Page 9 of A Sight to Behold
“And then she will be compromised. If her smile isn’t perfectly restored, she has to trap a good man into marriage before the next season.” Wife Six left the table with a scheming plan hanging in the air as if it were naught to manipulate people’s lives to suit the Ton’s whims. If the sole value in life were to impress the Ton, Wife Six would say that the endjustified the means, regardless of their immorality. Fairness, integrity, and morality were not usually thoughts she bothered herself with. If any question of that nature arose, when Pippa brought it up, Wife Six waved it away like a nasty mosquito that buzzed around the imported tropical plants in the orangery.
Pippa remained alone at the table with Bea and stared at her half-eaten breakfast.
“Don’t waste the egg. Can I have that?” Bea asked, switching her empty eggshell in a cup against Pippa’s untouched soft—boiled egg.
“Doesn’t it bother you at all?”
“That you had some of this egg already? No.”
“I mean with the girl. She’s in pain and needs a doctor.”
“Seems like she’ll get one.” Bea licked her lips and reached for the saltshaker.
“And as a punishment for needing medical treatment, she cannot make a debut and has to stoop so low as to trap a man into marriage?” It was worrisome, to say the least. Not that she’d have the chance to debut, but it was saddening to think of how she herself would need to trap a man into marriage. She was defective, after all.
Nick—Doctor Folsham’s—words rolled through her mind as if he’d just whispered them in her ear:A vision deficit doesn’t mean you are deficient in any way.Easy for him to say, though the words were quite nice to hear…
“Won’t be the first.” Bea scooped out the egg white with bits of the yellow-orange yolk that had hardened and crumbled on the spoon. “Why do you care? They’re notyourteeth. Yours are fine.”
But my eyes may not be, Pippa couldn’t help but think. The handsome oculist had drawn her attention to her impaired eyesight and the issue hadn’t left her mind since he had. Or wasit the thoughts of his lop-sided smile and warm eyes that had preoccupied Pippa more?
“It bothers me because it’s a double standard. The Earl of Langley’s gold fillings are like trophies for his exploits and experience, making him seem much more accomplished.” Bea shrugged.
Pippa lost her patience. “It’s not fair that he was considered the catch of the season despite his debauchery while a young woman is easily shelved like an old shoe at the slightest hint of a scuff.”
“You admitted it! Debauchery!” Bea laughed and reached for her napkin as she finished the egg.
Bea was far too clever, sometimes. “I stand corrected. I have no facts to judge his life on.”
“You don’t need facts to judge. He married Violet. A man who marries a venomous snake like Violet can only be a snake himself or be poisoned by her venom.”
“That’s vile, Bea. Don’t catch the nasty gossip bug from the Ton only because you mingle with them. I cannot form an opinion without facts. Judgment based on hearsay is gossip.”
“That’s the best kind!” Bea gave a mischievous wink and left Pippa alone at the table.
It was a double standard to judge men and women differently, and it oughtn’t be a standard at all. Making it the norm to treat women differently than men made Pippa bristle, not in the least, because her father and Wife Six showed such complacency. If a lady needed treatment and there was an excellent doctor to offer it, Pippa decided, then she should be able to receive it without losing her prospects for a favorable marriage.
Pippa’s head spun with what she’d been taught and what she believed in her heart. Truth and judgment were not congruent regarding how the English aristocracy picked their spouses norhow marriages were judged. As cruel as Violet was, she’d caught an earl in her first season, so she was forever redeemed in society. The earl, in return, had a young wife, and his rakehell past was instantly forgotten. Pippa shook her head; if Violet was a beacon of respectability judged by people like Wife Six, she attributed no value to the Ton. And yet, their rules were what kept her from finding her path in life.
It was unfair.
And she wouldn’t stand by and let life and love pass her by for that.
Pippa wanted to go through life with an open heart and open eyes. And if she’d see better with spectacles, she’d take the handsome doctor up on his offer and get some.
Chapter Five
The previous day (and still covered with whipped cream)…
Nick had managedto return to 87 Harley Street and change for the surgery in the nick of time.
“What happened to you? Where have you been? The Earl of Langley is already waiting in the operating room,” Wendy said when Nick half-fell down the stairs in his haste.
“Nothing happened to me; I’ll be right there.” But he felt the impact of the lie as if he’d been punched in the stomach. Somethinghadhappened to him, and not just the collision with a cream cake. He felt as if something had thrown him out of his orbit and his mind could only circle the beautiful lady from Cloverdale House, an urban castle. She was out of his reach and most certainly wouldn’t want to spend her time with a mad oculist who knew more about the human eye than human nature. Why else would he have given her diagnosis instead of paying her a compliment?
Nick rubbed his eyes and as he leaned over his wash bowl to scrub his hands for the surgery, he stared in the looking glass. An idiot stared back at him. A besotted fool.
A lady like Pippa, intelligent and beautiful, who’d brought him to her sanctuary of botany and introduced him to the rabbit she’d rescued deserved to be kissed, not chastised. What had he called her?Deficient?He ought to kick himself for such a stupid thing. If he had better bedside manners, he would have deliveredthe blow with more grace. Perhaps he could have given her a kiss instead of a diagnosis.
