Chapter 23 The Most Suitable of the Suitors #2
Elizabeth laughed, as did Anne and Miss Darcy; strangely Lord Saye did not. He had turned his head and was staring out the window.
Lord Saye was strangely reticent while the on-dits of the day were canvassed. To Miss Goddard in particular, he spoke not a word until forced to do so directly.
“Lord Saye, I understand you keep a dog who is generally by your side. Where is he today?” Miss Goddard smiled prettily. “I had so hoped to meet him.”
“Florizel?” Lord Saye turned away from his study of the window and yawned. “He is not—”
“Not fit for company,” said Colonel Fitzwilliam with a smile. He had seemed to flirt with the excessively handsome Miss Goddard since her arrival.
“I beg your pardon,” Lord Saye said indignantly. “I will have you know Florizel is a gentleman.”
“Florizel is a temperamental beast,” said the colonel, ignoring the black look his brother gave him. “He once bit the Duke of Clarence’s valet.”
“He was provoked, and need I remind you, that valet was later found to be stealing from the duke and dismissed without a reference.” Lord Saye rose and went to pull the bell. “It so happens he is an excellent judge of character.”
“Then I can only hope I am not found wanting,” said Miss Goddard with a twinkling-eyed smile.
Elizabeth regarded her, wondering if she had set her cap for Lord Saye.
If so, she would warn her, for his lordship was as determined a bachelor as ever she had known.
Not that she had known many, being only briefly amid better society, but no less than a dozen candidates had been presented to him for consideration since April.
He had resoundingly rejected them all, much to his mother’s dismay, for crimes including laughed too much, did not laugh enough, seemed like someone prone to shoplifting, or was simply dull.
Whoever responded to the bell must have gone to retrieve Lord Saye’s dog, for in a moment, Florizel ran into the room with the force of ten dogs, then jumped up onto the table to grab a biscuit, the crumbs of which were then scattered about while he ran round the room with the sheer delight of being with Lord Saye.
Lord Saye made no move to calm him, telling his mother, “He is a dog, and he is being a dog right now. He will settle himself soon enough.”
And so he did, and when he did, he went immediately to Miss Goddard, sniffing at her petticoats suspiciously. She knelt, presenting the rest of herself to him for inspection, and within moments, he was on his back, allowing her to stroke his belly, thoroughly enraptured.
“A beautiful dog,” Miss Goddard said, looking up at Lord Saye with genuine warmth. “You must be very proud of him. I can see he is exceptionally well cared-for—his coat is like silk.”
“I rinse him with Champagne,” Lord Saye informed her, to his mother’s gasp.
“Surely you do not,” Lady Matlock cried out.
“It keeps him from getting tangled,” Lord Saye replied. “He cannot be among the ton with a tangled coat like a common dog.” Miss Goddard smiled at that.
At last, she rose gracefully to her feet, leaving Florizel gazing after her with the despondent air of a spurned lover.
She came to sit beside Elizabeth and said, “Speaking of Champagne, you ladies must allow me to tell you about the disaster at Lady Pembridge’s soirée.
The soprano she engaged had apparently been imbibing rather liberally before her performance… ”
As Miss Goddard launched into her tale, her animated gestures and sparkling wit soon had the entire room laughing. She did not pay any undue notice to Lord Saye, and Elizabeth thought she must have been wrong about her earlier assumptions. Perhaps Miss Goddard was merely very fond of dogs.
At length, the two Goddard ladies left. By then Lord Saye had nearly fallen asleep in his chair, and Lady Catherine had decidedly done so.
Elizabeth rose to see Lady Catherine next door and into the care of her maid, but before she could do so, Lord Saye roused himself to announce, “Perhaps this marriage thing might do after all.”
His mother regarded him with astonishment. Elizabeth herself felt only puzzlement.
“What do you mean, dear?”
“That one was not too bad,” he said, ruffling his dog’s fur. “You liked her too, did you not, my boy? She will do well enough, I think. And her figure! Why, that would do well enough for any man.”
“You are speaking of Miss Goddard?” Elizabeth asked curiously.
He gave her a withering look. “Obviously. Or did you think I should take after the mother? She’s a nicely sauced old pheasant to be sure, but I need an heir.”
Anne screwed up her face with disgust. “How coarse you are, Saye!”
“But you barely gave her any notice,” Elizabeth said in astonishment. “I would imagine Miss Goddard thinks you were wholly disinterested in her.”
“She was allowed to pet Florizel,” he said. “That is as particular a symptom of regard as I give to any woman. I shall ask her to dance soon, but my mother just might win this battle after all. I will save some of Florizel’s Champagne, that we might toast her eventual success.”