Lord Sidley's Last Season (9 page)

As Marian approached her, Katie was saying: “As
he’s offering, he ought to act a bit more-a bit more-”

“Hush, child,” her mother warned. “Do not speak so
here in company. Whatever are you thinking?”

Katie tossed her bright curls as she gazed disconsolately upon the remaining callers. “Perhaps I should
make him jealous,” she said, boldly eyeing two young
gentlemen standing in a window embrasure.

“You have not learned such tricks from me, Katherine,” her mother said sharply, “nor from anyone of sense”

Katie turned to Marian. “Did Lord Sidley speak of
me, Marian?”

“He said he looked forward to our company at Aldersham,” she relayed truthfully. “He was most insistent
on it.”

As Katie smiled, her mother said, “Before you congratulate yourself too heartily, my dear, remember that
his aunt has invited some other eligible young ladies.”

Katie’s chin rose as she prepared to dismiss any threat,
but a footman clearing beverage glasses interrupted.

“Pardon, mum, but I believe Lord Sidley just left his
walking stick.” He raised Sidley’s cane. “Shall I-”

Marian promptly grabbed the cane. “I shall take it
out to Jenks at the door, Aunt,” she said, as she moved
quickly toward the hall. “We might yet catch him.” In
truth, she wished to escape Katie’s gloating and considered the errand a respite.

But Jenks was not at the door. He and two footmen
were down at the curb, assisting a vocal Lady Addlestrop
from her fashionable landau. Marian’s anxious gaze
caught Sidley with his companions farther along the
pavement walking, she noted, rather well without the
aid of his prop. Swiftly she stepped down to the street.
Handing the cane to the tallest Formsby footman, she
instructed him to hail Lord Sidley immediately and race
to return it to him.

The footman dutifully shouted and set off, but in the
crowd promenading on the sidewalk, Marian could not see whether Sidley had stopped. Lady Addlestrop’s descent was creating a noisy disturbance behind her, and
there were several excited cries that the visiting tsar’s
entourage was passing. Marian moved to the very edge
of the street to watch for Sidley. She knew she ought to
return to the drawing room, her task had been fulfilled,
but the afternoon air was fresh and balmy and infinitely
more appealing than more of Katie’s preening.

Again she heard the footman shout, “M’lord Sidley!”

Then Sidley appeared at the curb, looking back toward Marian’s position. She waved but feared he had not
seen her in the crowd. So she stepped into the street,
which was blessedly dry and free of mud. The reward for
exposing herself so was a smile from Sidley, who raised
the restored cane in salute.

But as the Addlestrop commotion increased in volume, as cheers arose for some passing dignitary in the
square, Sidley’s smile vanished. He, too, stepped into
the street, calling out an alarmed “Marian!” even as she
turned to face the roadway.

The landau’s team was acting up, the near horse was
rearing in its traces, while the coachman attempted to
haul the animal back. But the heavy carriage was still
drifting unbidden to the center of the street, where two
wildly racing curricles vied for precedence in the narrow, packed turning off the square.

The din from pounding hooves, the chattering crowd,
and anxious, whinnying animals was deafening. Before
Marian could reach the safety of the sidewalk, she was tossed there in a pained, ungainly heap. Appalled screams
heralded the collapse of a heavy male form beside her.
As she pushed herself from the pavement on shaking
hands, Marian stared in dazed disbelief at the bloody
rent in Sidley’s buckskins, just above one knee. His face
lay still and pale against the stone. Whether she managed to speak then she could not have said, but her mind
repeated numbly, I have killed him, I have killed him, I
have killed him….

regular”A Hercules !” Edgar enthused. “That’s
what they’re callin’ ‘im. Tossin’ you about like that while
snaffling old Addlestrop’s nag! Horse should be turned
over to the knacker after acting up that way. Might’ve
killed him, and you too, though I `spose Mopes and
Carroll shouldn’t a’ been racing just then, and there-”

“I should say not!” Edith agreed. “Do stop this, Edgar.
We know how impressed you are with Lord Sidley’s
prowess. We are most grateful for it. Indeed, I can never
thank him enough. But you must see that the reminder
upsets Marian.”

“Your pardon, cousin.” Edgar nodded to Marian in the
carriage seat opposite. “I thought you’d want to know,
though, as you-as you couldn’t see it.”

Marian, who still felt the bruises from her rescue the week before, smiled wanly. In truth, she had not seen
much of anything, though she had heard and felt enough
to keep her occupied for some time.

She had feared for Sidley. But he had lived, and so
had she, and because he had placed her under so very
great an obligation, she was now compelled to accompany her family to Aldersham. In any other circumstance she’d have successfully regretted the invitation
and avoided the place, or so she had convinced herself.

“I don’t see why Marian had to make such a scene,”
Katie observed. “And not for the first time. ‘Twas ridiculous for her to be hopping about in the street at all!”

“Yes, Katie. I was foolish beyond measure. Which
only increases my debt to Lord Sidley. A more rational
man would have left me to my fate”

“I will never forget how quickly he moved,” Edgar
said, shifting once more into worshipful tones. “A fellow
forgets he’s at death’s door. Though one can only suppose that now he’s even more-What? Oh. Sorry” And
as his mother glared at him, Edgar lapsed into silence.

They had almost reached Aldersham, their journey
into Kent having taken the better part of two days at the
dawdling pace Lady Formsby deemed decorous. Now
Marian felt Edith’s gaze upon her averted profile.

“You will enjoy yourself, Marian,” she said, more in
the nature of a command than of encouragement.

Marian attempted a smile as she turned from viewing
the county’s rolling hills and gracefully shaded lanes. “I’m sure I shall, Aunt. Whether I am as successful at
continuing my painting is another matter.”

“You have your whole life in which to paint, my dear.
I suspect that future invitations to Sidley’s Aldersham
are much less likely.”

“Oh, but, Mama, I shall be inviting Marian and all
my friends at every opportunity!” Katie said.

Edgar snorted dismissively. “A false start, there,
Missy Kate,” he said with a superior look at his sister.
“The betting book at White’s has better odds on two other
chits. And I can’t say as I’d blame Sidley for choosin’ either of them instead.”

“I know better, Mr. Peacock,” Katie scoffed. “During
this stay at his aunt’s I shall convince him that I would
make the finest countess”

“Then he’d be the only one convinced of it!”

“Edgar .. ” his mother warned. “I do hope you two
will make some effort at civility. Marian and I are unfortunately too accustomed to these squabbles; we’ve
learned to ignore them. But should you be overheard at
Aldersham, your wishes and wagers and other plans are
like to come to naught. Mind me-both of you simply
must be more guarded”

Both her cousins settled back, looking chastened.
Marian felt chastened as well, but for another reason.
Just before their departure from town, she had at last received a letter from William; he had told her he expected to return by the end of the fortnight. His letter
had in all ways been very much like every letter he had ever sent her, yet Marian had wanted more-some
greater degree of warmth, perhaps, or of anticipation.
After such a lengthy absence, they were at last to begin
their life together. To her increasingly critical sensibility that merited a more personal closing than: Most eager to see you. As ever, Wm.

As ever. As ever. The carriage wheels mocked the refrain. She should not have expected an eagerness on
William’s part that she was far from feeling herself. For
this past year she had contentedly considered her
prospects settled; she had been free to pursue her craft.
But in light of her unlooked-for reactions to Lord Sidley, that view of marriage now seemed less practical
than narrowly acquisitive. Yes, it was best she relieve
her brother and his future wife of the responsibility for
a spinster sister. But marrying in friendship, to secure a
position, no longer appealed. And though William might
now find sufficient satisfaction in the arrangement, he
might not always.

Neither of them had ever spoken of love. Yet love …
For some reason love consumed Marian’s thoughts.

Along the roadway the afternoon sunlight bathed
Kent’s fields and ancient hedgerows in warmth. Marian
felt she must succeed in painting at Aldersham, if only
to remove herself as frequently as possible from the
weekend party. For Katie had relayed every word of
gossip concerning the other aspirants for Lord Sidley’s
favor. And Katie, Marian reflected in some surprise,
had shown a remarkable dedication to accumulating news about her reported rivals. Indeed, competition had
focused most powerfully her frivolous cousin’s attentions. Two names in particular had surfaced in serious
contention. Just how Katie intended to use her research
was another matter, and one with which Marian was
not at all certain she wished to be familiar.

“Forewarned is forearmed,” Katie had claimed,
glibly quoting the Cervantes that she had never troubled to read. But whereas Lady Katherine, daughter of
an earl, might well feel she had quite an arsenal at her
command, Miss Marian Ware of Brinford did not.

She had to stop herself from laughing at the thought
of her palette and brushes as weapons, only to remind
herself that she was not truly one of the party. Lord Sidley would not grant Marian Ware the same consideration he gave Miss Delia TinckneyDwight.

Katie had singled out the young woman at a soiree just
days before. Delia’s father, Sir Philip TinckneyDwight,
having served the king in some inestimable manner, had
garnered both position and fortune. But Delia’s brilliant
season several years before had been unhappily cut short
by her mother’s illness. Now, as a recent widower, Sir
Philip was rumored to be applying himself, with the
same fervor that had brought him a knighthood, to
achieving a consequential match for his daughter. From
all she had heard and the little she had seen, Marian considered Delia to be Katie’s most formidable rival.

The other name circulating in the betting books was
Rebecca Harvey’s. Though reputedly not as lovely as Lady Katherine, eighteen-year-old Becca had endeared
herself to the gentlemen with a reputation as a neck-ornothing rider. Her considerable fortune of 100,000
pounds also did not go unremarked. True, her parents,
having gained their wealth in trade, still lacked a prestigious country property. And Marian’s cousin Edith,
who was usually most forgiving, had declared Mrs. Harvey to be an irritating, ingratiating “mushroom.” But
the Harveys’ wealth would be all too welcome to many
impoverished peers. Marian did not know the state of
the Sidley finances-proper young ladies did not know
such things-but she had to imagine that a well-placed
100,000 pounds would never be scorned. She recalled
Colonel Bassett’s comment at the Hempthorne card
party, that Sidley lacked “wherewithal,” and the colonel’s reference to the appalling state of Sidley House in
town. Though Colonel Bassett’s information had proved
unreliable in other respects, Marian had to conclude that
Lord Sidley did indeed need funds, else this haste to wed
in his waning days made little sense.

Again she reminded herself that she did not care,
that the matter did not concern her. She determined to
spend as little time as possible in company with the
misses Harvey and TinckneyDwight.

“Marian!” Katie nudged her. “You are woolgathering again! I have asked you twice if you remembered to
bring your silhouette shears” The small, delicate pair
served admirably for rendering the popular cut-paper
profiles.

“I did. But Katie, ‘tis not a pastime this sophisticated
group is likely to find entertaining.”

“Such stuff! You could not be more wrong. Everyone
wishes to have at least one likeness.” Katie happened to
have several. “And yours are always much commended”
As Katie invariably volunteered Marian’s talents, Marian was resigned to the performances; at least they gave
her practice, though the entertainment did sometimes
border on drudgery. “I believe we shall all have a very
merry time of it,” Katie added.

“I do not understand how you can be so cheerful,”
Marian said. “There is something-something gruesome about this situation. As though everyone were
chasing after a casket”

“That is too bleak of you, Marian,” Edith said. “Lady
Adeline would never have countenanced visitors at
Aldersham if Lord Sidley were wasting so very-so very
rapidly. And to have saved you as he did-well, perhaps
we have been misinformed”