Chapter Five
“You look simply heavenly,” Mother said, looking over Angelina with maternal regard.
“Not yet,” Angelina said with a wink in Felicity’s direction.
Mother shook her head, nudging them both toward the door of the bedchamber the sisters shared. “Mr. Carlisle will be here soon.”
“He has been so very kind,” Angelina said. “We could not have done so many things as we have without his assistance: the ball, the musical evening he has recommended next week, this ride in the park.”
“He always was a sweet boy,” Mother said. “It is a shame he has stayed away from home since his parents passed on.”
Felicity hadn’t thought of it in quite that way. He had been gone often since leaving for school, but now that Mother pointed it out, the last five years became clearer. William hadn’t been back since the late Mr. and Mrs. Carlisle had died. Not even once.
Poor William.
He arrived within mere moments of them reaching the entryway.
Angelina would not be required to expend her energy standing about waiting for him.
William was wonderfully felicitous, offering Angelina his arm and walking with her on one side, Felicity on the other, out to his waiting high-sprung carriage.
He handed Felicity up first. “If you will slide to the end of the bench, Angelina can place herself between us. That should provide her a shield from the wind and save her the added effort of moving to the far side.”
They were quickly situated.
William set the carriage in motion. “I did warn you, did I not, that I drive like an octogenarian?”
“You did,” Felicity answered, “and we are fully prepared to be both bored and unimpressed.”
“That is my goal for the afternoon.” He drove at a sedate pace but not so slowly that anyone would actually find it frustrating. “And would you care to be introduced to anyone in particular should we pass him or her?”
“I don’t know about Angelina, but I would very much like to meet someone who is both boring and unimpressive.”
“I believe we already have,” Angelina quipped.
William laughed out loud. They had done so much of that when they were children. It was good to know it still happened so easily between them all. As Angelina’s health continued to deteriorate, they would need more reasons for cheer.
The carriage reached Hyde Park, and their speed changed from calm to stationary.
“Heavens,” Angelina said, breathless. “I’ve never seen so many carriages in one place.”
William leaned closer to her and lowered his voice. “There is a reason it is called ‘a crush,’ my friend.”
Angelina set her hand on his arm. “I cannot tell you how relieved I am that the term refers to the number of carriages, not the result of reckless driving.”
He smiled back at her. “I am not only an unhurried driver; I’m also a careful one. The others here can crush each other all they wish. We will return home safely.”
“But not truly home,” Angelina answered quietly.
William instantly grew more tense, his posture more rigid.
Just as he had at Gunter’s, he quickly changed the topic of discussion.
“I am hopeful that my friend Mr. Whitehall will be among the throng this afternoon. I would very much like to introduce him to you, Angelina. Felicity has met him on one occasion.”
Felicity answered. “If you can assure me that Mr. Whitehall will tell us embarrassing stories about you, I will be quite pleased to see him again.”
“He knows a great many,” William acknowledged with a smile.
“Lest you’ve forgotten,” she said, “so do I.”
He glanced at her before returning his gaze to the very busy road once more. “What stories?”
“There was that time when we climbed the elm tree behind the vicarage, and you caught your trousers on a particularly thick limb and rendered yourself unable to descend without tremendous embarrassment.”
Angelina grinned at the memory.
“I distinctly remember you laughing instead of helping,” William said.
“It was funny.”
“As was that time you took strawberries from the conservatory and hid them in your pinafore pockets.”
Felicity couldn’t hold back her amusement. “Is it my fault I forgot they were in my pocket? It was a busy day.”
“Even busier after my father’s dog bumped into you and crushed the berries, convincing everyone that he’d desperately wounded you.”
“I thought your mother was going to swoon,” Felicity said with a laugh.
William shook his head, smiling in amusement. “Years passed before she could laugh about that. Father, on the other hand, dissolved into laughter within minutes.”
Angelina leaned toward Felicity and whispered, “It is good to hear him speak of his parents.”
“What are the two of you gossiping about?” he asked.
“You,” Felicity said. “What else?”
“What else, indeed.”
A gentleman on horseback rode up next to them. “Well met, William.”
“I had hoped to cross paths with you,” William said. “You have made Miss Felicity Banbury’s acquaintance, but you have not yet met her sister, Miss Banbury.”
He managed the appropriate dip of the head whilst maintaining full control of his mount. “A pleasure, Miss Banbury.”
“Angelina, this is Mr. Leonard Whitehall. He and I have known one another since our days at Eton.”
Angelina smiled and offered an expression of pleasure. “We were promised embarrassing stories about our mutual friend should we cross paths with you, Mr. Whitehall.”
“Were you?” Mr. Whitehall turned his gaze on William. “You wish me to humiliate you in front of your friends?”
“They wish you to humiliate me.” He leaned forward enough to look at Felicity seated on the other side of Angelina. “Is that not correct? A bit of humiliation heaped upon your friend would, no doubt, set you up for life.”
She shook her head at him. “You will convince Mr. Whitehall that I am a horrid person.”
“I could never manage that,” William said, “as no one who is at all acquainted with you would ever believe you were anything other than delightful.”
His kind words and warm smile sent the oddest shiver over her. Her heart leaped about in her throat. Very unexpected.
“I understand you attended the Crawfords’ ball, Miss Banbury,” Mr. Whitehall said. “I am sorry not to have been there so we might have conversed.”
“It was a lovely evening,” Angelina said. “I am so pleased to have been invited.”
“The Banburys will be attending the theater in my box the evening after next,” William said. “You ought to join us.”
“You should,” Felicity said. “Then we needn’t spend the night with only William for company.”
She looked at William out of the corner of her eye. He was grinning just as she’d expected he would.
“Your sister told me you were as playful now as when we were children. I am discovering she is correct in that.”
“Is this a pleasant discovery or a disappointing one?” Felicity asked.
“Relieving.”
She hadn’t expected that answer and didn’t quite know what to make of it.
“I will not detain you any longer,” Mr. Whitehall said. “Until the evening after next.” He tugged at his hat brim, then rode off.
“I like him,” Angelina said. “And it is lovely to meet a friend of yours from your years away.”
“Don’t tell me you missed me?” he asked, laughing.
Felicity had most certainly missed him—more than she’d realized before crossing his path in Town.
As they continued their slow circuit of the park, she could not stop her mind from slipping back to the many days she’d stood at the end of the drive leading to Carlisle Manor after William had left for Eton or during his half-decade absence following his parents’ passing.
She’d longed for him, worried about him, wished he were there still.
Her excitement at seeing him in the little park near their rented Town house ought to have told her how much her heart still longed for him.
Other friends from Lindsworth had left, some taking up residence at other family holdings, but she could not imagine being as pleased to see them as she had been at the unexpected sight of dear, kind William.
“I think Hyde Park might be a disappointment to our Angelina.” William’s voice cut into Felicity’s thoughts, pulling her back to the present. “The poor dear is done in.”
Angelina’s posture was slumped. Her eyelids had grown heavy.
“She hasn’t the stamina she ought,” Felicity said. “I only hope she’ll be equal to the remainder of her wish list.”
Angelina’s head nodded as she attempted to keep herself awake. This happened more often lately. Felicity feared her sister’s endurance was nearly gone. What if they had to return home before she could accomplish all six of her wishes for the Season?
“We had best cut our time in the park short,” Felicity said. “She should rest.”
William expertly moved around the crowds and unmoving carriages until he reached a road branching off the main one. They were soon free of the crush of carriages. Angelina had slumped entirely, leaning against William’s shoulder, quite asleep.
“I worry about her,” Felicity said.
“I am beginning to as well. She is breaking my heart.”
Those words returned to her long after Angelina was home and sleeping soundly in her bed.
Angelina was breaking William’s heart. He had shown her great kindness and was clearly fond of her.
He had always been something of a brother figure to them.
His absence from home since his parents’ passing spoke of continued mourning.
He couldn’t cope with loss and grief. Felicity’s inclusion of him in Angelina’s final Season would simply bring him more pain.