Read Online Wife Errant by Joan Smith - Free Book Online Page A

bearing a bunch of indifferent posies picked up from a street vendor. No sooner had he made his bows than his long nose and eager eye turned to Dulcie, sitting in all the glory of her new cheribime do, with the sun striking her blond curls, turning them to gold.
    “I don’t believe I have had the pleasure of your ... friend’s acquaintance,”he said to Tess.
    “This is my little sister, Miss Dulcie,”Tess said.
    “Not that little, Tess,”Mrs. Marchant said playfully.
    Here was one man who knew true beauty when he saw it, at least. Evans sat down, tea was served, and the conversation ground along dully. Evans did not believe he had seen Miss Dulcie at the Lower Rooms last night. No indeed, she had not gone. She was reading The Castle of Otranto and could not tear herself away from the trials of Isabella.
    Evans’s chair moved a little closer to her, and for the next ten minutes, the room rang with exclamations of delighted horror regarding the wicked Manfred, and Theodore, who bore such an uncanny resemblance to the portrait of Alfonso.
    “I know Theodore is not just a simple peasant,”Dulcie exclaimed. Evans opened his lips to corroborate it, and she said, “No, don’t tell me, Mr. Evans. I have not finished the book yet. I have only been reading it for two weeks.”
    Mrs. Marchant was nearly convinced her elder daughter was the flat she always knew her to be, for she sat with her tongue between her teeth while Dulcie waltzed away with her beau. The rattle of the door knocker was heard, and suddenly Tess’s face became animated.
    “Who could that be?’she asked, but she wore a gloating smile. “Why, it is Lord Revel,”she exclaimed in poorly simulated surprise when his voice was heard in the hallway. “I wonder what he wants.”
    When Revel entered and saw Mr. Evans in the room, the smile on his face froze. Revel spoke first to the ladies, but when he addressed Evans, his displeasure was obvious. Indeed in Tess’s opinion, it was a tad overdone. He need not have glared quite so fiercely.
    Revel was served wine, and for a few moments the conversation veered from Otranto into more general waters. Everyone agreed it was a lovely day. The weather very mild for the time of year.
    “Let us take advantage of it and go for a spin,”Revel suggested, directing his invitation to Tess.
    “I cannot leave, Revel,”she said, looking at Evans.
    “Don’t let me detain you,”Evans said promptly. “I was about to leave in any case.”
    “No, no, you must not rush away,”Tess insisted.
    “Why don’t we all go out for a drive?”Evans suggested, turning his long nose to Dulcie.
    Mrs. Marchant found no fault in this. She assumed the four would go in one carriage; two of the four knew she thought so, and said not a word to disillusion her. The group left as a foursome, but when they strolled by twos along the street, looking for their carriages, Evans called over his shoulder, “Your carriage or mine, Revel? Or shall we each take our own?”
    “Let us go by twos, like Noah’s ark,”Revel replied.
    Dulcie cast a questioning eye at her older sister, fully expecting Tess to scotch this exciting scheme.
    Tess said, “Then we shall take our leave of you now, Mr. Evans. It was nice seeing you again. Take care of Dulcie.”
    When she was safely ensconced in Revel’s chaise, she said, "Imade sure you would cry craven and not come this afternoon, after Mama's hints last night.”
    “Surely a carriage drive in full sunlight is not enough to compromise us.”
    “As long as we are home before dinner.”
    “Did she cut up stiff after I left?”
    “You did not fool her for a moment. She knows full well you are only amusing yourself with me as Bath is so dull. I am not to see you again unless it is clear your intentions are honorable, sir.”
    “They are not dishonorable, but you must not let her get the idea it is to be a match.”
    “I am rethinking this whole affair, Revel. Mama has enough worries in her dish.”She