Prude & Prejudice (8 page)

The ladies would have been more concerned with finding a suitable husband than having fun, while the men would have
been on the lookout
for a woman
who c
ould
improve their social standing and produce an heir.
Even though it was
very c
old and calculated, she could not
help
seeing the romantic side of it as she pictured the beautiful gowns and elegant settings
of the era
.

Her daydream
was rudely interrupted
when her mother
dumped
a box of wine at her feet
.

“Make yourself u
seful and take this inside Prue
instead of standing about with that daft look on your face.”
Although t
he
strict
class
di
visions that governed society two hundred years ago were
nowhere near as
pronounced anymore
,
she
could not
help feeling a little like an envious kitchen maid
as she picked up the box of wine and lugged it inside.

T
hey had just finished setting u
p the large drawing room an hour
late
r when the guest
s
began to arrive.
Prue
was
circulating
with a tray of canapés
when she spotted William
Darling
across the room. He was staring at her intently and she quickly looked away.
The last thing she needed was to become the butt of another of his cruel jokes
,
and she turned her
back on him
to show her disdain
.
She was careful to avoid his side of the room
when she did the circuit
with her tray, but to her int
ense annoyance he strode across the room towards her
.

“You seem to have forgotten my
side
of the room.
I’d hate to think you were avoiding me.”

“Why would I want to avoid you?”
she said, continuing to offer canapés
to the other guests
while he spoke to her.

“I thought you might still be embarrassed about the other night.
I don’t blame you for getting a
bit upset. It really must seem like we
taken over the town. It’s only
natural to feel a little put out
.
”

She turned to face him.
“I guess you
would understand
, wouldn’t you? It must be just dreadful in the
city with all those
dirty
foreigners taking over
.
No wonder you came out here where the population is much more homogenous
.” Her words dripped with sarcasm
but she smiled pleasantly
to distort her true meaning. H
e
looked at her for a moment
before clearing his throat.

“Okay, well I guess I’d better leave you with it. Than
ks for this.” He held up the canapé
and
backed
away. She later saw him shoot
her a couple of puzzled look
s across the room
and she smiled at him enigmatically.
At
ten o’clock they put out the last of the food and
cleared up, and then
Prue, Cate and their mother
were
finally
free to g
et changed and join the guests while Alice took Mary home.

As she and Cate applied their make-up in a
guest
bathroom upstairs, Prue could not resist teasing her sister
about
Charles
Bradley
and his obvious feelings for her
.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen the host of a party spend so much
time hanging around the catering
staff. He sure is conscientious when it comes to the food.”

“I told him he was being rude to his other gu
ests but he didn’t seem to care,
”
replied Cate as she
outlined her lips
carefully
.

“Seems h
e only has eyes for you.”

“I know.” Cate
stopped applying her make-up
and
turned to her sister, her
own
feelings written all over her face. “I really like him too
,
Prue
, but I just don’t want to let myself get my hopes up in case it doesn’t work out. He seems too good to be true.”

“
I think he is a genuinely
nice guy, and exactly what you deserve. Just enjoy
i
t
,
Cate
,
and don’t question it too much. Sometimes things really are as good as they seem to be.”

“I know
I should just relax, but I’m a bit worried about Mum being here. I mean she’s okay when she’s working, but once she let
s her hair down a bit she can get
pretty embarrassing.”

“Don’t worry about Mum, I’ll keep an eye on her, and I won’t let her anywhere near
the dance floor.”

“
Thank goodness for that.
What about you and Mr Darling?
I
saw him ta
lking to you earlier and Charles
told me he’s been asking about you. He wanted to know if you were single.
”

“Don’t make me laug
h. You know how I fe
el about that man and his ugly
opinions
.
” Prue applied one last coating of gloss to her lips and
patted her hair
, trying to ignore the fact that her pulse had quickened just a little at Cate’s words
.
“
Now
,
let’s
get out there and
join this party
.”

The party was still in full-swing as they made their way downstairs
, with several carloads of latecomers just arriving
.
Charles
Bradley
immediately whisked
Cate
away
to introduce her to someone while
Prue helped h
erself to
a gl
ass of wine. She could see a few
people she knew, but for the moment she was content to just survey the crowd and soak up the atmosphere.
Standing behind her were two
women she recognized from Organic
Feasts
. One of them had shown her into William Darling’
s office the day
she had
gone there to make
her humiliating apology, and she assumed she was his PA
.
She could not help overhearing their conversation

“I’m heading back to London next weekend, and I’ve a good mind to stay. I don’t kn
ow why I ever agreed to move to this hole
.
The country life is not for me.
”

“
I know, but it looks like we
’
re
stuck here now
. Charles
seems very happy, especially now that he’s found a little local girl to play with. Can you believe he’s interested in her?”

“I
know, i
t’
s
so
embarrassing.
She’s a caterer for god’s sakes. I can’t believe he actually invited her to the party, and now he’s introducing her around like she’s someone
important. She just got changed out of her uniform
ten minutes ago
.”
They both broke out in
peals of laughter and Prue had to
call upon all of her willpower not to turn around and say something to them.
Her mother would kill her if she made another scene
.

“She’s got nothing on you
,
darling, but if he can’t see that then it’s his pr
oblems. Let him have his little maid
.”
They moved away and Prue took a few deep breaths to get her anger
under control before she began mingling with the crowd.
Thankfully
there were many nice people at the party
and
she
became so abs
orbed in conversation
s with them
that she forgot all about
the awful women and their comments. Unfortunately she also forgot all about
her promise to Cate to keep an eye on their mother.

When she finally remembered she was horrified
to discover that Adelaide
Higginbottom
had William Darling cornered
,
and
even
from a distance she could see
from her
mother’s
shiny, red co
mplexion that she had
been drinking
a lot
. Prue
discretely manoeuvred h
erself close to them so she could
listen to their conversation and s
he breathed a sigh of relief to d
iscover that they had not been talking
for long.

“So
,
how are you finding our little town? People are very f
riendly here you must have discovered
by now
.”

“Yes, I agree. Everyone was very nice when we first came here, but over the past couple of weeks I’ve noticed a bit of a change.”

“Oh, what sort of change?”

“Well, when I go to the markets some of the older men who were
quite friendly when we arrived
don’t seem to want to know me
anymore
.
Even in the main street some of the ladies seem to avoid me.
It’s a bit strange, but I’m probably just imagining things. No one else has said anything.”

“I daresay yo
u’re reading too much into it. Despite the impression my daughter has given you w
e’re very accepting of newcomers here, at least the right sort of newcomers.” Prue’s heart lurched as she noticed her mother giving him a wink. She was st
raying into dangerous territory and t
he last thing she wanted was for
William Darling to discover
he had a
supporter.

“
I’m not sure I do know what you mean.”

“We are very happy to have new people here, as long as they are our kind of people.” When he still didn’t seem to understand she whispered
loudly,
“White skinned English people.
Christians.
It’s all well and goo
d to have a few foreigners
around, but nobody wants too many. They bring all sorts of problems with them and make life difficult for everyone. I’m all for diversity, as long as there isn’t too much of it.”

“I can see where your daughter
gets her opinions from,” said William Darling.
Prue
quickly
stepped in
and took her mot
her by the arm.

“There you are
,
Mum,
I’ve been looking for you everywhere. I
t’s time to go home now.
”

“What do you mean it’s time to g
o home? The party has just started.
I was just telling Mr Darling
how much I agree with him
about his views on
immigration and multiculturalism.”

“What?”

“That’s great
,
but we really have to leave now.” Her mother was drunker than Prue
had
realized, because she pulled
back and refused to budge. Her words wer
e slurred and she
swayed
on her feet
. “Come on
,
Mum,
I think you’ve had a little too much wine.”

“
What nonsense,” she replied loudly.
“
You’re just trying to censor
me like you always do
at home
. I’m tired of living in a society where ordinary people have to keep their opinions to themselves.
Its political correctness gone mad.
Why should I have to pretend that I don’t think that immigrants cause trouble
or that our Chri
stian society is being overtaken
?
Just t
he other day I read in the paper that schools aren’t even allowed to celebrate Christmas anymore in case they
offend Muslims and Hindus
.
Can you imagine it?
What is the world coming to?
You agree with me don’t you
,
Mr Darling?
I want
you to know that I support what you stand for and I’d like
to sign up for your
grass
roots movement. It’s
about time someone did something before it’s too late
.”