Page 38 of Unraveled By the Duke
The Dowager Duchess stood before her, surely noting that Celia had not risen. She gave a tight smile and then bobbed a graceful curtsy.
“Duchess,” she greeted.
Celia smiled back. “Lady Violet.”
“I was not expecting you,” the Dowager Duchess said, sitting gracefully.
She picked up a small silver bell and rang it before replacing it. Moments later, a maid entered the room, and the Dowager Duchess ordered tea for herself before turning to Celia.
“Would you care for tea, Duchess?” she inquired frostily.
“Yes, thank you, Lady Violet,” Celia replied in a similar tone.
Once the maid left the room, an awkward silence fell over them.
Celia could sense the older woman’s dislike and wondered how to counter it when the door burst open and Hyacinth entered the room.
“At last, Celia! You are finally here! I have been looking forward to showing you around the house and the grounds. I do not know how you stood being cooped up at Finsbury House all this time!”
“Hyacinth, kindly address the new Duchess appropriately,” the Dowager Duchess chided.
“That is not necessary. If I may call you Hyacinth, I should very much like you to call me Celia,” Celia offered with a smile.
Hyacinth blushed and dropped into an elegant curtsy. She shot her mother a smile. “See, Mama? I pay attention to my lessons. I merely thought that Celia and I should be sisters, and sisters do not address each other by their titles.”
“But she is not your sister,” the Dowager Duchess pointed out.
“I would certainly like to be. I have been all alone at Finsbury, and while I understand Alexander’s caution about introducing me to you both, I simply could not stand the isolation any longer,” Celia said. “I enjoy being around people, you see.”
“So I have heard,” the Dowager Duchess uttered, motioning for Hyacinth to take a seat next to her, “including those without rank.”
“I do not believe that there are ‘lesser’ people. Merely people. My rank and title do not make me better than those without rank or title,” Celia opined.
“Oh, super!” Hyacinth cried. “What a refreshing perspective!”
“Revolutionary is the word,” the Dowager Duchess corrected. “Our society is made up of strata for a reason.”
Celia did not like the direction of the conversation. She had not intended to enter into a debate, particularly one that would put her at odds with the Dowager Duchess, whom she very much wanted to befriend.
“Yes, but in our modern age, we see merchants born of common stock elevated to sit alongside lords and ladies, do we not?” Celia reminded her. “I found that I knew nothing about ordinary everyday life in London because I was sheltered on my father’s estate. I wanted to see what life was like for others.”
“I think that sounds marvelous,” Hyacinth said. “Perhaps you could teach me how to pass for a commoner.”
She said it with a smile that was distinctly mischievous and earned a sniff of disapproval from her mother.
Celia smiled but sighed inwardly. Hyacinth could not have said a worse thing to further prejudice her mother against her.
As she racked her brain for a response to reassure the Dowager Duchess that she was not about to help Hyacinth dress up as a man and venture out into the city, a voice rose outside.
“Hyacinth! Violet! Where are you?”
It was Alexander. His voice came from outside the sitting room but grew louder, accompanied by his brisk footsteps.
Celia’s heart fluttered, and her mouth suddenly ran dry.
Hyacinth grinned and jumped to her feet, running to the door. Alexander flung it open and caught her in his embrace, smiling and then spinning her around. She shrieked in delight, laughing.
Celia stood up, as did the Dowager Duchess. She watched Alexander curiously, never having seen him behave so informally. It was as though the walls she saw him erect between himself and the rest of the world, including her, were gone.
