Chapter 25 #2
Lady Tollerhampton was not quite as clever.
She leaned forward, plucking a biscuit from the plate of treats.
“I have heard that midwives often show a little mercy to these poor illegitimate creatures,” she announced blithely.
“It’s for the best, don’t you think? After all, what kind of life will the thing lead? ”
“Thing?” Lady Pilbury echoed. Her smile hadn’t faltered, which was somehow even more unsettling. “Her name is Willow, my dear.”
“Willow. Well, we had to tell you. I’m sure you’ll be as shocked as we are. The girl ought to be let go at once. I’d suggest that the child be adopted into a good Christian household, but I daresay it’s already too late. She’ll be contaminated.”
“Contaminated,” Lady Pilbury mused thoughtfully. “What a strange word to use. I wonder if you’d consider your husband contaminated, Lady Tollerhampton, after consorting with all those opera girls? And you yourself and the footman. What was his name? Gordon, I believe?”
Mrs. Spencer choked on her tea.
Lady Tollerhampton went very pale. “I have no idea what you are…” she began, but Lady Pilbury simply turned to Lady Penn.
“And you. Didn’t your eldest daughter produce a bastard of some description?
Do forgive my language, but I think it fits the tone of our conversation.
Yes, it was Jane, was it not? I really cannot recall who the gentleman was.
You did a decent job of hiding it, but the child went to a spinster aunt who has a tendency to gossip.
I can find out, I’m sure. Shall I? Shall I find out? ”
One might have heard a pin drop.
Daphne glanced from face to face, her jaw slack. Lady Tollerhampton had turned the color of a corpse. Lady Penn looked as though she were about to be sick.
Lady Pilbury sniffed and set her teacup back on the table. “Well, ladies, now we come to a sad fact of life. I’ve long thought that our paths were diverging, and now I am sure of it. I’m afraid I must ask you to leave immediately.”
The two women staggered to their feet, crimson and pale respectively, and hurtled off across the lawn without a backward glance. Mrs. Spencer blinked around her, as if not sure where her friends had gone, and rose unsteadily to her feet.
“You may call on me again, Mrs. Spencer,” Lady Pilbury said mildly. “But without your sister and cousin, I’m afraid.”
Mrs. Spencer swallowed. She bobbed a quick curtsey, threw a curious glance at Daphne, then scuttled off after the others.
Silence ensued, lasting for a few minutes, before Daphne broke it.
“Thank ye,” she said quietly.
“Oh, don’t thank me, dear,” Lady Pilbury sniffed. “I don’t know how they had the gall. Calling Willow a thing. Mind you, I said all of that for them as well as you, as I was afraid you would strangle Lady Tollerhampton with your bare hands.”
Daphne gave a surprised huff of laughter. “So was I, in truth.”
“Well, they’re gone now, and I doubt they’ll return. I’m glad of it. In the meantime, I might as well tell you that Mrs. Spencer was right. She did hear carriage wheels on the driveway. We have a guest.”
Daphne swallowed, chewing on her lower lip. “A guest?”
Lady Pilbury met her eyes. “You can guess who it is, I’m sure.”
“I… I daenae ken.”
“Hm. Well, the governess has Willow in the library. I shall stay out here, I think. It’s a fine day.
The guest, if you care to meet him, will be in the parlor.
It’s a quiet room, as you know, nice and private.
You might even bolt the door from the inside, if you would rather not be disturbed.
The choice, of course, is entirely yours. ”
Daphne said nothing for a long moment. She sat still, staring at Lady Pilbury. The woman smiled mildly back, sipping her tea.
Daphne’s heart thundered in her chest, louder and louder until it was all she could hear in her ears.
“Is it… Is it him?” she managed.
Lady Pilbury leaned forward and picked up a biscuit from the plate. “Why, who else could it be?”
A few more minutes passed. When she felt that she had her strength back, Daphne rose shakily to her feet. She smoothed down the front of her bodice with trembling hands and glanced down at Lady Pilbury.
“Is it wise?” she wondered aloud. “Should I talk to him?”
The older woman sighed. “As I said, the choice is yours. But he did say that he wouldn’t go until you talked to him. Make of that what you will.”
Daphne shifted her weight from foot to foot. “Then I… I had better go, nay?”
“Indeed.”
“But… But then he might weaken me resolve.”
“Now, this isn’t like you, my dear. You’re usually very decisive. I tell you what. Let’s make this simpler. Would you run inside and collect my book for me? I quite fancy reading out here.”
Daphne exhaled. “Of course. Where is it?”
Lady Pilbury gave a placid smile. “Why, in the parlor, of course.”
Daphne walked quickly across the lawn and into the cool shade of the terrace. From there, she stepped past the footmen and into the house. Through the hall she went, past the butler who smiled distantly with a tray of cake in his hand that was probably going outside.
And then she found herself outside the parlor door. She squared her shoulders, eyeing the door as if it had personally wronged her. Then she drew in a deep breath, steeled herself, and stepped inside.