AN: Thank you for all the lovely reviews! And now, some after-dinner conversations...
As the ladies made their way into the retiring room, Ruth looked out intently for Lady Radford, hardly paying any heed to Elizabeth's raptures over Mrs North's gown. At last, her godmother appeared and, flashing her a kind smile, approached the circle of chairs where Miss Evershed and her young charge had situated themselves. A few minutes of Lady Radford's conversation was enough to bore Elizabeth interminably, and she was understandably relieved when Ruth suggested quietly, "Why do you not go and inquire whether Miss Levendis will still be joining us for a ride tomorrow, Elizabeth?" Her niece, despite having asked this question several hours ago, clutched at this excuse for escape with both hands and rose immediately, remembering at the last moment to bob a brief curtsey to Lady Radford.
Lady Radford raised her eyebrows at Ruth, and her tone when she spoke was dry in the extreme. "You must wish to speak to me about something important, Ruth. You haven't contrived to get Elizabeth out of our way so beautifully since she was eleven." Ruth flushed slightly and closed her eyes in silent acknowledgement of her godmother's words. "I merely wished to make some inquiries about my new acquaintance," she replied lightly. Lady Radford breathed a gentle sigh of relief and her posture seemed to slacken slightly. "Thank goodness. I was rather afraid, my dear, that you were about to begin discussing suitable governessing positions with me, and I appear to have neglected to bring my salts."
Ruth choked back a laugh, enjoying very much her ladyship's obvious disgust at such an unpleasant idea. "Not at all. I have decided to take your advice, dear ma'am, and wait until after the wedding, and perhaps until after Christmas before I make any decisions on that score." Lady Radford nodded in approval and relief. "Well, I will not tell you I am sorry, for I am not. I suggest that you come to stay with me as soon as possible after the wedding, and remain with me at Kieley until the new year, and then we shall see what can be done for you." Her words were firm and Ruth did not argue with her. A prolonged stay with Lady Radford, followed by a Christmas spent at Kieley (Lady Radford's home in the country) was not at all disagreeable to her, she found. "Thank you, ma'am. I would enjoy that very much."
Lady Radford smiled her approval, and then deftly changed the subject. "You wished to inquire about Captain Carter?" she asked innocently.
Ruth's eyes widened. "Forgive me, ma'am, you are mistaken. I rather wished to know about Sir Henry. He seemed a pleasant man, and I was interested to know whether you could tell me about him. His character, his family, how he is thought of by the ton."
Lady Radford adjusted a fold of her gown carefully before replying, and Ruth could not help wondering whether Lady Radford was judging how much to reveal to her young friend. "I know very little about him, I am afraid, my dear. He was better acquainted with my late husband than with me. He is spoken of as intelligent and amiable, and clearly he is a gentlemanly sort of man, despite his mother's father having been a mere country parson. But then, his father's family were always well-bred. His land marches near mine, I believe. His house is… Middlethorpe Priory."
Miss Evershed's eyebrows rose significantly. "Middlethorpe? Squire Pevensey's home?"
Lady Radford nodded. "It was, when you were a child. Pevensey was Sir Henry's uncle, and he inherited the baronetcy, as well as a considerable fortune, when Pevensey died. He was childless, you know."
Miss Evershed could vaguely recall such a circumstance, and a brief glimpse of a young man whom she had been told was Squire Pevensey's heir flashed across her mind.
"I understand from what he told me that he is a widower, ma'am."
"Yes, for several years now. There were two children from the marriage, I believe - two boys. No, I am mistaken - 'twas a girl and a boy."
"Was he… was he very happily married, ma'am?" Ruth asked shyly, unsure of why this was such an important question.
Lady Radford gave her niece an appraising glance, and explained dryly, "It is breathed in certain circles that the marriage was not one of unalloyed bliss, my dear." Ruth heard this intelligence with sadness. Unhappy marriages did more damage than was generally known.
"What happened to the children, after their mother's death?" she inquired. With Lady Radford, there had never been any need to disguise her curiosity under a veil of ladylike coyness.
"Miss Pearce was, I believe, sent to live with her aunt in Oxfordshire. The son went to Eton, and then to Oxford, but I have never heard him spoken of with approval. He is rather a wild young man, it seems."
Ruth frowned. Surely a man grieving the loss of his wife would wish for the comfort he might derive from the presence of his children in his home? And yet Sir Henry had sent his offspring away from him.
Quietly, she guessed, "Both of them must be married, by now, I imagine."
Lady Radford nodded. "Miss Pearce is, I believe, to a naval officer who was acquainted with her uncle. There was a murmur amongst the ton at the time of her marriage that Sir Henry did not entirely approve of the matter. I do not know anything regarding this, but it is certainly a fact that Mrs Fitzdean and her husband have never been seen at Middlethorpe. I do not know about Sir Henry's son."
"I think I heard from somewhere - perhaps Captain Carter mentioned it - that Sir Henry is engaged in work for the War Office."
Lady Radford frowned disapprovingly. "Yes. When he resigned his captaincy, he was immediately offered employment there. It is of course unnecessary. His uncle's fortune was passed to him almost intact, and he is not an extravagant man." Ruth pondered this piece of information, and found it to her liking. From hearing him speak, Ruth could guess at patriotism for the reason for Sir Henry's continued employment.
The door opened and the gentlemen began to enter. Lady Radford claimed Captain Carter, whose mother she had been well acquainted with, and Ruth was left to amuse herself as best as she could until Rosalind joined her. The two women were so well engaged in a discussion of a concert they had both recently attended, that neither of them noticed that Sir Henry's attention was rather more focused on Miss Evershed than on the conversation of Major North…
Unbeknownst to Miss Evershed, a similar conversation to her own with Lady Radford had been conducted in the dining room…
"Lucas," began Sir Henry casually, as the bottle of port began its second journey around the exclusively male dinner table, "have you and Rosalind been acquainted with Miss Evershed for long?" The ladies had retired ten minutes ago, leaving their menfolk to their own company for a while.
Major North poured himself a glass of port, and cast a sly eye at his old friend before replying. "Rosalind went to school with her - some godforsaken place in Bath. I saw you observing her during dinner. Don't tell me the infamously hard hearted Harry Pearce is smelling of April and May for a tabby whom he never knew existed before this evening!"
Harry, as he was known to most of his male acquaintances, frowned disapprovingly at Lucas' obvious mirth and his disparaging language. "You overreach yourself, Lucas. I was merely intrigued by Miss Evershed's mode of expression at dinner. It is unusual to find a well-informed mind behind a pretty face in London society." Lucas guffawed at his friend's staid words. Harry Pearce, to his knowledge, had never, since the death of his less-than-lamented wife, seemed willing to become leg-shackled for a second time. "Ruth isn't a dowdy, I'll give you that, but she's hardly a prime article, Harry." Harry winced again at the less-than-flattering cant his friend was using.
"Lucas, I want facts, not your opinion about her. Tell me about her family, her acquaintance, her character."
Lucas raised his eyebrows. "You are in love with her!" he accused, shocked.
Harry grunted irritably. "Fustian!" he snapped, determined not to admit that he had been captured by a pair of sparkling blue-green eyes, and a light, elegant voice. "I am merely curious. She is unmarried - that is unusual. I'm permitted to make inquiries about a new acquaintance, aren't I? If it were Rosalind asking about her, you wouldn't be giving such mutton-headed answers!"
Lucas shrugged. "Very well. Miss Evershed isn't married, because no one has ever asked her."
His friend's eyes widened and focused on his face, trying to tell whether he was being fed a bouncer. Apparently, he decided he was not, for he repeated after a moment, "No one? No one has ever asked her to marry him?" Lucas nodded, and then recalled Edward Bailey, one of the many unfortunates to have incurred the wrath of his wife on more than occasion. "Apart from her brother-in-law, of course. Before he was her brother-in-law. As I understand it, he made Miss Evershed an offer when she was seventeen, or thereabouts, and when she refused him, he turned his attention to her younger sister. They got married a twelvemonth later, and endured four years of abject misery until Mrs Bailey died. Rosalind couldn't believe it when Ruth moved to Upper Wimpole Street to take charge of her sister's four children."
Harry leant back in his chair, absorbing this information. "What of the rest of her family? Are her parents still living?"
"Her father died when she was twelve. That's why she was sent away to school. Her mother is still alive, I think, married to the Marquis of Somewhere or Other. You'd have to ask Rosalind for the specifics. Her only other relation is Lady Radford - her godmother." A thoughtful look passed over Major North's face. "Lord knows what she will do now that her niece is marrying Levendis, though," he mused, nodding to the foot of the table, where Captains Levendis and Carter were engaged in a discussion of some mutual acquaintance. "Can't imagine her staying in Bailey's house. It'll be a high shame if she goes out for a governess or companion, though." Sighing at the brevity of the answers he was being given as much as at the uncertain state of Miss Evershed's affairs, Harry at last gave up. But Miss Evershed did not leave his thoughts until he entered his bedchamber in his Berkeley Square home that evening. She was certainly a woman to ponder.
AN: I couldn't resist including some Regency slang in Lucas' conversation with Harry...
"Smelling of April and May" means, "madly in love."
"A tabby," is an old maid.
"A dowdy," is a badly dressed woman. It can often also mean a woman who lacks beauty.
"A prime article," is a beautiful woman.
"Fustian!" is an exclamatory similar to our modern, "Rubbish!"
"Mutton-headed," is used to describe something that is stupid.
"A bouncer," is a big lie.