Page 7 of Lady Louisa and the Carriage Clock
Her father had always been the same: detached when surrounded by her siblings, but when alone with his only daughter, he indulged her every whim.
She returned to her bedchamber to write a missive to Edith, informing her they would have a chaperone on their afternoon excursion. After her maid took the note downstairs to be delivered by a footman, Louisa wandered down the corridor to her mother’s set of rooms.
She knocked on a bedchamber door.
“Come!”
“Good morning, Mother.” Louisa walked to the side of the four-poster bed to lean in and kiss her mother’s cheek.
Her mother had a breakfast tray on her lap and took a sip of tea before saying, “I’ve been thinking about what a great help Lady Harbury can be with your search for a husband, my dear.”
Louisa took a seat on a stuffed chair. “Oh yes?”
“Why she married the richest man in London! And Charlotte is also well matched.” The woman smiled gently. “Your turn is next, my dear. None of you girls were the diamond of your season, but your friends married well. Very well, indeed.”
Louisa’s mother had been labeled an ‘incomparable’ in her first season. Despite receiving a proposal from a duke, her mother had married a marquess.
“I loved your father at first sight,” she’d told her only daughter, “we rubbed along the first year well enough until he fell in love with me. The finer feelings can develop between a couple.”
Louisa wasn’t so sure. Her mother had used the argument to entice her daughter to accept one of the three marriage proposals she’d received last season: Charlotte’s brother, the squat baron, and a man older than her father.
Oh, how she missed her childhood friend Charlotte! They’d grown up on neighboring estates in Kent. Charlotte’s mother had embraced Louisa as her own daughter, whereas Louisa’s mother seemed not to know what to do with a girl in the house after giving birth to four wild boys.
“Edith has expressed an interest in being my chaperone this season,” she said calmly, hoping her mother did not see how excited she was at the prospect of not being escorted to evening entertainments by Leopold. “With your blessing, of course.”
Her mother smiled before replying, “That is a splendid idea! I heartily approve.”
“Leopold will accompany me and Edith to the auction,” she said conversationally, confident her mother would decide her brother’s escort wasn’t necessary.
Her mother nodded. “Excellent. Potential marriage prospects would see that our family is concerned with respectability in matters of commerce.”
Louisa merely nodded. She wanted to attend the auction and would not jeopardize the opportunity by arguing against Leopold's escort.
“Are you all right, my dear? You seem oddly compliant today.” The older woman raised an eyebrow.
“I’m thinking about what I shall wear this afternoon.” It was the partial truth.
The older woman laughed softly. “That sounds more like my daughter. Your eye for fashion does help your appearance, my dear.”
It was a backhanded compliment, but she knew her mother didn’t mean any harm. Louisa knew she was pretty enough, just not the beautiful creature her mother was.
“I must go change.” She rose to her feet.
“Good luck with your bidding.” Her mother waved a hand. “Do be genteel about it, though.”
Chapter Three
The Leigh and Sotheby offices were located in the Exeter Exchange on the north side of the Strand in London. While known for auctioning off books, the auction house had recently begun including other goods for sale.
As he alighted from his carriage on Walling Street, Cecil heard the sound of a big cat’s roar from the building in front of him.
Edward Cross housed a makeshift menagerie on the upper floors of the building, a venture he’d named the Royal Grand National Menagerie. With the cacophony of sounds coming from the menagerie ringing in his ears, Cecil wondered why the auction house hadn’t found a quieter location to do business.
He’d traveled in a nondescript black coach with attendants dressed in plain black livery to attract as little attention as possible. There was no indication the RA was after the clock, but he couldn’t be sure they wouldn’t have someone bidding on it.
If lucky, he would have the clock within the hour and be on his way home. As he entered the building’s lobby, a gentleman directed those attending the auction to an open door on the left side of the vestibule. Cecil entered a chamber full of hard-backed chairs with two long tables beside a raised dais; he took a seat in the back of the room on a chair in the last row.
One of the long tables held stacks of books and an ebony wood box that he recognized. It was identical to the one that stored his own gold clock.
