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Authors: Elizabeth Aston
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married to their aunt Jane.
Just as though Letty were some encroaching upstart; well, if she did not care to make anything of the relationship, so much the better. Camilla did not, she decided, care for Lady Warren any more than for her husband, an opinion reinforced a few minutes afterwards when Lady Warren came over to ask barbed questions about her parents.
“Of course, I have seen so little of them these past few years, buried in the country as they all are, quite rustic, I always say. So Mr. Darcy is gone abroad? And your mother with him; I dare say she does not care to let him out of her sight. We know how gentlemen behave when they are on their own in other countries, they are such sad creatures.”
The bustle of another arrival gave Camilla a moment to think better of the retort she had been about to make. A balding, middle-aged man of medium height walked into the room, a younger woman, who must be his daughter, on his arm.
“Grandville,” cried Fitzwilliam, crossing the room with quick strides to greet him. “Here you are. And Mrs. Rowan, your servant, ma’am.”
Camilla looked at Mrs. Rowan, and then looked again, sure that her face was familiar. Mrs. Rowan smiled and moved over to her side. “I believe we know one another. We were both boarders at Mrs. Charlton’s school, only you were a mere girl, and I was a parlour boarder while my father was abroad.”
“Why, of course,” Camilla cried, pleased.
She had spent a year at this fashionable seminary in London, and although she hadn’t been exactly unhappy, she had been homesick, and had made few friends among the other young ladies. Henrietta Rowan, as she now was, had been an exception. Her intelligence, her vivacity and her sense of fun had greatly appealed to her.
Mrs. Rowan was also a woman of fashion, but it was her own fashion. She was by no means small, either in her person or personality, and she was adorned with a trailing Oriental scarf, a vivid silk sash and several bracelets. She had numerous ornaments dotted about her person, and wore more pearls round her neck than Camilla would have thought possible. She had large pearls in her ears and more in the silk turban on her head. The effect could have been ridiculous, but on her it was most striking.
“You are thinking how oddly I am dressed, and indeed it is so, for I dress to please myself. When I was married, for I am a widow, you know, I used to wear such correct clothes, so dull, so proper. After my husband’s death, I made up my mind to wear all the garments and ornaments I like best. I am no kind of a beauty, you see, and so it does me no harm to have a style of my own.”
Her almond eyes narrowed with laughter at the sight of Camilla’s face. “Are you shocked to hear me speaking with such lightness of my late husband?”
Camilla was too honest to deny it.
“He died only a year after we were married, of a fever he contracted while abroad, and I never really got to know him. He was much older than I, and although affectionate, he was not a memorable person. Why did I marry him? That is not a story for this company. Now, tell me all about yourself, have you been in London long? Why are you come here at this dismal time of year? That is your sister Letitia, is it not? Was she not at Mrs. Charlton’s with you? Who are the two dazzlers on the sofa? I am very sure I have never seen them before. One would most certainly remember them.”
“My younger sisters. They are twins, you know.”
“Good gracious, and so different in colouring, although one cannot help noticing those remarkable eyes. Are you all out?”
“Letty and I are; the twins are supposed still to be in the schoolroom.”
Henrietta Rowan looked surprised. “The schoolroom? You amaze me. Not for much longer, perhaps.”
“I fear not. I suspect they will lead us all a merry dance now we are in town and without my mother and father to keep them in check.”
“Your parents are abroad; I read of your
Just as though Letty were some encroaching upstart; well, if she did not care to make anything of the relationship, so much the better. Camilla did not, she decided, care for Lady Warren any more than for her husband, an opinion reinforced a few minutes afterwards when Lady Warren came over to ask barbed questions about her parents.
“Of course, I have seen so little of them these past few years, buried in the country as they all are, quite rustic, I always say. So Mr. Darcy is gone abroad? And your mother with him; I dare say she does not care to let him out of her sight. We know how gentlemen behave when they are on their own in other countries, they are such sad creatures.”
The bustle of another arrival gave Camilla a moment to think better of the retort she had been about to make. A balding, middle-aged man of medium height walked into the room, a younger woman, who must be his daughter, on his arm.
“Grandville,” cried Fitzwilliam, crossing the room with quick strides to greet him. “Here you are. And Mrs. Rowan, your servant, ma’am.”
Camilla looked at Mrs. Rowan, and then looked again, sure that her face was familiar. Mrs. Rowan smiled and moved over to her side. “I believe we know one another. We were both boarders at Mrs. Charlton’s school, only you were a mere girl, and I was a parlour boarder while my father was abroad.”
“Why, of course,” Camilla cried, pleased.
She had spent a year at this fashionable seminary in London, and although she hadn’t been exactly unhappy, she had been homesick, and had made few friends among the other young ladies. Henrietta Rowan, as she now was, had been an exception. Her intelligence, her vivacity and her sense of fun had greatly appealed to her.
Mrs. Rowan was also a woman of fashion, but it was her own fashion. She was by no means small, either in her person or personality, and she was adorned with a trailing Oriental scarf, a vivid silk sash and several bracelets. She had numerous ornaments dotted about her person, and wore more pearls round her neck than Camilla would have thought possible. She had large pearls in her ears and more in the silk turban on her head. The effect could have been ridiculous, but on her it was most striking.
“You are thinking how oddly I am dressed, and indeed it is so, for I dress to please myself. When I was married, for I am a widow, you know, I used to wear such correct clothes, so dull, so proper. After my husband’s death, I made up my mind to wear all the garments and ornaments I like best. I am no kind of a beauty, you see, and so it does me no harm to have a style of my own.”
Her almond eyes narrowed with laughter at the sight of Camilla’s face. “Are you shocked to hear me speaking with such lightness of my late husband?”
Camilla was too honest to deny it.
“He died only a year after we were married, of a fever he contracted while abroad, and I never really got to know him. He was much older than I, and although affectionate, he was not a memorable person. Why did I marry him? That is not a story for this company. Now, tell me all about yourself, have you been in London long? Why are you come here at this dismal time of year? That is your sister Letitia, is it not? Was she not at Mrs. Charlton’s with you? Who are the two dazzlers on the sofa? I am very sure I have never seen them before. One would most certainly remember them.”
“My younger sisters. They are twins, you know.”
“Good gracious, and so different in colouring, although one cannot help noticing those remarkable eyes. Are you all out?”
“Letty and I are; the twins are supposed still to be in the schoolroom.”
Henrietta Rowan looked surprised. “The schoolroom? You amaze me. Not for much longer, perhaps.”
“I fear not. I suspect they will lead us all a merry dance now we are in town and without my mother and father to keep them in check.”
“Your parents are abroad; I read of your
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