Page 15 of The Rake and Lady Julia
"There was a—" Julia glanced outside, and thankfully spotted a familiar feline reclining on the footpath below, "—a cat. He was playing a moment ago, it was terribly sweet."
"He's rather a mangy thing," Lady Cavendish responded, wrinkling her nose at the sight of Bagpipes, Violet's beloved pet, who often roamed the square. "Perhaps I should call for a footman to shoo him away."
"Oh, no," Julia protested, "He will go away of his own accord. Oh, I say, is that Staffordshire?"
A dark town coach had drawn up outside Staffordshire House, pulled by four Belgian Blacks. It was so sombre a vehicle, that Julia believed that if the horses had been wearing ostrich plume head-dresses she might have mistaken it for a hearse.
"Lud."
Lady Cavendish rarely used epithets, leaving Julia to assume that her guess was correct. Lord Montague's father was in town; as rare an event as Prinny paying his tailor's bill on-time.
"Your father will be all a tither for the foreseeable," Lady Cavendish continued, as she rolled her eyes in annoyance.
Still, she did not move away from the window, and stayed peering out across the square with Julia.
"I wonder what has brought him to town?" Julia asked.
"He's trying to marry off that son of his," Lady Cavendish answered absently, "It's all thetonhave talked of since his appearance at Almack's. Staffordshire, it is rumoured, is at his wit's end with his son's bachelor status and wild ways."
"Is that so?"
Alarmingly, Julia felt a mild stab of terror at the idea that Lord Montague might imminently find himself married off. Oh, she knew she could not ever marry him, but the idea of him marrying someone else was wholly unpleasant.
"Yes—though I am of the opinion that Staffordshire himself is responsible for Lord Montague's feral nature," Lady Cavendish sniffed, "He farmed that boy out to Eton when he was but four years old, and left the raising of him to the schoolmasters."
"Four?" Julia bit her lip; it was a terribly young age to be sent so far from home.
"Yes," her mama replied with a frown, "Just a week after his mother died, Lord Montague was packed up and sent off to board. It was said that the duke was so stricken by grief that he could not even bear to look at the child. Now, see what Staffordshire's indulgent grief has sown; an unloved son gone to seed."
"I hardly think Lord Montague has gone to seed, Mama ," Julia objected; the marquess might enjoy drinking and gambling, but what gentleman of thetoncould claim any different?
"And I hardly think he is worthy of further discussion," Lady Cavendish countered, steering Julia away from the windows, "Now, come and help me pick the trimmings for my bonnet."
Julia duly complied, though her mind could not concentrate on what ribbon best suited her mama, for it kept wandering away to Lord Montague. She could not help but picture him as a child, bereaved of his mother and sent away from home with no one to offer comfort. Was it any wonder that he had offered his heart to her so readily, when it had been without a home for so long?
"So, we agree on the blue?" Lady Cavendish's voice interrupted Julia's thoughts.
"Mmm," Julia agreed absently, though she hastily snapped back to attention as she realised that her mother was scrutinising her with shrewd eyes.
"La! You are miles away, dear," her mama said, though she was smiling as she spoke, "From your distracted state, am I to assume that your father has let you in on our little secret?"
"No, he did not. What secret?"
"Hush, I know he cannot keep anything to himself," Lady Cavendish sighed, despite Julia's protests of innocence actually being true, "Though I was rather hoping that it would be a surprise when Lord Pariseau arrived tomorrow—I wanted to see the expression on your face when he arrived through the door."
Julia, who could well picture her expression had she not been forewarned of the earl's arrival, gave a strangled sound, which she quickly converted into a cough.
"Shall I have Maria fetch you a nostrum?" Lady Cavendish asked with concern.
"No," Julia replied, as she calmed herself, "My breath simply caught in my throat with the...excitement of it, that is all."
Lady Cavendish appeared satisfied with her answer; happy to believe that Julia was choking with happiness, rather than fear. Though, that her mother thought her choking was appropriate, as long as the end result was a husband, left Julia feeling rather dull.
"Everything is coming together," Lady Cavendish said happily, "Just you wait and see, by the end of the season you will be a married woman, with a home of your own, and I shall be the happiest woman alive."
"Yes, Mama," Julia agreed obediently, thinking that should her mother's wishes come to fruition, she would then be the unhappiest woman alive. The only small ray of light, breaking through the dark clouds of Julia's future, was the thought of Lord Montague.
The practical side of Julia told her to push all thoughts of Montague from her mind, but stubbornly she resisted.
