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Authors: Carolyn Jewel
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rooms, a
bedchamber and a smaller anteroom, and there was also a small
lavatory. The walls of both rooms were hung with a golden-yellow
silk, and the hangings of the huge four-poster bed were of a
matching silk taffeta. The chairs were all of the same style of
Chippendale. In the anteroom there was a pair of large oval mirrors
in carved gilt-wood, more of the dark chairs, and a dressing table
of a pretty, light-colored wood. There were gilt chandeliers in
both rooms, and there were lamps and candlesticks scattered
throughout. From the windows in the bedchamber she had a view of
the interior gardens, and from the opposite side of her quarters
she could see part of Albemarle Street, a portion of the gates, and
a bit of the drive.
She was glad to be left alone, for, in addition to
Mrs. Godwaite’s being the last person she might choose to spend her
time with, she was exhausted from the days of travel. Her joints,
not yet recovered from being bounced from one end of London to the
other, were aching, and she longed to lie down and sleep, something
she would have done were it not that her mind was so full of her
new surroundings she was convinced sleep would be impossible.
She stood looking out the window and wondered if it
was her father’s arranged marriage that had made him such a bitter
man. She turned away from the window. Or, had wealth made it easy
to abandon her mother?
Chapter 6
I
Isobel stayed only one week at Albemarle Street. The
London season was over on June 4, the King’s birthday, and, like
most persons of quality, the earl spent the summer in the country.
They left London together, but when they reached a small estate of
his near the village of Mawbury, he stayed only the night before
continuing on to Bath, where he hoped to obtain relief from his
gout. He left Isobel there with only the servants, her new abigail,
Bridget, and a governess, Miss Agatha Steadly, for company. Her
father had also engaged a tutor for her, but after Miss Steadly
informed the earl via the post to Bath that his daughter knew quite
enough for a young lady, the lessons were stopped. Dresses
continued to arrive from London, and her days generally consisted
of tedious mornings of additional fittings and dull afternoons of
listening to Miss Steadly tell her everything it was essential for
a young lady of position to know. Miss Steadly started every day
with the pronouncement that, as the acknowledged daughter of a
peer, she was exceedingly marriageable and could be expected to
make an excellent match. However, she would add in her sternest
tones, the slightest defect in her deportment would surely prevent
her from making a truly exceptional marriage.
Isobel spent a good deal of rime, after Miss Steadly
was finished with her, reading newspapers and pamphlets, and soon
found herself becoming interested in the English system of
government. How was it, she often asked herself, that it had failed
so miserably in America? She never got the opportunity to discuss
what she read, or much else of interest, for that matter, since
Miss Steadly refused to entertain the notion of a young lady’s
knowing anything about Parliament until after she was married. Her
riding lessons provided some diversion, but it was so terribly hot
that the only comfortable time for riding was early morning or late
evening, and she reserved her evenings for the forte-piano. It
seemed a luxury to be able to play for as many hours as she wished,
and it was several weeks before she stopped feeling guilty for the
hours she spent at the instrument.
Her stay at Mawbury wrought a gradual change in her
appearance. For the first time in a long while she was getting
enough to eat, and it was food of infinitely better quality than
she had eaten in New York. She could sleep all morning if it suited
her, but it was some time before she stayed in bed past eight
o’clock. She began to gain a little weight, and, though she was
still pale, she lost the ghastly pallor that had
bedchamber and a smaller anteroom, and there was also a small
lavatory. The walls of both rooms were hung with a golden-yellow
silk, and the hangings of the huge four-poster bed were of a
matching silk taffeta. The chairs were all of the same style of
Chippendale. In the anteroom there was a pair of large oval mirrors
in carved gilt-wood, more of the dark chairs, and a dressing table
of a pretty, light-colored wood. There were gilt chandeliers in
both rooms, and there were lamps and candlesticks scattered
throughout. From the windows in the bedchamber she had a view of
the interior gardens, and from the opposite side of her quarters
she could see part of Albemarle Street, a portion of the gates, and
a bit of the drive.
She was glad to be left alone, for, in addition to
Mrs. Godwaite’s being the last person she might choose to spend her
time with, she was exhausted from the days of travel. Her joints,
not yet recovered from being bounced from one end of London to the
other, were aching, and she longed to lie down and sleep, something
she would have done were it not that her mind was so full of her
new surroundings she was convinced sleep would be impossible.
She stood looking out the window and wondered if it
was her father’s arranged marriage that had made him such a bitter
man. She turned away from the window. Or, had wealth made it easy
to abandon her mother?
Chapter 6
I
Isobel stayed only one week at Albemarle Street. The
London season was over on June 4, the King’s birthday, and, like
most persons of quality, the earl spent the summer in the country.
They left London together, but when they reached a small estate of
his near the village of Mawbury, he stayed only the night before
continuing on to Bath, where he hoped to obtain relief from his
gout. He left Isobel there with only the servants, her new abigail,
Bridget, and a governess, Miss Agatha Steadly, for company. Her
father had also engaged a tutor for her, but after Miss Steadly
informed the earl via the post to Bath that his daughter knew quite
enough for a young lady, the lessons were stopped. Dresses
continued to arrive from London, and her days generally consisted
of tedious mornings of additional fittings and dull afternoons of
listening to Miss Steadly tell her everything it was essential for
a young lady of position to know. Miss Steadly started every day
with the pronouncement that, as the acknowledged daughter of a
peer, she was exceedingly marriageable and could be expected to
make an excellent match. However, she would add in her sternest
tones, the slightest defect in her deportment would surely prevent
her from making a truly exceptional marriage.
Isobel spent a good deal of rime, after Miss Steadly
was finished with her, reading newspapers and pamphlets, and soon
found herself becoming interested in the English system of
government. How was it, she often asked herself, that it had failed
so miserably in America? She never got the opportunity to discuss
what she read, or much else of interest, for that matter, since
Miss Steadly refused to entertain the notion of a young lady’s
knowing anything about Parliament until after she was married. Her
riding lessons provided some diversion, but it was so terribly hot
that the only comfortable time for riding was early morning or late
evening, and she reserved her evenings for the forte-piano. It
seemed a luxury to be able to play for as many hours as she wished,
and it was several weeks before she stopped feeling guilty for the
hours she spent at the instrument.
Her stay at Mawbury wrought a gradual change in her
appearance. For the first time in a long while she was getting
enough to eat, and it was food of infinitely better quality than
she had eaten in New York. She could sleep all morning if it suited
her, but it was some time before she stayed in bed past eight
o’clock. She began to gain a little weight, and, though she was
still pale, she lost the ghastly pallor that had
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