Read Online Miss Lindel's Love by Cynthia Bailey Pratt - Free Book Online
Authors: Cynthia Bailey Pratt
Tags: Regency Romance
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gaze in the mirror. “Don’t hasten back to town on my account, I beg you, or we shall have both Sophie and you on the invalid list.”
“I can’t leave you in town alone. Especially not now, with your first steps to be taken into society at the marchioness’s ball.”
“I won’t be alone. Mrs. Paladin will be here. I’ve taken a great liking to Lilah and her mother will guide my steps.”
Mrs. Lindel was visibly torn between her desire to protect and succor her youngest child and her wish to be at hand for her elder daughter’s debut, an event toward which she’d worked tirelessly from the day of Maris’s birth. Maris wanted to make her mother’s decision easier, though she wished with all her heart that both Mrs. Lindel and Sophie did not have to leave so soon. But if Sophie’s health required it, Maris would urge an earlier departure.
Standing behind Maris, running her hand aimlessly over the stiff bristles of the brush, Mrs. Lindel seemed to be falling into one of her reveries. She’d been giving her undivided attention to the business of preparing Maris for London, as well as caring for Sophie, and had hardly drifted off in her thoughts since their arrival in town.
“Mother?” Maris asked, looking at her mother gazing at herself in the mirror, but not as if she really saw herself. “Mother?”
“Yes, dearest?” Mrs. Lindel blinked as if coming out of a faint.
“You looked so strange for a moment.”
“Did I? So much to think about.” She put the tortoiseshell brush down on the dressing table. “Elvira ...that is, Mrs. Paladin tells me that you met Lord Danesby in the cathedral today.”
“Yes, I did,” Maris said, meeting her mother’s gaze squarely. She hoped no telltale blush had crept in to stain her cheeks. “He was most pleasantly spoken.”
“I hope ... it was difficult to tell from her accounting. You may have noticed a certain dryness in her tone when she speaks. It makes it quite difficult to know when she is joking one and when she is not.”
“I have noticed something of the sort,” Maris admitted. “It seems to be one of those little tricks of speech you have so often warned us against.” She did not mean to criticize an older person and her mentor, but it was true about Mrs. Paladin’s acerbic tone.
“I hope you were not too coming with his lordship. He is said to be a great stickler for propriety. His father certainly had that reputation and, as you know, the apple does not fall far from the tree.”
“If I follow your example, dear Mother, I shall find myself happily married to the man of my dearest imaginings before the month is out.” Maris couldn’t help hoping this was true. How wonderful, how miraculous, if this meeting in the cathedral should lead somehow to marriage.
Maris rose from the stool and kissed her mother on the cheek. “Please don’t worry,” she added, wending her arm about her mother’s waist and leaning her head somewhat awkwardly on her shoulder. “Lord Danesby found me only slightly amusing even before I told him I am the daughter of his tenant.”
“Elvira seemed to feel that you had plotted to meet him there.”
Maris stood bolt upright at that. “How could I have done so?”
“Elvira did say it was very clever of you.”
“Very kind of her, I’m sure. But I don’t aspire to that kind of cleverness. I did not know he would be at the cathedral. Nor did Mrs. Paladin know it. Our paths crossed by the merest coincidence. He was gentleman enough to escort me to my friends and nothing else of moment occurred.” She thought it would not be worthwhile to mention how she had laughed and how that, apparently, had brought Lord Danesby to speak with her.
“That’s what I thought,” Mrs. Lindel said, apparently relieved to find she wasn’t raising a cuckoo in her little wren’s nest. “And so I told Elvira.” She smiled. “In your private ear, I could believe Sophie might maneuver so but not you. No matter how much you
“I can’t leave you in town alone. Especially not now, with your first steps to be taken into society at the marchioness’s ball.”
“I won’t be alone. Mrs. Paladin will be here. I’ve taken a great liking to Lilah and her mother will guide my steps.”
Mrs. Lindel was visibly torn between her desire to protect and succor her youngest child and her wish to be at hand for her elder daughter’s debut, an event toward which she’d worked tirelessly from the day of Maris’s birth. Maris wanted to make her mother’s decision easier, though she wished with all her heart that both Mrs. Lindel and Sophie did not have to leave so soon. But if Sophie’s health required it, Maris would urge an earlier departure.
Standing behind Maris, running her hand aimlessly over the stiff bristles of the brush, Mrs. Lindel seemed to be falling into one of her reveries. She’d been giving her undivided attention to the business of preparing Maris for London, as well as caring for Sophie, and had hardly drifted off in her thoughts since their arrival in town.
“Mother?” Maris asked, looking at her mother gazing at herself in the mirror, but not as if she really saw herself. “Mother?”
“Yes, dearest?” Mrs. Lindel blinked as if coming out of a faint.
“You looked so strange for a moment.”
“Did I? So much to think about.” She put the tortoiseshell brush down on the dressing table. “Elvira ...that is, Mrs. Paladin tells me that you met Lord Danesby in the cathedral today.”
“Yes, I did,” Maris said, meeting her mother’s gaze squarely. She hoped no telltale blush had crept in to stain her cheeks. “He was most pleasantly spoken.”
“I hope ... it was difficult to tell from her accounting. You may have noticed a certain dryness in her tone when she speaks. It makes it quite difficult to know when she is joking one and when she is not.”
“I have noticed something of the sort,” Maris admitted. “It seems to be one of those little tricks of speech you have so often warned us against.” She did not mean to criticize an older person and her mentor, but it was true about Mrs. Paladin’s acerbic tone.
“I hope you were not too coming with his lordship. He is said to be a great stickler for propriety. His father certainly had that reputation and, as you know, the apple does not fall far from the tree.”
“If I follow your example, dear Mother, I shall find myself happily married to the man of my dearest imaginings before the month is out.” Maris couldn’t help hoping this was true. How wonderful, how miraculous, if this meeting in the cathedral should lead somehow to marriage.
Maris rose from the stool and kissed her mother on the cheek. “Please don’t worry,” she added, wending her arm about her mother’s waist and leaning her head somewhat awkwardly on her shoulder. “Lord Danesby found me only slightly amusing even before I told him I am the daughter of his tenant.”
“Elvira seemed to feel that you had plotted to meet him there.”
Maris stood bolt upright at that. “How could I have done so?”
“Elvira did say it was very clever of you.”
“Very kind of her, I’m sure. But I don’t aspire to that kind of cleverness. I did not know he would be at the cathedral. Nor did Mrs. Paladin know it. Our paths crossed by the merest coincidence. He was gentleman enough to escort me to my friends and nothing else of moment occurred.” She thought it would not be worthwhile to mention how she had laughed and how that, apparently, had brought Lord Danesby to speak with her.
“That’s what I thought,” Mrs. Lindel said, apparently relieved to find she wasn’t raising a cuckoo in her little wren’s nest. “And so I told Elvira.” She smiled. “In your private ear, I could believe Sophie might maneuver so but not you. No matter how much you
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