“Several years passed in that way until my sixteenth birthday when my parents hosted a small dinner party for me with enough friends and neighbors for some dancing. Sally had been on the Continent and brought me an ornate jewelry box with a tiara inside. He said I would need them for my Coming Out the next year. He was so handsome, so dashing! My friends immediately fell in love with him, as you can imagine, and he alternated between charm and sarcasm, obviously falling naturally into his usual role.”
She clenched and relaxed her fists. “I was infuriated by his behavior, yet I could not help but be flattered and delighted by his appearance at my little soiree.”
“A humbling reflection,” noted Charlotte. Lady Wilfred’s eyes flashed to Charlotte’s, but upon seeing the expression of complete understanding in the widow’s eyes, the young lady’s temper melted away.
“It was another year or so before I saw him again, and I honestly do not recall taking much note of his absence. It was a whirlwind of preparations and lessons and small parties. I enjoyed it all excessively.”
As the next words began to emerge as thoughts before being spoken, her expression of liveliness began to fall. Her tone became flat, her eyes dull. “My Season was a magnificent affair. I had all that a debutante could possibly boast in order to be successful, yet my suitors began to dwindle away. The following year, only the most persistent continued their attentions. Ironically,” she scoffed bitterly, “they were the very ones I had been warned against. Fortune hunters.”
Lady Wilfred took a deep, cleansing breath. “Towards the end of the Season, I happened to be glancing out of my window when I saw Sally coming up the stairs. It seemed as though the door opened before he could even knock, as though his presence was expected. Curious, I hastened quietly to the back door of Papa’s study where he usually received his visitors. The back door, opens into the library and is situated more closely to the seating area of Papa’s study than the main door from the foyer.”
“I could hear Papa’s voice coming closer, talking to Sally, and then I heard the voice of Sally’s uncle. The previous Lord Salisbury died some years ago - a great blow to Sally - but his uncle has always been an important figure in his life as well. To reach the point, it seemed they were coaxing Sally to ‘make his move,’ and I eventually came to realize that it involved me. I hardly remember any details of their conversation save for the shock of hearing about the betrothal for the first time.”
“What a muddle they made of it,” remarked Charlotte. “What did you do?”
“Do?” repeated Lady Wilfred. She sat tall and rigid. “I burst into the room to give them a rare scolding.”
Charlotte giggled in delight. “You never did!”
“To be sure I did!” insisted the young lady. “Trimmed them up and down and out until we were all left blushing in shame.”
Charlotte wiped her eye as a tear of amusement began to form. “If only we all had your vigor.”
“Unfortunately for most females, Society does not often respond positively to a lady’s vigor so much as to her wealth, rank, and beauty,” Lady Wilfred remarked wisely, “but I had been granted with enough of them to hold court that day.”
“I am on tenterhooks to learn the outcome.”
“I was threatened with a beating that would surely leave me maimed and hideous for the remainder of my shortening life and was forthwith banished to my room but,” she added saucily, “they stopped treating me like a little schoolgirl. Papa and Mama spoke to me of the betrothal, the history, and the hopes behind it, and apologized for not being forthcoming. Sally returned a day or so later to patch things up by avoiding the topic altogether.”
“So, you are betrothed?”
“Sally has since insisted that the decision must be mine. He has ingratiated himself by visiting more frequently, bestowing his attentions and charms, being considerate of my wishes…,” her voice trailed away.
“But?” Charlotte asked.
“But I could not be sure of my feelings,” Lady Wilfred answered, adding, “or of his. I heard talk of his rakish behaviors, as well as complaints from aspiring debs and their hopeful mamas. I do not wish to marry to be agreeable. I want love and devotion and, most of all, friendship. The man I marry must be mine and mine alone.”
“And you wonder if Lord Salisbury is capable of fulfilling that role?”
“My feelings waiver. First, I am sure of one thing, then I am sure of the opposite,” said Lady Wilfred hopelessly. “Sally has been infinitely patient, has assured and reassured me of his faithfulness.” Large, sad eyes looked at Charlotte. “Then, I received this.”
Lady Wilfred gingerly removed something from her reticule and handed it to Charlotte.
The widow glanced up at the young lady, confused.
“You recognize it, of course,” Lady Wilfred said flatly.
“It looks remarkably like the snuff box Lord Salisbury gave me for beating him at chess,” Charlotte replied.
“It was delivered to me,” Her guest began, turning again to her reticule, “with this,” she finished, presenting a short note.
Charlotte had opened the crumpled paper hesitantly, reluctant to continue. At Lady Wilfred’s impatient wave of a hand, Charlotte had read aloud:
Loveliest Eve,
&etc
Chapter 7
“Good heavens,” Mr. Kelly remarked. “Whatever induced you to submit to her request?”
“I suppose I hoped it would make more sense spoken aloud,” Charlotte replied with a small sigh.
“Quoting Paradise Lost to a mistress, of all things,” the gentleman continued, struck by the nerve of it. “Perhaps she was an actress?”
Charlotte arched her brows, and he cleared his throat gruffly. “I am no great fan of Salisbury’s, but I would not have believed him capable of such an oversight. Mailing the mistress’s gift to the betrothed?” He shook his head emphatically. “Pure villainy.”
“When Lady Wilfred asked Lord Salisbury about it, he insisted that he had ended the affair months prior, after her outburst of judgment and wrath, when he first realized his attachment to her. He likely saw her as a child until that moment,” reasoned Charlotte. “He went so far as to produce examples of his handwriting for her to compare, pointing out the disparities. Lady Wilfred admitted to being almost convinced but thought perhaps the letter was written in a more passionate state of mind than his business correspondence. She asked if I thought it could be so!”
“Yet I am sure you sent her away appeased somehow,” Mr. Kelly said smiling. “How did you manage?”
“I felt… I feel… obligated to help, given my role with the accursed snuff box,” Charlotte began hesitantly. “I did my best to assure her that I was surely not the culprit, could not possibly be since I had no acquaintance in common with Salisbury save for those at Pemberley…,” her voice trailed apologetically. “I promised to find the person responsible. It would be the only way for her to be able to trust him.”