me.”
“So you’re going to a royal wedding, are you, your ladyship?” Mrs. Huggins asked.
“Yes. I’m going to be in the bridal party, but I have to leave next week, so that doesn’t give me much time to hire a maid to travel with me. This girl you mentioned—she has had some domestic service training, has she?”
“Oh, yes. She’s had several jobs. Not anything like as grand as your house, of course. This will be a step up in the world for her. But like I said, she’s a quiet, willing little thing. And you wouldn’t have to worry about her having an eye for the boys. She don’t have an ounce of what they refer to these days as sex appeal. Face like the back end of a bus, poor little thing. But you’d find her keen enough to learn.”
My grandfather chuckled. “If she was in the theater, I wouldn’t hire you as her manager, ’ettie.”
“Well, I have to tell it straight for her ladyship, don’t I?”
“I won’t be judging her on her looks, and at the moment I feel it really is a case of beggars not being choosers.”
“So I’ll tell her she can call on you at yer house, shall I?”
“By all means. I look forward to meeting her.” I finished my stew and started to stand up. “I really should be getting back to London, although I can’t say I’m looking forward to it. I have my brother and sister-in-law at the house.”
“You’re welcome to the spare bedroom,” Granddad said. “It’s a nasty night out there.”
I was tempted. The safety and security of Granddad’s little house versus the doubly frigid atmosphere of Rannoch House occupied by Fig. But I had a wedding to plan for, and I didn’t want Fig suspecting that I’d spent the night with Darcy.
“No, I really should get back, I’m afraid,” I said. “It was so good to see you.”
“We’ll want to hear all about it when you come back from wherever it was,” Granddad said. “You take care of yourself, traveling in foreign parts.”
“I wish I were a man, then I could take you as my valet,” I said wistfully, thinking how much nicer it would be traveling across a continent with him at my side.
“You wouldn’t catch me going to heathen parts like that,” Granddad said. “I’ve been to Scotland now, and that was quite foreign enough to last my lifetime, thank you kindly.”
I laughed as I walked up the front path.
Chapter 8
I arrived home, cold and wet, to be told by an almost gloating Fig that Mr. O’Mara had called and been told that Lady Georgiana would be attending a royal wedding in Europe, at the request of Their Majesties, and should be left in peace to make her preparations. She also hinted that she’d admonished him for preying on innocent girls and suggested that he should not stand in the way of my making a suitable match.
This made me furious, of course, but it was too late. The damage had been done. All I could do was console myself with the thought that Darcy would probably have found Fig’s lecture highly amusing.
The next morning they left, abandoning me for the warmth and luxury of Claridge’s for their last night in London. I breathed a long sigh of relief. Now all I had to do was to pack for my trip to Europe and hope that the promised maid materialized. A telephone call from the palace informed me that my chaperon had had to put forward her traveling date, so it was hoped that I could be ready by Tuesday next. Tickets and passports would be delivered to me and, yes, tiaras would be worn. I had to telephone Binky at Claridges and I imagined Fig was gnashing her teeth at the expense of sending a servant down from Scotland with my tiara. But one couldn’t exactly have put it in the post, even if we had the time. Then I realized that I would now not have time to place an advertisement in the Morning Post or the Times . It would have to be Mrs. Huggins’s relative or nothing.
For a while it looked as if it was going to be nothing and I was just about to rush to Belinda and confess that I
“So you’re going to a royal wedding, are you, your ladyship?” Mrs. Huggins asked.
“Yes. I’m going to be in the bridal party, but I have to leave next week, so that doesn’t give me much time to hire a maid to travel with me. This girl you mentioned—she has had some domestic service training, has she?”
“Oh, yes. She’s had several jobs. Not anything like as grand as your house, of course. This will be a step up in the world for her. But like I said, she’s a quiet, willing little thing. And you wouldn’t have to worry about her having an eye for the boys. She don’t have an ounce of what they refer to these days as sex appeal. Face like the back end of a bus, poor little thing. But you’d find her keen enough to learn.”
My grandfather chuckled. “If she was in the theater, I wouldn’t hire you as her manager, ’ettie.”
“Well, I have to tell it straight for her ladyship, don’t I?”
“I won’t be judging her on her looks, and at the moment I feel it really is a case of beggars not being choosers.”
“So I’ll tell her she can call on you at yer house, shall I?”
“By all means. I look forward to meeting her.” I finished my stew and started to stand up. “I really should be getting back to London, although I can’t say I’m looking forward to it. I have my brother and sister-in-law at the house.”
“You’re welcome to the spare bedroom,” Granddad said. “It’s a nasty night out there.”
I was tempted. The safety and security of Granddad’s little house versus the doubly frigid atmosphere of Rannoch House occupied by Fig. But I had a wedding to plan for, and I didn’t want Fig suspecting that I’d spent the night with Darcy.
“No, I really should get back, I’m afraid,” I said. “It was so good to see you.”
“We’ll want to hear all about it when you come back from wherever it was,” Granddad said. “You take care of yourself, traveling in foreign parts.”
“I wish I were a man, then I could take you as my valet,” I said wistfully, thinking how much nicer it would be traveling across a continent with him at my side.
“You wouldn’t catch me going to heathen parts like that,” Granddad said. “I’ve been to Scotland now, and that was quite foreign enough to last my lifetime, thank you kindly.”
I laughed as I walked up the front path.
Chapter 8
I arrived home, cold and wet, to be told by an almost gloating Fig that Mr. O’Mara had called and been told that Lady Georgiana would be attending a royal wedding in Europe, at the request of Their Majesties, and should be left in peace to make her preparations. She also hinted that she’d admonished him for preying on innocent girls and suggested that he should not stand in the way of my making a suitable match.
This made me furious, of course, but it was too late. The damage had been done. All I could do was console myself with the thought that Darcy would probably have found Fig’s lecture highly amusing.
The next morning they left, abandoning me for the warmth and luxury of Claridge’s for their last night in London. I breathed a long sigh of relief. Now all I had to do was to pack for my trip to Europe and hope that the promised maid materialized. A telephone call from the palace informed me that my chaperon had had to put forward her traveling date, so it was hoped that I could be ready by Tuesday next. Tickets and passports would be delivered to me and, yes, tiaras would be worn. I had to telephone Binky at Claridges and I imagined Fig was gnashing her teeth at the expense of sending a servant down from Scotland with my tiara. But one couldn’t exactly have put it in the post, even if we had the time. Then I realized that I would now not have time to place an advertisement in the Morning Post or the Times . It would have to be Mrs. Huggins’s relative or nothing.
For a while it looked as if it was going to be nothing and I was just about to rush to Belinda and confess that I
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