Page 73 of A Much Maligned Miss

“I do,” Caroline said gravely. “Come upstairs and eat chocolates with me. They are having a meeting down here about The Citadel, so we girls can make merry. We could help ourselves to some wine,” she offered by way of temptation.

Effie gave a watery laugh. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m tempted,” she said regretfully. “But Vi said she would come by at seven and we could go to The Dog and Duck.”

“Vi could come up too,” Caroline offered generously. “Why not?”

“You really mean it?” Effie wavered. “Only she was a bit of a cow to you the other day, you do realize?”

Caroline pulled a face. “I know, but I like her all the same.”

“I wasn’t sure you’d noticed,” Effie confessed, making Caroline give a spurt of laughter.

“I noticed but…well…”

“A proper lady don’t let on?” Effie suggested.

“Perhaps, but also…I’m used to far worse than anything little Violet could dish out,” Caroline admitted. Effie looked lowered the teapot, blinking. “My mother is pure poison,” Caroline said softly, “and has always viewed me as her enemy.” It was the first time she’d ever said such a thing aloud. It felt strangely liberating.

“Bloody ’ell!” breathed Effie. “Well, you’ve been holdin’ out on us and no mistake. Sod the tea. I’ll go and ask ’is lordship if we can have a bottle on the house. Two bottles,” she amended. “Vi drinks like a fish, bless her.”

Half an hour later, Caroline, Effie, and Violet were sat on a rug in front of the roaring fire in the upstairs sitting room, sipping champagne from crystal glasses. An open box of chocolates lay on the floor beside them and two recumbent, dozing cats.

“You’ve got to admit, he treats you ’andsome,” Violet sighed. “Even if he didn’t offer you marriage like that captain of the guards what was sweet on you.”

“Oh, he does,” Caroline agreed, taking another cautious sip of champagne. “Have another chocolate.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Vi said, reaching across to help herself to another rose cream. “And all that lovely jewelry,” she added enviously. They had been through all the gift boxes and oohed and ahhed over every item. “Those kind of trinkets cost a bit. And ’andkerchiefs, stockings, and I don’t know what! I will say, he could do with buying you a few new gowns, mind you,” she added critically. “Every time I see you, you’re trailing about in your nightie.”

“Oh, he ordered me some today,” Caroline assured her, not bothering to explain the toga. “From a dressmakers on Conduit Street.”

Effie and Vi exchanged wide-eyed glances. “’E must be rich as a lord too!” Vi breathed reverently. “You lucky devil!”

“I don’t know about that,” Caroline said doubtfully. “Gervaise is always saying he has no money.”

“They always says that when they’re old money,” Vi retorted. “Then they say ‘oh, it’s my father’s, not mine,’ or something else daft like that. It’s only new money what admits they’ve got pots of the stuff and sometimes they exaggerates. You take my word for it.” She nodded wisely.

“I still say you want to get ’im to put that money he promised you up someplace safe, like a bank,” Effie said, sucking in her cheeks. “Only, you know what they’re like.”

Vi waved an arm expansively. “Don’t you listen to Effie, she’s soured on love. She’s giving poor Jeb the runaround.”

“Poor Jeb?” Effie repeated explosively. “He’s a bleedin’ viper in my bosom! That’s wot he is!”

Caroline reached across to top up her glass. “Might I ask what happened between you?”

“You might, and welcome,” Effie said, taking a swig of bubbles. “I’ve had just about enough, that’s what. Jeb’s old mum never liked me. Never thought I was good enough for her only son. I’ve never been invited round her ’ouse ’cos she finks I’d be a bad influence on ’is sisters. Jeb goes round there every Sunday for dinner while they all pretend I don’t exist.”

She took a steadying breath. “I always thought, if I gave them time, let them see how well I looked after him, they’d come around and see that I wasn’t just some worthless guttersnipe from the slums. Never seen ’im wiv a loose button nor a torn jacket sleeve, she ain’t,” she said proudly.

“Not in the years I’ve kept ’ouse for him. The rooms we’ve rented ’ave always been spick and span!” she said with a crack in her voice. “Now I find out ’is mum and ’is sisters have been seeking to replace me. Introducin’ ’im to other women and the like, in the ’opes he’d up and leave me. Tellin’ them he’s a bachelor and encouragin’ ’im to go out walkin’ wiv them before dinner.” Effie’s bosom heaved. “And Jeb… Well, let’s just say ’e never told me any of that,” she said bitterly.

“How did you find out?” Caroline asked in a low voice.

“You tell her, Effie,” Vi recommended, smacking her lips after draining her glass. “Tell her wot that cheeky bitch said to you!”

Effie drew herself up. “Some woman approached me on Tuesday. Told me how shameless I was for chasin’ after a man what don’t want me no more. Apparently, she’s some friend of his sister’s what has expectations of making an honest man of ’im. Well, good luck to her, I say,” Effie added tightly.

“If she manages it, she’s a better woman than me. I’ve been dreamin’ these past four years of Jeb Morris marryin’ me, but that dream has died a lingerin’ death. She can ’ave ’im and welcome.” Blinking back tears, she lifted her glass defiantly. “To Jeb’s future wife.”

Caroline topped up Violet’s empty glass. “May she be miserable as sin!” Vi toasted. “The sanctimonious cow!”