The Suitor List (10 page)

"I fear this will be our last visit" Augusta had stopped
by to see the Baroness two other times without Sir
Samuel's escort. The last had been just after her visit to
Kew Gardens with Sir Benjamin Pelfry.

"Oh, I am sorry to hear that. I have so looked forward to seeing you" The Baroness splashed a bit of
milk in their cups, then poured tea.

"I shall miss coming by for a bit of sanity." Augusta
stared into the garden, expecting she would never know
the gardening secrets or whatever magic spell Lady
Vernon cast over her plants that made them grow with
such vigor.

Lady Vernon chuckled. "You have your suitors driving you half mad and your friends leading you by the
hand the remainder of the way"

Augusta could not have phrased it any better herself.

"When are you to depart?" A notable sadness laced
the Baroness's words.

"Miriam's wedding is tomorrow morning. My family
will leave for Faraday Hall after the wedding breakfast"
Augusta continued on, spouting her news. "Emily's parents, the Squire and Mrs. Wilbanks, her brother Richard,
along with Miss Olivia Skeffington and her mother, left
for Yewhill Grange yesterday. Richard and his fiancee
will have their banns read this Sunday, and in two weeks'
time they shall marry."

"I can see that saddens you"

"No, not really," Augusta did not quite lie, but it was
not exactly the entire truth. "I am very happy for both
couples"

Lady Vernon stared down into her teacup, and Augusta
had the distinct feeling it was to avoid meeting her
gaze. "I cannot help but think you might wish you were
in a similar position."

Augusta set her teacup on the table and clasped her
hands. "I would wish it for myself if I had made a successful match"

"Is there no hope?" Lady Vernon looked into
Augusta's face-what had she expected to see? Perhaps
the truth. "Do you think it too late now that the Season is
over?"

"Oh! I forgot to tell you the best news" Augusta
leaned forward with excitement. "We are to have a house
party within a fortnight. Papa and Aunt Penny are making the arrangements"

"A house party so you should become better acquainted with certain gentlemen," Lady Vernon mused. "What a wonderful idea, but the sheer number of males
who must be involved-"

"I should not like to think all the men are there for my
sole amusement. We did invite many ladies as well,"
Augusta replied. "And Sir Samuel has not been overlooked."

"How kind of you to have invited my nephew."

"I would not eliminate Sir Samuel because he has
not reached his majority. There will also be gentlemen
who have not seen theirs for some time." Augusta did
not wish to refer to them as old, but she meant those
who were quite a bit older than herself. "A difference of
a few years, in either direction of mine, should not be a
deciding factor. Although I should not wish to marry
someone who is thirty years of age."

"You are very wise, my dear." Lady Vernon chuckled
and touched Augusta's arm reassuringly.

"May I write to you?" Augusta waited, hoping the
Baroness would not think her forward. After all, their
acquaintance had not been long.

"I'd be delighted. I must know what happens-the intrigue, the gentlemen" Her eyes grew large with every
phrase, and her smile brightened at the very thought.

"I hardly think there will be much intrigue, Lady
Vernon"

"One never knows about these things," the Baroness
remarked. "Especially when it comes to your sisters.
From what you have told me, Charlotte could not be
more of a friend to you. The younger one, Muriel, she
sounds very precocious."

"They would never jeopardize my future." She hoped not, anyway. "My father wouldn't hear of it. This is too
important." Especially to Augusta.

"All those guests, all those gentlemen . . " Lady
Vernon shook her head as if not quite convinced.
"There's no telling what your sisters will have in store.
In any case, I'm sure I'll find your escapades well worth
reading."

Two weeks later-Faraday Hall, Essex

They're in here, Your Grace." Aunt Penny pulled the
heavy, multi-paneled door of the Specula Alta open wide.
A precocious Muriel, age six, had named this "watchtower" with the bit of Latin she'd picked up from her
brother's tutor.

Charlotte looked up from the papers before her to
view the intruders while Muriel remained ever-vigilant
to the task at the window.

The Duke and Mrs. Parker entered the old nursery,
which the sisters had always used as an excellent vantage point. As children, they had watched the comings
and goings of their parents' visitors.

Today, Charlotte and Muriel observed the arriving
gentlemen coming up the drive that ran along the side of
the house, leading the guests to the front main entrance.
The young ladies with their mamas and/or chaperones
who arrived the day before had not been nearly as noteworthy.

"What do you two think you are doing?" The Duke waved his daughters away. "Move from that window at
once. You are bound to be seen."

"Oh, Papa, none of them can see us all the way up
here," Muriel, with her logic and uncommon sensibilities, replied. "We are much too sheltered in the corner,
obscured by the decorative architectural embellishments
and overabundance of ivy, to be noticed."

Charlotte and Muriel pressed their opera glasses to
their eyes, inched forward, and once again peered out
the large diamond-shaped glass panes.

"Nevertheless, you shall ruin our plans if you are
seen before tomorrow evening, Charlotte," Mrs. Parker
reminded her niece.

"Moo is the one insisting we catalog every gentleman's arrival"

The Duke chuckled, as had Charlotte when she first
heard of her younger sister's tally.

"It's not exactly accurate, you understand." Muriel
swept a handful of papers from the table to show their
father and aunt.

"How can you possibly know who they are?" Mrs.
Parker inquired.

"Char-Char is reading the letters from Gusta, Em, and
Cousin Mimi, and we match the gentlemen as they arrive to their descriptions."

"I think we're doing quite well, actually," Charlotte
admitted. They'd been stationed at the window for a
good three hours, starting right after they'd breakfasted
while the rest of the house slept.

"See there is Lord Fieldstone with the black barouche.
The golden-haired gentleman in the forest green jacket is Sir Carlton Wingate." Muriel pointed out. "And that
gentleman in the green phaeton who's nearly tall enough
to peer in at us is Sir Warren Cantrell."

"They seem to have the right of it, Your Grace." Aunt
Penny chuckled. "There is no fooling your daughters"

"How right you are, Mrs. Parker." The Duke of Faraday gathered his daughters in his arms and gave a hearty
laugh. "There is nothing that cannot be accomplished
when our family works toward a single purpose"

On the ground floor, Emily, Richard, and his fiancee,
Miss Skeffington, strolled down the main corridor of
Faraday Hall with Augusta.

"I understand you had an assortment of ladies arrive
yesterday." Miss Skeffington looked around. "Where
are they hiding themselves?"

"They're still abed, I'm afraid. Must be keeping Town
hours" The men, the gentlemen-her suitors-were to
arrive today. Augusta could not restrain the continual,
heart-pounding lightness and anxiousness that resided
within her.

"I see the orange trees have been brought out for display." Emily indicated the two specimens that each
bore a half dozen fruit flanking the tall, arching window in the Grand Foyer.

Aunt Penny's footfalls sounded from the staircase. In
evidence of her haste, the lace cap atop her head fluttered during her swift descent.

"Augusta, dear! You must stay clear of the public areas
until after the gentlemen have arrived," Mrs. Parker
warned, waving the small group away. "If you are spotted, there should be a to-do that well, I should not wish to
think on it. Please, Richard, see the ladies to the Citrus
Parlor."

"By all means, Mrs. Parker. Ladies, this way, if you
please" Richard led their group in a leisurely aboutface, toward the small parlor in the rear of the house.

"Exactly how many gentlemen are invited, Lady
Augusta?" Miss Skeffington asked.

"A dozen, I believe." Augusta turned to face the front
door of Faraday Hall. Just beyond those doors the
gentlemen visitors gathered and, perhaps among them,
Augusta's future husband.

"His Grace and I added Lord Marsdon and Lord
William Felgate when you made their acquaintance at
the Rushtons' dinner party a few evenings before we
returned home," Mrs. Parker amended. "That makes
fourteen. As you will recall, Augusta, they returned to
London with the express purpose of seeing you. We
thought them most impressive and equally deserving of
your notice."

"Goodness me, fourteen!" Miss Skeffington exclaimed.

"There were not as many young ladies who received
invitations, you understand. I also expect they do not
know the gentlemen were scheduled to arrive today, else
the female guests would have awoken early and breakfasted in time to welcome the newcomers"

"I can just imagine the chaos that will ensue with
only a few women being pursued by these many menit's best I keep Miss Skeffington close" Richard placed
his fiancee's delicate hand in the crook of his arm and
laid his strong, protective hand over hers.

Theirs was not a love match, Augusta understood, and
she pushed aside her slight discomfort at observing them
together. It was a constant reminder of what she dearly
wished-to find a husband. It appeared they were wellsuited and enjoyed each other's company. Augusta hoped
she would find an equally suitable arrangement. It was
her most fervent wish that she would achieve a more affectionate attachment, but she somehow felt that would
be extremely selfish and highly improbable.

"You need not worry, Mr. Wilbanks," Mrs. Parker assured him. "I would not be surprised to find only half
their number remains by tomorrow."

Charlotte stood next to Muriel, gazing out the window
from the Specula Alta. She had never seen so many men
in one place before. She and Muriel watched them
arrive, mingle, and finally enter the house. All those
gentlemen ... what were they about?

Where eligible young ladies, mamas, chaperones, and
maids had swarmed Faraday Hall only the day before,
the influx of gentlemen would continue throughout this
day. Most of them traveled with their valets, who saw to
the unloading of the luggage. Many of them presently
congregated near the swan fountain on the other side of
the main drive of Faraday Hall.

Giggling and laughter began to fill the upper floor corridors just before noon. Charlotte imagined the female
guests had finally realized the house party would soon begin. Faraday Hall was a very busy household indeed.

The thought of sharing her home with these dozen or
so masculine, attractive newcomers caused Charlotte's
heart to race.

"What's wrong, Char-Char?" Muriel narrowed her
eyes at her sister. "You've gone pale"

"There are so many of them." She felt her face warm,
then she dropped her shawl from her shoulders, hoping
it would cool her. "I am to attend the ball this evening. I
do not know how I am to-"

"I cannot tell you how happy I am that my presence
is not required." Muriel held the opera glasses firmly to
her eyes.

"But you have studied with the dance master." All three
sisters had spent months in lessons before Augusta's
departure. "Why would you choose not to try your hand
at

"I have no intention of dancing this or any other evening, Char-Char," Muriel declared with firm resolve.

"Oh, that is a shame. After all that time practicing."
Charlotte blinked, wondering if her younger sister felt
shy because of her age and needed a bit of encouragement. "You are really quite graceful and have a lovely
form, you know."

Muriel lowered the glasses to regard Charlotte.
"Thank you for the compliment but I cannot see the point
in the attempt. I do not enjoy the exercise. Besides, those
gentlemen will only have eyes for you and Gusta, not
me.

"I see" She understood that Muriel, only very recently
thirteen, might not be of an age to attract any gentlemen
of Augusta's age. But Charlotte, two years younger than
her eldest sister, could she truly be of any interest to
them? "Moo, do you think I can expect a dozen gentlemen to pay court to me when my time comes?"

"Oh, I shouldn't think so" Muriel raised the glasses
to her eyes once more.

Charlotte felt a bit calmer at her younger but wiser
sister's pronouncement. Being in the company of
numerous men made her nervous. Muriel was very
clever and could usually see the right of any matter.

"I'd expect double their number."

Charlotte grabbed onto the edge of the windowsill.
The various letters she held slipped from her hand, sliding to the floor. She closed her eyes and drew in a deep
breath.