Sir Thomas could not withstand his daughter’s sincere plea. Indeed, there was much truth in all that she had said. He sighed again very heavily. “I regret that you were made so unhappy, Lucinda. Lord Mays was a cad to use you so. However, as you say, he is dead, and that should be the end of it. At least you have been well provided for. I am glad now that I insisted that some provision was to be made for you in the settlements. Lord Mays was generous in deeding over to you and your heirs Carbarry and its income. It is a minor estate, true, but nevertheless one of some substance. There is also the annuity.”
“I have no cause for complaint. Certainly I am more fortunate than many who are left widowed and have nothing but a widow’s portion,” said Lucinda, glad to be able to agree with her father on this one point. “You were farsighted in that, Papa.”
Sir Thomas became visibly more cheerful. He nodded in satisfaction. “You are right, daughter. So, you are out of black gloves. Very well then! It is time that we think of the future.”
“That is precisely what I have been doing this whole twelvemonth, Papa.” Lucinda smiled, anticipating her father’s inevitable reaction to her announcement. “I have decided to go to London.”
“London!” Sir Thomas stared at her, once more visibly shaken. “But why? What do you mean to do?”
“Why, I mean to amuse myself a bit,” said Lucinda on the quiver of a laugh.
“Well, naturally you shall do so. But I mean to say, what plans have you?” asked Sir Thomas.
Lucinda took pity on her faltering parent. “I am going up to town for the Season, Papa. My husband’s heir and cousin, Wilfred Mays, is unmarried, as you know, and prefers to keep lodgings in town rather than live in the town house. Wilfred has graciously consented to my opening up the town house for an indefinite period, which I have already undertaken. As for my plans, they are quite simple, really. I shall shop and go to routs and dance every night if I wish. I shall fling myself into every amusement and dissipation imaginable until my head is in a dizzy whirl. In short, I intend to purge the taint of my wretched marriage from my life.”
Sir Thomas was profoundly shocked. He had a sudden vision of his beautiful daughter painted and bejeweled and immodestly gowned, laughing from under her lashes at every male within her sight and whirling away in their arms. He spluttered, “Why, you cannot mean what you are saying, Lucinda!”
“I have never been more sober in my life. Papa,” said Lucinda.
“But only think how you will look. You are so young, scarcely fledged when all is said. You will be the object of every eye and tongue, and there will be none to protect you from slight and slander.” In his agitation Sir Thomas rose from the table and took a short turn, his hands clasped tightly behind his broad back.
“I am no longer a dreamy-eyed schoolgirl with little more than her face and figure to recommend her, Papa,” said Lucinda on a tart note.
“No, of course not. You were never that. You were always a girl of uncommon sense,” said Sir Thomas, coming back to press her slim shoulder.
Chapter Two
Lucinda had the inspiration to freshen his coffee cup. After she poured, Sir Thomas returned to his chair and picked up the cup. Encouragingly, Lucinda said, “There is nothing to make you anxious, Papa. I only wish for a little gaiety.”
With a bothered expression, he said, “That is all very well for you to say. However, I will not conceal from you that I think this a very odd start, Lucinda! I cannot foresee anything for you but disaster. You will be alone and unprotected. Indeed, I fear greatly for your reputation.”
“I am Lady Mays and a very rich widow. I do not think I shall lack for respectability,” said Lucinda dryly.
“Respectability!” Sir Thomas fairly pounced upon the word. “You cannot go up to London alone and unchaperoned, Lucinda. You must have a respectable female with you in order to protect your reputation. Your mother cannot be expected to do it, for she has promised to go for Lefty’s lying-in next month. It would be selfish to request either of your other sisters to abandon their husbands and families for several months only to afford you pleasure.”
“Pray do not fret, Papa. I have already invited Miss Tibby Blythe to join me.” Lucinda was surprised by her father’s sudden frown. “Surely you recall my former governess, Papa?”
Sir Thomas nodded. His heavy brows were still drawn. “Of course I do. Miss Blythe was an exceptionally stern preceptress. Your mother and I much admired the fashion in which she molded you and your sisters’ characters.”
“Then I do not understand. What possible objection could you have to her?” asked Lucinda, now made curious.
Sir Thomas pulled momentarily at his underlip. “I approve of your rare good sense in retaining Miss Blythe as your companion, Lucinda, but I do wonder that you thought of her at all when your announced intention is to cut a dash.” Meeting his daughter’s astonished gaze, he shrugged uncomfortably. “I was always secretly of the opinion that Miss Blythe’s long face threw rather a damper over things. She had all the appeal of a crusty dragon.”
Lucinda with difficulty suppressed a smile at her father’s revelation. She and her sisters had been aware for many years that beneath Miss Blythe’s uncompromisingly respectable exterior had beat a heart that thrilled to the nonsense in romance novels. However, this was certainly not the time to disabuse her father of his mistaken estimation of her former governess. “It is true that Miss Blythe has always possessed a formidable air. However, I felt that it was only proper to provide myself with a chaperone of stern countenance, one who would keep a close watch and ward off the wolves. A chaperone, moreover, who knew what was due to my name.”
Sir Thomas pursed his mouth thoughtfully. “You do not want for all sense, in any event.” He looked closely at his daughter, and his expression softened. “Aye, Lucinda, I can well understand how you must crave a bit of excitement after leading such a quiet life as you have. I have often pitied you living here with no company but your own to enliven the days. It is no wonder at all that you should want a change. I do not begrudge you that, my dear!”
“Papa, you speak as though I had been shut up these past three years,” said Lucinda with a laugh.
“And so you have! How could you have remained in London when Lord Mays disgraced you so? He did not even have the decency to provide a separate household for you somewhere else, such as in Bath, where you could have still enjoyed society! Instead, he buried you alive at Carbarry!” said Sir Thomas with unwonted forcefulness.
As his daughter stared, he managed to bring his deep-held emotion under control. He reached over to pat her hand in a reassuring fashion. “It will do you good to buy yourself a few fripperies and call upon your old acquaintances. You have lived too quietly by half. Indeed, I even begin to approve of this scheme of yours if you do mean to have Miss Blythe to you, and so I shall tell your mother. Mind, I still do not care for the notion of your spending the whole Season in London. But I shall say no more against it.”
Lucinda looked at her father a little curiously. “You do not think that Mama would approve even when I have retained Miss Blythe as my companion?”
Sir Thomas shrugged with exaggerated indifference, but his eyes were suddenly sharp on his daughter’s face. “Lord Potherby, you know.”
“Oh, I see,” said Lucinda, and she did.
Lord Potherby was the owner of a property adjoining Carbarry and had thus been her closest neighbor since she had taken up residence three years previously. The gentleman had met her parents on the occasions of their rare visits, and he had impressed both of them with his undeniable worthiness.
Lord Potherby was wealthy and of extremely good birth. He had always quite openly admired his beauteous neighbor, Lady Mays. If he had been of a different kidney, he might have tried to figure in her affections despite her marital status. But Lord Potherby was a true gentleman.
Over the years Lord Potherby had become disgusted by Lord Mays’s well-known progress as a womanizer and a ruthless collector of objets d’art. When Lord Potherby met Lady Mays, and learned through the grapevine both the circumstances of her marriage and the cause of her sudden appearance at Carbarry, he had at once set out to establish himself as her supporter and admirer.
Since Lord Mays’s untimely death, Lord Potherby had gone a step further. He openly engaged himself to become indispensable to the beautiful unbereaved widow. Lady Mays’s correct observance of a period of mourning was all that had hindered Lord Potherby from making a formal declaration for her hand. He deemed that it would not have been in good taste to urge the widow to remarry before her mourning was completed.
There was nothing in Lady Mays’s demeanor that had ever encouraged his lordship to believe that she looked with favor upon his suit. However, Lord Potherby was confident that once the onerous social obligation of her mourning was met and Lady Mays was free to express herself at last, then she would gratefully accept his courtship.
Sir Thomas and his good wife approved of Lord Potherby’s obvious suit for their daughter’s hand. They encouraged his lordship’s pursuit whenever they were at Carbarry, inevitably requesting that Lord Potherby be included in all their amusements.
Lucinda could only be glad that her parents did not live close enough to really promote the match through social gatherings. She esteemed Lord Potherby as a neighbor, certainly. But that did not mean that one wished to marry the gentleman. She and Lord Potherby were completely unsuited to one another, if for no other reason than that she was several years his junior. She had just emerged from a disastrous marriage with an older gentleman, and she had no desire to enter into another such unbalanced union.
However, even Lucinda had to admit that Lord Potherby appeared to be a veritable cherub after her late husband, Lord Mays. It was really no wonder that her parents deemed the match to be a good one. Besides his other advantageous worldly attributes, Lord Potherby was eminently steady of character. Not a breath of scandal attached to his name. He would indeed make a welcome change when one compared his lordship to Lucinda’s unlamented departed husband, Sir Thomas and his good wife agreed.
It was a pity that Lucinda did not this time agree meekly to her parents’ judgment.
“Papa, I have no intention of marrying Lord Potherby,” said Lucinda. “You and Mama might as well give up this unfounded hope that I shall, for my mind is quite made up. We simply would not suit.”
“You are not getting any younger, Lucinda,” said Sir Thomas. He quite conveniently forgot that he had stated not many minutes before that she was too young to be let go to London by herself. “You are practically on the shelf. You cannot hope to compete with the fresh crop of young misses that are coming out each year.”
“Really, Papa! You are too absurd,” said Lucinda, laughing. “Why, I would be a nodcock indeed if I thought to make myself out to be an ingénue. No, the young misses may have free rein of the marriage mart and with my goodwill. I am too experienced in the ways of the world to desire to go that route again!”
An unwelcome thought occurred to Sir Thomas. With a lamentable lack of tact, he said, “I hope you have not taken a silly notion in mind to set your cap at some experienced buck this Season, Lucinda. I fear that you will be rolled up at that game. A widow cannot command the same pristine reputation as an unmarried girl, and that is what these gentlemen are looking for.”
“I am not going up to London to find myself a husband!” said Lucinda, pardonably ruffled. “It is just as I have told you. I intend to indulge in a little gaiety. That is all! How could you think that I would behave with such ... such desperation?”
Sir Thomas appeared not to be convinced. He was frowning. “Every woman wishes to wed, Lucinda. It is ingrained in them.”
“That is absurd. Why, I know of any number of women who have not wed,” said Lucinda.
“No doubt you are speaking of the lower orders, Lucinda. One of your quality always wishes to wed. It is bred into your very bones,” said Sir Thomas solemnly.
“Papa, I did not think you were so gothic in your notions,” said Lucinda, staring at her parent in disbelief.
Sir Thomas drew himself up. “Not at all, daughter. I know whereof I speak. No, the more I think about it, the more I see that this scheme of yours will not do after all.”
“Papa!”
“Enough, Lucinda. You must be guided by me in this. I would spare you the mortification of being left at the altar. That, is, even if you
were
able to bring some buck up to scratch,” said Sir Thomas. As a clincher, he added, “Best to marry Lord Potherby right away and then go up to London for amusement.”
Lucinda was torn between exasperation and laughter at her father’s idiotic notion that she was planning to entrap a husband over the Season. However, she knew it would do little good to try to reason her father out of an idea once it had taken hold of his intellect. She was forced to be satisfied with a skirmishing hit. “I could scarcely expect to find amusement as Lady Potherby!”
Sir Thomas took her point at once. He nodded reluctantly. “Lord Potherby can be a bit of a slowtop on occasion,” he admitted. “But that should scarcely weigh against the many advantages of the match.”
“Lord Potherby is a crashing bore,” said Lucinda, not mincing the matter.
“His lordship is a very worthy man. He would make you an excellent husband,” said Sir Thomas reprovingly.
Lucinda threw up her hands. “Papa, I think that we should leave off this conversation if I am not to come to cuffs with you. And I do not in the least wish to quarrel when we are shortly to part from one another.” Dropping her napkin beside her plate and rising from her chair, she went around the end of the table to place a kiss on the top of her father’s head.
Sir Thomas was mollified by her loving salute. He patted her hand where it rested upon his shoulder. “Very well, Lucinda. I shall say nothing more for now. You have always been a good, dutiful daughter. I know that in the end I may rely upon your good sense.”