Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Lydia stared at the Duke then back at everyone else. Agatha’s amusement was short-lived as she too realized that this humorous incident had quickly become problematic. With the baby in her arms, Lydia was unable to do anything but care for the child. The Duke seemed utterly aghast as well.
“Go back downstairs; none of you should be here!” he cried out, trying to shoo them away just as he had with Agatha. He could not strongarm all of them, however, and they were far too interested in speculating about the hidden baby.
It was Agatha who took command. She stepped in front of Victor.
“All of you should be ashamed of yourselves! Do you not have better things to do? There is no champagne to be found here. Can’t you see that this baby is in distress?” she said and then raised her voice even higher and bellowed out for a maid.
Lydia breathed with relief. Although her grandmother could be trying at times, she was always there to help in demanding situations. A maid battled through the crowd and came towards Lydia, opening her arms to the baby.
Lydia passed the child to the maid. Even though she had only been with the baby for a short while, she did feel a profound sense of loss and worry. For a little while there, she had been the one to soothe the child, and she feared that it would suffer in her absence.
“Come, child,” Agatha said sharply, beckoning Lydia to her side. Lydia did as she was told, but she stopped briefly as she passed the Duke.
“Make sure you care for it,” Lydia said firmly, staring directly into the Duke’s eyes.
Then, Agatha grabbed Lydia’s hand and pulled her through the tide of people.
Agatha Hartley was an ornery woman and did not show any deference when she did not feel the need.
People moved out of her way although Lydia noticed how they stared at her and gossiped, saying unpleasant things.
I never realized she had it in her.
No wonder she hasn’t gotten married.
Didn’t she disappear for a while? She must have had the baby then.
I wonder why he hasn’t made an honest woman out of her.
She must have tricked him.
He must have tricked her.
All of these things pricked Lydia’s heart, and by the time they returned to Edmund and Rose, tears welled in her eyes, and she was ready to weep.
Edmund and Rose looked at her with concern.
“What happened?” Edmund asked.
“There’s no time for that now. We must leave.
We have outstayed our welcome,” Agatha said and continued on her path.
Edmund and Rose fell in step with them. Rose took Lydia’s hand and squeezed it tightly.
Lydia was glad of the comfort, but a surreal sense came over her, as though she wasn’t quite contained in her own body.
They entered the carriage, and it set off immediately. Lydia burst into tears.
“Will you please tell me what happened?” Edmund said.
“There’s a baby,” Agatha said and described the situation as best she could. Lydia sobbed all the way through the story. Rose squeezed her hand tighter and tighter while Edmund offered her a handkerchief.
“It will be all right,” they said although Lydia could not believe this to be true, not for an instant.
The carriage swept through London until it returned to Stonewood Manor.
Lydia departed and stumbled into the house.
Agatha asked to speak to Edmund while Rose escorted Lydia back to her room.
She asked for some tea to be brought upstairs.
Lydia collapsed onto the bed, a forlorn figure. Rose sank beside her. The two of them had been friends before they were sisters, and there was perhaps nobody in the world who Lydia would have preferred to be with at this moment.
There was her mother, of course, but that was impossible.
There was Charlotte too, but Lydia’s elder sister could be pragmatic at times and always looked for solutions when sometimes, Lydia only wanted reassurance.
Rose put her arm around Lydia’s shoulders and held her tight.
“I’m so sorry that this happened, Lydia.”
Lydia took heaving breaths, and her shoulders shuddered. It was a long time before she calmed enough to be able to speak.
“I do not understand. I did everything right, and now… now, I am ruined.”
“You don’t know that. People might understand the truth.”
“The truth.” Lydia laughed bitterly and shook her head.
“When have they ever been concerned with the truth? They will see the scene and come to the obvious conclusion that the baby was conceived out of wedlock in some torrid affair. I am a ruined woman. What man would want to be associated with someone who has such a mark against them?”
Rose paused, for she knew all too well that a scandal like this was more than enough to cast a woman into exile and ruin any chance of a fine marriage.
“I’m sure we can get this straightened out. People know that you are not that type of woman, and you never even met the Duke of Nightford before tonight. I know it seems dire now, but it is not the end of the matter.”
“You are kind, Rose, but there is no point trying to convince me that this is anything other than a catastrophe. You know what the ton is like. We have both lived in it for long enough.”
“What were you even doing in the room?”
“I was searching for Grandmother. Then I heard the baby crying and could not leave it alone. When His Grace appeared, we argued about whose baby it was. He didn’t seem to know either.”
“Really? Then I wonder whose it is.”
“He must have something to do with it. Why else would it have been in his room?”
“Well, someone must have left the child there. The baby’s mother must be out there, somewhere.”
“Perhaps… although if so, then why did she not come forward? Perhaps she is dead. There are too many strands to this story and the only one people care about is the one involving me. I will be cast aside from the ton. I will never get my happy ending.” Lydia bowed her head and began weeping again.
Rose made comforting noises and attempted to sooth Lydia in the same way that Lydia had tried to soothe the baby, but the future she wanted had been taken from her.
There could be no happy conclusion for her now.
Everyone would see her as a woman of ill repute.
This was the kind of association that never left a woman, and no gentleman would ever be happy with the prospect of marrying her.
This was a tragedy indeed, but unlike the titular characters in Romeo and Juliet, she didn’t even get to experience love.