Read Online Regency Buck by Georgette Heyer - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Georgette Heyer
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and Davidson, and mention my name.”
“I thought of going to Stultz,” said Peregrine, making a bid for independence.
“By all means, if you wish the whole of London to recognize your tailor at a glance,” shrugged his lordship.
“Oh!” said Peregrine, a little abashed. “Mr. Fitzjohn recommended him to me.”
“So I should imagine,” said the Earl.
Miss Taverner said with an edge to her voice: “Pray, sir, have you no advice to offer me in the matter of my dress?”
He turned. “My advice to you, Miss Taverner, is to put yourself unreservedly in the hands of Mrs. Scattergood. There is one other matter. While you are under my guardianship you will, if you please, refrain from being present in towns where a prizefight is being held.”
She caught her breath. “Yes, my lord? You think, perhaps, that my being in such towns might lay me open to some insult?”
“On the contrary,” replied the Earl, “I think it might lay you open to an excess of civility.”
Chapter V
The events and impressions of her first week in London left Miss Taverner with her brain in a whirl. On the very afternoon of the day she and Peregrine called on their guardian he not only brought Mrs. Scattergood to see her, but later sent Mr. Blackader to discuss the question of servants.
Mrs. Scattergood took Miss Taverner’s breath away. She was a very thin lady of no more than medium height, certainly on the wrong side of forty, but dressed in an amazingly youthful fashion, with her improbably chestnut-coloured hair cropped short at the back, and crimped into curls in front, and her sharp, lively countenance painted in a lavish style that quite shocked the country-bred Judith.
She was dressed in a semi-transparent gown of jaconet muslin, made up to the throat with a treble ruff of pointed lace, and fastened down the back with innumerable little buttons. Her gown ended in a broad embroidered flounce, and on her feet she had lace stockings and yellow kid Roman boots. A lavender chip hat, tied under her chin with long yellow ribands, was placed over a small white satin cap beneath, and she carried a long-handled parasol, and a silk reticule.
Her twinkling eyes absorbed Judith at a glance. She stepped back as though to see the girl in perspective, and then nodded briskly. “I am charmed! My dear Worth, I am quite charmed! You must, you shall let me have the dressing of you, child! What is your name—oh no, not that stiff Miss Taverner! Judith! Worth, what do you stay for? I am to talk of fashions, you know. You must go at once!”
Miss Taverner, who had intended politely to decline Mrs. Scattergood’s services, felt powerless. The Earl made his bow, and left them together, and Mrs. Scattergood immediately took one of Judith’s shapely hands in her own tightly-gloved ones, and said coaxingly: “You will let me come and live with you, won’t you? I am shockingly expensive, but you won’t mind that, I daresay. Oh, you are looking at my gown, and thinking what a very odd appearance I present. You see, I am not pretty, not in the least, never was, and so I have to be odd. Nothing for it! It answers delightfully. And so Worth has taken a house for you in Brook Street! Just as it should be: a charming situation! You know, I have quite made up my mind to it you are to be the rage. I think I should come to you at once. Grillon’s! Well, I suppose there is no more genteel hotel in town, but a young lady alone—oh, you have a brother, but what is the use of that? I had better have my boxes packed up immediately. How I do run on! You don’t wish me to live with you at all, I daresay. But a cousin in Kensington! You would find she would not add to your consequence, my dear. I am sure, a dowdy old lady. She would not else be living in Kensington, take my word for it.”
So Miss Taverner yielded, and that very evening her chaperon arrived at Grillon’s in a light coach weighed down by trunks and bandboxes.
Mr. Blackader, who sent in
“I thought of going to Stultz,” said Peregrine, making a bid for independence.
“By all means, if you wish the whole of London to recognize your tailor at a glance,” shrugged his lordship.
“Oh!” said Peregrine, a little abashed. “Mr. Fitzjohn recommended him to me.”
“So I should imagine,” said the Earl.
Miss Taverner said with an edge to her voice: “Pray, sir, have you no advice to offer me in the matter of my dress?”
He turned. “My advice to you, Miss Taverner, is to put yourself unreservedly in the hands of Mrs. Scattergood. There is one other matter. While you are under my guardianship you will, if you please, refrain from being present in towns where a prizefight is being held.”
She caught her breath. “Yes, my lord? You think, perhaps, that my being in such towns might lay me open to some insult?”
“On the contrary,” replied the Earl, “I think it might lay you open to an excess of civility.”
Chapter V
The events and impressions of her first week in London left Miss Taverner with her brain in a whirl. On the very afternoon of the day she and Peregrine called on their guardian he not only brought Mrs. Scattergood to see her, but later sent Mr. Blackader to discuss the question of servants.
Mrs. Scattergood took Miss Taverner’s breath away. She was a very thin lady of no more than medium height, certainly on the wrong side of forty, but dressed in an amazingly youthful fashion, with her improbably chestnut-coloured hair cropped short at the back, and crimped into curls in front, and her sharp, lively countenance painted in a lavish style that quite shocked the country-bred Judith.
She was dressed in a semi-transparent gown of jaconet muslin, made up to the throat with a treble ruff of pointed lace, and fastened down the back with innumerable little buttons. Her gown ended in a broad embroidered flounce, and on her feet she had lace stockings and yellow kid Roman boots. A lavender chip hat, tied under her chin with long yellow ribands, was placed over a small white satin cap beneath, and she carried a long-handled parasol, and a silk reticule.
Her twinkling eyes absorbed Judith at a glance. She stepped back as though to see the girl in perspective, and then nodded briskly. “I am charmed! My dear Worth, I am quite charmed! You must, you shall let me have the dressing of you, child! What is your name—oh no, not that stiff Miss Taverner! Judith! Worth, what do you stay for? I am to talk of fashions, you know. You must go at once!”
Miss Taverner, who had intended politely to decline Mrs. Scattergood’s services, felt powerless. The Earl made his bow, and left them together, and Mrs. Scattergood immediately took one of Judith’s shapely hands in her own tightly-gloved ones, and said coaxingly: “You will let me come and live with you, won’t you? I am shockingly expensive, but you won’t mind that, I daresay. Oh, you are looking at my gown, and thinking what a very odd appearance I present. You see, I am not pretty, not in the least, never was, and so I have to be odd. Nothing for it! It answers delightfully. And so Worth has taken a house for you in Brook Street! Just as it should be: a charming situation! You know, I have quite made up my mind to it you are to be the rage. I think I should come to you at once. Grillon’s! Well, I suppose there is no more genteel hotel in town, but a young lady alone—oh, you have a brother, but what is the use of that? I had better have my boxes packed up immediately. How I do run on! You don’t wish me to live with you at all, I daresay. But a cousin in Kensington! You would find she would not add to your consequence, my dear. I am sure, a dowdy old lady. She would not else be living in Kensington, take my word for it.”
So Miss Taverner yielded, and that very evening her chaperon arrived at Grillon’s in a light coach weighed down by trunks and bandboxes.
Mr. Blackader, who sent in
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