Chapter Fifteen
Bessie’s arrival with the luggage forestalled the confession already brewing on Verity’s lips.
This might have been a good thing. After all, she’d only just met Kitty and had no idea whether so young a girl could keep such a secret.
And from what she’d seen of her so far, this felt like a wise decision. For now.
So she sat in the window while Bessie unpacked and Kitty made appreciative noises about the wardrobe Aunt Josephine had furnished her with in such a short time.
Gazing out at the vista of the apparently endless parkland, which seemed to stretch to a hazy, tree-covered green horizon, she began to wonder if life here might not be too bad if she had a friend such as the expansive Kitty.
At last, she was able to send Bessie off to go and sort her own accommodation and unpacking out, and Kitty joined Verity in the window.
She sat down and seized Verity’s hand. “I’ve noticed you have some very beautiful gowns, but I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed as we don’t dress for dinner here.
In fact, we eat in our rooms. Grandmama cannot leave hers, for she’s too feeble to walk far and has to use a Bath chair which no one can be bothered to get down the stairs, and I’m not considered important enough to merit a meal being served in our rather grand dining room.
” She wrinkled her nose. “In fact, the only time we ever use the dining room is when Jonnie comes to visit. And as I’ve already said, that’s not often.
I think it might still be under dust sheets, unless Lucas has ordered them removed so you can dine there. ”
Verity patted Kitty’s hand, heaving an inward sigh of relief at what seemed the informality of the dining practices.
“I confess that is a comfort to me, as I am not at all used to formal meals in big dining rooms. I’m sure I would show myself up in front of the servants, so I think I should tell Lucas not to bother just for me.
” Papa’s instructions on etiquette in this direction had been somewhat lacking, and the occasion to partake in a formal meal had scarcely ever arisen while they’d been in Europe.
It had been difficult enough at Aunt Josephine’s, with the vast amount of cutlery laid on the table for dinner, and she’d been dreading it being worse here.
Kitty cocked her head to one side, spaniel-like.
“Oh.” She paused, as though considering how to respond to this admission.
She opted for tact. “I’m quite sure you wouldn’t show yourself up.
You’ve clearly never watched a mad old lady eat.
” Her grandmama, no doubt, who sounded as though she might well be senile, not mad at all.
“But in that case, would you be happy if we were to eat together? In one of our rooms? I should love it if we could. Eating alone is so boring.”
Verity nodded. “I would go so far as to say that I’d prefer it.”
This made Kitty smile broadly, showing her small white teeth.
“Back to being honest, I’m afraid. I just wanted to confess that you are not at all what I was expecting.
Not the sort of wife I was afraid Jonnie might choose.
Not at all. Of course, I’ve had no one to discuss this with as I’m not allowed to fraternize with the servants, so most of my speculation since I heard Jonnie had married has been inside my head.
” She wrinkled her nose. “And Miss Bligh is a bit of an old stick who doesn’t like to gossip, so I get no succor there. ”
Verity smiled at this dismissal of the as yet unknown Miss Bligh. “She is a vicar’s sister. Probably, not gossiping comes with the position. Vicars are supposed to be able to handle confidences.”
“I thought that was only Catholic priests. And she’s only his sister.”
“I imagine it applies to a vicar and his family too.” Curiosity got the better of her. “What sort of wife did you think he would marry, then?”
Kitty gave an unladylike chortle of mirth.
“Well, not one like you, for certain. I know he likes lots of ladies, although Grandmama told me most of them are not true ladies at all. Not in the sense of being ladylike, at any rate, or they wouldn’t allow themselves to be seduced by Jonnie.
Once, when she was having a good day, she told me she thought Jonnie prefers having mistresses because he’s afraid of commitment.
” She frowned. “Although I don’t precisely know what she meant by that.
But I did understand when she said he’s never grown up properly.
When he comes down here he’s such good company and treats me as if I were just the same age as he is.
When I was a child, he played all sorts of games with me, and he lets me stay up late and he even taught me to swim in the lake.
I didn’t tell Grandmama because she’d have said it was unladylike.
We had to swim in our underwear and she’d have told me I was a hussy for doing that. ”
She laughed again. “I’m afraid Grandmama thinks every part of having fun is not very grown up.
Although…on her good days she often plays cards with me, and sometimes chess.
She says I’m a card sharp. I’m not at all sure what that means, either, but I think she says it because I always beat her.
I can assure you I don’t have to cheat. I’m just good at cards.
Lucky, too. She also says I take after my father.
So I suppose mine and Jonnie’s father must have been as lucky at cards as Jonnie and me. ”
Verity burst out laughing. “I must say that I agree with a lot of what you say. My impression of my husband, so far, is that he’s a little immature.”
Kitty nodded with vigor. “Grandmama says it’s his mother’s fault.”
Her grandmama might well be right.
Kitty, whose attention span seemed alarmingly short, shrugged this conversation off and leaned forward. “If I tell you something, will you promise not to tell Grandmama, or…or Jonnie if he ever deigns to visit?”
Outside, a peacock in full display plumage strutted across the grass. How decadent. Wasn’t this the same sort of decadence that had led to the French Revolution and the aristos having their heads chopped off by the guillotine?
Verity nodded. “We are friends now, are we not? Of course I won’t tell anyone.”
Kitty’s eyes twinkled. “Well, in that case I will confess that I do have one other friend. Meggie. She’s my maid.
She’s the same age as me and we are special friends and have no secrets from one another.
None whatsoever. So when I want someone to talk to, I find her.
But I’m not supposed to be friends with a servant, as she’s not of the same class.
” She gave an eloquent shrug. “Although my mother was a servant here in this very house, so really, I am half servant myself and fail to see what the problem is. Clearly my father had no problem fraternizing with the servants.”
Verity’s interest was piqued. “Where is your mother now?”
Another shrug. “I’m afraid she died when I was born, so I never met her.
Actually in the act of giving birth, so Grandmama told me.
I don’t miss her as I’ve never known what it is to have a mother.
And after I was born and she died, Jonnie insisted that I should be brought up here in the house, not be handed over to one of the tenant farmers’ wives to bring up as their own.
He insisted I was one of the family, even though his mother wanted me gone.
” A flush of pleasure warmed her pale cheeks.
“Grandmama said so too. She backed Jonnie up against his mother even though he was hardly older than I am now.”
That was a bit of a revelation. Jonnie, as she was now beginning to think of him, had certainly been nothing more than a boy himself when that happened.
That a boy who had just come into an earldom would want his father’s by-blow to be treated as one of the family was interesting.
Not the act of an immature person, but more one of accepting generosity.
Perhaps he wasn’t quite so bad as she’d thought.
But no, she wasn’t going down that avenue.
Kitty must have read her mind. “My real father was dead, you see, long before I was born. He was the Old Earl. He fell down the stairs right here in this house. It wasn’t the fall that killed him, but the landing at the bottom—Grandmama told me that.
Broke his neck. So he never laid eyes on me, and Jonnie declared I was not to be forgotten.
He said he would rather forget his papa than me.
And he was the new earl then, you see, so everyone had to do as they were told.
” She smiled again. “Even though he wasn’t yet seventeen himself, he put his foot down.
He told me that.” She paused. “He’s very good to me, you know.
” Her face softened into a smile. “I love him dearly and wish he came to visit more often.”
Verity smiled. “That’s a very dramatic tale.
” But she was still wondering about Jonnie’s concern for his little, orphaned half sister.
Somehow, it didn’t seem to fit with the impression he’d given her in London.
There, she couldn’t have imagined him caring for anyone except himself.
And yet, here…this child seemed to view him as her lifelong benefactor.
Kitty nodded. “And I suspect yours might be as well. So, before your maid comes back, tell me how you managed to persuade Jonnie to marry you. I can’t quite believe he’s changed his mind about marriage. Isn’t there a saying about the tiger not changing his spots?”
“The leopard, not the tiger.” Verity swallowed. Who was this child going to tell if she revealed the whole sordid mess behind her marriage? No one. Well, perhaps her maid. And servants were renowned for their gossip. “I will tell you,” she said, “if you promise me not to even tell Meggie.”