Page 30 of A Marquess to Save Her
The laughter grated on Callum's nerves, and he did not find Wessex's joke funny. Rather, he found it disrespectful.
“I am certain that Lady Louise still has more class and standards than most of you here,” Callum said.
“We all know that is not true,” Wessex said, laughing.
This time, no one laughed with him.
Being the grandson of the Duke and his heir, Callum knew he wielded a certain power in theton, especially among the gentlemen who all wanted to be in his good graces.
“For one, I am certain Lady Louise would not be talking down on someone who has never wronged her,” Callum said.
“But she acted just like the typical woman scorned when...”
“When she was jilted,” Callum cut in, “tell me, Essex. When Lady Arabella rejected your proposal and went ahead to marry Lord Eaton, did you not sulk about town for close to a year?”
“I…but…” Wessex stumbled on his words, but Callum had driven the point in.
Felington and Callum had earlier left the gentlemen's quarters when Felington pulled him to a side.
“I have to say that I am impressed at how valiantly you are willing to defend Lady Louise,” Felington said. Callum shrugged noncommittally. “I appreciate that you are taking care of her. After all, it would not do to have her ruin my house party. I promise that you will be duly compensated once we get back to London,” Felington continued.
“Compensated? For what?” Callum was confused.
“For helping me to handle my business as a good friend would,” Felington said.
“I defended the poor lady because no one else would. I do not require compensation for that,” Callum replied.
Felington smiled. “You are even more into the character than I imagined. Let us keep it this way so that no one would be any wiser, at least, until we return to London.” When Callum did not respond, Felington sighed and patted him on the shoulder. “I really have no idea what I would do without you, Langton. You have always had my back since we were young,” Felington said.
“You have a musicale to plan,” Callum replied tartly, “I suggest that we check if everything is going as planned.”
“Ah, there you go again, my friend. Going all cold and noncommittal.”
ChapterNine
“Tonight, you are going to be serenaded with music from the talents that we have amongst us,” Wessex, who was coordinating the musicale, announced.
The audience seemed excited, and Louise looked forward to an evening of lovely music. Even though she played the harp perfectly, she had not been informed that she would be performing.
Callum strolled into the hall with his grandfather, and he gave her a little wave from the other end of the hall. Louise smiled and looked away from him even though she could still feel his eyes on her.
“The first lady who would be giving us a fine piece of music is Lady Grant,” he said.
The audience clapped politely as Lady Joan, a lovely redhead, approached the stage. She sat behind a pianoforte and performed one of Rossini's pieces. She performed it so well that she was greeted with a round of applause at the end of it.
“She is a rather talented young lady,” Aunt Theodora said.
“The next performer is Lady Catherine Fletcher,” Wessex said.
Catherine, one of Louise's former friends, went up to the stage, all smiles, a tambourine. “I will be performing “God Save the King” tonight,” she said.
“That song does not need the tambourine, does it?” Aunt Theodora asked.
“I would like to believe Catherine knows what she is doing,” Louise whispered to her aunt. However, Catherine did not seem to know what she was doing, which was obvious to everyone from the song's first line.
“God save our gracious King!” She shouted rather than sang.
Her tone was off for the song, and she had even replaced the words with random ones.
