Page 31 of The Colonel's Ungovernable Governess
The fair proved both loud and colorful. Jocelyn watched Vincent as the boy walked sometimes very close to Mr. Darcy’s side and then, later, next to the colonel. The child held back rather than to rush from tent to tent, as most children would, but, though he occasionally shivered in obvious uncertainty, he bravely faced his fears.
“Vincent is doing quite well,” Jocelyn observed aloud as Victoria walked beside her and holding her hand.
“He found a bottle belonging to our mother in one of her drawers. He is using his finger to cover and uncover the opening,” Victoria explained.
“A bottle?” Jocelyn questioned.
“One of those small ones. Like those used for smelling salts,” the girl said. “Mr. Darcy told Vincent how he used to carry a coin in his pocket when he took tests at school and the like. The coin was one his mother had given him before she passed. Mr. Darcy would rub the coin over and over again to keep himself calm so he could study or make speeches to take his orals and the like.”
“Interesting,” Jocelyn murmured.
Obviously tired of defending her brother, Victoria asked, “Might we see the bear?”
“Permit me to ask your uncle,” Jocelyn told the girl. “Colonel!” she called.
He paused to look back to her and waited for her to catch up with him and Lady Annabelle. “Lady Victoria believes she would like to view the dancing bear now. Otherwise, according to the sign, if not now, it will be another two hours to wait.”
“Then it should be now,” he declared. “Are you prepared, Annabelle?” he said good-naturedly.
Lady Annabelle’s eyes darted to a group of young people who had been following their party for some time, but then looked quickly away. “I do not believe I care to view a smelly old bear. Might I not simply browse through some of the stalls?”
“I do not think such is acceptable,” the colonel stated.
“I do it all the time in Bath,” the girl argued. “The head mistress at school permits us the freedom to move about the town as is required. I promise to remain in this small circle of tents.”
The colonel’s face scrunched up in apparent denial, but, at the last second, he changed his mind. “This small circle only. Earn my trust, Lady Annabelle, or you will live to regret your choices during your stay at William’s Wood.”
The girl laughed nervously. “I promise.”
“Very well,” he announced.
Jocelyn thought he had made a mistake, but neither the colonel nor Lady Annabelle would appreciate her opinion. Therefore, she followed the others into the fenced off ring designed for the bear’s performance, but when she reached the seating, she encouraged Victoria to join Mrs. Darcy rather than to sit with the others.
“You should come,” Victoria insisted.
“I am a bit afeared,” she told the child in excuse.
“You should have said so,” Victoria objected.
“I shall stand along the fence. You may view me there. Go on now and join Mr. and Mrs. Darcy.” The girl was not best pleased, but she performed as instructed.
Jocelyn watched as Vincent and Victoria huddled together between the colonel and Mr. Darcy. She knew Vincent must have shivered because the colonel draped his arm around the boy’s shoulders, but the child did not look away from the bear. Mrs. Darcy motioned for Jocelyn to join them, but she shook off the gesture. She wished to stay by the fence. She wanted to watch Lady Annabelle. She did not trust the girl, for she had known many such spoiled young ladies on the Continent.
The colonel and the Darcys were barely out of Annabelle’s sight when the two young men and the girl who had been following them surrounded Lady Annabelle. Annabelle laced her arm around one of the young men’s arms, and he leaned down as if to kiss her cheek, but thought better of it.
The four stood together in the middle of the circle of tents with people stepping around them. The other girl motioned to where many were streaming along the pathway between the tents to where the skill games were set up, but, fortunately, Lady Annabelle appeared to oppose the idea. Otherwise, Jocelyn would have been forced to call for the colonel’s intervention.
Finally, when those inside the bear’s enclosure began to clap and cheer their pleasure, Jocelyn turned her head briefly to look upon the colonel’s handsome profile and to sigh contentedly, and, for a second, she forgot about Lady Annabelle, but her dreams vanished when said man turned towards her and frowned.
Victoria skipped over to Jocelyn. “Did you see how the bear danced, Miss Rose? Even Vincent dances better.”
“I did, sweetheart.” She caressed the child’s cheek. She belatedly realized she had already become too attached to the children.
“Are we prepared to continue onward?” the colonel asked.
“I am hungry,” Vincent announced.
“Then let us gather Annabelle and find ourselves something worth our time and money,” the colonel declared.
