Page 21 of Lady Controversial
Instead, he smiled at Miss Teddington and offered her his arm when dinner was announced. The evening, he knew, would seem interminable.
Dinner table conversation was second nature to Ellery, and he listened to Miss Teddington trying to impress him with her grasp of modern literature with less than half of his attention, making contributions where necessary to keep the conversation flowing without conscious thought.
‘I say, Finchdean,’ one of the male guests remarked. ‘That old cottage on the edge of your estate is being occupied. Don’t suppose you’re aware but I do hope you don’t have tramps on your doorstep. Can’t have them lowering the tone.’
‘The place you refer to is falling down,’ his mother remarked. ‘No one worth knowing could possibly live there.’
‘I saw smoke coming from the chimneys when I rode in that direction on the way to Chichester,’ someone else remarked.
‘You will have to find out who it is, Ellery, and clear them out,’ his mother said, shuddering. ‘We cannot have just anyone littering up the place. I am sure they don’t have the authority to be there anyway.’
Several heads nodded in agreement, including Miss Teddington’s.
‘You would have me evict the people without first establishing their identity and right of occupation, Miss Teddington?’ he asked, feeling provocative.
‘Well…that is to say, we do not know who they are. They might be renegades and we could all be killed in our beds.’
Ellery’s mother let out a little squawk.
‘Then let me hasten to reassure you all, ladies. I have met the occupants and can assure you that not only do they have a perfect right to live there but they are also entirely respectable.’
Several voices called out and it was evident that Ellery had the attention of all the twenty or so people seated around his table. Perhaps it had been an error to speak of the sisters so publicly, but he felt defensive when the suggestion of evicting them had been voiced. He would make it clear, crystal clear, that he expected them to be left alone. He was the most senior person at the table and no one would dare to defy his wishes.
‘They cannot be respectable, Ellery. Don’t be ridiculous,’ his mother snapped. ‘If theywererespectable then they wouldlivesomewhere respectable.’
‘They might have fallen on hard times,’ Miss Teddington said, clearly anxious to recover lost ground in Ellery’s eyes, ‘in which case, they deserve our compassion.’
‘I still fail to see how they came to your notice, Ellery,’ his mother stubbornly insisted. ‘You have no reason to mix with people who are down on their luck.’
‘They are the Misses Crawley,’ he said into the ensuing silence.
‘Oh!’ Miss Teddington clearly didn’t know the name but looked discomposed simply because they were females.
‘Are they living there alone?’ someone asked. ‘I knew Crawley slightly and hear one of the girls is remarkably pretty.’
‘She is an absolute vision.’ But Ellery was thinking of Isolda, not the acclaimed beauty of the family.
His declaration caused another little squeak, but this time from Miss Teddington. His mother’s expression could have frozen the sun. ‘Crawley shot himself,’ she said in an exaggerated whisper. ‘Lost his estate on the turn of a card and blew his brains out. His daughters’ chances will be ruined by the stigma.’
Miss Teddington’s mother nodded decisively. ‘Quite so,’ she said.
‘We cannot entertain the ladies, Ellery. It’s quite out of the question.’
‘It is hardly their fault if their father behaved irresponsibly,’ Jemima remarked, smiling across the table. ‘For my part, I should like to know them. You must introduce me, Ellery.’
‘Gladly,’ he replied, ignoring his mother when she opened her mouth to protest, probably to insist that Ellery cut them. She recalled that they had guests and closed it again without comment. That in itself was a rarity, and Ellery enjoyed his momentary triumph, although he knew that he hadn’t heard the last of the matter.
‘We ought to call upon them too, Mama,’ Miss Teddington said. ‘It is our Christian duty, after all.’
‘I am not sure about that, my dear. That cottage is likely cold and damp and you know how the damp plays upon your weak chest.’
‘Oh, I am much stronger nowadays, Mama, and haven’t had an episode for ever so long.’
Ellery shared an amused look with Jemima as the conversation became more general. Once the ladies quit the dining room the gentlemen gathered around Ellery’s position at the head of the table as the port circulated.
‘What of these Crawley girls?’ someone asked. ‘Is the younger one the prime piece that I’ve heard her described as?’
‘No good you sniffing round her petticoats,’ someone else said. ‘She won’t have a dowry and you need to marry for one.’
