Page 22 of A Lady’s Fairytale Come True
“Thank you for the walk, my lord,” she said in a cold voice, curtseying politely and turning from him without making eye contact.
Olivia walked towards the drawing room, following the butler who led her. He opened the door and she entered to see the very curious face of Lady Kirby.
The dowager stood immediately and clasped her hands together with an expectant smile on her face.
“Now, my dear, how was the walk? I trust that my grandson behaved himself like a gentleman away from my presence?” she asked, evidently hopefully of a better response than that which she was soon to receive.
With an exhale of frustration, Olivia shook her head almost imperceptibly and gave the dowager a pained look.
“Oh dear,” Lady Kirby replied, taking her seat and stretching out a hand to urge Olivia to follow suit. “What has he done?”
Until now, Olivia had held in every ounce of anger that was welling up within her. She kept her patience, her dignity, and her pride. But she had none of that left now. She was too enraged to maintain the facade.
Cheeks hot and tears of anger threatening from behind her eyes, Olivia found the courage to look at Lady Kirby directly. It was not the proper behaviour of a working class woman as herself to so confidently face a lady of status, but she had been derailed enough in her expectations of the day and there was no longer any need to behave herself.
She had been humiliated, disrespected and treated with the utmost cruelty. What need was there for her to keep quiet about it? Why did she have to suffer further? No, she had already decided that she would tell Lady Kirby, that this would be the punishment she indicted upon the earl. It was the very least he deserved.
“To be perfectly honest with you, Lady Kirby, I now understand why you were forced to resort to such measures in procuring a bride for your grandson,” she said.
The dowager’s face fell as if it were her own shame and not the Earl of Glauston’s.
“Truly?” was the only think she managed to ask.
“Most certainly, your ladyship. If this is the behaviour that he has shown to all of his potential betrothed, if this is how he has treated them, then it is no wonder to me that he cannot manage to find a wife. You have approached me solely upon the basis of him being unable to wed,” she remarked, words building up steam and rage in a fuse of wrath.
“Whatever do you mean?” Lady Kirby asked, a blend of concern and offense.
“To speak plainly, I mean that you must have deemed me worth so little that I would accept this treatment in order to marry. I mean that if the Earl of Glauston has behaved so callously with women of his own class then surely I was simply a last resort!” she spat, trying to maintain the level of her voice. But Olivia hadn’t finished her anger.
“You thought that he could not win a wife from among those of status in society but a young woman in a dire situation would be desperate enough to accept even the worst of treatment,” she said, addressing her real suspicion.
“Oh, my dear, that was never the intention,” the dowager said in a small voice.
Olivia laughed bitterly. “Do you believe me to be a fool simply because I have no wealth? I understand the world better than you might know, Lady Kirby. I am not unlearned. My status does not declare me stupid.”
“I did not suggest that, Miss Digby. You must understand the truth of my intentions. I have never seen my grandson behave in the way that you are describing. I would not have subjected you to this treatment had I expected it, I assure you,” she urged in reply.
Olivia let her face fall into a stare of flat disbelief. She could not believe that the dowager was making this claim. It could not be true. There was no reason to believe that the earl was rude only to her. And if that was the case, he was a worse man than she might have imagined.
Either that or there was something truly offensive about her.
“Whatever you choose to believe, I cannot think for a moment that your grandson has chosen me as his one and only disdain. I fully believe that you must have known he would behave cruelly for a man cannot hide this sort of character for long. You are no fool, Lady Kirby. Do not pretend to be on his behalf,” Olivia said bravely.
The dowager’s face was a blend of emotions. Olivia had said something deeply offensive and this caused Lady Kirby’s eyes to turn to slits. But Olivia saw that the reality of her grandson’s behaviour had caused her eyebrows to wring together in shame. But the worst of all the expressions was the pity that twisted at the dowager’s mouth.
Olivia had never been one to accept the pity of others. Her station and circumstances often left the wealthy of society treating her as though she were something to feel sorry for, but that was not what she would allow herself to be seen as. The Digby family was better than that, no matter what invitations they were not afforded during the London season.
“I do not need your pity,” she said in a low voice.
Lady Kirby seemed to attempt to well up her pride once more, but it did not come. Her embarrassment for the earl’s actions was too much. “Miss Digby, I am sorry for how my grandson treated you. No matter how you disbelieve me, know that it was unexpected. Know that I have not seen him treat a young woman so before this. Nevertheless, whatever you wish to think of me and of our family, know that there was never any intended offense against you,” Lady Kirby said in a calculated way.
“Regardless, Lady Kirby, I am quite offended that you should ever have invited me for this purpose. I will not tolerate being treated like this or being someone’s desperate recourse for a wife,” she insisted.
With her breath fuming and Lady Kirby speechless and slack-jawed, Olivia knew she had but one choice remaining.
Turning on her feet, Olivia marched straight to the door. The butler rushed to get it for her, but she grasped the handle with a jerk and twisted it open, unwilling to accept the assistance of anyone within the household. She didn’t need their help or their pity or anything else from them.
The seething power of what had occurred enabled Olivia to walk at a brisk pace as she headed for the main road. She did not know where to get a coach to take her home, but she was confident she would find one.
