tedious (for me, at least) by the number of Mama’s acquaintances (mostly male) who would catch sight of her and follow along like so many dogs after a pastry cart.
I think I would have given up all my plans and died from sheer ennui if it had not been for Lord Ashcombe. I had given up all efforts to convince Mama that he had no interest in me. Her love and hopes for me were such that they blinded her, I think, to any thought except the one that any young man who came to know me could not help but fall in love with me. While I was gratified that Mama thought so highly of me, I could not help but feel embarrassed that she had “set her cap” in the most obvious way at Lord Ashcombe on my behalf.
I think it would have embarrassed Lord Ashcombe as well if we had not talked of this between us and made it clear that neither one had any interests in the other, much less marriage. “After all,” said his lordship, who appeared at our door one day just after Mama had gone out, “you’re not much more than a schoolgirl, not yet Out, and I’m just out—of Oxford, that is. Been on the town in between terms, you know. Bet you a guinea you wouldn’t want to get tied up in a church before you got a little Town bronze, eh?” I had persuaded him to stay for a bit, for I was bored. He had hesitated, but then entered the parlour, careful to keep the door ajar.
“Oh, no!” I exclaimed. “Why, there are all sorts of things I have not seen yet! The Tower of London! The British Exchange! Madame Tussaud’s Waxworks!”
Lord Ashcombe looked taken aback. “Didn’t precisely mean those sorts of things. What I meant was, well, balls, routs, dinners; having an introduction to the ton, learning how to get on, et cetera. Can’t think you’d be getting to know the ton at the British Exchange! Full of cits and mushrooms! Not that that’s bad, but you don’t find people like that at ton parties!”
“Bah! Parties!” I wrinkled my nose. “Mama has them all the time here, or used to. They must be the most tedious things imaginable! And all the work which goes into them! It takes ever so many servants to set one up, and afterward, why, you have to hire even more to clean it up!”
He snorted and tossed a lock of hair from his forehead—just like a horse, I thought. “Which just goes to show what you know about them!” he retorted. “Why, you don’t go gadding about with servants when you are at a party! You don’t even think of them! It’s different when you are invited to one—you dance, talk with people, drink ratafia or champagne, and all that. Servants!” he scoffed. He glanced at me and relented. “Of course, I suppose you can’t help just knowing about servants, since you’re barely out of the schoolroom.”
“Well, why shouldn’t I think of the servants?” I argued, not wanting to be bested. I felt annoyed at still being called a schoolgirl. I was seventeen, after all, and Mama had married when she was eighteen. “It is a bother to them and having to direct them to do the thing properly! Why should they suffer for the frivolities of others?” I concluded nobly.
He eyed me disgustedly. “Because they are hired to clean up. Besides, if people weren’t so frivolous as to have parties, there wouldn’t be any vails to earn or work for them to do, and if there wasn’t any work to do, they’d be out in the streets starving because they wouldn’t have jobs!”
I pondered this, wanting to find a chink in his logic, but I could not. I sighed. “I suppose you are right. It seems I do not know much about society at all. All I know about the world is what I’ve read from books and from Emily Possett. She hears all about the ton, and gossips, you know.”
He shook his head. “Won’t do. Oh, books are well enough—have ‘em at Oxford, you know. In fact I—” He stopped dead and looked at me warily. “And you can’t very well get to know about the world from a dashed gossip!” he continued.
“ ‘In
I think I would have given up all my plans and died from sheer ennui if it had not been for Lord Ashcombe. I had given up all efforts to convince Mama that he had no interest in me. Her love and hopes for me were such that they blinded her, I think, to any thought except the one that any young man who came to know me could not help but fall in love with me. While I was gratified that Mama thought so highly of me, I could not help but feel embarrassed that she had “set her cap” in the most obvious way at Lord Ashcombe on my behalf.
I think it would have embarrassed Lord Ashcombe as well if we had not talked of this between us and made it clear that neither one had any interests in the other, much less marriage. “After all,” said his lordship, who appeared at our door one day just after Mama had gone out, “you’re not much more than a schoolgirl, not yet Out, and I’m just out—of Oxford, that is. Been on the town in between terms, you know. Bet you a guinea you wouldn’t want to get tied up in a church before you got a little Town bronze, eh?” I had persuaded him to stay for a bit, for I was bored. He had hesitated, but then entered the parlour, careful to keep the door ajar.
“Oh, no!” I exclaimed. “Why, there are all sorts of things I have not seen yet! The Tower of London! The British Exchange! Madame Tussaud’s Waxworks!”
Lord Ashcombe looked taken aback. “Didn’t precisely mean those sorts of things. What I meant was, well, balls, routs, dinners; having an introduction to the ton, learning how to get on, et cetera. Can’t think you’d be getting to know the ton at the British Exchange! Full of cits and mushrooms! Not that that’s bad, but you don’t find people like that at ton parties!”
“Bah! Parties!” I wrinkled my nose. “Mama has them all the time here, or used to. They must be the most tedious things imaginable! And all the work which goes into them! It takes ever so many servants to set one up, and afterward, why, you have to hire even more to clean it up!”
He snorted and tossed a lock of hair from his forehead—just like a horse, I thought. “Which just goes to show what you know about them!” he retorted. “Why, you don’t go gadding about with servants when you are at a party! You don’t even think of them! It’s different when you are invited to one—you dance, talk with people, drink ratafia or champagne, and all that. Servants!” he scoffed. He glanced at me and relented. “Of course, I suppose you can’t help just knowing about servants, since you’re barely out of the schoolroom.”
“Well, why shouldn’t I think of the servants?” I argued, not wanting to be bested. I felt annoyed at still being called a schoolgirl. I was seventeen, after all, and Mama had married when she was eighteen. “It is a bother to them and having to direct them to do the thing properly! Why should they suffer for the frivolities of others?” I concluded nobly.
He eyed me disgustedly. “Because they are hired to clean up. Besides, if people weren’t so frivolous as to have parties, there wouldn’t be any vails to earn or work for them to do, and if there wasn’t any work to do, they’d be out in the streets starving because they wouldn’t have jobs!”
I pondered this, wanting to find a chink in his logic, but I could not. I sighed. “I suppose you are right. It seems I do not know much about society at all. All I know about the world is what I’ve read from books and from Emily Possett. She hears all about the ton, and gossips, you know.”
He shook his head. “Won’t do. Oh, books are well enough—have ‘em at Oxford, you know. In fact I—” He stopped dead and looked at me warily. “And you can’t very well get to know about the world from a dashed gossip!” he continued.
“ ‘In
Similar Books
