Page 37 of The Marquess' Disguised Heiress
“Handsome?” Henry chimed in, finally gaining some interest in the conversation. “Let me look at the man.”
He stood up beside Victoria as the two of them stared at the pair, but Henry immediately shook his head.
It could simply be that he was still hungover from last night and had no energy left in him to think rationally or to think at all really, but the chap hardly looked handsome to him, or even important for that matter.
“He is as common as they come, Vic,” he addressed his sister, returning to the settee he had been reclining on. “You are worrying yourself over nothing.”
“He is a commoner, yes,” Margaret added, “but I do not know what it is about him that gives off a noble air. Perhaps it is his manner of walking that seems almost regal, but despite all that, he just seems like a simple man. I believe a little too simple to be considered one of them, although from what I heard in the kitchen, he appears to be both kind and friendly.”
Victoria sighed, hardly registering what Margaret had even said about the man. She did not care about Margaret’s opinion anyway and was simply voicing her doubts about the man, although, she felt as if the doubts could only be about Eliza’s presence beside him.
Victoria always felt the urge to take all happiness away from that girl, and she seemed to be laughing with George. Victoria did not enjoy that sight. She turned to look at Henry, who was already dozing off on the settee, his cup of tea forgotten beside him.
“Did you see the enigmatic stranger at the party last night?” she asked Margaret instead, who nodded enthusiastically.
“He is such a wonderful dancer,” Margaret replied, making Victoria roll her eyes. She had seen her sister dancing with him and had concluded that he must have taken pity on her.
“He is,” Victoria replied with an air of superiority, “although I do wonder why he would not give us his name. That seemed rather suspicious.”
Margaret said something in reply but, Victoria did not hear her sister, her eyes on George as he strolled away from the house. She wondered why the man had something peculiar about him, for he certainly did not look like just another servant.
She could be worrying about nothing, but she worried all the same. Victoria shook her head, not wanting to think any longer about it, and motioned towards the maid standing in one corner.
“Go call Beth.”
The maid scurried off and returned with Eliza just moments later.
“Yes, My Lady?” Eliza asked with a curtsy.
“I am too tired from the ball. Come give me a foot massage.”
Victoria knew she could have asked anyone to give her a foot massage, but she enjoyed humiliating Eliza in this manner.
The others were just servants aiming to please, but Eliza was one of them, her very own cousin, demeaned to this position, and Victoria enjoyed taking full advantage of it. Without a single word of protest, Eliza quickly began to rub Victoria’s feet.
Although, despite humiliating her from time to time, Victoria still never felt satisfied because, in her heart, she knew how Eliza was better than her in every way possible. She was more beautiful and far kinder, qualities that Victoria did not possess.
That was what angered her.
“Children!” They all looked up as their mother walked in, her eyes falling on Eliza rubbing Victoria’s feet.
“Go fetch me a pot of tea, girl.”
Victoria pushed Eliza away with her foot, and she scurried away without a single word, making Victoria and Lady Leicester laugh at her humiliation. Henry, who had woken up sometime in the past few minutes, joined in the laughter, but Margaret remained silent, not wanting to be a part of this unnecessary humiliation.
“You seem never to enjoy our treatment of Beth, Margaret? Why is that?” Victoria asked teasingly, but Margaret simply remained silent. She knew replying to Victoria would only give her sister more reason to come at her.
“Is it because you think you are just as unfortunate as Beth? A wallflower with no suitors and no prospects.”
Tears glazed through Margaret’s eyes, and she silently exited the parlour, sick of the taunts Victoria sprung on her now and then.
However, it was not just Victoria who was mean to her, but her mother, father, and brother behaved the exact same way as well. She had never once felt loved in the family, and none of them had ever been kind to her.
Before she could escape to her room, she happened upon Eliza, who had a pot of tea and a plate of biscuits in her hands. Upon seeing her, Margaret quickly wiped away the tears that were not all over her cheeks, not wanting a servant to see her crying.
A servant?
She knew Eliza was anything but a servant, but the way she had been turned into a servant by her family angered Margaret.
