Pippa laughed. “As like as cheese and chalk—both can be cut and crumbled! Generous he may be, but I suspect his kindness has more in it of indulgence for his wife. As I recall, he impressed me as being decidedly high in the instep, frequently satirical, and not a little cynical.”
“Then he must positively dote on Mrs Debenham,” Kitty marvelled. “He must have fallen desperately in love with her to marry her before her brother became a lord. And she has reformed his character. Oh, excessively romantic!”
“Such high flights,” Mrs Lisle reproved with a smile. “I daresay desperation had nothing to do with it, simply they found they should suit, a far sounder basis for marriage.”
“I expect Bina does suit him very well,” Pippa concurred. “Like the two of you, she is calm and cheerful, and no doubt bears with his crotchets to admiration. However, I may be slandering him! Remember, I did not know him well.”
“You are too prosaic, I vow,” Kitty exclaimed. “I am sure it is a love-match. Never fear, though, Mama, I shall not require a tall, dark, handsome gentleman who loves me desperately. I shall be quite satisfied to find someone who suits.”
“As long as he indulges your every whim?” Pippa teased.
“Kitty is by far too sensible to take odd whims into her head,” said their mother. “Yet I would not have you suppose suitability precludes love. My dearest wish is for each of you to find a gentleman with whom she can be as happy as I was with your dear papa.”
Pippa vowed to do everything within her power to make sure her sister found happiness. For herself she had no such hope. She could never be contented with a husband who did not respect and appreciate her talents, nor with one who did not share her beliefs. Where was she to find another paragon like Papa?
Lord Selworth—no. Though his political philosophy was in harmony with hers, she had every reason to assume he shared the world’s view of clever females. That one of the Lisle ladies might be Prometheus had not so much as crossed his mind, because the sole purpose for the existence of females was to look decorative.
And to bear children, whispered a small voice in Pippa’s head. Feeling a warmth stealing up her cheeks, she turned her face to the window.
Country-born and -bred, Pippa was not entirely ignorant of the significance of the marriage bed. Would the intimacies which seemed so distasteful when considered in connection with Mr Postlethwaite appear less so with respect to Lord Selworth?
Pippa put her hands to her hot cheeks. That was a subject she ought not—must not—did not wish to pursue.
Fortunately, her leisure for reflection was at an end, their journey nearly so. Kitty had a thousand questions as the the carriage passed the Tyburn turnpike and continued along Oxford Street. She gazed all agog at the busy shops, their lamp-lit windows displaying china, silks, watches, fans, pyramids of fruit or crystal flasks of different coloured spirits. Pedestrians thronged the broad, flagged pavements; along the centre of the street stood a row of carriages which yet left space enough for two coaches to pass on either side.
“Is it not splendid?” cried Kitty. “Shall we shop here, Mama?”
“Sometimes, I expect. It is less expensive than Bond Street or Pall Mall. The cheapest places are further east, however. We shall have no shillings to waste.”
Kitty’s face fell. “No, I know, but I may visit these shops, just to look?”
“Of course, my love. And you need not fear that lower cost necessarily means lower quality. Shops in fashionable districts charge more because their customers can afford it and do not mind paying for the convenience.”
“And because their rents are higher,” Pippa pointed out, to be fair. As the carriage turned right into Davies Street, she continued, “Now this is Mayfair, is it not, Mama?”
Kitty once more glued her nose to the window. “The houses are quite smart,” she said doubtfully, “and tall, but so very narrow. I cannot see how Mrs Debenham will fit us all in.”
“Let us hope the Debenhams’ is one of the larger houses,” Mrs Lisle said, “though if we have to sleep in the garrets, I, for one, shall not complain.”
“Nor I,” said Pippa, “but the servants may if they are driven out of their beds to lie on the kitchen floor.”
The carriage rolled on down the south-west side of Berkley Square, where the houses were grand enough to impress Kitty. At the bottom of the square they turned right into Charles Street, and pulled up before the largest house on the north side.
Kitty breathed an ecstatic sigh and exclaimed, “Oh, splendid! I should not mind sleeping on the kitchen floor, I vow! Their kitchen must be grander than my bedchamber at home.”
Pippa smiled, but absently. The elegance of pillars and pilasters, pediments and cornices, elaborate fanlight and ornate wrought iron, dismayed her. Though aware that her friend had married well, she had continued to think of her in the setting where she had known her.
Albinia’s letters, full of the dry, yet gently tolerant humour which had attracted Pippa to her, had not reflected her altered circumstances. She had become a wealthy, fashionable wife and mother, whereas Pippa remained an impecunious, unimportant spinster, now verging on old-maidship.
Bina must surely have changed to suit her new position. The easy friendship between them was in the past, and Pippa could only resolve sadly not to presume upon it.
Chapter 6
The starchy butler, pink and black marble-floored hall, and handsome staircase further increased Kitty’s rapture, and Pippa’s misgivings.
“I know I shall enjoy myself excessively,” Kitty whispered as they followed the butler and their mother up the stairs. “Dearest Pippa, thank you again for consenting to—”
“Hush, not a word. Pray recollect, it is Mama and our good friend Prometheus who have provided this opportunity.”
“I shall not say a word,” Kitty promised, “even if Miss Warren and I become as close friends as you and Mrs Debenham. You have not told her?”
Pippa shook her head, her finger to her lips. The butler opened a door and announced, “Mrs Lisle, Miss Lisle, Miss Catherine Lisle, madam.”
He stepped aside. Mrs Lisle glanced back at her daughters with a smile, then moved forward into the room. Peering past her, Pippa held her breath. Would Albinia greet them with condescension, and make it plain she had invited them for her brother’s sake? Would she stare at their shabby clothes, forgetting she had once scraped and saved?
How Pippa wished she had not come! It was not being an object of disdain she minded, it was the loss of the precious friendship, nurtured in absence, withering in the harsh light of reality.
“Mrs Lisle, how utterly delightful to see you again!” Albinia Debenham swept forward with a rustle of silks, and took both Mrs Lisle’s hands in hers. “And how very kind of you to agree to lend us countenance, my sister and me. Allow me to present Millicent.”
As Miss Warren made her curtsy and enthusiastically seconded her sister’s gratitude, Albinia turned to Pippa and without further ado enveloped her in a hug.
“Dear, dear Pippa, how I have longed for this moment. What times we shall have together, just wait and see.” Blue eyes sparkling, holding Pippa’s hand, she turned to Kitty. “And you are Miss Catherine, of course. Yes, I see the resemblance. Welcome, my dear.”
Pippa did not hear Kitty’s response. She was overwhelmed with shame for having misjudged Bina. If only she were like Mama and Kitty, always expecting the best of people. Though they might sometimes be disappointed, they suffered neither anxiety before, nor pangs of guilt afterwards.
“Struck dumb, Pippa?” Bina said. Glancing at Miss Warren, she raised her eyes to heaven with a look of comical despair. Her sister was still chattering away to Mrs Lisle about someone called Aunt Prendergast. “I cannot blame you,” Bina continued. “You will soon learn to interrupt. Millie, pray come and make the acquaintance of Miss Lisle and Miss Catherine.”
“Kitty, please, Mrs Debenham. How do you do, Miss Warren?” Kitty’s eyes sparkled with amusement as the full force of Millicent’s verbiage flooded over her.
“Do call me Millie. We are going to be the greatest friends. It is above anything that you are come to stay! Coming out with a friend will be much more fun, do you not agree? And so very lucky you are dark and I am fair. We shall make quite a sensation, I am sure, though we must be careful to coordinate our colours. My favourite colour is blue, but Bina says we’ll have to wear white for grand balls because—”
“My mother told me the same,” Kitty interrupted firmly, “and pale colours in general.”
“Come up to my chamber and I shall show you the gowns I already have. Bina says she and Miss Lisle used to—”
“Bina says, first show Miss Lisle and Miss Kitty to their chamber, if you please. They will want to put off their bonnets and pelisses. Pippa, Miss Kitty, I hope you will not mind sharing a chamber.”
Pippa found her tongue at last. “Not in the least. “
“When I first saw the size of London houses,” Kitty said gaily, “I quite expected we should have to sleep in the garrets, if not on the kitchen floor.”
“Not quite so bad,” Bina said with a smile, “though even the best Town houses are wretchedly small compared to the country. Mrs Lisle, will you come with me?”
They all went up another pair of stairs, then Bina led Mrs Lisle to the back of the house while Pippa and Kitty followed Millicent to the front. Millie chattered the whole way.
“At the rectory I shared a chamber with Bina until she grew up and married, then my next sister moved in with me, but when Wynn’s great-uncle died and we removed to Kymford we each got a chamber of our own. I asked Bina if you might share with me now, only she thought you would like to be with your sister. She said I would never get a wink of sleep if I had someone to talk to all night, and nor would you. I know I talk a lot, and it is not the least use telling me to stop, because once I have started I cannot, but you must just interrupt when you feel like it. Everyone does. Miss Lisle, pray interrupt when you will. Here is your chamber and mine is next door so as soon as you have put off your bonnet—”
“I shall come to see your new gowns, Miss Warren,” Kitty promised.
“Oh, ‘Miss Warren’! You really must call me Millie. Let me see, yes, here is hot water for you already, and this is my maid, Nan,” she continued as a smiling, round-faced girl in a grey stuff dress and white apron bobbed a curtsy. “Imagine, an abigail of my own! Nan will unpack for you and you must tell her what else you wish her to do. Nan, this is Miss Lisle, and Miss Catherine. I shall wait for you in my chamber, Kitty. I have all the latest fashion magazines, too. Do not be too long!”
As Millicent whisked out, seemingly afraid she would be tempted to stay if she did not remove herself quickly, Pippa surveyed the room. It was decorated in white and pale rose pink, with curtains and counterpanes patterned with wild roses. Larger than her and Kitty’s chambers at home combined, it was more than spacious enough for the two beds, two wash-stands, a dressing table, and a huge clothes press. Banked coals glowed in the tiled fireplace.
“What luxury,” Kitty marvelled, untying her bonnet ribbons. “Which bed would you like, Pippa? I am glad we are together. I like Millie, but...” She paused as Pippa glanced warningly at the maid. “But you and I know each other’s ways.”
When Nan had carried off their pelisses to be brushed, Pippa said, “We shall have to grow accustomed to having servants about and taking care what we say.”
“Yes, thank you for stopping me.” Kitty giggled. “In any case I am quite certain you can guess exactly what I was going to say.”
“I daresay Nan guessed, too,” Pippa said dryly.
“The trouble is, some of what Millie says is worth hearing, so one must listen all the time so as not to miss anything.”
“She seems good-natured and well-intentioned, so do try to bear with her prattle.”
“I mean to, but how fortunate that she is not offended by interruptions, or I might lose my voice through disuse!”
They washed faces and hands in the rose-sprigged china basins. Kitty tidied her hair at the dressing-table mirror and went off happily to examine Millicent’s gowns. Pippa sat down at the dressing-table. Her hair needed little attention, the advantage of straight tresses and a severe style. She wondered what to do next.
Someone tapped on the chamber door. Servants bringing up their boxes, she thought. Nan would want to unpack, so she had best get out of the way.
“Come in.”
Albinia appeared. “Pippa, are you comfortable? Is all as it should be? You will have to accustom yourself to asking the servants for whatever you need, all too easy, I promise you. It took me no time at all to grow spoiled.”
“No doubt,” Pippa said, laughing. It was impossible to feel awkward with Bina. “You are certainly doing your best to spoil us. This room is charming, and very comfortable.”
“Good. Millicent’s maid will help you two, and my dresser will take care of your mama. She is shockingly toplofty—Bister, I mean, not Mrs Lisle—and I was quite terrified of her when George’s mother made me hire her, but your mama had her eating out of her hand in no time.”
“Mama is equal to anything.”
“As I know very well. I meant to stay only to make her comfortable, but we started to reminisce, or I should not have left you so long. She is lying down now, in preparation for a strenuous day reconnoitring the shops tomorrow. Come down to my sitting room where we shall have peace for a private cose, a rarity in this house, I fear!”
“Your sister is very friendly,” Pippa said diplomatically, following her hostess from the room. “She has made Kitty feel quite at home already.”
“But one does need an occasional respite. Before we go down, let me just show you....” Bina opened the door next to Mrs Lisle’s chamber. “I have fitted the nursery up as a sitting room for you and Mrs Lisle and the girls. I thought you would like that better than a separate bed-chamber.”
“Oh yes, I truly do not mind sharing with Kitty.”
“If you look down, you can see our garden, though you will scarcely think so tiny a plot worthy of the name.”