Read Online Miss Darby's Duenna by Sheri Cobb South - Free Book Online

Georgina hotly. “You might not credit it, my lord, but there are some gentlemen who consider beauty of the spirit more important than a pretty face and a pleasing figure.”
    “I am sure your principles do you credit, Miss Hawthorne, but I wonder, if you had been hunch-backed or hare-lipped, would your reverend have been so eager to take you to wife?”
    An angry crimson flooded Georgina’s face, but good breeding compelled her to bite back the stinging retort which, she was forced to admit, would probably have accomplished nothing but win one of Mannerly’s odiously mocking smiles.
    * * * *
    While Georgina crossed swords with the marquess, Olivia and “Lady Hawthorne” joined the crowd milling about the lobby, nodding and bowing to acquaintances. Many of the dowager’s cronies were surprised and pleased to learn of her unexpected return to Town, and as a result Sir Harry was forced to exchange the warmest of greetings with people whom he had never seen in his life. Until this moment he had not considered the possibility that he might create a scandal by unintentionally giving someone the cut direct. By the time they had completed a circuit about the lobby, he welcomed the opportunity to return to the box. Lord Mannerly might await there, but Sir Harry discovered that he vastly preferred the known danger to the unknown.
    “I vow the exercise has done me a world of good, Miss Darby,” declared the faux Lady Hawthorne at last. “Shall we return to the others?”
    Olivia giving her assent, they turned their steps in the direction of the boxes.  They were almost within sight of their goal when Sir Harry—or rather his grandmother—was hailed by an elderly gentleman in an old-fashioned satin frock coat and knee breeches.
    “Lady Hawthorne!” cried this worthy, hurrying to her side as quickly as the crowded condition of the lobby would allow. “Lady Hawthorne, as I live and breathe!”
    Here, at least, was a face Sir Harry knew, for he had met Colonel Gubbins only that morning.
    “Colonel Gubbins, is it really you? How long has it been?”
    “Far, far too long, my dear Lady Hawthorne!” Having seized Sir Harry’s gloved hands, the colonel showed no inclination to relinquish them. “I vow you haven’t changed a bit. Still as lovely as ever!”
    “La, sir, you flatter me,” trilled Sir Harry, trying to retrieve his hands from the colonel’s grasp.
    “Not a bit! Imagine my delight when this charming young lady told me you were in town. When she let fall that you would be at the theater tonight, I came with the express hope of renewing your acquaintance. Where are you staying, if I may be so bold?”
    “Why, at Grillon’s, of course,” replied Sir Harry, improvising rapidly.
    “And may I have your permission to call upon you there?”
    Not knowing how to answer, Sir Harry sought refuge in indignation. “Why, Colonel, I cannot think it proper for a gentleman to call upon a lady at her hotel!”
    “Not for a schoolroom miss, perhaps, but for a woman of the world, such as yourself—”
    “Fie on you, Colonel, you just said I had not aged a bit! Come along, Miss Darby, or we shall miss the second act.”
    “But—but—”
    Colonel Gubbins was still “butting” as Sir Harry took Olivia’s arm and steered her resolutely down the corridor to Lord Mannerly’s box. For her part, Olivia had listened in some amusement to the exchange between her elderly companion and Colonel Gubbins. In spite of Lady Hawthorne’s eccentricities, Olivia could not deny a certain fondness for the dowager; she supposed it must be due to that lady’s marked resemblance to Sir Harry.
    “Why I do believe you have acquired an admirer, my lady,” she said, casting a mischievous glance at her companion.
    “Hmph!” was the dowager’s only reply.
    It was almost midnight before Lord Mannerly’s carriage rolled to a stop before the Hawthorne family’s town house. The marquess handed the ladies down, and the front door was flung