too cheerful to disobey, the attraction of youthful company in an otherwise deserted London proving too powerful to ignore.

‘Mama almost fainted when Archie said he wanted to find his own lodgings,’ Lady Amelia told them. ‘She lays all the blame on you, Miss Talbot.’

‘Tosh,’ Mr de Lacy dismissed at once. ‘A load of dramatics. Do not think on it for a second, Miss Talbot, she’ll come around soon enough.’

‘Will she not notice you have left to meet us, as normal?’ Cecily asked.

‘Not a jot,’ Mr de Lacy said. ‘Got one of these new fainting spells – forget what she’s calling them now. Two doctors have been already, and we slipped out amidst all the confusion.’

‘Good thing too,’ Lady Amelia agreed. ‘Can’t bear to discuss her health a second longer. Besides,’ she linked her arm through Cecily’s, ‘makes it quite exciting – all very clandestine.’

Kitty’s heart sank at this. It would not do at all for theirs to become a clandestine arrangement. Clandestine meant scandal, and Kitty knew very well where scandals ended up. It was not a life she wanted for herself, at all.

‘Mr de Lacy, I am dismayed to have caused so much upset,’ she said. ‘I do not want your mother to dislike me so.’

Archie gave a careless wave of his hand, brushing this concern off entirely. ‘She’ll come around, don’t you worry,’ he said dismissively. ‘You simply must hear about Gerry’s latest letter – my friend from Eton, you know, should be in town in a week or so. Damnedest thing—’