Page 20 of Miss Determined
His handsome, empty head. Dear Titus had eloped with an opera dancer.
Charles Brompton, the suitor who’d defected during Lissa’s first season, had at least proposed to a lady whose settlement was larger than Lissa’s.
Society didn’t hold that development against Lissa, but an opera dancer? What was wrong with her that Merriman had chosen scandal and penury rather than marriage to Lissa?
Mama studied her needlework, an intricate border of roses, leaves, and thorny vines. “That’s why I married your father. We weren’t a love match, but he was kind, loyal, and respectful. He was so cheerful, such a friendly husband, though he never once tried to dissemble with me. Marrying your father was to be my family’s guarantee of financial security. He married well socially. My uncle was a baronet, let it be said. I married well financially. It can work, Lissa. Your papa would hate to see us in reduced circumstances.”
In an earlier age, not as plagued by war and progress, Mama’s formula had kept the squires, the cits, and the peers on nodding terms. Take one younger son or Honorable, marry him off to a cit’s pride and joy or a wealthy squire’s darling daughter. The products of that union could enjoy both standing and security as they took their turns marrying up.
“Times have changed, Mama, and even if they haven’t, I am nigh elderly by Mayfair standards.”
“You are also wealthy. Your father saw to at least that much. Your pin money, once you marry, will keep us all in fine style.”
They aren’t awful.Your family.Mr. Dorning had meant the words kindly, but they’d cut like the meanest gossip. Lissa was abruptly in anticipation of a megrim.
“Mama, instead of trying to find me a husband, why aren’t we working harder to find Gavin?” That solution wouldn’t require anybody to marry up, down, or sideways.
Mama stuffed her needlework back into the basket. “You know why. One cannot make inquiries without causing talk. If it becomes known that your brother is kicking his heels in Venice, then scandal is bound to follow. Perhaps he killed somebody in a duel or was led astray by a young woman with a jealous papa. Better to not know the details until the prodigal thinks it safe to return.”
Lissa hadn’t the heart to pose the logical question: And if Gavin had been killed in that duel? If Gavin was expiring somewhere of the pox, slowly losing his mind and physical health, but too ashamed to ask his family for help?
For those facts to erupt after Lissa had spoken her vows with some prancing lordling would make a difficult marriage hellish—and all the more necessary if Diana and Caroline were to find husbands.
“If only Mr. Dorning were more closely associated with the titled branch of his family,” Mama said. “The Dorset Dornings are all married and doing well for themselves. One married an heiress that I know of. Perhaps your Mr. Dorning is a cousin of some sort?”
Of all topics, Lissa did not want Mama discussing Mr. Trevor Dorning. “He said he’s cordial with the earl’s family, but he would have told me if they were as close as cousins. I am coming to hate the key of F major.”
“C major is the more villainous. No black keys to slow the child down and make her learn the notes correctly in the first place.”
Diana was still a child, except for those rare flashes of insight that warned of impending adulthood. The Charles Bromptons and Titus Merrimans of polite society would corner Diana behind the potted palms before Lissa could say Muzio Filippo Vincenzo Francesco Saverio Clementi.
That thought restored a bit of Lissa’s temper. “I truly do not want to go to London, Mama. Last Season was bad enough, and this Season will be worse.” Brompton and Merriman both would give her smug smiles and leave innuendo wafting about with their cheroot smoke.
Their guilty consciences had so far stopped them from ruining her outright.
Mama rose and braced her hands against her lower back. “This Season might be worse, Lissa, but it had better be successful. The solicitors have kindly sent me a warning that Lord Tavistock will raise the rent at the end of summer.”
Bollocks to Lord Tavistock.“He raised the damned rent after Papa died. That was only…” Well, five years ago. The marquess had waited until the DeWitts had finished second mourning, then cited rising prices, Twidboro’s enviable proximity to Town, repairs to tenant cottages, and a lot of other twaddle. Gavin had approved additional expenditures for rent—a dwelling being a “necessity” and thus within his legal purview even as a minor—and life had gone on.
“Tavistock can raise the rent,” Mama said, “but he cannot throw us out until we are in default. We are not in default, though your grandmother thinks we should stop paying rent at all. Save that money. It’s not as if Tavistock has kept up with the repairs to the Hall.”
But this is my home. This is Diana and Caroline’s home. Grandmama’s home.How much more forgetful would Grandmama be in new surrounds, where every neighbor was a stranger and every room unfamiliar?
“Then we will simply have to make the solicitors see that an additional sum for rent is the only reasonable course and the one Gavin would support, as he supported it five years ago.”
Mama regarded her with a half smile. “You are very like your father, in some regards. He was cheerful and kind, but he was also determined. When that man took a notion to do something, it was as good as done.”
“I have not taken a notion to marry just any old eligible title, Mama. I will do what I must to see that we keep a roof over our heads—preferably this roof—but I also think we should be searching most diligently for Gavin.”
Mama pulled the window curtains closed, sunlight being the enemy of carpets and upholstery. “The solicitors have sent inquiries.”
Lissa pushed to her feet, wishing she’d heeded Mr. Dorning’s suggestion to stop by the kitchen. A good, hard ride had left her famished, and luncheon was an hour away.
“The solicitors are probably telling you that, when what they mean is, they added a footnote on some epistle to a factor in Marseilles last summer. I don’t trust them, Mama.”
“Nonsense. Smithers and Purvis is an old and respected firm, and they have given us nothing but loyal service since your father convinced them to accept us as clients.”
“They have also given us generous helpings of condescension, sermonizing, and lectures about economy and expectations, while they help themselves regularly to our funds.”
