Read Online 0800720903 (R) by Ruth Axtell - Free Book Online

an audible sigh in the stuffy hackney they had been obliged to hire for the drive to the Marfleet residence.
    Across the shabby coach, Lady Bess eyed Megan and Jessamine through her quizzing glass in the fading light. “You do look verypretty, I’m sure. There is nothing like youth, which no gown or adornment can improve or take away from.” She sighed again, as if remembering her own vanished girlhood.
    “The sea green suits your dark hair and green eyes,” she said to Jessamine, “and the pink your complexion and gray eyes,” she said with an approving nod at Megan.
    They murmured their thanks to their hostess, even though she’d already given them the same compliment upon first seeing them this evening.
    “The important thing is that Mr. Marfleet will find you charming,” Lady Bess said for the dozenth time. “I have been asking around about him, and he seems the opposite of his rakish brother. He’s had the best of education—Harrow, Eton, then Cambridge to take orders, as a younger son, naturally, and one who didn’t seem suited for the military.”
    She paused, her lips making a small moue of distaste. “I did hear that it was while at Cambridge that he came under the influence of one of that Clapham Sect with all their evangelical zeal. The next thing, he tells his poor parents he is becoming a missionary and heading off to Calcutta or some such place.” She shuddered. “It’s a wonder—a miracle—he didn’t perish. Most do, you know. And some take their poor wives, who don’t last long.”
    Jessamine couldn’t help smiling, contrasting Lady Bess’s account with Mr. Marfleet’s.
    “Lady Villington-Rhodes—she’s cousin to Lady Marfleet—says the family didn’t expect him to survive the fever he succumbed to. He was all winter recovering on their estate in Hampshire. Did he look ill?”
    “Yes,” said Jessamine at the same time Megan said, “No.”
    Lady Bess looked from one to the other and smiled. “Ah, I see how it is. Well, at least you shan’t have to fight about him. Let us hope his mother seats you beside him, Megan. Perhaps there willbe another young gentleman there for you, Jessamine. I won’t be satisfied till you both end the season with a betrothal.”
    Giving them no chance to respond, Lady Bess pushed down the carriage window. “Good, we are almost there. It’s a pretty street, one I rarely travel since it is not a main thoroughfare.” She sat back against the squabs. “I wonder what the older brother is worth? I must inquire. A pity he’s married. As for your Mr. Marfleet, I was informed he has no living at present since he was in India. I should think his father would be able to find him a competence on one of his own estates. Likely they are all filled.” She shook her head, setting the lacy trim around her cap atremble. “I do hope his evangelical zeal has dimmed.”
    Jessamine leaned toward the window just as the carriage came to a halt. They were behind a line of carriages making their way to the Marfleet residence.
    Megan was looking out the other window. “I should say there are at least a dozen carriages, Lady Bess, and they look so grand. Some even have a crest on them.”
    Lady Bess leaned forward once more, trying to see over her shoulder. “Can you see the color of the hammer-cloth or the footmen’s livery?”
    “I see blue with gold on a carriage two ahead of us.”
    Lady Bess pondered, sitting back and flicking open her peacock-feathered fan, which matched the color of her gown. “That could be the Earl and Countess of Withycombe or perhaps the Marquess of Grenfell.”
    Unable to stifle her own curiosity, Jessamine put her spectacles on and peered out her window again. The coaches did indeed look grand, many with the coats of arms upon their doors and elegant liveried footmen on the footboards. Her heart began to thud as the reality of a dinner party sank in. “How many guests will there be, do you think? There seem to be an awful lot of